Super easy Christmas crafts

December 2, 20153 Comments

I love Crafting 🙂 seriously just yesterday some of my Christmas crafts were featured on All4Women and Beauty&TheBaby Blog . SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT!

I’ve been very tight on time though VERY TIGHT www.ohboykids.co.za is doing well this holiday season (So thankful) but it means I am having to work overtime making things for other people which leaves very little time for crafting for fun.

So in comes these quick crafts, because making things might be an addiction:

GIFT TAGS

These are super cute and easy and as you can see it works on a variety of gift packages
– My two year old designed these so you can certainly go way more glam
(He got all, NO MOMMY NO IT’S FINISHED when I tried to add to it)

All you need are little plain cards, pegs and glitter glue

I used this really awesome rainbow glitter glue from Bostik It is soooo much easier and cleaner than loose glitter and the chubby size is ideal for little hands. Bostik sent us some supplies so you will be seeing their products in quite a few mommy and me crafts I’m sure

All you need to do is cover a peg in glitter glue and then decorate a card with either the same or coordinating glitter glue. Leave to dry and TAH DAH!!!
I’m trying to teach Aidan about giving to others and this makes him feel part of the experience, seeing as he can’t pay for/or make the gifts himself yet. So similar tags will be used on the gifts we are delivering to church for the charity drive this week.

PERSONALISED BAUBLES

Aidan received a personalized ornament as a gift last year.
When we put up the tree last night it really bothered him that Rob and I didn’t have our names on so I pulled out my craft box and came up with this. Not bad for an after thought, lol

You need letter stickers (I’m all out of As now, hmmm) and baubles
All you do is peel and stick 🙂 for extra security paint over with clear nail polish 🙂

*Happy Crafting 🙂

Foodie Fri-Dae (Nicoise Salad)

November 27, 2015Leave a comment

So chuffed to have Davene share more of her ridiculously delicious looking recipes with us 🙂

Last time she did a chicken and corn salad which I tried and loved and this time around it’s a Nicoise Salad that serves four…

Ingredients:

1 can of tuna in salt water

2 thin sweet potatoes

2 tomatoes large, sliced or a cup of Italian tomatoes

½ cup of black olives

2 baby cos lettuce, leaves separated

4 hard boiled eggs

12 baby green beans, trimmed

1 avocado

4 tablespoons of olive oil

3 cups of boiling water

Seasoning ( I use Ina Paarmens Chilli and Garlic and Green Onion Seasoning)

Method

In a medium sized pot, add the boiling water and eggs and boil that until eggs are ready. Once ready, remove shell and slice the eggs as desired. While eggs are boiling, slice the sweet potatoes horizontally into thin slices and fry until soft in pan with 2 table spoons of olive oil. Add seasoning. As soon as sweet potatoes are soft, remove from pan. Clean pan thoroughly, add remaining olive oil and allow it to heat up. Once oil is heated up, add the green beans and seasoning and saute for 5 minutes or less. Keep moving the pan for green beans to sauté on all sides. Once ready, remove from pan.

In four separate plates, equally distribute the lettuce. Slices up the avocado thinly and distribute it equally in all four plates. Drain the tuna from the water in the can and spoon onto all four plates equally. Do the same with the green beans, sweet potatoes, olives, tomatoes and hardboiled eggs. Enjoy it with a glass of refreshing home-made vitamin water, containing ice, mint, slices of strawberry and lemon.

be sure to check her out on her BLOG

Bee careful (tips for bee&wasp stings)

November 19, 20151 Comment

So I never thought of bee allergies, well I did, I know my mom’s arm once turned blue from a wasp sting and I watched the Movie My Girl where Macaulay Culkin’s character died from bees attacking her. I just didn’t think my husband would end up hospitalised and even after three days under hospital care still be walking around with his lips looking like botched botox and his arms covered in marks.

It was super scary and we were not prepared for it at all so I did what I always do, I researched the heck out of it and this is what I came up with courtesy of allergyuk.org this is for bees and wasps (couldn’t find local resources)

Symptoms

1. Localised reactions
Swelling at the site of the sting, which can be more than 10 cm in diameter and last for more than 24 hours. The rest of the limb may be involved but no generalised symptoms are present. These reactions are more common in children than in adults.
2. Mild systemic reactions
These reactions are characterised by skin swelling and hives in an area of skin remote from the sting. Children experiencing these reactions are not thought to be significantly at risk of future life-threatening reactions compared to others. However, in older children and adults, such reactions are considered to be a risk factor for a future severe reaction.
3. Moderate / severe systemic reactions (Anaphylaxis)
Any or all of the following symptoms may be present:

Swelling of throat and mouth
Difficulty in swallowing or speaking
Difficulty in breathing – due to severe asthma or throat swelling
Hives anywhere on the body, especially large hives
Generalised flushing of the skin
Abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting
Sudden feeling of weakness (drop in blood pressure)
Collapse and unconsciousness

The symptoms of anaphylaxis occur because the sting causes the release of allergy-producing chemicals (mediators) into the blood which can affect the whole body, and in particular, the breathing and blood circulation.

