Special Feature Friday: At Home Bistro

Edition 8

Did you know that Etsy is also a wonderful place for finding recipes?
And because it is such a wonderful international community there are many wonderful new foods to try out.
European, American, Asian, Indian, Mexican, Vegan, and so on.

I never before thought of purchasing recipes via Etsy, but I adore cooking books, and I have quite a few of them. But sometimes I like to try something out of witch I do not have a recipe. Of course there are many websites where one can find recipes for free, but these are not always accurate.
Therefore, Etsy is a great option for getting recipes, that are accurate, and not made up to accommodate the tastes of the country you live in, but actually taste as they should. For example, the average Chinese restaurant in The Netherlands does not make actual Chinese food, but rather a less tasteful version of the real thing, to make sure most of the Dutch people would like it. This makes sense for commercial shops because after all Chinese is very different from the Dutch cuisine, and when Chinese food first arrived in the Netherlands it was more important to sell then to be authentic. I am glad to say that more genuine Chinese restaurants are popping up throughout the Netherlands now.

At Home Bistro is the shop I ran into this week, this shop has quite a selection of wonderful foods, and the recipes are very easy to download after payment. The great thing about this is that you are able to work with them right away!

  Don't these cheese cake clouds look delicious?

  I would nearly lick my screen to get a taste of them!

This shop has a great varieties of recipes, desserts, cakes, soups, main courses and some traditional American dishes like meatloaf, cheesecake and marshmallow fluff cream.
Really, I dare you to go and have a look without wanting to eat something afterwards!
Another positive thing about buying your recipes like this is that you will only have to buy the ones you want to make, and you don't have to spend a fortune on a whole new cooking book.

 Could you resist this chocolate cake?
 I know I can't....

So, that is my message for this week, remember Etsy when you are searching for recipes, you will be surprised!

*edit*

After the shop owner of At Home Bistro heard of this blog she decided to give the readers of this blog a 15% discount! Use the code AISHA15 to get the discount when you want to purchase a recipe!

Special Feature Friday: SnapdragonToyCo

Edition 7

Next week is my dear nephews first birthday. Before he came along I never took notice of anything baby's might need, as cute as they are, it was never something I had to think about.
But, nowadays I have to check the baby clothes department of every store, and have a quick look in the window of the toy shop to see if there are any nice toys he might like.

I also started to pay more attention to baby toys on Etsy. My nephew seems to be very attracted by animals, if they move he has to look at them, and pet them in his own clumsy and still very uncoordinated way.

This week I found SnapdragonToyCo at Etsy, they make knitted animals, dolls and wooden children toys. Especially the wood animals caught my attention as they are so simple yet extremely cute.
Like this hedgehog for example;

I know it is wood, but it looks like it is worth it to give it a cuddle anyway!
The wood used is often solid maple wood, I find this a very pretty type of wood. The woods are finished with a bees wax. they make perfect save toys for children to play with, even when they want to stick it in their mouth. And, as it is wood, it will last forever and maybe one day even the child's own child or grand children might enjoy it just as much as their parents once did.
In my eyes there is no material more perfect for this as wood. With this shop it is also possible to request a custom made animal, just in case your favorite animal is not in the shop.

Vacation shopping

A better-late-then-never update about all the items I bought on my holiday!

As I said before, this year we went to the Netherlands and England on our holiday. Mostly to see family but there was plenty of time to do other things, for example, shop for my shop. In the Netherlands we went to this little quilt shop in Schagen, Aljona's stoffen. There I found some fabric in a peachy orange color, there where 3 types in one series, one had a tree and different kind of animals, it spelled "les amis de la forét" in the same series there was a fabric with foxes and one with branches and birds. The fabric came in a color I usually do not feel attracted to but this print was so cute, so I decided to get a fat quarter of each. However once I came home I felt like I should have bought more. I also bought 2 fabrics with a flower pattern.

We also went to Amsterdam where I got to go to 2 quilt shops, the first one, birdblocks, I have been there many times and often found a lot to buy, but unfortunately this time I only bought 2 Christmas fabrics. The other shop is called Dutchquilts, this shop is really quite special because they sell antique prints, Dutch but also others. It is really a nice shop to find some different kind of fabrics. Both shops are right next to each other, so if you visit Amsterdam it is really easy to visit them both!

