2011 recap

As the year 2011 comes to an end I'm going to take a look back at my second year of blogging. We had guest bloggers and we did a lot of guest posts. We had giveaways. I met a lot of new blogging friends and got started on a bunch of new projects. Isn't blogging great?

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I learned how to make sea glass jewelry and did several projects on it.

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I made a vintage easter egg basket that I adore.

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Got started on fabric crafts and rosettes. Who knew?

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Discovered my love for mason jars and paint projects.

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Another first-subway art DIY.

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My favorite summer project-textures, paint, glass, sea shells, and the color turquoise.

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Got to spend some time in coastal Florida! Love it and told you all about it and sea shells.

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I took plenty of pictures of my beautiful Bella!

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And yet another new project first-recycled furniture. I redid this wicker patio set after dumpster diving for it.

At the end of summer we moved from AL to GE and I had to take some time off from blogging. I was back in time to post a fall wind catcher.

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December is my favorite month to blog-it's Christmas time.

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I posted about DIY gift ideas and recipes...

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...and about Christmas decor.

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For the first time I had a mantel to decorate in our new German house.

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And last but certainly not least my favorite project of all time-rustic wooden angels. I made them for gifts and some are sitting around my fire place.

I hope you enjoyed the year in review and if you liked a project perhaps you would like to follow along my blog, on FB or Pinterest. I always enjoy meeting new friends! Have a great time!

Blessings,

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Rustic winter bottles (DIY, Repurpose)

One of my latest obsessions is collecting glass vessels-bottles, jars, and vases. I repurposed some of them as rustic winter decor. The greenery, berries and nuts came from dog walks in the woods.

The ribbons and candles I had on hand. The candles are beeswax and smell soo good. I seem to be drawn to the simplistic and rustic look this winter. Must be because we have such a dramatic fireplace now.

Bottles are so versatile-in the spring I can place flowers and branches in them. Keep an eye open for pretty wine, milk, soda, and condiment bottles. You will be surprised what you can find-I didn't purchase any of my bottles or jars for crafting, they are all empty used bottles or junking finds.

What do you think of the rustic look? Have you jumped on the recycle and repurpose bandwaggon yet? Linking up here, at Susan's and at Tipjunkies.

Greetings,

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New Years party ideas from Germany

Here is a simple and effective centerpiece idea for your New Years buffet or table. Simply fill a nice glass container with (white and grey) sand granules from the hobby store. Add a bunch of sparklers. Tie a pretty ribbon and a tag around the glass container and light at midnight. You can adjust your color choices to your parties theme.

German symbols for New Years (Sylvester) are pigs, Fliegenpilze (mushrooms with red hat and white dots), chimney sweeps, and clovers. They all represent luck (Glueck) on New Years Eve. For snacks you can simply serve up any cookie of your liking in the shape of a clover.

It is also tradition to bring a little gift to a New Years party or to a good friend. The above plant with a mushroom is a cute option. Another is pigs in the form of chocolate, candles or soap. You can buy them around New Years over here.

Fire works are legal here, so we get to see them this year from our porch, since our house is on a hill overlooking the village. Should be exiting. If you want to read more about German New Years foods and traditions read my post here.

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Ansbach Christmas market, Franconia (Travel&Leisure)

We spent our Advent vacation in my home town and went to visit several Christmas markets from there. This one is the Ansbach, Franconia, Germany, market. We had some Gluehwein and Curry wurst for dinner there. The market is framed by two big gothic churches.

Here is the super sized Christmas pyramid-we have a smaller version at my house. They also had a live crib with animals-an ox, ponies, goats, a lama and a dromedar.

The market was small and cozy and everyone had a good time. I also adore the Christmas decorations they put up at street lights. If you are ever in Germany I encourage you to go and visit one of the markets.

Have a great week, cheers

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Home Tour-My Dining and Living room for Christmas

Hey there! Christmas is over and I'm back at work. I can't believe how quickly vacation passed this year. I have a few more Christmas posts lined up for this week. Today I'm going to show you a few glimpses of my dining/living room area. The deer is a Christmas gift from my DH.

We had the fire place going one day last week, since then the temperatures have been spring like in the mid 40's. I'm not complaining.

I told you about our Christmas meal of German Pork Roast a little while ago. We kept the tablescape simple and rustic to fit with my fireplace.

I made the garland right before Christmas and I will do a tutorial on it soon. The dishes are Bavarian vintage and you will never guess where I got them. I'm going to have to write a post on that topic, too.

My newly made rustic angel fits perfectly on the table! Let me know what you think of the table setting. Have a great day!

