Japanese style

One of the presents for my mom. Six coasters and one teapot. She needed a teapot for their little home in France and I found this one in the thriftstore. But the actual presents were the handmade coasters from fabrics with memories. Each one stamped with a teapot and/or a cup.

Congratulations, mom!

Today my mother had a little afternoon birthday party. She asked me to do the catering. I do not have a sweet tooth, but enjoy baking a lot. Probably because of the easthetic side of it. I love how these shortbread hearts and lemon-cakes turned out.

Redecorating

Till now she had a todler-sized table in her room. At almost six it was time to change some things. Her grandparents had an old desk with a little drawer for her. And we decided to get rid of the dollhouse too and replace it with a bookcase. To my surprise the secondhand-store had a bookcase, exactly as I had in mind. Since the change she spends a lot of time in her room. Making new compositions with the things in her shelves and drawing amazing trees.

Classics

One of the girls next door turned 18. I saw her leaving for her first driving-lesson and I quickly made the keyring on the right for her. The iphone-cosy is for my sister in law.

Finally an answer

Ever since I posted the iphone-cosy tutorial I've been getting questions about the 'spring-fasteners' I mentioned and where to get them. Spring-fastener is the name that was on the package when I got it as a present. Recently I discovered that 'internal flex frame' is the more appropriate name for these items. And yesterday I received my order with new flex frames in a cute package from Thailand. You can find them in the Etsy-shop from Cotton Touch.

Lavender dreams

It seems like the winter is never going to end. To prevent them from having cold feet I made a heatpack for both of our daughters. Filled with lavender-scented rice. I found the idea here. But I added an extra washable outer layer. The fabrics I used are from one of my husbands old shirts (ready made buttonholes!) and a dressing gown from my youth. Tonight I'll put the heatpacks under their blankets before they go to sleep.

Domestic joys

Yeah, my new, big freezer has arrived! It was not easy to get it to the third floor. But now it is time to fill it. Yesterday our little one suggested to eat pizza for dinner. And I thought why not make some more for in the freezer. We used our favorite recipes for pizza al quattro formaggi and pizza quattro stagioni from Delia Smith. I can not tell you which one I like most. I guess you'll have to try yourself.

All dressed up

Flower-elf and spring-fairy. Today Janne celebrated carnival at school. Together with another school they walked in a parade through the neighbourhood. -3C, so cold! The spring-fairy still has to practice a little... Until then I'm dreaming of warmer times listening to this music from Caro Emerald.

E is for Emma

Another birthday-party tomorrow, another bag for a little lady. With a present in it. When I bought this piece of fabric at Ikea, I was not sure whether I liked it enough or not. But it turned out to be the perfect fabric for bags like these. I love the graphic print.

In memory of

Today my daughter wears this apron-dress. My aunt Tiny made it for me, when I was little. Last week my aunt died and today we attended her funeral. I hadn't seen her for a while, but I had to think of my youth. Her daughter and I were almost like sisters, so close, back then. And I spent so much time at their place. We had a lot of fun together. It is strange: such a sad occasion, bringing back such happy memories.

Me die hendjes de lucht in, tralalalalalaaaa....

In our region of the country we can't escape carnival. We are not actually taking part, but the girls have to show up all dressed up at school, at daycare and in ballet-class. As a crafter I think I have to come up with a unique and mostly handmade costume every time. This year the youngest wants to be a flower-elf. The other one wants to be a spring-fairy. I decided to make a magic wand with felt flowers for both of them. But the daffodils and snowdrops took me so much more time than I had estimated. I don't have the patience to make more of those. I'll have to find another way to quickly finish the magic wands. Janne is knitting her own yellow necklace for the occasion. She's using a wonder-knitter, which works wonderful for a 5-year-old.

Silver heels

It has been quiet for a few days overhere, because after the girls I was the third victim in our house of a stomach flu. Completely recovered our eldest daughter went for her first sleepover at a friends place this weekend. She enjoyed it a lot. The little lady is growing so fast. In a month she will be six!

Six

It was her idea to make a bag for her friend Sanne. And she chose the matryoshka-fabric for the lining, the button and the keyring. The birthday-party is taking place this afternoon. And now my poor daughter is ill.