A Special Blog Anniversary…Giveaway!!

In honour of Beautiful Girlhood’s six year anniversary, I have decided to host a very special celebratory giveaway!   

Yes indeed, my friends, I am celebrating six wonderful years of sharing my heart and life on Beautiful Girlhood! 

…And what a special and memorable six years it has been as I have journeyed into womanhood and pursued God in beautiful, Biblical femininity, and continue to do so…

I have been so blessed to have made special friends along the way and truly appreciate all your kind words of encouragement - I simply love visiting each of you at your beautiful blogs!

Now…onto the exciting giveaway!

   

One reader will receive this lovely gift which includes…

A pack of four pretty handmade fabric coasters…

 

 

 

A pack of six handmade gift tags…

…And a pretty drawstring bag with a crocheted edge!

~

I will be away for the month of April and will be taking a short break from blogging, so this post will remain up until my return! 

I hope to announce the winner on May 3^rd…

To enter…simply leave me a comment!

This giveaway is open to all readers, both new and old, all over the world!

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I hope April is a beautiful month for you! 

I look forward to sharing my adventures with you in May when I return to the blogging sphere… 

Until then, have a wonderful month!

Portuguese Potato Bread Rolls

These lovely bread rolls are a favourite in our home!  Fresh from the oven they are simply delicious and toasted they are even better... 

Serve with soup, salads or a barbeque and enjoy...

 

  Portuguese Potato Bread 

Recipe Courtesy:  The Farm Kitchen by Colette Comins

500g mashed potato or sweet potato

800ml lukewarm water

1.5kg cake flour

20ml salt

1 1/2 x 10g packets instant yeast

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius and grease two baking sheets or line with baking paper.

Blend the mashed potato and warm water until smooth.

Place all the other ingredients in a seperate bowl and make a well in the centre.

Add the blended potato and knead into the dry ingredients.

Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.  

Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Knock the dough back and divide into four equal portions.  

Place two loaves on each baking sheet.

If making rolls, instead of dividing the dough into four, pinch off pieces roughly the same size,

form into fat sausage shapes and arrange on the baking sheets.  Makes about 20.

Be sure to leave enough room for the rolls to rise during baking.  

Leave to rise again, then dust with flour.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius

and bake the bread for a further 30-40 minutes and the rolls for 15-20 minutes.

 I hope you are having a beautiful week, dear friends!

 ~ ...She provides food for her family...  Proverbs 31:15 ~

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 This Post May be Shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up and Modest Monday ~

Thoughtful Thursday

The man is the brace and ceiling of his house,

He is the straight walls rising from the earth,

The woman is the golden glow of lamps,

The firelight on a hearth.

~ Emery Petho

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” 

~ Proverbs 14:1

“…Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

~ Titus 2:4-5

Blessings on your Thursday, sweet friends!  

Oh!  And look out for a special...giveaway coming this Sunday!

 

 ~ Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain…  Psalm 127:1 ~

Herbal Bathtime Tea Bags...

My dear parents gave me the most beautiful book called, Gifts from the Garden by Debora Robertson, for my seventeenth birthday last year...

I had been admiring this book in the store for such a long time and dearly wanted to add it to my collection...

Gifts from the Garden is filled with the most beautiful and inspiring gifts, recipes and tips for growing herbs, flowers and veggies...

The gifts are both simple and afforable to make and the gorgeous photographs add to the appeal!  

Every page is a delight and I never tire of looking through it!

~

 

A few days ago I thoroughtly enjoyed trying out one of the pretty gifts featured on page 31 for herbal bathtime teas...

I made the sleepy blend which contains dried lavender and chamomile, which I just happened to have stored away!

I had dried these herbs back in October last year and saved them in the hopes of sometime attempting a project from my lovely book...

I felt like a lady of a byegone era, sitting outside in the fresh air, stripping all the dried lavender flowers off the stalks and watching the pile of beautifully scented herbs rise in the bowl... 

And how special to use lavender and chamomile we had grown ourselves...surely this makes a gift all the more special...?

 

I would love to share the instructions to make these pretty tea bags with you, just in case you have dried chamomile and lavender and feel like creating a beautiful gift for someone special!  

You will be pleasantly surprised to find how simple they are to make!

~

Herbal Bathtime Tea Bags ~ Sleepy Blend

Makes about: 8

You will need:

10 tablespoons dried chamomile

5 tbsp dried lavender

Muslin

Small tie-on gift tags (optional)

Needle and thread or sewing machine 

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Cut out 16, 10cm squares of muslin.

Write or print the name of the blend on the gift tags, if using.

Place two squares of muslin together and, either by hand or with a sewing machine, 

stitch around three sides of the square, about 1cm in from the edge.

Spoon a couple tablespoons of the mixture into the resulting bag.

Sew together the final side, making sure you catch the string 

from the gift tag in the stitching, if using.

Make the rest of the bags the same way.

Stored in an airtight container, the 'teas' will retain their fragrance for a couple of months.

To use, simply drop a sachet into your bathwater...

Recipe Courtesy ~ Gifts from the Garden by Debora Robertson

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I decided to give my herbal bathtime teas to someone very dear to me who enjoys a good soak in the tub at the end of a day...

I popped them in a box I had such fun decorating...

 

I found the most elegant vintage paper at the scrapbook shop some time ago and used it to decorate a plain brown box...

 

On one side I printed out the instructions for use on a piece of the patterned paper, distressing the edges to give it a vintage appeal...

 

On the other side I printed out the ingredients...I used a beautiful font for added charm!

...I also stamped Handmade With Love on the back...

I decorated the top of the box by printing out Herbal Bathtime Tea ~ Sleepy Blend onto the same paper and adding photo corners, pearls and a dainty pink organza bow...

 Look at this elegant lady!  I just had to use this part of the paper for the front of the box...  Again, I distressed the edges of the paper with ink and added large pearls to the corners...

I also made a matching mini card from brown kraft paper using pink lace, organza ribbon, tiny pearls and a tea cup motif...

 ...The paper I used had little postage stamps on it - I cut one out, distressed the edges and adhered it to the top right-hand corner of the little envelope to match the card...

 I added mini tags to the herbal tea bags, attaching them with a length of pink Baker's twine...

I printed Sleepy Blend onto each tag, distressing the edges and adding a tiny pearl...

 

Once the box was decorated, I popped the tea bags neatly inside...

Then I completed the gift by wrapping pretty pink ribbon around it and tying a large bow... 

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I am so pleased with the outcome of this sweet project!  I look forward to many more hours of gift making using ingredients from my garden and kitchen...

Thank you for visiting today, dear readers!

 I hope you have been inspired to attempt a little creating with the beautiful herbs and flowers that grace your garden...

Or maybe you don't have a garden yet and have been eager to grow a few herbs and flowers...?

I have come to realise how special a simple gift can be, especially when much love and thought has been poured into making it pretty and appealing...

I do hope that these teas bring as much pleasure to the sweet receiver as I had making them!

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May your day be blessed and beautiful!

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This Post May be Shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up, Titus 2 Tuesday and Modest Monday ~