Newest Sponsor

I’d like to welcome Life’s Visual Journal’s first sponsor- Daily Riddle!

In a world where every answer is at your fingertips, Daily Riddle is a refreshing challenge for those who understand the importance of regularly exercising the mind.

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I’ve been  jumping on every morning when I wake up to answer the questions. The best part is the fact that they’re not riddles you’ve ever heard before- so no googling the answers! Perfect for exercising your brain.

This would also be good resource for teachers (of upper primary and high school), you could easily do them with your class each morning! That’s my plan for future upper primary relief days!

So go and check out this new website (it’s only been up and running for a few weeks), and answer some riddles!

If you’re interested in sponsorship, email me.

Thanks for visiting my site again! keep checking back for more updates!

12 Months of Christmas: February- Felt Birds Tutorial

Well, better late then never, right?! This months has been muddled with internet issues, and video exporting dramas, but we’re finally here with february’s christmas craft!

Don’t forget to download the entire ebook here, the pattern is also included in the ebook.

As usual I deviated slightly from my pattern, but only with the colour of my thread and felt! At the end of the video there are are a few examples of some extra things you can do with your bird- different coloured felt again, buttons etc. I am always very excited to see how other people have made each month’s craft unique, and last month I saw some wonderful images from some of you! This month I’ve set up a flickr group, so if you want your images to be scrolling down the bottom of my blog posts etc., then add it to the group!

Anyway, without further ado, here’s this month’s video. If you’ve got any questions, then leave a comment!

12 Months of Christmas February from Talia Carbis on Vimeo.

Don’t forget to add your creation to the flickr group!

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Homemade Chai Latte

Lately I’ve been really into herbs and spices. I have nowhere near enough tupperware to house all the strange types I’ve bought, so they’re just stashed in my cupboard!  My obsession has moved from traditional Middle Eastern cuisine, into Indian, and now into drinks. This weekend I experimented with two new drinks- homemade iced tea (no sugar added), and homemade chai tea (also no sugar).

The no sugar thing is because we’ve been reading/listening about the effects sugar has on our body, but I’ll talk more about that another time.

Homemade chai tea (and then chai latte) is a lot easier then you’d think. And on a sweltering hot day like today, an iced chai latte was the perfect relief!

Image Source

Ingredients:

* 5 cups water

* 2 teaspoon fresh ginger (chopped into 1cm pieces- approx 3)
* 1 whole star anise
* Sliced orange peel (approx 1/4 of a SMALL orange)
* 4 pieces cinnamon bark; 1 1/2 inch
* 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
* 10 whole cloves
* 5 whole peppercorns

* 1/4 cup black tea leaves
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/4 cup honey
* 3 cups milk

Process:

Put your water in a small saucepan. Add the ginger, star anise, orange, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and peppercorns to the water and bring to a simmer.

Once it’s simmering, add the tea leaves. Simmer again for 15 minutes. Take off the heat and add the vanilla and honey. Use your personal judgement with the amount of honey. I actually found 1/4 cup too much honey, so add part then keep adding it.

This is basically your chai tea. You can add this concentrate to water to have a herbal tea, or keep following the recipe for the chai latte.

For a hot chai latte, bring your milk to a simmer, and add the concentrate. Serve.

I recommend making the concentrate, and storing it in the fridge. Then on a hot day, use it in a similar manner to a cordial- add a bit to your cup (a bit less then cordial), fill with milk, add ice. Also, if you wanted it as a hot drink at night, make it the same way, and instead of putting ice in it, stick it in the microwave for a few minutes!