Nerd Alert: Video Game Themed Party

Hey everyone!! I would love to share some photos with you from a recent surprise birthday party.

The theme was: Video games....so we HAD to decorate the entire house with Super Mario images that we made, arts and crafts style.

I showed up the night before the party with a few images printed off the internet, some construction paper, sharpies and some tape and glue and everyone pitched in to make the night a success.

A work in progress!

Making some coins.....clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink!

A few boo diddlies. ;-)

Goombas.

Vines for the green walls in the bedroom.

Mario!

The night of the party, Brannon was truly surprised and everyone had fun with simple costumes. It was SUPER hot so simple was good. Here are a few of my friends that came dressed as 'Pong,' an old Atari game. Black t-shirts and white duct tape!

My favorite costume, Shaina with a packman suit!

I'm a SIM, with Shaina!!

Solid snake.....???? I think.....

And the birthday boy as Billy Bullet!

To make my SIMS 'costume', I glued two craft cones together (styrofoam would probably work better, it would be lighter) and painted it bright green. Then I stuck a coat hanger up in the cones and wrapped it around a plastic headband. I wrapped the wire in black electrical tape and then covered it in black ribbon so that it would look a little better. Also, I attached the ribbon with some fabric glue. Super easy and I could take it on and off pretty easily.

I also made some yummy Atari Joystick Controller brownies instead of a cake. You can see pictures and read more about them on my blog, click here!

Bird inspiration post ❤

Oh my... i would love to spend time here ❤

Such pretty colors!

For today i have a post full with bird inspiration.

I've been making birds with bhedawool (i will be

posting peeks on my own blog later today!) and

thought it would be fun to make a post filled with

bird ideas. I made a selection of the photos that i

found on weheartit. I wanted to show you small

and big crafty ideas with birds. I hope you like it!

Do you have an old book?

Paint a branch with flowers and draw

a silhouet of a bird and cut it out ❤

i love these plates from Nina ❤

it's fun to make origami birds ❤

just a little birdie polaroid moodboard ❤

wallpaper filled with birds, branches and flowers ❤

Who needs Easter or Xmas?

Just fill your branches with

birds anytime you want ❤

I found these pretty cups on the

Ariadne site. The birds have

been painted on the cups and

teapot. Wanne make them yourself?

Look here I made a DIY a while ago

about this, look here :)

Have fun creating your

own birdie things ❤

Love,

Vera

Summer Tomatoes

I had better write this down....or I will NEVER remember it!

Does that ever happen to you with recipes?

I will make something, absolutely love it, and then never make it again because I completely forget that it exists.

I go to the store, trying to plan meals or figure out what 'sounds good' for dinner later that week and I draw a complete blank. I wander the grocery isles, lost in a sea of possibilities.

Generally, I refer to Allrecipes.com whenever I am trying to decide what to cook. I will just enter an ingredient and it gives me tons of options. Also,  I receive their daily email and whenever something looks good, I always save it to my recipe box.

This summer, I have been eating homegrown tomatoes like crazy! They are larapin delicious. (Larapin is a real word. Ahem. According to the Urban hicksville dictionary it refers to "a food that tastes exceptionally good")

When I was a kid, I hated tomatoes. Probably because my mom hated them. Cheeseburger, no onions, no tomatoes. She ordered it that way...so I ordered it that way....I still hate those lame fake tomatoes on sandwiches and burgers....but I have a true taste for homegrown, farmer's market, juicy red tomatoes. mmm-mmm-mmmmmm.

I decided to try a new recipe tonight. I looked on Allrecipes.com for some inspiration. If something looks yummy, I look at the ingredients to make sure that I have every thing and then I read the comments. Inevitably, someone says, "Oh, I tried this, it was delicious, I made a few changes..." and they go on to explain that they changed pretty much everything. Haha. I decided to use what I saw, make the changes and turn it into a NEW recipe. ;-)

Please tell me if you try this too!! I would love to know how it turns out for you! I ate the tomatoes tonight with white rice and a spicy grilled KC strip steak. I will be making these again!

Mozzarella Tomatoes
2 Large tomatoes sliced 1/2" to 1/4" thickness
1 1/2 (approx) tablespoon mayo
1 tablespoon dijon mustard (or any fancy mustard)
1/2 tablespoon worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (or a couple of cloves)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 tablespoons Parmigiano cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Mix together the mayo, mustard, worchestershire, garlic and oregano in a mixing bowl. Place your tomatoes in a glass casserole dish, greased. Spoon the mixture onto the tomatoes, it doesn't take much for each one. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Place in a hot oven, I used the broiler but you could also bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I kept them under the boiler for about 5 min. and then turned the pan and baked for an additional 2-3 minutes. Just eye-balling it so that the cheese got bubbly and brown on top. I also sprinkled the top with parsley flakes, for good looks.

