DIY painted flower etagere

I always love finding ways to display new, and old, items and plants in the house. Recently I found this neat little diy for a plant etagere. It's easy and cheap because most of the items you need you will have lying around the house or in the shed! 

As I discovered this diy around the same time as my Mum's birthday I decided to make one for my parents garden as well! It's looks so neat displayed on their outside table. And the best part about it is that you can display anything you want on it, to fit your mood and interiour design!

What you need:
Terracotta pots and the saucers that go with them in different sizes
Your favourite paintcolour and a paintbrush
An old cloth and solvent to de-grease the pots
Decorations 

First and foremost you have to make sure to wipe down and de-grease the pots and saucers to make sure there is no dirt on them, this could prevent the paint from taking to the pots and saucers.
All you need to do next is paint them the colour of your choosing and let them dry for a few hours. If needed you can paint them again to make sure you have covered everything evenly. 
If you wanted to, you could even paint all the parts a different colour just to mix things up or paint some parts and leave other their original colour. Anything is possible!

When the paint has dried you can start by assembling the etagere! Start with the biggest pot and work your way up ending with the smallest one on top. Now I didn't use any glue to stick it all together. This way you can always make the etagere smaller when you feel like it. All you have to do is remove one or two pots from the middle for a different height. 

As you can see my Mum used hers to display the seashells she found on holiday with her basilplant in the garden.
I love it that when people come over they ask her where she bought it! People are always surprised to hear it was self made! I always hope that by displaying selfmade items in and around the house for guests to see will encourage and inspire them to be more creative within their own homes and use items that are easily discarded to create something beautiful!

If you are interested in het Goed (my old employers) their shops and DIY tricks check them out on www.hetgoed.nl. 

Happy DIY'ing!

Xox Elena

*Listening to Frank Turner, Love Ire & Song

DIY Infused sugar

I love tea and I love coffee. I especially love it when they have that little extra added to them to make it just that more tastier! On A Beautiful Mess blog I found this amazing way to create your own flavoured sugar without all the hassle. It doesn't take much work just a little patience! 
They are not only delightfull to have for yourself but putting the sugar in a cute little jar or container can make for a great personal present for someone you love!

What you need:
Sugar
Containers or jars
Your desired herbs and flavours

Put the amount of sugar you want into the container and add the herb and/or flavour of choice! I used my mint leaves, cinnamon sticks and aniseed. For approx. half a kilo of sugar I used 4 sticks of cinnamon, about 4 aniseed and half a bunch of mintleaves. Not all in the same jar of course, although if that rocks your boat go ahead!
Of course you can add more or less than what I did, it depends on how strong you want the flavour to be.
Make sure the jars you use can be sealed properly otherwise you might not get the desired effect.

And then for the hard part! You need to wait at least 2-3 weeks for it to be ready! I know, it's quite a while! 
Every now and then give the jars a little shake to get the flavours mixing properly.

But believe me, when you open those jars after a few weeks and get a whiff of those lovely smells, all will be good! 

I use my sugars for my coffee, especially the aniseed sugar is to die for! I found that they kind of take away from the taste of the tea I drink, which is the whole reason you buy tea basically. So coffee is my choice of drink with this.

After a few weeks I just left the seeds and herbs in the jar to infuse a little more. It also just looks pretty on the kitchen shelf!
And just imagine the flavours you can create! Next I'm going to try a grapefruit and a lavender infused sugar, here's to success!

Super easy and it's also made with stuff lying around the house! What more could you want?!

Happy Diy'ing!

Xox Elena

Lets talk food: Spinach Pie w/ pine seeds

 For me the holidays are the place and time to try out new recipies. Now don't get me wrong,  it's not that we eat the same easy dishes every week. It's just that some dishes take that little bit more effort and time than we have during a working week. 

The past week we have tried out a number of dishes that were absolutely delish! And which of course deserve to be shared! Also as I love veggie and my boyfriend loves meat, all of the dishes can be done with or without meat! Including this delicious pie.  

                                                                                                                                                                            

Spinach Pie w/pine seeds

Ingredients:

100 grams of soft butter

300 grams flour plus extra to dust 

5 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 bag of fresh spinach (600 grams)

200 grams ham (optional)

20 grams of chopped parsley

2 cloves of garlic crushed

2 eggs, beaten

100 grams Parmezan cheese, grated

80 grams of pine seeds, lightly roasted in a pan

You will also need:

A round cake tin, buttered

bakingpaper, rolling pin

Start by melting 75 grams of butter. Put the butter in a mixing bowl together with the flower, 1 tablespoon of oil and the salt. Add 100 ml of luke warm water and knead  into dough. Let the dough rest while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. 

