Trying my hand at something new

I've been wanting to do this for a while now.... 

So when my husband took the kids and the dog for a walk while I was recovering from 3 days of migraine, I dove into my creativity. 

The best prescription to lift one's spirits. 

I used a lot of paint, gesso, gold, glitter and ink 

from the Ranger range and ta-dah:

Flowers may fade

but

fragrant memory lingers

She's painted in a COMPLETELY different style so I'm quite chuffed with myself!

Flagline

Still owed a photo of the flag line I made for my 8y0's b-day in July. I made one last year which in my opinion was prettier. On our visit to South-Africa in 2010 my oldest daughter turned 10 and I took the flagline with. Upon visiting one of my best friends I decided to do her a pleasure and gave her the flag line. This year my second child kept reminding me to have a finished one in time for her b-day in June. Well, I made the deadline.

I've cut 28 flags with a stencil I made from cardboard

and then used my rotary cutter to cut the triangles

I locked two flags at a time, right sides facing outwards, together

I then add them all randomly sewing them on 3m of bias binding

the binding is pink so I used a double zigzag stitch in red to create a very cute look

I made this line mostly with reds and pinks

my eldest turns 11 in October and I'd like to make her a blue/green one as she's not a pink girl

I'd like to make myself a black/white one but a dash of colour won't hurt at all :)

we"ll see

Little Mona Lisa when she was still a poor girl

I've found her at a local market in Pende, Piccard, France. Was a lovely market with no tourists to be spotted apart from us. I saw her and fell in love with the browns(unfortunately not well seen on the photo), her simplicity and her observing glance. Love her.

The flowers on the dyke

We live on a dyke in The Netherlands and I just love the flowers growing on it!

Vintage Chandelier

Got this beautiful vintage chandelier from my aunt. She bought it at a local market in Belgium. Isn't it beautfiul? I'm going to enjoy the light from it in my hobby room and later it will be moved to my downs

tairs toilet. I'm planning to give it the vintage charcoal/withered

pink/cream look. Can't wait

I've carefully cleaned it today and now it is up to hubby to mount it for me.

Strawberry key rings for sale

LARGE Strawberry key rings for sale 6,5x5,5cm (measured without key ring)

- 4.50 Euro a piece

♥ EUROPE: NO postage added (max of 3 p/order)

♥ OUTSIDE EUROPE: No postage added per shipment with a max of 3 p/order

♥ Accepting paypal for buyers outside The Netherlands

♥ Fair Trade:NO child labor

♥Handmade in a Cat free&Smoke free environment

♥Note:orders are not insured to keep shipping cost as low as possible♥

LARGE DARK BLUE STRAWBERRY:

LARGE PURPLE STRAWBERRY:

LARGE RED STRAWBERRY:

LARGE LIGHT BLUE STRAWBERRY:

LARGE LIGHT PINK STRAWBERRY:

PLEASE MAIL YOUR ORDERS TO ME

OR LEAVE ME A COMMENT BELOW

Cupcake keyrings

I've made two new cupcake keyrings today.

The cupcake without the keyring and ribbons is 6x6cm

a red one

and a pink one for girly girls :)

peasant top

I just love this pattern:

Potrait Peasant top @ youcanmakethis.com

I've made it twice (like this one) and will definitely not stop making them

and surely try some more variations:

sorry again for the not-so-crisp photo. It is just so easy to take a photo with my BB and send it to my pc wherever I am. Unfortunately the weather is often very dark here in the NL.

The fabric I've used was from Dapper (2011)

new line of fabric, very cute, very bold.

Kyla reversible dress

I've been wanting to make this dress for a couple of months. Every time I started out I ran into the print sizing. I've been making e-patterns for some time now and didn't have any printing issues until I ran into this one. I still don't know why. It doesn't matter what I click or "un" click it just didn't want to work out. I've been mailing the author and probably made her crazy cause she can't look into my head and my printer. She tried her best but to no avail.

Today I felt it was a good day to tackle the pattern and printed it and made the size 4 pattern for my skinny 2 year old. It seemed to work out perfect. Very neat solid patter, good explanation for a pea brain like me. If I can't visualize something I'm struggling.

Normally I choose very bold colors and prints but this time I've kept it small. It looks cute though the photo's aren't clear enough so I'll have to make some close-up photo's with my camera cause I've used my phone for these. I was too lazy for the camera :)

I've used two stenzo prints but used a thrift store fabric for example on the border.

I didn't want to cut up my other fabrics.

