Sewing on Saturday: Workshop celebrating the launch of "Naaien & Stikken"

Do you have them? Those days that are packed with those favourite things like sewing, having coffees, laughing out loud and learning something new all in the same day? A day you just wish does not end. Last Saturday was a day just like it!

I was invited by publisher De Fontein|Tirion to join a workshop together with 14 other bloggers to celebrate the launch of a new book called "Naaien & Stikken". It is the Dutch translation of that wonderful book accompanying the even more fun BBC series "The Great British Sewing Bee". The new series started last Tuesday, 9.00 pm, and I enjoy watching it so much!

But back to Saturday. The workshop took place at Texielstad in Tilburg. It was like walking into a candy store, so many lovely fabrics, pure happiness! And not only do they sell fabric, also every accessory you will need, zippers, buttons, thread, needles and complete sewing machines.

We could all make something out of "Naaien & Stikken". Most of us made aprons, which was so much fun! And I even brought my own sewing machine, so I could get started immediately.

I learnt a lot and enjoyed meeting the women behind several of the blogs I like to find inspiration such as the one of my friend Maaike from creJJtion. Also the ladies behind some of the web shops I go to, to buy my fabrics and haberdashery like VanMarieke and SewNatural were there. It was like meeting someone you already know, I so love how that works. And to my surprise several of them said that they have read my blog or follow me on Instagram, yay!

At the end of the afternoon we all finished our projects and everyone really loved the results! 

I will post more on the book in a few days, including a more elaborate show & tell of the apron I made. If you want to have a look at "Naaien & Stikken" click here. I can definitely recommend it, even if you don't sew, because the pictures in it are so beautiful!

Thanks again so much to the De Fontein|Tirion team for inviting me. Hope to see you soon!

Xoxo, Maartje

Packages and presents - winning the Ladybug & Co Give Away

Hello again!

Picking up where I left you in yesterday's blog post, there was not just 1 present in the envelope I opened, but there were 2!

Not only the lovely blue and white Audrey Pouch with Flower, but also the package contained a present with Annemarie's Give Away in it!

Because it had been a while since I entered her Give Away, and another winner was announced, I did not quite know what was in it anymore. 
But then a while later, the original winner did not claim her prize so she announced a new winner, ME! How great is that!!!

I opened up the package and in it was a lovely fabric envelope! Again a lovely and very stylish creation by Ladybug & Co! On the outside a lovely blue polka dot and on the inside a pretty flowery lining. Inside there were 4 pieces of fabric, 2 of them were used to make the envelope. She also added a bright pink polka dot and a blue flowery fabric. I LOVE all of them. My mind immediately went crazy thinking of things to make with these lovelies!

Here are the pictures of my prize Give Away, I could not be happier with it! So Annemarie, thank you so very much for this double treat! Will keep you and all of my readers posted, so you can see what I will Make with these pretty fabrics.

And to my readers make sure you check out her blog Ladybug & Co (in Dutch, but with a translate button ;-) )

See you again soon and have a lovely weekend!

Love xoxo,
Maartje

Pillowcases... final touches for the nursery

Hi there, so nice to meet you here on my blog!
As you know I have been busy the past few weeks to catch you up on all my Makes for the nursery for our little baby boy.

The final bits were some pillowcases to finish off the look. I found a great pilow cover tutorial on the lovely blog of MiekK, which you can find here (in Dutch).
Even for me, with only a bit of sewing experience, it was very easy and it turned out very well, if you don't mind me saying so ~smile~

I made two pillow covers, one measuring 50 x 50 cm and the other slightly bigger at 60 x 60 cm. 
Following the instructions step by step, I measured, cut and sewed both pillowcases, using a navy canvas and some left over fabric I used to reupholster the roman blind (blogpost can be found here) for the 50 x 50 pillow.
The second one I made from the same navy canvas and another left over piece of the postal bag fabric I used to make the memo board (blogged about that one here) and I only finished that one last Friday. Therefore you get to see the results now and not last week as I had planned ;-)

As you can see, the white Ikea chair got a completely new look and feel. By adding the postal bag fabric, it really lifted the color scheme of the room with the little bits of red and the sandy color of the pillowcase.

So here's a little peek into the nursery. Since the nursery is on the Northeastern side of our house, light is a challenge when taking pictures. So hope you can see how it all combines so well.

See you next time!

Love,
Maartje

Wall Art for a little boy's nursery

Oops, over a week has passed without posting a thing on my blog! I suppose I could say, life happened ~smile~
I have been enjoying our little boy a lot, getting to know him, which is so wonderful. His big sister is very loving towards him, I love how she has totally accepted him as part of our family! Since I am recovering well, I can spend more and more time out of bed and around our house. And that feels great!

I wanted to share a great and easy make with you today, the wall art I made for the nursery. Here goes!

So with the nursery almost turned around from a girly girl nursery to a baby boy one, I wanted to add some final touches to complete the look.

I wanted to make some wall art, using a blank canvas, some fabric and flock foil (grey and navy). I ordered the flocking material here and two days later it arrived in the mail, yay for fast deliveries! 

Since the birth announcement card had elephants on them, I wanted to include them in the nursery as well. A couple of weeks before J was born, I bought a lovely blackboard garland at Leen Bakker, shaped like elephants.

