Winter lettuce and forget-me-nots

On my to-do-list for a while: seedtape. I love the idea. But the result wasn't as expected. It was a lot of work and when rolling the tape, a lot of seeds came off. Same with the flowers and hearts. Not enough 'glue'? Next time I'll try a similar project: seedbombs.

Always flowers in the house

We all know the unparalelled beautiful paper flowers of Jurianne Matter. Today I came across a similar diy project here.

In just half an hour

Like all graduates (from school) we hung out the flag for our daughters swim-achievement. I whipped up a small dutch flag and a banner (Floor, thanks for the idea). I ironed the text on the banner. In that way the flag will stay usable for all kinds of occasions.

Our girl

It took her two years, two times a week a swimming-lesson to get her first swimming diploma. One week ago the teachers said that she, again, didn't swim good enough for the exam. Then she decided it was enough. She asked her dad to take her to the swimmingpool to practice. The next day she got green light for the exam! And today she passed. So proud! All of us.

We ♥ papa

Last sunday was also fathersday. The father of my kids, my boyfriend, is always complaining that I make presents for everyone but for him. I find it hard to come up with ideas for men. This time we made him a garland. Neeltje drew the heart, Janne wrote the letters and I made the bunting. And I did a collage of/for him in the now starting series of daily around-the-house activities of the family-members. And of course the girls made some beautiful things for him at school.

Petite etoile

Every two year her balletschool has a big performance in a theater. N. was very proud to be chosen with her act to do a second performance for 'de kunstbalie' in 'de verkadefabriek' in Den Bosch. Her roll was to be a little star. And a star she was! In the second half of this low-res youtube-movie you can see the stars shining.

Here's Amelie

From the library we borrowed the book 'dat loopt op rolletjes' (in dutch, but you don't need to read dutch to work with it). Filled with toilet and kitchen roll crafts. I really liked the idea for this lady. Just cut out the head and legs and use the remnants for the arms. I added some clothes, cut out of magazines. She won't be my last kitchen roll girl.

It's the season

Twenty six jars of jams and jelly's I cooked up last weekend. Raspberry jam, simple red currant jam, the same jam with a chili cut in small rings, white currant jam and rose petal jelly (in dutch). The bottles on the right contain raspberry-vinegar ( in dutch). But we'll have to wait six more weeks to taste.

Fientje

Isn't she cute? We met her today. Soon she will come and live with us. The girls are extatic. I am too, but I'm also thinking about the extra cleaning, odeurs and possible allergic reactions. In spite of that I don't want to deny my girls a pet. We're looking forward to welcoming our new resident.

For Margo

The girl next door, our babysitter, heard yesterday that she passed her exams. Now she can go off to Amsterdam, where she already had been accepted to the academy of the performing arts. Break a leg, girl!

Photo stock

The neighbours' roses are peeking over the fence. Aren't they beautiful? Lucky us. So much beauty without any effort.

Fresh

When you have a garden or a balcony, you should try to grow your own vegetables or fruit. Nothing difficult about it. And it's a great feeling to pick and eat homegrown food. For example: the raspberry's ended up in raspberry-white chocolate cupcakes, the white currants are now in the jam-jars and the sugar snaps (picked smaller than the ones in the shop, just shortly cooked) became part of dinner last night. Think about it!

For me

One thing I didn't expect at the presentation of my book, was the fact that almost everyone brought flowers or a present. I've never had so many flowers in our house before! The most special present was from Brigitte from Studio Limon. She wrote a fairytale about me and how I came to writing a book. Thank you, girl! But there was more: tape from Tas-ka (be sure to look around in this shop), a text-cookie-cutter (prints a personal text into your homebaked cookies) and the cute masking sticker set from VanMarieke. And more, maybe later.

For Aafje

My husbands brother and his wife just got their third child. A beautiful little girl, after having two boys. Aafje. As a present I made her a personal blanket. From old shirts from her father and granddad and some clothes from her mother. I got the clothes for my fabric stock a few years ago. I think they never expected to see those again. Congratulations!

Boiling water and ...

I've been experimenting with herbal teas. Teas from our garden. The first one from the 'dropplant' (agastache foeniculum). Smells like liquorice, tastes like aniseed. Very yummie. The second one is the more wellknown-good-for-your-health camomille. It was bitter, maybe the dried version is better. The third cup is filled with sage, lemonpeel and honey. I can really recommand this one. Same as the book that suggested the last combination. I've mentioned it before: Homemade by Yvette van Boven.

What to do with...

We wanted to make one of our favourite dish Ku Lu Yuk. When I wanted to buy a pineapple at the supermarket, they were two for the price of one. What to do with the other one? Since we are in the jam-making season I made jam (in dutch) from it. Very, very sweet. Not for me. But luckily my dad loves sweet jams. I will probably try pineapple-relish or chips next time this 'problem' occurs.

For Annelene

My cousins daughter had her holy communion last sunday. She was at the presentation of the Zelfmaakboek and she had been carving as long as the presentation and the get together lasted. So I thought it would be a good idea to give her her own personalized carving-set. Cutting-tools, erasers as carving material, paper for sketching, inkpads, labels and a booklet in a cute little box, look like a treasure to my eyes. And it also did to Annelene. She started carving right away.

Back in time

Last weekend we went to a historical open air museum. I didn't expect much, because I never heard anyone talk about it, but it was a big surprise. They rebuilt houses from the stone age till the renaissance. You can see how people lived and what they did back then. Many crafts were shown. J. was fascinated by the black smith (a doctoral candidate in real life) and tried spinning wool herself. Sword fighting, dressing up, making candles, playing old games and drinking herbal tea, cooked on a woodfire, were other activities. We have a new favourite museum!

On their own

At the presentation I set up a table for the kids. They could make two projects from the book: and making memory or homesickness boxes. Our girls made these. Without help.

Wonderful day

I was not looking forward to the presentation of my book. Of course I liked to see all the people that came specially for me, but I'm not fond of being the center of attention. But it turned out to be a great gathering. A great location, my favourite bookstore (selexyz adr.heinen), delicious catering (tijdink & tijdink) and good company! And for the first time I signed my book. Many times. Feels strange that people would like to have my signature. Sometimes getting the attention is not bad at all! (pictures: Casper Peters)

Want one too?

My book is out! Yesterday I had the presentation. More about that later. But for now I want to let you know that from now you can buy and order 'het grote zelfmaakboek voor meisjes' in many (also online) bookshops. But if you want a signed book, you can order it at my new site (not complete yet, but working). It will be signed and a personal note can be added. Order here!