Geven en krijgen – Giving and receiving.

Met de vakantieperiode heb ik het pakketje van de give-away vorige week pas kunnen versturen. Eerder deze week kreeg ik een berichtje van de winnares dat alles veilig was toegekomen en het pakje in de smaak viel :-) Ze schreef er een berichtje over op haar leuke blog!

With summer holidays I delayed sending the give-away package until last week. A few days ago I got a message from the winner: everything arrived safely and she really liked it! :-) I even go a mention on her blog!



Enkele weken geleden is er een nieuw huisgenootje bijgekomen! Nee, geen tweede kat, hare majesteit koningin Maija zou dat niet willen ;-) Wat dan wel?

A few weeks ago a new roommate moved in! No, not another cat, her highness queen Maija wouldn’t like that! So what was it?

Een echt piraat! Speciaal gemaakt door mijn moeder :-) Zo lief!

A real pirate! Made especially by my mom :-) So sweet!

En zelfs bij een lief aapje houdt ze een oogje in het zeil! And she even keeps an eye on a sweet little monkey!

Love, Zjizjipke!

Zomaar… – Just because…

Dat was de reden van mijn beste vriendin om een envelop vol leuke, zelfgemaakte kadootjes in de brievenbus te gooien… Zomaar, omdat ik het verdien… Lief he? :-)

That’s the reason why my bff gave me an envelope filled with pretty, homemade goodies… Just because, i deserve a sweet surprise… Isn’t she a sweety? :-)









Love, Zjizjipke!

Gehaakt jasje – Crochet cover

Voor een glazen bokaal maakte ik een vrolijk, gehaakt jasje met Drops Paris garen. Met een Crassula-stekje erin, perfect als klein housewarming kadootje. Dit vetplantje zou volgens de Feng Shui bekend staan als geldplant, in welk huis is dit nu niet welkom ;-)



An empty, glass jar got a happy, colourful crochet cover from Drops Paris yarn. With a baby Crassula in it, a perfect little housewarming present. This succulent is supposed to bring in lots of money, according to Feng Shui, so who wouldn’t want one ;-)



Love, Zjizjipke!

Springswaptime!

Twitter is the birthplace of loads of great ideas! Earlier this year a group of 17 ladies made a deal to send each other springtime prezzies. A raffle decided who was going to be the lucky receiver of your homemade goodies.

This envelope found its way to Holland and ended up on Kralaliens doorstep:



I made her a butterfly card, a crocheted e-reader case in her favourite colours, some flowers and two little fishy cat toys. Her kittens loved the orange, stuffed crochet toys I heard!
Mission accomplished!













Off course I was really, really curious about the envelope that was coming my way! And boy, I loved it!
Look:





A pretty lined bag with fluo moustaches.



A crochet case for my mobile phone, perfect fit I must add and a sweet card :-)
Thanks again Maaike!!

Next swap I’m on board again for sure…

Love, Zjizjipke!

A pretty mod podge experiment!

Two weeks ago when I posted some Mod Podge (p)inspirations, I mentioned a flower I made. Realising I never showed it to you all, I’ll do it now :-)

It was a gift I made for Mothers day last year, together with a framed picture of my mom and grandmother.






Both of them where plain wood that I embellished with Mod Podge, pretty paper and some buttons.

What do you think? My mom loved them!

Love, Zjizjipke!

Lucky me!

For the launch of her new website ‘Mijn thuisgevoel’, Kristel organised a give-away! And guess what? I was one of the three lucky winners!

A few days later I found a package when I came home, with this beautiful vintage tin inside:



And… lots of yummy chocolates!



Thanks, Kristel!!



You should check out her website and her online shop, she sells beautiful vintage stuff and type cases!

Love, Zjizjipke!

What I made for Chrismas: Hot Water Bottle Cover

I had this baby in mind for a few months now and figured it would make a really good present for Christmas. Off course me being me, I started making it last-minute :-) But it was finished just in time to be wrapped and then unwrapped by the more than happy receiver!

I would like to present you a tutorial with pictures and directions, but fact is it depends on the size of your HWB, the yarn and crochet hook you use… So I’m just going to give some hints as to how I made mine!

