Happy New Year!

I wish everyone the very best for 2013!

May it be a year with lots of love, laughter, baking and fun DIY's!

Love,
Noes

Christmas is: Home made desert

With Christmas there are many possibillities to celebrate at restaurants but how good is home made food!
I especially agree on this when it comes to desert.
This year I made tiramisu and pear-cherry crumble.

 

Both are easy to make, but since the crumble was something different I present you the recipe:

- Sliced up 3 pears and add 100 grams of cherries
- Mix in 50 grams of cane sugar
- Divide the mixture over 6 small baking pans
- Make a dough out of 200 grams of cane sugar, 200 grams of butter and 200 grams of plain flour
- Add to the top and bake for 45 minutes at 190 degrees

Super easy but so delicious, enjoy!

Love,
Noes

Christmas is: DIY presents

Fun to make and fun to get, a personalised present for Christmas.
Lately I have been wanting to try out porcelain paint and that idea let to some more presents to hand out.

For mom

 

 

 

 

For dad

 

 

 

For my sister Anouk

 

 

 

 

For my sister Esther

 

 

 

The only things you need: porcelain paint, a tiny brush, something to paint on, patience and an oven.
There are many colors paint available and you can paint on any porcelain or ceramic surface. According To Noes tableware here we come?

 

Love,
Noes

Christmas is: wrapping presents extra special

One of the most fun things of Christmas is wrapping the presents you bought for others. Luckely I had some practice before!
For instance you can use labels (the oldskool brown ones of handmade), ribbon, string, masking tape and spice up the brown paper with fun stamps.

 

Writing a fun line on the labels usually does the trick too, let your guests be curious: who's getting that pretty present?
And last but not least, Christmas preperations are so much fun.

Happy holidays!

Love,
Noes

Cake stand

It happens more than once in a while. You are looking for that one thing: the perfect jeans, those exact shoes you had seen online, furniture that's all in the same color range..
It is exactly then that you can do whatever you want, try so hard but you won't find it.
Don't worry, you really are not the only one.
For the last couple of weeks I have been looking for new cake stands. I didn't even have one exact idea in my head but still, I could hardly find any!
And the rare ones I did find where only big enough for one cupcake or pretty but after a closer look crooked. Frustrating right?

So sometimes a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do. I made one myself!

I bought a gorgeous plate and vase at the second hand store, gave then a good scrub and with a little imagination they became one piece.
Since the outcome is so fabulous, I don't intent to quit anytime soon.

Bring in the cake, 'cause we are ready for it!

Love,
Noes

Classic beauty

Sophia Loren, Rita Heyworth, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe... the definition of classic beauty.
Back in the days looking beautiful was quite different then it is now. It was all curves, winged eyeliner and lipstick. How great was that?

For one I embrace the vintage look with both arms, the classic way or with a slight twist. Get the look!

Hair
No curling, no straightening needed. Keep it natural. If you have natural curls the short curly bob like Marilyn is very cute or the 'Hollywood curl' like Rita Hayworth. Rather a style with straight hair? What about a classic Audrey Hepburn updo with short bangs or one of my personal favorites, the beehive. So gorgeous on Brigitte Bardot!

Make-up
Start with a great black mascara and (winged) eyeliner and top it off with a pop of color. Some red or pink lipstick is amazing but you can also show off with red nailpolish like Marilyn.

Fashion
The LBD is classic for a reason, add a little glitter or some pearls and rock the 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' look.
Already went all overboard on the hair and make-up? As you can see all of these women look gorgeous as well with a simple black turtle neck or fun flower print jeans.
And wait. Is Brigitte Bardot wearing a beanie there? With colder times at our door that fashion item is very much welcome.
Apart from that high waisted shorts and skirts are classic, cute and actually back in fashion again!

Accessories
Pearls, sprakly earrings, a little bit of leopard print and retro sunglasses. They are all so much fun but as you can see you can even look beautiful without too much fuss, keep it simple and draw the attention to one part of the look. Simplicity!

These ladies are not just classic beauties because the time of their fame makes it classic, they are because despite of any imperfections they were gorgeous and everyone thought they were. In my opinion, that state of mind could never hurt. I say: let's get that going again. Everyone is different and no one is perfect, exactly that's what makes beauty.

Inspired? Maybe this may be a fun new project for your Christmas of New Years look. Have fun!

Love,
Noes

Little things

Blogger Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere can be an inspiration for many things. She has many DIY ideas, fashion and make-up tips and yummy recipes but today she inspired me with something else.
Regularly she posts a blog under the name of 'Five things'. In this blog she simply shows and names five things that make her happy.
And be honest, it really is that easy. Pretty flowers, something new after shopping, a good time with friends, your pet, a good meal, anything can make you happy.

