Every dog needs a blanket..

a few weeks ago we where visiting my mom. Abby wanted to be as close to us as possible and setteled on a diningroom chair for a nap.. But without a pillow or blanket she just couldn't get comfortable. The end-result was a very annoying little dog because she didn't get enough sleep.
** yes dogs are really just like children..

So we made a mental note to bring a blanket for her next time.
Now we do have some blankets around. Fleece ones, woven ones.. but the are all quite big and cumbersome to take with us.
Offcourse I could have gone out and buy something for her.
But with a big stash of yarn .. why not make one?

After a bit of rummaging through my stash I found 5 colors in the same yarn that worked well together. ** I used cheap yarn from Action; 1 euro per ball. I had to buy an extra gray one because there was only a small amount left in my stash

I really didn't know how big the blanket would get so for the pattern I decided to do one big Granny Square. I was planning to use up all of the yarn and just see how big it would become. The whole blanket took me about 2 weeks to make. I am a slow crocheter and if you really put yourself into it you will probably finish it sooner.

Despite the fact that there were some not so pretty yarn-joins in the balls Abby loves her blanket. And I am quite happy with how it turned out. It is big enough for her to snuggle under and small enough for us to easily take with us. 

So everybody is happy! 

Innocent Smoothie Hats

When I was at the trainstation last year one of my Innocent Smoothies came with a little knitted hat.
It was so cute!
After some googling I learned that it was a thing to raise money for the elderly fund here in Holland.
I was to late to send in some of my own, and I can't knit but I was determined to send some in this year.

I still can't knit so I had to figure out how to crochet something like that.
Now I have never crocheted a hat before so I wasn't quite shure how to start.
And then by chance I found some little hats on Instagram.
The maker was kind enough to share the pattern so I was good to go.

It really was ridiculously easy!

If you're in the mood to make some little hats here we go:

The things you need: a 4,5 mm crochethook and some colorfull matching yarn (DK size)

1. ch3, 9dc into 1st ch. Slip stitch to join.
2. ch3 , 2dc in each dc around (18dc)
3. ch3, 1 dc in each dc around
4. repeat round 3
5. repeat round 3
6. chain 2, 1 half dc in each dc around

( the pattern is in US terms. The ch3 at the start of each round does not count as a stitch. You should slip stitch to the first dc at the start of that round to join)

Pattern credit: @purlrose

With the little hat finished you can add some embellishments.  My favorite is the cream one with the bright pink pompom ( I wanted to make more pompoms but may have had a small nervous breakdown making more pompoms so I scrapped that plan )

For more information on the whole project visit the Innocent website.
Here in Holland hats must be sent in by the 1st of December but check the page for your country for rules applying to you.

Project Summer Life

As you can read HERE I decided to use the Project Life system to document my summer.
With fall suddenly in full swing I finished the final pages last friday.
I decided to print all of my September photos in one batch. This meant I got to save on proccessing costs.

I'm always a bit sad when summer is over. I am a real summer-person. This time the end of summer does not only mean the end of fabuous weather, endless hours of sunbathing, bbq's with friends and all of those summer pleasures.
It also means the end of my mini project life.
I had so much fun doing this. And it was just as easy as it says on the box..
It is the perfect option for everyone who wants to document their lives but does not always have enough time. You can totally adapt the lay-out to your needs and can make it as simple or extravagant as you wish. Or have time for.

I'm also quite proud of myself for finishing this project! For those of you who have been reading here for a while, you know finishing projects isn't really my thing ;-)

And now, I will share the final pages of this project..
( you can find the earlier pages HERE)

On the right: we had hale in august.. brrr... And the dragonboat races during the Waterweek here in Hoorn. 
On the left: Our garden and Abby when she got stuck between the couch and the radiator. Like every responsible bully-owner I took a picture before helping her..

On the left; My trip to the scrapbookfair in 's Hertogenbosch.
on the left; Nico and Abby enjoying some stewed pears together and my first zippered sewingproject 

On the left: the ratty-boys
On the right: the yearly fair in Middenbeemster and a night of playing Magic

On the left: working on my very first custom Etsy order. And Abby meeting a friends baby for the first time ( she doesn't want her kid all over the internet hence the cover up). Abby loved the baby!

On the right: we went to see "Guardians of the Galaxy" It was awesome!

On the left: being lazy in the garden; Abby and Nico are giving our new campingbeds a try. And a thursday 3.

On the right: Wearing shorts end of septemer is awesome! And some flatty-ratties..

On the left: having a Magic- night with friends: I got my butt kicked.. multiple times..
On the right: Our mini-campingtrip for my aunts 50th birthday.

 
I made a full page of the glass mug I finally scored after a whole summer of them being sold out.  But I'm ready for next years summer!

