Gift Idea - A Jar of Sweet Thoughts

Recently it was my mum's birthday and this year it was a big one. We had a surprise party planned out and had also bought various presents, but I wanted to do something personal, something different. So after a lot of deliberation with me sister we came up with this idea. 

Each of us (me,my dad, brother, sister and brother in-law) would write 10 nice/sweet things about my mum on little pieces of paper, fold them up and put them in a nicely decorated jar (with washi tape). Now what we wrote was completely up to to the individual and no one would ever read what the other person wrote. I also wanted to think of something nice to write on the front and came up with 'A Jar of Sweet Thoughts' as in a jar of sweets. I put the jar on my mums bedside table when the surprise party was going on so when she came up at the end of the night she had something special.

This is a very sentimental sweet gift for some special in your life and it also make you think of all the thing that you love about that person. It's easy to do but very affective (my mum said she cried when she was reading the little notes). And it doesn't just have to be for birthdays it can be for any occasion. 

Baby Shower Gift Idea

As stated in the previous post it has been a big baby boom this year and I thought it would be nice to do a post on a gift idea of something different rather than the usual clothes, blankets and toys etc. You may or may not know that I love anything handmade, just knowing that someone has put hard work, effort and thought into the craft and what they have made just puts a huge smile on my face. So it may be no surprise that this is a handmade gift made by yours truly.

Embroidery hoop art has been all over the internet for a while now and I have always wanted to try it but never had the chance. The great thing about these are that you have 100% creative control and do whatever you want with them and make them for any occasion. In this instance the lovely mother to be hadn't found out the gender of the baby so instead to going with all neutral colours I went with all different colours. You can use any shape/size hoop, any fabric, buttons, beads, ribbons and anything you want. 

Just a couple of tips

• Always cut your fabric about and inch bigger than you need and tighten it as much as you can on the hoop.
• When finished fold and glue the excess fabric to the inside of the hoop to keep it secure 
• You can also cover the hoop in washi tape, fabric, ribbon, lace or whatever else looks good around it
• Just have fun with it, let your imagination run wild and you never know what you will come up with  

Here is the set of three colourful embroidery hoop wall art, ideal to hang in the baby's nursery  

A button hot air balloon 

Who doesn't love colourful bunting

Colourful ribbons 

The wholes on the side of the embroidery hoop are perfect for threading ribbon through

Close up of the cute teddy bear ribbon 

All read to be gifted 

Instagram Update

As stated previously at the beginning of this post, I have been pretty rubbish a blogging and showing you what has been going on with my life.  So I thought the best way to update you gust would be through my instagram pictures. If you are on instagram do come and follow me because it is where I upload the most and just to see what is going on with me (@capturing_my_world).

So I came back from Dubai to the rainy north of England 

The leaves started changing colour 

The picture of the cake I made for Eid Ul Adha made it into this Sorted Food video :)

It was still raining 

Autumn was in full swing 

My friend got married and it was beautiful wedding 

We went to Morocco

It was my birthday and this was a handmade car from my sister (you can see her blog post about it here)

The festive lights is Manchester Arndale were looking very nice 

The days were getting shorter and I realised that I was awake (most of the time) before the sun was 

And before I knew it, it was new years eve, and because it is my grandma's birthday in new years day we always spent the day with family and I baked a cake 

I was experimented with colours 

And had my first rainbow cupcake order

We finally started putting our VHS tape onto DVDs

One of the advantages of having shorter days is the I would see this whenever I left work 

No comment ;)

I was working all day on pancake day so the next day I made savoury sweetcorn pancakes with mushrooms and a freshly laid fried egg  

I bought a new baking book which I love 

I'm really getting into gardening 

I love watching the plants starting to pop out of the soil 

Also trying to be more healthy 

And Spring has officially sprung 

So now you are up to date with what has been going on. I think I might make this Instagram update a regular feature I quite like it. Remember for all my goings on check out my instagram (@capturing_my_world) and until next time, bye :) x 

