happy X-mas

I wish everyone a very happy Christmas with lots of love and nice people to lounge with and some good wine !

white

Living inside a Christmas card....our village looks amazing and peaceful in white! This canal near our house is frozen and save to enter so the girls went skating today. I forgot my camera this time....

stars and green

The girls and I decorated the Christmas tree with shiny balls (some of which are realy old - with a characteristic dent in the middle) and handmade stuff of the kids of ages ago. Afterwards we sat down to admire our tree, but the three of us didn't enjoy it so much. What was wrong? We decided to decorate it all over again. This time with the new handmade thingies like the Warm Hearts of woolen blankets and the crochet flowers... We sat down and now it was perfect, a nice mix of today and of what used to be...

welcome girl

Marjolein gave birth to a sweet little girl, so tiny but perfect!

things III

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Here's the answer where you can get the lovely white tree from previous blog post; 

it's from the Seizoenerwinkel.

getting ready

...for Christmas...

sweethearts

My crazy, funny, perky, talented, annoying, beautiful daughters...Eva and Silke.

I like to think that one resembles Rosanna Arquette in looks and the other is like Carice van Houten... :-)

Which famous person does your kid(s) look like?

And here are some other sweet fellows: Robin, Peer and Siert....

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winner

Thank you all for your enthousiasm and participation in this give away. My daughter just did the pink lottery draw.... And the winner of the Sinterklaas give away is......

and the winner is....

Congratulations Carolien! Please email me your name and address and I'll send you the book right away. You should receive it just in time for Sinterklaas evening.
Enjoy Carolien!

And a nice new give away here.

sold out

 the last one

Sold out already (completely, except one) due to huge success on the 'het Mooiste zit vanbinnen' charity bags!
Please have patience because I'm sewing more! They'll be in my shop next week!
You can preorder by sending me a mail. After finishing them I'll send you pictures of the bags before I update my site.
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I feel gratitude. Thank you all for supporting this project and the YASAP foundation!
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grand

I bought this grand work of illustrator Tineke Meirink.

And I just noticed that I'm mentioned/featured at Bloesem !
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things II

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Don't forget tomorrow's craft market in Groningen (see post below) with 70 stalls full of handmade wares. 
I'll bring my new project charity bags and some new paper stuff, which are now for sale in my shop.

And still 5 more days to sign up for this give away!

the colours of 'Beauty'

 picture 1

picture 2

 picture 3

picture 4

picture 5

picture 6

Referring to the previous post, these are the colours of the  charity bags which 'most beautiful part is on the inside'. A narrow strip at the bottom in the pics show the inside (and obviously the right) side of the fabric.
If you like to order a bag please mention in your mail the picture number and whether it is the Right or Left you want and name your price! All ! the money goes to the YASAP foundation.
Thank you!

By the way I send a message to Brecht, the founder of YASAP and she was very surprised, overwhelmed and pleased by this idea. She said this all is so me :-)

beauty II

Beauty is only skin deep: that's my new charity project !

You can get a one of kind and unique hand sewn shopping bag  and the best thing is that you can decide how much you want to pay for it!  The full 100% proceeds goes to charity foundation YASAP. And by sticking this bag with you every time you go shopping you can refuse the plastic bags offered to you at the cash desk, so you lower your environmental imprint as well!  Doesn't that give you a beautiful feeling inside?   

I've sewn a couple of shopping bags of recycled fabrics. I've applied the fabric inside out which matches the (slightly altered) "beauty" saying on the front.

 

The YASAP foundation was founded 10 years ago by my friend and Indonesian teacher Mrs Brecht Gerbrandy, she's a wonderful go-getter and I appreciate her so much for what she has achieved so far. She has focused on the empowerment of women in Kupang on Timor (Indonesia) and the YASAP staff takes care of children whose parents are too poor to send them to school. So these kids stay at the YASAP children's home 'Ceria' where they can get daily meals and education in the nursery.

Next year me and my family will be visiting the Yasap foundation in Kupang to muck in and meet the Indonesian staff and children.

 

There are 14 items in stock and after that the bags are made to order. You can now order a bag by sending me an e-mail. Please mention in the mail: how much you want to donate for one (or more) bags and what kind of colour you prefer, your name and address and whether you want to be updated on the project's yields.

Thank you for ordering!
Maybe you have become inspired and if you have some great plans and ideas to share and/or participate in this project, please let me know! The more, the merrier, the more powerful.

gloves on

Oh yes, this picture looks way too sunny because snow is coming soon!

Next week I'll be joining other Dutch designers, crafters and artists for a chilly but heartwarming pre-Christmas and Sinterklaas market in Groningen on Sunday November 28. (It'll be Sunday shopping too).

We'll also be giving kids workshops with fellow workers from Grun(n)Gemaakt and Werkpost. Hope to see you there!

Information here.

And I'm always busy prior to a market even though I agreed with myself not to:

* finish one bag

* sowing 3 more WOL(k) cushions

* designing 3 more baskets

* create a display clarifying my new 'charity bags' project: 'het Mooiste zit vanbinnen'

* ensure that we have (nice handmade) lights during the market day

* ensure that we have enough awning to protect our goods and bums from snow and wind!

* etc etc

And I've sold this lighthouse lamp, so now it's time for me to create another...I enjoy this so much because it has nothing to do with fabric...

beauty

Beauty is only skin deep.
New project, to be continued...
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bunting

New paper garland; I unsolicited cut his 40 year old comic book into flags, he was even very happy with it! Small paper flags like these are now for sale in my shop. They are very nice to hang in the window or to decorate a chair for a birthday boy.

And don't forget the give away! You can still sign in until December 1. More information here.

things

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