Wednesday 19 February 2014

hallway signs for a cosy home

aren't they beautiful...???

the minute i saw the first hallway sign tutorial on pinterest, i fell in love with the idea and knew i had to make some myself.

...not having a hallway and living in an oriental inspired more loft-like apartment, i thought i had  to improvise a little bit.

it turmed out, i had to improvise a little more than a little bit, as living in germany seems to be a great challenge for crafters, who get their inspiriation from american blogs... we don't have michael's or hobby lobby...and it is so difficult to get the required supplies, so some of them needed to be replaced by repurposed others things .

...i tried hard and this is the result.












this is what you need..or what i used instead





- iron wrought plant brackets

- oval wooden plagues...(bamboo cutting boards)

- paint

- metal paint

- brushes a bigger one and a finer one

- two sponges

- template of the writing

- transfer paper

- pencil

- drill

- screws 

- screwdriver

- hooks


this is what you have to do



- drill a hole into the middle upper part of the wooden plague



- as i could only find thin bamboo cutting boards, i did not dare to drill the top edge, where i could have just screwed in a hook



- start painting your wooden plagues, i was too lazy to sand the boards first and it worked out really well



- i don't really like it, if the lines of the brush are visible, so i always apply the top coat with a sponge




- keep another sponge ready and a darker paint, i used the same paint i used for the letters and the plant brackets



- apply some of the colour onto the sponge and start to darken the edges of the plague



- get your letter template, the transfer paper and the pencil ready



- using the stencil to transfer the writing onto your wooden plague



- it should come out like this...or even better




- with a brush and paint highlight the writing






- i made it short and quick and opted for the writing bath (bathroom), bed (bedroom) and beyond (laundry room)





- i could only get beautiful flower brackets in a colour, i did not like and had to paint it with a golden brown metall paint



- the look so much better in the darker colour



- and it goes so well with the red of the wooden plague

- you now just have to attach the sign to the bracket, using a matching hook and affix it onto your wall







- the hallway signs look the best in a matching colour to your hallway walls.


- original signs are in off white and look so beautiful and you can find them here:

http://aplaceforusblog.com/hallways-bringing-the-outside-in/

thank you so much destiny for this beautiful and for sharing your tutorial.

Thursday 13 February 2014

homemade striped pasta hearts with red pesto

as i am not really that romantic kind of girl...i wouldn 't consider my striped black and gold pasta as romantic...more as stylish...but of course they still would make a beautiful v-day dinner...but of course not only for a valentine's dinner.

...to add some colour to the black and gold pasta, the ravioli hearts are filled with a delicious cashew and sundried tomato pesto.

optional you can serve the pasta within the pesto, a very good option though.


i wish all the romantics out there a happy valentine‘s day and everyone else simply bon appetit.








this is what you need



- 200g  and 200g flour

- 2 and 2 eggs

- 1 tablespoon and 1 tablespoon olive oil

- dash of salt and another dash of salt

- food colouring (natural or artificial)

- pasta maker

- knife

- cookie cutter

- kitchen towel


this is what you have to do


- mix half of the flour, eggs, olive oil and salt and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic

- if you own a thermomix, the dough will be ready after kneading the dough for 2 minutes on dough speed

- wrap into cling foil and let it rest for 30 minutes

- repeat with the other half of the ingredients and add food colouring

- wrap into cling foil and let it rest for 30 minutes

- take a handful plain dough



- flaten the dough with your hands


- run it through your pasta rolling machine on thickest setting

- keep aside


- repeat with the coloured dough


- place both pieces on top of each other



- cut into halves



- place both layers on top of each other



- cut into small stripes




- again place the layers on top of each other


- lay the layers flat onto your working surface



-flatten with your hands





- run through your pasta maker first on the thickest than on a thinner mode




- spread out








- cut out hearts with a cookie cutter 



- get an even number of hearts ready


- prepare your filling


sundried tomato, cashew, garlic, parmesan pesto


- 4 sundried tomatoes

- a handful of cashews

- 4 garlic gloves

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil 

- grounded parmesan cheese


...mix all ingredients and chop in a blender or in a thermomix on speed 4



- place a teaspoon of the pesto in the middle of every second pasta heart







- place another pasta heart on top of each pesto topped heart





- use your fingertips to press the pasta between the mounds to seal





 



- cook the ravioli hearts in a large pot with lightly salted water, until floating

- toss with melted butter and grind pepper over the ravioli


simple alternative









marbled pasta nests




one of the big advantages of a pasta maker or pasta press is that you do not have any wastage of the dough...and create some beautiful marbled pasta nests.



- you can simply roll the remaining dough together to one ball.



- flaten with your hand






- run through the pasta press on the thickest mode 
 


- run again through a thinner mode






- and finally run it through the spaghetti or tagiatelle mode





- assemble them loose to a nest look-a-like and let them dry on a kitchen towel


the inspiration

http://www.kuriositaetenladen.com/2009/01/pastakolleg-teil-2-gestreifte-nudeln.html