Hello Again

Hello, my dear readers. I'm back! As you might have noticed, I've been absent these last few weeks. Not because of a holiday (sadly) but because I had a nervous breakdown 3 weeks ago and was lying in bed all this time, trying to relax as much as possible...

I have ME and although I have been doing really well the last year, I wasn't careful enough about my diet and so I kind of relapsed. Luckily, I have a very helpful and caring man, who is very capable of taking over everything when this happens and our parents (in law) are always happy to take care of the kids. Everybody was very willing to pitch in and that made me realize how lucky we are.

So, I'm taking it SLOW, at least as slow as I allow myself to go. I need to take better care of myself and that will have consequences for Color 'n Cream. I will be making less tutorials for now and probably post a little less frequent than I used to.

This is our dog, Billy, by the way. Ain't she sweet when she's relaxing??!! A lot of us could learn from her. I guess I'm not the only one always running and stressing about unimportant stuff... Or am I??

The pictures show you our living room. I've been thrifting a lot lately, sometimes with my new friend Miranda (MierPapier). I actually went to visit her yesterday and it gave me soo much energy. It's so nice to find someone you can relate to so easily. And I got a preview of some of her new designs... They are wonderful!

Anywho, next week I'm going to the KreaDoe Beurs with my mom. Looking forward to that. It's kind of our annual field trip.

The stars in the picture are a new project. It's a real nice christmas project. And I'm actually learning the technique of stiffening my crochet! Always nice to learn some new techniques.

And this is something I'm working on now. It's going to be a garland. Don't you just love all the colorful flowers? They tend to get me through the day and keep me busy while I'm relaxing...

Have a lovely weekend!





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Thrifty Finds

So, how lucky was I?! Yesterday (yes, on a sunday) there was a flee market in my town. I love LOVE them. And this particular time I was lucky to find some great thirfty treasures...

I love tins, as I believe I told you before... I found 4! The flowery treasure is mine now.

And yes, I also love little Playmobil children... Don't they look funny, with their little plastic wigs and outfits?? And isn't it even funnier if you meet someone with a Playmobil hairdo in real life??

Now look at these beauties. I think they're very pretty! They have old illustrations on them. Albert Heijn is a very old Dutch supermarket chain (I don't know if I explained that correctly).

Look how colorful they are... Still need to find a purpose for them though. And this is my favorite! Duh, it's the most colorful one.

But that's not all. I found 2 very romantic and pretty doilies as well! Oh, they look lovely don't they? I am planning on using the pattern and making something pretty, too. I've been wanting to do some open crochet, (or is it filet??) for quite some time now. Just needed to find the right pattern.

Did you guys have fun this weekend? Did something exciting happen? I had a great weekend! And next weekend me an my man are going out to the woods! We have our 5 year anniversary and rented a nice little wooden cabin. Am sooo looking forward to it!

Have a yellow monday!

PS: Totally forgot about the vintage alarm clock. Oh how I love the sound (and the font of the numbers). And the numbers have little dots that light up in the dark!

Lovely Day

This morning my little girl woke up all healthy and happy again. I must say, it was quite a relief after staying home caring for my girls (but also not being able to leave the house for more then 15 minutes) since thursday. I decided to keep her home for 1 more day, before she has to go to school again and we did some shopping and stuff.

I've been wanting to go to my favorite yarn shop, Echtstudio, for a week now, and finally got to it. It's always difficult to not get greedy once I'm there. Got me some glitter yarn too, to try something new.
I also have a weakness for tin cans. Its weird, I just can't resist them. And everybody knows how I love pink...

Wanted to show you a few parts of my craft room (still under construction). It seems to be coming along, but there's still a lot to be done. I need to paint the table. Make lots of pillowcases and so on. But can't find the time, since I'm always crocheting... Need to MAKE time. Will do.

But the biggest thing today is my new hair do. I normally don't show you guys pictures of myself, but I didn't want to keep this from you. Never mind the weird angle (or the big nose, for that matter...), I had to make the picture myself.

It still feels kinda weird, but I like it anyway. It always feels like a new beginning, when changing my hair. I am curious what's gonna happen now...

Have a funny day!

PS. Totally forgot about my blogs birthday yesterday. Well.... Hip Hip Hurray for my blogs' first of many to come!!!!

Vintage Pillow

So it's finished. I love the way it turned out. And the cotton is very soft too. I have no pictures of the back yet, since the light just wasn't right. Show you sometime later. (I tried, but when I saw them on my screen it didn't work...)

