Upcycled Nativity

Thanks to Pinterest I discovered this wonderful up-cycled activity which was first showcased on Catholic Icing in December 2009.

It's a printable DIY Nativity for Kids. One word of caution this is not an hour long activity, it took us six hours to colour and glue onto the toilet rolls on Wednesday. In future I will definitely plan to do this over a few weeks rather than one day as Sir N found it a lot of colouring in. Needless to say Mom had the pleasure of colouring in most of the pieces and together we enjoyed constructing the set.

We printed the pages and coloured in.

It took us over 3 hours to colour in the pieces

Our pieces ready to be applied to toilet rolls.

Glitter Glue
I really wanted to use the glitter that's been sitting in the cupboard but did not want glitter everywhere. I decided to make our own version of glitter glue.

• I used a water based PVA glue.
• Add a generous amount of glitter in a container. This is the holder for roll on deodrant from the local store. When ever I do my shopping if I see empty ones on the shelf I bring them home for glue / painting projects.
• Next I added around 3 ml of glue to each one and mixed. I then used a paintbrush and added two drops of water to each. Do NOT make it runny. If it's runny then it spreads too thin and you don't get a solid glitter look.
• Use a paint brush and apply glitter mix where you want it to be.

Our Nativity Up Close

This in turn has inspired Sir N to design his own take of the nativity using toilet rolls.

Elsewhere on the www

• One of my blog friends son has also made an up-cycled Nativity pop on over to see how Jude created his Nativity after reading This is a Stable.
• Mary and Joseph Toilet Paper Tube Puppets at Make Learning Fun.com
• Nativity Week at Katherine Maries
• Amy's Free Ideas has a comprehensive step by step How to make a Toilet Paper Tube Nativity Set
• Cardboard Box and Toilet Roll Nativity Scene over at Create with your hands 
• Christmas Crafts for Toddlers over at Rhyme Time 

What are some Nativity projects have you done this season ?

Blessings


This post is linking with: Look What We Did

Bran Rusks

In preparation for the long weekend away my mother made some of the family favourite rusks. Rusks are a traditional South African dry biscuit which is dunked in your tea and eaten or it can be eaten as is.

Ingredients:

This recipe is from one of my mothers recipe books. It was submitted by J. Schmidt from Pretoria and can be found on pages  281 & 282 of The Housewives League Cookery Book published in 1976.

Favourite recipes submitted by the
members of House wives League
1975 / 76 

1.5 kg (3 lb) self raising flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
250 grams (8oz) margarine or butter
1 packet of hi bulk bran
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
500 ml buttermilk





Method:

Combine all dry ingredients and rub in butter.

In a separate bowl combine eggs, buttermilk and oil.
Add to dry ingredients.

Mix till soft dough is formed.

Form balls from about a heaped tablespoon of mix.

Pack rolled balls in baking dish.

Bake for one hour in a 180 'C (350 'F) oven.

tip out onto a tea towel. Put another tea towel on top and tip over.
Using a sharp knife separate balls and lay onto trays.

Lay in single layer and return to oven on coolest setting to dry out. 
My oven was 100 'C and took about 3 hours.

Store in an air tight container and enjoy with a cup of tea.

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Enjoy