IN THE EVENING LIGHT

DESSERT HEAVEN

GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE CRÈME BRÛLÉE AND MERINGUE  

Desserts are always the issue when you have certain food diet. Expecially gluten and dairy free makes it a bit more difficult and if you don't eat chocolate. Like me. I tell you about two desserts I truly can eat. A lot. These two are good choises if you want to have some delicious sweet after a good dinner if you need to have gluten and dairy free desserts. Actually you can resolve two days dessert with these recipes. The best thing is that you can use the whole egg - egg yolk to crème brûlée and egg white to meringue. Because we all know how easily one of those stays in fridge and only way they can go after some time is compost. 

I found great recipe for coconut crème brûlée from Fvonf blog and the recipe is by Sabine Hueck. I changed the recipe a bit with changing the normal cream to oat cream and voila, there you go - dairy free dessert. You can find the Sabine's recipe here. I made my version just changing the cream to oat cream. It's not so difficult as I remebered. Not at all. You can also make them day before and then just make the final preparation before serving. A good party tip.

What about meringue? I love Pavlova cake. I guess it is quite popular during the summer because then we have so many great fresh berries and fruits and Pavlova is just the right place for those beauties. Some lemon balm is always a good idea too or mint. In my dairy free version I don't have cream. But if I would - I would have coconut cream.

For this size cake you see in pic you need

1,5-2dl sugar

3 egg whites

1 tsp potato flour

1 tsp vinegar 

a bit rose water

some bourbon vanilla powder 

fresh berries like cherry and strawberry

How-to-bake

Beat room temp egg whites and sugar until they are firm foam. If you turn your bowl upside down it should stay there - not on the floor. Add other ingredients. Spread to baking paper in shapes you like. Bake in oven in temperature 100-120 C 1,5-2 hours. The time depends on how soft you want the inside to be.

In between two meringue you can put fresh berries like on top of it. My absolute favorite is cherry and then starwberries, blueberries, rasberries...the list is endless ;)

Delicious.

xoxo

Kreetta

FLOWER CHANDELIER DIY

MAKE A BEAUTIFUL PARTY DECORATION

New summer is here. There are flowers everywhere. I truly have waited for this. Let's make something very beautiful! But before that I tell you a bit how I got this DIY idea. For sometime now I've been following in instagram one talented lady Juliane who makes #onebouquetperday - Fröken Skicklig. 

Once again she makes her sweet and delicate bouquets. Everyday there is a new one and so many different kind of flowers. She made a challenge in IG to join her and I decided to take the challenge and begun my #oneflowerchandelierperday for one week. But I thought I want to make also a blog post for you to enjoy. So here comes my flower chandelier DIY.

You need:

unadorned lampshade, size is up to you like amount of them
flowers
string/thread/thin iron wire
scissors
clear floral plastic water tubes for flowers/floral foam if you choose to use them

WHEN I PAINT - I'M FREE

COLOR IS MY POWER

neiti Hattara 2015 (acrylic/145cm x 110cm)

Welcome to exhibition! These are my paintings from autumn 2014 to spring 2015. We made a group exhibition called VÄRIVOIMAA! with our painting class and the exhibition just ended in Herttoniemi sairaala. I decided to show you some of my work because I've been talking about it here in my blog quite a lot. So here we go! The first one is called neiti Hattara (ms Cotton candy, 2015) 

Korento 2015 (acrylic/mixed media/65cm x 63cm)

I have found painting very relaxing and powerful source of strong positive impact. I started about three years ago and before that I thought I couldn't do it. I'm not talented enough. Well some might still think so but I don't. I can and I've noticed that my life is more fullfilled now than before painting.

Hanami 2015 (acrylic/87cm x 68cm)

Hanami is my favorite and it will be on our living room's wall. It took 2 years before it was  ready. It is the longest time I've painted one work. There are many different kind of layers. 