Ramadan gifts

As many of you know the holy month of Ramadan is in full swing now. In this month of Muslim's will fast from sunrise to sunset. Also in this month Muslim's increase their worship (through praying and reciting the Qur'an etc) to the all might Allah and increase their good deeds. Doing all of this helps Muslim's build their patience, be grateful for what we have that others around the world may not have, and most importantly to get closer to Allah in our hearts and on a spiritual level. The month of Ramadan was also the month in which the Qur'an was revealed and sent down to the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

It is custom in Ramadan to take gifts when visiting  loved ones and neighbours, and normally these gifts include a box or tray of dates (which many Muslim's open their fast with at sunset). However I wanted to try something different with dates this year. I made mini almond date truffles and mini coconut macaroons instead. I saw the recipe for almond date truffles about a year ago and thought they would make perfect Ramadan gifts, and my recent love for making coconut macaroons can be read about here. In the recipe for the truffles it does ask for medjol dates (which are quite sweet) however I didn't have any at the time so I used the dates I had and the added a bit of honey for some sweetness. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of the process of making them but I did take a picture of the finished product.

Finished product tied up with ribbon and a home made gift tag

Close up  

The tags I made using parchment paper and washi tape for the decoration. On the other side of the tag I wrote a sentimental message, 'May this Ramadan bring you peace, prosperity, good health and brighten your life forever Ameen xx'. For your Ramadan gifts you can put whatever message you want, whatever feels right. Hope you all have a blessed month and may this Ramadan bring you peace, prosperity, good health and bright your life forever, Ameen xx

'They aren't macaroons, they don't have two sides'...

.....Was a direct quote from my cousin when he saw these coconut macaroons. Obviously he was thinking about their more fashionable and popular cousin the French macaron. I said to him 'just because it doesn't look like a typical macaroon, it doesn't mean that it isn't a macaroon'. Anyway the recipe and the method couldn't have been easier and the outcome of it all is even better. They had a wonderful marshmallowy taste to them and were just scrummy. The recipe I used was from here, but at the end I did dip each macaroon into dark chocolate just to add a little extra to them. I actually made mine quite big, I think I might try and make them a bit smaller next time, but you can make them whatever size you want. 

All of the ingredients that were used

Getting ready to mix

Mixing away

Ready for the oven

Baked and dipped in dark chocolate

 

First Birthday Party

Now we all know that children never remember their first birthday party, so bearing that in mind my sister really wasn't intending to do anything for my niece's first birthday. Also it did come a day before my cousin's wedding and everyone was busy with that. However my mother, brother in-law and sister's father in-law started talking about do something for the occasion. On the actual day we just had an impromptu lighting of candles on a bakery bought cake with just the people who were already over at our house. Then a week later we ended up doing a proper thing at my sister's in-laws. This was an excuse to make up a dessert table, which to be honest me, my sister and her sister in-law were more excited about putting that together than anything else. Here are some pictures from the occasion.

I wasn't going to put any pictures of the impromptu thing but I like this
 picture of my brother in-law light the candle

On the party day, barbecue on the menu

It was lovely eating in the garden 

For the dessert table: Brownies with hearts on made by me 

Biscuits made buy my sister's cousin in-law 

Vanilla cupcakes with strawberries and Thorntons smiles on top of buttercream
made but my sister's sister in-law

The whole dessert table 

Buttons, paper straws and mini spinning wheels  

Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream and gold glitter covered cherries, also made by my sister's sister in-law

Even though my niece was actually asleep when we did the actual cake cutting a lot of fun was had. I can't believe my niece is actually 1 years old mashallah, it just seems like yesterday my sister told us she was expecting. Here's wishing her a long, happy and prosperous life inshallah.

Strawberry Jam and Coconut Cake

Who remembers school dinner from primary school? Do you also remember the cakes the you used to get with strawberry jam and coconut on top with custard. Well for a bit of nostalgia me and my sister decided to make it. For the actual cake we just used a basic sponge recipe which you can find on her blog here. Once the cake is cooled you just spread the top with your choice of jam (we chose strawberry) and sprinkle it with dessicated coconut. It's such a simple yet effective way to decorate not just a cake but cupcakes as well.

Covering the cake with coconut

Completely covered 

Finished product

Coconut

Corner