Here comes 2010!

Whishing you and your families a wonderful, healthy and happy 2010!

The third day of christmas...

We had a lazy day after the holidays and went for a walk on the beach. It was a bit chilly but the sun was there, so it was a nice walk. The boys needed to be ´aired´... after a couple of days indoors.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The cooking and baking is done

Well, this is the result of an afternoon grocery shopping, cooking and baking. The turkey is stuffed, the cookies are made and a speculaas parfait, which is delicious. We tried the parfait last week and is was so good, we decided to have it for christmas day dessert.
The yummy result is shown here:

Some cupcakes filled with cherries and apples. Some traditional cheese cookies in the back and some white fondant cookies.

We are ready for Christmas...

And the snow is still here

OK, this is becoming a record for us. The snow is still here and the weather forecast stated that it will snow again this afternoon. Could there be a white Christmas? We didn´t have a white Christmas since 1986, so this would be fantastic... We will see.
But since DH took my car keys, we are stuck at the house, so the boys wanted to make cookies, and this is the result:

I think the ice crystal cookies look fantastic, and the taste as good as they look. Another thing we tried, was the cookie christmas tree:

Let me tell you that this is not wath I expected... It is fun, but it doesn´t look so nice. And it doesn´t look like a christmas tree, what it is supposed to be... but we tried, and we will try harder next time.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

First snow!

Yesterday it started snowing, just a little bit, but it kept snowing and by the time I had to leave to go home, the roads were one big chaos. The public services didn´t clean the roads so it took me 1,5 hours to drive 11 km...
But today the snow was still there and it looked gorgeous. The kids had a great time on this last day of school. Holidays, here we come...

Stitching for bitches

Another package was awaiting me and that was this little cute book. It is a dutch translation but I think the original is called subversive stitching... In dutch it is called ´stitching for bitches´. It has some great dutch strong sayings and I just love it.
The book was given to me by a cousin of Niels. She saw it in a local store and thought of me... I don´t know if that is a complement, but OK, I will take it as one. She had so much fun reading it in the store that she couldn´t resist buying it for me.
So I will reward her by making a cross stitch project out of the book for her.

Funny book!

Ready steady Bake!

Yesterday a package (well actually more than one package) was awaiting me.
In the biggest one, was my order of Holiday baking supplies. I will attempt to make the christmas tree in cookies... Will let you know how that worked out, and also some cupcake supplies for the christmas coffee. Will show you teh result.

Sinterklaas has left the building

Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening celebrating Sinterklaas´ birthday. So gifts and poems were exchanged. The kids saw Zwarte Piet bring a big bag of presents, and spent most of the evening unpacking all their goodies and fell asleep very happy.
This morning at 5.45 all three woke up to play with their toys, so I was very happy that my MIL went todwnstairs with them so I could sleep a bit more.
We also visited the newest member of the family. DH´s cousing had a baby girls, so we had a quick peek at her, but the is a stunning little lady, Evenline.
This afternoon we drove back home and the boys kept asking to put up the tree. And since Sinterklaas had went back home to Spain, DH went out with the boys (it was already dark) to get the tree from our garden, and I think it is gorgeous. This is the third year we get him inside, and he keeps growing, so I hope he lives long and gives us much more happy holidays.

Chritsmas ornament exchange 2009

I participated in a christmas ornament exchange and this is what was waiting for me yesterday when I arrived home. I beautiful stitched ornament, a scented one and a nicely stitched christams card.

Thank you very much

New mittens... waiting for the cold

I needed new mittens and I wanted a pair of Lithuanian ones. So I searched on Dawanda and saw these. I loved them immediately so I ordered them from Agneta. And guess what...
She is Lithuanian! So genuine Lithuanian mittens for me. I love them and I can´t wait for it to get cold, so I can show them off.

Bob Maman jars

We always eat Bon Maman confiture and I was wondering what you can make with the jars; Normally I throw them away, but after a lecture of sustainability from DH, I was wondering...

This is what you start with:

And here are some examples of what you can make:

For the christmas experts among us:

I also found a link with projects. I know I am inspired...

