Happy new year

Its a new start they say ,i guess we can say it is ,but only if you make it a new start ,it all begings with you ,it is what you let it be .......

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

Happy new year to you all 

A dogs life

Here is my old sweet friend or my 6th baby as we often call him

he was pretty tierd that day por old doggie
well the hollidays are almost over ,time fly´s
My kids grow so fast now and one of them is even moving out in the new year ,that makes me feel old or older
here are some pic´s from this holliday

im just having to much fun with the bokeh of lights ,amazing things you can do with a few lights

xoxo
Valeria

Merry christmas/Gleðileg jól/ God jul

                                                                           Life's most

                                                           beautiful things are not seen
                                                                        with the eyes,
                                                                             but felt
                                                                       with the heart.
                                                                        Wishing you
                                                                      a special season
                                                                         of the heart.

                                                                     Merry Christmas

Love Valeria

Almost done

Im almost done doing eveything for christmas ,i still need to bake some bread will do that to day ,and i have the wrapping to do as well .
The tree is ready and beautiful (need to take a pic of it )
they say its gona snow so im just hoping and that would make me happy again ,not that im not just makes me even more happy .

i still had an chai image that i whanted to share ,this one has something i love so much and that is bokeh ,ive been playing with bokeh now for sometime and im trying to get the shaped bokeh right ,it has to be at the right size and i dint have the right punch for it ,dint whant cut the shape out my self so ive been looking for the punch and i think i have it now ,just need to practice a bit .

hope you have a great last weekend before christmas .

Funny

A friend here in Norway just made this for me and hubby,this is me,hubby and one of my dd
enjoy and merry christmas to all my friends
http://www.jibjab.com/view/0VsBS7nBQKqIQnmVPHb52w

Chai dessert

Found this amazing recipe online the other day and thought i would try it out ,it looks so good im thinking of making for dessert on christmas day when my daughters boyfriend comes for dinner
he´s a chef to be soon so i need to impress him haha .

i really like how they look and tasted but i think i would use a bit more of the gelatin to make it bit more stiff but the taste was really yummy and i love chai tea so im all for that spicy flavor .

Chai Cream
Makes about 8 half cup servings
Ingredients
5 cups, plus 1/2 cup, heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 envelope gelatin
2 tea bags Chai tea
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
5 black peppercorns
1 recipe whipped cream
In a large saucepan, combine 5 cups of heavy cream and the granulated sugar, and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
While the cream mixture is warming, combine the remaining half cup of cream with the envelope of gelatin. Stir together and let sit about five minutes. After the gelatin has absorbed the cream, stir together until smooth; set aside.
Once the cream-sugar mixture comes to a simmer, remove from heat and stir in the gelatin mixture until dissolved. Empty the contents of the tea bags into the pan, then stir in the cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and peppercorns, and allow to steep for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, place the pan in an ice bath in a large glass or metal bowl, cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly to the surface of the pudding, and allow to cool for 20 to 30 minutes. Once cooled, remove the plastic wrap, and pour and press the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove as much of the tea leaves as possible.
Cover and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. After chilling, divide the mixture evenly between 8 or 6-ounce serving dishes. Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
Garnish with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Serve cold.

today is my youngest dd 8th birthday so im gona make her a cake before she comes home from school.

hope you like this christmas post

ps if you live in the USA please read this
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/immediately-address-issue-gun-control-through-introduction-legislation-congress/2tgcXzQC

we dont whant more children killed with the guns

Third in advent

Then we light the 3rd candle ,i saw this candle sticks on the wonderful internet and i just had to have them ,so i whent surfing and found a online store that sold them last year but she was all out now :( but i just happend to find them in a store here not far from me :) was so happy and bought them

now i plan on making my own candle sticks ,not sure how they will turn out but i bought the sement and hubby is gona help me out (he was so happy when i told him )hihi

today im making a try at a chai desert i plan on making on christmas day just whant to make sure its good cause i have dinner guests, will for sure show you some pictures if it turns out good
put ive been sick since friday so everyone whent out to do there thing yesterday so i was alone home so i playd a bit with some things i had .

and then there was the candy cane candy ,maby not canes but candy yes

and here is a letter my daugther wrote to santa ,maby you dont know but we in Iceland we have 13 santas and they come one by one starting 13 days before christmas and the kids put a shoe in the window and if they have been good they get a little gift from santa .
So she wrote him this letter asking how many raindeers they have ,he wrote back and said 6 :)

and she left him milk and cookies ,guess he liked them cause he drank the milk and the cookies where gone .
i just love this letter she wrote ,it has the most beautiful drawing on it and just look at how she writes
bit icelandic and also in norsk haha .
hope you enjoy this post and i hope you have a good day

p.s im lighting an extra candle for the people that are going through hard times now and my heart goes out the familys in Newtown  Connecticut ,such a horrible thing no words can decribe it .....

