#30daysofyoga

Even een update van mijn yogachallenge....

Zoals ik al aan gaf, ben ik echt mega slecht in meedoen aan challenges.

Vandaag verscheen de video voor dag 12 en ik ben blijven hangen op dag 4...

Oké, oké, ik deed zojuist dag 5.

En dan denk ik meteen: "Verrek, dit voelt zó lekker, waarom deed ik niet gewoon elke dag mee...?"

Zaterdag en gisteren had ik een goed excuus, maar dan had ik maar 2 dagen afgelopen en niet zo veel als nu!

Grrrrrr.... Ik baal nu al weer van mezelf.... 

Maar waarom. Adriene benoemd steeds: "Find what feels good!" En yoga voelde de afgelopen week gewoon niet zo goed....

Ook al wil ik tijd voor mezelf maken, doen waar ik blij van wordt en genieten van het leven, zolang het nog kan...

Jemig, wat klinkt dat zwaar...

Maar als je plotseling geconfronteerd wordt met de dood die zó veel te vroeg kwam voor iemand die nog zo midden in het leven stond en nog zó veel had om voor te leven, maar niet meer mocht....

Dan wil je genieten van elk moment en er nog uithalen wat er uit te halen valt, maar ik voelde me lamgeslagen, leeg....

Na de hele zware middag van gisteren en de prachtige uitvaart, voel ik me lichter. Raar eigenlijk...

Maar hierdoor vandaag wel de ruimte voor mezelf een een yogavideo...

Onzin

Ik heb echt de schurft aan goede voornemens en van die "new year, new me"-onzin, maar feit is wel dat de challenge die ik wil gaan doen op 1 januari begint....
En feit is ook dat ik per na de kerstvakantie weer fulltime werk en daarom het een en ander ga omgooien....

Dan toch "New year, new me" dan?

Maar even over die challenge...

Ik wil al heel lang iets met yoga doen, omdat ik heb gemerkt dat ik me heel erg lekker voel na een yoga sessie, hoe kort ook...
Stomtoevallig (ik weet ook al echt niet eens meer hoe en waar), kwam ik op de site van Adrienne.
Yoga with Adrienne
Zij heeft allerlei yoga-video's die me erg aanspreken, zij als persoon spreekt me ook aan.
Trust me, ik heb al té veel yogavideo's gezien met vreselijk irritante voice-overs of gewoon irritante "juffen"...

Nu wil het dat Adrienne vanaf 1 januari een #30daysyoga challenge heeft en die wil ik dus gaan doen...

Verandering

En dan voelt het alsof er inééns van alles veranderd.

Manlief gaat minder werken om zichzelf te ontlasten. Zit tegen overwerktheid aan, wat zorgt voor allerlei vage lichamelijke klachten, terwijl hij eigenlijk super gezond is (bloeddruk, hart en bloedwaarden zijn top).
Binnen een week was er geregeld dat ik voor in ieder geval een half jaar 2 dagen meer ga werken (fulltime dus).
We hebben deze verandering aangegrepen om maar gelijk meer structuur in onze dagelijkse beslommeringen aan te gaan brengen.
Een zogenaamde "householdbinder" is daar onderdeel van. Ik ben nog druk met het "inrichten" er van, maar als ie klaar is, wil ik 'em zeker delen. Inclusief linkjes naar alle (Gratis!) printables die ik er voor heb gebruikt...

Ook zijn we met z'n drietjes wezen kijken op de andere basisschool in de wijk (ik werk zelf op de ene) en hebben besloten om ons aapie daar in te schrijven voor als hij vier is.

Manlief vroeg gisteravond aan aapie wat ie het leukste had gevonden die dag.
Zijn antwoord was: "School..."

Even niks

Soms kies ik er heel bewust voor om een momentje "even niks" te doen...

Er moet al zo veel...
Ik wìl zo ontzettend veel...
Ik vind zó veel leuk en het voelt alsof ik faal als ik het niet allemaal kan doen...
M'n hoofd loopt over...