Fifi Lapin

Her latest book is 'The wonderful world of Fifi Lapin: Style secrets of a furry fashionista'. How fun is that?
It's not in the regular book stores here but I found some possibilities for online shops so I'm secretly hoping this one will be under the Christmas tree for me.

Treasure hunt
This one is the catch of my latest 'treasure hunt' aka vintage shopping. I personally am not a fan of all vintage items but I do love furniture a lot. This one was hidden away, all kinds of Christmas decorations stacked on top of it, but that didn't keep me from finding it. Lovely isn't it?

Cutie
My sisters pet rabbit Nacho is the cutest thing in the world. Who wouldn't love a face like that?

Home made

Home made pizza. I love pizza as it is but as many things, home made is often the best. I'm baking one as we speak and the entire ground floor of the house smells so good, I'm hungry!

Hart of Dixie

A series with a fun storyline, starring Rachel Bilson and this guy... instant success! I started watching it because of Rachel Bilson, but when the character 'Wade' came into the picture, it was settled.
His name is Wilson Bethel, obviously he is drop dead gorgeous (you should see that crooked smile) and he's young! Not a George Clooney hot but 'Oh boy he's hot' .
Spoiler!
He and Zoe (Rachel Bilson) actually get together in the series at some point, yay! Don't we all wish we were her?

I hope you are all gonna make pizza, be nice to your pet and watch Hart of Dixie right away. Enjoy!

Love,
Noes

Spinach and cheese pasta

Now that I have more spare time, I like to experiment some more with recipes.
Last night is was time for the spinach and cheese pasta I found a while back and since it was a success I'm sharing it with you all!

As a main course for 6 people you will need:
- 500 gr of pasta, rigatoni or conchilgie for example.
- 2 ts of olive oil
- 75 gr of butter
- 75 gr of flour
- 700 ml of milk
- 200 gr of Gorgonzola cheese
- 600 gr of fresh spinach
- 2 cloves of garlic
- italian herbs
- 250 gr of ricotta cheese

1. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
2. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
3. Heat the butter in a pan and add the flour. Bake it about 5 minutes while stirring, it looks a little like dough now. Add the milk and get it to boil while still stirring. Once the sauce is thickened you add the Gorgonzola and salt and pepper to your taste. Again let it softly boil for 5 minutes.
4. Heat the olive oil in a wok and add the spinach in shares with the garlic. Keep heating it until it reduces, add salt and pepper to your taste.
5. Mix the spinach with the pasta and put it in an baking dish. Add the cheesesaus to it and mix again.
6. Add the Italian herbs, some pepper and salt to the ricotta cheese and spread it on top of it all.
7. Bake it for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Love,
Noes

Jurassic Gold

A while ago I discovered DIY spray paint animals on Pinterest, they were so cool! Why didn't I think of that? I took one of the best pictures there as an example and created the golden hippo.

As seen above he now guards my desk very convincingly.
After discovering some more examples, I decided it was time for mr. Hippo to have some company.

They are fun, real movie celebrities and form the perfect team to decorate your home.
What steps have I taken?
1. Clean them with warm water and St. Mark to prep them
2. Cover your workspace with plenty of paper or plastic
3. Give them two thin layers of spray paint, of course you can use any color you like
4. Decorate specific parts with glitter, you do this after the spray paint is completely dry. Add some blank nailpolish on the part you want to glitter, sprinkle enough glitter on to cover all the nailpolish and tap of the excess.

That's it!

I really like the result even though it's such an easy and low budget DIY project. You can find these plastic toy animals in a regular toy store but you could even look for them in second hand shops and buy the spray paint in a dollar store. It really is that easy.

Have fun making them!

Rawr from the Jurassic Gold team

Holiday prepping

Time flies by, we are already in November so before we know it the holidays will be coming up. The Dutch Sinterklaas, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.
Have you already thought of them?

How are you gonna dress up your place? Who are you celebrating it with? What presents are you going to buy? What food are you going to make?

They are just a few questions now but when you are getting into detail later you will remember last year. All the last minute tasks, some things you would have rather done differently.
You can fix all that this year. Just start early on your plans!

Here a few fun ideas to consider.

 

A pretty wreath on your front door

 

No Christmas without a tree! But even then the sky is the limit, have that tree however you want

 

Go all out on dressing your table

 

Think about colors, materials and a centerpiece

 

Something fun

 

And the place cards of course

 

Serve stunning food

 

A simple cake is dressed up so easily

 

And don't you forget about the drinks!

 

Make your presents look super festive

 

Say it with a fun label

 

It's not a party without a little sparkle! And yes, these shoes are a DIY project!

 

But most of all, make sure you are with the people you love and have FUN!

Love,
Noes