And The Winner Is...

And the winner of the June Give Away is: Natasha Rizhik! Congratulations! I hope your little one will enjoy the garland. 

I wanted to say I'm sorry about telling you guys to leave your email in the comment. Apparently this is not a good idea, because of spam. I really wasn't aware of that, so I offer my sincere apologies. It is best to write your email address out like this: colorandcream1 at gmail dot com, or put in spaces between letters, so it's still possible to figure out for a human being, but not for a computer.

I'm trying to get a bit more organized right now. Since my business is growing, it's becoming more and more important to manage my time smartly. That's why I have a big new pin board and all new sticky notes (from HEMA). Aren't they pretty? This makes planning much more fun! I especially like the ones in the left lower corner. And the arrows too...

This is part of my pin board. I decided to just use a soft board, from ceiling to floor, since that takes up less space of my white wall. I really LOVE it a lot. Oh, and soft board is crazy cheap. It only cost me about 8 euro's...

So that's what I'll be doing the next few days. And working on my custom order blanket (and making a tutorial on that during the process...). Oh yes, and I've almost finished the next Flower Square Tutorial! It''ll be in the Color 'n Cream Shop this week! 

Have an anything but blue monday!!

Craft Room

The light is soo beautiful today! Although my photography doesn't really show... I couldn't resist to take some photo's of my craft room. I painted the peach wall white after all... It turned out just the way I wanted and doesn't leave a peach glow on, well, everything!

And this is what my table looks like today. Some fresh flowers, some crocheted flowers, some yarn and a doily I'm working on as a custom order. How do you like it?

It's so much fun, but still quite difficult. I keep on pulling everything out, until it looks just the way I like it. Making doilies isn't my specialty. That's kind of why it's extra fun! And you all know how I LOVE pink...

I'm actually toning it down a little bit. I was crazy stressed these last few weeks, because of the market, the shop and my little one, who, turns out, has Lyme disease. As some of you might have noticed, she gets sick a lot. But we finally know why. And we are treating it, but it will take some time. She is home a lot and only attends school for half days. That kinda blurs my attention on the Color 'n Cream part sometimes.

But as much as I can, I seek refuge here. In my lovely Craft Space. I turned everything around and it is starting to end up the way I like it (you know I might change it again tomorrow...) I made a big pin board (not in the pic's yet) to get some more clarity in what needs to be done, to reduce the stress a bit.

For the ones interested: the Cotton Yarn Pastel Color Combo is available right now in my shop. There will be some more combo's available later this week, or maybe next week.

We are going camping this weekend, for the first time in a tent. It's exciting and I'm looking forward to it a lot. I hope the weather will be just like it is today!

Have a sunshiny day!

Moving And A Give-Away

So, please excuse me for my absence yesterday... I had a busy weekend and monday. As I told you, the little one was sick. She kept being sick until yesterday afternoon, so I had my hands kinda full... But that didn't keep me from either crochet or coming up with rather tiring projects like moving our bedroom to the attic and my craft room to our 'old' bedroom on the second floor.

I always tend to get these ideas on the most inconvenient moments, like when one of the kids is sick and my man is about to go kite surfing in 2 hours. But since we're both quite impulsive, we did it right away!! And after running the stairs about a zillion times, it was done... Well, the bedroom was done. My craft room was still a raving mess.

That's what I did yesterday. Tidying up and decorating my new room. Ohhhh, how I love to do that. And even though it's far from done (I still need to paint the walls, hang the new roller blinds, getting lots of new accessories,  hanging 'art' on the wall) I feel at home here in my new place and don't understand why I didn't think of this sooner...

 

O, well, I'm here now and enjoying this new opportunity to do something else than crochet all day for a change. I went to the thrift store right away and bought some beautiful stuff, that needs to be painted before I show you.

These are some of the results of my decorating. I'm having so much fun with all my stuff. What color would you paint the walls?? I'm not sure yet. Plan to go color shopping today...

But, It's april by now and time for a Give-Away. I have a funny one this month. It's a crochet book on amigurumi's (we all know how much I love them...) and hats & scarfs. I got it when living in Thailand, but am not the amigurumi type. It's with instructions and charts. If you want to enter, make sure it is possible for me to contact you!!! If you're not really interested, please don't enter. The winner will be announced on monday the 14th.

Wow, had a lot to share with you today. Hope I made up for yesterday. 

Have a haily day (I am and I love it. And I loved all the rain on the roof all night long too, in my new attic bedroom...)!!

Pink, Love At First Sight

So, my man was in Denmark for a few days, which left me with no computer (he had to take the laptop). I must say, it was kind of relaxing having no pressure on the matter. Although, I'm kind of addicted to the convenience of having it by hand, too. And I also missed my blog and the possibility of checking out my pic's after shooting them...

On top of all this we decided to get rid of the tv last sunday. We didn't just throw it away, it's in the addic, where we can't use it. We will do an experiment; no tv for a year. It took a little time to get used to, but I must say, it gives me so much peace, knowing that I don't have to watch television. Sounds weird, but I have the whole evening to so stuff now! It gives me so much extra time! I only miss it while finishing of the loose ends of crochet (recognize that??).

