Hipstamatic exhibition

Last week I read about an exhibition at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, of pictures made by both professionals and amateurs, using the Hipstamatic app from their smartphone. My husbands asked wether I heard about this app. I was going to show him, while I told him about how annoying I thought this app was and how annoying the fact that everybody uses it on their blogs. So I took a picture of an astrantia that was in front of me to show him how stupid it was. We were both silent, because we actually liked this picture. Very much!

Hunters and collectors

History began in school with the (very boring) chapter about hunters and collectors. Luckily there was more to history than just that, but I thought about it when we were on a daytrip to Texel. Our boys still are hunters, shrimpfishers to be more precise and our daughter is a collector. She's looking for shells. Years ago we made this mobiles with the shells we found. The beauty she found last week, was perfect for a necklace, inspired by this one from Vlijtig.

Happy day

Don't tell my children, but Mother's Day means nothing to me. I like the little works of art they make at school, and I like their excitement about it, but that's it. My mother felt the same about the whole concept, so instead she bought a cake, to treat us. Now there's a tradition I like. That's easy, because I like traditions anyhow. I made this strawberry pavlova. Isn't this just summer-on-a-plate? I'm a decent cook, but baking is a whole other story. This pavlova however,  is also for rookies like me. The hand that cuts the cake, did that also thirteen years ago. Happy anniversary!

This week I saw/DWZI

...fashion statements from our children. Check the crossed velcro from her her sneakers. These pictures were taken on Texel. An island in the North of Holland. We took a day off and went with an early boat and returned with a late one. It feels like a holiday! We ride our bikes off course and the children went shrimpfishing while we were enjoying the sun on the beach.

Little bagsac

There's a new girl in Lauren's class. She's only been here for a few weeks and she hardly speaks Dutch, nor does her mom. Yet she has the courage to invite some girls to celebrate her birthday. I made  a little bagsac, just like the one I made for Lauren's ballet shoes. In hindsight I didn't think the eyelets were very nice on velvet, so some cord did the trick this time.

Leaning back

Our sons like to cook. For years now, they are daydreaming about their own restaurant. The role of their little sister is to be discussed. She wants to be 'horserider', and thinks that may take at least three days a week. Anyway, Casper en Valentijn cooked all by themselves, with a little help from Jamie and it was delicious. A few more years and I will be leaning back.... (Pictures taken with my iPhone)

Toiletry bag

In this lovely, sundrenched Easter weekend, filled with lovely diners with friends and a garden party, I somehow managed to finish this toiletry bag. I'm a little ashamed to say it's my make up bag. I only use mascara, eyeliner and lipstick, but I have this thing for eyeshadow in all sorts of colors (I only use the brownish ones, occasionaly...). I'm not the type of person who carries make up along with her, so this is for the bathroom. Our future bathroom in grey and walnut....

I stated before that me and zippers don't get along very well, but actually I was too lazy to find out how to sew a proper zipper and a  lining together. I finally did that, and it wasn't all that difficult, using this tutorial, which I found on the pattern page of Eloleo's. For the lining I used the toile de jouy oilcloth again. 

DWZI/This week I saw...

... the beach. We live on a biking distance from the beach and we all love to go. On wednesday we ate our sandy rolls at the beach and played around for an hour, but today we had a day at the beach. The children went "heads under" in the freezing water, but I'm older and much wiser in this case! I didn't bring my camera, so I show you another beachy picture. This is in Theoule sur Mer, France. It's sheer paradise.

...het strand. Wij wonen op fietsafstand van het strand en we zijn er dol op. Woensdagmiddag aten we al zanderige broodjes op het strand,  maar vandaag hadden we echt een dagje strand. De kinderen gingen  'kopje onder' in het ijskoude, maar ik ben daar gek! Ik had mijn fototoestel niet mee, ben zo al pakezel genoeg, dus we doen een ander strandplaatje. Dit is in Theoule sur Mer in Frankrijk. Regelrecht het paradijs in!

Inspiration

Chocolate is known for a lot of good things. In this case it was good for inspiration. I was cleaning the kitchen after a stuffed, but nice weekend, and I looked at the remains of the day before. Immediately I was done cleaning...

I'm thinking in scraps of fabric. My studio is always a mess, but I know exactly which fabrics are stored in there. Did some easy stitching too. Now I have to go back cleaning. I wish I was one of those people who think in clean and neat spaces. I'm not.

Travel medicine cabinet

At summer, we camp, as you see in the post below. The tent is very heavy, so we have to think about what to take with us for the rest. Every year I pack too many nice dresses, because I pretend to be this woman that goes out every night till dawn. In fact, I'm a mother who sits in front of her tent at night, reading a book and drinking a glass of wine (make that a bottle...). Anyway, apart from the dresses and a lot of books, there's not much room for anything else to take. We've learned over the years to pack all loose things in little bags or plastic boxes. Here's my new travel medicine cabinet...

Linnen on the outside, with an embroidered cross (so my husband never has to ask me again in what bag exactly the aspirine is), oilcloth on the inside. Because me and zippers don't get along very well, I used magnets, way more easy!

In the mood

These pictures capture my ideal sense of holiday. They're my own pictures and my own tent, so I consider myself lucky. I'm in the mood for  planning our holiday. Usually we go to the south of France in the spring break of school, but since we have only one week and we're doing a bathroom conversion we decided to skip this vacation. But that doesn't take the longing away, so let's make plans for the summer.

 Last two summers we've been to Italy. Le Marche, Umbria, Lago di Como, Rome... Ah, you know: dolce vita. We don't like to make reservations, but we like to stay on rather small campsites with big spots, so last two years in Italy we did make reservations. (Don't hesitate to contact me for campsite information!)

This year we might go to Spain. I wonder, maybe there are other campers like us. Would you know a campsite in the north of Spain, preferably Catalunya, were we can enjoy this sense of holiday? Small campsite, big spots, swimming pool and no animation for children, we're not demanding at all ;-)

Origami easter bunny and free printable

Still in the origami mood, and it is contagious. Last week our school held an auction for Japan and our eldest son teached his class to fold cranes. They've been folding like mad men. Every who contributed got one. I've made these bunnies and put them in a cardholder.  I also hung a few in a willow branch. "What are these kangaroos doing in the easter tree...?". I used this tutorial.

I also made a free printable out of it. Since I have so many Swedish readers everyday, I've made a Swedish Easter card for them. By clicking on the picture, you can copy/paste it. If you print it on heavy weight paper it's a nice Easter card.Thank you all for stopping by. Feel free to say hello!

Edit: I noticed that the colors appear not like I intended them on a Mac. So I post just the plain picture, without the 'glad pask' (can't get the little circle on top). Sorry...

Tired but satisfied...

This was one of the best birthday parties ever! .

Drawing

It has become a habit, or a tradition as you wish, to make a drawing for our children's birthdays. There's nothing more in the world Valentijn would have loved more to get for his birthday than a cat. Poor kid, having Sneezy for a mother, he has to do with a paper one. Drawn with love, I must add. The idea was to draw a somewhat simplified cat. I'm afraid this one is aiming to much to look like a real one. I also did a linocut.

Tomorrow is the big day. We'll be at the soccer pitch first, to see Valentijn and his team become champion and after that we'll have his friends over for his birthday party. The boys talked about it all week, making assumptions about who's the mole. They are very excited and we are too, off course!

Busy

We've been busy with the birthday party. I sew flags for a 'capture the flag' game, I sew a sac to put the earned 'money' in and we brainstormed on all sorts of games. GPS, walkie talkie, stopwatch. This is going to be  a boy's party, for sure!