Good morning! I know on Saturdays we have been enjoying exploring different areas of the world and learning about different towns, festivals, cultures and activities. But! Today I thought we would have a quieter day at home and remember that we can still be enriched from within the comfort of our own four walls!
Having had so much lovely feedback from you all about your hygge-inspired prayer and meditation nooks, I thought we could learn how to make a few things to help enrich these spaces.
First off today, we'll be learning how to make a simple macrame wall hanging. Macrame is a crafting technique that uses knots to create various textiles. Now don't panic if you can't remember your reef knot from your granny knot (neither can I!) - this wall hanging uses just one type of knot, so should be something we can all have a go at!
Next up, I thought we might pop into the kitchen and knock-up something we can enjoy with a cuppa and our feet up in our favourite chair. Let's see how we can make a traditional Danish biscuit in our cookery class with Precious!
INGREDIENTS FOR DANISH BUTTER COOKIES
1 cup unsalted butter (16 tablespoons or 230g) softened and at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla essence
2 cups all purpose flour (250g) spooned and leveled to measure
HOW TO MAKE DANISH BUTTER COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C or gas mark 4). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl and using a hand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and salt using until fluffy. About 2 minutes.
Add the egg and vanilla extract then beat to combine.
Add in the flour and beat to form a dough. It will take a while but keep beating just until the mixture comes together.
Place the dough into a piping bag fitted with an open star or closed star piping tip. Pipe the cookies into 1-2 inch swirl circles.
Pipe the cookies into roses or circles leaving at least one inch between each cookie.
Bake one sheet of cookies at a time in preheated oven for 15 minutes until slightly golden brown. Start checking around 12 minutes. The cookies might be ready around 12 minutes if you made them smaller than mine. But if you made them larger than mine, there might need a few more minutes in the oven.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container.
For the next activity I thought you might like to make a natural paper weight or a prayer stone for reflection corners or nooks. These decorated stones are very simple to create and you can use left over paint from decorating, felt tips or marker, wax from crayons etc. Do though protect them with varnish or pva glue watered down or even clear nail varnish if they are going outside. Why not create some Easter chicks, bunnies eggs etc for your Grandchildren, neighbours and friends for Easter.
For some more inspiration have a look at the next video and do remember you don't have to be a brilliant artist but just be creative and enjoy!
You could even do a version of these "painting on" real leaves and petals with PVA glue. If you haven't got pebbles why not try stones from the garden or bits of old crock - just watch out for any sharp edges!
Friday pictures - Jan Farthing
What a joy what a delight
Friday pictures have arrived.
We have charted your lives in photographs.
Every Friday without fail they pop into our life
Bringing you closer.
It’s hard not to be there to see you all.
But with Friday pictures we get to see the firsts .... we would have missed, they capture Birthdays. Christmases. Easters. Holidays.First days at schools.
Academic achievements. Dance, football, ponies club ...
In fact all the things you get up to day by day.
The things that make us chuckle and laugh.
The things that make us sad we’re not there.
The times we miss hugs and cuddles.
Made more bearable by a simple photograph.
My darling ones you are growing up so fast to us.
Seems an age since we last cuddled you.
The world is so shut down and locked up.
We pray and live in hope.
That travel is not too far away.
Then we can have real hugs instead of virtual hugs
Jan shared this poem as she reflected upon her Grandchildren so far away in Australia during this pandemic.
Love the painted stones might try that next thank you Rhian