Howling at the Moon

For the last years I always made decorated cakes for desert, but this year my eyes fell on a delicious looking trifle, so I thought 'Why not try something else this year'. I altered the ingredients a bit to my own likes and this is the recipe that came out: What you need box of cake mix (plus named ingredients on the box; usually eggs and butter) 2 oranges (zest and juice) 250 grams cranberries 400 grams sugar 250cc whipped cream 250cc mascarpone vanilla essence  What to do Make the cakemix as instructed on the box Add the zest of one orange to the batter Bake the cake according to instructions on the box Let cool off Squeeze the juice out of both oranges, put into a pan Add cranberries, zest of the other orange and 400 grams sugar Cook until cranberries are all popped, while stirring every now and then Let cool off Whip the cream until stiff and mix with the mascarpone Cut the cake into squares of 3x3cm Make layers, starting with the cake squares, then the cranberry mix, than

 The first Christmas piece that I made this year is this charcuterie board (that I, as a vegetarian, will use for cheese), that I decorated by using a pyrographic pen to draw a deer.  First I chose I searched for a nice deer pattern on the internet, than I used carbon paper to copy the drawing to a piece of wood and than I burned the drawing into the wood with the heated pen.  I still have to experiment and practice a bit with pressure, tool tip and type of wood and such, but I'm not unhappy with the result. 

 For King's Day I made this cake  The outside is orange, after the name of the king Van Oranje, which means 'from orange'.  The inside is red, white and blue, after the Dutch flag.  

  For one of my friends, who had a little baby girl all on her own, I made this soft baby blanket. It's actually a very simple pattern in which knit and purl stitches are alternated.   Yarn: Royal Rust by Zeeman ~*~ Smokey Kitty was featured by Pieced Pastimes ,  Creative Jewish Mom  and Moogly !!

  Last weekend we went for a short trip to the Veluwe, a region in The Netherlands where we normally go to in the summer, but especially my husband wanted to see something different than the walls of our own house after almost two years of working from home, so we decided to go in the winter.  Here's an impression of our trip.  We also brought our little friend James.  Because it was the weekend for Valentine's Day I made chocolate hearts for my daughter and made a charcuterie board. We hiked a short trail over the sand-drift near the village of Kootwijk.  Went for a lunch in Wychen And as is becoming a sort of family tradition: visited a castle. It was just a short weekend, but it was great to be in another environment. 

  Found another lovely pattern on Etsy: Smokey Kitty by Lena Seibel I made the girl cat, but you can use the same pattern for a tomcat. Pattern: Smokey Kitty by Lena Seibel at leamigurumi ~*~ My market bag was featured by Creative Jewish Mom and The Cottage Market !

  One can never have too much bags for groceries and such, so I made myself a market bag.  Pattern: made up myself after an example Yarn: Paris Rust by Drops ~*~ My d ragon , lanket ánd hat were featured by Creative Jewish Mom !  

  This weekend I will go for a weekend trip with my husband and daughters to the other side of the country (I live in The Netherlands and 'the other side of the country' is not even 200km away) and because it will be Valentine's Day this monday I made this chocolate hearts for my daughters.  I made the hearts by pouring melted chocolate in a mold, turning the mould until the chocolate was evenly divided over all sides. Then I put the heart in the fridgde and repeated the proces a couple of times after the chocolate was hardened, especially along the edges.  When the layer of chocolate was thick enough, I peeled the mould from the chocolate and cut away the surplus along the edges.  First I filled the heart with red and pink jelly beans and fixated a piece of cardboard wrapped in celophane to the heart by adding some molten chocolate on the edges of the heart, so it would stick to the celophane. After that I decorated the chocolate heart with sprinkles and little paper heart

 From the book Pica Pau and Friends I made the wolf this time. Was on my list for ages, because wolves are my favorite animals, but for some reason it never happened, until this week.  Pattern: Harry Wolf from Pica Pau and Friends by Yan Schinkel Yarn: various colors by Scheepjes and Katia ~*~ My Baby Blanket with Pompoms was featured by Pieced Pastimes ,  Shelbee on the Edge ,  Oombawka Design  and The Answer is Chocolate !

 Normally there isn't much that I do for a Valentine's day mood in our house, but for some reason this year I feel like decorating a bit, even though we aren't at home on the day itself. We will stay in a little cabin in the wood from friday till monday, but I'm thinking of bringing some garlands, vases for flowers and little presents. Maybe it's because I'm really looking forward to that weekend and decorating the cabin adds just a bit more to the fun and coziness.  This weekend I bought these cherry blossom branches, cut out lots of hearts and sticked them to the branches. Very simple, but I really love the result. 

  This week I finished another baby blanket with pompoms, a blanket that I made two times before, although in other colors. This one is in grey and pink.  Pattern: Herringbone Double Crochet Stitch  at Daisy Farm Crafts Yarn: Royal Grey by Zeeman ~*~ My Wrapping Shawl was featured at the You're The Star  linkparty!  Valentine the Dragon was featured by Oombawka Design  and My Slices of Life !

  Don't you love this little dragon with his cute face? I already bought this pattern last year and even made a start with it, but for some reason gave up after I made the head. Don't know why, maybe I started too late to be in time for Valentine's Day. But YAY, this year I made it!  Pattern: Little Dragon by DollPatternShop Yarn: Katia Planet No3999 and No3951 by Katia ~*~ My Cake for Birds was featured by Imparting Grace ,  Funky Junk Interiors ,  Pieced Pastimes  and Country Crafts ! My Valentine's Hat was featured by My Thrift Store Addiction  and My Bijou Life !

 In our house Valentine's Day isn't something that is celebrated extensively, but when I saw this hat and I saw my yarn stash, I thought it to be a nice project to use up some leftovers.  Beneath you see the front and back side of the same hat. Pattern: my hat isn't entirely the same, but I found this idea here (free pattern) Yarn: Royal grey and pink by Zeeman ~*~ Mackenzie the Seahorse was featured by Oombawka Design !