Cliché

I know, I know, on each and every blog you see right now there are pictures of autumn leaves. Booooriiiing!!!!! And yes, I will join in the hype and post fall color pics. But first, I want to show you why.

I was really inspired by Geninne and Ingela Arrhenius to make a kind of collage. The fall colors made it complete. This is the end product (I had to make a picture using flash because it is to dark inside):


The inspiration came mainly from the robin in our backyard and the trees in our street... Today was such a beautiful sunny day that I thought I'd share the joy with you!

Get out the paper!

Get out your origami paper and try this one!

With the holidays in the near future it could be nice to use these origami envelopes as gift tags. You can write a christmas wish inside and put a name on the outside, or you can play "surprise santa" and write a name on the inside... No peeking under the tree this year!

Anyway, I tried to make it as clear as possible, if you have any questions or comments please let me know. Tomorrow we will start making the butterfly tutorial, and I do mean "we" because the butterfly is so intricate that I need someone else to hold the camera (notice that there is only one hand in every picture... Yes, the other one was busy trying not to drop the camera!!!).

Take your time, it's a long one!

First, take out a nice piece of origami paper. What better print for Hoppin' Up than cute little bunnies! We used a piece of 15 by 15 cm. All measurements are in cm, and based on this size paper. If you use different sizes you need to scale the measurements yourself!!!



Write a nice message on the origami paper, on the side that you want to be the inside of the envelope.


Fold the bottom side up, about 2,5 cm. Crease well.


Fold the corners up so that the side edges of the paper are aligned with the bottom edge of the paper. Crease well.


Fold the sides of the paper up, following the line of the corners you just did. Crease well.


Open the last crease and push the triangles (that you made by folding up the corners) in. You can now see the edges of the bottom of the envelope.


The corners should now look like this:


Using the crease that you made earlier, fold the sides of the envelope in.


Fold the envelope lengthwise down the middle. Don't crease too much, this one is just to make a nice line to help you fold a nice top flap for your envelope. This one will show when your envelope is finished! Fold back.


Fold the top corner inside following the crease you made in the previous step. Do the same with the other corner.


Slide the top triangle in the envelope. Push it as far as it will go, and make a nice crease at the top.


Your envelope is finished!


You can also use nice cardstock to make a card fitting inside the envelope if you don't want to write on the paper.

And don't forget to send me a picture of your work!

Origami

We had a trip to Ikea today. The munchkin grew out of her crib so we had to buy her a new bed today. We found a very nice one, but since we had to change her room, I didn't have any time for anything creative.

I did get some questions about the origami butterflies. I am so glad you like them! Of course I didn't think of them myself, I learned how to make them watching a clip on youtube, but that clip seems to have been removed. There are quite a few steps to follow, but I'll try to make some instructions. It will take some time, because it's quite complicated, but I'm sure we will manage.

To be sure that my instructions are clear, I'll post my instructions for an origami envelope tomorrow. They are really easy to make, but just think how cute these would look as a gift tag on your christmas gifts!!!

Yummy!

I love color. I LOVE color! It makes me truly happy to look at something colorful and bright, and when the sun is out it's even prettier!

Combine the love for color with a strange addiction to cross stitching and you are truly in heaven. Some time ago I ordered some more skeins of DMC mouliné, and yesterday they arrived. Today I winded them on the bobbins and put them in the boxes... And then I took a moment to enjoy the colors. Take a look, isn't this just awesome?




I'm not the only one who likes the colors... You think it would be hereditary? ;-)



I'll probably keep collecting until I have all of them...!

No time for boredom

And yes, it's me again!!! My mind has been occupied with drawing and painting all day, so I'll probably give it another try tomorrow. I've been thinking about what to draw all day, and it will probably be something from nature again, possibly another tree. I love trees. And butterflies.

So today I finished the butterfly mobile. I like the way it turned out, but unfortunately, it wasn't sunny enough outside for the pics to turn out great. I hope these will appeal to you anyway!

