Very sad Christmas....

Dear readers....
For everyone who has been waiting for my give-away, I'm sorry...
My grandma passed away very suddenly, about two-and a half weeks ago, at the age of (almost) 83.

She was brought to the hospital on friday afternoon with stomach pains and signs of dehydration.
Her bloodpressure suddenly dropped friday evening, so I picked up my mom in Harderwijk and we rushed to the hospital in Amersfoort.
When we got there she seemed to be doing a bit better, but the situation still wasn't very good...
Saturday they figured out that the sitiuation was so bad, that she wouldn't leave the hospital alive this time...
Sunday afternoon she passed away, surrounded by her loved ones....

I'm very sad and feel kind of empty, since grandma didn't want to go, but her body just couldn't take any more...
I'm grateful though, I went to see her  two weeks before she got sick, and I took my little man with me... I'll never forget "grote oma's" face when I held him in front of her... She was so proud of this new great-grandchild... :,-)

As you can understand, I didn't (and still really don't) feel like blogging.
And as my give-away is a Christmas-related gift, this one won't be posted.

I'm thinking of something else to make, so I can do a give-away in the new year....

Love, Caroline

Crochet Cowls

I haven't started on the messenger bag yet, but I'v finished my cowl and started on another one for hubby! They aren't crocheted round (I've triend it and I failed miserably), but they are sewn together when I'm done...

Joshua is modeling mine... :D He's getting so big already...!

I'm crocheting my ass off at the moment, to finish the small x-mas-gifts for my colleagues...

And I'm planning on doing a give-away of one or two of the beauties I'm making...

So stay tuned...

Love,

Caroline

Daiperpouch

I was sick and tired of taking my huge daiperbag with me for Joshua, just going to the store for some groceries.
So I sewed a small daiperpouch, which fits in my handbag. It holds a sack of babywipes and 3 or 4 daipers. I could even fit a mouthcloth in there.

I used eloleo's tutoleo but pimped the outside a bit.

We are really into sealife, so I made a whale cutout on the front.

For the liningI used a cradlesheet from the Hema, which someone gave me But since I don't have a cradle and it doesn't fit Joshua's crib, I cut it up.
The outside is IKEA Aina fabric.

 I'm planning on making a messenger-style-bag for Joshua to take his stuff to the daycarecentre. And I'm using the same fabrics...

Hopefuly I can show you my progress on that next time, but I'm also doing loads of othe crafty stuff, so maybe I'll show that first...

Love,

Caroline

Two Boys...

I'm still on leave and Wednesday isn't Rebekka's workday, so I went over there for a visit...

Sietse was in bed when I arrived and Joshua was asleep too, so we chatted and crocheted uninterrupted.
About half an hour before I went home, Sietse and Joshua both woke up.
I changed Joshua's daiper and Sietse watched from a distance.

When I was done, Joshua started mumble and whine a bit, so Sietse brought him all kinds of toys to comfort him. Wooden cars and some pencils. He even wanted to share his Pepernoten.

When all that didn't help, Sietse did this:

 

How cute is that!

I hope to finish my scarf this week, so I'll show you when it's done...

After that I'm starting on a blanket, but I'm note sure which combination of stitches I'll use...

I'm trying to decide between this one and this one...

Which would you pick?

Love, Caroline

Bedspread and crocheting...

Yesterday I wrote about the bedspread...
And here it is.
The wall and bed don't match with the quilt, even the slightest, but we plan on partially redecorating the bedroom... I just don't know when yet...

I'd love to paint the "wood" on the bed white and I want the wall behind the bed in one color. Would purple match with the quilt?

I also started crocheting. I did Mieks first lesson, but impatient as I am, I went online in search of more.. Youtube is a great medium...! ! ! This is what I'm working on.
When I'm done, I'm sewing the ends together and it'll be a scarf (cowl?)

First I wanted to make a blanket, but I didn't use enought stitches te start with. And I didn't want to take it apart and start again...

If you want to try this combination of stitches (it's really cute when you use multiple colors), watch this video! It's really good and repeats each step several times!



