Ideas

Here we are again! At the tail end of another year and busy counting the weeks until our well-deserved break. It is admittedly a bit shorter for people with children at school, which makes me wonder if someone at the education department had the same

Christmas remains a time-honoured celebration of family and friends, hearth and home. This year, put your personal stamp on your decorations by foraging for flora and fynbos to turn into fragrant wreaths, pretty posies and conversation-starting artwo

Makes: about 50 Preparation time: 1 hour, plus setting time ♥ 230g (440ml) icing sugar, sifted ♥ 1ml cream of tartar ♥ 397g can condensed milk ♥ 270g (865ml) fine desiccated coconut ♥ 200g white chocolate, chopped ♥ 80g (250ml) medium or coarse desic

Makes: 10 Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes Baking time: 50 minutes Oven temperature: 140°C ♥ 600g dried fruitcake mix ♥ 250g pitted dates, chopped ♥ 10ml grated orange rind ♥ 200g (235ml) sugar ♥ 130g (140ml) butter ♥ 5ml bicarbonate of soda ♥ 240

Makes: 12 Preparation time: 45 minutes, plus chilling time Baking time: 15-20 minutes Oven temperature: 170°C PASTRY ♥ 140g (260ml) cake flour ♥ 25g (60ml) ground almonds ♥ 100g (110ml) cold butter ♥ 30ml icing sugar ♥ 25ml cornflour ♥ 2ml vanilla ex

DIFFICULTY: easy TIME: a few hours Instead of wrapping gift boxes in paper, decorate them with paint, markers, stencils and found objects. Here are a few ideas to get you started. CUT THE LID OF THE BOX so it forms a frame. Copy a picture of your cho

Cover your table with graph paper that has been enlarged and printed out on A1 sheets of white paper. Buy unfolded Christmas crackers and trace the outlines onto our creative paper on page 44. Use the napkin-ring template on the page 62 and cut one f

DIFFICULTY: fairly easy TIME: two days (per stool cover) ♥ Nurturing Fibres Eco-Cotton 100% cotton DK (50g balls): 3 balls in Vanilla and 1 ball each in Saffron, Lime, Aqua, Sweet Pea, Aventurine and Charcoal ♥ 3mm crochet hook ♥ tapestry needle ♥ 4

DIFFICULTY: fairly easy TIME: two days beg – begin(ning) ch – chain c/off – cast off dc – double crochet htr – half treble rep – repeat rnd – round sl st – slip stitch sp – space st(s) – stitch(es) tr – treble ♥ Vinnis Colours Nikkim 100% cotton DK (

DIFFICULTY: easy TIME: one hour per bauble ♥ crochet cotton in colours of your choice (we used 5 colours of Vinnis Nikkim for each bauble)♥ crochet hook (according to size on crochet cotton label)♥ tapestry needle♥ polystyrene balls (7cm diameter) be

DIFFICULTY: easy TIME: one day to make a string of houses ♥ crochet cotton (we used Vinnis Nikkim)♥ crochet hook (we used 1 one size smaller than given on the crochet cotton label)♥ tapestry needle ch – chain sl st – slip stitch st(s) – stitch(es) tr

Prepare this recipe a day ahead and serve it as an impressive starter to your festive meal. Serves: 10-12 Preparation time: 1 hour, plus overnight chilling time ♥ 500g thin slices of smoked salmon or salmon trout♥ 400g smoked peppered mackerel fillet

We gave each of our plastic trees a new colour by spray painting it with a paint specifically developed for plastic. We used Rust-Oleum but there are various brands available. Before you apply the colour, spray the tree with two coats of light-grey s

Wrap your gifts in old book pages or fabric remnants and tie a piece of rough twine around the present. For the gift cards, you can simply copy our designs on the facing page onto white cardboard and cut them out. Wrap your gifts in ordinary brown pa

DIFFICULTY: fairly easy TIME: 2-3 days ♥ diagram on page overleaf♥ Nurturing Fibres Eco-cotton DK (50g balls): 2 balls each Bessie, Willow, Ruby and 3 balls Aqua♥ 3mm crochet hook♥ 1m cotton fabric♥ 2 x 45cm plastic 8mm tubes♥ general sewing requirem

DIFFICULTY: easy TIME: 3-4 hours To fit adult-size wooden hangers ♥ 1x ball 125m/50g Nurturing Fibres Eco-Cotton in Seashell♥ 1x ball 125m/50g Nurturing Fibres Eco-Bamboo in Fawn♥ 3.50mm crochet hook♥ tapestry needle and scissors♥ wooden hangers. ch(

Use an ink-jet printer to print out the baubles on these pages onto a sheet of iron-on transfer paper for light fabric. Cut them out neatly and iron them onto a piece of white cotton fabric according to the manufacturer’s instructions. ♥ cotton fabri

MATERIALS ♥ technical drawings on the pages overleaf♥ wood (in this case SA pine) – 3 000mm x 93mm x 22mm (parts 1 to 8)♥ plywood – 150mm x 93mm x 4mm thick (part 10)♥ copper plumbing pipe (part 9) – 484mm x 28mm diameter♥ wood screws (countersink) –

Blue sky, yellow sun, the colours of flowers, fruit and water – seawater, rivers, dam water… for me, all these things conjure up the feeling of the sunshine festival that November and December are for us in South Africa. Here at the southern tip of t

BACKAGE CLAIM Even your suitcase will spread Christmas cheer when you stick on our printable stamps letting everyone know that this package is straight from the North Pole and has been ‘Checked Twice’ by Santa himself. PRETTY PAPER Make your own crac

DIFFICULTY: easy TIME: five hours ♥ 1 roll craft metal ♥ spray adhesive ♥ flowers and leaves templates on page overleaf ♥ pen ♥ thread clippers ♥ round mirror with fixing bracket at the back (we got ours from MRP Home) ♥ cardboard circle, about 2cm s

You are working with various mediums, so choose a limited number of colours that go together. We made all our pendants with a palette of red, grey, black, cream and white. DIFFICULTY: all the projects are very easy TIME: one day to make several piece

It’s not for nothing that people talk about needing their beauty sleep. The night hours are when your body eases off from the pace of a busy day and gets to work restoring the skin cells and fighting the signs of ageing. But it’s not only vitally imp

When you look at pictures of fabulous parties and weddings on Instagram, there’s a good chance that you’ll see the name Baiegoeters among the hash tags. Because for the past six years, Anelma le Roux’s business has been one of the most popular go-to