Maar vanavond doe ik (na keihard gewerkt te hebben, betaald en vrijwillig) "even niks"...

Even niks betekent voor mij m'n ogen sluiten voor de vaat die opgeruimd moet worden, de was die gevouwen moet, het stof en de kruimels die in de stofzuiger moeten verdwijnen, de stapel papieren zooi die ik eigenlijk van de keukentafel wil hebben, maar in plaats daarvan lekker op de bank kruipen met een dekentje, een kop thee, Netflix en een haakwerkje...

Morgen moet er ook weer genoeg, maar aangezien er overdag toch niemand thuis is, ik vanavond en vannacht alleen ben en onze aap pas woensdagmiddag of avond weer thuis komt, laat ik de boel, de boel...

"Even niks"...!

Sinterklaasstress

Van mijn Facebookpagina:

"Sinterklaasstress... Laat ik me dan toch gek maken...?

Onze aap heeft al zo absurd veel speelgoed, dat ie van gekkigheid soms niet weet waar ie mee moet spelen.
Maar door alle reclames en socialmedia voel ik me bijna onder druk gezet om de zak van die "ouwe gek" maar zo vol mogelijk te douwen, want zo'n grote jute zak met maar 2 of 3 (ècht leuke en redelijk duurzame) dingen kan toch niet?
De schoencadeau's worden ook steeds belachelijker.... Wat is er gebeurd met alleen een zakje chocolade muntjes of een hand pepernoten? Hoezo is een lego-set van €12,99 ineens een schoencadeauTJE...?

Vanochtend besloot ik me niet gek te laten maken, "Wie het kleine niet eert, is het grote..." Ja, precies, dat dus...
En dus komen er in onze zak een paar "kleine" cadeautjes, iets (zelfgemaakt) bruikbaars en misschien nog een chocoladeletter en worden schoenen hier gevuld met "slechts" een zakje chocomuntjes..."

Switching to Dutch...

Looooooong time no blogging.... Sorry...

Also, I'm switching to Dutch, maybe it'll make me a bit more motivated to blog more...

Bracelets

A month ago I went to Lowlands with my brother and two friends.

(more on that later!)

Lowlands had an Etsy-plaza with lots of cute stuff.

My female friend saw some really cool bracelets she looked in to buying.

I talked her out of it, because I knew how to make them.

Back home I got my supplies and made a couple.

I'm thinking of starting an Etsy-shop of my own, but I'm also looking into other ways to sell my crafty stuff...

For now: If you want one (or more) of these bracelets, contact me.

They're €2,50 a piece and you get a €0,50 a piece discount if you buy 3. 

Each one is unique, because of the button. You can pick which beads you'd like and the string-color.

Not limited to the three color's seen in the first picture, I have a HUGE stash of sting in LOADS of colors.

just let me know what you'd like..!

Love, Caroline

LO Chase your wildest Dreams

Another lay-out with a picture from our vacation on Texel.
I created the arrow stamps from two small erasers.
The washi-tape is from Hema.

I have another LO ready, I just need to take pictures.

Love Caroline

Houtspel

Houtspel turns two this month...!

Houtspel is a Dutch webshop which sells all kinds of amazing wooden toys.
I love this webshop... So many drool-worthy toys!
(And they have a cool blog too...)

Remember Joshua's birtdaygifts: the Rainbow and Farmanimals?

Guess where I bought them... Yup, Houtspel.nl...

Love, Caroline

More hats...

I'm trying to blog everything I've created but neglected to post.
Today two hats...

A puppydog hat for a friend's son. Joshua is modeling it...

And a Minionhat for my crazy "little" brother. He actually wears this to work, he does electrics on new builds, which is really chilly during winter...

Love, Caroline

Time Flies

I can't believe Joshua turns 2 by the end of the month...

I had planned to do a Sesamestreet themed party this time, but for the very complicated cake I wanted to make, I needed help and help wasn't available the weekend we're celebrating Joshua's birthday.
I also want to do an extravagant party for this theme, but Joshua doesn't seem to be really into Sesamestreet at the moment...