Since my man was away, I had some time to finish my picture frame 'collage' in the craft room. I love the sweet pink and am not even bothered by the higgledy piggledy (found this on Google Translate, love the expression, but did I use it right in this sentence??) look of it all. 

By the way, I'm sorry for the inconsistency in the layout, but I'm having a lot of problems with Blogger at the moment. It doesn't work the way it's supposed to (do you have this problem too??). 

Wish you all a lovely weekend, with autumny weather, hot chocolate and some fun craft projects on the go.

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 Flower Blanket

There it is, the new Flower Square Blanket with a vintage feel to it. Yummie!!

I had s much fun making this blanket! And the edging too. I saw it once, somewhere (probably pinterest) and wanted to try it. I just never had the right blanket for this edging. Now I have! I'm absolutely in love with the vintage pastel colors. 

In my new craft room I have this nice basket filled with my latest color addiction. Doesn't it look warm and sunny?? I will show some pictures of my room when the weather is a little bit sunnier and when I've painted the table... Might take some time.

And finally I just HAD to show you this beautiful Dahlia, I picked from my own front yard. It's filled with dahlia's but this one is particularly pretty, don't you think? And it's huge!!

Next post will be the tutorial for this square. Hope to see you soon!

Have a lovely (rainy) day.

Color Bomb Stool

YESSS!!! I've finished one of my projects again. And I LOVE it! I love the colors and have been wanting to do this for quite some time. 2 Weeks ago I found the right stool in the local thrift store. And around christmas I found a round stool at my mother in laws', so there's going to be a sequel... But first check out this one.

Do you see the washi tape around my finger? It works perfectly for when the yarn starts carving into your skin... I know, I'm hooked, but it works much better than a bandaid, 'cause it's smoother.

I'm absolutely in LOVE with my new stool. Sorry, I know, STOP! But sometimes you just get the colors right. (I think I will make a series of this color combination). And it was so easy to make. It's going to be used in my new and improved workspace. There will to be more pictures once it's completely done, but here is a preview.

I have so much more space now and it is possible to leave my sewing machine on my desk. Although I really loved my vintage desk (it's going to be picked up this afternoon:( ) I love the extra space I have now. Gives me some calm I guess. And because it's white I can take better pictures too.

Well I'm totally happy today. The sky is blue, the world is (snow) white and the sun is shining. A beautiful day to finish such a happy project...

Hope you too have a sunny day!!

New beginnings

As I said in my last post, I love the time when I've finished a project and am eager to start something new. I came up with a few things and wanted to give you a peek into my new plans...

I hope to have some of it finished soon, this week hopefully. Maybe even tomorrow... I am in love with all my color options. As ever. It's just endless and so satisfying.

Did a little bit of inspirational reading this weekend, started my first doily, redecorated my workspace finally... I've been quite productive!

Show you the results soon, once I'm done!

Have a nice sunday.

Workspace

Sadly my wrist and hand are showing some signals of overcharge by the crochet hook. I have tot take a crochet break which isn't easy for me at all and I'm not sure if I'm going to succeed... But lucky for me, I have other hobby's like sewing, decorating, cooking, collage making, so there's no reason to get bored.

I took this chance to tidy up my craft room and absolutely love the result. My desk is almost empty, after weeks off not being able to see the beautiful formica desktop. I even removed the Billy (IKEA) to my love's room and have much more space in my micro work place.

I love the light coming in to the big window and am happy with my expanding wall collage of pictures and illustrations. I am collecting masking tape although I'm not really using it yet. That's a common issue with us crafters, I think, so many ideas (and so greedy) but always too little time. My hands just don't seem to be able to keep up with my head. 

I love this little burst of creativity. Am in LOVE with the little Blythe dolls and particularly this little cowgirl. The Cherry Coco Diary I bought in Thailand and love it too much too write in it yet, hence the  display. Found the box years ago at a thrift store and that's a beautiful illustration of why it's sometimes okay to be greedy. It might always come in handy. Oh, and to be honest, love Littlest Petshop and own about 11 Piny Pons. Have to keep feeding that little girl inside me sometimes. It's my luck I have 2 girls, so I can buy them Hello Kitty t-shirts and toys and stuff. Familiar??



My first Mollie Makes. This happens to be the first Dutch version, so I was lucky. Although I don't really like the patterns this month I do like some pictures and since I'm also big into collage I had to have it!

The shelves expanded with a yellow and pink one and I like the result. Color always makes me happy.

I wanted to tell you guys I had a crafty night with four friends last monday. But sadly I totally forgot to take pictures. Too bad. It was great fun and everybody was inspired. We are going to make a monthly thing out of it and next month I'm going to teach them to crochet. So exciting! Next month I'll take pics, I promise...

That's it for now, it's a bit depressing seeing my unfinished blanket laying around like this. But hey, it's a good opportunity to broaden my horizon and get some other stuff done! 

Have a great day.