Happy Valentines Day

... to all of you!


Have a fabulous day, if you get flowers or chocolates or love letters or not.
Enjoy your life and love yourself dear friends. You are so worth it!


I made a little wall hanging as a reminder of all the love that is in my life:

Lots of love (and chocolates and flowers :-) ),

Tweet

Valentines' flowers

A fresh new week!

Although here it is not quite so fresh, but hot hot hot.
Clouds build up, and clouds disappear again, and it doesn't rain.

Just about the worst climate for cut flowers. They last a day, and then they hang. A friend of mine puts hers into the
fridge most of the time, and only takes them out when she is sitting in her lounge and can look at them. 

But my fridge is full with the last of the watermelons (Ice Age flashback :-) ), and there is no space left for much else.
The season is coming to an end, and I will have to find a replacement for my favorite food, watermelon and feta salad.

What I am really trying to say in this round-about way is that I love flowers, and I want them in my house.


So today I did something vaguely Valentine related, which is loving myself and giving myself a potted flowering plant (thanks Danni ).

This pretty flower is called 'Impatiens', which is a nice reminder of how not to be.

Unfortunately it came in a really ugly pot, so I replanted it. Hopefully it will not drown in the mason jar.
There is gravel at the bottom, but there are of course no draining holes.

But it will definitely last longer than a day, and it will look pretty while it lasts :-).

 

 

A wonderful start of the week for you. May it be filled with love and flowers!

Lots of love,

Ps: I am linking to these lovely parties.

Tweet

Gingerbread hearts

Right now, most blogs are filled with red and pink, with glitter and love.

It is very tempting to be swept along by this. It is also kind of tempting to feel sorry for myself.
No roses, no love letters, no intimate dinner for two this year.

Until I remember that the last time I got flowers for Valentines was at least 20 years ago.
And until I remember that I have a gorgeous daughter, a loving family, and some wonderful friends.

To show my appreciation, I wanted to make something for them for Valentines.
Something sweet and from the heart.
 
What I came up with are decorated gingerbread hearts. I was born in Munich, and these beautiful hearts where part
of my childhood and my student years (I might still have one or two very old, very dusty ones in my parents' attic).


So yesterday, Eva and I set to work.

 

Unfortunately the first heart was not a big success.

It tastes delicious but looks terrible not quite like I imagined.

Cake decoration is definitely not my strength...

In case you are better with icing sugar and food coloring (all over my kitchen, don't ask...), here the recipe for you.

It is for one big heart (about 30 cm wide and long,) or for several smaller ones.

You will need:

750 g (6 cups) flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

a pinch of salt

120 g (4 oz) butter

300 g (1 cup) honey

150 g (0.66 cups) sugar

3 teaspoons of gingerbread spices (I didn't have any so I just used cinnamon)

4 tablespoons unsweetened cacao

3 egg yellow

some milk

Melt the butter together with the sugar, the cacao, the honey and the spices over low heat, until the sugar has melted. 

Let it cool down.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt and add the butter mix, the egg yellow and a bit of milk. 

Kneed the dough until soft and smooth.

Cover with a tea towel and leave overnight at room temperature.

The next day, preheat your oven to 200 ° C (392 ° Fahrenheit).

Cut a heart template out of paper (about 30 cm (11.8 inches) wide and 30 cm long).

Put clingfilm underneath and on top of your dough, and then roll it out until about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) thick.

Cut into a hear shape and place on greased baking tray. Bake for about 15 minutes, then take it out and let it cool down completely.

Beat the left-over egg whites with icing sugar until stiff and decorate your heart. 

You can also add food coloring to the egg sugar mix.

Lots of love,










Ps: I am linking to these lovely parties.

Tweet

Happy Valentine’s Day!

To all my gorgeous readers :-)

I remember Valentine's Days in the past were often quite stressful:

Will my man do something special? And if not, why not? Doesn't he love me? Doesn't he want me to feel good? 

Why is it always me doing something nice for others? Nobody loves me. 

And so on and so on.

How awful. And how exhausting!

So today I want you to feel loved by the most beautiful, lovely, wonderful, extraordinary person in your life: yourself.

Don’t make feeling good dependent on other people. 

If you have a partner or not, if your partner is loving towards you or not, if you get on with your parents or your children

or not, love yourself.

You don’t need anybody else to be happy now!

Remember that you are loveable, remember that you are worthy and gorgeous and very special.

Treat yourself like the miracle that you are, and then let that love shine out into the world, making this planet more 

beautiful for all of us.

And if you need a reminder, here is a quick DIY for you:

You will need a t-shirt, some fabric paint and some stencils (or a steady hand). 

I used a cookie cutter for the heart.

Paint it on, put it on and remember! 

Today, and on all the days to come :-)

Lots of love

Tweet

For your Valentine

Today I am going to show you another simple Valentine's project.

What I like about it is that you can use the basics and make a hundred different versions of it.
It is quite similar to an advent calendar, seeing that it has many different little boxes for your valentine to enjoy.
Mine will get 16 days of lovely little surprises :-)


Here is what you need:

Matchboxes (I used 16)
glue
anything to decorate your matchboxes with
little messages to fill into the matchboxes: love notes, invitations for dinner, offers of a massage, things you love about your valentine, or anything else you can come up with.


Here is what to do:

Empty the matchboxes and arrange them in heart form:

Glue the heart together:

Glue paper, fabric or stickers on the matchboxes, or paint them.
The recipient of mine is a journalist, which is why I used newspaper. I am making another one for my daughter that is painted with blackboard paint.
I won't show you because she visits my blog regularly :-):

Put other deco on. I kept it quite restraint and more masculine with this heart, but let your imagination run free:

Fill the boxes with your messages and you are done.


Have a wonderful Sunday!





Ps: Is there anybody who would like about a thousand matches?

Tweet

Valentine mobile

Today I felt like doing something light and flimsy and floating.

It is again a very simple project (big surprise there) done with things I had lying around the house.

Now it is gently swaying in the breeze distributing good vibes, and I must say I am quite fond of it :-).



You will need two sticks, some yarn or twine, several pieces of paper, doilies, fabric or whatever else you find,
and some things you love about your favorite people to write on said pieces:

Enjoy spreading the love :-)






Ps: Find the print-out garland here
Pps: I am linking to these parties

Tweet

The easiest Valentine's DIY ever

Have you seen the gorgeous stickers you can put on your crockery? Old fashioned, cross-stitchy looking things, really nice.

You can't get them here in Nam, so I made a look-alike version with a permanent marker.

Here is the easiest Valentines DIY ever :-)

I am linking to these parties.


Love

Tweet