Personalized Clocks – My Writer’s Clock

There is so much creative possibility while building your own clock from a kit, I can’t believe it took me so long to finish this thing. It now decorates my wall quite nicely!

Personalized Clock

clock kit = clock base + movements + hands
paint
napkins or transfer paper
glue
marker

First paint your clock base with a base color of your choice.

Use the decoupage technique to add desired motifs. (I went with a seasonal theme using a variety of different motifs specific for each season.) Then make markings, write numbers, etc. for the clock dial.

(I personally went with a toned down “Writer’s Clock” theme, adding Write, Revise, Submit, Re-Write, Publish, etc. while giving the seasonal look center stage.)

Finish it off by assembling the clock and hang where ever desired.

Happy crafting! Tic-Toc Tic-Toc

Captured on camera: My time off work

I had a few weeks off from babysitting and tutoring. I call them my “regular” work, as these are the ones which get me out of the house every afternoon.

During my weeks off, I still worked. I accepted a wedding favor order (you probably read about it on Twitter of FB). It took over two weeks of my time off and kept me in my kitchen casting/painting/stenciling heart shaped magnets for far longer than I had hoped for. All in all, it wasn’t worth the stress! But it was good too.

I had the chance to see that I could in fact finish a one hundred hearts order in just under two weeks. It gave me the opportunity to raise prices a little bit, as well as swear I’d never ever accept another order as complicated as this one, on such short notice! Live and learn, right?

So now as I’m rushing to work this afternoon, here’s what my weeks off looked like.

Literally.

 

First there was Easter.

I spent time with the Chef.

Tried new recipes.

Noticed bees being bees.

Worked on that wedding favor order.

Had a BBQ with friends.

Marveled at Spring.

Went for walks.

Tried something new off the Menu.

Read (and wrote) and relaxed for a bit.

Watched the sunset.

 

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Heart on the beach – by Estrella Azul

A heart on the beach…

There’s something

in this picture

which makes me think

of not losing hope;

Even though the waves

will wash over that heart

and in a few minutes

there will be no trace

it ever existed…

Dear Love Letter Bundle Writers,

It was not easy per se to coordinate this while being overseas from 99% of you. So…

I’d like to thank you all again for being so kind, so generous and volunteering to write love letters for the Bundle we have adopted from MoreLoveLetters! You guys rock!

As promised, here’s something pretty I made out of all the love letter photos I received. I think a collage is always nice to have and the love this particular one emanates fills me up with so much joy! <3

I included this photo collage into my Capturing Love on Film Facebook album, under the “Love” caption (of course) <3

~~~

Most of my volunteers have already responded, so I thought I’d also ask the following question from everyone and anyone who happens upon this blog post:

would you be willing to help me adopt a Love Letter Bundle on a seasonal basis? (The one above was at the end of Winter, so the next adopting would then be in May, then August, and so on.)

What do you think, will you have a few hours one day every three months to write a letter to someone who will benefit greatly from receiving it?

 

Hope you all have a lovely rest of your week!

Love,
~ Estrella

Recipe of the month: Müesli, Hazelnut & Turkish Delight Cookies

Last December, I gifted an adapted version of my old Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.

It was a gift in a jar. And it was a spur of the moment change to the original recipe as I tried to properly fill the whole jar (without simply doubling the recipe – where’s the fun in that?).

The gift looked just lovely. And the cookies? They turned out to be the best!

 

Müesli, Hazelnut & Turkish Delight Cookies

Ingredients:

550 g butter, softened
300 g white sugar
3 eggs
15 ml vanilla extract
250 g all-purpose flour
55 g cocoa powder
5 g baking soda
2 g salt
335 g semisweet chocolate chips
60 g chopped hazelnuts
80 g Muesli
30 g Rahat Locoum (Turkish Delight)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.

In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips, chopped hazelnuts, Muesli and the Turkish Delight. (Add another egg and/or butter if needed.)

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Bon appétit!

Eight things I associate with true love

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ It only really takes three words (if needed at all), to make someone’s day. ~

 

True love is…  T … trust.

True love is…  R … rare.

True love is…  U … understanding.

True love is… E … enchantment.

 

True love is… L … listening.

True love is…  O … ocean-deep.

True love is… V … valuable.

True love is… E … enough.

I’d like a hole in my pocket

I would really like to move to another city. Even if only for a few years. A small town with a café, a library, a theater, a farmer’s market and a flower shop. With a book shop and an antiquarian bookstore, because my soul’s size can easily be measured in stacks of (old) books. And an ocean (or at least somewhere near one.)

No, I don’t want to start a new life per se. I don’t believe in that. And I do not mean that I don’t believe in change, or that I don’t believe in people who believe in change. I do believe in change myself. But I don’t believe that I could change so much so that it would be a new life.

I do my best to look at my city with tourist eyes. Yet, I would like to move to a new city. Where I would see so much. Where things, the buildings, the food, the culture would be different. Where I wouldn’t be able to, theoretically, walk down the streets with my eyes closed and still get home safely. Where I would be required to look up and around and think of where to go next.

Because this city I live in is like a perfect pocket which I know so well sometimes.

Yet all I want is a hole in my pocket. To be able to push my hand through. And to know that when I fix that hole, I will enjoy again the warmth and feeling of comfort only a fixed pocket can give me.