Howling at the Moon

When I saw this one, it was like I was back in Costa Rica right away, although it's quite some years ago that I was there. The green, the flowers, the animals; when I think of paradise and the variety of all creatures that must be living there, I think Costa Rica equals it the most. I couldn't wait to make it and as soon as the craft store opened and I was finally able to buy the supplies needed, I ran out the door. I finished this piece the same day. Templates and instructions you can find here . ~*~ My French Knitted Names were featured by Creative Jewish Mom , by Sum of Their Stories , Oui Crochet and by Meet Our Life ! Thank you very much, Sara, Julie, Susie and Sabrina!

After a long winter with some cold days, even some snow, and especially a lot of rainy days, our fence is looking weathered and grey. In some places it looked green also, but with the hydroblaster my husband spouted that away. To make the fence look a bit nicer and more cheerful, I made stars from wooden popsicle sticks. Not that much work, but the fence looks much better. 

One of my favorite things to do when I was a little girl was French knitting, but the only things I ever made of it were small rugs. There wasn't much more to find than rugs in the small world of children's crafts books. But a while ago I saw French knitted names and I think this looks so much better than rugs! I did something with wire and French knitting before , but didn't think about making names for a second. I love this idea! Perfect for a little baby present for example!    ~*~ Both my Dragonfly Shirt and the Mango Ice Pops were featured by Creative Jewish Mom ! Thanks, Sara!

One of my favorite summer vegetables (or is it a fruit?) is rhubarb, so I was really looking forward to making this Rhubarb Strawberry Smoothie ! It's even better than I thought! ~*~ Next: Rhubarb Upside Down Cake , because I have plenty of rhubarb left to make more rhubarb recipes!

Last week there was Garage Sale in the village I grew up. We didn't participate ourselves this year (my daughters make bracelets every year for sale and I crochet some small things they can sell, because I think it's a good way to teach them about money), because I thought it would be nice to walk around the village this time to look for children's books. We found some books, but I also found a beautiful lantern, that would look perfect above the coffee table in our living room. I painted it black and bought a nice looking LED light bulb for it and this is how the lantern looks now. Unfortunately the spiral light bulb was a bit too big to fit through the small opening in the lantern, so I have to buy another one, but for now this not so splendid looking bulb will do. I just love my new old lamp! 

Last week I told you about my other blog, chores and checking off lists. One of the things on the list that made the checked off list, were these Monstera coasters for underneath plant pots. The coasters are made from polymer clay. I mixed two colors, rolled it flat, and with a template that I drew by hand before, I've cut the leaves out with a sharp knife. ~*~ Frida was featured by Creative Jewish Mom ! Thanks, Sara!

The Mango/Coconut/Lime Pops that I made this week were a big hit. To be honest: I didn't expect something else. Ice Pops are among the very favorite foods of my two daughters.  The win for me in this case, is that the pops are completely made of fresh fruits. ~*~ While ice pops are one of the favorite foods of my daughers, a favorite of mine is rhubarb. Rhubarb is one of many that my beloved grandmother grew in her vegetable garden and when I think of rhubarb, my grandmother pops into my head immediately. I'm a vegetarian and am always on the lookout for renewing recipes. I follow a Dutch blog, called De Hippe Vegetarier (meaning The Trendy Vegetarian) and that's where I found this delicious recipe for Rhubarb Raspberry Smoothie . 

Since a couple of weeks I have another blog , where I make a list of things to do each week and check off all chores I actually did. You can read more about it here. This embroidered shirt was one of the things on the list. I bought a shirt and embroidery thread, printed out the template, but couldn't think of a way to transfer the pattern to the shirt with things that I had around the house, so I drew the dragon fly by hand on the shirt and then embroidered the lines. You can find the template here (or you can choose the elephant, fire truck, giraffe or tractor). Oh, and don't forget to bring carbon or transfer paper or something like it when you go out for embroidery thread.  

Today we had our yearly trip to the zoo, my colleague and I!  Two toed sloth    Red Vari   Komodo Dragon  Baby Californian Sea Lion  Drinking Giraffe  Giraffe Family    Fennecs    Lillies  Male Lion    Edible Garden    Datura       My favorite: the wolf    Vulture   Snow Owl    

On my Instagram account I follow people with different interests, from baking cakes to crochet and from decoration to vintage clothing. On one of them I found the most beautiful cakes and it's here that I first heard of mirror glaze. It's a sort of icing that mirrors your face when you look in it. Of course I wanted it to try it, but a good recipe for the glaze isn't so easy to find, so I tried something myself.  It's gleaming, but not really mirroring. So I have to refine the recipe.  The cake bottom is a large heart shaped cookie and between the cookie and the glaze sits mokka bavarois. The taste of the cake is delicious, absolutely delicious, but next time I want my glaze to look like this:  Source ~*~ My Flower Medaillon was featured by Creative Jewish Mom !  Thank you, Sara!  

Last week I couldn't post the intended recipe of the Stir Fried Thai Style Tofu , because of a flash visit to Menora, so you I owed you this one.  I made the dish exactly as was told in the recipe and although I love Thai food because of all the different flavours, this curry was just bland. Didn't make it to the to keep-list.  ~*~ A couple of weeks ago I bought molds for ice pops and now that it's hot most of the days here in The Netherlands, I'm on the search for ice pop recipes. I think ice pops are a great way to make my daughters eat fruit, so let's start with those Mango/Coconut/Lime Pops .