Well, finally Etcetera and I have finished the new Annie Belle doll. This is a special two page edition. Annie Belle comes complete with her very own Christmas tree and presents to put under it, although you're welcome to make her more.
Christmas is always better if you share with someone, so we've given Annie Belle a companion to share her Christmas fun. Meet Rosa, Annie Belle's cousin. The two girls each have two pretty dresses and these can be interchanged between the dolls.
Our suggestion with the tree is that you either print it off on card, or cut it out and paste it onto a piece of card to make it more stable. You might also like to print off two copies of the tree and stick the pieces back to back to get a lovely tree from whichever way you look at it.
To make up the tree, simply colour it in, cut it out, cut down the dotted lines and slide the two cut pieces up one another until they lock together. Then colour in the presents, cut them out, and place them under the tree.
In the next few days we hope to finish and load up our nativity scene dolls. This set will include a stable for you to put up for Mary, Joseph and Jesus to stay in. And for Epiphany we'll be giving you the Three Wise Men and their gifts to the infant Jesus.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
St Nicholas
Today is the feast day of St Nicholas. Our family loves St Nicholas’ day. We look forwards to it through the whole year. We have several customs connected with St Nicholas’ day and in this post I want to share them with you. We have also made a special St Nicholas paper doll for you to colour in.
We hope you enjoy making the biscuits and we also hope that you feel inspired to try making your own St Nicholas day traditions as we have done.
St Nicholas was born in the 4th century in Turkey. He was a very generous person and after his parents died he gave everything he owned to charity. He became a bishop, which is why our paper doll wears a bishop’s mitre. One of the most famous stories about him is this one:
There was a man who had three daughters. He was poor and could not afford a dowry for them to get married. St Nicholas found out and he dropped three bags of money down the chimney for the girls. This was their dowry.
This story might be the reason why Santa Claus is supposed to come down the chimney to deliver his presents.
St Nicholas is now the patron saint of many people. He is first and foremost the patron saint of children. He is also the patron saint of sailors and prisoners. Along with St Andrew he is the patron saint of Russia.
Our St Nicholas’ day celebrations start the night before. Each of us places a pair of shoes in some prominent place. Our St Nicholas is a very fussy saint and insists on us having clean shoes. During the night St Nicholas (or Juliet) comes and fills the shoes. In our house we use chocolate coins that you can buy easily at the shops but you can fill the shoes with anything. Some people use other sorts of sweets, or a small gift, or even real money. In the morning there is a rush for the shoes to see what St Nicholas has put in them this year.
Every year Etcetera and I make our special St Nicholas day biscuits, Speculatius. They are spicy biscuits with yummy nuts in them. These biscuits are delicious and very more-ish. I can’t imagine having St Nicholas day without them.
If you would like to make these biscuits too, then here is the recipe:
Speculatius
Ingredients
1-cup butter (approx 250 grams)
1-cup lard (approx 250 grams)
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2-cups brown sugar
4 ½ cups sifted flour
½ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ cup chopped nuts (any sort)
Cream the butter, lard and sugar. Add sour cream alternately with sifted dry ingredients. Stir in the nuts. Knead the dough into rolls and refrigerate overnight. Roll the dough very thin and cut into shapes. Bake in moderate oven (180 degrees) for 10-15 minutes.
Enjoy!
We hope you enjoy making the biscuits and we also hope that you feel inspired to try making your own St Nicholas day traditions as we have done.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Hello and Welcome!
Hello and Welcome! On this blog we share craft ideas. Etcetera designs new toys and paper dolls. I do some work. Our family has some fun.
(Read this in your best Jeremy Clarkson voice.)
Our family loves Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson in particular. I've always loved the way Jeremy opens each episode with the same familiar "Hello and Welcome" and I just couldn't resist using it in this, my very first post on The Serendipity Sisters. And while we may not be Top Gear we do have some things in common. We have a Captain Slow, we have a Jeremy Clarkson speak-alike, and while we may not have any hamsters we do have three guineas pigs.
