that´s right - i´m putting heavily pregnant women to work!

rolling lots of dough balls and turning them into various kinds of "eyes"

(there´s even a pinkeye)

to serve at our Christmas market

i even forgot to offer her a chair and then she couldn´t take any cookies with her

since the jelly wasn´t set

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the "bull´s eyes" with poppy seeds where based on a recipe my mum made at least a decade ago

from an ancient copy of ESSEN & TRINKEN

the saffron eyes were inspired by MILAS DELI

the lemon curd filled ones by a recipe from the latest edition of SCHROT & KORN

and the spiced ones with white chocolate and sugar sprinkles - i just made them up

all of them were quite hard in the beginning but "aged" beautifully in my grandmother´s cookie tins

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i also made a Turkish coffee cake from Margot Henderson´s cook book "You´re All Invited"

which i just had to have after watching her on MUNCHIES a while back
but i did not turn out like i hope it would, probably got something wrong
.
also just ordered Claire Ptak´s new book
and i can´t wait to make her chocolate cake with Amarena cherries
which can be found HERE, since she has a column at The Guardian now
also: BUCKWHEAT CREPE
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want start reading ELENA FERRANTE´S books
(a member of our BOOKCLUB suggested them, another one CASSANDRA AT THE WEDDING
and we´re also really into the OLD FILTH triology
AND we´re reading Nigel Hinton´s In the Heart of the Valley next in case you want to join)
THE THE BEST WEATHER EFFECTS IN FICTION
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oh, it looks like i missed out in this year´s christmas edition of Jamie Magazine (my favorite issue)
so in case i´ve got some readers from Great Britain - save me one, please!
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it´s been LETTERED PENDANT madness in our workshop for weeks now
and W constructed the world´s heaviest brass fire wood carrier for my mum
i won´t touch it, it might break my back (again) but she´s in love
so i might post some pictures of the finished thing sometimes
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and since i probably won´t post here again before the big holidays:
Merry Christmas everyone!

we´d like to invite you to our annual WSAKE Christmas market

this time we don´t only offer our jewellery 
but also some spectacular hand blown glass ware by INGRID DONHAUSER

(in case you can´t make it - we do ship those pieces, prices range from 30 to 190€)

Saturday, 5.12., 2 - 7 pm
WSAKE showroom, Am Gries 35, 93059 Regensburg

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you will find a lot of pieces from our previous collections

and a brand new range of one of a kind ear rings

(yes, we do ship those, too, just drop us a note)

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and - as always - there will be festive treats for you to enjoy

looking very forward to meeting you soon!




also: those KISSING GUY BARRETTES are almost sold out
the ones above are currently on their way to FINE LITTLE DAY
so don´t wait too long in case you have your eye on these very loving fellows

it´s our third BOOKCLUB meeting

and we choose Jacob´s Folly/Jacobs wundersame Wiederkehr by Rebecca Miller

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it is a pretty crazy ride of a book

spanning a few centuries worth of stories

there´s a poor jew with an adventurous life in Paris in the 18th century,
 a man working on boats and fighting fires in his free time 
and a girl trying to find her way in a traditional jewish home in New York, both in the present time

AND it´s all told by - a fly!

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HERE are the first pages in German

in case you are intrigued now

and want to join us on 10.12., 7.30 pm, just let me know

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got inspired by the challa bread mentioned a lot in the book

but i didn´t want to go the braided way and made snails instead

filled with evil Nutella spread, hazelnuts, chocolate and dried cherries

topped with a grenadine glaze and more roasted hazelnuts

also i didn´t burn the cut offs in the oven (instead i almost burnt the whole thing)

and the fact that my photographer assistant told me about his spectacular love affairs

while i tried to reenact a poetry recital without remembering any of the ryhmes

wasn´t very "traditional" either

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also i put my cat in there since the fly tries to bring down a "hero" who started out by rescuing kittens

she would have needed one like him a couple of weeks back when fighting with a marden

she´s all sewed up now

but still a very poor, hurt and scared bundle of fur

and i really hope she´s going to make it
.
the tiny dotted cat is by LE TRAIN FANTOME
and the necklace by ME
just in case anyone is wondering...

i tried to find a way to help for quite some time

and came up with a really comfortable way for you and me to do so:

i created some CHRISTMAS CARDS and you can buy them

so i can donate all the profits made by the sale to the UNO REFUGEE RELIEF

and the local institution REGENSBURG HILFT

and a friend of mine - MAGDALENA ETTL - even joined me and designed three more cards

this way you have quite the selection to choose from to spread your seasons greetings