MAGNOLIA + CERAMICS

"IMPERFECT THURSDAY" THOUGHTS OF THE MAKER

Nothing is perfect. I think. And if things were perfect, nothing interesting would happen.

As a creative it is awful to admit that without special reason some days are just more difficult than others. You know...that...block. And how to overcome it? 

SPRING SPIRIT

BEGINNING

Fresh green.Who can resist it? I am so in love with this spring color. I had to cut a branch from our plum tree and make a photo of it because those cute and delicate flowers doesn''t last long. Today I'm going back to forest and continue the project that I started on this week's Thursday. I found so charming creatures from the forest that I have to photograph them again and this time with real camera. I took iPhone photo of them and you'll find it in my Instagram feed. I think pic of these creatures would be very nice on the wall. What do you think?

Yesterday I was testing also new paints. I painted a cut board. Beautiful paint and what a matt texture! I have a feeling that I will use these painting colors in our workspace kitchen.

Have a happy Sunday!

xo,

Kreetta

MOSAIC TABLE DIY

MAKE A FACELIFT TO AN OLD GARDEN TABLE

This is a good way to reuse your old garden table or redesign other surface. Last year we promised to our neighbour that we will make a facelift to their old garden table. (It only took one year!) I like the idea of using things what you already have and if you can give a new life to old and used - it's even better. Story continues.

First of all you need the mosaic material that can be old random tiles. Maybe there are some tiles left from your kitchen or toilet renovation. Maybe you have found couple nice ones in flea market or recycling center. Remember that you get a better result and easier project if the tiles are same thickness. You can also use broken china. But they are often a bit convex so you have to play with that issue too but it's not impossible. It just takes a bit more time. I have made a flower pot and vase decoration with broken old china and ceramic plates. But now we make a beautiful mosaic table. Remember it doesn't have to be perfect. It's ok to have a bit handmade look because that's what it is.

Here's a list what you need

1. tiles/broken china

2. hammer

3. old newspaper/cloth

4. glue that works indoor/outdoor

5. glowes

6. grout indoor/outdoor

7. tools to mix the grout, spread the grout, wipe the excess grout, clean the tiles from grout

How to do it?

First it is good to plan a bit what kind of design you want to make. Maybe draw some sketches. When you break the tiles you get different kind of shapes so keep that in mind when designing your table top. If you want to make very precise patterns - it will be a challenge with this technique. But of course you can do it!

1. Clean the surface.

2. Break tiles/plates etc. with hammer under the paper or cloth that you don't get any small pieces in your eyes. I enjoyed a lot of breaking the tiles. It's crazy, I know haha!

3. Start to make your design on the table. I took iPhone pics to make more clearer what kind of design I'm getting because somehow it is much easier to see how it really looks in the pic.

4. Glue the pieces on the surface. Let it dry for 24 hours or less depends on your glue. It's worth to find out what kind of glue you need if you use your table outside.  

5. Mix your grout. Read the instruction on the package how to do it. Usually it's mixed with clean water. I think a good thickness was then when the grout was like thick nut spread. Spread the grout on the tiles. Fill the gabs and edges. Remember the grout dries quite fast so maybe it's easier to start with smaller areas until the whole table top is done. Clean the excess of grout. Let it dry. Remember to clean the tile pieces before the grout is too dry. It's much easier to clean after few hours than next day. 

I had so big gabs between the tiles so I needed quite a lot of grout. I used about 1,5 kg.When choosing the grout's color remember that it is part of the design. You can make a big difference with it. 
 


Done.  

Ready to drink your coffee in the garden? I am. I photographed these photos by iPhone. Amazing what you can do with it.  
xo
Kreetta

ps. This project waited us for over one year so take your time...planning can take few months ;) but of course it is easier to make this kind of project outside. You can easily make one during the weekend. If you have any questions about this - just ask! There are also a lot of How to do mosaic in Pinterest if you need to see step by step version.