At the weekend, I made my first donation to Argos Animal Shelter Cyprus. It wasn't a lot of money, just 20% of my profits so far on my jewellery sales. I think it will still make a difference as it was enough to buy a couple of bulk bags of animal food.
Argos Animal Shelter looks after more than 200 abandoned cats and dogs. They really need all the money that they can get! Hopefully people will keep on buying jewellery and I can keep on giving donations.
I've just launched a sale section in my etsy shop where you can buy some pieces from my collection at greatly reduced prices. Don't forget that 20% of all profits go to helping animals in Cyprus. Happy shopping!
I recently made cookies for the first time; I usually make biscuits and a rather leaden shortbread. Anyway, I amalgamated a number of recipes in order to bake some peanut butter and nutella cookies. They worked out so well that when I offered them to my colleagues at work, they were all begging for the recipe. The best thing about this recipe for peanut butter and nutella cookies is that you don’t need a weighing scale. Also, don’t be put off by the name; the resulting cookies have a subtle flavour which tastes more of orange, nuts and caramel. Here it is in all its glory. It’s a rough recipe so don’t feel that you have to stick with it exactly and if you discover any ways to improve it then please leave a comment!
You will need:
Approximately 100g of butter – I didn’t have weighing scales so I used just under half of a 225g pack of butter
One cup of caster sugar – a small coffee cup should do (not a mug)
3 tablespoons of nutella
One orange with the skin on
2 tablespoons of peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, you’re call)
One egg
At least half a pack of plain flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
• Mix together in a large bowl the caster sugar, butter, nutella and peanut butter. You can use a wooden spoon and your muscles or a whisk. I just used a spoon and it was fine (and I’m a small woman).
• Once you have a smooth mixture, grate in the skin of the orange. Mix some more.
• Whisk the whole egg.
• Add half the egg to the main mixture. Add about one cup of plain flour (sieved) with one teaspoon of baking powder.
• Mix until smooth.
• Add the rest of the egg and more sieved flour as necessary. The flour doesn’t have to be measured exactly. Just keep adding small amounts of flour until you have a firm, smooth dough which isn’t too sticky.
• Cover the mixture and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Take out the mixture and shape into 1 inch dough balls. Place them on a plate. Put topping on them. I put half an almond on some and a lump of chocolate on some (just normal Cadburys chocolate).
• Refrigerate the uncooked cookies for another 15 minutes. You don’t have to put the dough in the fridge but if you want soft, chewy cookies; I’d advise doing it. If you don’t refrigerate them then you will get a more crisp biscuit.
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place the cookies on baking paper – do not grease it.
• Put them in the over for about 15 minutes but check them regularly. You are aiming for them to be gently baked on the outside and slightly soft inside.
• Let them cool and store them in an airtight container.
This is a great recipe because you can play with it. I am adding nutmeg to my next batch!
Valentines day has hit us. For women I think the importance of the day and our relationship with it is formed at school. Ask any woman and she will have some story of a school V-day experience. The disappointment of not receiving a card, the humiliation of roses being handed out to the popular girls, the injustice of some very undeserving girl getting flooded with gifts. During those hormonal days, Valentines day seemed like a day designed to emphasise your success (or lack of success) with the opposite sex.
By the time you actually have a partner with you on Valentines day, it has been built up in your mind as this day of wonder that other people have been enjoying each year whilst you have been sitting at home watching bad TV. I genuinely think it is this build up that means women have such high expectations of the day. I am very lucky in that my partner is a very considerate man who always plans something even though he doesn't believe in the day. However, if your partner disappoints you then try to focus on all the many things that they do do for you on all the other days of the year. Generally, men who are good at the big gestures are not good at the real things that count. You only have to look at the fact that footballer John Terry is planning a big surprise for Toni Terry and has given her 100 red roses. I know that I would rather have a partner who is there to support me than a partner who sleeps around but buys me lots of gifts.
On that note, I've found the perfect gift for a tetris fanatic to give to his special lady next gift-giving time. Tetris has designed a range of jewellery based around the little tetris shapes. They do have a pleasant simplicity to them and would no doubt be happily worn by women who like nostalgic, ironic items. However, I am very disappointed to see that the colours are not quite as bright as those of the tetris game.
An icelandic jewelry designer, Hafsteinn Juliusson, has come up with a novel way to bring nature into the lives of city dwellers. Juliusson has designed a range of rings which are inset with icelandic moss. The rings have to be watered regularly and can last up to six months if they are looked after.
