baby gijs

After more than 5 catless years we decided to adopt kitten Gijs (10 wks old now).
It is a hell of a job to take pictures from Gijs when he is awake, he's like a tornado! He wants to play with us all day. During his breaks he loves to be on our laps (or on his sheepskin), caressed by our poor scratched hands, which he answers with a loud purring. And we - his staff - just loooove this little guy!

His name is real Dutch although he has a French mother and a Egyptian Mau great grandmother. It should be pronounced as the english word 'GUYS', with a Dutch G (sounds as if you have a throat problem).

By the way: we are looking for a babysitter for three weeks in July...We have a lovely home - 20 min. drive from Amsterdam - a nice small cottage garden full of flowers and a huge natural park within a 2 minute walk from our backyard. And Gijs, of course....please contact me for more info!

taking photo's without a camera

As a kid I was intrigued by cyanotype. It is a way of taking photo's without a camera, with help from the sun and some chemicals.
When my sons were little I bought a DIY sunprint kit. The fun thing was: after printing the key, the pair of scissors and some fern leaves my boys lost their interest but I couldn't stop! I remember going through my cupboards with a cyanotype view: fluffy yarn, nails, my grandmothers lace, every shape seemed interesting...
The cyanotype technique can be used on any material: Above you can see it applied on tiles by the UK/Dutch designers Glithero. Both the gun by Adam Ottavi (etsy shop) and the Jellyfish lace next to it by Rinne Allen are on paper and for sale. The beautiful dandelion print on fabric is created by Anna Laurent, you can find here TUTORIAL here.

4 flowers and a sunny day

Finally spring arrived in Holland. To celebrate that, and the fact that he was happy to be home after 8 days abroad, my husband Peter bought me flowers. Just a couple of different flowers (no packed Biedermeier-bunches!), simple and subtle. Spring in my heart, thanks P!

Follow me please

My new favorite way to follow blogs is Bloglovin'. Untill last week my bloglife consisted of restless wandering through blogland every week. I needed some structure (like everywhere in my life)! 

I subscribed - a piece of cake - and from day one I got a daily Bloglovin' update in my email with the latest posts of my favorite blogs! According to experienced 'blog followers' it is the best blog-reader ever.

So, if you don't want to miss my weekly posts, my give-aways or my free downloadable designs...click HERE and  follow me please! Thanks!

 

Kingsday

From today on this will be our new king! This little fellow (who is 45 years now) will be our national symbol, together with his wonderful wife Maxima.
I am not a royalty lover, but I do love my tiny country and I think a little unity might be welcome in these times. Politicians come and go, but our King and our Queen are here to stay.
The print on photo is designed by Joëlle from Studio SjoeSjoe. Love it!

dream shopping - shop dreaming

If only I had a few euro's (like a Thousand) to spend on clothes today, I would do some serious online shopping and buy these two outfits.
If only...

The Stella Mc. Cartney shoes (actually on sale right now, very tempting) are from The Outnet, the gorgeous dress is from Emerson Fry.
The emerald canvas tote bag comes from my favorite UK store Toast and the earrings (would love to have them in gold) are designed by Maria from the Etsy shop O Bliss.

I still regret that I didn't buy the blush coloured Baggu bag above when I was in New York! Then again Baggu was almost my neighbour on the NY-gift fair that I attended. The wooden necklace is not for sale anymore, but if you go over at Totokaelo, you can find dozens of similar treasures!
The Veja sneakers and the tunic dress are from Toast. I don't think the sneakers would match with the dress (at least in my size 41 it wouldn't ;-), but I had to show them: they are both eco- and people friendly and they look fantastic!

tribute to nature

A tribute today, to my number one inspiration: nature! All of the images above can be found (and tracked back) on my 'Nature' Pinterest board...Happy sunday!