Howling at the Moon

Since a couple of months I'm a bit behind with posting projects. I don't know why, for some reason I can't keep up with my own pace of posting two projects a week. There are lots of unfinished projects laying around the house; everytime something is almost finished I find inspiration in something else and I have to make, or at least make a start, with the freshly found project. It's a bit tiresome. Especially because I feel the pressure to finish all cut short projects sometime in the near future. But fortunately I managed again this week to have something ready on time to post! Everytime we eat vegetables from a glass jar I keep the jar to for later purpose. The Sinterklaas Hot Chocolate in my last post for example was put in a glass jar, so afterwards I can throw them in the glass bin right away, sticky from chocolate, sweets and whipped cream. Glass jars also make great candle lights. This one is made with crochet and cross stitch. I've put some faux snow a

In the country I live in, The Netherlands, people, especially the children, celebrate Sinterklaas, also called Saint Nicholas. He arrives by boat and brings lots of presents, just like Santa. Instead of a sleigh he has a white horse, called Amerigo. The horse can't fly, like the reindeers, but has another magic power: he can climb and walk over rooftops. To get a present children have to put their shoe in front of the mantelpiece (a radiator will do, too) before they go to bed, preferably with a carrot or some hay for Amerigo in it, and sing Sinterklaas songs. Sinterklaas or one of his helpers will go down the chimney to put toys, pepernoten (small ginger snap like cookies), letters of chocolate or other sweets in the shoe.  Last weekend the daughters of my husband's sister stayed over. They have about the same age as our own daughters, so unnecessary to say it was one big happening at our house. Even more because Sinterklaas just arrived that day, so they could set their

After the deception of last week (at least for my daughters, I myself liked the Plum Cake with Rosemary quite much) I headed for better comments this week by making a Cranberry Bread , but alas, even less enthusiasm about the  bread.  Honest, mine didn't look at all like the one in the pictures that came with the recipe. It was too brown, too moist and it had too much baking soda taste in it, so I guess I did something wrong. Too bad, but next week it all will be well, I reckon. ~*~ Next week I will make this delicious looking Spinach Puff Pastry Rolls ! I'm not a big fan of cooked spinach, I prefer it raw, but my children are. And packed in puff pastry even I will like the spinach cooked.  www.betweennapsontheporch.net

After quite some attempts I have finally finished the Rove Cardigan from The Velvet Acorn I promised to make for my oldest daughter. It was love at first sight between my daughter and the cardigan and to me in the picture it didn't seem difficult at all to make. And in principle it wasn't. Just knit and purl stitches. Except for the fact that most knitting had to be done with a circular knitting needle and let me say it mildly: the circular needle and I will never be BFF's. So after trying a couple of times I gave up and adjusted the circular needle parts to straight needles, which makes that the sleeves of the cardigan now have a seam. But who cares; my daughter doesn't even know the cardigan is supposed to be seamless. So..., today I can proudly show you a finished cardigan! I found this pattern at The Velvet Acorn . It's the third pattern I used from this Etsy shop, what might make you think I have benefits here, but no, I just like the patterns. And what

Now that I found my daughters's Perler Beads again, I became so enthusiastic that I've put away my knitting projects and made a real work of art for Christmas. I've decided that I don't want to have a large Christmas Tree in my living room this year, so I was searching for other decorations to make the room look festive and then I found this pattern . www.betweennapsontheporch.net Not my design, by the way; I lack the patience to design things as big as this piece. I found this idea here . ~*~ My Unicorn Pinata was featured by Creative Jewish Mom ! Thank you so much, Sara!

~ I love Pinterest and would like to make a recipe of my boards every week. Since I have lots of recipes pinned (that, until now, I just pinned and only that), I hope this will be a way to reduce the amount of pins on my boards ~ Last week I told you about the cooking magazines I got and the Plum Rosemary  Cake that I found in it. This week I made one, but after some suspicious looks and just one little nib my kids said 'Iiiieeeeeuw, mom, what is this?!!'. My husband wasn't very enthusiastic either, so no, I don't think this one's a keeper. I myself thought it wasn't too bad, actually I quite liked the plum rosemary combi, but to eat a whole plum cake on my own every time I make one... No. So, on to the next recipe to try. www.betweennapsontheporch.net ~*~ While searching for good recipes for Christmas, I found this delicious looking Cranberry Bread , so that's on the list for next week.

In the country I live in, The Netherlands, Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) is more known and more celebrated than Santa Claus, especially by children and their parents. Most people will not even get out the christmas decorations before Sinterklaas has left the country. His birthday, on the 5th of December, is the day he will give sacks and boxes full of presents to everyone (bought by parents, of course) and the next day he will travel back to Spain, where he's said to be living. Two things made me start making some Christmas decorations. First, we are making some changes in the bedrooms of my daughters and I found their perler beads, and second, I found this nice perler beads pattern that matches some other decorations that I had in mind making for Christmas. So here's my first decoration of this year! The only thing to hope for now is that there actually will be snow this Christmas. www.betweennapsontheporch.net So simple and yet I love it. It isn't really clear to

~ I love Pinterest and would like to make a recipe of my boards every week. Since I have lots of recipes pinned (that, until now, I just pinned and only that), I hope this will be a way to reduce the amount of pins on my boards ~  And this week it's Hazelnut Cookies !!! They taste even better than they look! ~*~ From a colleague I got a lot of old Cooking Magazines and one of the things that were in it, was a Plum Rosemary Upside Down Cake . The magazines came just in time, before plums will disappear from the stores because they're out of season. So next week's delight will be a Plum Cake!  

After seeing the Chamander Piñata that I made a couple of weeks ago on request, another person ordered a piñata . I had to be a unicorn. Good thing that I'm already in the unicorn modus because my youngest daughter is a fan, that made it so much easier to find inspiration. Examples everywhere in and around our house! And with this piñata I can practice for the one my daughter wants for her own birthday in two months.    www.betweennapsontheporch.net ~*~ The Unicorn Hooded Scarf that I made last week, is featured by Two Chicks and a Mom and by Creating My Way to Success !  Thank you so much, Donna and Jill! The Azel Pullover was featured by The Blue Willow House ! Thank you, Sharon!

We're in november already and in just a couple of weeks Sinterklaas (also called Saint Nicholas) will arrive here in The Netherlands. Three weeks after his arrival we will celebrate his birthday, the occasion where children will get lots of presents from the old man (bought by us, the parents, of course).  In preparation of this happy day I started this week by making some home made presents for my daughters. My youngest daughter, who is seven years old, always is 'into something' and currently it's (you would never guess this) unicorns!!  Last week I showed you a pullover that I made for her, from a pattern by The Velvet Acorn , and in the same Etsy store I found a great, original pattern for a Unicorn Hat , that's also a shawl.  You can find this pattern here . ~*~ Vlad the Vampire Bat was featured by Creative Jewish Mom ! Thank you, Sara! And my Kokeshi Doll was featured by Try It, Like It ! Thank you for the feature and

For the Fall Menu that I made for some friends, I made Pumpkin Cheesecake for dessert. I love all cakes, but this one especially! So much yum!  I followed the recipe as described, but instead of marshmellows and more speculaas to top the cake off, I used shaved roasted almonds.   www.betweennapsontheporch.net ~*~ Now that I think about that absolutely delicious pumpkins cheesecake, I crave more sweetness! And since I have a lot of hazelnuts left over from another dish, I want to make Hazelnut Cookies with them!