Dance Sevillanas: DIY

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Chocolate bark with leftover turrón

Chocolate bark with leftover Spanish holiday Turrón

Turrón is a Spanish holiday treat made with lots of almonds, sugar, eggs, honey and oh, so good. Every house has a favorite one, there is soft yellow turrón of Jijona, made with egg yolks, and there is hard white turrón of Alicante made with egg whites. There is chocolate flavored turrón, coconut flavored turrón, and even sugar free turrón. But if you happen to have leftover turrón de Alicante, you already know how good it is.

Know lets make chocolate leftover turrón bark. Super easy and I promise you will have no more left overs!

There are many brands, this is a popular one.

Melted white chocolate

I really did not record the quantities because I use left overs, hence a guesstimate, I promise, it is very easy.

Ingredients:

2 - 6 oz/170 grams baking white chocolate melted
1 - 8 oz/226 grams semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted or dark chocolate of your choice

1 Turrón de Alicante chopped in pieces

1/4 to 1/2 a cup of chopped dried fruits such as cranberries, dates, or raisins

Chopped pistachios or other nut of your choice

Silicone pad

Melted dark chocolate (top) and chopped dried nuts,
fruit and turrón pieces

Procedure:

Place the silicone pad on a baking sheet

Sprinkle half the chopped ingredients on the silicone pad spread well

Melt the chocolates in microwave or stovetop in separate pots

Slowly pour the white chocolate evenly to cover the chopped dry ingredients

Next, pour the dark chocolate making marble/zebra design over the white chocolate

Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped ingredients, let it cool in the fridge until hard

Break into large pieces and put them on a tin or eat them right away.

It is sooooo good.

Here I used cashews, but my favorite bark was the one time I used pistachios

The hard part is not eating it all by myself!

Black & White Xmas tree and calendar

With Ikea and my neighborhood Euro store, I was able to dress my Xmas tree.
Polka dot paper, after all this is Andalusia.

So for Christmas, I wanted a color coordinated house. I decided on two colors to decorate for the holidays, black and white (snuck in some gold too). I think it worked. Here in this neck of Andalusia, there aren't many crafts stores, and Xmas is really all about Nativity scenes and not the tree. Trees are sold and decorated of course, but the selection of Xmas ornaments is... well, lets just say people here don't spend small fortunes on collectible ornaments, like the ones found in Germany.

So the challenge was coming up with black and white ornaments for Xmas. I don't have small children anymore, so a cute Xmas was not necessary. I wanted a Xmas more grownup and simple. Besides, I don't have a lot of patience, and don't plan that far ahead, as to order on line the necessary materials months in advanced. I just had a couple of weeks before the holidays, so I headed to Ikea in Jerez for my supplies and my local Euro store. In a couple of days I was done. Yes!

Letters bought at Euro store.
They may seem a bit large, but trees here in Spain,
are a bit sparse, so to fill in the gaps I chose large letters

Lucky me, found some wooden letters, and they were already painted white, so I just covered them with white glitter and added a picture hook in the back. They were not too heavy so a glue gun worked really well. I think each letter was €0.75, the glitter bottle about the same.

Amazing what a little glitter and glue do
to put you in a holiday mood.

My other great find at the Euro store where these cute jewelry boxes already wrapped in black and white paper with ribbon and all. I had to get them. Just attached a gold string to hang. Done.

Mini boxes in black and white already wrapped
to look like gifts form the Euro store.

So my tree was done, now all I need is my calendar...

Materials for Xmas Calendar:
I used a cork board from Ikea. Some black string, wooden miniature clothes pins, black and white wrapping paper, Ikea gift tags and a black marker. The idea is to have 24 tags counting down the days until Xmas. On one side there is an activity, such as watching a movie, dancing, coloring, baking, etc, and on the other side the date, so to complete the calendar, I used thumb tacks and pinned the strings to the frame and with the clothes pins I pinned the gift tags, for more decorations I made some paper elf stockings with b/w gift wrap and placed them on either side. Very simple, all done!

