Modest

My husbands italian conversation group came to our place last week. I baked a cake for the occasion. This cinnamon cake. It appeared a recipe for a rather small cake and it didn't look very exciting. But to our surprise the taste was! So soft and delicious. It became a favourite right away. Everybody wanted the recipe. So I want to share it with you too.

Cut and paste

It took me a while, but yesterday I wrote a poem for N.'s poetry-album. And made a collage next to it. Making collages is so much fun. When you're doubting your skills in drawing, you should try doing collages. You'll be amazed by your results.

Another present

The blue felt pillow wasn't right for our interior, but I could think of a house where it would fit perfectly. So I sewed another pillowcover in the same colours and we gave the set to our friends who had invited us to a fabulous party ('we are 40 but feel like 20').

Yes!

And there it was. My book, Het Grote Zelfmaakboek voor Meisjes, fell in our mailbox. So strange to hold it in my hands. And to my surprise Francine Oomen, a famoud Dutch writer for teenagers, wrote a nice note for the wrap around the cover! From june 1st it will be available in the shops.

The lady and her dog

She got the textile-pens for her birthday and finally her mother got her a t-shirt to draw on. Drawing lines appeared rather difficult, so J. reinvented pointilism on her own. And as a proud parent I want to show you the beautiful result.

Presents

Don't you love the colours of pure woolfelt? So bright and deep. These two beauties are so easy to make. Just a little patience needed. Patterns are from another japanese crafting book, but I googled a bit and came up with some similar and other tutorials: the flower on the right, a dahlia, simple flowers, roses and roses.

My own gypsy

A long-cherished wish of Janne: a long tiered skirt. I'm not a fan. But with maxi skirts in fashion and the flowery fabric I came across, I felt like making one for her. Finally. You should have seen the smile on her face. Next friday she will attend a dancing-workshop at school and what better to wear? The pattern came from girly style wardrobe. Similar tutorials here, here and here.

Victims of their mothers urge to craft

It is good to have daughters. In so many ways. One thing is that I always have a reason to create something. They still like all the small presents I make them. I'm afraid that there will be a time that it will be different. But till then... The girls received these hangers when they came home from school yesterday. They were even willing to model before running outside to play some football.

Winterstock

In autumn and winter this blog is mainly about crafts, but in spring it moves to the culinary section. Tried something new with elderblossom: drying the flowers in order to make a healthy (it is said to help against colds and coughs) cup of tea. There were a lot of small insects in the flowers when we hung them under the shed in our garden. But by the time they were dry, all insects had disappeared. Although you can make tea with fresh flowers now, I wanted to taste the dried version right away. Combined with green tea it made a wonderful, slightly sweet drink.

Studio Vlijt

Somewhere next week my new site will go live. Studio Vlijt. Of course I will keep blogging over there (in english). But I will also be selling my book (signed!). Next to that there will be some other items in the shop and I will start doing workshops in making stamps and crochet for beginners. As soon as the site is live I will place a give-away to lure you all to my new home.

Love the colour

I love growing and preserving fruits and vegetables. But it doesn't mean that I always feel like to process when the crop is ready for harvesting. For a while already I was hearing the rhubarb saying to me that it needed to be picked. So when I saw cheap strawberry's at the market I finally decided this would be the day. Rhubarb and strawberry's is a proved combination for jam. Recipe to be found here in english or here in dutch.

Smaak van bloemen

This book was on my wishlist for such a long time. 'The taste of flowers' by Elisabeth de Lestrieux is a wonderful document about edible flowers and what to do with them. Only rarely to be found secondhand. But I got it as a present from one of my blogreaders. Lucky me! In return I made her the hanger on the right. Thank you, Maryvonne!

Weak

I said before that I gave myself the assignment to make new pillowcovers using fabric from my large stock. Didn't happen. I was seduced by the beautiful felt in my favourite feltstore (site doesn't give much information and the staff is not very flexible, but the products are worth it, so if you happen to be in Delft...). I'm not sure about the blue colour, but love how the grey and green pillows turned out.

