Christmas giveaway

Yay, finally!!!!As I promised in my last post, I am doing the giveaway:). Just this morning, I have picked the new quantity of the ornaments from the Mill and now I have the seahorses family-new and small Bambi's:)



How cute are these????





When my kids opened the box with those small ones, they were absolutely in awe!!!They were making the families, trying to find the perfect matches and same "patterned" couples(which is impossible)...they just adore them!!!Me too, of course!!! I am already having my earrings on:)))))





So, if you want a pair of these, please just see the details further:). Of course, they are not the only thing included in the giveaway, so my Christmas giveaway is consisting of:

1. one Xmas pincushion/ornament(following picture)
2. pair of plexi earrings (you can choose between Bambi and seahorse)
3. one doily ornament upon your selection, range from: snowflake, bambi, deer, seahorse or rabbit(like the one on the first picture from this blog post)
4. one deer or Bambi polka dots ornament (in red colour) like these from the previous post



Hope you like this little lot;) If you like it, you just need to leave the comment till Friday, December 4, 12 p.m. Central European time(there is the clock on my blog's right bar, so you can see the time zone differences) with your thoughts regarding Christmas. You don't need to write the novel, but just a few words or a phrase about Christmas, anything like what Xmas means to you, what are your memories from the childhood, what do you like to give and receive, favourite song, meal, recipe, piece of your favourite Xmas poem, or similar...really anything....I realized that I don't like the Random number generator system, so I will just pick one comment I will find the most original or unique or touchy or just simply beautiful:)!!

You can also visit my IwannaBE etsy shop if you want to see more pics of the new ornaments and earrings.

TTY on Friday:)
Have a wonderful week, Katarina

THANK you all so much for your lovely comments and above all for your time to write and left them on my blog. To award you for that, I would love to send you all something, so I am giving you a 30% off on the entire purchase for anything in my etsy stores(you can see them both by clicking on the side bar), with possibility to use this opportunity till the end of the January. Please, if interested, e-mail me directly at nina@likeflowersandbutterflies.com with the subject Giveaway and also your Blogger name to give you the promotion code:)
For the post giveaway, I have found Sharon's comment, the most concrete and Holidayish in a way, so I will consider her the winner of this "major" giveaway.
Sharon, please e-mail me with your shipping address and I will send this to you ASAP:)
THANK you!!!!!

Country living ornament feature

If you remember THIS post you may have noticed that I have mentioned that I was contacted by the Country Living magazine to send the ornaments samples. I filled the credit sheet with my consent to publish them in theirs magazine etc, but i still was very reserved about if it will happen for real. Well, yesterday, after checking my e-mail and noticing some etsy sales, I also spoted a note from one customer: "I feel very lucky to be able to order your deer ornament since it is displayed so nicely in the December issue of this magazine. I was afraid you would be sold out!"



Oh well, I thought, so it the true and it was really there!!!!Of course, I have alarmed all my US friends to see if someone already has a copy, as was dying to see it printed on the page and (I will get my copy, but in a week or so) than sweet Laurie pointed me that on-line version of it (if you are browsing it, mine is lucky number 7 and finally my friend Sharon sent me the picture of it!!!



It looks a bit pale as it is transparent with white print on the white page, but it looks winterish and elegant, I think.





I have also prepared some new ornaments, in dotted version. What can be sweeter than the polka dots in red/white combo? I have painted the dots with the rubber liquid(the one used in the water coloured illustrations)to protect the white spots and than sprayed the ornaments with Ferrari red acrylic paint. Love it and I noticed that the deer has already sold out!!!!!Will try to make some more:)

I will have a giveaway post soon which will include some ornaments, but I am waiting to receive the new run I ordered from the Mill and it will include the sea horse shape and some smaller Bambi and sea horse shapes in the same doily print in the 1" size:) Can't wait to get them!!!! In the meantime, domestic readers, can buy some of my doily ornaments locally at the Supermarket concept store, Visnjiceva 10, Belgrade.

