Happy Halloween!

Hi friends! A happy Halloween to you all! Do you all get dressed up? Or maybe your kids? Here in Holland we don't really celebrate this event. Only a few kids go trick or treating, but it's not really a big happening here. I would love it be bigger than it is, get dressed up and such. Any excuse to dress up is great to me haha. Some friends did some pumpkin craving, and I made some pumpkin strudel, a lovely meal. To me pumpkin and Halloween go together. Or maybe it should be fall and pumpkin?! I hope you have a wonderful day, have fun trick or treating!

{Pics} Best of Austria

Hi friends! Hope you are doing well. Today we had one of the worst storms in Holland since 1990. Trees have been ripped out the damage is great. Luckily I didn't have to go outside today, even the trains were all delayed or cancelled all together. As I type this, the weather is alot better and the wind isn't so powerful anymore. We just had some hailstones, rain and thunder as well. Kinda crazy! Fall is defenitely here! On another note, I still have so many pictures to share from my trip to Austria, that I thought to make a 'best of' post with just the best of the best pics haha. So get ready for some mountains, lakes and animals!

A small mountain lake in Bregenzer Wald

The pretty town of Feldkirch

A happy pig, at the Wildpark in Feldkirch

So many looong trees!

Beautiful deer at the Wildpark in Feldkirch

Castle at Liechtenstein

A pretty village in Switzerland called Maienfeld, near the Liechtenstein border

Castle and wineranks at Liechtenstein

Kopsee, name of the lake, so beautiful!

Impressive mountains near Kopsee

Lunersee at 2000 meters, very high and very beautiful

The view on the other side of the Lunersee

{Crafting/DIY} Make your own wall art

Hi friends! The weekend is here! That's a perfect time to get your craft on. Recently I have been loving this: making my own wall art. I have (or had) an empty white wall and was so bored with it. I like colour and pictures/drawings. So I decided to make my own art. I am not a great painter and I can't draw to save my life, so I got my favourite magazines ( for the Dutchies: Flow magazine is great) and started cutting and scrapping. With the end result being these three pieces!

I must say that the middle one is my favourite. What you need to create your own?
An empty canvas
Paint in your colour of choice
Magazine clippings
Coloured paper
Ribbon
Small embellishments like buttons/glitter
Glue
Sciccors

I got an emty canvas and painted the sides with a pastel colour. Then cut out some coloured paper as a background. Or a flowery paper like in the middle canvas. I then looked for some cute clippings or drawings and glued them to the colourful background. I added small embellishments, like buttons on the rabbit's coat. As a final touch I glued ribbon to the canvas, to make it look like a frame. And taaadaa, your very own wall art! Have fun with this everyone! And a great weekend to you.

Day at the zoo

Hi all!! Can you believe it's wednesday already? Time flies when you're busy. Yesterday the weather was so nice, 20 degrees Celcius with a lovely sunshine. The perfect fall day! Me and my parents decided to go to the zoo in Rotterdam called Blijdorp. As most of you may know, I love going to the zoo! It has been a while since we last visited the Rotterdam zoo, about 7 years since our last visit. They had some new animals, like a polar bear and some babies. A baby giraffe was born as well as a baby elephant. So cute! The newly opened butterfly hall was also very nice. A very large hall with lots of flowers and butterflies. There was also a big aquarium, with sharks! Quite impressive. We stayed untill closingtime, we even ate an icecream on this sunny octoberday. Let's hope the weather stays this nice! For now, some pics of the zoo!

Some sweet recipes

Hi friends! A quick update on the baking front. I love spending those grey and dreary days in the kitchen. All those lovely baked goods and the recipes I have put up on my new baking blog Sweetie Pies.  

I will add recipes, tips and inspiration on a daily basis. For now there are recipes for brownies with macademianuts, the perfect scones (yep, they are perfect.. haha) and a lovely, fluffy applepie! I would love for you to check out the blog and even become a follower if you are a baking addict like me! Have a great weekend everyone!

Embrace your inner geek!

