Cupcakes!

picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/4495315364/in/photostream/

This is the recipe for the cupcakes I showed you yesterday, they are really quite easy to make! According to the recipe the batch will make 18 cupcakes, but I got 23 out of it.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:
230 g soft butter
230 g very fine granulated sugar
230 g self-rising flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the decoration:
Fondant (or marzipan, whichever you prefer) in a colour you like
Decorating icing in a colour you like (the one I used was Wilton decorating icing + Wilton tips)
(for the Dutchies, you can buy both these things at Jamin, at least in my town you can..)

Steps1. Pre-heat the oven at 175 degrees. Take a cupcake tray and put cupcake shapes in the holes.
2. Put all the ingredients for the cakes in a bowl and use a mixer to mix them for 2-3 minutes. You should end up with a light, creamy mixture. Scoop this into the shapes in the cupcake tray.
3. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes. If you only have a cupcake tray for 12 cupcakes, you will need to bake twice.
4. Take the cupcakes out of the oven and let them cool down.
5. Spread out some powdered sugar over your working area so that the fondant does not stick. Take the fondant and roll out untill it is as a thin as you want it. Use cookie cutters to cut out different shapes.
6. Use a little bit of plain icing (mix powdered sugar and water) to stick the fondant on the cupcakes.
7. Now decorate the cupcakes with the icing. You can make any pattern or shape you like. The Wilton tubes I used are quite easy, you put a tip you like on it and squeeze.

Enjoy! :]

Source recipe: 500 cupcakes by Fergal Connolly

I'm back! (with cupcakes)

Oh my gosh, I haven't posted in more than a month... I just didn't get to it because I have been very busy with school. I have one more day of testweek on Monday and then I have 2 more weeks of 'school' but no lessons. So from now on I will try to post regularly again! Maybe you can tell me what type of posts you would like to read, what subjects are you interested in?
I made these cupcakes (sorry for the bad quality of the picture) today, and I am really happy with the result. The white stars are made of fondant (is that what it's called in English as well?) and the pink stuff is icing. This was the first time I worked with ready-made icing from a tube and I think that, for a first try, it worked out quite well! These cupcakes are really easy to make so I'll post a recipe tomorrow.

The Hoge Veluwe

On Tuesday, my brother, grandparents and I visited the National Park Hoge Veluwe. We did not see much of the nature (so I need to go back some time to take on of the free white bikes and bike around the park), but we did visit the Kröller-Müller museum including the 'beeldentuin' (garden with sculptures), and the Museonder, which is about what goes on under the ground.

Here are some pictures I took in the sculpture garden by the Kröller-Müller museum (sorry, blogger immensily reduces the quality...):

And a picture of me on one of the sculptures that you are allowed to climb on:

Have you ever been to the Hoge Veluwe and did you also visit the garden with sculptures?

Inspiration

Just some pictures I found on weheartit.com :]

Get ready for summer!

Summer is coming closer and closer, but are you ready for this amazing season yet? Here are some tips to prepare yourself for a great summer!

1. Enjoy the first sunny days, because you never know how the rest of the summer will be, especially if you live in a country like The Netherlands. Put on your bikini, don't forget to put on sunscreen, and spend about 10 minutes in the sun. On the next days you can build up and lie in the sun longer, so that you will get a bit of a tan. But watch out that you don't burn because first of all it's not healthy and you don't want to walk around looking like a tomato! Don't forget to treat your skin with some aftersun after a day in the garden or at the beach, even if you haven't burnt.

2. Fill your freezer with ice cream, because you never know when you will be craving some. Of course you can buy magnums and cornetto's, but in summer ice made from water and fruit juice instead of milk is often much more refreshing. It is also healthier, because it does not contain as many calories and fat.

3. Look up the dates of some (free) music festivals in your area, and put them in your agenda. Festivals have a nice atmosphere and are a perfect way of spending a summer day! Even free festivals even have popular artists performing, so you don't need a lot of money. My favourite free festivals are Parkpop in The Hague (in June) and Appelpop in Tiel (in September).

4. Prepare your body for summer. Don't like that bit of fat on your stomach that reminds you of Christmas? Start doing sports now, and you'll already have quite a bit trained off by July. If you don't do any sports yet, running is a good way to improve your condition and lose some weight. I started running about a year ago, and I still go twice a week. I like going running because it not only made me lose about 10 kilo's, it also helps me clear my mind and makes me happy! Don't forget to buy a new bikini and treat your body to a scrub (mix some sea salt with olive oil) to make your skin look nice.

5. Invite all of your friends to a 'start of summer' party in your garden! Prepare some nice finger food (wraps, vegetables with dip, bread, etc.), or, if you're not so good with cooking, ask everybody to bring in a dish. Decorate the garden, put drinks on the table, turn on some music and the party can start!

6. It's time to buy new clothes! You don't want to walk around in your dark-coloured winter clothes in summer, so go shopping and buy some new dresses, skirts and shorts. Don't forget to also buy a bikini or bathing suit, flipflops or sandals and sunglasses.

7. Research your holiday destination. It's always fun to look at what you can do there and decide what you would really like to see. If you're nearly going, you can also make a packing list based on what you want to do on holidays.

8. Not going on holidays this summer? Don't worry, you can have an awesome summer at home as well! It's not very hard to make it fun. All you need is some friends and waterballoons. I'm sure you'll have fun! Or bake some cupcakes with your friends, it'll be fun even if they don't turn out very nice. And there are so many other things to do: go to the beach, the swimmingpool, go on a bike tour to discover parts of your area that you've never seen, go shopping, etc. Do research on what you can do in your area before the summer holidays really start!

9. Put new music on your iPod. Look for happy songs, that fit with summer. Then take your music to the beach or listen to it in the garden. Music that fits your summer mood makes this season even better than it already is!

10. Already know that you'll have big projects to do for school over summer, like me? Try to work on them as much as you can before the holidays, so that you don't have too much left. And when the holidays are there, make sure you work on them at least once or twice a week. I know you need a lot of motivation to do this, but in the end it's rewarding because you'll get a good grade!

Are you looking forward to summer?

Trollbeads

Have you ever heard of Trollbeads?
Trollbeads is a brand from Denmark that makes some really amazing beads that can be put on necklaces and bracelets. The materials used by the Danish designers to make these beads vary from gold to glass and pearls. These materials are used to make beads with figures, or colourful glass beads.

My mom has had beads from Trollbeads for a few years, and she gave me my first two beads for my birthday this year. One of them is a lamb, the other is a white with blue dots. Here is a picture of the bead with the lamb (I couldn't find a picture of the other bead I got):

I wear my beads on silver necklaces, but of course it's also possible to wear them on a bracelet. You can wear as many different beads as you want on one necklace or bracelet to create a playful effect.

Ever since I got my first 2 trollbeads, I would really like to enlarge my collection! These are some of the beads that I would like to have:

  

 

What do you think of Trollbeads, and which beads are your favourite?

New stuff

I got some new clothes last weekend but didn't have time to show them to you yet, so here are the pictures =D

First of all my new honeys, a pair of pink-washed Converse All Stars <3

And 3 tops, the left one is from H&M, the middle from Lady Sting and the last one from Zara.

What are your favorite clothes for spring?