Again the print in the reversed side isn't that clear. Sorry.

I've made a little application on this side so that the bias band repeated somewhere else on the dress:

Keyring purses

I've come across this very nice tutorial

and already made 3 of these very handy key ring purses:

lil cutie pouches

One already found its way as a b-day gift

Always time for cupcakes!

I was in a cupcake them swap and had difficulty finding cupcake items. The cupcake rage is not yet known here in The Netherlands. There is but a very few places that I can find anything cupcake. What a sadness because I'm a cupcake freak and the cupcake frenzy is common in America, South Africa and Australia. At least. So I made my own cupcake keyring/bag accesory from felt. I took a photo and posted the sweet cupcake parcel just to discover my camera didn't have a card in when I took the pick grrrrrr. I decided to make 5 cupcake keyrings because it was so much fun and took my photo making SURE I had the card inserted. The cupcake without the ribbon and keyring is 6cm x 6cm

Zpagetti Heart pillow

I've bought the two book(let)s for zpagetti fans and in the one they have a crocheted heart. Of course it looked cute and of course I had to try it out. I did. Then took it apart and tried a normal pattern for a heart but still wasn't satisfied so I searched until I've found a heart where one doesn't add the bows of the heart at the end separately but crochet the heart in one go. I made two and then still had to stuff it. We've got two hearts from the Ikea I think 5 years ago. Big heart pillows with arms, very funny. The last days the two girls were actually leaving them all over the place or trow them in each others rooms so as to get rid of them. I got a bit tired of that so I got a brain wave. I cut of the arms (a bit gory to see lol) and then stuffed them both in the crocheted pillow. Now how's that for a frugal housewife:) he-he. I searched on youtube how to make a tassel and then added the tassel just for fun.

The backside are crocheted far neater than the front as I started with the front heart. I was so tired of taking the hearts apart as they're very large so got a bit lazy and just continued to crochet...

Snazzy Skirt

I just can't resist the fabric of Flora fox so made another skirt for my 8 yo

and just for fun the same one for my 2 yo!

I've used the tutorial written by Cat on a Limb's:

simple, no-pattern two-tiered girl's skirt

I've made an embellishment folding a large satin ribbon like a rose

Little Darlings

I went to an hobby expo and couldn't resist the book Schatjes (little darlings) by Nelly Pailloux. In a attractively cute way she shows 18 felt projects one can make and though one can think of it oneself or find a lot on internet I'm just a sucker for these books where the author's love for what they're doing just spills over in their work.

My girls went to a party today and the b-day girl asked for money. I hate to give money but I guess the customer is king. I couldn't resist though to make a little key chain which I know she would adore to go with each money present. I let the girls make their own cards so it wasn't just a business transaction :)

Oh I've found her original book at amazon, same book different cover and language (of course):

Felties

How to Make 18 Cute and Fuzzy Friends

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Original edition (October 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740785117
• ISBN-13: 978-0740785115

Starting out on my journey of mixed media

One of my best friends celebrated another birthday of hers and I wanted to make her something special. I started out on my first job in The Netherlands and prayed for a colleague friend not knowing how to find one and where to start. The Lord very soon after connected me with a German colleague that started the same month as me and she turned out to be a christian, spoke fluent English, also married a Dutch guy like me and will be a friend for life.

I've used podge, pearl liner, Acrylic with and without glitter and words from a calender I've bought in South Africa on a visit to my parents a couple of years ago. I is painted on a canvas board.

The heart is very special (like in all relationships), I found it between my memoires and it was drawn by my 8 year old when she was age 4 or 5.

Recycling jeans into a bag

I've been wanting to do this/try this for a VERRRRY looooooooooong time and this past Wednesday I've done it! And did some Wednesday sewing (yeah Crafty Mamas!). I actually kept these Hello Kitty pants to mend the knees but never got to it and in the meantime my kids out grew it. But I wasn't in dispair as I've had a plan B -grin- ok a plan C because plan B was to cut off the legs and use it as shorts...
As it is a size 116 it turned out a sort of clutch purse with long handles :)
I've added left over zpagetti for fun because MY NAME IS MONIQUE AND I LOVE ZPAGETTI!

The crocheted flowers are from a spring swap at swap-bot

crocheted coin purse

Yes, I'm updating my blog all at once, showing what I've been up to the past month. For the coin purse group at swap-bot I've crocheted a coin purse and added a lining and zipper. Quite a first for me but practise makes perfect. I realised I need a goal to try something otherwise it is such an effort to try something. With the swaps I have a swap partner I'm making something and it has a deadline! And in the meantime I'm using up stash!!