I am a geek, and I know it...I love it even. Not ashamed one bit. I am most specificly a fantasy geek. I have a Middle Earth poster in my bedroom, still dreaming that one day I will visit the real Middle Earth; New Zealand. And this totally cute action doll has been in my home for 10 years now.

 

Dominic Monaghan is one of my favourite actors, so this Merry doll is amazing to me! It is very detailed, with a helmet and shield. Yep, it is hella cool. Besides a ringer (Lord of the Rings fan for those who are not a geek like me) I am also a Potterhead. Harry Potter is my second geeky fandom. I have all the dvd's ofcourse and watched every movie I don't even know how many times. And next year I will be going to the actual Harry Potter studio in London! Holy cow, I cannot wait. I even had a little geek moment the last time I was in Londen. I saw a double decker bus with Ron Weasly on it. I felt happy.. lol.
Now I am totally addicted to Game of Thrones as well (season 4...is it 2014 yet??!) I think it is one of the best tv series ever made. The costumes in the show are amazing! I was a total geek (again) at the Game of Thrones exhibition in Amsterdam earlier this year and alot of the costumes were on display. And when I saw these awesomely cute dolls....

...all I thought was...I need them! Aren't they great?! I especially love the Jon Snow one (ofcourse) and Cersei looks cute too. These are good times for fantasy geeks I think, also The Hobbit: desolation is Smaug is coming soon! The trailer is beyond amazing.

 

Bring it on! Hurray for geekness (and fantasy). Embrace you inner geek everyone!

Austrian shopping: baking goodies galore!

When I went shopping in Austria, I didn't go for shoes, bags or clothes. But for the awesome baking stuff they have. My goodness, it is baking heaven in their supermarkets! Luckily I had some space in my suitcase left, espcially for situations like these. So I went on a little shopping spree and came back with lots of awesome baking goodies. 

From ingredients, to bakingtins, I bought it all...kinda crazy huh?! On the picture you see: mini muffin tin, silicon mold for chocolates, tartelettes, white baking chocolate, a mini bundt tin, vamilla creme mix, baking powder with saffran, christmas aroma (!!), chocolate chips, mini cupcake forms, haselnut and walnut filling, bicarb (which we don't have in holland) also known as bakingsoda and the lovely white bowl at the top. 
Quite alot, my parents thought I could never fit it in my suitcase..but I did! I can't wait to try all these things out in my kitchen. Isn't the christmas aroma cool? And it was on sale too, hopefully it wasn't from christmas last year haha. Have a great weekend everyone!

{Pics} Austrian tradition; Alpabtrieb

Hi friends!! I have some more pics to share with you from my trip to Austria. These particular pics are from a lovely tradition in Austria called Alpabtrieb, which means that the cows that grazed on the mountaintops all summer are now brought and guided back to the valley by the farmers and shepherds. The shepherds wear decorated hats, with branches. And the cows all wear bells and some wear crowns and flowers. I can tell you that is was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. As a citygirl, I loved the beautiful tradition and the honoring of the cows. After the Alpabtrieb the cows were grazing in the fieds of the farmer. At the farmers ground a party followed, which we were very happy to be part of. There were drinks and lovely foods. And even music and singing! I felt so lucky to be part of it and that I got to share that great day with my parents!

The shepherds are here! Great decorated hats.

And the cows are equally pretty!

The party at the farmers grounds

Great entertainment from these two wonderful men

Me and daddy at the party

And mommy too!

Sweetie Pies, my baking adventure!

Hi friends. I have a lovely link to share with you. My own baking blog! Sweetie Pies is now online, with recipes and tips, tutorials and lots of baking inspiration to come. Ofcourse Even Sweeter Dreams isn't going anywhere, but I wanted to create a baking blog for a long time now. So here it is! I hope that all you baking addicts among my readers will join me at Sweetie Pies too! I am really looking foward to sharing the fun with you all.

