(note)books

I love to write and I love crafts and DIY projects. So last December I started to snailmail.

"What's that?" I can almost hear you ask. Well, in short it is sending real mail to friends or people you'd like to be penpals with. But it isn't just about the letter itself. It is also about decorating your envelope and sending some extra's in the envelope, for instance small craftprojects, some craft material or stationery. It's all up to you.

I've made some small craft projects lately which I've send to my snailfriends. Here are some examples. I've created them all with (washi)tape, cardboard, wrappingpaper and glue or double sided adhesive tape and decorated them with nice pictures, stickers, buttons and so on. You can actually use anything you like.










If you'd wish to see tutorials of similar projects, just click here Linda made some nice photo tutorials. The description is in Dutch but I believe the photos speak for themselves.

If you'd like to become one of my (foreign) snailmailfriends, just leave a message here. I'd like to have some snailmailfriends from abroad.

Crochet Rose

I love to crochet, but not difficult patterns. So I tried to find an easy pattern for making a rose. Well, I found one. It was in Dutch, so I'll try to translate it in to English (both US and UK terms).

What can you use the roses for? Well, big ones can be sewn unto a cushion, smaller ones can be used onto hairclips or crochet hats. Or just use them for home decoration purposes.

What do you need? Well first of all a crochet hook (any size you like), yarn (any kind and any thickness you like, but make sure it fits with your crochet hook), scissors and a needle.



Pattern:

ch. 72 and leave about 30cm of yarn in the beginning.

row 1:
ch. 4 (counts as a Treble Crochet (UK) / Double Crochet (US) in 4th ch. from hook, ch. 2, TC (UK) / DC (US) in the same ch.,
*ch. 1, TC/DC in 2nd ch. ch. 2, TC/DC in same ch.*
repeat text between * *
Now you get some kind of V-shape and a square which repeats itself.

row 2:
At the end of the row you turn and ch. 3, 1 TC/DC in the V-shape of the last row, ch. 2, 2 TC/DC in the same V-shape.
*in the next V-shape 2 TC/DC, ch. 2, 2 TC/DC*,
repeat text between * *

row 3:
TC/DC in first space, 6 TC/DC in the space between the 2 chains from row 2,
* 7 TC/DC in the next space between the 2 chains from row 2*
repeat text between * *

NOTE: You can also use a different colour yarn for row 3, which makes the rose even more special.

Fasten off.

Roll your crochet into a flower, with the 30cm yarn of the beginning in the middle. It’s easier to roll the flower around of your fingers. With the needle and the 30cm yarn you sew the flower together.

For a photo tutorial, click here It’s the same pattern, but only in Dutch.

I've made this rose in many colours and many sizes. My first one was the big pink one on the picture. It wasn't meant to be that big though, but I didn't quite think of the right size hook and yarn. But even though it wasn't suppose to be like this, I really love it. I find it one of the nicest I've made.

If I have made any mistake in translating this pattern, please let me know, so I can adjust the text.

Silhouette art

I saw a picture on Pinterest once and I really liked the idea of making a silhouette wall decoration for the girls. But I didn't really know which animal would be fun for the wall in the rooms of my daughters. So I came up with a different idea. Why not make silhouette pictures of the girls and use them as a model to cut out on scrapbook paper. Of course any other nice paper will do as well.

So all I did was making silhouette pictures of both girls. I printed them out, cut out the silhouette and used them as models on a nice piece of paper using a crayon. Then you have to cut out the drawing and stick it onto a piece of paper. I also added the first letter of their names to it and then framed it.

This is the result.

First I made one for Eliza (who is 3 years old).

Then I made one for Abi (who is only a few months old).

Autumn leaves

Autumn, you either love it or hate it. I'm not really sure which of those is what I do.

I hate that dark, rainy and cloudy weather. It kind of depresses me. But on the other hand, I do love the colour of autumn. All those beautiful colours of the leaves on the trees, and later in the autumn, no longer on the trees but on the ground. A variety of colours: yellow, brown, red ... I just love it. And so does my daughter Eliza. It is often that she comes home with lots of leaves. Most of the times they are dirty or no longer beautiful. But sometimes she comes home with beautiful leave in beautiful colours. All I have to do is put them in a flower press so they won't turn brown and ugly but stay beautiful and they will also be flattened.

Yesterday we took the leaves she collected out of the flower press and glued them to a piece of paper. I of course, would have taken an other colour, but Eliza didn't want to let go of her favourite colour so pink/purple it is. We put the paper in a frame and hang it in her adorable room in which one colour dominates. I guess I don't have to tell you that this colour is pink?

Great way to cherish those cards

I have lots and lots of bags and boxes in my drawer filled with all kind of cards. I saw a great idea on Pinterest the other day. Someone put all her holiday pictures together with a binder ring. I thought it was a great idea. I'm gonna do that one day as well. I have tons of pictures, hotelbrochures, boardingpasses etc lying around the house.

But first I had to get rid of all those bags and boxes. So I bought binder rings and put the boxes on my table to see what kind of cards were in it.

I found two boxes filled with cards which we received after the birth of our two children. I want to keep those forever so I can give them to both my daughters when they are grown up.

I tried to order the cards by size and then punched holes in it at the top. Then I secured them with the binder ring. It’s so easy but so nice to do. I will buy a nice ribbon soon so I can attach that to the binder ring to make is even more special.

You can also put your birth announcement at the front. That’s what I am gonna do next.

My next projects with binder rings will be my holiday picture, wedding pictures, honeymoonpictures and the holidaycards my children get from their grandmother.

And for Christmas I will hang the binder ring on my wall so I can put all the received Christmascards on it.

Decorated wooden letters

Yesterday I was trying to make something special for my daughter's teacher who was leaving. But what could we make? I thought of something nice, or at least, my daughter Eliza and I thought is was nice.

We bought a wooden letter P (the name of her teacher starts with a P), but any other material would be fine as well.

Then we used a puncher to punch little hearts out of foam. I put double sided adhesive tape on the letter P and Eliza put all the little hearts on it.

Eliza really enjoyed making this special P for her teacher. So this is a nice craft thing you could do with your children. Makes nice presents for birthdays, Christmas or any other event.

Enjoy this special time with your kids!!


Materials:

- (wooden) letter
- foam in different colours
- heartshaped puncher
- double sided adhesive tape

Moving announcements

What to do with all those old keys that are lying around the house? Throw away or just give them another life? That's what I did.

I thought I could use those as moving announcements. How? Well, it's really easy. Make your own labels, print them on a nice piece of paper and attach them to an old key with a lace or a piece of rope. Write down your old address and the new address and send it to your loved ones. I'm sure you will get lots of nice responses. You can also attach them to cards.

You don't have old keys? Try fleamarkets or garagesales. Maybe you can find some over there.

To secure the lace/rope to the label, use metal rings so the lace/rope won't tear.

Easy, isn't it? Told you so!

Happy DIY!