Sinterklaas is in the country

Yes, Sinterklaas (a dutch tradition) is back in the country and visiting all sorts of kids. This weekend he visited DH´s work and all the kids loved it. The Zwarte Pieten enterained the kids while Sinterklaas talked to the kids abouth their mischiefs this year. Afterwards all the kids got their presents and there was also a Kodak moment. Helas, son#3 looks the other way, but nevertheless an afternoon well spent.

This morning we had a tree planting event here in our community. All the kids that were born in 2008 got a three in a newly planted arboretum. So, Ruben got his own tree planted by me. DH stayed at a distance, since the place was very muddy and he was the only one not wearing rubber boots. Unfortunetaly I fogot my camera...
But there was a clown that made these balloons for the boys.

Son #3 a crocodil:

And son #3 a spiderman:

It was a very nice initiative by our community, and you never can have enough tree. Luckily (not) son #2 got his boot stuck in the mud and when trying to free himself, he fell over in... yes, you guessed it... the mud.

Clay

Since I was making my own clay figurines, I checked out etsy and look what I found. Aren´t these little figures wonderful? They are made and sold by Joojooland on etsy. The tattooted snail is handpainted. I love the detail in this ladies work.

And the ghost family is also adorable, I think. Love her work. And I am all inspired again to try to make some new clay items. Maybe this weekend, after our visit to Sinterklaas...

Day off

These two packages have left my house to their new addresses. I hope you like what I made you ladies.
Yesterday I had a day off work and I visited my friend Evelyn. We had some nice lunch and did some shatting. And since she also likes to craft, we did some fimo clay projects. I think they turned out well.

Swaps

This package for the angel assignment is on its way to Italy. I hope Renate likes what I made and bought for her. Come to think of it, I forgot to put the card in the box, since I see it lying here in front of me. Sorry Renate...

And this is what was inside the package that arrived her today... Some wonderful goodies from Andrea. The quilt she made is gorgeous and will get a nice spot at my crafttable. I will then again make a pic of it. Thank you very much Andrea, you were a wonderful swap partner.

Mushroom art

Not much to tell here. I am still working on ly mushroom swaps, sorry girls, I am late. Sorry. I will make it worth your while. So I can´t post any items I am making right now, because my fellow swappers are also reading my blog.

So that is why I am placing a mushroom artsy craft, made by ´The Art and Craft of Mimi Kirchner´. She sells these tiny worlds and I just love them. They are so detailed, really nice work.

Autumn day

Yesterday at noon the autumn break started for the kids and since I had to work the boys went playing with one of son#1 classmates who happens to have a brother in the same class as son #2. Today a friend with whome son#1 skies came over to play and since the weather is awfull, we decided to bake some cookies. I must say the rsult looks yummie.

Apple and Pumpkin Pocket Pie Molds - Question

I saw these on the Williams and Sonoma site and they are just wonderful. We don´t have things like that here in Europe, especially Belgium. I envy all of you that live in teh States and have such great bakeware.
These are called Apple and Pumpkin Pocket Pie Molds. I especially like the apple one, since you can use it all year.

These are called Fall Forest Pie Cutters

If you look at the example on the site, the pie looks wonderful.

The only problem is that we can´t order from Williams Sonoma, they don´t send to the States and they also do not accept European credit cards. So I can´t order from them. Does anyone know of a store that carries their products that will send to Europe?

Weekend Germany

This weekend, we went to Germany, near Cochem and the Nurnburgring (for car fans). We visited a local ´Wild park´ and saw a lot of deer (even a white female deer, but she was very shy) and wild boar, OK there we didn´t get out of the car.
The deer are to shy and don´t normally come close to people, but we had an exception, see the pciture below.

And yes, our youngest son in tiroller outfit... He has a matching set.

And offcourse, the pretzel could not be missed, this is a sweet one, so it tasted a lot nicer that the salty ones. We also visited Cochem and I got a present, two nice tableclothes for Christmas, one white with red cross stitch figurines and one red and white checkered with red deer on top of it, very nice, I will have a nicely decorated table with christmas.

We had a great weekend and the food was wonderfull. Thank you very much Rik and Irene for giving us this weekend.

