Having butterflies!

Since this afternoon I'm having butterflies! The 21 hours flight ahead is the main reason probably. Yuck!

But I'm also very, very excited to see the family soon and it looks like I'm not the only one.

Apparently my nieces and nephew are waving to every passing airplane since the last couple of days. Houses have been redecorated and cleaned thoroughly. Fridges have been stocked as if the whole army is coming for supper. 

It looks like our family is expecting the Royal Family....hehehe. 

Happy Holidays... the King and Queen are on their way!

'And all that I can see...'

'...is just another lemon tree'

My harvest, bright and happy in the sunlight.

Hundreds of Dandelions in our garden. Their fluffy seeds cosy together....

...until they fly out, one by one, into the wide world!

(How proud am I of this last picture?!!)

Thank you all for your nice comments. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time with our family and friends. Just a few more days!

Oh, and my new blog is really coming soon. Just a little delayed. No worries though ; ) 

Sing it out loud...

...just a few more days and I'm on my way to Summer and sun!

Whoohoo!

Soon I will be visiting my family and friends in the Netherlands and Germany. I'm really looking forward to it. It has been two years since I last saw them. Time to catch up. Cuddle my nieces and nephew endlessly, go shopping with my sis, enjoy the warm summer evenings with mum and dad in their lovely garden and Pien, the little dog sleeping on my lap. 

I'm counting the days!

It's also one of the reasons I haven't been able to show you much of the craft projects I have been working on lately. Most of them are presents, and I don't wanna spoil the surprise.

So bare with me, soon I'll share the pictures!

How it all started...

A few days ago I received a 'stokje' from Michaja from ma vie a Salon (make sure you have a look on her blog. It's one of my favourites!) Thank you Michaja!

Anyway a 'stokje' in this case means that I have to answer a 'pass on question' about how it al started... (...my passion for craft, to be more specific).

Well...'Once upon a time I was born, and that's where it started!

In between playing with toy cars, climbing trees and 

spuɐɥ ʎɯ uo uʍop ǝpısdn ƃuıʞlɐʍ

(I wasn't really a girlie girl)

I spend most of my childhood drawing and painting.

I actually divided cartoon images into squares and then drew them on scale on a bigger sheet, since I can remember. The seven dwarfs from Walt Disney were my favourites to draw.

I also loved to jigsaw (mostly brooches) and then paint them. I spend hours in the shed sawing away.

On day I got oil paint from my Dad. A new challenge. I started to paint a bit more realistic. And I actually was very impressed with myself. During several years I painted every now and then, but I guess I didn't have enough patience to stick with it.

Meanwhile I studied Social Work and I mainly specified in organising activities for groups of people (kids, elderly people, handicapped people,etc). The study involved a lot of creative subjects. I loved it all (well except knitting and sewing...yuck!)

After working as a social worker for a couple of years I decided it was time for a career change.  I needed to do something new. That's how I ended up working at 'Pipoos' (a craft shop that's very well known in Holland and Belgium). Craft paradise! I discovered scrapbooking, decoupage, jewellery making, etc. You name it, i've tried it all!

This is where my own 'craft supplies stock' at home started to grow as well. My hobby was now my work and the money I earned went straight back into the shop...haha!

The idea to sell my handmade products grew.

This is one of the first items I made with the intention to sell:

After a few years I moved on to working at Dille & Kamille (I love that shop!!!) Here I was responsible for styling and decorating. If we had stayed in the Netherlands I would probably still work there!

In between I still crafted and sold something every now and then.

But there was still something I never ever tried. Sewing! Inspired by all those great fabrics I decided to buy a second hand sewing machine and give it a go. This little bag is one of the first projects I made (without a pattern) 

Since then (2,5 years ago) I'm unstoppable, and so is my obsession with buying nice fabrics.

Time to make some money instead of just spending, I thought. The idea to start a web shop was born.

But then our lives turned upside down because me and my boyfriend got the opportunity to immigrate to Australia (our dream came true!)

