KissKus

Happy childhood = happy me

Last week as I was browsing the shelves at the thriftstore I found this treasure. The image immediately appealed to me. It's so lovely and peaceful. At the back it said "Happy childhood" by Muriel Dawson.

I must admit that I had never heard of her before, but after googling I now know a little more. She was an artist born in New Zealand in 1897. She received her education in England and then worked as an illustrator of children's books. Her main topics of interest were children and natural history.

While I was studying the back of the print I was thinking that it was a little piece of history in itself. For instance there is a sticker that has the info of the company that phramed the print.

And then there is a sticker of a removal company that says the print belongs in the nursery. I love these snippets of someone else's life. I hope that that other person has enjoyed looking at this painting as much as I do right now. It will be hung on a pretty spot in my new and improved craftroom, but more about that later!

Score at the thriftstore

I promised to show you the goodies I scored at the thriftstore yesterday, so here goes...

I fell instantly in love with these mugs; I simply had to have them. I never did tell about our mug-love, did I? Perhaps a topic for another post. Let me just say that the mugs are spilling from our cupboard, but after buying these we got rid of three others. So good of us.

Then these shirts... aren't they totally fug fantastic?! Michel is going to spend a weekend with his best friend soon and he says they will wear these shirts. At least I don't have to worry that they'll be chased by any girls then ;)

Rattle socks for Linus. I'm thinking of putting the rattles into a fabric ball that I want make for him. Or should I leave them as they are? They're cute!

Lovely books for everyone. Click the photo to see who they are for. Of course, the bottom one is for me.

It only cost a couple of cents and there are some great softies in there as you can see: I love that Adam and Eve!

And then finally I found four nifty baskets. I have a feeling that they're from Ikea; at least that would explain their tight fit into our Billy bookcase!

As you can tell, Michel and I were mighty pleased with our finds. When we go to the thriftstore we always come away with something... do you ever leave empty handed?!

What can you get for €8?

Yesterday I thought that today it would be fun to go thrifting/shopping in Hilversum. When I read Kristy's post I was even more determined... she challenged us to go thrifting on a budget of 6 pounds, which is 8,95 in euros.
I think I did well.

There was this pretty fabric, huge tea towel and lovely hand-embroidered hankie:

and this bedlinen and flowery curtains...

and this wonderful table runner and delightful hankie:

This Pyrex bowl:

I'm so happy with this. I had seen Pyrex things show up everywhere on blogs, but I never really knew what they were. When I saw this bowl today, I immediately knew it had to be Pyrex. I think I actually smiled when I saw the stamp :) The things you learn from blogging!! There were in fact quite a few Pyrex items, the prettiest being a small butter dish. Although I was quite smitten with it, I decided to be sensible and not buy it. I knew I wasn't going to use it and I'm not really good at neatly displaying pretty things. Besides, if I had bought two pretty Pyrex things then that would almost be the beginning of a collection, wouldn't it?! Considering the state of the house starting a collection would not be the wisest thing to do... This bowl is useful though.

Then there was this gorgeous tablecloth:

Oh how I love it!! Have a closer look:

And then this mug:

Michel and I like to drink our tea from  firm, colourful mugs. This one goes perfectly with the rest of our random collection (there you go... we already have a collection!).

And finally this large piece of fabric:

I love it, although I'm not sure what to do with it yet... any ideas?!

So that was all. I spent 8 euros precisely. There were lots of other lovely things that I could have gotten instead/as well. There were such pretty cups and saucers for only 50 cents, but again I was sensible... what was I going to do with them? I saw many things that I just knew would make some other bloggers drool... if only we'd be able to visit eachother's thrifstores!

By the way, I also did some "normal" shopping. I came home with a huge bag of clothes for the children... all on sale at H&M. I do love my bargains :))

I'll round off with this photo of the boy that claimed he didn't need a nap today... He climbed into his bed by himself just before we were supposed to have dinner and fell asleep right away. As you can imagine dinner was a challenge!

A lucky coincidence

Yesterday we had a big celebration at Amber's school (it was fun and Amber rode a camel, twice!). One of the the things the children could do was have their faces painted. After queueing for about 45 minutes and still 5 children in front of Amber, I lured her away from there by promising to buy face-paint at Hema so we could paint our own faces. That was the reason why we went to Hema this morning, otherwise I wouldn't have gone there.