What he's really into are these little guys:

Who doesn't love them...

He especially loves this youtube video:

So I'm planning... Check my Minion-board on Pinterest!

Love, Caroline

LO Headspace

It's the 4th week of summervacation and I finally cleared my head of all the unnessecary junk that was floating around in it. It gave me the peace I needed to do some scrapbooking for the first time in a little less than 2 years... Pretty proud of the result...

These are pictures of our holiday on the beautiful island Texel. More coming!

Love, Caroline

Project C.O.G.

Remember how I was trying to clean up the Craftroom / Office / Guestroom?

Well, it's a long term project.
But I'm trying to do some serious de-cluttering and reducing.
A couple of months ago my mom and I switched the furniture and there is a lot more walkingspace now.

I also have already  reduced this (it was FULL ! ! !):

















Into this:

















I'm quite proud of myself.
The papercase is sold, as well as some papers, magazines and embellishments.

Love, Caroline

Granola

I hate eating bread for breakfast... Well I hate eating bread early in the morning...

So I'm always looking for other breakfast options, instead of just not eating...

I love muesli / cruesli / granola, but the store bought variations have all these additives in them I don't want to eat.

So I made my own. I tried it once before, and it was kinda okay, but not exactly what I wanted...

I searched a little more on Pinterest and found this recipe. It uses coconut oil, which I love!

I made my own granola inspired on this recipe, with the ingredients I had in my cupboard.

This is what I did:

In a bowl I mixed 1/4 cup sesame seeds, 1/4 cup pumpkinseeds, 1/2 cup crushed hazelnuts, 3 cups rolled oats, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup brown sugar (optional), 1tsp vanilla extract, a pinch of salt.

When it's thoroughly mixed, spread the mixture on a lined baking tray and bake it for about 35 minutes in a pre-heated oven (175C). Turn/mix after about 20 minutes.

The granola will be loose when you take it out of the oven, but will clump a bit when it cools.

I hope you like it as much as I do. I'm currently on my third batch...

Love, Caroline

Last Queensday

On April 30th we celebrated our last Queensday. Next year it'll be Kingsday, which will be celebrated on a different date..
Kinda weird, since I've celebrated Queensdag since I was a little girl, actually: Since I was born...

Because of the coronation of our King, there were some extra festivities on the days prior.

Joshua's daycare invited all the kinds and parents/grandparents for a High-tea.

We decorated a pictureframe, had our picture taken and ate lots of sweets...
Joshua even played with the big boys...
I got lots of compliments on Joshua's crown, which I crocheted using this tutorial I found on Pinterest.

Tradition on Queensday are thriftmarkets. In Almere these start the evening before, so I went thriftshopping with Elisabeth and Rebekka. I only went for about an hour and a half, and haven't seen 3/4 of the market, but I scored BIGtime...!

Queensday itself was spent in Harderwijk, more thirifting, with my mom and cousin this time...

Love, Caroline

More hats...

Remember the owl hat I made for Joshua last winter?

Oh wait, that's how I started my last blogpost in November.... Shame on me...
Well, lots going on here in our household. And unfortunately no nice things... I don't want to talk about it online, but just thought I'd let you know why blogging time has been scarce...

But I have made a LOT of hats for different kids...
I started with a Hello Kitty hat for our girl next door.

















After that one, I finished daddy's matching Owl hat and I made a Hello Kitty hat for our niece's birthday.

















And then I made Joshua a new hat to match his green skisuit...


































And I made another Hello Kitty hat for my mom's neighbours daughter....

Currently I'm working on a Minion hat for my crazy brother, which I only have to sew the eyes, goggles and mouth on. And on a dog hat for a friends son...
And I have to start on a purple hat for my mom's neighbours other daughter... (that sentence doesn't seem right :S)

I'm also still working on the ripple blanket, but progress is slow...

Love, Caroline

Owl Hat and something matching

Remember the Owl Hat I made for Joshua last winter?

Guess what? It still fits...

















Sorta...

