This 'n that

The past three days have been filled with cleaning, sorting, biking, sewing and not thinking about chocolate. To begin with the last, the diet is going very well... -4,5 kilos already! I'm proud to say that I've been very strict, not even licking my fingers when I made sandwiches for the children.

Ofcourse I've been trying out my bike lots. On Sunday we went for a proper tour. I started out with Simon in front and Amber behind, later Amber switched to Michel's bike. Man, it feels good to be cycling again... I even used it to do the weekend shopping!




















And I can't tell you how much fun it is to have Simon so close to me. I never had that with Amber, she was always sitting in the backseat.
The only thing was that when we got home the children were very cold... luckily they defrosted over a cup of hot chocolate. Sorry babes, we'll put on more clothes next time!















The bit of sewing that I did was a new blanket. We needed another one, because Michel and I kept fighting over the one we had.




















I haven't been able to take decent photos of it, because there was hardly any light and the blanket was already wrinkled from use. I love the colours though, nice and bright and hardly any orange or yellow in it ;)) I will add it to my collection.
I wished it were this easy to transform my sofa!



And last but not least, have you heard of MOO yet? They make mini-cards that I think are supercute! I just ordered 100 using my Flickr-photos and I can't wait to get them!

Christmascards with a twist

I've been getting lots of Christmascards at work lately. I appreciate them all and I love getting them, but I felt a bit reluctant at handing out ordinary shop-bought cards myself. They're just a bit... boring!
So eventhough it might have been wiser if I had spent my time differently, I made some alternative cards today. Well, they're not cards but stars obviously...




















They were very easy to make; cutting the fabric shapes took most time probably.
For the photo I attached them to my fridge with poetry magnets... nifty no?!




















I then made small tags to write my greetings on. It was the first time I ever sewed on paper and it was so much fun!! I'll be doing that again, I'm sure!




















The fabric I used is from Ikea. I love a bit of Ikea-fabric once in a while.
And I love something else I got from Ikea too!



And I didn't even have to pay for it!
Thank you, nice people! I suppose I'll be making an I-pod cover really soon :)

*Ok, I think I need to explain here that this was my Christmaspresent from Ikea, because I work there! Hope you didn't all raid your Ikea looking for a free Ipod :))*

Ready for Christmas

Our tree was bought and decorated as planned yesterday... Christmas may come now!!
I love how a christmas tree gives your house an instant extra cozy glow.

We put in all decorations that we collected over the years, a wonderful mix of handmade, storebought and given things.
















New to our home is this nativity set by Dick Bruna. None of us are religious, but we all (and by that I probably mean everyone in Holland) love the Dick Bruna design, which for us justifies having baby Jesus in the house :)




















Here is a photo of Simon reading his book this morning. We had to move the furniture around a bit to make room for the tree, which is why this sofa is now at the other side of the room. I really like it this way; it's nice to have a change now and then!

















These are last years' stars that I used in a different way now.
All I have to do now is start making Christmas presents!

Crafting with Amber

Amber and I have done quite a bit of crafting lately.

Our latest project was this string of lampshades for her room. She got the box with all the material from Sinterklaas, all we had to do was put it all together and embellish it the way we liked.

They're now finished and I think they turned out pretty cute. I would like to put them around her mirror.

Another thing we made the other day was a calendar for December.

Amber loves to countdown the days when there is a special occassion coming up (e.g. her birthday or a holiday). Usually we just use a sheet of paper on which she draws and I write the days in squares, so she can easily cross them off. This December, however, is so packed with special days that we decided to do it a little fancier (just a little!).

Basically I just covered a big piece of cardboard with red fabric while she cut small bits of blue paper on which I wrote the date. We placed these on the board with colourful thumbtacks and after a bit of golden ribbon was added we were finished. So simple, but lots of fun to make. Now Amber enjoys crossing off each day and it's easy for her to see what exciting things are happening in the near future (Sinterklaas, Christmas, staying over at the omas, Laura coming to Holland etc).

