You are my sunshine - ATC

Vorige week maakte ik voor het eerst een ATC voor een uitdaging

en ik haalde de top 3!!!

Last week I made an ATC for a challenge

and I made the top3!!!

Natuurlijk moest ik van mezelf ook meedoen met de uitdaging van deze week.

You are my sunshine!

Of course I made myself take this weeks challenge too.

You are my sunshine!

Ik heb heerlijk een poosje lekker therapeutisch zitten knippen en plakken.

Beetje jammer dat mijn scanner de mooie steentjes die ik als bloemetjes in het gras plaatste een beetje vreemd uiterlijk geeft...

Kom doe gezellig mee op Wicked Wednesday!

Wil je ruilen? Roep maar! :)

I've been cutting and gluing for quit some time, it's therapeutic!

Too bad my scanner doesn't approve of the lovely stones I placed as flowers in my grass and makes it all looking a little weird...

Come on over and play along on Wicked Wednesday!

Want to swap? Just holler! :)

Postcard Challenge 17

Hi again!

Ready for this weeks card?

Here you can find last weeks card! 

Now Emily was home for a while she had time to look up some old acquaintances.

She used to hang out with a lovely bunch of activists, 

who just liked to protest more than really seriously having something to say.

When she finds out they are going to Norway to visit the criminal trial of Anders Behring Breivik in the Oslo courtroom it seems a great idea to go with them.

For the good old times...

This weeks postcard is made from a watercolor painting I made this week

I looked at Utøya from different angles but the coastline like we saw them the first days on the news made the biggest impression and so I painted a couple trees reflected in the water.

Here's my complete painting:

And the back of my card:

 

 And it reads:

God Dag from Norway!

I met some old friends from high-school and they talked me into protesting in Oslo, to make sure Breivik gets the death penalty...

When talking here to some relatives I learned it might be better to have him behind bars forever, living a lousy life and being remembered of his horrific deeds on daily bases...

My 'friends' made fun of me and called me a wimp.

I guess the traveling changed me a lot...

XO Emily

Don't forget to check out the other cards from Norway!!!!

I'm ready to visit the other blogs and leave some love all over! :)

Wholehearted

Oh, ik moet echt eens stoppen met rondsurfen op het wereldwijde web

Vooral sites als Ravelry zijn zoooooo gevaarlijk! :)

Ik had het koud en dan is het zo fijn om je te vergapen aan al het moois dat daar te zien is aan brei- en haakwerk.

Zo kwam ik zomaar uit bij de Wholehearted

en ook op het blog van Evelyn en zij maakte er een heuse KAL van!

Nou ja, je snapt het al, ik ben verkocht!

Waarom niet als je iemand kunt helpen wiens huis net uitgebrand is?

Gee, I really should stop surfing around on he Worldwide Web.

Especially sites like Ravelry are so dangerous! :)

I felt cold and it was so nice to look at all the gorgeous crochet and knitting projects.

I stumbled upon the Wholehearted

and suddenly found myself on Evelyn's blog

and she made this pattern into a KAL!

Yeah, you can guess where this one's going... 

I'm sold on this pattern and the purpose behind it!

Why not help someone who lost everything in a house fire?

En dus dook ik in mijn voorraad en vond deze streng die ik in december bij Ajoure kocht

Trekking Hand Art - Colombo 580

En dat viel nog niet mee om er een bal van te maken...

Een middagje en 500 knopen later kon ik toch opzetten!

And so I dove into my stash and found this yarn I bought at Ajoure in december

Trekking Hand Art - Colombo 580

And it wasn't easy to make it into a ball...

After an afternoon and about 500 knots later I was ready to cast-on!

Ik heb het eerste stuk bijna klaar

nog een toer of 8 denk ik...

Ik verander niet van kleur zoals het patroon aangeeft

maar gebruik lekker deze hele bal.

Wordt vervolgd! :)

I'm almost done with the first part

I guess about 8 more rows to go...

I won't change color like the pattern suggests

but will use this entire ball.

To be continued! :)

Who knows...

Tja, wie kan het ons zeggen?

Wie weet wat er in het woud woont,

zonder dat we het ooit zien?

Well, who can tell?

Who does know what lives in the forest,

without us ever seeing?

 

Mijn naaimachine is even logeren bij de dokter,

niets ernstigs hoor, 

gewoon even lekker schoon maken.

Dat moet zo af en toe!

En dat geeft mij lekker de tijd om eens uit te proberen hoe aquarelverf nu eigenlijk werkt...

My sewing machine has a sleep over at the doctor,

nothing serious, don't worry,

just some thorough cleaning.

