• You can put together delightful Bitsy Elf Clogs if you follow the pattern given by Jenny B Harris from Allsorts:

  

• Sew pretty mini Christmas trees out of fabric with the Stacking Fabric Christmas Trees
  tutorial by Sarah Neuburger from The Small Object:

  

• Assemble lovely Christmas Pixies with The Pixie Pattern and Tutorial made by Juliette from Chickpea:

  

• Make a festive Champagne Bubbles necklace made by Cyndi Lavin from Jewelry and Beading:

  

• Stitch up this adorable Little Pig On Wheels with the nice pattern from Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls:

  

Thank you for all the great presents, folks!

–

All the photos are from the mentioned sites and are copyrighted to the respective authors.

The Stock

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion;
• 1 medium carrot;
• 1 garlic clove;
• 1 medium tomato;
• 1 small leek;
• 2 tablespoons olive oil;
• 1 small cube of chicken stock;
• salt, to taste;
• 1,5 l water.

Chop the onion and the garlic and slowly fry it until golden.
Add the chopped tomato and the sliced leek and let it soften the tomato a bit.
Then add the water, the sliced carrot and the salt.
Cook for 30 minutes.
Pass the stock through a fine sieve and put it in the fondue pot.
Serve over the small burner, to keep boiling.

The Meat

Serves 2

• 2 chicken breasts, boned and skinned;
• 300g beef.

Cut all the meat in bite size pieces and put in different recipients.
You can also use pork but you have to cook it thoroughly in the broth.

The Dips

This is to your taste. I used the following:

• Mayonnaise with crushed garlic;
• Mayonnaise with 2 teaspoons curry;
• Black pepper sauce, from the store;
• Barbecue sauce;
• Apple chutney, or apple sauce;
• Olives sauce, from the store;

The Side Dish

I made a simple roast in the oven.

• A sliced aubergine;
• a sliced courgette;
• A small red bell pepper in little pieces;
• Olive oil to drizzle over;
• A pinch of salt;
• Grated parmesan to spread on top.

Cook in medium hot oven for 20/25 minutes.

–

I hope you enjoy making and eating this fondue. It is divine, I tell you!

Hint: if you make the fondue for two use four fondue forks - two to each person - because it is faster to eat!

Last month a friend ask me if I could make a necklace for her wedding. I told her that I didn’t have any experience making necklaces but I would try. She showed me some pictures of what she had in mind and I started to play with the materials, trying to figure out how to make the necklace. And I did.
In the end she loved the necklace and I ended up with a pretty fun and easy technique for making this sort of necklaces. Almost as easy as making earrings!

This one we are making now is made with fall colors to wear it for Halloween but you can make it in any color you want and with any kind of beads you prefer.

Tools

First you need to have the right tools.
I use 2 different pliers. A side-cutting pliers (a) and a flat-nose pliers (b). You can get them in any hardware store or crafts store.

Materials

You also need some beads and some findings (the metal parts of jewelery).
For this necklace we’ll use large seed beads in orange (c1), white (c2) and black (c3).

We will also use the thinest stainless steel nylon coated wire (d) that I could buy: .018 diameter

And two pinch caps (e), two 2 mm crimp beads (f) and one lobster clasp (g).

Making the necklace

To start we cut 2 strands of wire (d) of approximately 65 cm.

Next we thread the first bead and put it approx. in the middle of the strand without bending the wire. When this wire is bent it holds its shape and we don’t want that right know.

Next we take an end of the wire and, holding the bead in place, we thread it again and pull, trapping the bead in place on the wire. Lets call it “double thread and pull”.

Next we continue to double thread and pull beads, always from the middle of the necklace to the ends.

Repeat colors and change the space between beads. Make it as “random looking” as you can.

You can try different beads and colors. The only thing you have to remember is that you need to buy beads that have a big enough hole to “double thread”.

Once we have the first strand of wire made we start the second. It’s just the same as the first but we want to avoid obvious matching of beads and of gaps between beads. Remember, we are going for a random look here! So we use the other strand to visually guide us about what NOT to do next.

We end up with something like what we see in this the next picture.

Next we take the pinch caps (e) and we cut the little curl they have on top. We do this in both pinch caps.

We take the two strands of wire, now beaded, and hold both ends of one side.

We insert the two ends in one pinch cap (e), like we see in the picture below.

And then we take one crimp bead (f) and insert it after the pinch cap (e).

At this point we have one end of the necklace with a pinch cap (e) and a crimp bead (f).

Now we have to bend the two ends of the necklace and insert them in the crimp bead.

This way we have a loop.

We take the flat-nose pliers (b) and crush the crimp bead to hold the loop in place.

