Shoegazing

A while ago, Uppercase magazine tweeted a link about a new Flickr group called 'Shoegazing for Uppercase magazine. Being a Flickr & an Uppercase fan, I joined the pool but didn't have time until now to take a picture.

These are new shoes from Dutch origin called Loints, super comfy and fun to wear.
Now I hope that my super allergic feet will be able to stand 'em. :)

How to make healty bars?

While you're reading this, either I'm on my way to Amsterdam, building up my craft fair booth, explaining the 99-feelings project, selling our collaborative jewellery, chatting with Marta my booth buddy, browsing the market myself or eating cookies.
I made brownies and healthy bars to keep us going and as I don't want to let you out on all the yummy so here's the recipe.

What you need: 250g applesauce, 100g dried apricots, 100g raisins,
50g cane sugar, 50 sunflower seeds, 25 sesame seeds,
25g pumpkin seeds, 75g oats, 75 selfraising flower,
50g coconut, 2 eggsYou can use ready made applesauce or make some yourself.
I peeled and cut up 2 apples and place them in the microwave.
Then I mash it with a fork and leave it to cool down.
Cut up the apricots and poor some hot water over the raisins to become softer.
Squeeze the raisins firmly so there is no water left when you put 'em in the dough later.

Put the eggs in a bowl and whisk 'em.Chuck all the ingredients in the bowl.

Stir the mixture.

Place a baking sheet in a baking tray.

Put the dough in the tray and bake it for 30 minutes at 180°C.

Take it out of the baking pan.

Slice it up, let 'em cool down and put 'em in a container.

I hardly ever feel guilty when eating these! :)
Nomnom!

Weekly happy stats

Things that made me happy last week:

• Getting a 'just because' bouquet of flowers from my neighbor's daughter
  (thank you, Zoë, they are gorgeous!)
  
• Enjoying some time on a sunny terrace
  (and a lovely beer to go with that)
• Making a vase mould
  (Birch-style)
  
• Sending out my newsletter
  (and loving Mailchimp for doing such an awesome job)
• the adrenaline that kept me going nearly non-stop :)
  (thank you adrenaline!)

Random happy pic by me

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

I love pies

Did I ever tell you that I love pies? Sweet and hearty pies, I love 'em all.
Fleurfatale has started posting yummy pie recipes in her blog lately and I just want to try 'em all. Everytime, she posts one, I really have to withold myself not to run off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients!
She has more recipe's up her sleeve and mostly quick ones she says, as she can't spend hours in her kitchen! I can't either as I'll be reading her blog! LOL :)
I already made this apple/raspberry pie so often and it's loved heaps by everyone who has tasted it.
This intro is also the reason why I started making lots of little ceramic balls some time ago. And I thought that it wouldn't be bad to have some functional ceramic ware in my shop.
So I made baking pearls that can be used for blind baking. When you use puff pastry for a pie, it's best to pre-bake the dough beforehand. You just place a baking sheet on top of the pastry and then add weight to it.
You can use dried beans, dried peas or... jip, ceramic baking pearls.
They would make a fab gift for anyone who loves to bake & play in the kitchen.
Besides that, I think they have more class then the average bean and pea! :)Half a kilo of ceramic pearls come in a handmade, drawstring bag. Jip, made by me on my new sewingmachine - skills are slowly improving. I stamped 'baking pearls' on one side, and the Dutch word 'bakparels' on the other side. And of course a happy girl for even more fun while baking. :) I'll add them to the shop sometime next week.

My creative space

Lots of stuff to make goodie bags today. Jip, whenever there is a fair, it's an ArtMind tradition to spoil the readers of this blog, subscribers of my newsletter, followers on Twitter or contacts on Flickr for their neverending support. Not sure yet what it will contain, but it will be fun and festive.
If you happen to be in Amsterdam this weekend, don't forget to come to the Sunday Market and drop by my stand to get your goodiebag. Just let me know if you read any of my updates on the sites mentioned above. I have 40 bags available so just make sure to pass by first thing. First come, first serve. :)

Want to show your space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's to play! It's fun! :)

Work in progress

Perhaps I'm exaggerating by posting so many work in progress pictures lately but I am working really hard to get everything done for the Sunday Market in Amsterdam.
I made some birch vases & they are in the kiln as we speak. They come out on thursday which will give me just enough time to glaze and fire 'em again. And then they will come out of the kiln again on saturday so that I can wrap 'em up and take 'em to Amsterdam.
Tight timing so I'm just a little bit stressed... :)

Flickr Favorites

1. Forget me not, 2. Empty 1, 3. Why Me, 4. The Djinn's Bottle (empty)

Last week I announced that every first Tuesday of the month we would try to make a themed mosaic. If you're not up to that, don't worry and do whatever you like. I'll still like you! :)
This week, I would like to see different outtakes on emptiness/loneliness.
A bit gloomy, scary and sad perhaps but I think it also has a very beautiful aspect. When you feel empty or lonely, you are forced to deal with it somehow. It reflects on your whole being and it will make you stronger and more concious then anything else.

My favorite mosaic from last week is very nature/jungle related. :)

If you like to play this week, make your mosaic and add a link to your blogpost (NOT your blog please) or Flickr in Mister Linky (click on the button below and fill in your name with the link to your blogpost or Flickr picture)...