KissKus

Thrifty Tuesday

A quick trip to the thrifstore brightened my day. Linus prefers to wait in the car these days, so I must make my round quickly. But that's fine, because I know exactly what it is I'm looking for.

This mug (bottom right) really brought a smile to my face. Family reunited :) I wonder if there are more? And I wonder whether the rest will come to me as well.

Arcopal. My love is growing, although I must admit I don't like all designs. These (two) plates are really sweet though.

More Arcopal.

Furthermore: a puzzle for Linus and a game and another addition to my Polish pottery collection, which I haven't photographed yet. Total cost: 6,40.

This is my retail therapy. I'm so easy to please. Just some small items from the thrifstore and a Mac.

 

Crochet bunting

On my very productive holiday in France I made 16 flags. It took me a little time and practice to figure out how to crochet a triangle, but once I got the hang of it, it was easy sailing. A very fun little project.

It took me several weeks (that holiday seems so long ago already!) before I dug them out of my crochet bag and sewed them onto some bias tape (3 metres). I really like how they turned out.

Leaves me with just one question to ponder over on this cold and wet Monday: why is it so impossibly difficult to photograph bunting?!

Sunday morning

Freshly baked bread

I like my bread with honey

Linus with peanut butter

Babies

It's always wonderful when a baby is born.

Also a good excuse to dust off the sewing machine.

I made this dress for a little girl that was born recently.

Fabric is a pillowcase from the thriftstore. Pattern: Knippie #3 2009.

And I believe that I never posted this pillow that I made in Octobre last year. It's quite obvious for whom ;)

Have a good weekend everyone!

Announcement

After intensive discussion with everyone involved (me, me & me) management (me) has decided to drop the pseudonym Mirre and to continue blogging under a new name: Berber.

Because, you know, it's mine. And that's who I am.

Great to have that settled... now back to the sewing machine!

Oh, and this is my 500th post! That calls for another cup of tea :)

Time for a change

I'm on a serious roll with the house decorating. Some say I'm a little obsessed...

Yesterday the children were actually complaining about my furniture painting. They said, and I quote: "Our house is becoming too colourful, it's becoming too happy!".

Kids... I don't know how they come up with it! Although I was surprised by their strong opinions about home decorating, it didn't stop me from starting the next project: our livingroom clock.

This is the BEFORE photo. An old (but trusty) Ikea clock. We've had it since we first started living together which is a LONG time ago (about 15 years). It's one of those pieces in your house that you hardly notice, but still you look at it all the time. So I decided that something new was in order.

I dug a hole in my sewing room and emerged with a piece of oilcloth. As meticulously as I could, I then cut out the oilcloth so that it would fit onto the clock.

I then used husband's superglue-pistol to put it all together. And it worked! It's not perfect, but good enough for now.

The children were mildly pleased with the result, which for me is enough encouragement to move onto the next COLOURFUL project :)

Paint it blue

As I said the other day, I'm spraypainting my way around the house. And the good thing is that things are starting to get finished, although I still have some small things to do.

Yesterday I was able to put our shoe cupboard back in the hall. This cupboard was a thriftstore find and it works well for us. I like the way it turned out. The blue goes well with the yellow of the walls (which actually need a coat of paint as well!).

I think the key chain is hilarious. A photo of a very young Queen Beatrix, printed in England. Doesn't her blue eyeshadow go so well with the cupboard ;)

Shameless

I'm not the kind of mother that talks endlessly about her children. I do not carry photos of them around in my wallet. Neither do I have any photos of them in the house. I'm mostly content sharing stories about them with their father. I don't feel the need to prove to anyone how much I love them. I'm proud of them in silence.

However, right now I'm going to share a shameless amount of my favourite photos of my kids. Just because I can. Because I'm a proud mother. And because I love them very, very much.

 

 

Some very random things

These mugs were 35 cents each in the thriftstore, but the joy they bring me is priceless.

Bookmark monster that Amber made today. I think it's brilliant.

The book? The first hardcover I grabbed from our bookcase, which was The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. Who else was utterly disappointed by this long awaited novel? I really did try, but gave up after nearly 200 pages. I wonder whether it will it be worth it to pick it up again?

Michel's finger has a blister. There's an A on it... why??

I'm happy that all three kids have had quite a good first week at school. Especially happy that Simon seems to settle well in his new class, since he skipped a class. I've had rather a few motherly worries about my boy, so I'm relieved and pleased to see that the new situation seems to turn out well for him.

And now it's weekend! And what's more... the people in charge promised us some summery weather. I know, it's AMAZING!! Sun deprived as I am, I certainly intend to absorb as much summer as I can.

Happy weekend everyone!

I believe this is the start of a collection

I hit the thriftstore jackpot this morning.

It was one of those great moments... I was scanning the shop. Looking in the usual spots. Slightly disappointed: no textiles, no plates, no cups etc. Then I passed the table where they have a monthly colour display. Nothing special. I passed the table, looked back for a second and there at the bottom, tucked away, was a whole lot of Figgjo! I'm sure I looked around ready to fight anyone that dared come close to my treasure. Luckily no-one did...

I grabbed everything there was: 2 dinner plates, 4 breakfast plates, 4 squares plates and 3 bowls.

Wow. What a loot.

Welcome home, Figgjo Turi Design Market!