Happy New Year

Happy New Year dear friends!!!

May 2019 be a blessed year for you. A year full of love and joy and interesting adventures. Do you have plans for the coming year? Or wishes or dreams or goals?

Merry Christmas!

Dear friends,

I wish you a

merry Christmas!

May your home be filled with joy, peace, and love.

And if you're in distress because of illness, sadness, or something else, may your pain be softened and your heart filled with peace. I'm sending you my warmest love and best wishes.

Big hugs,

xx Wen

(PS: this is a page from a fabric book, one of my w.i.p.'s that I never came to finishing and I doubt I ever will, but hey, who knows?)

Trying some new things

Hello hello, summer holiday is almost over and we're back to normal. How has your summer been? Just before we went on a few weeks trip I had sent out a little package to dear Dorthe. I had been trying new things, expanding my horizon. Like macrame, knitting, and crocheting in thread size mini.

Like the tiny crochet flower above (see the difference with the white flower in a thread size that is commonly used in our days), with an old crochet hook in size mini. My goodness, that's hard! I'm in awe of the ladies of old that made tons of amazingly beautiful projects with hooks like this one...

I finished a fabric and lace booklet that I had been working on some time ago. It has little pockets to hold sweet messages and a tiny notebook.

On pinterest I had found a tutorial by Lia Griffith for macrame, something I had been wanting to try my hands on for a while now. The result is below. It's a tiny macrame, which can be used as a necklace hanger for example, like Lia does in her tutorial.

Also, I tried knitting, with some cotton yarn I had for crocheting. And from my first little test swatch I made a tiny pocket message booklet with an embroidered uplifting message on the inside. This little message can be carried with you in your pocket, or even used as a wrist cuff. The knitting feels so soft, so cuddly. I added a crocheted heart and an embroidered button on the outside.

You are loved. A good reminder I think. It's something we tend to forget, isn't it?

Well, this is it for today, dear friends.

Wishing you a wonderful new week ahead.

xx Wen

Fabric and lace book vintage children

Last Tuesday I shared a little sneak peek of the fabric book I made for the swap for Odetta. Here's how the complete little book looks. I kept it quite simple this time, not too much laces and layers.

I used fabrics and laces old and new.
Dyed some of them myself with tea and paint.

I used pieces of tattered pillow cases and blouses.
Buttons old and new.

Vintage doilies I received from my dear blog friends
and also some purchased online.

And here's the back.

The little butterflies I gave embroidered bodies to keep them in place.

Next week I'll share more of the swap I made for Odetta.
You can see HERE what she made me.


Wishing you a beautiful day!

xx Wen

Simply Neutrals #20 - fabric wrap with pockets

Hello hello dears,

How was your Easter weekend?

I hope it was filled with love, peace, and joy.

It's time for another Simply Neutrals party!

Here are my neutral things for this week.

A fabric wrap with pockets inside, still in the making.

Weeks ago, a sneak peek of the inside I already shared HERE.

I will add a little thing or two to this wrappie thing.

And the cover has already received some extra thingies added to it,
which I will show you later, when wrappie is finished.

And yes oh yes, it is Spring again dear friends!

(At least here in the northern hemisphere...)

So I'm happily photographing flowers again.

Honestly, every year Winter I'm so much looking forward to them!

So, this was my neutral input this week.

Let's go on with some of the beauties shared by you last party!

***

FEATURES OF LAST PARTY

** PLEASE PIN FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOG SOURCES **

Links can be found with the photos.

My oh my, so many gorgeousness was shared once more.

You really make it hard to decide...

First of all, a gorgeous nature inspired journal by Karen of Roosterhead Designs.

I had particularly asked Karen to link up this journal at Simply Neutrals,

because I so much wanted to share it here with you!

Here are a few of the pages inside.

But you have to hop over to her blog to see the rest of them.

Gorgeous work, Karen!

*

Next features are both to be found on the blog of LuluLiz of Lalaland.

Liz shared the gifts she received of two dear friends.