The last quilting shop I visited was in England in Canterbury. I have been in Canterbury a few times before, and walked by the shop, The sewing shop , but I never went in. Well this time I did, and the shop is really cute. I was thrilled to find the fabric "Les amis de la forét" because at that time I really regretted that I did not buy more, so I took another fat quarter. I was especially happy with this shops selecion of Christmas fabric's, they already had a great selection, something I missed in the shops in the Netherlands.

As I would like to build a nice inventory with Christmas items this year, I need the fabric's early to get it done in time. So I was very happy to find a great selecion of winter fabric's in this shop. As well as some floral fabrics and a fabric called paint by numbers, this reminded me a lot of my childhood so I just had to take some. (but again, I should have bought more because it is a great print to work with!)

And then at last I found a shop in Weymouth where they sell wonderful beads, mostly semi precious stone.

I had a hard time finding semi precious stones in the shops, and it was great to find some here, I only took a little selection though because at this point there was not a single free spot left in the suitcase.

So, the holiday was a success, I am extremely happy with everything I bought. It was great to visit all these shops and I hope to be able to return to them again!

Vallon des Trésors

Special Feature Friday: MinkuLUL

Edition 6

We came back from holiday last week, we had a lovely time! Unfortunately I got ill so I did not get to do as much as I wanted this week.
From next week on I only have class in the morning though, so that leaves every afternoon to work!

For this weeks Special Feature Friday I choose a shop that sells the most beautiful hand painted silk scarves.
MinkuLUL has a great selection of scarves, painted in the most beautiful colors and designs.
The fabric used is silk, one of my favorite fabrics because it is so light and soft.

I can imagine it must be a lot of work to paint these scarves. They are so detailed I can imagine that a lot of love goes into making them.

I admire the craftsmanship that went into making these scarves! This is a great shop to remember for birthday and holiday gifts, I am quite sure everyone would be impressed with a silk scarf from this shop as a present. And of course, these scarves can be worn on many many occasions.

Shopping on holiday

Our holiday is going splendidly! I got to see my family and meet up with everyone. My darling nephew grew so fast, he is absolutely adorable. I was really glad to see him, and see all the new things he has learned. He just learned how to walk, whilst holding something or someone. It is adorable to see him wave, and it took a while but he got the hang of how to clap his hands as well. All very simple things but it is so much fun to watch a baby figure these things out. I am so glad to be up to date again!

And as planned, I got to go shopping for the shop, I visited about 3 quilt shops and the damage was substantial. I could not be more happy though, I just love shopping for fabrics and with the shop these experiences are only getting better.

So, a little preview of the fabrics, they are not yet washed or ironed since they are still in the suitcase for the second part of the trip, so please excuse me for the pictures being a bit messy.

It is August and time to start thinking of Christmas items, so I kept an eye out for Christmas themed fabrics and I have found quite a few nice ones, some very obviously Chrismassy (as we like to call something that looks like Christmas), and some a bit more subtle. I have a few more Christmas themed fabrics at home, and I think all together this can become a nice collection!

I fell in love with these fox and forest themed fabrics right away, they are so adorable, I now wonder why I have not bought more than a fat quarter of each. at first I was doubtful about the print because it is not a color I am usually attracted to, but the longer I look at it the more it starts to grow on me. Right now it is my favorite combination of all the fabrics I bought this week.

Owls, I love them, and I am so glad they are in the fashion, there are wonderful fabrics available with owls on them. this week I bought this fabric the owls look great and the color combination makes it appropriate for a baby room as well.

And at last the flowers, I always keep an eye out for flower fabrics, especially these are very detailed and very pretty, I went for blue and brown, mostly because it was very difficult to find another fabric in the right colors blue, but also because I thought the blue and brown looked like quite a match, and the colors in the raspberries are the same as the colors in the rose. 

So, my first week of holiday has been very fruitful! Thursday we will get on our way to the UK and I hope to find a couple more quilt shops there, I would still like some more Christmas fabrics and I really hope to walk into the fox and forest fabric's again. I also hope to find one or two bead shops, I checked out one bead shop in Amsterdam but was not greatly impressed by the assortment, so I did not buy much.

The last thing I would like to let you know that this week there will not be a Special Feature Friday. But I will make that up with you the week after, and take extra care of finding an extra nice Etsy shop to share!

Special Feature Friday: Millionbells

Edition 5

Earlier this week we finally went on our holiday, it is wonderful to meet up with family again!

