You are here: Home / Archives for Yvonne Eijkenduijn

Hanging Art with Mr. Crab

Thursday, 30 May 2013 by 17 Comments

I’ve made a small tool to hang my art and that’s Mr. Crab. Mr. Crab is my home-boy as he comes in handy really often. At first Bo made fun of my Mr. Crab but now, quite often actually, he calls in for the help of Mr. Crab. It doesn’t have to be a plastic toy crab that I found in a Surprise Egg, you can hang anything down a piece of string, yarn, twine etc. to make a perpendicular line as long as it gives a bit of weight and it should be, at least, flat on one side.

I hope there will be a Mr. Crab in your life soon.

ps: this is a sneak peek of my new living room. The chair is a Hee from Hay, the pillow is made by me and I will share the pattern soon and you can find the art prints right here.

Filed Under: Decorating, DIY, My Home

Gathered By Mollie Makes Interview

Tuesday, 28 May 2013 by 5 Comments


image ©2013 Mollie Makes

While I was at Selina’s Pretty Pastel Style book launch fair party extravaganza, Mollie Makes magazine interviewed me for their iPad mag, Gathered By Mollie Makes.

You can watch me in action while I chat about my blog, crochet and my flawless treble stitches – HA! You can buy Gathered By Mollie Makes for your iPad right here, it’s in the current issue 32.

Thank you Selina and Mollie Makes for all your loveliness xox

Filed Under: Press

Hot Jambalaya

Monday, 27 May 2013 by 6 Comments

This is what I had for dinner this evening. Although I like my food spicy, I’ve made this recipe a bit milder but still hot … lets say medium hot.

Jambalaya is a French word that means ‘jumbled’ or ‘mixed up’. This dish is great for a big group of people or for eating the next day. With spiced dishes I like them better the next day as all the spices are soaked in.

Hot Jambalaya

Print recipe
Serves 2
Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 15 minutes
Total time 30 minutes
Meal type Everyday Meal, Main Dish
Region French

Ingredients

  • 200g Chicken fillet (diced)
  • 10 King Prawns
  • 100g Brown Rice (dry weight)
  • 1 Red Pepper (roughly diced)
  • 1/2 Chilli Pepper (chopped)
  • 1 Red Onion (roughly diced)
  • 1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
  • Ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 1 handful Parsley (chopped)

Directions

Step 1. Heat olive oil in a wok pan and wok the chicken fillet together with the ground black pepper and cayenne pepper. In the meantime boil the rice.
Step 2. Add the red pepper, chilli pepper and red onion.
Step 3. Add the king prawns and the rice all in the wok pan and wok until the prawns are hot.
Step 4. Take the wok of your stove and mix the raw parsley through all the ingredients.
Filed Under: Food, Meals

Me and My Glass Jug

Thursday, 23 May 2013 by 24 Comments

My friend’s parents in law own a holiday home in Italy and they apparently drink a lot of wine when they are down there. They drink wine from jugs and my friend gave me one of those jugs as apparently they drown in them, makes me wonder how much wine they actually drink.

This may sound weird but I’ve never owned a glass jug as I’m quite into ceramics and never really thought of the idea that I also could use glass to decorate with.

So I went into the garden, cut off some branches of my overgrowing viburnum (lice included) and put them in the jug. I had to combine it though with my ceramics because the thought of more glass made me shiver. I do however really like the outcome and I might even try to work a little more with glass. So don’t freak out if there appears another glass jug or vase on my blog.

The incense burning house is from Muji, the letterpress bird print is from Dutch Door Press, the bunny tea light is from the Mugtail collection, Google to find a stockist near you and the trio of ceramic vases are all from IKEA. Oh and I bought the faux reindeer head here and the real one at a flea market.