I have had so much fun doing this that I decided to try and do a whole year starting january 2015.
Still debating wether or not I'm going bigger and try the 12x12 thing or that I'm sticking to this smaller size. I still have some time to figure that out.
As for now, all this album needs is a label of the side and then my first project life is officially done!

Around here // I'm Back!

 So I have been away from my blog for a while. For some reason I just couldn't get myself in gear and blog.
But I'm stille alive, don't worry! And I have been busy as well but just haven't gotten myself to share it with you. So here is a recap of what I have been up to lately.

Firstly, something I am really proud of: I have finished my very first crochet blanket! When a friend of mine announced she was pregnant, I instantly knew I wanted to try and make her a blanket. I didn't tell her anything about it. Just in case it would be rubbish. When it was finished I couldn't wait for the baby being born and gave it to her right away. She really loved it. And the colors where spot on! I am really proud of myself for finishing this. And have since...

started on a blanket for myself. It's the same stitch but totally different colors and bigger. It's not going as fast as the baby-size but it's nice to have something to do when I'm watching tv.

I found the pattern on the Attic24 blog. Its called "the granny stripe" and is really very easy. If you are thinking about crocheting a blanket I highly reccomend it.

We love taking trips. First of all we went on a small camping trip in May. We've never been this early in the season. And we did have some preperation-fails. First of all; we went in the coldest weekend in the whole month. So it was COLD!!! Think -2 degrees celsius at night. 

Secondly for some reason we forgot our gastank. Which meant we had to buy a new one; that is a very expensive fail. But overall we did have fun. I got to visit my favorite stamp store in Deventer and I discovered a small shop filled with postcards and notebooks. Awesome!

And with the woods right of the camping Abby got lots of walks and free running through the bushes.

Another trip was to the Zoo in Amersfoort. It's probably the only zoo in Holland where you can take your dog. We had lovely weather and it was really cool to see Abby interact with all of the different animals. She even got a kiss from a giraf. ** Sadly I wasn't quick enough with my camera to capture that..

We also had lots of fun at a family trip. My aunt goes to the Pasar Malam in The hague once a year. I went along a few times years ago before we had dogs. Even before I'd met Nico. But a friend of ours was kind enough to dog-sit so we got to go this year. It's a collection of tents filled with all kinds of exotic food, drinks, bits and pieces. My brothers, step-mom, sister-in-law and my nephew all went along also. We had a wonderfull day filled with real Indonesian food, I had chendol and bubble tea for the first time and we went home with a nice stack of "spekkoek"

Ever since my art-journaling workshop I have been really making an effort to draw more. And with the beautifull weather we have been having I'm spending a lot of time in the garden.. 

Thanks to Instagram I have found not 1 but 3 pen-pals. ** finding a pen-pal was on my 2014 intention-list. I really can not descibe the happiness of finding such beautifull things in your mailbox. I can reccomend it to everyone! Not ready for a ''commited realtionship" with a fellow-snailmailer? Try Postcrossing. I will do a post on snail-mailing soon.

I have been strugling with my body lately. I have gained a bit of weight over the past few years **if you are not carefull that's what living together does to you.. And it is starting to affect my health. So I have been trying to take better care of myself. Getting enough sleep and make better food-choices. Like taking a healthy snack with me to work. I am not on a diet because that never works for me. Just trying my best to make better choices. The added weigtht ( and poor food choices) also means my fybromyalgia and gout has been acting up lately. And pain always affects all other areas of your life. 

After 2 years it was, finally, time to upgrade my phone. So out with the old (HTC) and in with the new (samsung galaxy S4) Best part of the upgrade? The fact that there are so many cute covers available for my new phone!! Yes I know.. shallow.. but hey.. I'm a girl. I need cute stuff!

So that is what I have been up to lately.

I have every intention of keeping up with blogging but if I do get caught up with life you can still find me on Instagram!

Have a wonderfull evening and see you later!

Currently 18.04.2014

Each week I take a moment to record what's happening right now.

Currently 05.04.2014

Every week I take 5 minutes to record what's happening right now.
I use a small list to help me.

And what are you up to right now?

30 days of lists: wrap up

With the start of April there has come an end to the 30 days of lists.
I really had a lot of fun!
There where some easy topics and some things I had never thought about before.
There was one list that I just couldn't make work.: no.20 When I was your age.
I don't have any kids and my only nephew is only 4 (and a half) years old.
I couldn't think of anything from that age.
So I left that one blank. I rather leave it blank than make a list that doesn't make any sense.

It was awesome to see all of the different lists on the 30 days of lists webpage, the facebookgroup and on Instagram.

So here is my complete album!