Very sweet

Elderflower is blossoming right now. Last year I already gave you some recipes. I tried something new: elderflower liqueur. Easy to make. Pick 15 large elderflower umbels with lots of pollen. Put them in a bowl. Add 3 biological lemons, cut in pieces. Pour over one bottle of white wine. Close the bowl and leave it for 2 days in a cool, dark spot. Than strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a pan and squeeze out all juice out of the flowers and lemons. Add 700gr of sugar and bring the mixture to a boil, while stirring. Cook for one minute. Than fill sterilized bottles when the liqueur is still hot and close immediately. Drink cold with lots of ice and mineral water.

The best mother

My mother deserves a medal. She's a champion-parent. I hope I can give my kids as much freedom, support, inspiration and patience as she did. This alternative medal was her mothers' day gift (Annekata's tutorial).

May vacation

We'd been to the 'oertijdmuseum' before, but this time the weather was better and we could explore the outdoor part too. J. joined a paint-your-own-dinosaur workshop. In the meantime N. became a paleontologist, discovering the baby t-rex hidden in the sandbox. Pictures made with iphone, modified with the Instagram-app.

You are invited!

A few weeks from now 'Het Grote Zelfmaakboek voor Meisjes' will be out! And a party (or should I say presentation) is being organized in a bookstore in Den Bosch. On june 1st, 18.00h. When you happen to live close enough, you are invited to join and pick up your own signed copy. Just send me an e-mail with your address and I will make sure you'll get an invitation. I would love to see you there!

Finally found

An interior shouldn't be too perfect. Completely matching design furniture is just too easy. That's why I was looking for a second hand chair to match the (10 year old and still as new) Zanotta couch and seat and the Premsela table. Last week I discovered this one in the thrift store. Happy! Don't worry, my house doesn't look this neat and tidy everywhere. This corner is the quiet counterpart of the chaotic side of the livingroom.

Souvenirs

It used to be our eldest who collected shells on the beach. But this time she was busy building dikes against the upcoming water (you can tell she's the daughter of a civil engineer). The youngest took over the collecting. I asked her to look for shells with little holes and big white ones. With the first I crochetted necklaces for everybody who wanted one. The others were used for drawing. To inspire the girls to do something with the rest of shells I bought this little booklet: Beestenbende met schelpen.

Sour & sweet

We all love rhubarb here. Last week we ate rhubarb-crumble for desert, drank rhubarb-syrup with iced tea and made rhubarb-chutney to accompany the meat in a few weeks. Use rhubarb now or put it in the freezer, because before you know it is the longest day of the year. After that it contains too much oxalic acid and that's not good for your health.

Great tits (koolmezen!)

My father made the nesting-box and hung it about one meter from our living room window. A love couple laid their eggs in early spring. Later we saw them flying to and from with food for their little ones. Today was d-day for their two sons. We were very excited to witness them taking the first plunge into the air. I tried to get in on camera but ended up with these just-before pictures. On this webcam you can follow a nest of tits growing up.

Congratulations and thanks!

My parents in law are married for 40 years. On that occasion they invited their two sons and their families to spend this week in a house close to the beach. A perfect time. The four (grand)kids did not need more than sand, sea and shells to have a good time. And when they enjoy themselves we do. As you can see we also visited a cheese-farm, where the children could 'plastic' their own cheese.

Butterflies, birds and feathers

Simple shirts are easily changed into unique items by using pictures from The Graphics Fairy. Print one on iron-on transfer paper and iron on the shirt. I applied the illustrations in the lower left corner. That way the girls can see the picture themselves (I toyed with the idea of turning them upside down for that reason) and point at it with their right hand.

Heritage

Yes, a thriftstore find again. A bag full of embroidery yarn. Totally entangled. It took me some hours to get the threads apart and wrapped around cards. I cut these kartons from received postcards. A good solution, as seen in another secondhand find. Those were very old and I loved the messages on them. I was thinking about the person who once will read my postcards after finding my stuff in a shop... But I secretly hope our daughters will cherish my creative stock, because they have inherited my love for crafting...

Kitchen help

Warm homebaked bread and homemade butter with herbs. Mmmm. A while ago I got this pair of scissors as a present. A multi-layered cutting tool for herbs. It's perfect for cutting lots of greens. It was bought in this wonderful french shop Nature et Decouvertes. Make sure to look around in this shop, because you will love their products.