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Make a tree wreath (DIY)

Good Morning everyone-I hope you had a wonderful Christmas weekend! Today I'm going to show you a quick project-how to make a tree shaped wreath. You will need wire, wire cutters, greenery of your choice, and 4 long sticks and a few shorter ones.

Start out by forming a Christmas tree with the 3 long sticks, and wiring them together. Then take the remaining long stick and wire it across the bottom part of the tree, and do the same with the shorter sticks, leaving about 2 inches inbetween them.

Attach your greenery with wire to the sticks until you have a tree shape.

Add a few embellishments of your choice-I used rustic accents to go with my theme this year. You can place this wreath outside during the winter! Until next time,

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Merry Christmas-Frohe Weihnachten!

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Doberman's by the Sea would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Thanks for following along and your continued friendship!

 Frohe Weihnachten!

Cheers,

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German Tea cookies for Christmas (Recipes&Food)

Here is another German cookie recipe I made for this season. I adore how they came out! Have fun baking.

German tea cookies

You need

375g flour

1 Teaspoon baking powder

200 g sugar

1 pack vanilla sugar

250 g butter

1 egg white

125 g grinded hazelnuts
Food coloring and embellishments to your liking
cookie cutters to your liking

To make

Knead flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla sugar, butter, egg white and nuts into a dough. Wrap in foil and put in fridge for 30 minutes or until you are ready to use it. Just make sure the dough is at room temperature before rolling out. Heat oven to 350F. Roll dough on floured surface. Make sure dough is about half an inch thick. Cut out figures. Place on baking pans and bake for approx. 13 minutes. I put the jelly and Nutella on the cookies while still warm. I find they stick together better that way. So on half of the cookies place jelly and Nutella, if desired. Immediately place the top part on the respective cookie. Sift with powdered sugar. Place into containers. Yields about 2 baking sheets.

Happy Holidays! Linking up here.

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Christmas baked Apples (Recipes&Food)

Part of Christmas is the good food you get to eat guilt free. My DH and I go to all the Christmas markets and eat our way along. One dish they love here in Germany is the 'Bratapfel' or baked apple. It comes in many varieties with different fillings. Here is one of the lighter recipes:

Ingredients for 4 people

50g dried, soft apricots

50g Muesli/oatmeal with raisins

50g softened, unsalted butter, plus a little extra

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tble spoons honey

4 apples (Boskop)

½ L milk

1 pack Vanillasauce from the pack

100g Mascarpone

To make

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Cut apricots into strips, knead with muesli and 100g butter. Mix lemon juice and honey, stir. Wash apples, decore, quarter, and drizzle with lemon-honey. Place on baking sheet and spoon the muesli mix into apples. Bake approx. 15-18 minutes.

Meanwhile cooks the vanilla sauce milk. Let sit 3 minutes, stir in Mascarpone. Spoon over hot apples-enjoy!

If you make this I would love to hear about it! Would you eat a baked apple other than in a pie? Linking up here, and at tipjunkie.

Blessings,

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Christmas Spirit~It's the most wonderful time of the year!

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Hello friends and readers, today I want to talk a little bit about Christmas Spirit. You know, the real reason why we love Christmas so much. To start let me go back in time a few years, to December 1994, to be exact. That is when my DH and I had our first date going to the Nueremberg Christmas Market. We ate Bratwurst, candy, fruit dipped in chocolate, almonds, pancakes, and drank hot choclate and Gluehwein. We walked through the markets little streets and enjoyed the snow falling down around us. Afterwards we went by the stables to visit my then horse. We are together ever since, and thus the family tradition of treasuring Christmas and going to the markets started.

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Are you still with me? Good. To make a long story short, we make it a point to be with family during this time of the year and to do things together and really embrace the season and all it brings us. In our busy lifes we don't always have time to appreciate each other or to spend enough time with our loved ones. That is why we make Christmas count. Since we are a military family my DH is often away, but so far we only missed one Christmas together. One year he left the day after Christmas, and another year he scheduled his leave to come home during Christmas.

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We are especially grateful this year to be with my family in Germany whom we haven't seen in 3 years. We chose this year's theme to be 'All hearts come home for Christmas' as we are back at the place we met. We reflect on all the things we can be thankful for, and think of all the good people who help us out during the year. I usually make homemade cookies, cake, and gifts for neighbours, collegues, my doctor and a bunch of others.

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So i invite you to embrace the Christmas Spirit this year and appreciate the little things in life. And remember-you always have something you can be thankful for. I appreciate all my blogging buddies and the people I meet through it. Have a wonderful season my friends! What are you thankful for? Leave me a comment and let me know. For more Christmas cheer check out my Bavarian or Coastal Christmas pages. Cheers,

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