not my creation

About a year ago, we went to visit my parents at their cottage. There was a lot of leftover wood & nails lying around, since the house had just been built. My boys (including my husband) went out with nothing but a hammer in their hands, picked up some of this wood and nails and decided to build a small chair (stool) for the boys.

The result was the most wonderful thing and shows so well, how much imagination and creativity my 3 carpenters have... it´s so amazing to see, what one can create with only a hammer, leftover wood&nails (they didn´t even have a saw!) And the best thing was that this action was an unforgettable experience for my boys.  Exactly those things are the aspects that make this stool so beautiful and perfect

Since we´ve been building a tall fence in our new garden, we have a lot of leftover wood lying around in our backyard and I´ve asked my husband to create some stools we can use at home together with the boys.

Ikea-hack

I have a favorite spot in the living room where I love to sit and knit. My knitting-corner can be quite chaotic and my knitting-related-things have been taking over the rest of the room - do you know the feeling? That´s why I went to IKEA the other day, and I bought a "Rast" chest of drawers for my knitting-corner in the attempt to make the living room look a bit more tidy and my husband happy :-)

Since Rast doesn´t look very pretty or interesting the way you get it at the store, I knew from the start that I wanted to pimp it up. I used some wall-paint I had at home and bought some really pretty knobs at Bauhaus... I´m not only very happy with the result, but also quite astonished about the way it turned out.

Here you can see how it looked before...  and now take a look at it after my hacking:

my new, off white Rast

 

 Love those knobs... they make such all the difference

 My new, tidy and well organized knitting/crochet-corner... 

I made the crochet-jar myself...

... and as you might have guessed, I got those retro-looking, wonderful doilies at my favorite          thrift store :-)

 

DIY: birthdaycards

For years now, I´ve been making birthdaycards myself - why? Well:
1.: who doesn´t like personalized, homemade birthdaycards?
2. you save a lot of money
3: I love making them :-)

When I first started, I always drawed something I relate with the person, since I really love drawing. But after having 2 boys, I had to find some new, more quick methods to make them! That´s when I started using books, my boys had damaged. Now I also buy books & old magazines I find at thrift stores and no one wants to buy because there is no cover, pages are missing and they are damaged - for almost nothing! Since I hate the thought of throwing books away, giving old, torn up books a new purpose and meaning makes me really, really happy! :-)

The process is easy and what you need is:

Glue and scissors

thick paper or carton, I often use thick paper for drawing because of the nice texture:
Old, torn books no one wants anymore:

Old, torn magazines no one wants:

What you do next, is to seek some pictures you like... cut them out and glue them on the paper:

Here you have some examples you could use... a text on the card (like in cartoons) can make the card even more special and fun:

love this retro-looking-Buzz:

soooo cute and funny:

Very cool

For someone special and "yours":

For a car-fan

Girly and classic:

OR, if you have the time and skills, you can draw something:

Fairy: (love them...)

Dragon:

fish:

Have fun!