There's so much in my head, things I want to paint and draw, books I want to make and things I want to sew. If only there were more hours in the day. Or more naps for Roos and Bas. ;-)

This is the mobile:





Hope you'll stop by again tomorrow!

Painting...

I used to paint a lot a few years ago, but I stopped when the picture on the paper did not match the picture in my head. It was very frustrating that my hands didn't follow my brain! But I was so inspired by Geninne and Yellena that I decided to give it another go. And I think it turned out pretty damn cute! Let me know if you disagree...

BTW, will post again tonight, just had so much to show you today that I couldn't resist a daytime post (at least in this timezone)... And Roos decided to take a nap this afternoon! Yay!

My "painting" was made with Talens Ecoline and indian ink on watercolour paper. And I know I can do better than this...

Art

Today was a busy day... The munchkin had a playdate, so we spent a large part of the morning over there, where both she and her little brother had a great time. Before we left for the playdate, Roos and I cleaned the house together (I have to give her het own cleaning supplies, just to be able to get some work done) and when we came home, I worked on the butterflies again. The sheets of origami paper are quite small, so the folding is very intricate. So far I have finished 14 of the 16 planned butterflies. I'll probably finish tomorrow, so I will be able to show you a picture of the finished mobile in about 24 hours!

I do have some beautiful pictures to show you. They are not mine, that is, I di buy them, but Yellena (see my list of blogs) made them. I just could not resist them! Right now all the art in this house was made by me, but I don't really like my own paintings. Maybe I'll make some photos so I can show you. But I needed something cheerful and colourful on the walls. These are the ones that I bought:





Hope to show you some of my own work tomorrow!

A butterfly flutters by...

Do you love a butterfly? My little girl does, and I always pretend that I can't catch them, because I really just don't want to... They are so beautiful and delicate, I don't want to hurt them. But gosh, would they look nice on my walls!

Some time ago, I was borderline obsessed by Origami (the same way I am now obsessed by binding books). My favorite design was a delicate butterfly. In The Netherlands we have this awesome magazine called Flow, they always have little gifts that make me behave like a mad person, because they are just too cute. Little notebooks, posters, stickers and yes.... This month, they have origami paper! It is even double sided, so my butterflies will be extra nice. To thank them for all the work that they do, I am making butterflies out of the origami paper, to make a mobile and send that to them.

Who knows, maybe they will take a look at my blog...

Anyway, I can't leave you today without showing you the result of my recent handywork. Sorry about the dark pics, but I took them at 11 pm, so I had to make do with very bad lighting... I love these little guys, I hope you do too!

The pics do look very festive, don't you think? Maybe I'll make some butterflies to decorate the christmas tree this year...

Finished!!!

Today I finished the Kokeshi doll book! I wonder what Melanie will say... Unfortunately, she's at the quilt market in Houston, so she won't see it for a while. I added some details to the design, I hope she won't mind. This is the finished book:





My husband has a new hobby too. He's just a big kid, I love that, but the house is starting to fill up with all kinds of houses, trains, buses, even a beach and a construction site! In today's project, we all wonder who Britney Spears' new man is...




Roos loves it!



I hope I made up for the boring message with no pics that I posted yesterday!!!

No news today...

Today I cleaned out my bookcase. I have a habit of putting all kinds of little things that I need to put out of the reach of the Dynamic Duo on the little space that you have on the shelves, right in front of the books. Every now and then, every little spot is taken, and I really need to de-clutter... So today was D-day, and I found all kinds of things that I thougt were lost.

Like a few notebooks that I bought some time ago. They were pretty expensive, so I have been putting of using them, in my head it would be a shame to write or draw in something that expensive. You can only use it once, right?

At that exact moment, I decided to mark down all the notebooks in my Etsy shop. I don't need to make a profit. I just want to make cute things that make people happy. And if that means that I get enough out of it to buy new materials, that is enough for me. So check out my sale!

Notebooks are made to make notes, or cute little drawings, or whatever...! So please buy them, use them and let them make you happy!

Hmmmm... No picture in this message... That is really not like me... I'll try to make it up to you tomorrow!!!

