A Rainy Day in Dutch Nature

Today our little family went to the ' Veluwe', a forest-rich ridge of hills in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. I find going into the woods for a walk one of the best things one can do on a weary sunday afternoon. I always feel happy in nature, I feel my absolute self. Seeing my eldest jumping up and down and running around makes it even better.
I added some pictures to give you an impression of Dutch nature in the rain. Hope you like it!

And the Winner is....

And the winner is..... Phiphi!!!!!!!!

Congratulations!!! You won my Cupcake Contest! Your cupcake-recipe sounded so yummie that I 'm going to try it out in a few days! I am already buying the ingredients and I can 't wait until I cleaned my oven so I can start baking!

This is the winning recipe, give it a go, if you like:

Ingredients:

* egg 1 (room temperature)
* any soda (bicarb) 125 ml
* sugar 150 gr
* any purpose flour 250 gr
* food colouring 1 tsp
* cake emulsfier 1 spoon (such as tbm)

Direction:

1. Prepare pot for steamer, and heat it.
2. Beat egg and sugar until frothy
3. Then add soda, flour, cake emulsifier and beat briefly
4. Add food colouring in half part of part mix.
5. Pour the ingredients to muffin mold with pour each different colour one by one
6. Steam for 30 min till cake turning well

ps: do not open the steamer while cooking because cake will not turning well.

source:http://spices-corner.blogspot.com/2006/11/steam-cake.html



Phiphi has a lovely blog, that is one of my favorites to read. She does really great tutorials!
Go check it out and be her next follower!
http://chez-vies.blogspot.com

Congratulations again, Phiphi,
and to all the other participants: thank you so much for entering!

Wee Soldier

Our pride and joy, Victor

My ever so cool husband, Krijn

Since Victors teachers at school all celebrate their birthday on the same day, all the children were allowed to dress up today. Victor was so proud to look just like his dad for one day! As if it wasn 't clear, he told everybody that he was a real soldier and that his clothes were real too! Well, you can see he takes after his dad!

Cupcake Statue; A Dedication to all you Cupcake Lovers

Dear cupcake ladies,

In honour of you I made this Cupcake Statue Charm! As you can see: from all over the country people came to admire this artistic novelty at the official opening! Watch the paper of today, for this grand opening will be at the front page! Since the critics won 't have anything negative to print, it 'll be a joy to read!

Be aware: this statue with pedestal is for sale at the price of €7,95 and will be sold on my Dawanda shop soon!

It 's a Wonder this Cupcake made it!

Most of the time I don 't have any problem making a new cupcake charm. But sometimes it 's like I have two left hands! It took me two hours (!) to make this one and I 'm still not completely satisfied! I had to start over three times, because it just didn 't look right! It also collapsed twice when putting the icing on the cake.
To make it even worse, when I went to collect my son from preschool, I left the oven on! It 's a wonder this cupcake didn 't melt or catch fire! Anyway, like we say in Holland: You can 't have a party every day!

This cupcake charm costs €3,50 and will be on my Dawanda sshop shortly!

I can do it myself!

Take a look at how cool Victor tried to do his pyama buttons this morning!

Nice Picture nr.3 Masculinity as I think how it should look

Meet the German actor Christian Redl (1948), whom I discovered in my all time favourite movie Lea. (Ivan Fila, 1996). Once I saw him, I knew his face represented everything the word masculinity meant to me. So when I promised you to find a picture of masculinity, making the choice wasn 't that hard.

Why does the face of this man touch me to the core? I know, but it 's so hard to explain to the outside world! But hey, let 's give it a try!

It has something to do with the combination of hardiness and doubt in his face. Like he doesn 't seem to know how to approach a certain situation. This bloke is tough, but it 's like women can see through him.

I 've tried to catch this expression in a painting, and it took me a whole year of trying. I didn 't succeed to my complete satisfaction, but I 'm satisfied for the time being.

Look what I bought!

What do you think of this cool Swiss Roll? Doesn 't it look real and very yummie?
Well, it 's not real, of course. This chocolate roll is made of two washcloths!
I thought my blog would look much nicer with this cake on it and perhaps,
one of you craft ladies will be inspired by this new way of making cakes and cupcakes.
I think it looks quite Etsy!
The shop where I bought it, had lots to choose from: little pink cupcakes, green tea cakes with strawberries on top and much more.
But this cake was the best because it looked more real than all the others.

I don 't think I 'll ever use it in the bathroom to wash myself,
but I don 't think I 'll keep it forever either.
It makes a unique and lovely gift, but in the end it 's not very practical.
But it 's nice to have for a while, and I might use it as a gift for a friend.

Cupcake Ladies

These ladies know how to have fun with cupcakes!
To be honest, I 've never baked a real one. That 's why I organized my Cupcake Contest, to get some followers of course, but also to get some recipees I can try!

Romantic Cake Charm

Romantic Cake Charm 3,50

Dear ladies,

It was time to make you a new cake charm. I had a lovely weekend, in which I didn 't want to do anything else than be with my husband and children. You 've seen the pictures. But now, when Victor was at school, I had some time to create this little cutie. And my blog should show you as many craft things as possible!
I hope you like it!