I used one of the elephants to outline the shape and cut out the pattern.

Then I placed the pattern on the flock material and using scissors, I cut out the elephants, one in grey and one in navy.

Then, using my iron and two pieces of fabric cut to fit the canvasses I wanted to use, I ironed the flock elephant onto the fabric. The grey elephant was ironed onto plain white fabric, and the navy elephant was combined with a grey and white gingham fabric. Make sure you use a tea towel between the flock and the iron when ironing the flock onto the fabric of your choice.

I let the fabric cool for about 15 minutes, before stapling them onto the canvasses. Finally I placed the canvasses onto the console in the nursery, where they will sit temporarily until I decide how and where to hang them on the grey wall ~smile~

This make was a lot of fun to do and not hard at all. Everyone can do this, so why don’t you give it a try. I would love to hear about your flocking projects!

Love,

Maartje

Birth Announcement Card

Hi there!

Hope you are doing very well. Is it Spring already where you are? Or are you moving on to Fall if you are somewhere in the Southern hemisphere?

In The Netherlands the weather has been up and down, spring-like and with some snow showers as well. So Spring, get here already! I want to take our son outside for a walk!

In The Netherlands it’s custom to send cards with a birth announcement. There are so many cards, styles and prices to choose from, that it can be quite the challenge to find something suitable.

First up, I checked our supplier that made our daughter’s card two years ago, because we wanted the same card, in blue. Unfortunately they did not stock that specific card anymore, so I needed to think of an alternative.

We really wanted a card, which had navy blue in it, so with everything being open again, we could pursue that idea. Most cards for baby boys here are in baby blue, beige or maybe even light yellow or green. Only a few cards I could find, had navy in them, but I did not like them all.

I also wanted a card that had elephants on it, just the silhouette, but I could not find anything suitable. I made a secret board on Pinterest to collect ideas and I took those ideas to the printer’s. I drew the outline of the card on a piece of paper and the girl at the printer’s took my idea and worked out two different lay outs. My husband and I were unanimous that the one with four elephants on it, was nicest. I wanted them to be a bit smaller than the girl had suggested, and so she adapted the design for me.

I choose the ink colour that would be used to print them and we decided to make the elephants all in a different blue, making sure they we all the same colour, but the saturation would vary. One would be 100%, the second 75%, the third 50% and the fourth 25%. When the cards were printed and the husband picked them up, we were both very happy with the result!

And since the card has arrived overseas within one week, I can now post this on my blog ~smile~

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Xoxo,

Maartje

Welcome!

Hi there, and welcome to my blog!

On this blog I want to share parts of my life with you. Especially the creative part that is!

The past couple of years, basically since my daughter was born in 2011, have sparked the creative flame that I wasn't all that aware of. 
Always having been interested in styling our house into a home and reading up on home decorating, I was always fascinated by the idea of creating and crafting. Having never had the courage to just do it, I only thought of what I wanted to do, instead of just going about doing it!

Over the past two years I thought, why wait and just give things a go! Last year I bought myself a sewing machine, because I wanted to make my lil' girl some skirts and dresses. My mother-in-law could teach me a thing or two in that area, so I thought, just start! Also my husband was very encouraging, which helps!

I ended up making a cute flowery dress for my baby! Unfortunately the not so nice summer of 2012 meant that she only got to try it on for size.... Hopefully this summer will be nicer so she can wear it again (with some alterations because she has grown quite a bit haha!). Other fabric, meant for a tunic and legging, is still sitting in my cupboard, waiting for another chance ;-)

Last year my husband did an international project for his company, which resulted in him going off to Toronto, Canada for almost four months in total. I stayed in Rotterdam, with our daughter. And having a daytime job, I just could not pack up and leave of course ;-)
Fortunately I was able to fly in on two different occasions to spend a couple of weeks there with him and our daughter. During that time, Maaike, wife of a Dutch colleague of his, who had moved there in 2011, sent me an email with all things nice to go do and see while in the TO-area. We arranged to meet, so she could give me a guided tour. We had a great time and has become a very dear friend ever since. She's a very talented designer and crochet lover, last September she taught me the basics in crocheting! I still have not managed to finish my first project, but I will not give up and keep persisting ~smile~

The crocheting sparked another craft I had not done since I was 8 or 9, which was knitting! I knitted myself a very comfy cowl, and have several skeins of yarn lying around, waiting to be knitted into something pretty!

Being pregnant now with my second child, a boy, to be born mid March 2013, has me crafting around our house, preparing it for the arrival of our baby boy!

Since my maternity leave started mid February I reupholstered the fuchsia pink roman blind in the nursery, sewed a mat to put into the playpen and made a big memo board to hang on the wall in his room. I also made matching garlands to hang on the playpen and in the nursery. 

And these things combined have made me think about starting this blog. To share my Makes with you and maybe even to inspire others to start crafting and creating.

So, during the next week, before our son is born, I will post some of the projects I have been working on. I will also try to figure out how this blogspot thing works, so I can personalize my blog by adding photo's and that sort of things ;-) And after, I will obviously continue blogging ~SMILE~

So thanx very much for stopping by and hope to see you again soon!

Xoxo,
Maartje