It needs that every now and than!
And that gave me some time to dabble some more in the world of watercolor paint... 

Postcard Challenge 16

Sooo... Friday again...

Time to travel to Romania...

But I gave Broes a break, remember?

He's sending his card from home but it was inspired by the looks of slavic girls.

Broes just found a card from Emily in his mailbox again. A card all the way from Iceland!

He had never been there before and he would've loved to be with her, visiting the 25 waterfalls...

Oh well, being home for a while was very good too.

After 10 days he felt ready to go back to work and he was looking forward to whatever place he would be sent to next...

But first to pick out a lovely card to send to Emily and some calling around to see what was open to rent. He was determined to help her, although she came across quite happy living with her parents for a while. Reading her cards he didn't feel much of her darker moods lately.

Maybe he shouldn't rush things...

New stamp from Gorjuss, stitched by hand and machine, 

made the paper roses with a die, English Rose by Marianne Design.

The back reads:

The house I live in, is the house I was born in!

When my parents where no longer able to live here and take card of the animals and fields it felt only natural to by all this and move 'back home'.

I never really thought about what I wanted or needed and I really like it here, kind of in the middle of nowhere but still only half an hour from the airport.

Sometimes I do think it would be nice to have a family waiting to come home to...

Broes

Don't forget to check out all the other travel stories!

Thanks for all the comments, I really love reading them!!! :)

Earth Day ATC

Zondag 22 april is het de Dag van de Aarde

"Earth Day. Jaarlijks een dag met activiteiten die tot doel hebben mensen bewust te maken van het bijzondere van de aarde en het leven daarop.

Op deze dag wordt op positieve wijze aandacht gevraagd voor de wereldproblematiek rondom natuur, milieu en klimaatverandering. Bezinning en plezier staan hierbij voorop.

In de Verenigde Staten is de Dag van de Aarde (International Earth Day) sinds 1970 een populair fenomeen. Ook in Frankrijk is de Dag van de Aarde al langer ingeburgerd. Sinds 2004 krijgt deze dag ook in Nederland steeds meer bekendheid."

~citaat vanaf  Wereld Feesten Almanak

Vraag je je nu af waarom we de moeite zouden doen?
Kijk eens naar deze prachtige foto's en dan is recyclen  en afval scheiden en batterijen verzamelen ineens niet zo'n gek idee. 
En dus maakte ik deze ATC op een oude pagina uit een boek!
(Aquarelverf en een zwarte fineliner)
Fijne dag van de Aarde alvast!!! 

Wil je hem ruilen? Laat dan even een berichtje achter! 

Sunday April 22 it's Earth Day.


If you're wondering why you should participate and honor the Earth, take a look at these impressive photos!
Isn't it a small step to separate the trash,  recycle some more?


ATC for Earth Day
Made for Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge #28
Hop on over, it's a great blog!
(I used watercolor paint and a black marker on an old book page)

Want to swap it? Just leave a message!

Sew something nice...

Ik ben niet zo'n heel fanatieke swapper meer op Swap-bot

maar zo nu en dan komt er eentje voorbij die ik niet kan laten lopen... 

*grijns*

Zo ook met 'Sew something nice for me'!

I'm not a very active swapper on Swap-bot anymore

but I keep scanning the swaps and every now and then there's one I can't resist...

*smile*

That's how I felt about 'Sew something nice for me'!

Ik maakte een mini-quiltje voor mijn partner Megan

Wil je zien welke stappen ik nam om tot hier te komen?

Kijk mee...

I sewed a mini-quilt for my partner Megan

Want to know how I ended up here?

Just scroll on...

Ik naaide zomaar wat lijnen met satijnkoord en decoratieve steken van de naaimachine om een heuvel te maken...

Wanneer je geinteresseerd bent in deze techniek, kan ik je deze online cursus héél erg aanraden:

Stupendous Stitching by Carol Ann Waugh

Ik kocht mijn eerste naaimachine bijna 20 jaar geleden maar heb echt veel van haar geleerd!

I sewed a couple lines with Rattail and decorative stitches on the sewing machine to create a hill...

If you're interested in this technique and more I can advise you to follow this online course:

Stupendous Stitching by Carol Ann Waugh 

I bought my first sewing machine almost 20 years ago but learned so much from her!

 

De boeken van Aimee Ray kan ik ook alleen maar aanbevelen bij een project als dit!

The books by Aimee Ray are absolutely fabulous too and perfect for this project!

 

De boom maakte ik door een wollen draad op te naaien.

En toen zette ik de naaimachine weg en ging ik met de hand verder...

I made the tree while sewing on a woolen thread.