I used the leftover yarn from my blanket: Caron Simply Soft. With my crochet hook number 5, I made a chain just slightly longer than the round curved part of the HWB, that was my base.

Then I started crocheting away… Single crochets (US) to get a good tight cover, following the curves from the bottle by increasing stiches where needed. When the cover was long enough to reach the neck of the bottle I started decreasing and increasing along the end of the HWB.


Actually you make up your pattern as you go along. After finishing the grey (back) part of the cover I realised it could be a little on the small side…


You see that it would be a little too small if I didn’t make the front part wider… So the stripy (front) part got a few more stitches to it :-) It ended up about a cm bigger on both sides.





As both sides where done, I laid them out, good sides together and began to sew around the edges. Starting from the top of the cover going down, but leaving the bottom part open! When the sewing part is done, you turn the cover good way out and stuff in the HWB. I closed the bottom with slipstitches, but you could sew it shut if you like.

And ta dah!! Your own custom-made hot water bottle is finished!



Yes, since the finishing part took place at night, I forgot to take pictures :-) So this is one after the unwrapping took place on Christmas eve!

Love, Zjizjipke!

The colours I used are Caron Simply Soft Grey Heather, Blackberry, Soft Pink, Victorian Rose and Raspberry.

Whatever happened to Blankie n°2??

You remember how enthusiastically I started Blankie n°2 way back in January? With her 450 squares I needed to make?

I know you all are thinking ‘finally the here-she-is-in-all-her-glory-post is here’. Well, yes and no…
During the summer doubt started to creep in, doubt about the heaviness of the end result, all cotton for a double sized blanket equals a lot of weight… The practicality, will it fit in the washing machine? And I lost my drive to crochet another 200 squares for a Blankie that would be absolutely cute, but unused probably…
Then I started to think about the box full of squares that just sat there… What to do? What to do?

Take them all apart and re-use the yarn? Well, no! Maybe I could use them for smaller blankets? Like baby-blankets? Yes! That’s it!
So two new-born bundles of joy are now the proud owners of the very first batch of Zjizjipke’s babyblankies extraordinaire…
The first one for a beautiful baby girl.

The second one for a gorgeous baby boy.

Hopefully I can make some more baby’s happy with some blankies, I can make loads of colour combinations with my squares :-)
Can’t wait to hear what you think about the babyblankies!
Love, Zjizjipke!

The prettiest prezzie I ever got!

In my last blog post I promised to show you the awesome gift my BFF made me, so…
It all began with a big box introduced to me with the following text:

Inside there where lots of presents, all with fun and mysterious words on them. What I found? The new issue of Mollie Makes, Joel Dewberry’s book Sewn Spaces, movie tickets, masking tape, mod podge,… Yes, she spoiled me :-)
And of course the prettiest prezzie ever! She mod podged my name in the most awesome way!! Look:


Isn’t it pretty? They got a special place in my living room, so I can admire them every day!

Of course there was cake too :-) So even though I’m another year older, it was a fantastic birthday!
Love, Zjizipke!

Crafty birthday!!

My BFF and I have our birthdays with a week in between, so the summer is all about parties and prezzies! We exactly know what to get for each other :-) To maximize the fun of giving I made an array of different presents, some books she liked, masking tape, crafty paper,… And some handmade, especially for her, one of a kind items.
I put the rolls of masking tape in a glass jar that I decorated with a doily and butterfly paper (she loooooves butterflies):


The masking tape was hidden among lots of yarn ends, so she wouldn’t spot the actual prezzie on sight!


Then I began the daunting task to mod podge her a book with nice fabrics. It took me ages, glue and wait to dry and glue and wait and glue and… you get the picture :-) but the end result was worth it I think! At least the birthday girl liked it ;-)


Yes, butterflies again :-)





The backside with roses.


I personalized the first page of her new ‘creative ideas’ book





and included a butterfly and starry bookmark.





Next time I’ll show you the pretty, homemade prezzie she gave me! It’s gorgeous!!
Love, Zjizjipke!