Crafts for interior III- Advent wreath II

There was a discussion on green carpet about how green really are our Advent wreaths I felt that maybe I should say a word or two here too..

You are cutting trees!- Well, we only take few branches from big trees and that does not really hurt them, besides my family is planting trees as their business, so we're cutting our own. And then I thought - hey, that's a good idea! We should encourage people to plant their own future Christmas trees and trees to use for decorations!

You are using artificial decors that are made of all those plastic, toxic ingredients!- I must admit, that we use few, indeed.. but we don't use plastic only, we use glass and ceramics as well.. besides, whatever we use, we do it for many years. We still have ribbons and little balls that my mom purchased about 10 years ago, and they still look great if you take care of them.. and most important- collect them after use in a box for the next winter!

You are using toxic color sprays and powders! - Yes, unfortunately we do. I haven't yet found another solution to how to make thing golden or copper without a color spray or powder.. I'd love to have other ways too!So if anyone comes across an ecological colors, please, please, please, let me know! And to justify myself a little bit again here- if I color spray a pine cone or a coffee bean or a hazelnut, I use it again for more than one year. I also make sure there's no-one nearby to breath in that fume. Our rule with unnatural stuff is simple- use it multiple times and take care of it to use longer!!! 

For many things nowadays you can find a non-toxic, pure alternatives, like candles, for example. You can ditch the regular candles made of paraffin that are not good to your health and choose the vegetable based wax or bee wax candles instead. This is what I promise to do next year, since this year we used what we already had. I just take caution not to light them in the room when my little one is in and they are lit only for short period of time. Unfortunately many things are still as toxic as they were.. I am really looking forward for it to change!!! And I kindly ask you, if you find an alternative that doesn't compromise the looks or quality- please, please, please, let me know!!! 

But here to have some visual joy again- another Advent wreath, this one I did for my dad's office!

I just love the smell of fir trees during this time of year.. whenever you pass it buy, aroma therapy kicks in! 

Crafts for interior II- Advent wreath I

I love this time of year, when candles in the Advent wreath are warming our hearts despite the cold winds that blow outside.. But I think even more than that I love the creation of Advent wreaths. Day or two before the First Advent Sunday our family goes to the forest and gets some evergreens, then we lay out all our decoration "stuff" (which is a lot!!!). We combine what nature gives us with a bit of artificial decors as well, we play with sprays and powders in golden, copper, silver, peacock, white.. and our favorite tool that day- is a hot glue gun!
So here's the first of our collection this year- this one goes to our apartment in the city!  

We wish everyone bright, peaceful and harmonious Advent!

Winter delights I- fragile honey gingerbread

Winter has finally arrived on green carpet!!! When I have to think, when does the winter really starts, it's not a 1st December.. neither 1st Advent nor 23rd December when astrological winter begins.. My winter begins with the first snow.. And finally, yes, finally it's here!!! So, congratulations everyone on the beginning of the winter which is going to be a first one I spend here, back home, after a very long time.. And it's the first one for my little precious darling girl as well, so I hope we do get a lot of snow, many sunny days and lot's of joy! And I wish the same to all of you!

Obviously, winter also has many delights.. These are the warming ones you love to enjoy cuddled under big jacket and wearing woolen socks.. Like- gingerbread!
So here's one amazing recipe that we already enjoyed this year on 1st Advent.

Fragile honey gingerbread: 

• 180g sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp spoons milk
• 50g butter
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 300g flour
• 1tbsp gingerbread spice

Mix together milk, sugar, soda, egg, honey and butter and heat it until everything has melted and starts to boil. Stir all the time! The paste should become frothy and expanded. Let it cool and then mix in flour and spices to have thick but not hard paste. Keep it in cold for 1hour (not longer, it will become too hard then!). Spread the paste on the table and cut out the shapes of gingerbread you want, put them on greased pan. Remember that they will expand while baking, so consider the distance between each gingerbread. "Paint"  them with beaten egg and bake in 180 C until golden brown and ready. Remove from the pan immediately and let them cool. 

Believe me- you'll love them- super fragile,crunchy and spicy!!!! 

Note- we're making our own gingerbread spice which I will share some time later on, but you can use the mix you can get in stores or use your own recipe! Enjoy!

Autumn delights IV- Carrot pancakes- reduce your leftovers!

It's been a while ago since I promised to post a recipe what to do with the leftovers after squeezing carrot juice.

On this post on Autumn delights on green carpet you will find a reminder about fresh juices, but here is the recipe for carrot pancakes/ fritters.
After you have juiced your carrots for a fresh vitamin drink, take the pure carrot "dry" leftovers from the juicer container. If you juice the mix of vegetables, remember to juice carrots first and remove the leftovers before juicing other ingredients!
Then add to the carrots the following:

eggs
flour
sour cream
pinch of sugar and salt

mix it all together in a thick, creamy paste and put spoonfuls on a pan with hot olive oil and fry on medium fire till golden brown. I suggest turning them couple of times to be sure they're well fried!
They are the best with sour cream. You can eat them hot or cold, but I have to confess that in our home they disappear still burning hot right from the pan...

And if you want to experiment, my suggestion would be mixing leftovers from carrot and pumpkin juice together!

Crafts for interior I- pot holders

Here on green carpet we love to give hand-made gifts on birthdays, namedays, Christmas and all other occasions whenever we have had enough time to make them. Winter before first snow is pretty dark here, so I just had a feeling to do something colorful. Both the idea and the necessity came right on time and these lovely pot holders went to my mother-in-law as a birthday present combined with home made jams, pumpkin juice and meringue cookies, yum.

I think such things would also make wonderful Christmas presents, however, I think I'm a bit out of time for those now. Have to put in a diary for next year!!!

Crafts for Baby III- knitted Cardigan and booties

One more little piece to share on green carpet- knitted Cardigan and knee high booties made for my princess from Merino wool + Silk with a little silk ribbon for ties. Cardigan is done quite long to cover little bum as well since we experience long and cold winters here. She has already grown out of booties, but the cardigan will fit till the end of the winter. So I'll just have to make new booties now a size bigger. Enjoy knitting on green carpet!!!

Crafts for Baby II- knitted Christmas sweater

One of the things I love about hand-crafts on green carpet- you can make anything any size and any style you want. Since winter is coming along, it's the time my little one tries on her Christmas sweater. I love these patterns and it's warm from not dyed baby alpaca wool. Another thing I love about it- it fits both a girl and a boy, so if my little girl will have a brother some time after a while.. he'll love this warm, soft piece too :)

A note to myself- in future post my works before the little princess has started to wear them..
It looks much better on the baby rather than just flat on the surface. But I'm one of those moms who thinks that this little soul is so sacred that it is not yet ready to be shared with the whole world in pictures. That time will come too.. but- in a while!