Obviously it took a while to settle down in this new life.

I found a new job in a lovely little craft shop and got introduced to the wonderful world of craft in Melbourne (it's craft paradise). I also discovered blogging....

.. and here is where I stand today. On the very beginning of setting up an online shop and living my dream. I have so many ideas and plans, but I'm taking it one step at the time.

My workspace is now set up in the new house, so I'm ready to go! 

My 'Happy Room' is how I call it ; )

I hope you enjoyed reading how it all started for me.

I won't pass 'het stokje' on, simply because the whole forwarding thing is not really my cup of tea as I mentioned before. Hope I'll be forgiven?! I noticed there's already a lot of 'stokjes' going around anyway! 

Happy crafting and thanks for visiting!

Hoop dee do!

I received this very nice, unique gift from a dear friend. 

Don't you think this is brilliant? A bulletin board made from an embroidery hoop and nice fabric!

Although their site is under construction at the moment, 

this is were you can buy one soon, if you are interested:

littleprettystudio

I did a little bit of scrapbooking on mine. 

As I mentioned earlier my new blog is almost finished. And just to let you know the new blog will be part of me and my craft 'business' becoming a bit more 'professional' (wow!).

This blog will slowly end but the new blog will be very similar, just sooooo much prettier. 

And I promise you...it already looks amazing!

Toy Box Surprise

A while ago I was asked to make two paintings for a baby boy's nursery. You might remember them:

Meanwhile little Ishan is born, and I was approached by his fathers colleagues to make a customised toy box as a surprise. I decided to decorate it in the same style as the paintings...

The new parents were very surprised with this unique gift from the colleagues.

And I really enjoyed making it!

Congratulations!

Oh, and just to let you know... my new blog will be launched in a couple of days, so stay tuned!!!

Alienated!?!

After not blogging for a month it feels kind of strange to be back?! I feel a bit alienated from the blog world. But I'm sure I'll pick up my old blog addiction soon enough. And I look forward to catching up on all of your lovely blogs!

'I don't mind moving' I said a few weeks ago. And actually I didn't back then. Hmm... I should have realised we never owned that much stuff before! Pfff!

Anyway, the new house is great and everything is unpacked by now. That means I can start on the best part of moving to a new house; furnishing and decorating (although it probably takes a few more months for me to realise all my ideas)! 

This is the first little project I finished. I painted a few vintage doilies and stiffened them. As you can see in the next picture, they make a lovely room decoration I think.

 

This is one of my favourites parts of the new house. The dining room. I love the skirting on the left wall and the little vintage gas heater.

Remember my Hyacinths? They are getting there.

Hopefully they'll show their nice, purple flowers before we are flying to Europe for our family visit/ holiday in a few weeks time.

The dining and living room.

You might think we eat heaps of lemons, but although we don't mind lemons, we are not able to finish them all! They are just for decoration...

...because the tree in our garden has hundreds of them!!!

Have a look at the garden... it's massive. In a couple of years one or two new houses will be built here. By that time we will be long gone. But for now we'll try to make the best of it (the garden has been neglected for a while). We're already enjoying the space and freedom this house offers. Compared to the previous apartments we lived in (both with tiny balconies) this is heaven!

Now we just have to wait for the summer to come. 

I can picture myself sitting here in a few months time, surrounded by lovely flowers, sipping a glass of wine and feeling absolutely happy!

I'll be back soon....

We recently moved and we don't have internet at the new address yet. Hopefully next week....fingers crossed. I mis reading all of your inspiring blogs.
Meanwhile I'm absolutely bursting with ideas for the new home. I just don't know where to start first. Why can I not think as a normal person...hehe! And I'm the kind of person ho prefers to finish everything in one day. But yeezz, days are short!
I hope I can share some pictures with you soon.
Anyway, as I said....I'll be back soon. Hope you are all doing fine!

Greetings from Melbourne (where it is cold at the moment!)
Monique