Filed Under: Decorating, My Home

Coming Up Roses

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 by 5 Comments

Just two days before the doctor let my father in law go I got the most exciting e-mail from the press department of Cath Kidston, I was invited to celebrate Cath’s 20th birthday of being in business. In all the excitement I booked a ticket and a hotel room not considering that at some point we had to have a funeral in that same week. So when the funeral day was announced it was still possible for me to travel up to London, and travel back the next day. But I felt weird about that as I felt that I needed to be there for my husband and for my mother in law. Both pushed me in to going on Wednesday April 17 so I would be home long before the 20th, the day of the funeral.

So I was back in London, once again and Spring had sprung in Notting Hill, where I stayed.

In the afternoon I had a tea date with the lovely Tina from Colour Living at the Orangery at Kensington Palace where I had a beautiful white peony tea and a mini scone. I’ve met Tina at MTB London last March and, although we didn’t have much chance to chat, I instantly really liked her. So it was good to have a long natter with her loveliness. Thanks Tina xox

Around 17:00 It got this exciting text and waited in the hotel lobby for my ride to CK head offices also in Notting Hill.

It was a real party with beautiful cocktails and delicious food, candle making, cake decorating and at the end gorgeous goodie bags for us to take home. We were allowed to take everything home, cake tins and aprons included.

There was a small presentation, showing us the new Coming Up Roses goodies and this film. It’s really fun to watch as it tells the story of how Cath started her business 20 years ago.

It was all so much fun and I would love to thank Charlotte Knott and Charlotte Jay for your big support and for your help creating this lovely clip from last weeks episode of Shoot where I visit my favourite Cath Kidston shop on Marylebone High Street in London. There is more to this clip but that’s for a next post.

Filed Under: Out & About, Press, Sponsors

Turnip Tops Mash

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 by 11 Comments

… and introducing ReciPress and everyday meals.

Today I want to introduce you to the everyday meals Boris and I eat. I’ll try to do two meals a week as long as the spring / summer light is good for indoor photography during dinner time.

You might all have to consider that during dinner time Boris will have to wait before he eats so that you can get to see what we eat. I love him so much for that, the always; “wait I have to photograph this” moment he patiently waits. Bless him.

I’m also going to work with the WordPress plugin ReciPress, see below.

Turnip Tops Mash

Print recipe
Serves 2
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes
Total time 30 minutes
Meal type Everyday Meal, Main Dish

Ingredients

  • 350g Crumbly Potatoes (peeled and diced)
  • 500g Turnip Tops (roughly chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon Coconut Milk
  • 1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Directions

Step 1. Peel and boil the potatoes wit the sea salt as you normally do.
Step 2. Chop the turnip tops and when the potatoes are ready mix them with the coconut milk. The hot potatoes will slightly cook the raw turnip tops and the coconut milk will give it an extra creamy taste.
Step 3. Serve with minced veil meat, like sausage or meatballs. Add some spicy mustard for kicks.
Filed Under: Food, Meals

Home & Soul Improvement

Friday, 17 May 2013 by 34 Comments

So I thought I was ready to be back to be a full-time blogger but apparently I wasn’t.

Everything we were doing in the house was left for the sudden death of my father in law. So when we came home after the funeral we were quite shocked about the mess, unfinnished projects and even dirt we left behind. Regular readers know that Bo and I are very organised and clean people so to us having dust bunnies, spattered cath food over the floor and dirty toilets is a nightmare … a nightmare is understated … it’s the end of the world.

So we were at the end of our world, we had to get back on track.

We worked for 2 weeks very long days and we’ve accomplished so much with the help of our friend. Living room finished (only the decorating is unfinished), bookcase made, my office moved, office bookcases sold and swapped …

The garden was overcrowding the greenhouse so we’ve moved that to a sunnier spot.

I’ve painted so much until I had blisters, I’ve made many lunches, done a massive amount of box unpacking, done some much needed crying and restyled my blog as I was having technical theme problems. And now I’m officially back to be being a full-time blogger. So much happened in the meantime and I have so much to share with you.

Thank you so much for visiting me, for your patience, the sweet comments and the lovely e-mail.

Have a wonderful weekend xox

Filed Under: Life & Style, My Home, Renovating, Yvesworld