Management

If the sting has been left behind, it can be helpful to remove it gently in order to prevent further venom release. Do not pull it out with your fingers, and this may squeeze the venom sac causing the opposite effect. It is best to flick the sting out with your nail. Generally speaking, wasps do not leave their sting behind, this means that they may sting you more than once. If possible place an icepack (pack of peas will do) on the area of the sting and ideally sit down or lie down, especially if feeling faint.
1. Localised reactions (involving swelling of affected area, urticaria and flushing):
Use a non-sedating, rapid acting antihistamine as advised by your GP or pharmacist. Large local reactions can also be treated with oral steroid tablets as soon as one is stung and repeated daily for up to 3 days. These tablets will need to be prescribed by your GP.

2. Anaphylactic reactions:

If an adrenaline (epinephrine) auto-injector device is available, use it immediately
An ambulance should be called immediately.The controller must be told that the patient is suffering from anaphylaxis
Keep the patient lying down and stay with them. Don’t let them stand up or walk
If they have not recovered in 5 minutes, give a second adrenaline injection, if available
Even if the patient recovers quickly, they must still go to hospital for observation in case of delayed or repeated reactions
If the patient has an asthma blue inhaler, they should use it AFTER the injection. But do not delay administering the adrenaline injection

Please check out allergyuk.org for more info you could save a life

Win tickets for international tribute to Whitney Houston in PE

November 9, 2015Leave a comment

The beloved pop icon might have passed but her music lives on. The Greatest Love Of All – The Whitney Houston Show celebrates the magnificent catalogue of hits that Houston made famous during 29 year career, including ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, ‘Where Do Broken Hearts Go’, ‘I’m Every Woman’, ‘I Will Always Love You’ and many more.

The show will be taking place from the 27-29 November and you can win tickets to join in on the fun.

The show is a double whammy for PE because not only will it be taking place in the newly revamped PE Opera house but it also features PE’s own Belinda Davids who in 2013 beat out over 15,000 other applicants to take on the challenging lead role. Taking more than 80,000 tickets to date, the show has been an instant success with Davids as the marquee star. She continues to tour with the show internationally, keeping alive the music and spirit of her own musical idol – the late, great Whitney Houston.

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Starring the breathtaking voice of Belinda Davids live in concert, plus full band, dancers and theatrical effects, this show is not just a brilliant tribute but a spectacular concert experience in it’s own right. A great night out for music lovers of all ages. I know I will definitely be there!!! *Cause I wanna dance with somebody-okay that’s going to be stuck in my head today*

Big Mouth Entertainment is giving one lucky JustEllaBella reader the chance to be there on opening night November 27 … That’s right two tickets and all you have to do is enter below:

However if you do not win be sure to pick up your tickets through Computicket at R180-R220

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Tips to keep boredom away

November 6, 20153 Comments

So just yesterday a friend asked for tips on keeping her little one busy during the approaching holidays. At first I drew a blank (How is it November already, that seems insane) and then remembered that I actually had a few crafts aimed at kids on the blog so here goes… A few things to keep little ones busy this holiday season 🙂

PLAY DOUGH KITS

DIY sensory rice

DIY Petrol pump

Feed the animals game

Make your own boardgame

Time to embrace the “boskop” beauties

October 16, 20151 Comment

picture from twitter

Hair is a topic with varying view points but I thought I’d share mine…

Over the years I have had a ton of different hairstyles… seriously see HERE

I then gave up all the heat and stuff and opted for the natural route see HERE

The point of this post? Well I was thinking there is just not enough natural hair representatives like celeb Pearl Thusi out there.

The girls who don’t have long flowing hair worthy of a shampoo ad grow up thinking they have the short end of the stick.

Weaves, braids and relaxers are used to fix this curse we have been born with because “kroes, curly, bushy” hair is not on.

It occurs to me that this is just how we are brought up… It has been drilled into most black and coloured women (and white) that there is no need to look “raggedy” with their own hair when there is all this Brazilian blow outs, relaxers and weaves out there.

I mean most of the black starlets are rocking weaves and wigs… you didn’t think that was Beyonce’s real hair did you?

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with trying different things or making things easier for yourself (actually thinking summer is here so I might braid for swimming) I just think it’s time we teach our little girls (and boys) that there is nothing wrong with the hair sprouting out of their heads. If they opt to chemically or otherwise change their hair it needs to be a personal decision, one where they feel they want to for themselves and not because society dictates that what they were born with is not good enough.

I know it’s sort of soap boxy but it hurts me when I see little girls taught that their natural beauty is not enough, that just because they don’t have ringlets blowing in the wind they are not as pretty as their friends.

The great thing is so much more people are embracing what they were born with so pretty soon being a bos kop will be seen as a good thing. SA celeb Pearl Thusi (seen above) is a great example of this)

I grew up believing my hair was my worst quality (attribute) …turns out my worst quality was listening to the opinions of others 😉

If you or your someone you know is in need of some natural hair inspiration check out these awesome local bloggers:

Lots of love from me to you 🙂

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Eleanor J’adore