Martha and me or all about garlands

Does it sound really Martha Stewart if I'd say I pick a palet for each birthday? Yes, it does. I'm not very Martha Stewart like, but this is something I like to do. Purple, green and blue for the birthday boy this year. I finally used the circle punch, which I bought months ago for no particular reason. O, I'm getting more Martha Stewart with every sentence I write. The other one, is origami based. The Sherazade quilt matches amazingly. Funny,  it's in my studio because it matches nowhere else in my house (Martha...) Should I list it in my shop? 

Party preparations

Just like a lot of you I like planning the birthday parties of our children. In less than two weeks -I'm the kind of girl that needs a little pressure- Valentijn is turning ten! The days of pirate and knight parties have long gone. We've been climbing, abseiling and 'polder-sporting' which  basically comes down to 101 ways to get across the water. We have two boys, so I ran a little out of inspiration. Valentijn askes for a 'Wie is de Mol' kind of party. This is a popular gameshow about 10 candidates, who get assignments by which they can earn money for the whole group. However, one of the members of this group is a traitor, the mole who tries to keep the amount of earned money as low as possible. I think this is nice, active game for boys this age. We live nearby the dunes, a perfect spot for this game! The linocut made a perfect stamp for the invitation.

Deze week zag ik/This week I saw..

...de prachtige lach van onze oudste zoon zonder al het hekwerk ervoor. Dag beugel, dank voor niet altijd even trouwe dienst. Zo heb ik met behulp van een campingstoeltje en een pincet al te vaak voor 'ortho' (nooit beugeltandarts zeggen) gespeeld.

 the beautiful smile of our eldest son again. Bye bye bracelets, after two and a half year. The bracelets weren't that reliable all the time. Too often I've played for campsite orthodontist with my tweezer as only tool.

When your heart moves, pray for Japan part two

I've made three versions of the japanese helicopters. Casper, our eldest son, thought the painting should be turned. He saw statures in it, whose hearts have moved in their chests. I think he's right. 

Beauty, despite everything

The world is on fire and it seems that all we can do is hold our breath. But sometimes there's beauty amidst all fear and terror. Last week the picture below (on the right side) was in  De Volkskrant. Two helicopters loading water to cool down the nucleair plant of Fukushima.  It's like a japanese design.

 I just read about the charity auction Edition Paumes is having. I might send in this one. Go to omstebeurteennieuwavontuur for more information.

This week I saw/DWZI

..... een nieuw PR. Ik niet. Zo sportief ben ik niet. Deze is voor mijn man. Afgelopen zondag  liep hij een nieuw PR op de halve marathon in Den Haag (City Pier City).

...a new PR. Not me. I'm not not that sporty. This one is for my husband. Last sunday he ran a new PR on the half marathon in The Hague.

Lino cut

It's my dad's birthday today. Men's gifts, never easy. Last year we went to the Matthäus Passion. In a concerthall, which I highly recommend. It definitely beats sitting on a hard bench in a cold church. We'll go again this year, but it seemed a bit lame to make it his gift again. So I tried something new. Lino cut.  I liked making this very much and I only needed one band-aid...

If anyone wonders: this is the church of Wons in Friesland, my father's birthtown. We've talked about it lately and he was very pleased with the print. Unfortunately I got a flat tire on my way home. And guess what; I left my cell phone at home. Grr. 

The weirdest gift ever

This must be the weirdest gift ever. For his 38th birthday I gave my brother a crowbar. Seriously, it was on his wishlist... I went to the most serious hardware store I know, but even there the jokes were obvious. "Starting a new career?"  My brother asking for tools, because he wants to build his own shed, is hilarious, knowing him. I decided to stay on the safe side and buy him a demolishing tool, that must be something he can cope with. As a funny gift on the side,  I gave him a customized nail apron (until yesterday I didn.t know this was a word in Dutch, but is in English as well?) Transferpaper on suede made it look a little 'dirty', but I guess that's not a problem for a real handyman. Happy birthday, dear brother! I made a gift tag with an eyelet. A though look, I'm sure I'm going to use it again for future boy's presents.

This week I saw/DWZI

....nieuwe uitlopers aan de leilinde genadeloos sneuvelen. De eerlijkheid gebiedt mij te zeggen dat het perspectief van de foto van het werkproces op mijn tekentafel iets meer recht doet aan mijn achterkant dan die op de foto links. Geeft niks, de bikinidagen zijn nog ver weg....

....myself pruning the limetrees. In all honesty, the perspective from the picture on the right, the one on my desk, does my back a little more justice than the left one. No panic, bikinidays won't be here any day soon...

Magic book tutorial

Edit: A warm welcome to all of you who found out about this tutorial on One Pretty Thing and Whipup,  great sites for inspiration and ideas  for all of us crafters. Nice to 'meet' you here. 


When I was a little girl, my grandfather had a little book like this. He impressed me with this trick. First the twentyfive guilder note (or something in that style) was on the crossed side of the wallet and when he flipped it over, miraculously it changed to the other side. What a grandfather he was! My mother has made a few in the past as a little give away and now I've made my own. I'm probably trespassing magician rules by telling you how I did it, but I'll take that risk! So follow me please to the tutorial.

Little boxes

Maybe you didn't like the origami geishas as much as I did, but I stay a little longer in Japan, if you don't mind. Let's make little origami boxes. I've made a whole bunch of them as a project for the school of our children. Once in a while I help crafting at school, and although I'm very content with this school, I don't think very highly of their arts and crafts educationprogram! I don't know how things work in other schools, but once I open my big mouth, I usely end up with a lot of work...

So little boxes it is. (After reading this, check You Tube for the song Little Boxes, and you won't be able to stop humming it, at least that's my experience...) Masu is the name of this little origami box, which is really easy to fold if you follow this diagram. There's no need to buy special paper, anything will do, even magazine paper, cut in squares. It's nice to make something with the children to put in the box. I've made these little frogs. They can jump for real! The diagram was in the box where the daisy paper came from (Djeco), but I found it  here too. Six year olds can do this.

And how about a bear in a box? You should be a little over six to manage this ;-).

Courtesy to Rebecca Dautremer, Het grote boek van vergeten prinsessen/ Marit Tornqvist, Ik blijf altijd bij je and Jij en ik en mijn rode fiets, for the background of my pictures!