Spring in Amsterdam

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Originally uploaded by kimminita

I just went on my lunch break and I fell for the pink, white, yellow and fresh green all together.

I took this with the FX camera app on my HTC Hero phone. I highly recommend the app!

My baby sis is getting married!

When I finished teaching my mandala class the other night, I had a text message from my youngest sister saying: Hey, are you not at home? I have something to tell you, *giggles*.

The giggles gave it away for me. Either she was pregnant, or getting married. In my mind anyway. So, I called her back and she announced the date 12-11-'10. In Holland we do day-month vs the US month-day, which makes this a fun date to get married! November 12.


I am the oldest of three. All girls. Here's us 2 years ago at a party my BF was the DJ.

Yes, my dad had a hard life, but is now blessed with three son-in-laws and 1 grandson. I am living in sin for many many years already, Joyce, the middle one is married for many many years already and the youngest (25, the only one worth mentioning her age) flew out of the mother nest a few months ago and is now planning her November wedding! My goodness I am getting old. But...not too old to plan her a great bachelorette party!

Thrift store swap

In our group Dutch Swappers on Swap-bot I hosted the thrift store swap. I love going to thrift stores and find the little goldmines between the rubbish they have there. I decided to make my partner something from thrift store finds. The result is the pillow case you see in the picture above. Here's how I made it from 100% thrift store finds.

This jeans pillow case was ready and without damage. I found two, a blue and a grey one. For this swap I used the blue one.

There were also a few pieces of felt. Not the most lively colors, but together they looked great! Out of the felt I made the owl. I used this pattern by Jessica at Juicy bits , but I made it an application instead of an ornament.

This embroidering thread was 1,40 euro for all 26 together! I love finding craft items like that in thrift stores. I used it on the owl as well.

The buttons I found a while back already. Two huge ziplock bags full of unsorted buttons for 2 euro. All together over 750 grams of buttons. I sorted out the bright colors and the funny shapes and put all the black ones, brown ones and grey ones in little glass jars. I used the buttons on the owl for the eyes and on the top right doilies.
And here's my doily collection from the trift store. They are euro 0,50 at average. I used 1 big one on the pillow case.

Of course I washed and ironed everything before I started crafting as you never know if it comes rom a house where they had pets or smoked and your partner on swap-bot might have allergies. Nevertheless I think you should wash everything that comes from a thrift store..
As a result Kim got this pillow case in the mail from me this week.

Soon on Etsy

We are currently going through reconstruction of our attic. Right now the house is PACKED with all the 'stuff we stuffed away' on the attic, so I can't reach my lightbox. That is why Mr. Owl, baby Bunny and the other items have to wait before they can be displayed in my shop.

I also picked up this little girl to sell. But, I picked her up and let her fall out of my hands. Now she is headless. Or bodyless. Whatever you prefer. Should I give her a one way ticket to the bin, or can anyone think of a good recylce?

Koninginnedag / Queensday swap package

This time I hosted a Koninginnedag (Queensday) swap for the Dutch Swappers on Swapbot. (Say swap again!?)

It was quite easy. Make your partner something in our national colors. Orange, red, white and blue.Doens't have to be anything big, just catch the Queensday-theme.

Here's what I made for Nancy. See the magnet on the right? I drew a mandala on it. I made her a cupcake stamp as she loves cupcakes and I tried to make some sort of a postcard with it. But, I have to get the whole postcard-making-skills. I have a lot to learn.
With that I packed buttons in our national colors in several shapes and cupcake buttons and ribbon. Not to forget the application I found in the thriftstore with a crown on it and an orange zipper.

Nancy has already let me know that she very much likes what I sent her!

I won a Gaatjesmaker!

A what!? A gaatjesmaker. That is Dutch for a hole-maker. I love the name as you would assume it is something that makes holes, but it is something that FIXES holes! Make...fix... Oh I am sure you get it.


Diana from Ozowiezo had a twitter Retweet action, I participated and I won her very first twitter action!

I do not have kids, but I have a BF who loves Apple (Mac), so I am sure I will make him something nice for his new notebook. And my niece is turning three and she loves ladybugs, so there's work to do for me on a birthday present with that.

Thanks Diana! Follow her on twitter here.

Telephone sheep

Another great e-mail was forwarded to me by Boyfriend today. Look at these sheep! Fully made out of old telephones by Jean-Luc Cornec. You can see them live (not alive) at the Museum for Communications in Frankfurt Main, Germany.

The other day I stumbled onto the blog of Ellen through a tweet someone re-tweeted. Turns out she live almost around the corner. Anyway. She blogged about this project called Look at Book.
"For 36 weeks a sketchbook was sent in random order between four artists; two in Brooklyn and two in Belfast. Each artist was given five days to complete a spread in response to the one that preceded it. A small portion of each entry extends on to the following page. There was no communication between the artists concerning the content of the book, during its making. "

Ellen got inspired by this project and calls upon you all! Go visit her blog and send her an e-mail if you are interested. I know I did.

Mini journal of randomness #1

On swap-bot I joined the Mini Journal of Randomness #1 -swap. As a kid I always kept a diary and had loads of pen pals all over the world. But around my twenties I stopped all that. Not because I wanted to, it just happened.
When I saw this swap, I decided to join. I wanted to try and keep a journal again. And I combined it with the doodles I used to make in my school agenda as a teenager.

First I made a small journal out of a postcard I had. Isn't that the cutest card ever? And here's the tutorial on how I made it over at Molly Lee's blog.


I used various colors of paper in it, which I filled with all kinds of things.


And because it has to cross the Big Pond, I made a cover / gift bag to put the journal in so it can have a safe trip.

Here's the tutorial I used for making this fabric gift bag over at A Little Red Ribbon.

Want to keep an art journal and swap it International? Stay tuned and see what I will post tomorrow..