Click on the photo to go to the item in my Dawanda shop!

When it snows outside, let 's get comfy!

Creativity in an unexpected Form

Victors army tank

My ship/boat, I don 't know.


When you have boys, life can not be about cupcakes all the time. So I have to be creative in other ways too. Luckily, Victor loves to play with LEGO, so I 'm able to try and build some things I never built before.
I 've played with LEGO a lot when I was little, but not like this. I used to build houses with gardens and playgrounds and theaters. Never tanks, planes, ships or racecars!

But, don 't you think, for an unexperienced transportation builder, I 'm doing quite well?
Victor is a natural, boys will be boys.

More cupcakes/donuts/cakes soon!

Find the Charm!

Okay! Who can tell the difference? Which one isn 't edible?
Victor knows!

Yum Yum! But watch your teeth!

You like? Although I suffered a severe lack of sleep and although I had a lot of housework to do, today I managed to make a new bon bon charm! I had to make the picture pretty fast, for Victor wanted a bon bon so badly! Now we both had two and I can 't make new pictures anymore. But never mind... I like this one.

Click on the pictures to go to item in shop.

It will be sold on Dawanda shortly!

Nice Picture Number 2 'Femininity as I think how it should look

If you 're a bit of a romantic, you might like this famous painting 'Soul of the Rose' . It was painted in 1908 by one of the most important Pre-Raphaelite painters, John William Waterhouse. He was most famous for his paintings of female characters from mythology and literature.
He belonged to the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. One of Waterhouse's most famous paintings is 'The Lady of Shalott', a study of Elaine of Astolat, who dies of grief when Lancelot will not love her. He actually painted three different versions of this character.

If you like this painting, then you might want to visit this website: http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com.
You can find most of his paintings here, as well as 'The Lady of Shalott'.

Sometimes it 's hard to explain, why I like a certain picture. I like this one because it makes me remember a lovely time that I never knew. It 's like I've been there, but I haven 't.

As you will see more of my 'nice pictures' in the future, you will notice that I like everything a bit in the extreme: for instance I love everything very feminine or very masculine. Average things don 't thrill me as much. Of course, life isn 't like that and it knows lots of grey areas, but that does make my search much more interesting.

This lady couldn 't be more feminine, and I would have loved to have known her, let alone be her. I think femininity should look like this painting. of Waterhouse. He must have known and loved women.

My next 'Nice Picture' will be about what I think masculinity should look like, and please... a warning in advance: don t' be shocked!

For The Boys

Today I went to the local flea market with my friend Wendel. Just for fun. We bought a lot! A chair for my baby boy, some childrens books, a coat for my eldest (which turned out to be much too large for him), and some toys we absolutely don 't need!
I 'm looking forward to the next flea market!

I love all the second hand stuff displayed. It was probably kept on a dusty attic for years. I see things from my early childhood, that I wouldn 't ever have remembered, had I not seen them there.
I don 't want to buy them; but it 's just lovely to see stuff from the past and rememeber how happy you once were with a certain toy.

I also found a fake LEGO army jeep that I bought for my beloved army-husband and Victor, my almost 4 year old. They spent some time putting it together and had lots of fun. Boys will be boys, and I'm so happy I have three at home! (Including my husband of course!)

dad lends a helping hand

the result!

Enno 's reaction: "oooooh!"

Nice Picture Number 1

I'm going to start puting some nice photos on my blog; just because I like them!
I can 't put just cupcakes on my blog, that would be rather one dimensional. So, pretty pictures, just for fun!
Comments are very welcome!

Let 's start with a Laura Ashley nursery room. I 've always loved Laura Ashley, so did my mother AND my grandmother.

Laura Ashley has always been able to adapt to modern time! Check out the online catalogue on their site! www.Lauraashley.com . Just type 'online catalogue' in the search area.
I LOVE all the beautiful rooms. They 're both romantic and practical, both modern and cosy.

This nursery is a bit too sweet for my taste, but I 'll bet lots of mums will be hopping up and down on their chairs when they see it, when thinking of their little girl.

I have two sturdy boys, so no pink nursery for me, but luckily I can buy lots of Laura Ashley stuff
just for meeee!
I ll try and show more Laura Ashley beauty in the future!

CUPCAKE CONTEST

FIND THE BEST AND LOVELIEST CUPCAKE RECIPE

and WIN these cupcake earrings and cupcake charm!

(so you don 't have to BAKE a cupcake, just enter the recipe!)

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO:


1. ENTER YOUR RECIPE AMONG THE COMMENTS OF THIS POST

BEFORE 20TH FEBR. 2010

2. FOLLOW MY BLOG

3. RETWEET MY CONTEST TWEET AT TWITTER!


AND WIN!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

Need a Present for a girly Girl?!

I wish I had these when I was 10!

Unusual colours, perhaps, but I like!

These are not very original, I know, but I just had to make them!

These red cupcakes are dedictated to my friend Erna, because she loves the combination red/white so much! Check out her webshop: www.blijalsmij.nl

Need a Present for a girly Girl?! These cuties might be an idea! Click on the photos to go to the shop!