Gift wrapping...

... makes me so happy!! I love boxes, and string, and masking tape, and making something special out of an ordinary box. Pretty pretty!

Susanna Bauer

 

I'm in love with her work. Gorgeous! Susanna Bauer.

Postcrossing to Russia

postcrossing_1320534_front+back_censored, a photo by Sanne van den Heuvel on Flickr.

My First Scribbler Too

Doodle online with Scribbler Too.

Postcrossing to Poland

Postcrossing_1316314_front+back_censored, a photo by Sanne van den Heuvel on Flickr.

Postcrossing

Postcrossing_1316284_front+back_censored, a photo by Sanne van den Heuvel on Flickr.

Cookies for Kyara

I finally, FINALLY, got around to making these beautiful, delicious looking, adorable cookies, using the kit that Maaike from Hoppin' Up gave me. Thank you Maaike! I made them for my cousin, who just had een sweet little baby girl, so off course they had to be pink. Stupid me though, I forgot to make pretty pictures before wrapping them. Luckily Joost made pictures while I was making them, but they are unfortunately without the purple flower I decorated them with after drying. Aren't they pretty though?

DIY Envelope

I made a small, cute little package for my mother. My first ever self-made envelope from a beautifull piece of paper from my paper-collection. Adorable! Mum loved it too :)

My First Zpagetti

I recently finished my very first projects done with Zpagetti, a cushion and a basket. The cushion is made with a thinner thread and 12mm needle, it's done in a hexagon pattern. The basket is a thicker thread and crochet with a 15mm needle. Because of the thick thread the basket is very very firm, I love it! Perfect for all this loose stuff lying around the house. Maybe I'll make another... The Zpagetti works very fast and is perfect for quick projects. It's hard work though! I can still feel the muscles in my shoulders and hands from the pulling and grabbing!

Jasmine, strawberries and African Marigold

Today I decided to do a day of non-supermarket shopping. Normally we do groceries once a week at Albert Heijn, as they have almost everything we need for a regular week of eating and living. But every once in a while it is nice to not go to the big supermarket. So today I went NOT-Albert-Heijn! I went to the market to buy cheese, bread fruit and veggies. I went to the Asian deli to buy an adorable can of Jasmine Tea (I just love those foreign cans and bottles!) which I placed on the shelf with our other dried goods and herbs.

And I visited a bunch of shops I had never been before and bought organic pear-juice and a bag of Black Eye beans. I saw a shop on Etsy once of a girls who made beads out of beans and I was intrigued by the idea, so I decided I wanted to try that sometime. And Black Eye beans are gorgeous!



I then sat on my balcony and ate the delicious strawberries and drank a pot of Jasmine-tea while reading a book and enjoying the view.

 
The African Marigolds I had last year seem to be sprouting up again. I guess the seeds must have gotten mixed up with the earth I used for planting the flower bulbs (that do not seem to be wanting to grow somehow).

Purl Soho New York

Last week I went to New York on a holiday, to stay with friends who live in Brooklyn. And of course, when in New York, I just had to visit the Purl Soho shop, whose Purl Bee craft blog I've been following for the past year. What a lovely shop! The colors, the materials, the space, a truly magnifinicent and inspiring place. Thank you Purl Soho, for inspiring me to get on with the craft!

Smaak.nl

This weekend I received my delicious Smaak-box full of organic or in some way sustainable products. Love it! It was like a second Christmas-gift-bag! I got mine through a voucher from Strawberry Earth, so I could buy it with a huge discount. Check out Smaak.nl, the boxes are still available!

Cookies

I was planning them for Valentines day, but got around to making them a day later. I love baking! It's so fun and satisfying. These are not the cookies from the kit I got as a gift from Maaike, those will come by later on, when I've got all the tools for decorating. I made 2 different cookies: A simple sand-dough, meant to be decorated, but that will be postponed (and by the time I get around to that they will probably be eaten already!) and an Italian lemoncookie, with lemonzest, lemonjuice and pine nuts. Those are truly delicious! And look at them being pretty in their vintage yellow gingerbread box. Love them!

Finally: Pillows!

I have had these lying around for quite a while, done with the knitting, but not in the mood for putting them together. Now, finally, after continuous nagging by my boyfriend, who was fed up with the ugly pillow-fillings lying on the sofa, I have finished them! Although they still need some final-touching, I think they are quite well enough for a photo! I'm quite proud, as I'm not very good at finishing things I've started. Yay me!

It's not easy being green...

...and that is why help is offered to us, in the form of blogs, magazines and articles. Check out these two websites for instance.

Do the green thing. For tips and advice on how to live a green life!
Strawberry Earth. A blog for creative people who care about the planet.

Maybe this will help you to be green(er)!

Picnic (not) in the park

 

 
For those of us who like a picnic in the park, but don't like to sit on the ground, this architect has designed the perfect solution. An at-home grass-top picnic-table!

I seem to find many great ideas and fun things at the Strawberry Earth blog. Take a look!

Is it a bird, is it a plane... ?

 

No, it's an upside down bat-bird-house! Cute! Now all I need is a house with a garden with a big tree in it and some sweet birdies to occupy the space.

You dropped food on the floor - Do you eat it?

 

In case you just can't decide for yourself, maybe this will help you. We always had the 3-second rule, which depended slightly on how clean the floor was at the time. The mail rule however: If it's chocolate: EAT IT!

Typewriter New-School!

My favourite magazine Flow posted this on their blog. An authentic typewriter, new-school! How fabulous is this! Shame that I don't have an old one lying around, but if I find a nice one in a second-hand store someday, I might consider this! Old-school gadgets used in a new-school way, I just love that!