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to make the process more transparent, here´s how it works:

all profits are donated

which means all proceeds minus 0,23€ for each card to cover printing costs,

19% VAT and transaction fees

shipping cost are not included in the donation

also we´re not able to send you a receipt for your donation

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i do know i took the easy route to help

without any personal involvement and without being touched by the hands on human despair

but i´ll admit right now this is the only way i can

and strangely enough it was one of the most frustrating projects to work on

nothing turned out he way it should

help did come from sides i didn´t expect it to come from

so thank you:
E for getting me to do so and being the hardest critic

Magdalena for joining me in the last minute and bearing some hard decisions with me

all my friends who helped out with advice

and took scary ELEVATOR RIDES with me on the hunt for a motive that never made the cut

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let us keep our hearts and doors open and not waver in our love for each other
and let´s cut down that f... Nato wire!
MACHT HOCH DIE TÜR, DIE TOR MACHT WEIT!






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post scriptum:
by now i´m not so sure anymore
if it was a really good idea to have used those christian/religious songs and the bethlehem star as a symbol for a warm welcome
since it seems that since the dawn of time all that pain has always been caused by reasons of various believes clashing
which really makes me sick
thinking the only things that matter are humanity and kindness and freedom of the mind
and Christmas time shouldn´t be the only excuse to live by these principals
it is a year round and forever and always thing
but to me those words and symbols stand for love
another thing that really matters

my parents back yard

before they cleaned it all up for winter

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made Maria´s HILDEGARD COOKIES after i found the link over at FRL TEXT

(that pink stuff in my bowl? just a bit of Himalaya salt)

she also hooked me on spelt coffee again
(guess what - when you keep an open jar of that powdered stuff long enough it does turn liquid on its own and makes you scream looking at it!)

but i´m still on the hunt for a not so harsh, milder brew

any suggestions - also about other no-coffee coffees?
(oh - when i asked my mum for ground gloves she wanted to know what i was planning on baking
and when i told her so she looked at me quite shocked:
"but you know those are going to be doagbatzen (beautiful bavarian saying for very hard and dry baked goods)?!"
we´re such a charming family...)

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find us this weekend on DILLY DALLY DESIGNMARKT in case you´re in the Regensburg area

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and we´re very happy to be a part of BASTIS RIKE´s wonderful new ONLINE SHOP

we even have our own little SECTION

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TANZFAKTUR - when E and her boyfriend aren´t PAINTING, they are dancing

(i do not know what this piece is about, a bit of intimacy and perception stuff i guess

but it looks like i accidentally sponsored their dancing shoes - aka best sandals ever)

so this last weekend was a real treat...
(not this weekend, the one before - i´m a really slow processor)

initiated by TINE who couldn´t make it in the end

i had four very lovely ladies and a tiny guy over

and it was the best thing

thanks www - you make a lot of wonderful things happen

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managed to take three pictures on my phone

FRÄULEIN TEXT being very thrilled about the zuccini blossoms she just scored

her hands and some of our BRACELETS

STEPANINI walking ahead of me

(since you absolutely need a bit of this great lady in your house too - go get yourself ARCHIV/E

and read this INTERVIEW to be even more amazed - i did not know the word "lateral" -

also she has a most beautiful voice, but now i will stop gushing)

so i´m very glad SHE and MILAS DELI

made some lovely visual memories while i was busy enjoying and JULIE taking care 

of the by far smallest member of the group and overall littlest and cutest visitor ever

(Susanne made even my kitchen look like something seen at FVF which shows A LOT of talent behind the lens,

next to being a bread baking wizard and so on and so on)

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i´m afraid i started a miso craze amongst my visitors with a salad dressing using it
leading to a link to THIS CAKE sent to me afterwards - have tried an excellent "improvisation" of it by now
.

on the other hand E suggested to start taking not so pretty pictures

so i trained at my compost heap

and pictured my announced and confessed theft of a lot of DATE + PEANUT TREATS

which actually arrived just as pictured in that glorious bread box

i wished this one would move right in along with the owner

(find more treasures like that over at ZIERRAT UND GOLD)
those were also the only left overs from this weekend i didn´t share with an artist friend in dire need
i´m not that good a person

and then i cut down all my geraniums for their winter sleep - a gruesome job
.
now i´m listening to Madeleine Peyroux´s version of Desperadoes Under The Eaves like all the time
makes me crave a salty margarita (preferably wearing a SPACE LEGGING)
never had one though

more really kind press:

we´re very honoured to be part of the wonderful series DEUTSCHLAND, DEINE KREATIVEN over at Newniq

thank you so much STUDIO OINK for nominating us

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as you can imagine it took us a few hundred pictures to come up with a "normal" one

but the crazy ones are - according to W - "more creative"

so i included some for you to enjoy