Hand carved stamps!!! :)

Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon in a workshop learning how to make stamps. And it was so much more fun than I had expected!! I had expected to be complete rubbish at it, but I was actually able to produce something recognizable ;)



So as if I didn't have enough hobbies already...





... I'm now also addicted to making stamps ;)

Finished project: Destroyed Shirt Bunny :)

Q: What happens when your boyfriend leaves his favorite shirt on a chair that happens to lean against your pet rat cage, and then leaves for work?

A: Well, then the rats go to work as well, with a result looking something like this:



Yes, people. That IS a shirt with its sleeve gnawed off... :) On the bright side: my rats got a very comfortable bed made out of a sleeve, and I got myself some extra fabric!! ;)

And what to do with that extra fabric, you ask? Well, let me tell you: take a cute pattern...



... and make yourself a motherflippin' bunny!! :)



How adorable is that?!! :) Honestly, I think it's so cute...



... I might just start leaving some of J's other clothes next to the rat cage as well from now on - completely 'by accident' of course! ;)

Finished project: Pencil Case

Oh, how I love starting a new crafty project!! :) The process of choosing the right fabrics, prints and colors is almost rewarding enough in itself, isn't it? :)



I wanted to make the pencil case from Lisa Lam's the Bag Making Bible for quite a while now.



I love pretty lining, but I've never really used it before in any of my projects. So before I'm stepping up to making a bit more complicated bags, I thought I'd start with a pencil case ;)



I have to admit: I got a bit confused, so it took me two tries to get the lining on the INSIDE of the case ;) But here it is!!! :)



I really love it! The dots, the stripes, the soft colors and to top it off: the bright yellow zipper!! Perfect for pencils...


... or to keep my little crafty supplies in one place when I'm on the road!!! :)

5 things...

... I did on a lazy Sunday! :)

1. Eating raspberry yoghurt for breakfast



2. Practising my piano "skills" ;)



3. Reading...



4. ... and reading some more!



5. And last but not least...



... knitting more squares for my new blanket :)

Moodboard & a WIP!

These past few weeks I've been slowly (SLOWLY!!!) recovering from the pain in my back. I'm still not there yet, but I have learned that the key thing is to keep moving, and to avoid sitting in the same position for longer than 45 minutes at a time. Which turns out to exclude A LOT of things I love to do...



I love to craft/crochet/knit/sew, I love to blog, I love to read, I love to watch movies. I do not love the need to exercise ALL FREAKIN' DAY LONG. So this weekend, with the weather being bad anyway, I decided to reward myself with two crafty activities.

First I made a moodboard:



I LOVE these colours!! Love the orange wooden cabinet, the fabrics and button, the postcards, and especially my latest Etsy-purchase: this amazing illustration by Nan Lawson!



How cute is that?? :) Having this on my desk is truly inspiring! I'd love to own a bigger moodboard one day, but this will do for now :)

So the next thing I did was making a start to a new knitted blanket, in the same colour scheme as my moodboard! :)



I've never knitted a blanket before, so I'm really curious to find out how these squares will look once they're all sewed together... (I'm hoping for something great, but I'm suspecting something wobbly ;)



It'll take me a while to find out though: 2 down, 30-or-so more to go!

And at the rate me and my creaky back are going, I'll be done in December... :)

The Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag ~ update

Remember the Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag I made last week? I was pretty happy with the result, until I started to feel like something was missing... I tried to figure out what could be wrong with a very happy, very sunny tote, and then it hit me: it was just too damn sunny! ;)

So I decided to add...



... some RAIN!



Okay, so it's cute, yellow, dotted rain...



... but it's rain nonetheless! And you know what the weird part is? I think this bag just got a whole lot sunnier because of it! :)

The Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag!

I don't know if it was the sun or the scent of spring in the air, but today I felt like making a bag!!

Considering the fact I've never made a bag before, I decided to start slow and make myself the first (and easiest) bag from Lisa Lam's The Bag Making Bible: the Versatile Book Bag.



So off I went choosing fabrics...



... measuring, cutting, pinning, ironing...



... and sewing!



While Boots slept in the sun...



... I made a modest bag...



... with sunny handles...



... and sewed them together.



The result? One very happy...



... very bright...



... Sunny Sunday Sunshine Bag!!! :)



If I wasn't ready for Spring before, I surely am now! :)

Once upon a time...

... there was a practical, yet very ugly, camera bag.



Instead of throwing it away its owner decided to add a little colour to it, in hopes it would become Less Ugly. So the owner got out some tools...



... and made the Ugly Bag a beautiful happy strap!!! :)



It was yellow...



... and had dots on it!!!



And even though the bag is Still Ugly...



... they lived happily ever after anyways! :)

The (rather pointless ;) End.

Finished: The Sunburst Granny Blanket!

~~~ UPDATE JANUARY 2013 ~~~

I have started a new blog called Nittybits where you can find a tutorial of the Sunburst Granny Square Blanket! It contains information about the pattern, how to join the squares and the yarn I used. Feel free to check it out here:

http://nittybits.blogspot.nl/2013/01/sunburst-granny-square-blanket-tutorial.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~

First of all: happy new year everyone! :) I hope you enjoyed the holidays and have a colourful and happy 2011!

Second of all: I am happy to say I can start this new year with a brand new finished project!!! :D

Remember those Sunburst Granny Squares I was working on back in August? (You can find the pattern HERE.)

I started with one...



... which grew into a pile...



... which grew into a whole bunch of them!



And a few months after I started, I had finished 36 squares!



Aren't they the sunniest, happiest grannies ever?! :D I absolutely adore them!



After lining them up in a pretty formation it was time to join them together...



... and there you have it: a brand new Sunburst Granny Square Blanket!!! :D



Am I pleased with the result? Sure! The lining was a bit wobbly, so I'll have to mind that next time. But on the whole this little, happy blanket makes me very happy!

All it needed was a pretty ribbon...



... and the Sunburst Blanket was ready to go to its new owner: our brand new baby niece!



Let's just hope she'll enjoy it as much as I would :)