Snow kaos

Well i sure got what i whanted haha snow and more snow its been snowing now for 2 nights and one day and on friday they say there is storm coming ,i only hope i get to keep the snow untill christmas
im not sure if i can walk to work and i sure cant take the car ......... well i just have to give it a try ,dress good and go for it .

my 7 year old is affraid that she will drown in the snow on her way to school ,i told her that she will make it fine :)
Im glad im almost done with my shopping ,took 2 days and bought almost everything ,so now everything im sending to Iceland is on its way home to our family .
well im getting ready for work and i hope you guys out there have a good day .
hugs Valeria

Homesick

Im having one of those days now ,im feeling very homesick ...... i whant nothing more then to hug my mom ,dad and my sister..wish i could jump into a plain and fly off ....home to Iceland
sometimes i feel like this and other days i dont it comes and goes fast but at this time of the year i feel homesick more and more i cant help it .

But i still have fun with the camera ans here is one image i took of the marshmallows i made sooo jummy .

here is one christmas song i love

Marshmallow Snowflakes

I saw this idea from Martha Stewart last year but dint have those snowflakes and they are the only snowflakes i would like to use to make these :) yeh yeh i know i kinda crazy but i just think they are to gorgeous to not use them ,so this year i bought them on ebay and ive been using the cutters ever since i got them .

i whanted to make this look kinda vintage look so i added a soft rosy haze on the images .
I just love this look .
i also made some changes on blog look ,i hope you like it and hey dont be afraid of leaving comments i love reading them .
Marshmallow-snowflakes link

im off the bake some more for christmas ,hope you have a great sunday and remeber to enjoy the days to come .

Snow white

Whent into the woods today with the kids to play and try to get a nice christmas photo of them ,that is not there favorite thing ,they just dont like me when i have the camera with me hehe oh no mom has the camera ,
im still going trough the images and trying to find the best one to use
but i found this one and i just love it ,she was so cold so i handed her the blancket i took with us

we had hot chocolate and cookies with us so she got warm and cozy soon .
have a great weekend i know im gona be busy baking and having fun with the kids this weekend

*Star *

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

All it takes is a clear sky then you can see the beautiful stars ,dont you just love the stars ? i know i do
when i walk to work early i can see the beautiful stars if the sky is clear its so pretty but then its cold and that wont hurt if you just have the right clothes .
me and my 9 year old dd baked these the other night ,its nice to spend time with just one at a time ,candle light and some nice music just me and her .
I wish there was more light when i get home from work ,then i could take more pictures but its late when i get home so not much time for play .
I bought these cookie cutters just for  some ideas i have but i have to find time to play more with them

hope you enjoy this small sample of the Stars .....

Snowdog

Its been so much fun having all this snow and i can hardly belive how much snow we have in just 2 days ,the kids love it the dog loves it and hes not much for beeing out side but he loves sitting out side in the snow watching the kids and looking at birds ,one would think he was a cat haha

here he is in his jumper i knitted for him last winter ,
all this snow makes me so happy ive baked ,played ,cleand i even made some birdfood this weekend i just wish i had more time ..... work is calling ..... so i only have the weekends to do what i need to do and the kids need there time to so im off to the movies with them and then i need to figure out on a christmas card image omg that in the biggest problem i have ,the kids just dont like me when i have the camera on me :) oh no there she comes with the camera lets hide .
have a great sunday

Wish

Im granting my own wish .
My wish is to get snow ,its not snowing yet but i made my own wish come true by making chocolate snowflakes .
They look pretty they taste good and are even cold (put them in the freezer )

“Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.”