However I nearly forgot about the Special Feature Friday, but luckily I remembered right in time.

Lately I have been looking at a lot of crochet patterns, at this moment I have not yet learned how to crochet but the patterns available are so incredibly cute! It is just a matter of time before my first try.
I hope to find a knitting and crochet shop this holiday so I can buy some supplies.

So this week I will feature Millionbells I have seen her a couple of times before on Etsy, this shop owner designs crochet patterns and after payment you will receive a PDF with instructions on how to make them.
The patterns are really cute, there are patterns for plush toy's but also for hot water bottles and egg cozy's.
(because the only thing to make a Sunday morning breakfast better is a cute egg cozy on you fresh warm egg)

The patterns are available in Dutch and English!

Special Feature Friday: HollyLollies

Edition 4

Last week I wrote about a shop selling food items made from polymer clay.
I'd like to stick to the theme a little while longer so I decided to write about a shop that sells real food items.

HollyLollies sells handmade lollies. The lollies come in different flavors and look very pretty! They truly look like real treats!

This shop is quite young but seems very promising. The owner makes all the lollies herself by hand.
They are made of pure sugar with no corn syrup added.
She used dried fruit, flowers and sprinkles for decoration, what makes the lollies look extra tasty.
It is possible to customize the order, so this would make great opportunity's for themed party's or holiday's.

All together these lollies look so wonderful with all the colors, it makes me feel happy!

Special Feature Friday: My Secret Cravings

Edition 3

This week I found this shop that made me feel very very hungry, not very weird because it is called My Secret Cravings and one thing is for sure, their items look delicious!

However, they are not for eating! The items in this shop are mostly made of polymere clay, and they are shaped in the most delicious foods we can imagine; Macarons, Ice creams,  Cookies or even a croissant with an egg or a nice cup of coffee! these items can be used as decoration, I can imagine they would be great for dolls houses. But some of them come as necklaces or earrings.
The miniature food is so detailed, I am quite amazed by it.

This shop is adorable! This shopowner also sells fabric covered button ponytail holders, wedding cake toppers and necklaces with owl pendants. I would say that checking out her shop is really worth it!

A day off

Today is my day off, our French teacher is on a holiday so no school on Tuesday.
Luckily there is enough to do! This weekend my parents in law are visiting so I will need to take some time to make the house a bit cleaner.

But then I will have an afternoon of me time!
At this moment I am working on Mars his new pants, it only needs the zipper, waistband and then it will be done. I will put the zipper in today for sure. Somehow I always like putting in the zipper, it gives me the feeling I am nearly done!

There are also 2 pillow fronts I have that need to be sewn into pillows, I am quite sure I can finish those today as well. Hopefully I will have time to take pictures of them right away!

The weather has cooled down quite a lot, it was about 36°C before the weekend. right now it is only 22°C  it is very refreshing, and it will make me more inclined to actually do some hard work, including ironing the fabrics.

In August we will be visiting family in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, I am making a list with shops where I can go to buy supplies, for every city I know we are going to I have some addresses  and I hope to be able to buy a lot of nice fabrics, lace, ribbon beads and metal findings!

Certainly looking forward to the trip, it has been 3 months since I have seen my nephew and I bet he changed a lot, another 2 months and he will turn 1. It is also grandma's birthday and I am happy we can be there. In England we will be visiting Mars his family, and Stonehenge, a place I wanted to see for a while now.
All in all, a lot of things to look forward too, but now it is time to get some actual work done!

Special Feature Friday: twentyseven27 soap

Edition 2

This week I have chosen twentyseven27 soap shop for the Special Feature Friday.

This shop owner makes soap out of goat milk. she uses raw goat milk, not from a can or package.
She adds oils her soaps for moisturizing. A big plus is that her soaps contain no parabens, SLS or Pthalates. This is a great extra especially for people with sensitive skin.
There is a range for people with dry skin.

Besides the fact that these soaps are made with proper goat milk and contain very little harsh ingredients they are also very pretty to look at. They come in many different colors and smells, and in the most beautiful swirls. The wrapping of the soaps has also been considered well, all in all they look like wonderful little gifts.

But it does not end with soap! This seller also sells body butters and laundry soap in her shop.
The laundry soap can be made in a scent you prefer, and if you have allergies she can take this in account!

Looking trough her shop I wish I could smell all the items personally, but I guess this is one thing the internet can't do.