Well, that's it for today!

Love, Caroline

PS Leave me a comment?

Busy week

I had a really busy week, with lots of crafts...First I tought myself how to crochet, but more on that tomorrow!

Wednesday I showed you I was going to see Rihanna...  Well that turned out to be a huge bummer...

Grandma came to babysit Joshua, so Andries and I could go to Arnhem.
It was really busy on the roads, with loads of small traffic jams, which was annoying, but not really a big deal, since Rihanna wouldn't start until 9PM.
We were in Arnhem quite on time, but all the parking spaces around the Gelredome were full, so we had te park elsewere, which meant a 20 minute walk to the stadium (but no parking fees).
When we finally got inside, the opening act (Calvin Harris) was just ending his performance. That was at 8.30PM, so we were on time to see Rihanna...

Well, 9 PM came... And went... 9.30 PM came.... And went... And the diva didn't start until 9.58PM.
And about the first half an hour she didn't sing much herself, but left most of the singing up to her backgroundsingers and the audience...
After those 30 minutes her voice seemed warmed up and that's when she showed what an amazing singer she really is... Eventhough she still turned the mic to the audience waaaaaaay too much....
I wasn't really too enthousiastic about the whole show, so I didn't take any pictures...
(When we came home, I read loads of rumours on Twitter that Rihanna was drunk and stoned, which would explain a lot, but makes it even worse... You're not really a serious artist of you drink and smoke weed before a concert...! The next day, these rumours were also all over the news....)

Before Andries and I went to Arnhem, my mom and I went to the thriftstores in Almere to see if they had anything good. I bought a shirt and a pair of pants at Tante Pollewop and a shirt, a Sinterklaasbook and two Heinekenglasses, at the big thriftstore. My mom also brought a vest I saw at the thriftstore in Harderwijk and didn't buy then and a really cool LiefLifestyle Wintercoat, which I bought of Marktplaats and was delivered to her house (the seller lives in the same street).

The day after the concert, my mom helped me to finish the bedspread I started on last December and picked up again in May/June.
The thing is kind of big and I don't have that big a piece of free floorspace in my house, so I couldn't lay it out completely. I sewed half of it together last week, on my own, but that took me just about the whole day. So because my mom was here anyway, I figured she could help me out...

The gorgeous pink and blue(ish), flowery, polkadotted bedspread in laying proudly on our bed now, and it's already keeping my feet nice and warm.
I can't wait for the nights to get reaaaaally cold, so we can use it over the whole bed...! Pictures of the beadspread tomorrow also...! I'm a bit lazy today and have lots to do... :-(

Love, Caroline

Sorta WW: Rihanna

No real WW today, 'cause there are some words today...!

We're off to see Rihanna in Arnhem, a gift from my dear brother...!

I hope I have some pictures to show you tomorrow!

Love,

Caroline

WW: Thriftstore Finds and Babyshopping

I went to the thriftstore in Harderwijk with my mom and found:

a (I think) HEMA Bathcape and a Boatshirt for Joshua

and a Memorygame, same as I had when I was a kid.

And I bought a scarf and a wintercap for Joshua at the Wibra

Crocheting

This is something I've always wanted to learn (along with knitting).I've been planning on teaching myself via YouTubevideo's, but somehow I haven't found the time to actually do it...

On Rebekka's blog I saw a button which says "Haakles" (Crocheslessons). That spiked my interest, so I clicked.
The button links to Miekes blog, to a new section in which she'll post crocheting-lessons!
I'm reaaaaallly happy with that!

So tomorrow I'm going shopping for the supplies I need, and I'm going to follow Mieke's lessons!

I've scrolled through Mieke's blog (not really read it, but just looked at the pictures) and there's more cool stuff on there... It is in Dutch though, but Google-translater should help with that, if you can't read Dutch (I've seen that I have some readers from other countries than Holland :-D)

Love,

Caroline

PS: I love comments, don't be a stranger if you happen to read my ramblings...!

