Wonderful day

Our first freemarket and how lucky we were! The weather fantastic, good sales, especially the flower necklaces (finally a good idea to use the felt strips) and some time to spend with the family. And sorry to those readers who opted for left-over felt kits. There aren't any left...

Wrap up

The miniature mixed media collages I have showed you before are all nicely wrapped up. Just as the small crochet flower rings. I love thinking about the way of packaging things. These are ready to bring to the freemarket tomorrow.

In jars

More homemade things for the market. We used rhubarb from our garden for the delicious rhubarb-orange jam. And the small french yoghurt jars were filled with melted wax from old candles. We added some drops of essentiel oil to make scented candles.

Kits

We are preparing for the free market next monday. We will be wearing these necklaces as examples for the diy-kits that we sell. First I wanted to make necklaces to sell, but that would be far too much work. Kits are quicker. And if they don't sell, I will have a stock of nice presents.
We will be at the freemarket of De Bilt.

Lunchbreak

My husband had a three day-course for his work and the girls went to my parents for a day because I had to get some work done. I treated myself on a freshbaked feta-parsley bread (the breadmachine did most of the work) and my new favourite the-orange pressee for lunch. Yummie!

Portrait gallery

For the first time ever we will be selling stuff at queensday-market. My brother told us that the market is right in front of their house and this made the threshold low enough. We went through the house for things to be sold. And of course I take honour in selling homemade goodies too. Yesterday the girls and I produced these mixed media miniatures (3x4cm). I was amazed by their patience, persistence and the outcome.

A-line with lines

Another one. Same pattern. Thrifted fabric. Lining with a nice edge. Summer in our heads, but not outside. It's raining. We are longing for a suitable day to wear this skirt.

Funny faces

Janne and I went to Ikea last friday. After a lunch with swedish meatballs we went right to the fabric corner. J asked if I could make a skirt out of this fabric. Of course. It's the a-line skirt from mme Zsazsa's book. With a zipper this time. Much easier than I remembered. Made a girl very happy.

First harvest

Our vegetable garden is still really empty. We didn't find the time to plant. But the one lonely rhubarb bush was big and red enough to harvest. Googling for a bread and rhubarb recipe I found these rhubarb sweet rolls. I used a plain white bread mix, because I coulnd't find condensed milk, sprinkled sugar on top before baking instead of the glaze and didn't use a ruler(!) to get identical slices and still the rolls came out beautiful and very tasty!

Every-day-a-party-in-your-room-garland

For two children who will be visiting us tomorrow, I punched out these garlands out of old children's books. Hooray for circle punches! There are so many ways to use them. I dream of circle punches for fabric and felt. Do they exist?

Pencil case monster

Inspired by this picture, I made my own green monster. For another Ruben, Neeltjes friend, who celebrates his birthday tomorrow. It was really difficult to sew in the zipper for the mouth. I ended up sewing the corners by hand. If anyone knows an easy way to sew in a short zipper with a strong curve, let me know!

For Ruben 2

A personalized vintage set of wooden blox. I randomly painted some of the blocks in white, yellow or grey. The colours of Ruben's birthcard. And stenciled his name on the side. For now his sister Wies is enjoying all the new presents in the house.

For Ruben

Another present for our new nephew. A cozy car caddy to take his favourite cars everywhere he wants to. A garage, street and carrier in one. For when he is a little bit bigger.

New guy in town

My little brother became father for the second time last friday. His wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy (no pictures yet). His name is Ruben. This doll is one of the presents we gave him. Made using the wellknown black apple doll-pattern. The checkered shirt is made from an old apron of my mothers grandma. I think that details like this make presents special.

Orange light district

I thought of a combination of neon orange and light grey, but the daughter decided on something else. Not a bad choice, I think. I'm just glad the project is finished. Making crochet lampshades is not my cup of tea.

Everytime a surprise

A €1,- retro salad spinner from the thriftstore and a bit of watercolour paint resulted in wonderful pieces of swirl-art. A 'neat' project, because all the paint stays in the spin drier. Fun for all ages.

All prepared

Today N has her birthdayparty. A birdparty. Sixth birthday, so six kids are invited. In the take-home package I put a small drawing-booklet. The covers are made from old bookpages. On the inside they'll find instructions for drawing birds. These instructions are drawn by Caroline Ellerbeck, found on Ozowiezo.

Six

Our little one is already six year old! She loves to be six, but at the same time she still likes to be small. She already dreads the day she has to move out of the house. Although we try to explain that there will be a time she wants to go and have her own life. Today she re-assured us (again) that she will never leave us. Not even when she turns twenty.

Theme recycling

Another pouch for another girl. She will turn six tomorrow. She wants everything her sister wants. A birdparty, nailpolish, barbie's and... a pouch. Does anyone know a place where I can get the small-dotted yellow fabric again?

De-stress

Last weekend A. and I went to Antwerp, Belgium. Antwerp is my favourite city for shopping. Not too far to go back and forth in one day. But sometimes we stay the night. And then we stay in the Big Sleep. A wonderfull place in the middle of the interesting areas of the city. We had lunch at Den Artiste and there I tasted my first The-Orange Pressee. Warm fresh orange juice with rosehip tea. A new favourite!

Two geckos

I started with the small one. It did put up a fight. Pff, those small beads, my hands are just too big. Or maybe I need glasses... Gecko number two didn't resist. Made in ten minutes. Tutorial found here.

Scraps

Two fabrics, two projects. Our yougest will get a camera for her birthday. A real one this time. To prevent it from falling I sewed her a strap. Earlier, also for her birthday, I made this pouch for J. Both fabrics were bought at Van Marieke.

Drama

After reading something about Anne Frank in a history book, our eight-year-old wants to know everything about her. And of course wanted to read her diary's. I ignored the question for a while, thinking she is too young. But she persisted. I couldn't find my copy, so I ordered a secondhand one. Not a special issue, just a beautiful one. We're going to read it together.

All skirts

I treated myself on the book 'allemaal rokjes' written by Mme Zsazsa. All simple patterns and clear explanations. This is the first A-line skirt. Finished within the hour, if you don't count everything I did in between. The fabric is from duvetcover Smorboll (Ikea).

Fientje

This evening our dear cat has been hit by a car. She died. Not even a year old. We all loved her so much. My tears start to run when I think about what it will do to the girls, when I tell them in the morning...

Focus

When I first saw this picture on les petites bohemes a few months ago I didn't look at the lampshades. I only saw the crib. Our children slept in a similar one, found on a French 'vide grenier'. I was surprised to see another one. But Nicollette pointed out the crochet lampshades. Our eight-year-old was asking for more colour in our house, so this neon orange lampshade will brighten up her room. Some day, because, although I love how it looks, I don't like to crochet the pattern.

Gardening in the kitchen

Toiletrolls with lettuce and plastic containers with garden cress, alfalfa and basil sprouts. I am really busy at the moment and I need distraction once in a while. Working with your hands instead of your head is a good way. Projects like these only take a few minutes. Back to work again!

cross-pollination

My mothers friend saw this and this post and made her own version. What a good idea to make easter eggs in this way!

Reuse envelopes

Being into business you need to keep track of your receipts. I'm not good at it, but maybe this receiptbook is going to change that. All A5-envelopes dropping in our mailbox last week were collected. I cut of the ripped tops and bound them together with a soft cover using japanese binding. The receipts can now be stored neatly in the envelopes.