And then I unplugged my sewing machine and went on with hand stitching...

 

Blaadjes aan de boom, vogeltjes in een nest, een eekhoorntje, vogeltjes...

Je fantasie kan niet groot genoeg zijn!!!

Leaves on the tree, birds in a nest, a little squirrel, a couple birds...

How big is your imagination?!

 

Toen ik helemaal tevreden was maakte ik er een sandwich van 

(een lap stof voor de achterkant, een fleece als middenlaag en de geborduurde lap bovenop)

en naaide almaar vanuit het midden naar de rand, door de drie lagen.

When I was completely satisfied I made a sandwich of it

(a piece of fabric for the back, a fleece in the middle and my emrboidered piece on top)

and sewed from the middle to the outside through all three layers.

Bijna klaar! Hij is netjes op maat gesneden...

Almost done! Just cut into a nice square...

 

En afgemaakt met een nette rand van satijnkoord.

Iets wat prachtig uitgelegd word in Stupendous Stitching!!!

And finished up with a neat rattail-binding.

Something wonderfully explained in Stupendous Stitching!!!

Ik kreeg deze geweldige kussenslopen van Janet.

De stof met sneeuwpopjes is zó leuk!

Helaas vonden mijn jongens dat ook en zij hebben ze per direct meegenomen naar hun bedstedes op zolder... 

Tja, en toen had ik nog niks... :)

I received these awesome pillowcases from Janet.

The fabric with snowmen is soooo cool!

Too bad my boys felt the same and they took them straight up into their new build-in beds in the attic...

 And that left me with nothing... :)

Art Specially Event

Gister ging ik  weer eens op pad.

Deze keer gingen we naar het Art Specially Event in Zeist!

Allemaal creatieve, voornamelijk stempel-gerichte winkels bij elkaar!

Ken je Vilda al? Waren helemaal uit Zweden gekomen...

Yesterday I went out again.

This time we went to the Art Specially Event in Zeist!

All kinds of creative, mostly rubber stamping related stores together!

Have you heard of Vilda? They came all the way from Sweden...

Helaas was dit stempeltje op...

Maar ik mocht hem toch vooral via de website bestellen en kreeg een visite-kaartje met twee kleine stempeltjes mee!

Too bad this cute stamp was gone...

 But I received her card with two cute little stamps attached and I really should order it through the site! 

Gelukkig was er ook nog genoeg te vinden wat wel in mijn tas belandde!

Ik ben helemaal blij met mijn twee Gorjuss stempeltjes!

En natuurlijk met de rest ook... Hahaha!

En zo was er zomaar weer een heerlijke zondag om...

En is het alweer maandag!

Lekker verder kleuren en een kaartje maken vandaag, denk ik...

Of course there was enough other stuff  and some of it ended up in my bag!

I'm so happy with my two Gorjuss stamps!

And of course with the rest too... Hahaha!

And just like that I had another great Sunday that went by way too fast... 

And now it's Monday again!

I'm going to color my stamp and make a card today, I think...

 

Postcard Challenge 15

Wow, this week was short...

On Wednesday I went out with the flu

today is the first day I feel a bit better!
And so we're off on our travels again with Emily!

This week Emily is off with her parents and sister Daphne.

Her parents celebrate their 25th anniversary and to top off their before holidays of hiking in Austria her dad decided on a tour through Iceland to visit 25 waterfalls!

Emily wonders what's wrong with a good party with the entire family, some neighbors and friends?

But she decides to play the good girl, after all she loves to travel and she hasn't been to this island before...

Broes last card was nice as always. He even wants to help her find her own place!
Maybe she should carefully prepare her parents first...

She didn't think her father would like it very much and wondered if he was willing to help her buy a place. She never really thought about a place of her own, what she thought she needed, where she wanted to live...

Maybe she should take this week to figure out what exactly she wanted, with all the traveling she never had to make serious decisions, the question didn't get harder than to stay or not to stay!

This week I made a collage of a couple of the waterfalls.

I love waterfalls!!! :)

The back reads:

Hello Broes,

It's around 5C here and mostly pretty wet...

My parents are celebrating their 25th anniversary here with a tour along 25 waterfalls.

I think I've seen enough water for a while...

For now I must choose a place to rent,

when I buy it should be for a longer period and for now I'm not really sure about my long term Goals for Life...

Any advice is appreciated, how did you come to live where you are today?

XO Emily

Don't forget to check out the other wonderful stories with Darcy!!!

Ta-daaahhh!

Maak kennis met Amineko en De Beer!

Meet Amineko and The Bear!