Aren´t these fantastic?

Aren´ these acorns the cutest? I really love them, they are so nice, they are from truLuxe. She sells them in her etsy store.
They represent eveything autumn I think.

Sunday market

This morning we went to one of the typical Belgian sunday markets where they sell small animals, fresh fruits and other foodproducts and of course bric a brac. So I found a nice green woll sweater that I felted and my mum also had one in her cupboard, so I can make some more felt stuffies.

Noy much else going one overhere. The weather was nice this morning but now it is grey and cold so I will take my cross stitch and watch some Martha...

The kids are in their playroom playing some videogames, so I will have to pull them from the TV in a little while.

Mittens

Yesterday I made this mittens from an old sweater of DH. I felted it and attempted a pair of mittens.

I think it worked out fine and I will give these mittens to my partner in the Roses swap I am in. Hopefully she will like them.

I can tell you that they are very warm and comfy. So this is an easy re-use of an old garment.

Yesterday evening I had diner with some friends in an italian restaurant and I could have used some of these, since the table we had booked was still occupied when we arrived and we had to wait 45 minutes before we could be seated...

But the food was delicious, and the company good, so all in all, a great evening.

Autumn

Autumn is definitely here and the boys collect a whole lot of chestnuts, I think that is the name in english, we call them ´kastanjes´. So I decided to make Creme des Marons so they wouldn´t go to waste. Yummy on pancakes or better crepes.
The smaller ones I threw in the garden for our squirrel who is is also stashing nuts and stuff in our garden. Every morning I see him/her frantically stuffing stuff in the ground, knowing that he/she will never find them again... funny, and our garden gets planted with all sorts of stuff.

Keeping busy

I made this siccor fob (is that what you call it?) for a swap I am doing. I think it worked out fine, the size is OK and I like the rose fabrics. So I hope my swap partner also likes it.

And the post before this was my 300th post, so will Vintage Violet from Maximum rabbit designs contact me with her address? I will send you a nice something for my 300th post. Congratulations.

Who can help?

Who can help me finish this tin. I thought it would be a good idea to make it a little treehouse, so I finished the bottom part but I don´t have any inspiration for the top. Whos was a good idea to finish this tin?

Handmade mushroom swap ! - CLOSED

Who is in for a handmade mushroom swap? Since it is almost october and I saw the first red and white toadstools appear in our backyard, I think it is a good idea for a swap.

Let´s say we send our parcels out October 31st. If you like to participate you must be willing to send out international. We will make at least 1 handmade toadstool with a total of three items ( must be mushroom related, fabric, stamp, etc...). You can buy 2 and make one yourself or make them all handmade, it is up to you.

Please make it a nice parcel so it will be a real treat receiving and opening it.

If you want to participate, please mail me (denheijer00 at yahoo.com - the two 00 are zero´s) the following information:

- Name

- address

- color preference

I hope you all want to participate, the more the merrier...

Wedding

Two of my friends got married last weekend, to eachother ! Evelyn I know since kindergarten and Jeroen was one of my roommates in college. They met and history was made.
Saturday they got married and the bride looked fantastic, so did the groom. We had a lovely time having brunch with the newly weds and later at night at diner and the evening party.
We wish you all the best, Evelyn and Jeroen.
At the end of the evening the groom gave me a big present and this was what was inside...
All things mushroom, I just love them all, aren ´t they lovely?
The bracelet I bought myself two weeks ago from Mukkepuk, I love the combination red/white and Delfts blauw. So I had to show it off in this picture.

Walking with dinosaurs

This afternoon, we took son#1 en #2 to ´Walking with dinosaurs´. They loved it, it was a bit scary, but just enough to show that they were though.
If you have the opportunity, you should see it, it is amazing to see the technique that is necessary to make the dinosaurs move. The babies in the beginning are cute and it must be hard for kids to understand they they are robots and not real animals.

The show is really worth watching and OK, it was a lot of money, but I am glad we got tickets. ANd no I didn´t use a flsah to make this pictures. I know that that is very annoying, so I used the night scenen mode of my camer, no flash.
And now, we only have to convince son #2 that the T-rex is not real...