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Food Corner: Vanilla Crescents (Vanillekipferl)

Published by Sula H.

I’ve got another recipe for you this week. This time it’s about my all-time favorite Christmas cookies – vanilla crescents, also known as Vanillekipferl.

 

You will need …

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour / 200 g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (what fits on the tip of a knife)
1/2 cup granulated sugar / 100 g sugar
1-2 teaspoons vanilla powder / 1 pouch vanilla powder
1 egg (medium)
1/2 cup softened butter (unsalted) / 125 g softened butter or margarine
2/3 cup ground almonds / 100 g ground almonds
1/2 cup icing sugar (for dusting)
1-2 teaspoons vanilla powder / 1 pouch vanilla powder (for dusting)

Time: 60 min.
Difficulty: medium

Preparations:
Preheat oven to 350 F (160-180 °C depending on your oven).
Lightly grease baking sheets, or line with parchment paper.

 

Directions:
Sift flour into a bowl and mix with baking powder. Add all other ingredients and mix until the dough is smooth. Roll some of the dough into a strip, about as thick as a pencil. Cut off pieces about 1 inch long (or 4-5 cm). Shape each piece into a crescent by pulling it into a semi-circle. Place on a baking sheet but at least 1/2 inch / 1 cm apart. Bake for about 10 min.

Mix icing sugar and vanilla powder for the dusting. Dust cookies with the mixture while they are still hot. Set them aside to cool, then dust them again.

Cookies will be good for about 2 weeks.

 

PS. While I don’t have my students make these cookies usually, because they don’t require any cookie cutters (which is only half the fun for my students), these cookies are definitely a favorite among both my western and Chinese friends.

scrapbook layout, christmas

Joy

Published by Sula H.

Credits:
Tis the Season for Family by Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Cindy’s Templates – Halfpack #27: Photo Focus 6 (Holiday Edition) by Cindy Schneider
Font: DJB Holly Berry Wonderland by Darcy Baldwin

He’s Here …

Published by Sula H.

Here he is. Santa Clause. The other day I promised you some insight to some of the Christmas decoration around, and here’s our first glimpse of Santa Clause. Actually he doesn’t just greet you at the door. He’s definitely made it inside as well. As a matter of fact, once you enter the lobby, he’s all around you, hanging like banners from the ceiling. So, even if you wanted to, there’s no escaping him. No wonder he’s able to tell whether you’ve been naughty or nice recently. And for anyone wanting to live in our building, you’d better behave yourself, because Santa’s definitely watching …

Behind the Scenes: Re-Coloring Overlays and Brush Layers

Published by Sula H.

As promised last week, I have a very quick and short tutorial today on how to re-color brush layers and overlays (ie. as used in my current December Daily project).

(See the overlay with the date cluster that frames the journaling page.)

 

In this tutorial you will learn how to …

… add a Color Overlay Style to your brush layer (or overlay).

 

Here’s How It Works …

 

STEP 1 | Add a Color Overlay to Your Layer
Assuming that you already have your canvas open and created a brush layer (or any other kind of solid colored overlay), in the Layers Panel, double click on the layer that you wish to modify. That should bring up the Layer Style menu (or click on the little fx symbol at the bottom of your Layers Panel).

On the left side of the pop-up window, you will see a list of Styles options. Check “Color Overlay” to open that menu. Click on the little color box (by default it’s red in my version of Photoshop), and it will open up a window with a color scheme (it’s titled “Select color overlay”). Usually, if you move your cursor away from that window, it will turn into the Color Pick Tool, which allows you to pick a color anywhere from your layout. Simply click on the area that has the color you want to use for your overlay (or pick a color from the color palettes that are offered in the “Select color overlay” window). Click ok (in the select color overlay window) and ok in the Layer Style window.

That’s it. Your (brush) layer should have now turned into whichever color you picked.

Quick and easy this time, but stay tuned, because I’m planning to post a tutorial soon that teaches you how to create pretty clusters.

Journaling Café: Christmas Lights

Published by Sula H.

Christmas is the season of lights: candle light, twinkle lights, illuminated decorations – we’ve certainly found our way to counter the gloom of winter and brighten up this darkest time of the year. Today’s journaling prompts, therefore, are all about the Christmas lights that bring hope and joy into our hearts and homes:

With all the business of preparing for the holidays, I hope you’ll still find time to think about a few of these prompts, and maybe they’ll even inspire you to recall some of your favorite memories of the past. In any way, happy story telling, and don’t get so busy that you don’t have the time to stop and be merry and bright for a moment each day throughout the season!

The font used here is my own handwriting font DJB Squirrels In My Pants by Darcy Baldwin (available at the Sweetshoppe).

Christmas Has Arrived

Published by Sula H.

I went into town the other day, and I realized something: Christmas has definitely arrived. Even here. How I know? Because I found this:

Need I say more? Talking about an overdose of Christmas stuff. Looks like they really want to make sure you don’t miss the point. Which means that the stuff should end up in people’s houses sooner or later – though I can’t say I’ve seen much of that yet. But in the public places you can definitely tell: Santa Clause is coming to town!

PS. Which reminds me, I still haven’t shown you our in-house decorations yet. Will get to that, I’ll do my best to make sure, because you don’t want to miss that! 😉

Treasure Sunday: December 11th

Published by Sula H.

Went treasure hunting again, and look at the gems I found today …

Family by suezeeq12
What a pretty page to start off with. I fell in love with the muted colors, the pops of green, and the pretty composition. Most outstanding of all, of course, is the photo, and I love the editing she did with it, too!

 

Famous Last Words by donna goar
The next page has such a fun and light feel to it. That snowman is too cute, and I love all the swirls, the bright colors, and the fun artistic twist of this page.

 

Ruel and Papi by Kitty
Staying on the light side of things. Even though my next pick is a rather simple page, I kept coming back to it. I love the few accents she used to embellish this page. For example, did you notice the two letters in the left corner of the cluster. And, of course, needless to say that the photo is wonderful.

 

Snowflake Lights by vixen
Another one of the species light and simple. I love the huge white space on this page. It really emphasizes the cold, frosty feeling. The few embellies are fun, and add the perfect little finishing touch to it, and I love the torn journaling strips she used.

 

My Diamond Girl by justjen
Another wintery page. I love the pops of blue on the white background, the scattered elements, and the blending, and of course the title in the background says it all!

 

X-Mas by JanettD
Looking at my next pick just makes me happy. What a fun way to scrap a Christmas page! I love all the pops of colors and elements, the little accents, and the artistic feel to this page. And the journaling in the background just adds to the overall light and merry feel of this page!

 

8 Things I Do in the Morning by amandaresende
And here’s my last gem for today. This page took my breath away as soon as I opened it, it’s so much fun! I love all the stitching, and how she filled her grid with all these various journal and doodle accents. Adding a few elements papers just gives this page a wonderful finishing touch, without overloading it – just perfect!

 

That’s it for this week. I hope you have just as much fun looking these gems as I had finding them. Have a great week, everyone!

A {Perfect} Lunar Surprise

Published by Sula H.

Look at what treat we got to have tonight! First, I was so happy about the full moon shining brightly from a perfectly clear sky. And then, before you know it, that perfectly full moon slowly turned into this …

And then into this …

And into this …

And finally there was nothing left …

But hey, I’m not complaining. I like surprises like this. Especially when you actually get to see them happen. And especially when the rare surprise happens on a rare day of perfectly clear skies, which makes it twice as special (because what use is a lunar eclipse for anyone when it’s covered by a layer of clouds and smog?) But not tonight. Tonight, we had the perfect conditions for a perfectly perfect lunar eclipse. I like perfect!