Getting colder

Well its getting colder here now and im glad it is ,that means it really could snow (i hope)

ive been busy with work ,crochet and some candymaking :) ummm i love chocolate so i made some chocolate snowflakes and you will get to see them later.

i just found the best christmas song ever i think ,not sure why i havent heard it before ,but the text is just so me now i think
so here is that wonderful song if like it tell me .

Red christmas

So here are a few more images from yesterday

spending the day baking a cake for a birthday girl ,she is 17 year old
i also made some snowflake chocolates with candy canes sounds good ... ?
well pic´s come later of those jummy things

i also was trying to get a pic of my kids .. well i did try it can be pretty hard to lie still for more then a few seconds ..... now sure what im gona do with a card image ,need to try again ,ive never gotten a good image of them in just one try .. nob

Christmas

Christmas doesn't come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more....
something to think about .

i whanted to bake a cranberry cake today

ive also spent my lunch time at work making some snowflakes ,its raining here and i dont like the rain so what is a girl to do then well make youre own snowflakes .....
USA
Ch 8, join with a sl st to form a ring.
Rnd 1: Ch 3, work 1 dc into ring, ch 3, * work 2 dc into ring, ch 3 rep from * 4 times, join with a sl st into top of beg ch-3.
Rnd 2: Sl st into next dc and ch-3 sp, ch 1, * work 1 sc, ch 3, 1 sc, ch 6, 1 sc, ch 3, 1 sc into ch-3 sp, rep from * 5 times, join with a sl st into first sc.
Fasten off.
© Sarah London 2010

i have more pic´s but you will just have to wait to see the rest
have a snowy weekend .
Valeria

Around the corner

Yeb christmas is around the corner but it sure doesnt look like it here where i live in Norway .... rain rain and more rain ,i never knew it could rain more then it did back home but i guess i know now and its so boring but insted of letting the rain ruin my day´s  i try to keep it cozy inside.
We have some lights up and i bought my self a very small tree ,its so tiny and cute and i love taking pic´s of it.
So here is one quick of the tree the kids call Jesus :)

 or you can see it in the background ,this decoration im gona use on this years advent ,simple but pretty i think .

hope the weekend is good to you

Bact to life

I love the hollidays and i like to think alot and i get so many ideas in my at this time that it gets hard to focus on just one thing .
But i think i whant to see if i can get this blog back to action ,ive not been very active here for along time well i do have so many things going on in my life ,big family ,hospital trips ,work ,school and i could keep on but im not .

So lets jus get started with this post ,its about crafts for the kids
i have 5 kids but the 3 youngest are the most active once so i have to keep them busy and one of the girls (shee is 8 years old) she is very much into crafts and she can make things i never even knew a kid could think about ,she made a computer from paper the other day and it was very much so perfect ,she loves to drawn and cut and clue things together haha i never have a tape in the house she takes it and then i dont see it anymore .

Anyway this post is about how to keep the kids busy at this time of year and let them be apart of the decorations you make

these handmade decorations are awesome and they smell so good ,you could use them on the tree or on gifts to make them even more special

What you’ll need:
1 cup of applesauce
1 1/2 cups cinnamon (look for a big containers at $1 stores, bulk stores or amazon.)
2 T cloves optional (grind with a spice grinder)
heart cookie cutters in different sizes
string for hanging 
Mix 1 cup of applesauce with 1 cup of cinnamon in a large bowl. Mix, mix, mix. This is the kinda recipe you’ll need to use your hands to really incorporate the spices. Make sure you don’t miss any wet spots. Add the additional 1/2 cup of cinnamon, cloves and continue to incorporate. If it’s too wet add more cinnamon, too dry add more applesauce. But be patient. It takes time to mix so don’t add cinnamon or applesauce till you’re absolutely sure it’s well mixed.
Scatter some cinnamon (like if you were rolling out cookies with flour) and roll out applesauce/cinnamon dough to 1/4″ thick. If the dough is too wet it will make a huge mess and stick to your rolling pin.
Use your cookie cutters to cut out the hearts. I noticed the first time around my dough was too wet and the edges were straggly. Once I add more cinnamon the edges were clean.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Place the hearts on a cookie sheet with a silpat. The hearts can be really close together but not touching; they won’t rise in the oven. Using a skewer carefully make a hole through each heart. Stick the ornaments in the oven for an hour or more. The juice from the applesauce needs to evaporate. The range in cooking time depends on your house, humidity and climate. My house is cold so I had them in for 1.5 hours and then I turned the oven off and left them to set overnight. They should be rock hard. If they’re not, give them some more time in the oven.
The next day loop a string through each of the holes to hang on the tree, string together to make a garland or attach to a package. Enjoy!