I've found this neat tutorial to add a liner and zipper, from sparklepetal, whom used the
-awesome- circle tutorial from Attic24 .

Mine came out a bit looking like a harvest moon but I'm very chuffed with the colour and the liner I've used. The crocheted flower I've added is one I dug up from my past. I have no idea which pattern I've used at that time.

Dishcloth with a kitty silhouette

I made this dishcloth with 100% cotton for a dishcloth swap at swap-bot. The idea was to crochet or knit one for your partner with 100% cotton. The one I got is working double time. I really love it. I've used my favourite pattern (crazy cloth) and looked for a kitty crochet pattern so to add something extra to the dishcloth. Between all these cat patterns I chose a kitty from the window cat family

Hello Kitty Poochie bag

For a swap at swap-bot.com I made a poochie bag. The theme was to make one for your swap partner using Happy Zombie's (great!) tutorial. I used stash for this project and used an iron on Helly Kitty that was just waiting for the right moment. My swap-partner is a HK fan so it was very appropriate to give her a poochie bag with a HK somewhere :)

Crocheted Brooch

I've bought myself a very nice dress in the sale at Didi's. Just my style but it needed a little bit more color so I made a broche the evening before we went to visit family (and me of course in my new dress)

• I've crocheted a double flower from a Dutch Crochet book: Marie Claire idees 250 Haakwerksteken. The yarn was an Alpaca mix
• Gathered a brown piece of lace I've had in my stash
• Cut circle with pinking sheers from fabric I'm making a skirt from. A light weight corduroy in purple with hints of Cherise and white (photo's as soon as it is finished)
• used a brown wooden button
• used a piece of a creme wool mix. I've used it to knit the top part for a cushion in my sitting room (photo as soon as it is finished)
• used a piece of Cherise zpagetti I've used in the zpagetti pouffe and handbag I've crocheted.
• a brooch pin I got from a broken brooch

And ta-da a very nice arty broche to go with my dress!

Zpagetti bag Milano

I've finished my zpagetti bag

as soon as I've received my ordered handle!

Pattern:

Milano

Zpagetti colours:

Pinkorange & Fuchsia

Bag handle with beads:

from Marutska

I had to improvise a bid as after I've crocheted the bottom part the Zpagetti was half the size, so I had to put away my zpagetti 12mm hook and take my crochet needle of 9mm to finish the job.

At first just continued to crochet with the zpagetti hook but the "holes" were so far apart and the bag became much to floppy and elastic at the top. I had to unto it all and then swap to the smaller hook. I guess that's on of the things what I like about Zpagetti,

the elelment of supprise :)

I've added a funky braided rosette for detail and added a large wooden button

so the bag can be closed.

Give Away sent!

I've sent the self created Iron transfer for my blog's giveaway.

By now the envelope must've/nearly reached the receiver

wrapped apple compote

It was Sunday and an aunt was coming to visit.

In the Netherlands apple pie/apple turnovers is/are a very standard to serve with the coffee.

Everybody eats them so it is a good bet every time and that is why I chose to make the turnovers as I had very little time.

I made the apple turnovers a bit different just not to get bored.

My 10 year old peeled, cored, cut 6 apples into dices

and I used frozen puff pastry (yeah I know looks good tastes likes nothing)

I cooked the apples untill soft with some cinnamon, cloves,brown sugar and added vanilla

(couldn't find my straw rum essence)

After letting the pastry defrost a bit I placed it in a muffin pan

and added the apple compote.

Unfortunately I couldn't add nuts or raisins as I would be the only one eating it.

25min in the oven and it was good enough to serve with the coffee.

Would've been nicer with cream but nobody was in the mood for that..

hello kitty kitty

Went this morning to a b-day party of the 4 year old,

only allowed if my 2 year old brought me allong.

Of course I made the necklace just before I went:

Dutch Doggy de-luxe bedding

Ok I got up this morning and just had to make the new nest zone for Zizi. Her pillow was getting really old and the time was ripe to make a new one. Today. The last one I've painted with textile paint, I just can't seem to find a photo of it as I thought I posted it on the blog. Well, will keep looking for it.

My kitchen's theme is funky Dutch in the colours blue/white/red

I just love Dots. Originally the Dutch use red or blue check with the delft type of prints.

I kept it simple as I normally complicate things with my creativity attacks.

