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With the warmer weather you don’t want to heat up the house and have a heavy meal so why not make a salad. I keep getting emails to share my tasty Spinach Salad Recipe so here it is:

Put the following in a blender:

1/2 a sweet onion

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard or ground mustard

1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar or white wine vinegar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Remove the stems from the spinach and wash, drain and pat dry thoroughly. Place into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Place the eggs into an electric kettle and cover with cold water by at least 1-inch. Turn the kettle on. Once the water comes to a boil, the kettle will turn itself off. Leave the eggs in the water for 15 minutes. Remove and peel off the shell. Slice each egg into 8 pieces and set aside.

While the eggs are cooking, fry the bacon and remove to a paper towel to drain. Crumble the bacon and set aside.I use the prepared bag of bacon from Costco. Some other suggestions if you have on hand, to add to this salad: cranberries, sliced fresh strawberries, roast pecans or almonds.

Add the mushrooms and the sliced onion to the spinach and toss. Add the dressing and bacon and toss to combine. Divide the spinach between 4 plates or bowls and evenly divide the egg among them. Serve immediately.

Be sure to use the most durable and beautiful fair trade Teak handcarved and painted African salad servers to add to your fun and fresh summer table.

Giraffe & Zebra pattern Teak Wood Salad Spoons

For trendy animal print these are your best choice!

These fair trade Africa Teak Wood Salad Servers compliment summer fun table.

These fair trade Africa Teak Wood Salad Servers compliment summer fun table.

These black and white zebra chic salad servers are striking for every event!

These black and white zebra chic salad servers are striking for every event!

 

 

How To Show Love

Heart Pocket Card
Heart Pocket Card

Surrounded by bad news and pressures of life we realized there was a huge need for us to change the atmosphere and provide a tool to speak positive messages in our friends lives.

Order a heart pocket card with your soapstone heart order and select which saying below you want in them:

Saying #1: Your Are Special Heart

When you are feeling down or having a bad moment in your day, hold tightly onto this one of a kind hand carved African heart stone that I hand-picked especially for you and think on these things:

You are So Special, your kind loving heart is felt by those around you and you make this world a better place, When you give a kind word, a gentle smile and a helping hand it, it impacts more than you know. No one smiles as beautiful as you, your laugh is one of a kind and is contagious! Remember those who know you love you just because You Are You! Thank you from my heart to yours.

Saying #2: Heart of Peace 

 We all have those moments in our lives when we feel down or stressed out. When you are feeling that way place this one of a kind African hand carved soapstone rock that I picked out especially for you and remember that you are special. Think about the best time or memory you have in your life. Remember no one smiles as beautiful as you, your laugh is one of a kind and is contagious! Remember those who know you love you just because You Are You! Gently release your grip on your heart when you feel peaceful and calm.

Saying #3: Heart of Healing

I know it is very terrible when a person is sick. When you are feeling so sick-like you would rather die! Place this hand carved African soapstone rock that I have hand-picked specially for you in the palm of your hand and hold onto it tightly. Think about a happy memory and all of those that love you. Be reminded this will pass and you will be up and at ‘em before you know it, doing all of those fun things you love to do, with the people who love you. You make this world a better place !

Click here to see the fair trade hand carved soapstone heart colors and sizes available http://www.buytwigz.com/category_s/227.htm

Enjoy making a difference!

Hope Renewed

Raising my teenage boys is a real eye opener. They think we have this endless supply of money to buy them all of the things they want and they somehow are entitled to all kinds of things. I sat with my boys the other day and we discussed the difference between their rights and privileges. I explained that they have a right to food, basic clothes ,shelter ,education, and medical. Then it was a strong reminder of how fortunate we are . So many African people, when they get sick , can’t even afford the transportation to the medical clinic let alone medicine. There aren’t any food banks if you are having a hard month, and alot of children don’t have an education because there is no money for school fees. For the past 2 years we have been working with Patricia in Kenya. Patricia was devastated when her husband died 12 years ago and left her with 2 children and aged parents to care for. Patricia wakes up every morning at 5am to catch the bus to go to the city market to sell her wares. She has been able to put her children in school,take care of her parents and this year she celebrates the finishing  of her home which is closer to the city. Don’t underestimate the magnitude of empowerment your purchases of Twigz handmade unique Eco-friendly home decor and beautiful jewelry makes in the lives of African artisans.

