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

Makes by Maartje: Crafting a memo board

Mid February my maternity leave started and I wanted to spend the days my daughter is at the daycare, with an updo of the nursery. That meant three days a week of me-time, for a period of three weeks, giving me a chance to craft up a storm here ~smile~.

One of the things I really wanted to do was to decorate the wall of the nursery with a memo board. A friend of ours gave us one she made herself when our daughter was born and I really liked the look of it. Especially when we got to hang her drawings and birthday cards on it. But to have a pink memo board hang on the wall of a baby boy nursery, well, that's not quite what I had in mind hahaha!

I looked up various tutorials and thought, hey, I can do that! And using a painter's canvas instead of a panel of mdf, made it a lot less heavy to hang on the wall. So this would be one of my projects for the nursery.

At one of the local fabric stores, I found the coolest fabrics, canvas with postal bag print on it. I thought it would just be great for our son's nursery.

The color scheme I had in mind for the room was navy blue, gray and white. And the color of the fabric, a burlap type beige with the Dutch flag on it, would be great for this boy's room.

So I decided to buy a panel of the fabric and got some padding as well. Then I went to Action, which is a discount shop with fabulous stuff for creating and crafting. There I bought a painter's canvas measuring 60 x 80 cm, for only 3,99, so I was very happy about that!

At home, I covered the panel with fiberfill and then fitted the fabric around it. Using a staple gun, I attached both layers to the canvas. Then I left it alone for a couple of days, because I was searching the web for some nice ribbons to use for the memo board. Online I came across the website of Marieke which is filled with all kinds of cute fabrics and haberdashery. I ordered three different kinds of ribbons, one of which could be used on both sides. When they arrived a couple of days later, I made an outline of all of the ribbons and using the same staple gun, attached them to the board. Finally I used several wooden buttons to secure the ribbons to each other and to the canvas, allowing me to put different cards and decorations to it, without losing grip.

I have to say, I am very happy with the end result. And having some of the postal bag fabric left, I want to make a pillow to put in the white chair in the nursery. But that will be another post, probably in a couple of days ;-).

Would love to hear your adventures in these types of crafts. Thanx for visiting my blog today! I am looking forward to seeing you again soon!

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