{Personalised Wooden Blocks}

I had an occassion to go to for a little boy recently and I wanted to create something handmade and personalised for him to remember the special occassion with. So, I went to my local craft store, and with fresh inspiration, I created these darling little blocks.

I tried to keep the colours earthy and nuetral as I knew from the baby shower what colour theme his nursery was. This wasn't the occassion to go all out on bright, daring and gaudy colour combinations lol ;)


I am think this is such an awesome idea I want to create some for my boys, but add some photos to them. But the concept is so adaptable to any pallete or occassion. Very easy and will definitley do this again!



Enjoy;
Lauren x

{IN THE LIME LIGHT} And the winner is.....

And the winner.......





.......of our voucher to spend at Invitations 2 Impress is......

***DRUM ROLL PLEASE***

RHIANNON!!!!!

Congratlations to you and I will contact you with the details of collecting your prize :)

Stay tuned for the 15th of Feburary when our next Local Artisan will be announced (loving the variety this feature is offering you all, I hope you are too).

Enjoy;
Lauren x

Delicious Falafel

Sorry for being quiet on the blog front, we have had a busy week or two around here and there are some sewing projects I am working on too.
DON'T forget to enter the Lime Light Giveaway also as it's drawn on the 30th ;)

Recently I have had a few people asking for my Falafel recipe so I tried to remember how I do it (I don't use a recipe, so each batch may be slightly different but componants are the same).



INGREDIENTS:
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic (ish depending on size, but we like our garlic too)
2 heaped tsp ground cummin
2 heaped tsp ground corriander
1 tsp of ground cardomom
2 cans of chick peas
1 bunch corriander
salt and pepper
1/3 cup rice flour (can substitute plain or chick pea flour also)

METHOD
1. In fry pan, fry dry spices first with NO oil to release aroma slightly.
2. Add a little olive oil or vegetable oil with onion and garlic and cook on medium heat untill onions are transperant.
3. Drain and add chick peas to your food processser with onion mixture.
4. Blitz until smooth
5. Add a handful of fresh corriander and the salt and pepper (not much required)
6. Remove mixture into a bowl and gently mix through the rice flour. 7. Chill mixture for about 1/2 hour or so (optional, just allows mixture to set better)
8. Roll into small balls, sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional) and put onto an oven tray and bake at 180' until golden (usually about 20 minutes in my oven).

Best served HOT and we usually eat in a mountain bread wrap with homemade hummus, homemade tabouli and avacado.

Enjoy adding this meat free meal to your family menu, we do!
Lauren x

Homemade Hommus

Our house eats very healthy (even the kids!) and one thing everyone here loves is hummus. Whether its spread on a wrap with freshly made falafel and tabouli, used instead of butter or margarine on a salad sandwich or just dipped with veggie sticks, it's always a winner!!!
So here is my recipe for it, I've never bought it from the store since and always make a double batch!

Ingredients:

2 tins chickpeas, drained.

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons tahini (unhulled is the best)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste about 1/2 a can worth of water (sometimes I need more/ less depending on the batch of chickpeas)

2 tablespoons olive oil

**If you want a kick, add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, yum!

Method:
1. Put all ingredients and blend in food processor. Done! Hard huh ;)
2. I always taste test first because sometimes the chick peas are saltier than others or the lemon may not have as stronger taste. Just add more of the seasonings (i.e. lemon, salt and pepper or garlic) to refine recipe to how you want t to taste.


Chick peas are a helpful source of folate, zinc and protein. They are also very high in dietry fibre and a healthy source of carbohydrates. They are low in fat and the fat the do have is polyunsaturated anyway. These are always in stock in our house and I hope you try this one at your place. I will also post the falafel recipe soon too - one of our favourite meals. Delish!

Enjoy;
Lauren x

{Lime Light} Invitations2Impress

The day is FINALLY here - the FIRST Lime Light featured on Homemade By Lauren. This month I welcome Invitations2Impress to you all. Their motto is "personalised invitations for every occasion" and they certainly deliver that and more!

Before guests even arrive at your function they always 'preview' the event with how you invite them. Using Invitations 2 Impress will definitley impress your guests before they arrive to your event.
There is sure to be a design for any taste or event on their website and if you want something a little different, just email them and they will work with you to create that perfect image!
Invitations2Impress have multpile online galleries with some usual events covered like weddings, birthday's and christenings and even matching thank you cards. However there were some items in their catalogue gallery that stood out to me as being quite different in a wonderful way. They offer services such as a photo keepsakes (that match your event) and photo montages that allow you to remeber the occassion you celebrated or give a gift of memories to some-one close to you.

Find them on their website Invitations2Impress and click here to find them on Facebook or Twitter with @invites2impress


**Invitations2Impress is donating $1 from every January sale to the flood victims**

So, grab a cuppa and meet the face behind the buisness:

HBL : Share with us a little about yourself.
My name is Catherine and I LOVE being a busy wife and a stay at home mum of two, Ashley (5 and about to start school) and Luke (2 and a half, and don’t we know it!). I have a wonderful supportive husband and who is always there to sort out my computer problems!

HBL : How long has Invitations2Impress been running and how did the business start?
Invitations2Impress has been running since 2006. I created a few invites for my daughter and my friends parties. Hubby encouraged me to create a few more designs which I did for free to build the business. When I had about a hundred designs, I listed on ebay and they started selling!

HBL : What is your favourite part of running Invitations2Impress?
A few things!
a.The “grown up” time helps keep me a sane mum.
b.The sense of achievement in running my business.
c.Developing a friendship with customers by helping them organise their special moments from engagements through to their children’s christenings and birthdays.

HBL : Where do you find inspiration for your creations?
My customers are a fantastic source of inspiration. These days, a lot of my designs are from inspired by custom design requests

HBL : Were there any challenges you found in setting or running the business and how did you overcome that?
Oh yes! The main challenges were in building up the business’ reputation and creating and maintaining the website. But it was a labour of love, and the effort has well and truly paid off!

HBL : Finally, what advice would you give to people wanting to start their own handmade type business?
Find something that you love doing, and just give it a go! It might take some time to build up a business, but if you love what you’re doing then it doesn’t become a chore.

~~GIVEAWAY TIME~~

INVITATIONS2IMPRESS is offering a FREE invite or thank you card to the value of $18.95.


How do you enter?
1. Go to their website
2. Email homemadebylauren@gmail.com and in the subject line tell me how much they charge to re-touch your photos. 3. Wait untill the 30th of the month when the winner will be announced.
[Limit of ONE(1) entry PER PERSON ; PER DAY]

Spread the word and I hope you enjoyed our first Lime Light;
Lauren x