Hope you are slowly getting ready for the Holidays or at least are enjoying the mood;)))

xo, Katarina

One year older

I will have to update my small "about me" page on the blogger, as from 33 I'm passing to 34, officialy from yesterday;)



For the birthdays, I'm always making my favourite chocolate cake . It is tasty, flour free, easy and fast to make and has a great presentation. You can just not fail with it!!!!And than you can make it even in different shapes, just use the imagination:)



Ingredients:

6 large eggs, separated
5 oz (150 g) caster sugar
2 oz (50 g) cocoa powder

For the filling:
8 oz (225 g) plain chocolate
2 large eggs, separated
8 fl oz (225 ml) double cream

To finish:
icing sugar
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).

This is a cake that has no flour in it – so it's extremely light and moist. It's also a bit wicked, with its chocolate mousse and whipped cream filling! During the rolling up, the cake will crack, but this is quite normal and looks most attractive.

Method

Begin by making the chocolate filling. Break the chocolate in pieces into a basin and add 2 tablespoons of water. Now place the basin over a saucepan of barely simmering water and wait for the chocolate to melt. After that, remove from the heat and beat it with a wooden spoon until smooth. Next beat the egg yolks, first on their own, then into the warm chocolate mixture. Let it cool a bit then whisk the egg whites till stiff and fold them into the chocolate mixture. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Meanwhile you can get on with the cake. First place the egg yolks in a basin and whisk until they start to thicken, then add the caster sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens slightly – but be careful not to get it too thick. Now mix the cocoa powder into the egg yolk mixture, then, using a clean whisk and bowl, whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage. Next carefully cut and fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture – gently and thoroughly – then pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake the cake on the centre shelf for 20-25 minutes until springy and puffy. When the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven but leave it in the cake tin to cool (it will shrink quite a bit as it cools but don't worry, that's normal).
Then when the cake is quite cold, turn it out on to an oblong of silicone paper which has been liberally dusted with icing sugar. Peel away the cake tin lining paper from the bottom of the cake (which is now facing upwards), then spread the chocolate mousse filling over the cake. Next whip the cream softly and spread it over the chocolate filling. Finally, gently roll up the cake to make a log shape. This will serve eight people and, although it's unlikely that there will be any left, you can cover any remaining cake with an upturned basin and keep it in the refrigerator. As an alternative, an 11 oz tin of sweetened chestnut purée (crème de marrons) can replace the chocolate mousse.


Warning: you may become addicted;)

Enjoy, Katarina

Fall in the city

While it is still fall and there are still some nice "dry" days in the city, I'm posting these pics taken in the main Belgrade's street, Knez Mihailova street







Lovely colours of the fall on these yummy pumpkins in great diversity of colours shapes and structures.
Marta and I loved them:)





As well as this awesome vintage tile, ruined by some dirt and stains, but still so inspirative and fallish too:)





Hope you are having a great November, Katarina

Eros Ramazzotti concert

We had enormous pleasure to go to the Eros Ramazzotti(famous Italian musician) concert in Belgrade Arena on November 5. Unfortunately, they took off my camera at the entrance, so I couldn't take any better pics but a few bad ones taken with the phone:(. The concert lasted 2 hours and was fantastic, from the stage design to the musical virtu.



Here are some more videos of the Belgrade performance on you tube.

xoxo, Katarina

Birds invasion

The strangest thing happened the other day, just in front of our balcony, with view to the Danube river, many roofs of the houses and buildings and also, nearest building with many antennas.





Well, those antennas somehow attracted a swarm of birds. Which birds??? Still don't have the idea....but it was such a strange event, made me feel for some seconds like being captivated into the Hitchcock "birds" film . So, I just needed to take the short video, because you have to hear the sounds....so here it goes



Strange, huh????
It lasted for about 15 minutes, than they just disappeared. I first thought about some upcoming weather catastrophe or similar and it made ma feel worried, but as nothing strange regarding the weather didn't happened (it happened on Wednesday) and as I would like to take it from the positive aspect, I will think of this as the advent of some great news, message or similar - I will be thinking of birds as messengers:)








Wish you a great November,
Katarina