I'm not totally sure where to put it yet. The colors are quite different from what I'm used to. What to do, what to do??

This is my very dear Piny Pon collection. I can never resist buying them because they're so pretty and colorful and happy. I finally found the right type case (is that the right word??) and painted it Vintage Blue... Don't they just lift up your spirit?

And for what I doing now... I've been wanting to use my scraps for ages. They just lay there in a nice basket, doing nothing, so I finally came with a plan. The scraps will be perfect for my square potholder idea. What do you think??

I love tuesday, 'cause it's MY day. No kids until dinner (which I don't have to cook, but my love does... Talk about luxury) and the whole house to myself. I've been sitting in my craft room all day. No cleaning, nog folding laundry, no fuzz at all. 

So I will proceed doing that. Hope you have a lovely dat as well!

Weekend Quicky

I really felt like a quick and satisfying weekend project. And I happen to love my Vintage Potholder Pattern very much. The color combination possibilities, the going in rounds, the repetition (I prefer to make 2 at a time).

Now just look at it... In my own kitchen in the sun. Oh how I love my shelves with all kinds of retro orange goodies...

I'm still thinking about opening my own Etsy shop. I'm certain I would want to sell these. Am designing some square potholder patterns as well. Not ready yet.

And then I still need to finish my pillowcase from last week... Gonna start now, I guess.

Happy monday!

Whole Lot Of Pretty

Don't you just love dahlia's?? I DO!!! Even though a few of mine were murdered by some storm this week (and I was shattered, cause it took them 5 months to grow...) I enjoy these flowers every day in front of my window. That didn't stop me from buying some yesterday in these lovely colors. They certainly light up the place, since it's so dark and rainy outside.

It was hard for me to choose just 1 picture, so I chose 3... Lovely colors. Don't you just love yellow and pink together? 

We had an interesting week, since our youngest started school on wednesday. She was excited and even though I didn't see it coming at all, I was a bit sad to see her go and miss her during the day. It's weird, 'cause I must honestly say, I kinda was looking forward to having more time to myself and be able to do my stuff (like cleaning the house, walking the dog, crafting, crafting, crochet, groceries...) solo. And then you surprise yourself by being much more clingy than you like to be. My babies are getting so BIG. 

Anywho, that was some of my week. Did get a lot of crochet done. The pillowcase is coming along nicely.

Hope you have a cozy weekend!

Sunshiny Days

I've been quite crafty the last couple of weeks. Even though the weather tempts us to go outside a lot, I still get some creating done. One of my projects was our camper van oldtimer...

My love did the outside (repaint and striping) and I did the inside. It was such a fun project, 'cause the thing looked terrible! Now check out the inside...

We bought new foam rubber and I made new cases with IKEA fabric. We made a new table and I really love the yellow flower tablecloth I stapled on it. A few picture frames here and there, my first crochet garland and a few curtains, and now it's our own cozy holiday home. We are leaving for Germany on thursday. Can't wait...

This guy visited me last saturday and it was funny, since he posed for me for about 15 minutes. Sometimes he would fly of and then instantly return. It felt like he was watching me as well. Doesn't he look extraordinary?? I love dragonflies...

My dahlia's started to bloom finally! It took about 4 months after I'd put them in the ground, but I must say, it was worth the wait. They look so beautiful and very colorful in our front yard. The vegetables in the back yard are producing nicely and I never thought I would enjoy gardening as much as i do. I'm slowly turning into my mother...

Before I leave again, some colorful craft and homy pic's. I love our pink laundry in the yard... So lucky I have girls! And I'm happy to say I started to enjoy crochet again. Have some projects on the go.

Enjoy the sunny holidays! See you later...

A Little Something

Hello again! Just wanted to show you some pictures of what I'm doing.

The kawaii coffee table is done! I really like it. It's colorful and fun. I just used pages from a Kawaii book I bought while living in Thailand. Why just look in a book every once in a while when you can use it like this too? It really brightens up the living room (as if that was necessary).Varnished it 3 times. Hope it'll be enough...

This is what I'm working on right now. I really felt like some crochet. My hallway needs a stool to sit on while using the telephone. Remember this one?? In that particular post I mentioned wanting to do a round stool as well... Well, now, about 6 months later, I finally decided it was time. I like Color Bombing anything. I used to have a bit of trouble making big crochet circles. They always tend to start looking hexagonal when growing. But I'm proud to say this one is a perfect circle. Hope I'm able to show you my results soon!