WW: Sleeping in the RingSling

Gifts

Last time I told you I was planning on making a gift for my materrnity help.
Well, I finished it last Tuesday and mailed it to her, together with two Delfts Blond mugs.
(Helma, if you read this and don't want to know what the mugs cost, don't click the link! ;-P)
Today she told me she got her gifts (and she loved them), so now I can show you what I made her.

I had quite a hard time packing it, since it turned out so great, I really didn't want to give it away...
Just joking....!
But I do love the result. It seems my scrapinspiration is back, because lots of other ideas are floating around in my head...!

For this project I used only October Afternoon papers, Report Card and Seaside to be precise. I love this brand and if my inspiration is truly back, I need to get some more ! ! !

Embellishments are: Creamotion, Amarican Crafts, Maya Road, Tim Holtz, Pink Paisley, Bo Bunny, Making Memories, Luxe Designs and Xenos.

I hope I'll have more to show soon, but for now I'm just trying to find a routine which allows me to be creative and maybe do some posts on more random stuff...

Love,

Caroline




PS: For some reason, I can't seem to get the lay out for this post right...
I gave up and this is how it turned out...
I decided to just go with it!

WW: Smile!

A little update

As you can imagine, caring for a newborn doesn't leave much creative time.Loads of idea's going through my head though, so I hope we can settle into some kind of routine soon, so I can get some stuff done...

First on the list is a gift for my maternity help. I didn't want to give her a giftcertificate, 'cause she seems to get those a lot..
I have the perfect gift in mind, but I need some pictures for that... So this week I'm ordering some prints, so I can get started. She's on vacation right now and I already let her know I'll send het the gift, when she gets back... So I have a little time...

Joshua is growing sooooo fast, it seems almost impossible to keep up with all the little changes...
And I do have something to show you. Our birthannouncements...

 

I designed these myself, using HEMA's design and printservice. A really cheap solution, as I think most birthannouncements aren't worth the costs.

I hope I can show you some more stuff really soon, but I'm not making any promises!

Love,

Caroline

Joshua Maik

Tuesday August 30th at 3.33PM (15.33u) he was there:

Our beautiful son Joshua Maik

WW: Someone is in need of attention...

And, nope, still no baby... Just 12 more days 'till my due date...

Love,

Caroline

MM: Can you tell..

This way you can't really tell....

But this way you can definitely tell...!

Just 4 more weeks to go....

Love,

Caroline

Raglan baby T-shirt

A while ago I borrowed a couple of Ottobres from my colleague Rebekka.

I found this great pattern for a T-shirt, that didn't look too diffucult.

And at the FabricSpectacle in Lelystad I already bought some cool kid knit-fabrics.

So I started on my first real sewing project yesterday.
Other than sewing straight lines on cotton, I have never sewn anything without my moms help... So I was really scared ! ! !

The pattern I picked, really wasn't too difficult. I ran in to a little problem with the cuffs and collar, but I fixed that rather nicely, if I say so myself...
You can see what went wrong, but for a first try, I really happy with the result!

Love,

Caroline

WW: I hate being a teacher... ;-P

But thankfully the summerholidays start soon... REALLY soon...

Animalpark

I know, I planned to do this yesterday, but things turned out differently. And so here I am, typing this, while hubby is still sleeping and I haven't even made coffee yet...

Wait.. I'll be right back.. ;-D

....

Can't start the day without coffee, can you?

So, I promised to blog about my visit too the zoo.

I while ago, my 5year-old niece Wyneke phoned me, to ask if I wanted to go to the zoo with her.

She had an invitation from the "Jonge Mantelzorgers" (Young Carers), to go to Dierenpark Wissel in Epe.

So last Sunday we met up with a bunch of other kids and parents/grandparents and we went to Epe by bus.

Dierenpark Wissel is a really small zoo, they don't have any of the big animals like elephants, giraffes and lions. The biggest animal they have is a dwarf-hippo.

There are lots of smaller animals, which can be seen up close and personal... LOL...

