KissKus

Book love & wonky sewing

Michel brought home this book yesterday. I believe it's from Pottery Barn. I don't exactly know what Pottery Barn is...is it sort of the American Ikea? It's filled with beautiful photos of wonderful kids' rooms. Lots of inspiration. I love this.

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Last week I had a great idea for a flowerlike placemat. I thought it would be so cool. So I drew the shape and cut all the fabrics and sewed them all together...so far so good. But when I added the back-fabric, I suddenly thought it would be nicer to make a cushion out of it. Uh-oh, mistake! This is how it turned out: I can tell you that it looked very different in my head ;) Oh and this is what got this weekend to make up for Michel's maggot eating. Oh I didn't tell about the maggot eating yet?! Well, one day Michel made three crackers with cheese for himself. After he had eaten two, he noticed a little wriggly something on his plate. After a closer look it turned out to be a maggot. Michel looked at his remaining cracker and saw a couple of other maggots in there too...did I mention he already ate two at this point? Soooooo grooooooooosssssss!!!!!!! So I wrote an angry letter and this what we got. Maggots are supposed to be very nutricious by the way ;) *just 1 kilo this week, so that's 8 in total*

New-new-new

I made a whole new batch of tissueholders. I always feel the urge to display them as cakes... don't they look scrumptious together?! These were inspired by the upcoming Valentinesday, hence the red, pink & hearts. I've said it before, but I love making these. They're so cute and small and they're a great way to use up my precious scraps. However, I think I must consider another satisfying scrap-project, after all, how many tissueholders do you really need? Any scrappy ideas?! Something else that's new: Our stairs are finished!! These photos are not brilliant, but we're so happy with the result! This is such a big step in making our house a nicer home... what a relief. Running upstairs to grab something is a real pleasure now :) I regret not having taken a before photo to show you the difference. Fortunately I am able to show you a before photo of my current project: my craftroom. Brace yourself! A bomb explosion, I know. Will be continued...

Moo's the best!

Today my mini-cards arrived!!! They are so cute, I love them :))) I picked out 12 different photos. Some turned out a little better than others, but I still think they're all wonderful. I'm already brainstorming of what I can  do with them other than using them as a tag on a gift or something.. oh the possibilities! Other great mail: 50 bundles of bias tape scored on Ebay. I can't help it, but this makes me happy! I'd better think of a good way to use up all that bias tape though ;) And and and, I made a new bib today. I finally managed to sort out enough space in my craftroom to put the sewing machine back in its place... I'm definitely on right path here! Oh AND! I've now lost 7 kilos!!

Labels: flickr, mail, sewing, us

Paint everywhere

This weekend we've started some serious painting.
I'm ashamed to say it, but after 15 months in this house we still had the ugliest bare stairs. It's funny how you get used to seeing things unfinished. Even so that you hardly see it anymore.
However, we're still in our 'house-improvement mood' and the stairs was our next project.
Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the before, but this stage is still pretty horrible:

Without consulting me Michel had bought lime-green paint and when I got home he had already put it on. Ouch, it took some getting used to, but at least it's a very fresh colour and it does brighten up the staircase.

While Michel and our friend were attacking the stairs I painted the kitchen, another project that we stopped halfway. I used the same lime-green as well as pink, orange and turquois...I know!!! It's going to look very interesting! I will definitely post photos of the result :)

A day of fun and inspiration

Yesterday we went to Deventer, a town that we love to visit.
Michel in fact loves it so much that he always shouts that he wants to live there.

We had lunch (a healthy salad!) in a wonderful cafe that serves delicious high teas and real English food like crumpets.

We then went shopping in the little streets off the main shopping area. We came across such delightful shops selling such cute things!

I thought these lights looked wonderful so I took a photo. Later I saw that they were Tord Boontje...check out the website because this Dutch designer makes the most beautiful things.

I bought a couple of metres of oilcloth from Kitsch Kitchen and even managed to find some new shoes (not my favourite thing to do)!

We then had dinner at oma & oma's. They're leaving for Australia today to visit Michel's sister who lives there. I am worried about their flight though, because we're experiencing some very bad wheather here today (storm). Hopefully they won't be delayed too long.

And I've been tagged to share six weird things about myself, but since I think I'm the most normal person in the world, I need tonight to sleep on it ;))

Labels: family, inspiration, the dutch way, us

This 'n that

The past three days have been filled with cleaning, sorting, biking, sewing and not thinking about chocolate. To begin with the last, the diet is going very well... -4,5 kilos already! I'm proud to say that I've been very strict, not even licking my fingers when I made sandwiches for the children.

Ofcourse I've been trying out my bike lots. On Sunday we went for a proper tour. I started out with Simon in front and Amber behind, later Amber switched to Michel's bike. Man, it feels good to be cycling again... I even used it to do the weekend shopping!

And I can't tell you how much fun it is to have Simon so close to me. I never had that with Amber, she was always sitting in the backseat.
The only thing was that when we got home the children were very cold... luckily they defrosted over a cup of hot chocolate. Sorry babes, we'll put on more clothes next time!

The bit of sewing that I did was a new blanket. We needed another one, because Michel and I kept fighting over the one we had.

I haven't been able to take decent photos of it, because there was hardly any light and the blanket was already wrinkled from use. I love the colours though, nice and bright and hardly any orange or yellow in it ;)) I will add it to my collection.
I wished it were this easy to transform my sofa!

And last but not least, have you heard of MOO yet? They make mini-cards that I think are supercute! I just ordered 100 using my Flickr-photos and I can't wait to get them!

Labels: children, flickr, home, sewing, us

New!

Meet my new bike... it's RED!

In order to take this whole new healthy lifestyle seriously, a good bike for me is a neccessity. And anyway, I really weren't allowed to call myself a proper Dutch mother without a child front and back. I can't wait to try this baby out! A little less rain and wind here, weather gods!!

And here is a photo of the old seventies pouffe that I gave a new pillow-cover. It's made of a thrifted tablecloth. So simple and yet so lovely!

And I made another small cushion just for fun. I love quick projects that look cute too!

Spring cleaning

In an attempt to make up for all the years before that I had no spring cleaning, I'm starting EARLY this year! Perhaps a bit crazy, but with the temperatures outside not even that strange.

As I said in my post on NewYear's Eve I have two major goals this year: lose weight and organize my home. So far I've been doing really, really well.
The diet is going swell (-2 kilos) and the house is looking better by the hour.
Michel and I have been working superhard at it since last week. We're both hoarders of the most terrible kind. We save everything, because we think we can use it again some day. And we (or should I say I) are sentimental about every scrap of paper, piece of baby-clothing or present we ever received. Add to this our fabric/book-addiction and I think you can imagine what our house looks like.

But we both decided that it was enough. So we've been sorting out, throwing away and cleaning like madpeople this week. The score so far: 20 bags of clothing for goodwill, four big boxes of books for bookcrossing, a full container of rubbish and five boxes of paper for recycling. Pfff... and this only the beginning! We still have to tackle the attic (argh), my sewingroom (argh) and the shed.

However, I'm still super motivated to bring this project to a good end.
The children's rooms as you can see in the photos are finished at least. And I must say that I think that these along with the livingroom (almost done) are the most important spaces to keep organized.

And amidst all the cleaning I also managed to paint three cupboards and a table and I finally made a pillow for Amber's pouffe. I'll show it tomorrow!