Amineko: Drops Fabel colour 901

Nederlands patroon

English pattern

The Bear: Zeeman Royal color 34

English pattern can be bought here

Mijn Amineko lijkt meer op een beer dan een kat

Ik weet het...

Ik had die snuit veel minder moeten vullen!

Maar ja, de eerste keer...

Ik had eigenlijk geen idee wat ik aan het doen was

en ben verbaasd dat er zo'n schattig beest tevoorschijn gekomen is! :)

Fijne paasdagen!!!

My Amineko looks more like a bear than a cat

I know...

I shouldn't have stuffed the nose this much!

Oh well, it was the first time...

Actually I had no idea what I was doing

and am quit surprised they came out this cute and animal-like! :)

Hoppy Easter to you!!!

Stoffenbeurs in Hoorn

Gister ging ik naar de Stoffenbeurs.

Ik ging niet zo veel kopen,

maar had natuurlijk wel een wensenlijstje...

De zon scheen,

er waren allemaal gezellige mensen

en ontzettend leuke stoffen

waarvan ik het eerst nog niet wist

maar die ik toch echt heel erg nodig had! *grijns*

Yesterday I went to the fabric market in Hoorn.

I didn't plan to buy much,

but had a little wish-list of course...

The sun was shining,

it was full of happy people

and the cutest fabrics

I didn't know I needed 

but really had to buy! *grin*

De eerste keer toen ik langs 'Kantjes en Bandjes' liep,

aaide ik wat en keek

maar liep netjes door.

En toen gingen we nog een rondje

en stond ik met wat in mijn handen

en vroeg die vriendelijke meneer of ik soms een mandje wilde om ze in te stoppen?

Tuurlijk toch...

En toen zaten er zomaar ineens 19 in die langs de kassa gingen!

Maar ja, zou jij er eentje terug kunnen leggen???

The first time I walked by 'Lace and ribbons'

touched some and enjoyed the view

and just walked on. 

But then we went for another round

and I had some in my hand

and the nice guy asked if I needed a little basket to put them in?

Sure, why not...

And suddenly there were 19 in there and off to the register!

Well, could you put one of those pretties back???

En uiteindelijk geef ik gewoon Mme ZsaZsa de schuld!

Want als zij niet dat ontzettend leuke boekje geschreven had

dat nog leuker voor het oog is

dan de meeste bladen die ik op salontafels ter inspiratie zie liggen

dan had ik nu niet die ongelooflijke drang 

om voor alle meisjes in dit huis 

rokjes te gaan naaien!

In the end I just blame Mme Zsazsa!

If she hadn't made the cutest sewing book

which is a feast to the eye

and better than most inspirational magazines I've seen on the shelves lately

then I wouldn't have this huge urge

to sew skirts

for all the girls in this house!

 Klik en bekijk een paar blz.

Bestel hem ook maar gelijk!
Hij is toch zóóóóóóóó leuk!!! :)

Ik heb hem gewoon bij Ako.nl besteld, 

maar zag hem gister ook bij Stumpel liggen.

Niet dat ik verder reclame wil maken ofzo....

Click to see more of the book.

I'm sorry it's in Dutch, 

or actually more Flemish which is so much more fun to read!

Postcard Challenge 14

Week 14, and off we are!!!

Here you can find last weeks card...

Broes walks barefoot from his kitchen to his computer, with a big mug of tea in his hand.

He's getting ready for two weeks of nothing and is so ready for it!

He opens the mail and sees one from his buddy Andrew, if he wants to help out being a caddy at a golf tournament. He can do that! It will be fun to hang out with Andrew!

He calls and catches Andrew at dinner.

How's this possible??? 

Soon all is explained, Andrew is in ....

Singapore!!!!

And that's where the tournament is too!

So, there he goes again, up the stairs to pack his bags and run off to the airport

for a week of fun in a luxurious Country Club.

How unpredictable and wonderful can life be?

 This is a drawing of the Orchid Country Club in Singapore where the golf tournament is held this weekend for the third time in a row.

I used my Lyra Aquacolors for this drawing.

The back reads:

I'm at the ISPS Handa Singapore Classic 2012 Golf Tournament this week as a caddy.

Thought it would be fun and give me time to think some while walking around but it's so freaking hot... 30C and thunder! 

Thankfully my room at the Orchid Country Club has A/C!

If you're really serious about getting your own place I might know of a couple great spots.

Just let me know if you're looking to buy or rent, okay?

I have some connections (that's how I ended up here too!) and I love to help you out.

I'm not really charmed to meet dads in the middle of the night either. ;)

Broes

Thanks for stopping by, I love reading all your wonderful comments on my cards and story!

Don't forget to leave your love with all the other world-travellers!!!