Well, last winter I also promised someone I'd make a hat for her daughter to wear next winter.

I got a huge pile of clothes for Joshua, and the didn't want anything for it, just the hat.

I started on the hat, but then spring came, and summer. And I never finished the hat.
But when summer neared it's'end, the crocheting-itch started to come back and I picked up the owl project.
I felt kind of bad for taking so long, so I made a matching surprise.


I think the little lady looks very happy wearing this!

Thank you Mariella for letting me use this picture!

Love, Caroline

Ripple blanket

Last year I found a tutorial for a ripple blanket on Attic24... I was instantly in love and wanted to make an big blanket for Joshua, for when he get's a big-boy bed (that gives me PLENTY of time to finish it!)...

I started a test piece, which was really easy. I just started crocheting then, and it looked really hard, but really isn't....


















After the testpiece, I felt confident, I picked 4 colors (initially 5, but the brown took away the vibrancy of the other colors...) and started crocheting. I can't remember how many stitches I chained and I made a few mistakes ending rows, so counting won't be really helpful... But believe me, there are a LOT!
The blanket is about 1,5 meters wide.

Progress is slow, I haven't crocheted a single row half of the spring and all summer, but I've picked it up again when the days started getting shorter and colder...
It is getting large enough that I can drape it over my legs and feel all warm and cozy while I work on more rows...
I intend to make it about two meters long, so when Joshua is all grown up he can still snuggle up under it...

Currently working on ripple number 23

















Love, Caroline

Gnomeforest Silhouette

I've seen these amazing silhouettes / transparents on Pinterest.
All kinds, for all seasons and holidays.

And I've been wanting to have a go on one of my own.
This is what I've got so far, still need to add the colored transparent paper...

Please ignore the dirty table...

Love, Caroline

Needle Felted AutumnLady

As I showed in this post, we have a very nice nature table (well, it's actually on top of a cabinet, but never mind).
But there are still some things missing...

I have always loved the nature tables an old friend of our had in her house, with loads of Waldorf-dolls she made herself.

I never got any further than sewing little gnomes from felt, with a pipecleaner base and wooden beads as a head, hands and feet. I've been making those since she tought me how to at the age of about 7, I think...

But when I got older and had already made a lot of them as gifts for grandma's and aunts, it wasn't fun anymore, so I stopped making them...

But since I started working in education, I always make nature / theme tables in my classroom and now that Joshua is getting bigger I want that in our home too. And not just with store bought decorations.

Since I learned sewing felt, I've also learned LOADS of other different crafts and needle felting is one Rebecca introduced me to.

So when I found these two amazing needle felted, Waldorf inspired dolls, I knew what I wanted to do...

Left                                       Right
click to go to the pin

After doing some research on how to get started, I combined this and this tutorial to make the base. I made the head and neck separately, as I was afraid the pipe cleaners would be visible. The head is very tightly felted, the body a little less tight and the skirt is very loosely felted. Only the underside is quite tightly done, to make it sturdy.

After I was satisfied with the rough base I made a dress by wrapping colored felt  in brown and yellow around the base and needling it in place. After that I started adding details and hiding little "mistakes" (little spots where the base was showing through).

















When that was done, I added hair and a braided hairband (just to keep the hair in place, since is didn't really turn out how I wanted it initially).
I also gave her a scarf of sorts, since autumn is chilly.. I was was a bit torn in two about the pumpkin, I liked the idea of a broom for sweeping leaves, but since I wanted the whole tning finished and I didn't feel like going out in the dark to search for twigs, I made a little pumpkin anyway... Looks cute though.
The whole doll had a bit of a medieval feel to it, which I like...
I have always had a thing for medieval stuff and fantasy figures....
She makes me think of lady Marian in Robin Hood, the old Robin Hood with Kevin Cosner *sigh*...

















I think she looks rather lovely "under" our tree... Don't you think so too...
Oh yes, I really need to thank my colleague and friend Elisabeth, since she provided me with roving for the base and a couple of colors, so that I didn't have to do, and wait, for an order of roving!

Love, Caroline