Booties and bibs

details from the beautiful Marcus Brothers "Bleeker street" print

Today I made some cute baby stuff for a friend .






She is expecting the arrival of her 4th child, baby boy;), any day now....So I finally finished my handmade gift and sent it to her.




My granny knitted the booties with beautiful cotton yarn and I made the fabric/felt booties and a pair of bibs.I took the tutorial from Heather Bailey
's blog and had so much fun!!!The only thing that I was worried about was the fact that I was creating something for a baby boy and not girl, meaning no flowers, no bows and no all colors allowed,LOL.
But anyway, the colors of the sea and sand is a perfect combo, either for girls and boys....I just love the combination and the Chestnut Hill fabrics by Joel Dewberry is always a good choice;)








The bibs are so easy to made, and these are my first ones ever.....and now I'm so sorry that I've never made any for my own kids:(...but well, can always be such a great gift for others;)








I also started my next project, summer dress in the same colorway;)








Have a wonderful weekend!!!!


xo
Katarina

SEAYA.....or SEE 'YA on the beach;)

Well, today I have a new listing on ebay, actually too. We have great guests for our beach theme launch, so you may wanna take a look here .





This one is the hippie summer dress made with mix of European and UK designer (Kaffe Fassett) fabrics (love the mix:) and I mentioned something about it before . It is inspired by fashion trends.....bold floral prints, hippie look, long dresses....all the MUST's for the season....



The other listing is/are cute summer hair clippies, bikini, polka dots....



Thanks so much for looking!!!

Katarina

Focaccia

WE've just finished our dinner that my hubby prepared(lucky me!!!), so thought to share this yummi recipe here.



Focaccia is quite popular in Italy and is usually seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil and/or herbs, sometimes topped with cheese or flavored with a number of vegetables (like onions for example). Focaccia dough is similar in style and texture to pizza dough consisting of high-gluten flour, water, salt and yeast, just a bit cakier but the crust has a satisfying chewiness that almost makes up for that, and the flavor is very good.






INGREDIENTS


2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (350 grams of flower)
1 teaspoon sea salt (10 grams of sea salt)
1 teaspoon white sugar (10 grams of sugar)
1 tablespoon of fresh yeast (20 grams of fresh yeast)
1 cup lukewarm water (+/- 200 ml lukewarm water)
2+ tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 smashed potatoes
ripe cherry or date tomatoes
spices (origano,pepper,rosemary etc.)
olives
1 cup mozzarella (200 g mozzarella)



Let the fresh yeast dissolve for 5-10 minutes in the lukewarm water with sugar and a splash of floar(it will help proving). Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add the yeast with sugar in a small hole in the flour. Add 2 cooked and smashed potatoes(potatoes add softness, height, and moisture to the dough, while a quick sponge creates air pockets and chewiness).


When the dough starts forming a ball, add a bit of the the olive oil. Knead for about 5-10 minutes with the wooden spoon. The mixure will not be able to be mixed with hands as it needs to be a bit wet and sticky;)(it will lead you to obtain the soft dough, but if you would prefer it rather like pizza alike structure, you should add as much flour as it needs to be compact dough). Leave to prove for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.




Cover your baking tray with pieces of butter and a bit of olive oil,too(it will bring the great tasty (read greasy ;) crust.





Knock the rised daugh into your generously oiled baking tray and dimple it a bit with wood spoon(it will help achiving the large bubbles during the fermentation and will mix a bit of oil into the dough and the result will be a focaccia bread that rose very high and had a nice, light texture and wonderful crust).





Add the little tomatoes and scatter them nicely over the dough(the best results are when adding a bit of tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes). Now make indents with your fingers and or thumbs in the dough, getting the characteristic focaccia holes.









Add spices upon your preferances. Leave to prove again for about 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven, 200-220 C (425 F) for about 30 minutes.








Buon appetito!!!




xo
Katarina

Me, myself and I....tagged!!!!

Happy Monday!!!
I was recently tagged by my ebay boutique group friend, Lindsay who is making some extraordinaire crocheted stuff. Here are the rules:
Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


So, here we go:
1. I was raised in completely creative surrounding, in the artistic family;). My father is a painter and a professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts





and

my mother is a ceramic artist and also the professor at the same faculty.





That's from whom I took the talent;) and love for art and crafts.


2. I'm teaching as well at the Faculty, but not the same one where my parents work. It's FILUM- the Faculty for Philology and Arts in Kragujevac. I'm teaching assistant for the Figure drawing. That's where the students have to "catch" the right movement of the human figure, or to express their vision of it....well depending which semester they attend...
I took some photos last week while students were drawing








I just adore my work and it is also leaving me a lot of free time for my other activities, and children of course, especially because we have long holidays:)


3. I have my degree in Graphic design and Graphic printing. Sewing came later, as a need to create something while being in the house with my kiddos, as my Atelier is not in the house. I've learned so much while printing my linocuts as part of my work for Master degree.








4.


I'm addicted to Italian food, specially to food which my hubby prepares. As all Italians, he is cooking so well. I'm not telling that I'm not cooking good,LOL, but let's say that I'm concentrated more on creating original clothing patterns and designs, rather than original dishes...my favourite are all kind of pasta's with tasty vegetables...somethig like this oneor this one


5. I'm a fabric-o-holic...I'm totally addicted to fabric buying and having my stash...a lot...and not only fabrics, but ribbons, buttons, scrapbooking embellishments and supply for jewelry. And that's the reason why I started selling my fabric creations-to be able to buy more fabrics:)





6.
I just love artistic books, and lately I find myself addicted to buying Japanese craft books....all kinds, from crocheting and sewing till felt or bead making/creating. I find them so inspiring.




7.
I like spending time with my family in the small house we own near Belgrade. When you live in the city , it's great having some getaway place , at least for the spring and summer weekends;). We have a lot of fruit trees there, flowers and some cute puppies. My kids like being at the
fresh air and running crazy around.....and that makes me very, very happy, knowing that we share some quality time in a beautiful place and surrounding.








I'm tagging:


1. Amanda
2. Laurie
3. Melissa
4. Kristen
5. Sharon
6. Angie
7. Christine

Now, off to bed! Sweet dreams!!!
Katarina

PS Did I mention that I HATE HTML??????!!!!!LOL!Now after loosing nervs adjusting this post, really need to go sleeping.

Italian journey

Ok, I finally grabed some time to share some pics while being in Italy....we had a great time, and the only thing that a bit ruined our plans was the weather-a bit cold for a time of year.
Anyway, we were walking a lot








and eating a lot





For the Easter, we went for a launch in the restaurant specialized for fish food.






I must say that I love eating fish and all the "frutti di mare" kind of dishes, but cooked. Well, I was a minority...because almost everybody in Italy (especially people who live in the sea areas) loves eating fresh-uncooked sea food. Yuck!!!For me it was like seeing the famous scenery from the film "Indiana Jones 2", well, almost...these are "ricci" (the sea-urchins)



Can you spot the little sea grass on the plate?????kind a yucky too....LOL


As we are going to have the Beach theme guest launch on ebay starting on 16 April, we went at the nearest "city" beach, called "Pane e pomodoro", which means "Bread and tomato" to take some pics of my new dress.













More dress pics to come soon;) , just must say that I absolutely love how it turned out...very euro and twirly too, Marta was wearing it for the Easter and got tons of compliments :)

Children loved the moment of getting and opening the Chocolate eggs...well, and eating them, of course







xoxo
Katarina