We walked around the park for about two hours, watched the puppettheatre about Stein Stokstaartje (Stein Meerkat) and a bunch of other animals. My niece ate icecream and after that we went to the playground.

Well, Wyneke went to the playground and I sat on the terrace with the other adults.

This terrace was just around the orner from where the playground is, so whenever Wyneke needed something, she'd come and find me...

I, we, had a lot of fun, but I was really happy we went home an hour early.

Here are some pictures of the animals:

 

The cutest animal of them all:





Love,

Caroline



Time off....

That's what I really need... Time off...

Last week has been crazy. Lots of stuff going on at work, introduction-afternoon with the (new)kids and "new" teachers. Fun, but not really well organised this year, so it was kinda hectic...

My substitute and I put the kids right to work on the birthdaycalendar for next year and it's gonna turn out so cool...!
We made frames with a crown on top, some glittery jewels and their names and birthdays below.
In the frame is gonna go a picture of each kid, I took those that afternoon...
There are only two new kids in our class and 6 that are transferring from the "start"class (instroomgroep)..
We're starting with 21 kids (for now, who knows how many parents enroll their kids at the last moment).

It's really weird, I'm constantly talking about "we", but my substitute is starting this class on her own in the new schoolyear and we're all really hoping she can stay after that as my co-worker (duo-partner), but nothing is sure at the moment, since there are LOTS of cuts in educationbudgets...
Which means that there are lots of teachers who have to find another spot and are in "mobility".
They have to be placed at other schools, so we're hoping everyone is placed in January, so my substitute can stay with us...!

It's really fun prepping everything with her, since we're on the same page with so much things. I thought it would be really hard for me to let things go. I'm really a "pull the strings" kinda person.
But she's really laid back and that makes is soooo much easier for me..

We also had parent-teacher conferences, not too much hard conversations... But still tiring for me.
And I started cleaning and clearing stuff in my classroom, so my substitute won't have to rummage through my junk when she starts...

So after work, each day, I had to nap for at least an hour so I could do some stuff around the house and just have a nice evening with my husband....
That's why I haven't been really active blogging this week...
Tomorrow I plan to do a post about my zoo-visit with my niece (lots of pictures) and after that it'll probably another disappearingact for the upcoming week...
Last week of work...!

Love,

Caroline

WW: Yeah...right....

MM: Cheating...

Since I don't really have the time to take a mirror-picture and my laptop has a webcam, I'm cheating today!

Can you see the stress on my face? I sure can see it, but I like the "glow" the webcam gives me...

Just two more reportcards to type and then it's on to other stressfull stuff...
Just three more weeks (13 schooldays) to go...

Love,

Caroline

EDIT: They're done... ! ! ! (patting myself on the back...)

Aaargh....

Absolutely no creative time for me...

I'm swamped with schoolwork. Reportcards, getting everything ready for the teacher who'll replace me after the summerbreak, transfer-forms for the kids who're going to the next grade.
Last week we had two very hectic, fun-filled days of celebrating. Which took lots of preperationtime on forehand and organisation on the days themself...

And with only nine more weeks to go, 'till my due-date, my body is sooooo tired... So at the moment it's school (work), napping when I get home, dinner, more work on the couch or at the dinnertable and bedtime for me...

Just three more weeks to go and then it's summerbreak. And I have planned lots to do in my free time (when I'm not napping, that is ;D)

Love,

Caroline

WW: Cat in the bag... or not...

Mirror Monday

Just a fast one...

Crappy quality, since I didn't change any of he settings and my iPhone is out for repairs...

Oh, and PLEASE dont mind the mess in my bathroom... It doesn't usually look like that...

Love,

Caroline

Exclusive Under Construction Concert

Hubby won tickets to the exclusive UnderConstruction Concert Skunk Anansie gave, to promote the new Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam...

We just got home and it really was an exclusive concert...

Really small stage and really few people.. Fully catered... Also very nice... :D

And what a voice... When she speaks, it's like you hear a fairytale-princess, but when she starts singing... Damn...!

We had a blast...!

Love,

Caroline