Looking back....

......the year went by so fast, I can hardly believe this is the end of 2010. Looking back I have to say that I have had a super year, so much that has happend and changed in a good way. I feel so happy and lucky looking back, I tryed to sum up my year in some pictures, some of my favourite events, projects, changes and achievements. I hope you also had a good year and a big thanks for coming to my blog and shop, I really appriciate it! I have so many plans and projects in my head for next year, a new doll design, new birthday themes and much more.....

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I wish you all a happy and very creative 2011 and hope to see you back next year

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Fijne feestdagen & Merry christmas

So I will take a few days off and want to thank you all for coming to my blog & leaving your comments, I really appriciate it! I wishing you all a very merry christmas, joyeux noel, fijne feestdagen and hope to see you back soon.

Christmas came early

Yesterday the mailman brought us two lovely packages one from Guusje ( I will show you when I framed it) and one from Karen from Misha Lulu, some time ago we agreed to swap and she send us some really nice t-shirts for Sofia and Mila, now I know what they are going to wear with christmas.

Bloesem christmas gift guide

Some time ago I was asked by Irene from Bloesem kids to share my gift ideas for christmas, I can tell you it was hard to choose, there are so many lovely things to buy your kids for christmas, you can find the post here. Are you ready for christmas? We don't have a tree yet, I was so busy these last few weeks and then with the snow and sick children it is hard to get out of the house, I think today we will buy a nice small one and finally start decorating...

A fairytale

In Paris I bought this book, I had already seen in on internet and knew I had to have it. My girls love dressing up and I love making them clothes and in this book are some really nice patterns to make pretty dresses and other fairytale clothes. The sizes go from 2-10 years and there are some really stylish boys costumes too. The girls love the dress and cape from "Peau d'Ane" (.....translated in donkey skin, I'm still trying to find the dutch/english name for this fairytale). Lucky for my girls I have worked at a curtain-store and bought lots of pretty coupons in those days and ended up with a huge pile with pure silk, lovely tafts and shiny organza's, they just had to choose their favourite colour combo. Friday I will have a sewing date with Hetty and we will make princess dresses for our daughters, I really look forward to that!

for those who asked

***the name of the book is Contes de fees intemporels by Astrid le Provost***

Brrrrr.....so cold

These are pictures of my weekend, I did two craft markets, both in Rotterdam, one outside and one inside, both very cold! Sofia joined me on sunday and sold some home baked cookies. I really enjoyed meeting the other sellers and some nice customers but was very dissapointed about the market on sunday( swanmarket), it's always difficult to know what markets will be good and there are so many factors that can make or break it.

Happy sewing

I will be at two christmas markets this weekend so I decided to sew some extra (small) things to take with me. I sewed some napkins and tissueholders and also made some sewing sets and made these cute buttons. I love making these fabric buttons, I will use these for the pincushions and sewing books I just made.

A little film

Some time ago I got an I-phone from my man and I really like my new toy, I love making little films, this is a film I made of the girls room a few months ago, not such a great quality but I thought it would be fun to share with you.

Gratis bezorgen in Nederland !!!

Christmas is getting very close so it's time for last minute christmas shopping. This week I offer free shipping to all orders in the Netherlands for my etsy and bigcartel shop. This offer lasts untill sunday the 19th!!

Markets this weekend

This coming weekend will be a busy one, saturday I will have a stall at the market "Kerst op de Kaap" ( do you remember the pictures of last year? Pretty snow and very cold feet) and sunday I will have a stall at the "Swan market" a new market just a few streets from my house. I'm looking forward to the markets and hope that it will be busy, see you this weekend!!!

Christmas in our house

Monday evening I finally put up our advent calendar, I know it's way to late but I just couldn't find the time before. I filled the socks with all the goodies Sofia and I brought back from Paris, I wrapped the presents in red/white polka dot paper and used my new origami paper to make labels. I love dressing the house up for the Holidays!!

Goodies just for me!!

Here are some of the goodies that I bought in Paris, a new Japanese sewing book in French, pretty origami paper, japanese masking tape and some stamps. Of course I could not leave Paris without visiting my favourite store "Petit Pan Mercerie". A shop filled with colourfull fabrics, papers, ribbons and buttons.........I can't wait using my new fabrics and take an other look at their catalogue.

Paris Shopping

I'm back from Paris....still a bit tired we walked a lot and had lots of bags to carry!!! We (Sofia and I) had a great mother & daughter trip and it was so good to see our friends again and say hello to sweet little baby Eva. We managed to visit quite a lot of lovely boutiques and I made plenty of pictures to update my "Paris blog"

Sweet Jane

Yesterday there was a little white enveloppe in our mailbox and when we opened it we found two sweet boxes filled with happiness & sweetness. You should have seen the look on Sofia and Mila's faces, how cool to have a pretty necklace with a picture of yourself!! Thank you so much Jane for this sweet gift, we love it and your the best! If you like to see more of Jane's work (and I'm sure you want to ) you can visit her blog and site. Today I'm finishing up some orders and preparing for my trip to Paris, tomorrow evening Sofia and I will board the Thalys......I can't wait!

Sewing houses

I liked the houses the girls made for the christmas market so much that I just had to make some myself, these are not finished jet, they still need stuffing and some embroidery, I will do that today while I sit and wait for the girls on theater- school ( every wednesday 3,5 hours), they must think I'm crazy, every week I come there with bags full of little sewing projects that needs to be finished, while the other parents just sit and read a book or newspaper. I always try to make the most of my time..... The finished houses are for the christmas ornament swap and I can't wait to see what they made!

New coat for Sofia

This morning I finished the new coat for Sofia, I did most of the cutting and sewing on sunday while the girls where playing with their new toys they got from Sinterklaas and just had to add buttons. I consinder myself to be a good sewer but some things I still find a little bit tricky, like making holes for buttons, so I decided to cheat a little bit and use snap buttons in combination whith a real button. The coat is lined with a floral cotton and has two inside pockets. Sofia is very pleased with the result and so I'm I. Now she can walk the streets of Paris in style.....

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for the who wants to know I used the pattern from the Check &Stripe standard book( ISBN 978-4-418-07403-7) and added the hood from a pattern for a womens coat from the Check& Stripe Parisian style book (ISBN 978-4-08-780485-0)

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I love Japanese sewing books!!

Red and lots of white.....

Our weekend was filled with lots of crispy white snow, hot chocolate, packing packages, unwrapping Sinterklaas presents and sewing. Did you have a good weekend too? I also managed to do some screenprinting and thought it could be nice to print the Rabbit in red, you can find them in my shop. This week will be a busy one, lots of things to do including finishing the new wintercoat I'm sewing for Sofia and preparing for my trip to Paris this weekend, I cannot wait to jump on that Thalys!!

winter wonderland

I'm inside screenprinting rabbits and dolls and outside it's cold and snowy, so pretty don't you think?