Tonight we're going to buy and put up our Christmastree... we're all looking forward to it! Ofcourse, these will also find a pretty spot in the tree.

Pompon fun

I bought a bag of pompons this morning at Hema and put together a Christmas wreath just now. Amber is away playing with a friend... how selfish of me to do this without her!! Well, a good excuse to make another soon :)
This was so much fun and so quick and easy!



First there was the wreath (which I found in the attic, someone gave it to me years ago and I never used it... see, how hoarding can be useful ;))















Then I pinned some pink fabric onto it (one of my old t-shirts ... another bit of proof that you should never throw anything away)




















Along came the bag of pompons. Of course, I'd been a better crafty girl if I'd made the pompons
myself, but this is undeniably faster.















I pinned lots of pompons onto the wreath, but kept some small ones to make a pompon-string.



And finished!

Add more stuff if you like. I used the decorations that Amber and I made, but the possibilities are endless :))

Getting ready for winter

Another very wet & windy day and I start to get a strong urge to get the house winter-proof.
Yesterday I was able to cross something off my list, namely a cosy blanket that keeps out the evening chill on the sofa. Here it is:



I used a cheap Ikea-fleece and made a random brick-like patchwork. The back is a lovely flannel that I bought at the market a couple of weeks ago.



Michel and I have tested the blanket last night and yes it is warm and snuggly and, most importantly, big enough for both of us!
Here you see it in action:



If you'd like to see other Blenkies I've made, look here.
I'd better go and get snuggly on the sofa :))

On a dark rainy day...

... make an apron for your washing-up liquid!
It's bound to bring a smile to anyone's face that walks into the kitchen :))

AND it makes washing up just a little less awful!

Inspired by (stolen from): Samantha and others.

Oh by the way, someone asked for my chocolate mousse recipe... it's really too easy to even be called a recipe!
All you need is 375 ml of cream, which you whip with 2,5 tabelespoons of sugar until it has the right thickness. At the same time you melt 200 gr. of dark chocolate au bain marie. Then you mix it all together and divide into glasses. Leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours and you have a yummy desert!!

Sewing partner

I've found myself a crafting companion:




















Be still my proud motherheart!
Amber has been showing interest in sewing for quite some time now, but I just never found the time to sit down with her and show her how to do it (yes, terrible, I know). Until we were on holiday in Germany, where we had plenty of quiet moments together.
I was amazed at how quickly she picked up the stitches. She could blanketstitch after just having shown her once! The only problem is that after a little while she gives up and I have to finish the rest. However, for now I'm just happy that she shows any interest at all and that she learns some basics.




















We made these decorations yesterday. She cut out all the rounds and she sewed a bit. Right now we are making stars.














My plan is to put together a little sewing basket for her for Christmas. I just wonder what to put in it, because it needs to be safe for a 5-year-old. But e.g. blunt needles don't sew as well as sharp ones... any tips on that?!
Well, better get back to those stars before we start making the dough for the pizza... this a GOOD saturday :))

Just some things I love

The most beautiful double rainbow that I've ever seen (on our anniversary no less)












My chocolate mousse (and so easy to make)

Amber happily modelling her new dress

Our first piece of real art (but that deserves a post all to itself)

Have a good day all!

Time-out

I can't believe a week has passed without blogging. Life seems to be racing by at the moment and I'm running to keep up. More on that some other time, or not... perhaps if I just ignore it it will go away.
(Nothing serious going on by the way, just T.O.O. much!)



Nevertheless, today was a good, relaxing day. I decided to leave the household-mess for another day and spend some much needed quality-time with the children.
Nothing too exciting, but very valuable: shopping with Simon, some time spent in the garden, and in the afternoon we went mushroom-searching in the forest. I'll show photos of that soon.



Simon had a great time picking all the remaing tomatoes of the plants in our garden (he was allowed :)) and Amber and I arranged them nicely and took photos. The result is lovely, don't you think?