DIY Sunday - felt bow tutorial

Hi everyone!

Todays' DIY is one of my favorite quick crafts ever: A felt bow hairclip.

You will need:

felt, a hairclip, thread and needle, a scissors

:)

First, cut a strap from your felt.

Now, fold the felt in 3 steps.

Then, cut a smaller strap from the felt.

And now, take thread and needle, and add some loose stitches to the bigger part of the felt.

Pull the thread to create the typical bow shape!

And now, add the smaller strap of felt.

Now you already have a bow xD

Sew your hairclip to the back.

And now your hairclip is done!!!!! Hooray for quick crafts, right? Happy Sunday, loves.

xo.

Katja

DiY -painted stones-

An easy DIY for yourself, the kids, a birthday party or as a rainy day activity with the family :) You can buy stones in a store or at a garden centre, but usually they are more expensive then when you find them in nature. Go out for a walk and bring home a bunch of stones.. All you need is acrylic paint, paintbrush, water and your own imagination! I've painted mine turquoise and purple. Since they are still in their drying state, i have some time to figure out what i want to paint on them. Since i will be selling some on a market in a while, i really want to paint something easy and catchy!

i totally love these!

found here

based on crochet inspiration

found here

found here

found here

There are even workshops for a few hours

that you can follow. But i like to experience

at home :) Since we had a few rainy days,

it felt like a perfect thing to do!

Have fun painting them & if you

did let me know :)

Love,

Vera

Recipe: Chicken Malakka

Today I want to share my favorite recipe with you: Chicken Malakka (or Quorn Malakka, the veggie version). I have been eating this for 3 days in a row now, and still would like some more.


What you need to make Chicken of Quorn Malakka:
chicken or quorn
onion
mushrooms
red pepper powder
soy sauce
stroganoff sauce
(indonesian) peanut sauce
pineapple
bean sprouts
spaghetti


This is how you make it:
Start with boiling spaghetti, cause this takes up most of the time.
Bake the chicken till it turn a little brown (When you use quorn, you'll add the quorn later in the process).
Add the diced onion, bake it till it's glazy.
Add the mushrooms (and quorn for the veggie version) and bake them too. (I like my mushrooms quite big and bake them very short).
Add red pepper powder together with the mushrooms. The more the better! (Well, not all of it, about one or two teaspoons will do).
At the end of the baking, add a little soy sauce.
In the meanwhile, you can prepare your sauce. For the sauce I use a mix of stroganoff sauce and peanut sauce. Don't bother making them from scratch, the ones where you just have to add water taste just as good!
Put the sauce in the pan with all the goodies you baked. Let it get to boil.
When the sauce boiles you can add pineapple parts and bean sprouts. (I usually use canned pineapple, because it is so much cheaper! Best part is that you can add the juice too, which makes the Chicken Malakka taste even better!).
Let the sauce boil for a couple of minutes.
Put some spaghetti on a plate, pour the sauce over it and digg in!

Chicken Malakka tastes even better when you serve a simple salad with it, made with lettuce, tomatoes, eggs, onions and a simple mayonaise-based dressing.

bon appetit!


The wonderfull prints that I used to illustrate this article are made by the llustrator Michael Toland and available as prints on Etsy.

Wide Angle in STL

Happy Monday!!

Over the weekend, I had a chance to experiment with a new toy. The 52mm Wide-Angle Lens for Nikon cameras. I thought you might like to see the results in case you have ever considered investing in a wide-angle lens.

I would love to buy a REAL wide-angle lens, but for now, this little cheapo attachment is fun to play around with.

To use this attachment, I simply screwed the little lens on the end of my 18-55mm lens and started shooting. It is light weight, easy to haul around and easy to attach to the camera. Light-weight is important when walking around like a tourist, taking pictures. ;-)

The price is great, very affordable for those of us who want to get a feel for wide-angle before taking the plunge to purchase a REALLY wide digital lens.

I actually like the vignette that is created around the image. Some people on the Amazon reviews did not like that or the fact that it gets a little blurry around the edges, but I actually like it. 

All of the photos were taken in St. Louis. The Moonlight, on Del Mar...I am told is where Lady Gaga stayed when she played in St. Louis recently. She reserved the entire top floor and the rooftop bar. Wow! By the way, I will be seeing Lady Gaga in Kansas City, Missouri tomorrow! I am super excited!!