First she shared a fabric case for crochet hooks, made by Suzy of SuziQu's Threadworks.

Now, where would the crochet hooks go, you might wonder?

Tadaaa!

So clever!

Suzy also sent Liz a gorgeous fabric collage.

Everything so beautifully photographed by Liz.

*

Liz also shared the gifts of Dorthe of Den Lille Lade.

Gorgeous medaillons!

And a beautiful nature inspired card.

*

Last but not least, I have an extra photo to share with you.

Because naturally I just HAD to share the gorgeous works above,

but there was one other photo that immediately caught my eye when I first saw it.

It's a stunning old wooden house,

photographed so beautifully by Mascha of Maschas Buch.

Mascha told me this beautiful house is in the historic town of Osterwieck, Germany.

I googled this town and found it to be such a gorgeous old town.

Absolutely worth a visit.

Simply Neutrals #12 - Tin Mine fabric / mixed media book

When on vacation in Cornwall (UK) last Summer I was fascinated by the tin mines we visited there. So much so, that I wanted to make a book to keep the memory. Also, I had found this old photo of a beautiful girl which I really loved and wanted to use in a project. (I edited the photo of the girl before using it, and if I can find it in my archives, I will share the edited photo with you later.)

Although she has nothing to do with tin mines to be sure, the look on her face suits the hard life of the miners, I think. Also, I had seen a beautiful mixed media work by Wen Redmond that got me inspired for the background of the cover of my book.

I painted and stitched some old bed sheet for this and used it for both the front and back cover.

This book is not in the least complete. I started with creating it before I started with my other fabric / mixed media book for the workshop of Nellie Wortman.

Here's a glimpse of what is going to be on the inside.

But not finished at all.

Some crochet of mine, fabrics, laces, different sorts of paper in various sizes,

and photos I took in the tin mines in Cornwall.

Like this one below.

But for now, it's one of my many unfinished projects.

You know that feeling, don't you :)

*

Features of last week

Here are some of the photos that caught my eye in the party last week.

IF YOU LIKE TO PIN SOME OF THESE FEATURED PHOTOS

THEN PLEASE DO SO FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOGS

OF WHICH YOU CAN FIND THE LINKS BELOW.

(Just click on the name of the blogs mentioned.)

Everyone has made a great effort in creating, photographing and writing blog posts and I want all credit to go to the owners of these photos. So please pin these photos from their blogs and not mine.

First feature is a gorgeous home decor photo and project by Marie of Lost Bird Studio. I just LOVE the whole atmosphere it breathes. So peaceful.

And I'm always amazed by her stunning soldering work.

Another project that caught my eye, was a series of stitched pieces

by Linda of Lins Arty Blobs.

I think this is so beautiful and fitting for this time of year now that in nature we find more faded colours

and everywhere there are remnants of flowers and seed pods. We even had our first bit of snow this week! Only a tiny bit, but still, it was there.

If you know me a bit

then you know I love nature.

So this beautiful stitched piece by Linda

that made me think of this time of year

I had to share with you.

And another beautiful piece of work that reminded me of this time of year,

is the gorgeous collage by Sue of Miss Phoebe's Perch.

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in the Netherlands, but I think this time of year is perfect for pondering about the many blessings in our lives and feeling grateful for the beauty that is surrounding us. Even in a time when life shows her ugly side, or actually especially now that we are seeing a very ugly side of it in many places in the world.

Thank you sweet friends (all of you!), for sharing beauty and love on your blogs, and for sharing it and encouraging each other on Simply Neutrals!

Simply Neutrals #9

Hello dear friends,

Here is....

Simply Neutrals Tuesday #9!!

Gosh, number 9 already...

Thank you sweet friends for linking up so faithfully to the party and for visiting each other and leaving comments! It's really your sharing and mingling that makes the party being such a delightful gathering each week. So thank you so much!

I made a second page for my fabric book.

The theme of my book is Mother and Child.

I've loved this sketch of Virgin and Child by Giuseppe Cades (of the late 1700s) for a long time now and had pinned it to my pinterest board of religious images ages ago. To use in a fabric book or collage one day.