I used miniature clothes pins, you can find similar ones online.
the golden 25 is actually a Xmas ornament from Zara Home.

Cardboard and wrapping paper to make the stocking.
Punch a whore and pin or tie it.

The gift tag had a design in the back, I left some blank
but others had activities written on them.

This one has an activity,
every day someone in the family flips a card.

My board is very simple but you can run away with this idea. You could cover the board with fabric, paint the frame black/white, use templates for the numbers or nice calligraphy... Maybe even use fancy paper to make the tags, etc. Have fun creating and happy Holidays!

Glam shorts

A great weekend project.
Cut off shorts decorated with
leftover trims from other projects

DIY embellished shorts. I've been wanting to do something like this since Dolce and Gabbana, came out with those beautiful embellished jeans. Just do a search in the internet and you will see millions of design ideas. This is just my version, in shorts and made with scraps. So the cost was low. I just went to a second hand store and found a "boyfriend" jean, the cost was $6, and the rest I had at home from previous projects.

Fast and not difficult at all. Best of all there is still lots of
warm days to show off and wear your new creation.

You will need:
a "boyfriend" jean or shorts
different trimmings, patches, rick rack, lace, embroidered patches, quilting scrap
rhinestones and shiny metal (optional)
embroidery thread in different colors
embroidery needles
scissors
fabric glue
sewing needles and thread
sewing machine
pins
chalk
Kitchen grater, or zester (for aging fabric, optional)

I chose a jean that already had some metal decorations on it, lucky me that's a bonus. The first thing to do is cut the jean at a desired length, so you want to cut it on an angle, from the inner thigh to the outer thigh, then try it out and adjust the length. I like mine a little longer, but that is up to you.

Cut the jean at an angle moving
from the inner thigh up towards the outer thigh

If you have a sewing machine you may want to stitch a zigzag to the bottom of the shorts. Or finish with a nice hem if you are looking for a more glam look. Next, lets decorate! Get your fabric glue out and your trims...

If you want to distress the jean you may do so now, it may be easier before you glue your trims. I cut little holes in the jean and then used a pin to fray the holes. I also used a kitchen grater to "scratch" the surface of the fabric. Now place the trims. Once you have a design that you like glue or hand stitch your trims. I did both, first I glued them and once they were dry I hand stitched them with your regular needle and thread. Decorate stitching will come later...

When living in Spain, friends and I would laugh because we all loved the store "Desigual" (which actually means uneven, not identical), but it is pricey, so we would go to the gypsy market and get knock-offs for €12-15. We would be so proud of our finds, and when someone asked, "is this from Desigual?" we would answer, "no, this is from Casi Igual "(which means almost identical) and laughed (Andalusian sense of humor). Anyway, my point is, that this store, and Pinterest are other sources of inspiration.

I aged and ripped the fabric with a kitchen grater and scissors
then frayed the edges with a pin.
Now I was ready to try different layouts with trims I had at home,
one was long enough to go around the short's waist.

Decisions, decisions...
I went for the color red since I had more of these trimmings.

Once I applied the trimmings, I began the decorative stitching.
I drew circles and began stitching

One word of advice, pick colors that actually stand out,
as you can see here blue does nothing for denim.You can barely see it.

Recognize the red and cream trim? It was from another DIY project.
The red embroidered patch came from a cheap manton bought at a Euro store.

Decorative stitching over a patched hole.

So in no time, you will have a pair of really cute shorts ready to debut in a bar-b-que, walk on the beach, or just to hang around the house. I had a blast making these, hope you do too.

DIY Pompon hair net for Feria

DIY pompon hair bun cover

Lets make a hair net with "madroños' or pompons, like the ones we saw in this years 2016 We Love Flamenco Fashion show. Designer Pol Nuñez, had her models with very colorful dresses and on their heads these beautiful accessories full of pompons. Everything old is new again. Pompons have always been present in Spain.