orginal post here Cinnamon ornaments 

have fun with the kids or with youre self  <3

see ya soon  

2 days

Now its just 2 days untill my trip back home :) im almost done my packing ,still need to work tomm and then i can finish packing my things ,dont really need much ,mostly camera stuff im taking hehe ,and some gifst for my mom ,sister and my best buddy friend ,i just pray that her dd will be ok,she had to take her to the hospital ,she was very sick and nobody new what was wrong :( but as far as i know she is getting better .
I may go on my roadtrip alone but thats ok ,i dont mind that ,i totally understand if she wont be able to go with me ,im planing on driving to get to a place called jökulsárlón, really whant to be there at sunsetting if i can ,then its the normal stuff like some off the waterfalls (strange feel like a tourist in strange land )but then again im not and i know all the places i whant to go to so i think its just gona be a fun trip .

cant wait to hug my sister ,havent seen her in almost 2 years :/ her boys and hubby ,my mom ohh love my mom and the best part my dad is in Norway and we will meet up in Oslo airport and fly home togther :) how fun is that .
Then its my 2 other friends gona meet them for coffee on wednesday :)miss then and coffee isnt the same without them .

well this is my last post before i go so here is one image i took the other night ,was trying out some new toy hubby bought me (did i tell you that he is the best ) well you should know by now that he does everything for me :)
this was taken at sunset by the Sola beach ,like the dreamy look the sea and the rock rising up .
take care and hope you have a good next week , i know im gona have a blast

Inspired by Iceland

My oldest dd has left the nest ... she is in Iceland for two weeks and that means that its only one week until i go ............ :) can you see the smile on my face from where you are sitting

Easter weekend

Well easter is over and an new week begins with fun things .A now its only one week untill i go back HOME and im so exited about that trip ,cant wait to see my parents my sister and her family ,my friends and take my road trip with my friend that is gona be so much fun ,i just hope i get good weather and the volcano´s dont make trouble for me but it woud be fun to get some volcano action to photoraph :)

i was taking a workshop all easter online they are so much fun and even if i cant watch all off it i always learn so much for them ,so i was playing with the flowers i bought for my self .

i love these flowers and i may end up using one of these flower pic´s for Unit 2 im working on ,ive done all the reading and i just need to get my head around the images i need to send in

hope you had a good weekend

Frog pond

Me and my almost 6 year old son whent out to this great forest it has many pond´s and wonderful flowers ,trees and animals it was a great day warm and the sun was trying to peek out .

we found this little pond with lots of frogs in it and he was really suprised to see them ,never seen frogs before so he dint mind me taking loads off pic´s off him hehe but he said when we got to the car :do i get candy now :)

i used this time to practise the things im learnig at the moment wich is exposure and getting it 100 % right and ive been struggling with that for a few days now but i think i have the understanding i needed so yeh im happy and i really did get so many good pic´s off him .

he has this little suitcase with all kinds off stuff in he finds ,coins ,rocks and more stuff that boys like to pick up when the play so hee brings this suitcase with him alot :)

i really like these pic´s and i think im gona have them printed in diffrent sizes
well im off to find more atventures with my kids this weekend i hope you have a wonderful time as well doing what you like and love to do .

Thursday Photo

Its time for the thursday photo ,since im really busy on fridays this is workin much better for me ,so this week the girls where making some crafts for easter and also to send home to there grandmother ,i know she is gona love this she has always been so crafty with them and sometimes took the to her house just to do crafts and paint and play with them (ohh we do miss her )

so here is this weeks image 
i love the colors and i used an overlay to add a little texture to it


