Friday, December 19, 2014

Winter Fun

Winter is such a lovely time of the year, and since it's officially beginning on Monday, I thought I'd share some of my favorite winter pictures of previous years.


I was waiting for the bus to go to work on a winter day last year grinning ear to ear cuz of the awesome snowy weather taking pictures all along, when suddenly I noticed these gorgeous snowflakes on my gloves WITH MY NAKED EYES! It was the first time I was witnessing the beauty of snowflake geometry by myself! And I managed to press that snap button repeatedly praying I could get them on camera right before the bus would come, and these pictures happened (just the iPhone camera, no Olloclip or such sort of gear used)! ♥


My mittens now, and the gloves I used to wear when I was very little.


Snow and pine trees; my favorite combination!




Danbo and Santa. Danbo's hat, scarf, and mittens knitted by yours truly.


Teeny tiny snowman I made last year! :)


Magic skater snowman!


Origami winter attire.


How cute are these gingerbread Christmas ornaments? They're actually pottery and were a birthday present from a lovely friend of mine. Love them so much!



I have doodles all over my handouts from school! Could never help it! Ha ha!


Let this winter be a magical one with lots of snow and happiness for everyone!

Noushin

Thursday, December 18, 2014

An Origami FairyTale


Once upon a time, there was a Princess who had been captured by the Mean Dragon and trapped in his territory. 
The only thing that could still make the poor sad Princess smile was the beautiful lotus around the shore of the lake. So the Princess went to visit the lotus everyday and tried to forget her pain for a few minutes.


On a beautiful sunny spring day, a Prince, who was such a brave explorer, happened to pass by the lake. The moment his eyes met our very own beautiful Princess, he knew he had to go and talk to her. 


And so he did! There were sweet smiles all over their faces. Aww!


Whether you believe in love at first sight or not, it happened to the Princess and the Prince. The Princess was so happy after all the miserable time she had spent in captivity.


But she was so distracted by Prince charming that she had completely forgot about the Mean Dragon's daily check up on her! Uh-oh!


When the Mean Dragon came to see the princess, he was not at all pleased with what was before him! He got so furious that nothing could stop him now.


The brave Prince tried to confront the Mean Dragon so courageously, but the Dragon's power was way beyond his!


It being so, the Mean Dragon knocked the Prince out, and when he did, everything went black for the Prince... The Dragon took the Princess with a thousand million tear drops rolling down her cheeks and flew away.


When the Prince came to his senses, he was near the lake, all by himself, with such dizziness. He suddenly remembered everything and his heart was in so much pain. He decided to go find the Princess, but there was neither a sign of her nor of the Dragon.


The beautiful sunny spring day had turned into a gloomy afternoon now, and the Prince was wandering around, hoping to find a way to the Princess.


He kept wandering and wandering. He saw joyful couples on his way, and the sight of them made him miss his Princess more.


On his way, the Prince came across the woods; there he saw two little elves.


When the elves saw him, they noticed his sad face and asked him what had caused such great pain.


The prince, whose soul couldn't be wearier, became a tell-tale heart and told the elves the whole story. The elves said they thought they knew a way to get the Prince out of his misery. So they called out their Dove of Peace. 


The three of them got on board, and off they flew to the Master of the elves.


The Prince had never been into the clouds or through the sky. When he looked down, he was amazed by how little everything looked. Even the lake was like a very little puddle from up there! Wait a minute! Was that red spot, the very Mean Dragon he could see? Yes, it was him! So that's where he had taken the Princess! To the other side of the lake!


The Master of the elves was the guardian of the Magic Well of Wishes.


When the elves and the Prince arrived at the Magic Well, the elves told their Master everything. 


The Master said that the only way was a wish made by the Prince to the Magic Well of Wishes.



The Prince made his wish with all his heart and all his might and I'm sure you know what his wish was.


And the Magic Well gave him a Unicorn! The Prince couldn't believe his eyes! The Master told him that the only way to beat the Mean Dragon was the power of true love. The power of true love would lead the Unicorn to the Dragon to defeat him.


The Prince thanked the Master and the elves, and got on the Unicorn. And they both disappeared in a blink of an eye.


The Unicorn was running as fast as the thunder.


The Prince arrived at the other side of the lake, and there she was, crying. She looked so beautiful! And the Dragon was there too, of course.


The Prince and the Unicorn didn't waste a single moment for the power of true love flowing by the Prince was invincible! The Unicorn stabbed the Mean Dragon, and he was defeated!


Once the Dragon was knocked down, LOVE bloomed! 


The Prince took the Princess in his arms and that moment was to be cherished till eternity.