Madroño, tree with edible pompon like fruit
photo credit: Wikipedia

The women of the courts of Castile wore nets with pompons with their gala outfits. The Goya style outfits worn in Ronda, for example, also have pompons, not only on their heads, but are also used to adorn their dress, such as shoulder pads.

Traditional dress for a lady of Madrid
Illustration, Christoph Weiditz, for the Trachtenbuch
photo credit: Wikipedia

Color all over even on her hair. Pol Nuñez design.

credit: Flamenco.moda

You can buy a hair net, or
make one yourself.
Use bright colors of string or yarn

You can use a net like the ones you use to cover your head when using hair rollers, with big and loose weaving. This is the one I used and trimmed it to my liking, or you can probably use a loose knitted doily large enough to cover your bun, or make your own hair net in the color of your choice. And if you are desperate, you can cut a fishnet pantyhose and attach the pompons.

Pasarela Flamenca Jerez 2016
Photo Credit: SIC Fotografos

What you need:

Yarn in different colors,
craft pompons,
a glue gun or fabric glue,
thick elastic string,
needle and thread matching the net,
scissors
and an apple or orange (this will be your bun measurement and model)

Buy pom pons in many colors

Make it fun.

Like I mentioned before, I don't knit, but a chain stitch in crochet is very easy to do and the internet is full of instructions for hair bun covers. If crochet is still to difficult, or you just don'r feel like it, you can make your net with simple knots like the ones in your "mantoncillo" (shawl). This link has similar instructions to making a larger net, but the technique is still the same.

Another thing you should keep in mind, is the size of your bun, if you have lots of hair, your bun cover should be larger than someone else, with shorter or less hair. My bun measured approximately 20 cm over (the dome) so if making a round cover it should be larger than 20 cm in diameter.

two examples of hair nets
Rectangular and a round net

Here I glued the pompons and then
threaded the elastic string to shape the net

Now it is time to try the bun cover, after the picture,
I decided that it needed more pompons
so I went back to glue some more.

Model No 2, rectangular knotted net:

Glue pompons

Sew comb on back side (the side without pompons)

glue more pompons at the end to cover comb

I like the comb, it makes attaching the net to the bun very easy.
You should probably glue more pompons
if you want to hide the comb,
or pin a flower to hide the comb

Model No 3: Crochet bun cover

I don't know how to crochet, but went to the internet and got a crash course. Good enough for a bun, just weave an elastic at the edge of the circle and tie it, maybe use a dab of glue so it won't come undone.

I already tied the elastic around the net.
I used an apple for size, plus the glue does not stick to the apple,
or at least it is easy to peel off.

Glue the pompons, be careful not to burn yourself!

An apple full of pompons! You get the idea...

Love the result! Im ready for feria.

So I'm really happy with the results. Hopefully you will find the pompons in the colors you need, and create great accessories with them. Let me know how it turns out.

Other ideas you can do with pompons are, to add them to a barrette and glue flowers, or you can enhance a purse with a bunch of pompons, them wear it to feria. Very stylish!

You can add them
to any accessory, shoes, earrings, necklaces.
Got wild!

If you still want to buy the hair net, you can visit accessory houses that supply hair ornaments in Spain like this one. Or visit the designer herself in Seville.

Inspiration Earrings

Gorgeous earrings from local designer, Zarcillos.
She has all her work at
Zacatin boutique in El Puerto de Santa Maria

This is a photo album with inspirational flamenca earrings, to make, buy, wear, drool and dream about. In the beginning, building a flamenca accessory/wardrobe is expensive. There has to be an initial investment, since you are starting from scratch. Many ladies here in Andalusia, inherit lots of accessories from their mothers and grandmothers, old combs, coral earrings, etc. We new-bees have to look and learn a lot. Initially, we will probably buy the cheapest accessories we can find and get over with it. But if we look, listen and learn, we will fine tune our senses, on what makes is great outfit and its accessories. Some can be bought, and some, for fun, can be created by you. This is just the beginning of a great collection for our flamenca chest. Below are some of the accessories I have photographed through out the year at fashion shows, and stores for you to see how diverse styles are...