At this moment im reading everything there is to know about the right exposureand man my head is just spinning around and around ,i really need  to get this and get it good ,its the most important lesson in the learning process ,im reading it for the second time and taking lots of notes ,then i need to move on and read the rest of the lessons and in this unit there is alot of reading to do and listening ,its gona take some time to get this unit 2 done :) but i plan on using my Iceland trip to try to get some of the photos i need ,that is if im done with all ther reading before i leave back home .
(4 weeks until my trip back home)

have a great day

Friday photo

Well its friday and its time for the friday photo ,i may have to change this to thursday ,cause im working on fridays and i dont really have much time to play with the camera so from now on i will post thursday photo :)
this is all i could come up with now ,its late and really tierd after a long day in kindergarden and then i come home tomy own kindergarden haha .so this is all you get this week
i bought me some easter fowers in a pot ,love the yellow cause its springtime

i think i may use another pot for it cause its not matching the flowers in it (you get what i mean )
sorry for not having a more fun photo this friday .
enjoy the weekend i know i will be busy cause i think the weather may be a little better than it has been

Friday photopost

I saw somewhere something like this ,posting every friday a photo off everyday life ,can be anything from baking ,to playing with the kids or just off the kids ,what you are knitting /crochet or landscape you see on friday or the days before just about anything you whant.The challane for me right now is to get out there cause the weather isnt so good ,its raining ,foggie and just plain boring weather but thats the fun part now i have to get my a.... off the chair and find something i think is worth posting every friday .
I think its fun and thats what im gona do ,but since i work on fridays it may come friday night but its gona be fun dont ya think :) if you like to do the same it would be fun to know and maby a link to youre blogg ,then i could post a link to youre blogg so we can all see those fun friday pic´s ,let me know what you think.

 this one is taken last summer or spring ,i cant wait for this to bloom so i can go again and take more pic´s off it .

Baby session

Well i did the second session for the new baby boy ,the first dint go as i had planned haha nothing is as planned when it comes to baby´s ,but this one was so much better ,he did sleep for a few min :) and i did get some good shots at that time and then we just played along .I was pretty happy with the outcome

this one is so cute and he was so relaxed

:)

fast a sleep here but then we had to move him and he woke up but that was ok he was very calm

i love toes on new baby´s they are just so cute and new .

well im pretty sure the spring is just around the corner ,ive seen bee´s and sun is starting to shine and the day´s are getting brighter and flowers are starting to show and grow
i put down new tomato seeds ,just small tomato´s this time :) cant wait for them to start growing

this one was just enjoying the sun in my window
have a good weekend everyone out there

New born Session

How fun ,im having my first new born session on saturday :) im getting my props tog bought some new
and made some new crochet baby hats (you have seen them)
So next thing i need to do is get some inspiration about posing and things like that .Sure it will
all go well ,im exited about this .

anyways im still thinking im just writing this blog to my self ,dont think that many peoble
read it so im wondering how long im gone keep this up .

but here is a pic of my dd taken when she lost one of her tooth
used Florabella (just love those actions ) clean color

have a good weekend ,im thinking spring is in the air cause i saw some tiny droplings coming up :)

I will always love

This is my favorite song with Whitney Houston
God bless you

Before & after

I just had to buy the new action set from Florabella ,since im making some money from
my photography i think its just fair that i get to be good to my self from time to time :)
the action set is called Florabella retouch and  its so worth the money at least i think so ;) i know im not
the only one that would say that ,you can find Florabella Here .
Anyway i took this pic off my son a few days ago (dont have any new once to play with at the moment)
and this is raw so you can play more with that then jpeg .So all i did was run the action and with
a small moving the sliders upp and down ,some brushing here and there this is the outcome

i really like the outcome and i know that this will not be the first and last action i buy from Florabella ;)
here is another one i did ,the photo here i dint really like but with a litle photoshop actions it goes a
long way dont you think ?

GIVE AWAY

I love these give aways so lets share this one here :) such a cute bag for the camera and everything else you need to carry around
http://purephotoshopactions.com/?p=1365

Ok
So now what?
How do you enter this amazingness that we call a giveaway you ask?!!
We have a new nifty little entry form to enter our giveaway! We are NO longer doing comments as your entry form! (PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ON THE BLOG POST) Please use the form below! Each point that you get, equals one entry. You can do some of the entries more then once for more entries!
Do all of the following steps through the entry app below.
—-Make sure you are a fan of Pure Photoshop Actions first. Because we love you and want to have the chance to interact!
—-Make sure you are a fan of Jo Totes! Because seriously, you will want to drool over their bags!
—-Then make sure you share the giveaway on any of your social media outlets. (leave the link to where you shared in the form below)