Enjoy your day! 

Summertime

Long time no see! Weirdly, recovering from CFS leaves me with much littler time to write on my blog lately. I have been cleaning the house thoroughly, bringing the kids to school, picking them up, getting up early to exercise and making delicious diners. Also I have a vegetable garden now,which needs a lot of attention this season and brings me much joy (and already some vegetables to put on a plate!). Hence my long absence.

Must admit though, with this kind of weather I don't always feel like crafting. Being outside makes me happy once the sun shines and it's healthy too. I'm reading a lot of books (in the sun) and like to cook summer dishes. Although I am making plans to make another Color Bomb blanket...

The little one is with my mom at the moment, the big one in school. The sun is shining and I thought it was time for some talk and pictures...

 

I really love Blythe dolls. I found one at the Queens Day flee market. Isn't she pretty. And some felt hearts to make a garland. Started this a few weeks ago at my craft night, but didn't finish yet... Somewhere over the rainbow...

This is a kawaii collage I'm working on. The surface I'm using is our Ikea coffee table. Will show you the final result once it's done. Don't you love Kawaii?? I do, a LOT!!!

Remember my flowers square pattern? I never made them into cushions, thought they were a little big. So I made them into blankets for the baby doll beds of my girls. Made a matching mattress and pillow from some of my sweet fabrics.. Nice and sunny. The back of the blanket is flannel. I still very much LOVE this pattern and the colors. Pretty!

Some pic's of my house and stuff. I like this word: Imagine. Makes life worth living. As do all these joyful colors. Can't get enough!!

Anywho, I probably will be gone for a while again. The holiday coming closer and closer. It's gonna be a busy time for me. We still need to finish our camper van before we can use it... From september both my girls will go to school, which should give me some room to craft... I have lots of ideas!

Hello Again

It's been a while... It was quite necessary for me. I did lots of reorganizing, cleaning up and relaxing. And yes, some crafting too. Not as much as I thought I would, 'cause I noticed I needed a break to get some fresh inspiration. I've spent little time watching the computer screen and more just chilling and doing family stuff. I'm not ready yet, but I feel some room for pictures and posts again.

As you can see the new couch arrived. I love it!! It's pretty and sits like heaven. Nice and ferm. And the shade of grey can be combined with every color that pops up in my head. Perfect for me. Can anybody tell me the English word for these flowers? In Dutch it's 'ranonkel', isn't the name just as pretty as the flower itself??

I finally took some time to make a curtain for an open shelve in the kitchen. I'm still not sure about the fabric (although both my girls love it (as do I)). It just doesn't seem to match with all the orange... So I just might change the fabric and sew a new curtain again.

Yesterday I bought some new yarn from Phildar, Phil Thalassa. Only the pink, witch I mixed with some Drops Paris and some Creative Coton. I always tend to mix different brands of cotton, 'cause not a single brand has all the colors I want (you now how greedy for color I am...). I quite like the result. And I still need to make 1 more. It's nice and springy, don't you think? The artwork above was made by me a few years ago with 2 vintage games of Pairs from the thrift store. We always stare at it during meals and have lots of conversations about it.

This is another project I'm working on. A few months ago I started a stripe-rainbow blanket. I hated it. I just don't like granny stripe blankets. So I pulled it all out and started this pastel-rainbow blanket. It's just sooo soft (and heavy). I hope it will be finished before winter, when we can use it, haha.

Have a happy (rainy) day of spring!

Spring Is In The Air

Don't you love the feeling that spring is nearing? I do. The light is different, birds start singing early in the morning. The light comes through the curtains before nine... I love the spring. When we were living in Thailand last year, that was the thing I missed most, Spring. You can just smell it when you're outside. And it doesn't matter to me that it still freezes. So I've started to work on some spring colored crochet and crafting.

I showed you the two sides of this pillow before it was finished. I really love the colors and that I can just flip it around for a complete different style, or color actually. It looks very retro to me, this pattern. It's very sunny.

This is what our temporary couch looks like and the poof in front, I got at the local thrift store and covered it with some new fabric I bought for this pupose. For the new couch I will make some matching cushions, I think.

I love how colorful and sunny my living room looks now. And I'm very curious what it's going to look like once the new couch finally arrives... Only 5 weeks to go...

Of course I had to start a new crochet project as well. I think it's going to e a table runner, but not sure yet. I really like these awfully sweet colors.

Well, enjoy the upcoming spring!