On other news, I will be working on the lay out of both Sweetie Pies and Even Sweeter Dreams. As a computer no no I don't know how to do that myself, so a dear friens is so kind to help me out. So expect some sweet new lay outs soon! In the coming weeks I will also be adding some new content ideas for ESD, like an interviewseries called On The Bench With and themed articles full of fun and inspiration! And I stil have some beautiful Austria pictures just waiting to be shared, so please watch out for those too. Have a great day dears!

Guest post: Cupcake earrings tutorial by Aubree

Hi everyone! Today I want to share this lovely guest post by one of the sweetest bloggers I know, Aubree from Macarons and Stilettos. In this post she will share a great tutorial on how to make your own cupcake earrings. Please check out her blog and shop, you won't regret it! Have a great weekend all!

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Hello everyone! My name is Aubree and I blog over at Macarons and Stilettos (www.macaronsandstilettos.com). Today, I’m going to teach you all how to make some simple but cute cupcake earrings from polymer clay. I have been working with poly clay for about 6 years now and design and sell my jewelry through my etsy shop (fatallyfeminine.etsy.com). Hope you will enjoy making these and please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below. Now let’s get started!

You will need:

·         Small pieces of white, pink, purple, and yellow polymer clay. Available at any craft store.

·         2 small red rhinestones (Swarovski are best quality). Available at craft stores.

·         2 Glue-on earring posts with clutch (I used silver plated). Available at craft stores/online.

·         E-6000 glue. Available at craft stores

·         Sculpey or similar gloss glaze. Available at craft stores

·         Toothpick

·         Flower shaped or scalloped cookie cutter (small)

·         Polymer clay rolling pin. Available at craft stores.

·         Blade

·         Oven and smooth working surface

Process:

1.      Knead each color of polymer clay in your hands until pliable.

2.      Roll the white clay into a ball with your hands and roll out into a small circle with polymer clay roller. Don’t make clay too thin.

3.      Cut out two cupcake tops using your cookie cutter. You want about 4 scallops for each and a rounded top, so always cut from the outer edges of the circle. Remove the excess and set aside.

4.      Roll out three thin snakes of the purple, pink, and yellow clay. These will be the sprinkles. Using your blade, cut 4 small lengths of each color and arrange them on cupcake tops, 2 pieces of each color per top (6 sprinkles total). Make sure to press them down to secure. Press the rhinestones into the top middle of each top for a cherry.

5.      Bake according to package instructions.

6.      Roll pink clay into a ball with your hands and roll out into a circle with polymer clay roller. Once tops come out of the oven, let cool then press into outer edge of pink clay. Using your blade cut around the top to remove excess backing and form the cupcake base. Repeat all steps with second top.

7.      Using your toothpick, press into the clay cupcake base to form 3 indents. These will create the look of a cupcake wrapper. Repeat with other cupcake.

8.      Bake again according to package instructions.

9.      Once they come out of the oven, let cool. Then glue the rhinestones on the front and earring posts on the back using E-6000. Make sure earring posts are centered near the top middle of the back of the cupcakes. Let glue dry for about 1 hour before glazing the fronts using Sculpey or similar polymer clay glaze. Let dry at least 24 hours before wearing, and enjoy!

Thanks Susanne for letting me guest post! Hope you all enjoyed this tutorial.     Xo Aubree

{Pics} The first day in Austria, tour of the home

Hi everyone. On the first day of our stay in Austria we didn't do too much. We were still a bit tired from the journey to get there, so we stayed near the house we rented. As we stayed in the same house two years ago, it was all still familiar. We even saw the same cat that was there two years ago as well! Such a sweet red and white cat, she came out to greet us! The weather the first few days wasn't that great, a bit chilly. We took alot of pics from the surroundings near our home, to remember it for later. So when you look at the pics, you feel like you are in the house again. We still miss the views! In my first batch of pictures you will some lovely views, and the immensly cute cats that surrounded the house too!

The sweetest cat in the village, we called her kittycat

The cute black cat sat in front of our window, whenever we opened it he was in the house!

This is the village across from where we were

Waiting for us to open the door and be let inside!

The village's church

And another cutie, sitting in our yard!

The view near the church