Juliusson states that the collection is an "experiment in drawing nature toward man, as nature being the presupposition of life." The rings cost £480 each.
Juliusson has definitely come up with something unique and wearing one of his rings would most likely get you attention. However, one does wonder how the ring would survive through day to day life - washing your hands, getting dressed, putting on your coat. Most likely you would end up paying £480 for a ring that after two days has a large hole in it with a few bits of soil.
For more information about Iceland visit http://www.icelandic-traveller.com/
Perhaps this christmas, you may find yourself trying to find a gift for the person who has everything. You will have trawled the net and the streets to find something quirky and unique and just right for them. If this person that you are shopping for also has a taste for the macabre, then I might just have found the perfect gift for you to give them. Both environmentally friendly and one of a kind, jewelry made from human parts could be the answer to your yuletide quest.
Having recently taken in a stray kitten, my spare cash has rather shrunk. For the first time in a while, I have been thinking about why we all feel we have to spend so much money at Christmas.
1. Thread all the beads that you want to use onto your wire. To work out how many beads to use multiply the amount of stitches per row by the length of the bracelet in centimetres (eg if you are doing a six stitch wide, 12cm long bracelet, I'd thread at least 72 beads on).
2. Cast on as many stitches as you think want and knit one row. As you knit the first stitch of the second row, bring one of the beads up to your needles and knit it into the fabric. Repeat for every stitch of the second row.
3. Continue knitting every odd row without beads and every even row with beads - this will ensure all the beads stay on the same side of the bracelet.
4. Once the bracelet or choker is long enough, cast off then fix a jewellery clasp to either end of it.
The end result looks pretty good and would make a great gift for someone.
On a recent trip to Jordan, I decided to us the opportunity to buy a bit of new jewellery. Whenever you go abroad, it's worth having a quick look at the jewellery as in many countries it can be considerably cheaper and different to the jewellery on offer in your hometown.
If you are in Jordan visiting Petra then you will probably have quite a few opportunities to buy jewelry from the local Bedouins. This is worth doing as some of their jewelry is beautiful and unlike what you can perhaps get at home. The jewelry on offer in Petra tends to be made of rocks and glass. Agate is commonly used as well as moonstone and coloured glass. It is likely that the rocks are imported but even so, the jewellery is handmade. I took the opportunity to buy a blue beaded bracelet and a multi-coloured glass necklace from a lovely man just near Shobak castle (not in Petra but on the route to Petra from
Amman). It cost me only 5JD (approx 5 euros) for both items. The price was lower than what you would probably pay in Petra itself. No matter if the price they first offer you is something that you are happy with, it is still good to bargain at least 10% off the price. The reason for this is that I genuinely have found that Middle Eastern people respect you more if you don't take the first price and it tends to give you an opportunity to have a chat. Obviously, for some items you will need to really haggle over and I will be writing a post later about how to haggle.
First, I had a good look at all the jewelry on offer and tried to get an idea of the level of quality on offer and the price ranges available. Most of the jewellery in Amman tended to be yellow gold - very yellow gold is not popular in most western european countries because it is not overly flattering to pale skin. However, the very yellow colour shows that is high quality gold and if you can carry it off, it is definitely worth buying. It's vibrant and much cooler than the pale, insipid gold that is normally available. Personally, if I could wear it without looking jaundiced, I would have got lots of it as it was reasonably priced and exotic.
I then decided to invest in a bit of silver for everyday wear. Silver is not so popular here which makes perfect sense as silver is too bland for the gorgeous brown skin of the locals. Quite a few shops did try to trick me into buying very poor quality jewellery at rather inflated prices. When you are not sure about an item, just say that you want to browse a bit more and compare the product to similar ones in other shops. You won't regret taking your time as there is nothing worse than taking a piece home and finding out it's badly glued and damaged.
Ok so there's a recession etc etc and we should all be out there making gifts for each other and not spending our money. I don't know about you but I am fed up of being told that if I make gifts or buy from charity shops then I can weather the recession. Normally these lines are said by people who know nothing about financial difficulties or finance in general.
On a different note though you should consider making home made gifts because they are fun, personal and useful for when your cash flow is a bit tight. This top five list only contains items that someone would genuinely enjoy receiving and that someone with basic artistic skills could make. You will have to buy some stuff to do them.