With the side-cutting pliers (a) we cut the excess wire.

And the first end loop is in place.

We bring the pinch cap to the crushed crimp bead.

And close it with the flat-nose pliers, just like a little clam shell. This end of the necklace is done!

Now we take the two ends of the other side of the necklace and insert them in the other pinch cap (e) and we take the other crimp bead (f) and insert it after the pinch cap, just like we did before.

Here’s what’s different. Before we make the loop we insert the lobster clasp (g).

THEN we make the loop, crush the crimp bead, cut the excess wire and close the pinch cap, just like the first end of the necklace.

Tada! You have a pretty necklace and a cool technique to use with any other beads!

I made a variation of this with three strands of wire, one in each color. The only thing we have to do different is to get larger crimp beads so that we can make the end loops with 3 strands. 2,5 mm crimp beads should do the trick!

And remember, if at first you don’t succeed don’t be discouraged. I used a lot of cable wire before I got nice results. You can do it. You just have to practice.

TIP: Try it with Swarovski crystals, for a more shiny and expensive look.

Think of all the Christmas gifts you will do this year just by mastering this simple technique!! *wink*

If you like this tutorial you might also like to learn how to make earrings!

• 1 pack of pizza dough - enough for a pizza for two;
• 2 or 3 ripe tomatoes;
• 1 pack of shredded mozzarella cheese;
• 12 thin slices of chorizo or pepperoni;
• 6 leaves of basil;
• 1 drizzle of olive oil;
• 12 black olives;

1. Turn on the oven in a medium heat setting;

2. Unroll the pizza dough on to an oven tray and make a little fold all around the edge - to contain the juices in;

3. Slice the ripe tomatoes in thin slices and cover the dough with it;

4. Spread 2/3 of the shredded mozzarella on top of the tomatoes;

5. Display the chorizo evenly on top of the cheese;

6. Ruffly chop the basil leaves and spread them around the pizza;

7. Drizzle with a little olive oil - just a few drops;

8. Garnish with the olives and with the rest of the cheese;

9. Put the tray in the preheated oven for about 8 to 10 minutes;

10. Take it out of the oven and eat it with a nice red wine!

This is what it should look before you bake it. Enjoy!

• Octopode Pattern - A cute crochet pattern of an amigurumi octopus;
• Fortune Cookies Charm Tutorial - Made of Sculpey and uber cute!!
• 12 Dangerous Food Additives - An interesting article about food additives that are bad for you;
• Kitchen Myths - A list of myths about food and cooking;
• Guidelines for Cats - A guide for your cat. It’s a list of things a cat must do to control their human. I find this hilarious!!
• The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun - Inspiring flash animation.

Previous happy links here.

Lot’s of people ask me, in my daily life, how do I make my earrings. It’s always a topic that people are interested in so I’ve decided to show you how. It’s a very simple process but it’s very satisfying to wear something you made yourself.

Tools

First you need to have the right tools.
I use 3 different pliers. A round-nose pliers (a), a flat-nose pliers (b) and a side-cutting pliers (c). You can buy this in any crafts or hardware stores. There are also lots of online shops that sell it. Or you might already have it in your husband’s toolbox!

Materials

In jewelry, the metal parts are called findings.
For these earrings we’ll use two headpins (F1) 2-inches long and two hook earwires (F2).

And you will need beads, of course! We’ll use 3 different kind of beads. Two of each. 2 dark red tubes of glass, 2 little light blue beads and 2 small heart beads. You can use whatever beads you want. Visit a crafts shop that sell beads, or search in your favorite online shop, and use your imagination. This is the fun part!

Making the earrings

To start your earrings, you take one headpin and tread the beads in the order that you want them.

Try different beads, don’t be afraid to experiment. Remember that you are going to wear these earrings.

Are you satisfied with the way they look? Good.

Next you need to cut the headpin to the desired length using the side-cutting pliers. Remember to leave at least half an inch to make the loop that connects to the earwire.

Take the round-nose pliers and turn the end of the headpin to one side, to form a loop.

Then, still using the round-nose pliers, turn the formed loop in the other direction, to center the loop and make it perfect.

Hook in the earwire in the newly formed loop.

And use the flat-nose pliers to gently close the loop.

Tada! You have one earring. Now make another one exactly the same way using the same beads in the same sequence.

And you end up with a lovely set of earrings!

I love to make these simple dangle earrings. I wear them and give them as gifts to my girlfriends. Remember that practice makes perfect. Don’t be discouraged if at first your end result is a little irregular. It will soon be very easy! Just keep making those earrings!

If you like this tutorial you might also like to learn how to make a necklace!