In a pan put 1 tablespoon of  the oil and add the spinach bit by bit until all the spinach has shrunk. Let it drain in a colander and using a spoon push the water out of the spinach. 

Take the spinach out of the colander, cut it up into small pieces and drain a second time to make sure there is no water left in the spinach. 

Using the same pan, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the ham for approx. 1 minute. Add the crushed garlic and let it cook together for approx. 1 minute.

In a mixing bowl combine the spinach, chopped parsley, eggs, cheese, pine seeds and pepper. 

Sprinkle flower on a flat surface and roll out 2/3 of the dough. Place the dough into the baking tin making sure to cover the bottom and the sides of the tin. 

Add the filling and fold the edges of the dough inwards over the filling.

Roll out the rest of the dough and lay on top of the pie. Make sure there are no holes in the pie, you don't want the filling to come spilling out and ruin the pie!

With a fork make holes in the top of the pie and streak melted butter over the top to stop the pie from burning.

Bake the pie in the preheated oven for approx. 50 minutes, 

When finished, let it rest for a few minutes before serving. 

Bon appetit!

                                                                                                                                                                                           

Now if you haven't got the time to make your own dough you can always use puff pastry. Just make sure the pastry, once in the tin, doesn't have holes it it. 

We found this pie to be just as delish served fresh&warm straight out of the oven as well as cold. 

This pie is great for serving a group of people for dinner with some some lovely garlic potatoes on the side. You could also serve it cold and sliced into small pieces for even more people to enjoy!

Happy baking!

xox Elena

Our Holiday in Iphone photo's (1)

Time flies! Especially when you are on your holidays! I hate it that a working week can seem to last like years and holidays are over in hours!

As we are both busy with work and different projects during a normal week we wanted to spend the holidays together doing fun stuff and seeing different places. 

Now seeing places and doing fun stuff in my book is trying new recipies, visiting flee markets and going to different countries ie. Belgium and Germany. My boyfriend on the other hand loves to play video games and do anything but shopping!

So you see, sometimes our holiday wishes clash. This week we did manage to combine both our wishes and make it a fun and amazing first week of the holidays!

We visited a beautiful 'Biergarten' in Xanten, Germany.
Beer, sunshine and 'curryworst' is an awesome combi!

And so welcoming!

We went on a walk in the woods in Leur. It was a beautiful
walk in a beautiful countryside. We paired it with a ice cold
beer in a local restaurant:) Always welcome on a warm day!
We spent the day with my parents and brother who although
live nearby we don't see very often.

We found this cave, no-one dared go in though!

Looking at this picture and the landscape you could
easily dream yourself into another country!

We visited a "Zoo" in Kleve, Germany. They call themselves a zoo
although most of the animals are farm animals! My parents used
to take me and my brother there when we were tiny tots and the place
just has this nostalgic feel to it. If you are ever in or near Kleve it's worth
a visit! And be sure to buy the animal food so you can feed the animals
yourself! Be warned that your inner child will come out when
you visit!

Today we went minigolfing...
It had been a while, at least that's the excuse I
have for finishing last! We visited Afferden
with my parents and it was the weirdest
and most fun golfing experience I have had in ages!
I literally laughed until I cried, seriously.

My mum has a habit of collecting things when on holiday.
Sometimes not such a success, but in the case of the seashells
it's a definite yes! I made a flower holder for Mothers day this year
and she has made good use of it this far by putting seashells found
on holiday in Zeeland. It makes a table look so much more nicer
and can colour a room instantly. More on how to make the flower holder in the next post!

Holidays or not, I always have time for
a new project! I will include this project in the
next post. Hint: it involves flowers and a can of spraypaint...

And, shamefully so, one of the highlights
of this holiday week was finding this
'Honey Whiskey' in a shop in Germany.
It is absolutely lovely! And so sweet!
Normally we don't drink on a weekday,
but what are the holidays for?! 

And we still have 2 weeks off! I can't wait for the next weeks to commence! Tomorrow we leave for Antwerp to have an amazing day there! Tuesday the amazing (and gorgeous) Frank Turner is playing in Nijmegen which I can't wait for! And I also have my driving exam this week so fingers crossed! That means that if I pass we will be going to Ikea next week! My boyfriend honestly hates Ikea and says that 'nothing could make him more depresses'. So, I'll just have to go on my own! 

 Anyway my Iphone is charged and ready to shoot pictures which I will definately share with you all!

For now have a great week and thanks for letting me share!

xox Elena