In this blog I want to share craft ideas, paper dolls, and some stories of my family and pets. But first I have to introduce you to each of my family members. My Mum, Juliet Capulet, loves blogging and has already set herself up four. My Dad, Mr. Incredible, loves to cook and seems never happier than when he is in the kitchen whipping up a sumptuous feast. The Fiancee is 23. She's engaged to a lovely young man, Mr. Computer. The two of them are computer geeks and pretty nifty with photoshop. Captain Slow is my 22 year brother. He gets his name from the fact that, like the Top Gear presenter James May, he drives extremely slowly. King Kong is 18. Is an avid mountain biker, when his bike isn't broken that is. I am obviously Electra. I am 16. I am quite musical and take piano lessons and singing lessons as well as being part of a choir. Etcetera, my co-author and close sister of 13, loves all things crafty. When not putting together some new project she can usually be found with her head well and truly stuck inside a book. The Saint is my 11 year old brother. He died as a baby and has the most amazing collection of teddy bears. Titania, 9 years old, has the most amazing grin. She can swim a whole swimming lesson with it spread all over her face. Tinkerbell is 6. She is the living version of Barbie, with blond hair, blue eyes and beautiful pink clothes.
As well as our large family we have three cats, who are just as funny and unique as the rest of us. The Kibble Bandit, is our kitten. Her favourite pastime is sneaking up on the other two's food bowls, just to check if they've left her any kibble to bandit. The Wonky Donkey is huge. He's not too smart but he makes up for it by being extremely placid and handsome. Just don't try putting him in the bath. The Supermodel Spends all her time sleeping. When she isn't doing that she sits on the computer chair, completely ignoring all attempts to push her off.
Although the name of our blog is very popular, we think it suits us well. We are so lucky to have a nice family, and good things just seem to happen to us naturally, without us having to go looking for them. And we hope that on this site you will find something nice that you weren't expecting too.
(Read this in your best Jeremy Clarkson voice.)
Our family loves Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson in particular. I've always loved the way Jeremy opens each episode with the same familiar "Hello and Welcome" and I just couldn't resist using it in this, my very first post on The Serendipity Sisters. And while we may not be Top Gear we do have some things in common. We have a Captain Slow, we have a Jeremy Clarkson speak-alike, and while we may not have any hamsters we do have three guineas pigs.
In this blog I want to share craft ideas, paper dolls, and some stories of my family and pets. But first I have to introduce you to each of my family members. My Mum, Juliet Capulet, loves blogging and has already set herself up four. My Dad, Mr. Incredible, loves to cook and seems never happier than when he is in the kitchen whipping up a sumptuous feast. The Fiancee is 23. She's engaged to a lovely young man, Mr. Computer. The two of them are computer geeks and pretty nifty with photoshop. Captain Slow is my 22 year brother. He gets his name from the fact that, like the Top Gear presenter James May, he drives extremely slowly. King Kong is 18. Is an avid mountain biker, when his bike isn't broken that is. I am obviously Electra. I am 16. I am quite musical and take piano lessons and singing lessons as well as being part of a choir. Etcetera, my co-author and close sister of 13, loves all things crafty. When not putting together some new project she can usually be found with her head well and truly stuck inside a book. The Saint is my 11 year old brother. He died as a baby and has the most amazing collection of teddy bears. Titania, 9 years old, has the most amazing grin. She can swim a whole swimming lesson with it spread all over her face. Tinkerbell is 6. She is the living version of Barbie, with blond hair, blue eyes and beautiful pink clothes.
As well as our large family we have three cats, who are just as funny and unique as the rest of us. The Kibble Bandit, is our kitten. Her favourite pastime is sneaking up on the other two's food bowls, just to check if they've left her any kibble to bandit. The Wonky Donkey is huge. He's not too smart but he makes up for it by being extremely placid and handsome. Just don't try putting him in the bath. The Supermodel Spends all her time sleeping. When she isn't doing that she sits on the computer chair, completely ignoring all attempts to push her off.
Although the name of our blog is very popular, we think it suits us well. We are so lucky to have a nice family, and good things just seem to happen to us naturally, without us having to go looking for them. And we hope that on this site you will find something nice that you weren't expecting too.
Hello!
Welcome to our blog! We want to share crafty ideas, stories of our family and our three cats, The Kibble Bandit, The Wonky Donkey, and The Supermodel, and our paper dolls, made and designed by Electra and I. I designed them, but Electra did all the hard work of tracing, colouring, putting them on the computer and making sure they got on our site! We hope you'll love Annie Belle and the outfits. Look out for more dolls
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