Take care everyone!

PS My first package arrived, yay!

The rounds

Do you have a strict routine surfing the internet too?!

Bloglines is my starting page and after scanning that quickly I then open my e-mail.
I have three different accounts for different purposes. I *heart* getting mail; unfortunately I've also been receiving lots and lots of spam recently.

Then I go to Flickr. There is always so much to do there!! First I read the new comments. Then I check my views, the new photos of my contacts and my groups.
By the way I just started two new Flickr-groups: Placemats and Tissueholders. Come and have a look and join if you like :)

Whilst checking e-mail and Flickr I'm also reading the new posts of my favourite blogs and leave comments as much as I can.

These are the three most important things I do on the internet. But ofcourse there are many other places that I like to visit, such as here (for the latest news and weather), and here (for the best laughs), and here, and here.

A website that I also really love is Craftygirls. If you're interested in Dutch crafty life then this is the place to be. Here you find crafty projects, links to crafty people/shops and ofcourse there's the forum where I like to hang out :)
There is also a monthly goodiebag for sale with promotional mini-items. The next will be up for sale tomorrow 20.30h and I've donated some goodies too this month!

All this checking on blogs and websites keeps me content and occupied for a long time. Sometimes so long that Michel gets irritated and asks me: What on earth are you doing all the time?! To which I always answer: Oh, just doing the rounds!
So I'm just going to do a quick last round and then I go downstairs to my lovely hubbie who waits for me with tea and chocolate!

Just a photo of some fun we had today. Is Amber wearing her pyjamas in the middle of the day?! Well, yes she is! I tried to have her take a nap, because she's been quite tired these last days, but ofcourse she wouldn't sleep!

Garden update

I thought it was time to show you some recent photos of our garden.
We've achieved quite a bit in the past year!



In February we laid the base.
Over the past couple of months we continued the work by removing bushes, weeds, tiles etc.
My mum is in charge of the planting and she's done a great job so far.

Michel and his father have spent quite some days paving the garden. Everything is now finished!!
Our terrace is ready; I'm so happy with this! It is so wonderful to sit outside at any time of the day, but I particularly love having dinner outside; it makes me feel as if I'm on holiday in my own house!
This is what it now looks like at the back (of course it's a bit bare and empty right now, but next year this will all be plants):



As a comparison this is what it looked like when we first moved in last year... quite a difference!



And this is at the front of the house:



I also made a small vegetable garden which consisted of carrots, strawberries, tomatoes and zucchini. The children (and I) have enjoyed watching everything grow. And picking your own tomatoes is a real thrill!!



Before this house we lived in an apartment on the first floor. Having a garden is still such a luxury to us; I want to hold on to that feeling forever! The fact that the children can safely play outside and just walk in and out at any given moment is fantastic... I'm just really happy with our house and garden:)))

Even the weeds are great... look!

Cushion extravaganza

This weekend I finally finished the three cushions that I started oh so long ago!



I had some doubts about the colour-combos and wasn't sure whether they would turn out to my liking. Suddenly I realised what they needed though... a yellow border.
Now they are as bright and cheerful as I wanted them to be. And they make my shabby sofa not look so shabby anymore :))



For Simon's birthday I just had to make him a cushion as well. Why? Because I made one for Amber's birthday too, of course! Michel was a bit worried that I was going to make a girly cushion for him, but he can relax... this cushion is perfectly suitable for a boy, isn't it?!


I wanted to make an I spy cushion, because Simon is really starting to talk (a lot!) right now. He is literally learning new words and sentences everyday. He is able to identify all the images on the cushion... even if it is just broom-broom and clack-clack sometimes!


By the way, almost all the fabrics I used I received from Amy a couple of months ago, for which again I say thanks!


Until so far this cushion extravaganza, but since I LOVE making cushions, I'm sure there will be new ones in the future!


For other people's cushions see the Flickr-group.