An A-Z of Sisters Guild - H

home /hohm/ noun 1 the place where one lives permanently, esp with ones family, or as a member of a household. 2 a house, flat, apartment, etc. 3 the social unit constituted by a family of living together. 4 ones native region or country.

home /hohm/ adv. 1 to or at the place where one lives. 2 to one's family or residence from somewhere else. 3 to one's ultimate objective

home /hohm/ adj. 1a relating to one's home; domestic; home comforts. b taking place in the home. 2 denoting the headquarters or centre of operations. 3 said of a team player: belonging to the ground where a sporting fixture is held. 4 relating to or belonging to one's own country.

home verb trans said of a bird or animal: to return to its base by means of instinct > to provide (a domestic pet) with a home.

It is said that 'home is where the heart is' but a home is more than that. It is our sanctum, our place where we enjoy the company of family and chatter with friends. It is our one part of the world which we are free to embellish with our individual and unique style. We dress it with pieces we feel a connection to, we house galleries of childrens artwork and favourite memories in frames. Kitchens anticipate the apothecary of fashioning feasts. Silent sanctuarys that are our bedrooms whisper promises of sleep. We play, we peruse our libraries that are our shelves of old and new 'reads'. We have our cozy corners and our favourite spaces. Our home is where we express ourselves in ways that are secret to the outside world. It is where we celebrate our lives in its routine and occasion. A place where we feel the assured warmth of keeping our hearts inside. It is our base, our strongbox and our escape into the arms of what is ours, what is known.

Wednesday: Wooing Mama!

Mama needs some wooing, not just for Mother's Day but always.
Here are some gifts for Mum, Mummy, Mother, Mama.
Mama loves...

Beautiful gifts for Mama to make her feel adored.  Jewellery by hop hop hop and Renaissance Life has so much charm - necklaces and bracelets to make Mama gasp with delight. Mama loves pretty....

Hand-painted metal candle holders by Rice DK £21.50
Mini nuage bracelet in powder pink by hop hop hop £39
Fabric photo frame by Rice DK £6.50
Year 1983 Swedish Russian Doll Necklace by Renaissance Life £119
Mini Mcghee Blanket with Vintage Bag £56
Fabric Flower Embroidered Box £44.50
My Favourite Spot in Spring Cushion by Belle & Boo £42

Home is surely the domain of Mama, a sanctuary, an expression of herself and her family.
Home is a place to make your nest, a place to gather friends and entertain, a place to surround yourself with favourite things that inspire and bring joy. Some gifts for a home-loving Mama...

Bureaux a la maison (home offices), book by PAUMES £20.40
Children's Rooms Paris, book by PAUMES £20.40
Ava's Tea Party mounted print by Belle & Boo £61.50
Tea Time Wall Sticker by Love Mae £55.00
Favourite Place Pillow by Lucky Boy Sunday £43
Leila Lou Linen Vintage-Inspired Dolls £18.50 each
Embroidered Napkins by Rice DK £5.30 each

We all have a creative side, or at least a desire to make. These are things for a mama who love to make, whether that's baking, knitting, sewing or other absorbing crafts.

Fabric Embroidered Box - for keeping craft hobby bits! - by Rice DK £44.50

Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutters £3

Butterfly-Shaped Cookie Cutters £3

Colourful set of plates by Rice DK £7.80

Dove & Cherries Pinny Sewing Kit in Jade by Clothkits £19

Melamine Mixing Bowls with Lids - set of 4 by Rice DK £34

A colourful piece, especially by our favourite homeware designers Rice DK, really does make us smile and sing.  A cushion to entice you to your armchair, a blanket to spread out, sprawl and read upon, a candelabra to make a enchanting centerpiece, clothes hangers that add even more colour to your wardrobe space, a bright and happy purse....and a velvet bird that is actually a clutch bag, in Turquoise, divine!  Mama loves colour...

Painted Candelabra with Birds by Rice DK £44

Painted Wooden Clothes Hangers by Rice DK £3.30 each

Velvet Bird Clutch Bag - Turquoise - by Rice DK £34.30

Fringy Flower Cushion Cover by Rice DK £29

LOVE Applique Double Quilt by Rice DK £110

Yellow Spot Make-Up Purse/Bag by Rice DK £13

There's so many things that Mama loves...

Pass this on with a hint to those that need to know!

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Monday Makery - Shortbread Buttons

Children love to make pretend food with play dough making edible looking treats for their loveable soft and cuddly friends. I wanted to create the reverse turning an ordinarily inedible object into something quite scrummy. This recipe for shortbread buttons is an easy one to follow with just a few ingredients and minimal fuss saving the fun bit for designing the buttons themselves. I love baking with my girls and they love this idea. We serve them with knitted napkins straight from the sewing box and they love the trickery of it.

Ingredients:

• 250g butter at room temperature
• 75g caster sugar
• 35g rice flour*
• 335g plain flour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar for sprinkling!

 * Rice flour will give your shortbread that slightly crunchy taste. Alternatively you could replace the 35g of rice flour with 35g of corn flour for a delicate melt-in-your-mouth texture. The recipe is quite versatile and if you have neither Rice flour nor corn flour just use ordinary plain flour instead. I promise it will still work.

1. Preheat the oven to 150C or 130C for fan assisted. Grease oven trays or line with greaseproof paper.
2. Mix the soft butter and sugar in a bowl until its smooth, its quite hard work so you might want to use an electric mixer.
3. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until you have a dough.
4. Knead the dough on a floured surface.
5. If you'd like to make different colours and add different flavours separate the dough into small bowls. Add a few drops of your colour depending on how strong you want the colour to be, and knead the dough until so the colour works it way through.
6. Using a round cutter (about 5cm) sprinkle it with flour, place on the baking tray. Take a tablespoon of dough and fill the cutter using the back of the spoon to smooth it. Repeat with the remaining dough using flour on the cutter to prevent it from sticking.
7. Take a lid from a plastic water bottle and push down gently on top of each dough circle. This will make the indentation for the buttons. Now use a skewer or chopstick to make the button holes and a fork to make patterns on the edges. 
8. Sprinkle the buttons with a little caster sugar and bake for 30 minutes or until they feel firm to touch. Cool them on the trays. I tried removing mine too early once and as they were not yet cool they fell apart! Be patient. 
9. Once cooled you can add any further decoration, dip the sides in melted chocolate, or drizzle patterns of chocolate or icing over the top. 

 This should make about 26 buttons but that'll depend on how much you eat as you're going!

If you would like to give each set of buttons a different flavour you might like to add some chocolate chips or try adding a little (1tsp) espresso powder for a coffee flavour. To make stripy buttons you could try dipping the sides of the buttons into melted chocolate! We like to add orange and lemon zest to our yellow buttons for a little zing. Quite often I'll let the girls choose the flavours. Trying to match a flavour to a colour. Cinnamon is a warm taste so this works well with the red buttons. They like being inventive and occasionally we end up with a winner. The point is the recipe is so very easily varied with colour and flavour once you've got a little experimental with them you'll see how fun they are to make and truly scrumptious to eat too.

These make great birthday party treats. We made them as part of our Alice in Wonderland party where everything is not as you would think.