If you'd like to use the sketch yourself as well,

then you can find it HERE.

I thought it suited the neutral tones and theme of this book so beautifully.

So finally I'm using this beloved image!

I love how this book is coming together. I'm grateful dear Suzy is so generous to share her talent with us and helps us creating our own fabric books through her wonderful workshop Peaceful and Pondering. I know my book resembles a bit the art style of Suzy, but I trust that in time I will find my own voice.

I'm linking my book page to Roses of Inspiration

*

On to this week's party!

Features of last week's party

IF YOU LIKE TO PIN SOME OF THESE FEATURED PHOTOS

THEN PLEASE DO SO FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOGS

OF WHICH YOU CAN FIND THE LINKS BELOW.

(Just click on the name of the blogs mentioned.)

Everyone has made a great effort in creating, photographing and writing blog posts

and I want all credit to go to the owners of these photos.

So please pin these photos from their blogs and not mine.

First feature is a stunning sacred heart by Dorthe of Den Lille Lade.

Which I thought was so fitting to the theme of my fabric book!

And I love the quote on the heart:

"Let your heart speak

to others hearts"

Which brings me to the heart in one of the photos in the beautiful photo collage

by Valerie-Jael of Bastelmania

I love this collage! It brings together several of my all time favourites:

neutrals (of course)

birds

and their feathers

collecting stones

photographing rusty bits

spending peaceful time at the beach

autumn with the long shadows

hearts, found or made

Which brings me to another of my all time favourites:

lace!!

Oh, and flowers too!!

This gorgeous shabby bag made out of beautiful laces and adorned

with a gorgeous and sweet flower was created by

Nancy of Sugar Lump Studios.

Thank you dear friends for sharing your beautiful creations and photos!

Simply Neutrals Tuesday #8

Hello dear friends,

It's Tuesday again, so it's time to give the start sign for this week's party!

First, some of you asked the name of the flowers that I shared with you last week. Well... honestly, I'm very bad in remembering names. So I will see if I can find out :)

This week I'd like to share with you the first page that I created for the fabric book for Suzy's workshop. I chose Mother and Child as the theme of my fabric book, referring to the Christmas Child, as I was inspired by the beautiful creations of last week's party.

The image comes from a beautiful painting called L'Innocence, by William Bouguereau. 

I learned a lot from both Suzy and Nellie about layering of a fabric collage,

for which I'm so grateful!

This will be a page on the right hand side, probably the first page of the book.

So there will be the inside of the front cover on the left of this page.

*

Features of last week's party

IF YOU LIKE TO PIN SOME OF THESE FEATURED PHOTOS

THEN PLEASE DO SO FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOGS

OF WHICH YOU CAN FIND THE LINKS BELOW.

(Just click on the name of the blogs mentioned.)

Everyone has made a great effort in creating, photographing and writing blog posts

and I want all credit to go to the owners of these photos.

So please pin these photos from their blogs and not mine.

*

This week all features happen to be handmade creations,

because there were several Christmas themed link ups last week,

and I really love to choose Christmas as the linking thread in this week's post.

(Of course you can choose whatever theme you like for your own link up,

please don't feel obliged to go with the Christmas theme as well!)

First feature is a beautiful pocket canvas hanger by Nancy of Sugar Lump Studios.

With a sweet image of a little girl.

Little Christmas trees and a snow flake as the perfect finishing touch

for Nancy's gorgeous Christmas hanger.

Next feature is a gorgeous Christmas card by Dorthe of Den Lille Lade.

I love the finishing touch with the autumnal leaves and cones,

to which she added some sparkly bits.

Beautiful!

Last but not least I chose yet another handmade creation,

a most beautiful fabric Christmas gift book

made by Marie of Lost Bird Studio.

She had not linked these exact photos to last week's party,

but she did link up another photo of the book,

when it was not finished yet.

And I so much loved the finished book

that I decided to feature the photos of it instead.

I hope you don't mind.

Even the back of the book is so gorgeous!