Marike is with Patricia in front of her new house

Do you have a dream? Then write it down, speak it out and make goals of how to achieve it. I talk to people who have dreams but act as though it is impossible and they are stuck in a rut for fear of resources or failure. I have to admit I am faced with different fears also but I really don’t want to have any regrets in my life and that is why I trained in hairdressing, married my husband, had 4 children, moved to Africa started an NGO then a social justice business called Twigz, that is breaking the chains of poverty for the poor. It was all pretty risky and uncomfortable!

It is important in business to define your business so you know who is your target market. We are a business with heart and our customers feel good when they purchase our fair trade Twigz beautiful jewelry and eco-friendly trendy home decor and at the end of every sale we give our customers a romance card which reaffirms the power of their purchase. Here it is

Romance Card

Just imagine the view from the high hills on the bank of the Nile river overlooking Lake Victoria , one of the largest lakes in the world. That is where we had our fashion show. Our new jewelry lines were on display by the gorgeous African beauties. Our beautiful trendy jewelry pieces shimmered and sparkled in the Ugandan afternoon sun. The models wore the 100% Ugandan cotton designs by Brenda Maraka, an Ugandan designer. Africa was boosting of it’s beauty through the creativity of it’s people in fashion and design. One day our Twigz designs will be on the rich and famous at the red carpet.

Fun EarringsNile Fashion show

Necklace worn as a Crown

During my travels to Kenya via South Africa (and just spending 2 hours in my homeland), I realised I need to go back. With a quick decision I packed my bags, booked a ticket, and off I went to South Africa Cape Town on the 20th February. The only ticket available was via Ethiopia… again a looooooong journey!  I was really prepared for divine appointments.

As it is I met a guy that is investing in Uganda, and of course it is in Jinja. As you may (or may not) know, we regularly visit an amazing garden on the Source of the Nile in Jinja, and believe there are many great things in store for it. How interesting that this South African man is investing in a huge project in Jinja, and I am going to go for a conference on the 10th of March in Jinja. It was really a divine appointment. I am looking forward to meeting him again in Jinja.

Then I arrived in Cape Town the same day (started 1am with the flight). I was very tired when I reached Cape Town, and found Table Mountain and my sister greeting me. I just realised again how precious family is. This is home again. With the ocean breeze, the sun on your ski,n and a good talk of Afrikaans…It is good to be home!

I’m here not just to visit with my sister, but also to look for more markets for us. And how amazing the favor of God was on me. I already got 5 contacts and a vendor that just loved our earrings. He already bought all of my earrings from me… these are the newly designed earrings. I cannot wait to bring it to Canada!

I thought I’d show you the talent of my people. I walked around in Waterfront and found these amazing people. Watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyeiAexRfZc&feature=youtu.be

Then a picture of my sister and friends out for dinner.

In Cape Town

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How privileged I realise I am by being here in Kenya and experiencing, visiting, seeing, smelling, and tasting the goodness of Africa. I visited today with one of our artists. I visited Maartin at his home with his family. His children have grown bigger and grandmother is still strong. We had a good visit and he even started a small chicken farm to expand his businesses.

Maartin introduced me to a new artist that we are going to work together to help us with one of our new designs, “The African Sunset”.

Dorcas is her name, and she is very ambitious and open to learning. I met up with her and she immediately started envisioning and trying to design more earrings with the line. She is so young but so good and eager. From the first time I met her, I immediately connected with her.

Here she is working with me on the new design. The line’s color is with red, pink, and orange, really beautiful colors for the summer. I will let you know in the future more about her story and more in detail who she is.

Then more beautiful jewelry that I found with the most amazing women making it. In the future I will tell you more about the women making these beautiful bracelets. So full of skill and color.

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