Howling at the Moon

The Kitchen Door

For Halloween I had lots of nice projects in mind that I wanted to make, but after discovering a great Etsy Pattern Store called The Velvet Acorn , knitting fever came over me and all planned projects had to give way.  The first thing I made, is this one for my youngest daughter, called the Azel Pullover. www.betweennapsontheporch.net Pattern to find here ~*~

Did you try the delicious Chestnut Soup recipe I shared last week? To serve beside I made Buttermilk Corn Bread , that went wonderfully well together with the soup because of the sweetness of the bread.   www.betweennapsontheporch.net ~*~ Next week I want to make what seems the most heavenly cake ever!  Pumpkin Cheese Cake !

My daughter had a birthday party of a class mate this week and asked me to make a card. The girl who was having her birthday is a horse girl (not entirely sure this is a word other languages recognize, but 'horse girl' is a Dutch word for girls with a life that's totally about horses), so the card, and the presents of course, had to do something with horses.  Years ago I made some paper cutting art (didn't blog back then, so I'm very sorry to say that the paper cut heart isn't recorded anywhere here on this blog) with a Martha Stewart pattern and just this weekend I found the little knife I used for for the cutting, so it seemed like a nice idea to pick up the paper cutting art to make a nice horse card.   www.betweennapsontheporch.net

A colleague of mine is totally into Japan and has traveled around there for three times now. The last time she was in Japan she shared a couple of pink children's chopsticks on Instagram to let everybody know she was expecting a little girl, so making a little kokeshi doll for the baby seemed logical.    www.betweennapsontheporch.net I found the free pattern for the doll here   ~*~ Frankenstein , Zombie Brian and Vlad were all featured by Strawberry Butterscotch ! Thank you very much, Anna!

~ I love Pinterest and would like to make a recipe of my boards every week. Since I have lots of recipes pinned (that, until now, I just pinned and only that), I hope this will be a way to reduce the amount of pins on my boards ~ So simple to make and so totally tasting like fall, that's the Chestnut Soup I made this week! I didn't follow the recipe entirely, to be honest. I left out the mushrooms, because except for me no one in my family and/or circle of friends likes mushrooms. To make the soup creamy I put some creme fraiche in it at the end.   Instead of thyme I used sage, because sage is just a herb I really love and it has an evenly strong taste as thyme.  For the cooked chestnuts I used chestnut puree, just because cooked chestnuts were nowhere to be found in the little underdeveloped town I live in.  As this was the first time ever I ate Chestnut Soup I can't tell you if my own version of the soup tasted as good as the original recipe , but never...

The last time I made a pinata I posted a picture on my personal Facebook account and told people I accept orders. I didn't expect much of it, because most people prefer fabric made things because it's so much cheaper. And you wreck the pinata anyway.  But two weeks ago a friend of mine asked me to make a Pokemon related pinata, most desirable a figure named Chamander (don't know about you, but I had to google), because that's her son's favorite. Here he is: Chamander! www.betweennapsontheporch.net

~ I love Pinterest and would like to make a recipe of my boards every week. Since I have lots of recipes pinned (that, until now, I just pinned and only that), I hope this will be a way to reduce the amount of pins on my boards ~   Very sorry that I didn't post the Apple Pie Bread Pudding that I had planned to make last week. Well, not only planned, but actually made, except that I forgot to take pictures. And after making and eating the whole pudding, I didn't feel like making another one soon. Not because it didn't taste good (because it did), but I had to cook and bake a lot of other things for the friends that came over for my birthday. But this morning I made the pudding and it's even better than I remembered! www.betweennapsontheporch.net   ~*~ For next week I want to make a real Fall Recipe, namely Chestnut Soup ! I really love the taste of roasted chestnuts, but never tried a soup with chestnuts in it, so this will be a try out.  ...

For Halloween I made the Lalylala Halloween Series (see here for Frankenstein, here for Zombie Brian and here for Diego Sugar Skull). Another pattern from Lalylala that I wanted to make for years, was Vlad the Vampire Bat .  www.betweennapsontheporch.net Lalylala designed and wrote patterns for lots of dolls like this; same body, but different appearance. I think I will make the seahorse one day, too. ~*~ The Frida Kahlo that I made for my good friend Chrissy was featured by Strawberry Butterscotch and by Nifty Thrifty Things ! Thank you so much, Anna and Vanessa!

Besides the Pusheen pinata I showed you last week, that I made for the birthday party for my now 10 years old daughter, I made a Pusheen cake. Didn't come off very well, but I'm used to that when it comes to decorating cakes and such. It's just not something I'm very good at. Sometimes I have a lucky shot, but most of the time it's below mediocre. For this cake I used white chocolate for dripping, but after melting it with a bit whipped cream to make better drippings it didn't solidify enough, so all decoration I put on the cake afterwards slided of the round the edges of the cake. Things like this happen all the time when I'm decorating cakes. No problem at all, I almost expect it, so I'm not really disappointed. Just happy about everything that d ó es look good on the cake, haha!  But, on the other hand, if you have tips about solidifying white chocolate, then please tell me.   www.betweennapsontheporch.net ~*~ The Confe...

The last one in the Lalylala Halloween Series I had to make was Diego Skull. I made him Diego Sugar Skull, just because I love sugar skulls.  www.betweennapsontheporch.net I can't really say which one is my favorite, I like all three of them. Which one do you like the most?

This weekend I visited a friend, whom I've known for years since the time we were still studying and worked as caissieres in a supermarket for extra money. Nowadays we both have children and live in different cities, but we try to visit each other at least twice a year.  This year I only saw her once, last weekend to be precise, due to a new house and busy schedules in general.  Besides the flowers, card and money for the new house, I gave her a handmade Frida Kahlo. Last year she saw another Frida I made for a friend and she almost begged me to make one for her, too, for her Christmas stocking, but only now I had the chance to give Frida to her.  www.betweennapsontheporch.net