New frames + Saar Manche

When repainting the rest of our corridor (part1, see here), we also selected some new decoration for our walls.

We chose simple black frames.

We would print our own black and white (holiday)pictures to fill them up, but then I thought of all the nice cards and old drawings which I bought in Firenze (here) and Sevilla (here), last year.

I took them outside, 

and loved to do this quitely on my own, 

but it isn't easy to take good pictures...

The small frames have drawings of characters of the Commedia dell'Arte.

The larger frames hold replica's of old animaldrawings, cut from an old book, which I bought at the large fleemarket in Sevilla.

Filling frames is one thing, choosing how to put them on a big wall, is another...

so for now, they still have to wait a little ;-)

Any good ideas?

I also ordered 2 nice paintings, made by Saar Manche, at Pépin La Lune in Brussels. I love Saar's sence of style, which you can clearly see in her pictures and illustrations, on her blog and on Instagram.

They fit nicely with the black frames but for now, I've put them elsewhere.

A house continuously evolves...

and so it should.

Maxime + Clarice

Maxime & Clarice celebrated their first communion.

To remember it, we held a little photoshoot next to our house. 

We found their clothes at Bellerose.

Unfortunately Clarice grew out of her Bellerosedress,

so we searched for a new one and found this gorgeous classic white dress at Zara.

In her hair, we put some Eucalyptus and fine white flowers,

to give it an extra.

a white cake

This sunday, both of our gamins will celebrate their first communion. 

Since we went on a 1 year-trip (here), Maxime did not get the chance to do it last year so both gamins are celebrating it together this year, almost like twins ;-)

I chose to keep their party pure and simple, all in white.

When looking for 'matching' white food, I searched for a white cake.

In the new volume of 'Wonen landelijke stijl', I found what I was looking for.

And so I made a trial on this white cake a few days in advance and it is really overly delicious....

and gorgeous at the same time.

And it's even supereasy to make!

This is what I did:

Ingredients:

250gr Speculaas (a flemish sort of ginger cookies)

250gr creamy butter

450gr White chocolate

450gr Mascarpone

450gr Cream

1 vanillapod

Do:

Smash the speculaas into small pieces. I put all the speculaas in a clean towel and hit on it with a rollingpin. Put it on the bottom of your caketin.

Melt the creamy butter and pour it over the speculaas. Press it with a wooden spoon, so that it's a flat surface. Put this in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Melt the white chocolate. Whip the cream and mascarpone. Add the seeds of the vanillapod and gently mix the chocolate and the whipped cream.

Add this to the speculaas-bottom and put it in the refrigerator for 3 hours. 

Add some flowers and enjoy ;-)

Just a sunny day in Antwerp

Antwerp...

still our most beloved city...

(see here)

We arrived late afternoon and parked, as usual on the quays,

which is always a perfect start.

The 'Schelde'river never looks the same.

I took some (a lot of ;-)) pictures while walking towards town

and walking back during sundown.

Yesterday was a perfect spring evening, so in between, we just strolled around the city...

dropping by our favorite stores 

and dining at 'De Rooden Hoed'(here), one of our favorite classic bistro's in town, with an amazing view on the Cathedral

and a longtime history in town.

Wishing you another nice spring day ;-)

Little 'thank you' bags

Although we already had the utterly most fun experience of doubling the birthdayparty of Maxime & Clarice 

(party:here & satchels:here)...

we decided to do the same this year!

In total, they invited 20 friends, ages 5 to 10.

I think you can guess how overly excited all 20 of them were...

but fortunately we had the brilliant idea to go outside; 

combining an icecream at the local petting farm (part of it you see here), a hiking through the woods and fields, towards a large outdoor playground.

Enough space to get all energy out ;-)

Afterwards, both gamins wanted to give a small present to all attendees, so Clarice made these small bags herself (with a little helping hand from mum ;-)). It's the same simple idea, as we used for the tiny bags for Maurice (here). Maxime filled them up with candy and a small watergun.