I made a cover from the red (used stash for that woot-woot!)

and then made a pillow with a Dutch couple print (used up stash so another woot!)

I filled the pillow with polystyrene balls that waited for a special moment like this for at least 4 years (brought it with me when I moved...so another double woot for using up stash)

I added a label with Dutch Windmills to both covers just to be fancy:

The cute little bear that got nipped by zizi was a gift from my friend in South Africa.

The other cute little one is my own and she's surely going to get a smooch!

zizi always have to share her nest. I posted on my blog when our cat annexed zizi's bed and then colonized it with a fresh batch of kittens. When it was safe for Zizi to reclaim her ground the kittens then in return claimed Zizi as their godmother. A dog's life. No democracy when cats and kids are around.

La or Le pouffe

I started crocheting the pouffe yesterday and finished the crocheting part very late in the evening while doing all my motherly duties in between.

I'm very chuffed with myself!

This morning I joined the two crocheted circles with the Cherise zpagetti with and overcast stitch. The colors of my curtains are the same so the pouffe will be for the sitting room.

I had to stop my project as I needed stuffing. I read on the maria's blog(where I bought the zpagetti from) that she stuffs them with Ikea duvets as they're cheaper than stuffing. I found that to be a very good idea. Only problem was that I'm not heading for an Ikea this week and HOW ON EARTH CAN I WAIT TO STUFF MY POUFFE.

Well, I found 3 continental pillows that I've stored away on the attic. At last I had I had a reason to use them after 8 years of storage....

It is still a bit wobbly so I have to take out the stuffing of the three and put it in one inner bag like an old duvet cover. My husband will be relieved that I actually used things take are taking up space for so long lol. I'll get a star behind my name this evening lol.

In the meantime the kids and the dog got on it and they all love it and fight over it...

Well should I now crochet 3 more?

I just love this zpagetti and closed up this pouffe with a little bow tie (knotted) so it can be opened up easy for washing.

To make your own zpagetti see this Dutch blog and a youtube movie

Hello, my name is Monique and I'm addicted to Zpagetti

Yes, after 2 years I just couldn't resist the temptation anymore and when I saw there was a discount offered all resistance just crumbled.

I'm just so weak when it comes to colorful fibers...

Zpagetti

I've ordered the goodies on Friday night at a Ladies'night discount at marutska.nl

and it arrived Tuesday evening at 15 pas 6 when I gave up all hope of it arriving yesterday (they don't deliver on Monday). Great service as always by marutska.nl

As you can see I've bought the 12mm crochet hook and this morning watching Teletubbies and started crocheting a poef (pouffe in French and in English it would be a ottoman without the legs/frame I guess).

From the chocolate brown Zpagetti I already used one and a half as seen in the pic. I've bought four in total. It would be nice for the kids to sit on but I guess the little maltese will be the underdog that will surely in this case claim her right to the pouffe as well!

I'm also making progress with the wool/angora mix I'm knitting for a pillow cover for the sitting room.

Really something I'll have to try: Powertex

Well, not specifically what this lady did but the powertex technique looks just awesome .

Tips and tricks for future reference here

iron on transfers and GIVEAWAY

I've bought transfer paper end of last year and it was really time to try it out. This past friday I stumbled on this key chain tutorial on Vlijtig blog and it was just the kick in the behind that I

needed.

I sat down to draw two cliparts as I wanted to give two little girls (sisters)

each a different key chain.

I have drawn a sweet snail and a curious tortoise,

scanned it and then printed it on the transfer paper

Next came the ironing which was a bit trying because I have a steam iron and an iron with a flat surface would've been much better. My iron has got only 2cm at the back with no steam holes in it..

.

a bit over exposed but when I pulled away the transfer paper a snail smiled very cutely at me:

I've made keychains for 2 little girls. Again sadly enough the photo is over exposed because it was such dark weather the camera called in the help of the flash:

Key chain caught on the job:

Now for the giveaway:

I have a snail iron on transfer up for grabs

example first top photo

If you're interested and

you'll promise to post a photo of how you've used it

you may try your luck in a draw

1. please leave a comment on how you would use it
2. and a way for me to contact you (no addresses please.Preferably your blog link)

I'll draw a name on Friday the 28th of January at 20:00 (GMT+1)

1. If I draw your name I'll make it know here on the blog and contact you
2. I'll post anywhere in the world
3. Remember to e-mail me a photo showing how you've used it
4. NOTE:You don't have to use it the way you thought you would. Just use it!