Unfortunately they were all out of face-paint, however on my way to the zippers (!) I passed a table crammed with articles on sale. After a closer look I couldn't believe my eyes! There were such lovely things there and the prices were unbelievable!! I got all nervous and tried to put as many things as possible in my basket... I was sure that at any moment the other people would also discover this treasure table!
Here's what I picked up:

A magnet/pushpin board, a kit to make children's slippers ( 1 euro, it contains three large pieces of wool felt and pompoms!!), a lamp, magnets, three adorable bags, five cute bowls, magnets, decorations and photo frames. Prices varied from 20 cents to 1 euro!
The most expensive thing I bought was this lovely bench for the children (5 euros). How could I not buy it?!

Amber and Simon dragged it through the shop with them and whenever I stopped to look at something they sat down on it... it was so cute :)

Here Amber shows the bags... I love them. They're made of felt and decorated with fake flowers.

Do you notice anything different about Amber? Have a closer look...

After five months of having a wobbly tooth she finally managed to pull it out yesterday. It's funny, I remember exactly how that felt.

Do you mind if I show off a bit more? This is what I bought at the thriftstore this week:

Two large covers, two super sweet handmade embroidered apron and a Laura Ashley dress.

Well, I suppose that's enough shopping for me. We really should be saving our pennies, since our new car (and accompanying bill) is due in a few weeks.Luckily there's a saying in Dutch that goes something like: Who lives then, then worries. What's that saying in English?

Amber has ordered asked me to sew pajamas for her doll. I'm also working on a doll quilt, so I'd better get going. Have a lovely weekend!

Big Day #2, Queensday

Yesterday we celebrated Queensday in The Netherlands... as far as I'm concerned the best holiday we have in this country.
Here you can read about last year's koninginnedag... it was so cold and wet then, this year the weather was GORGEOUS!

This year we weren't just partying, but we were also doing serious business at the free market. We had a stall with family where we dumped all our junk and tried to sell as much as we could. The point with the free market is not making as much money as possible, but to have fun in trying to sell your old stuff and enjoy the interaction with the people around you. This said though, we did sell very nicely.

We spent most of our day behind the stall, which didn't give us much time to stroll around Harderwijk looking for treasures. Perhaps a good thing, since our goal was to go home with significantly less junk than we came. We did score a lamp and some books & clothes for the children.

The children enjoyed themselves wonderfully at the small space behind the stall. Simon played with his cars

and Amber read her new books

(this one she's reading here is a wonderful old-fashioned children's book; I'll make a note to tell you some more about a few Dutch illustrators someday!)
When Simon got really tired he took a nap in oma's arms, undisturbed by all the noise and fuss around him.

The youngest member of the family, our niece Sarah, amused herself with the left-over crockery. 

All in all, a great day.

Now, about Big Day #3... that's going to happen tomorrow. It'll involve Michel, an online game, local press (in my house!) and a 50% chance of winning a brand-new car!!
Please, keep your fingers crossed tomorrow morning around 10.45... I'll let you know yes or no as soon as I can!
Ok, I'll be off washing my filthy windows... imagine my shame if the photographer decides to photograph Michel in front of the window tomorrow ;))

Things

First of all my apologies for my long absence! Let me make it up to you by showing you all the super delicious things Michel and I scored for me this weekend.  While I was at the thriftstore, he was at Hema and we both had some great finds. First up are these two cute boxes that Michel found for just 2 euros each. Look at those polka dots!! Then these two hobby kits (also 2 euros each)  which contain everything you need to make a scarf and a child's cape. How could I not buy this mug? Especially when it was only 30 cents?! I'm hoping this will mean that Michel and I are really going to England this spring... I would so looooooove to go! I found the fabric on the left and Michel bought me the fabric on the right. Isn't it funny that the flowers are exactly the same?! This book is wonderful. Lots of fun crafts. But these two creatures really made me decide to buy it... I think they're both adorable and I would love to try them out. Not pictured, but treasured nonetheless: 2 more hobby kits, a tiny bag for my I-pod and a fantastic basket for my sewing things. I know it's superficial, but sometimes buying lovely things really makes me happy. Today I've been cleaning and sorting again...when will I ever be finished?! I've been trying to unearth my craftroom. In some areas I've been successful, like sorting out my stash: I hope to have more pictures very soon!