Naturals

Today was such a lovely chilly but sunny autumn day, it made me all cheerful! I love the sun, I am dreading the short days that are to come. Last year we had a lot of snow, which is inconvenient in itself, but with my 8 month pregnant belly and a toddler by my side, it was impossible to go anywhere. I don't mind snow, as long as there are some nice slopes nearby and a decent après ski-venue!

Anyway, it was such a nice day that I decided to use some of my new stamps (yes, store bought, but they were so irresistable) and my Canson Naturals paper and make some nice natural couloured booklets. I love the butterfly ones, but I made some extra to put on Etsy.

These are the books in progress:




By the way, I have the funny feeling that some people are actually reading my blog!!! If you do, please leave a comment, I would love to know who you are!

Not very original...

Since I made the book with Geninne's awesome design, I decided to do the same with the free Kokeshi stuffie from Melly&me. I loved the design, but I was afraid that if I made it in embroidery, you would hardly notice it. So I decided to use patchwork instead. It worked out great, I used the sewing machine to make the lines. I had to start sewing at several points, because of the many lines in the design, so when I finished the sewing, I had lots of loose ends!



My little girl (her name is Roos, Dutch for rose) loved all the threads...



I am now working on tying the ends together at the back so you can't see them any more, and hand stitching the face and the bows. I'll give you an update soon!

Hail!!

Honestly, I had to check how to spell it, but today we had the most beautiful weather! That is, if you could watch it from inside. My 2 year old loved it! I must admit that it was a great photo-op...



And as promised, I thought I would show you my extremey professional photo studio. I think (in all modesty) that my pictures turn out great. It must be the help of my assistant. ;-)



See you tomorrow!

I Heart Books

Yesterday, I showed you my experiment with the fabric crayons and the sewing machine. I was not completely satisfied, so I made another one. Good thing I still had some interiors, so I could make it into a book today while the kids were asleep (oh yes! They napped at the same time! Yay!). I also finished the cover with the two birdies that I showed you last week. Remember this one?




And this is what I made with the crayons! I loved it so much that I decided I would do a large panel, like 50 by 50 cm, and frame it for my living room. Not sure what to draw yet, though. Anyway, this is the book!



I am very pleased with the pictures! Tomorrow, I might just give you a sneak peek into my awesome photo studio...

See you soon! Have a nice day!

Fabric crayons

A few weeks ago, I bought a box of fabric crayons, I don't even remember what I was planning to do with them. This morning, I got up and I decided to do a little experiment. I started to draw a few colors on a piece of fabric, and before I knew it, I had made something and my head was spinning with ideas on what to do with the crayons!


So I made these lovely hearts. I was not completely satisfied, so I made another one, and I am using that one for a little booklet.

Let me know what you think! What else could you do with these crayons? Any suggestions?

Hi, I'm Maaike, and I'm addicted...

Yes, maybe now is the time to come out and work on it... I am an addict. My drug of choice is paper. Or fabric. I haven't really chosen yet.


Whenever I find a beautiful piece of paper, or a gorgeous yard of fabric, I start shaking and my hands start reaching for it, if I want to or not. My head starts spinning, filling up with ideas and patterns. And when I get home with my new find, the great "hogging" starts: I put my new toys in a closet and leave them there, because you can only use them once. That is why I have piles of fabric and stacks of paper, I usually think it's a shame to use it.

But today, I am ready to face my problem. I got up this morning and I decided to make some stuff.

I made lots and lots of little notebooks!!!

I planned to make something like this when my 2 year old daughter told me what she wants to be when she grows up. She wanted to bee cookie monster, or little red riding hood. I needed to write that down, so I would never forget how cute she was!!! So I started these little diaries that I fill with nice and cute moments I shared with my kids. I figured that others could do the same...

See here all the little notebooks that I made this weekend!



I made small packages of three notebooks and tied them together with a matching strip of paper... I think they make lovely gifts!





They are ready and will be on sale in my Etsy shop ASAP!

Hope you had a nice weekend too!