The Master, the elves, and of course, the Unicorn were their guests of honor at their wedding.


And they lived happily ever after! :)

Noushin

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Spicy Apple Cake



This apple cake I baked last month goes so well with some pleasant afternoon tea. My family and I really enjoyed it, so I thought I would share the recipe here.

Ingredients:


1/2 cup butter
1 and 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cup apple compote
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/6 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

To make the apple compote:

  1. Peel 5 average apples (the sourer the better), take the seeds off, and chop them up.
  2. Boil the apples in a quarter cup of water for like 7 minutes.
  3. Add 1/4 cup sugar and let them boil a little more.

To make the cake:

  1. Mix the sugar and the butter with an electric mixer till the color turns lighter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 1 minute.
  2. Sift all the dry ingredients together twice, add them to the egg-butter-sugar mixture and mix gently with a spatula. This addition should be done in around three parts, adding some of the apple compote in between.
  3. Add the raisins and the walnuts, mixing the whole mixture gently.
  4. Oil your cake pan, pour the mixture in and bake in the oven for 30 to 50 minutes with 175°C (350°F). 


To decorate your cake, you can use anything from sprinkles to powdered sugar. Here, I sprinkled some powdered sugar through a DIY heart template I'd made.

I hope you enjoy this cake! :)

Noushin


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Cream Puffs


Here's the recipe to these yummy cream puffs I baked a few weeks ago.

You'll need:

♥ 2 cups water
♥ 2 cups all purpose flour
♥ 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
♥ 5 tablespoons oil
♥ 3 large eggs
♥ 1/6 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

♥ 100 gr (3.5 oz) cream
♥ 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Ingredients ready? Tie a beautiful bow with your apron straps behind your back and lets get started! :) 
  1. Boil the water + sugar + oil + salt mixture on the stove.
  2. Once the mixture starts boiling, add the flour and stir gently till the water evaporates and you get a thick pulpy paste.
  3. Place the paste over your counter (or a flat plate) so that it cools off. Once cooled off, bring your paste into a bowl and add the eggs one at a time, mixing well with your cleanly washed hand until the final paste is ready (and kind of sticky).
  4. Pour the product into a piping bag and make a little round shape with a pointy finish on your baking tray to shape each cream puff.
  5. Bake in the oven with 175°C (350°F) until they start to get brown.
  6. While you're waiting for your yummy cream puffs to brown, mix the cream and the powdered sugar in a bowl placed over a larger bowl full of ice (to get a somewhat thick well-built cream).
  7. After the puffs are out of the oven and cooled, make a horizontal cut in the middle of each (not thoroughly, though; as if you're making a mouth for a puppet) and fill it with the cream.
  8. Voila!
I hope you enjoy both the baking and the puffs!

Noushin

Friday, December 12, 2014

How to Draw a Cupcake




If you're a cupcake person like me, and you're interested in drawing one, then here's this video I did earlier this year on how to draw one! 


Noushin

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Magic Jars

What lovelier thing can happen to a cute empty little glass jar than transforming it into a beauty? I enjoy doing it so much, and here's my collection.



This one's my oldest.


And it makes a beautiful charm too!







That gorgeous thing inside is a button from a beautiful purple suit my mom had sewed for herself when I was 5 or 6! :)



Ah sea and seashells, how I love you! 



This one's very special, and was gifted to my love for he loves blue! ♥


I kind of like to think this green marble represents a green Earth, and the jar a beautiful green world that was gifted to us! :)



How enchanting are butterflies?



The jungle in a jar. Mommy elephant and her baby enjoying peace.





Lemon cupcake! Yum yum! Cupcakes are so darling! (Lemon slices made out of hot glue.)




The North Pole in a jar. Penguins are so cute! (These penguins were a part of a series of animal statues, which aalso includes the elephants above, my parents had bought on their honeymoon! ♥ We still have them all!)



My origami books in a milk bottle. I'll do a post on my origami books/collection soon!



SNOW!!! I cannot put in words how I adore snow... I would like to imagine I am a pale ice-blue snowflake! I was born in winter and I'm really happy I was. :)

I made the snowman out of hotglue btw.



The snowflake's a kirigami on which I've sprinkled some icy eyeshadow! I've actually always used this eyeshadow as glitter for crafting! Ha ha!





L♥VE!



Cupcakes, cupcakes, pink cupcakes! Gotta love them dearly. This cupcake is made of hotglue too.



Love in Paris! What's more romantic? I'd say everything that's going on in my heart is! :D

I hope you've enjoyed my glass jar collection. Sorry for the super long post!

Noushin