Inspiration on Monday

 good morning Monday, hello new week! 

did you enjoy the weekend? ours was nice, although mainly wet... it has been raining for days in a row, something I haven't seen here since we moved to Canada. hopefully the forecast is right, in promising better weather by the end of the week.

so instead of going outside for a Fall walk, we stayed inside and spent quite some time by the fire place, cozy on the couch. we did a bit of cleaning and organizing in our home, moved furniture around a little, and I am always pleasantly surprised by how such a little act can lift the spirits and happiness.

oh and for those of you who asked me questions or send me notes related to the previous posts: thank you very much, I answered them by leaving a comment to the same post.

INSPIRATION

on the web, I found Adeline Klam. have you heard of her? if not, you should definitely check out the links I am providing here. she is a darling French lady, who makes lovely designs with Japanese craft materials like paper ~ origami, washi tape and fabric. she writes books too, which can be found in her e-boutique and will be on top of my Christmas list! they promise to be a great source of inspiration, and give practical tips and ideas too. last but not least, she owns a shop in Paris and there are several stores all over France and Belgium, as well as one in Norway and one in Switzerland that carry her products. click to see for yourself and get inspired!

happy Monday

Weekend

thank you so much for giving me tips and ideas about my pictures and header lay out
you really helped me out and made me happy with plain pictures without borders on my blog

oh and I wanted to share with you that the porcelain marker wasn't as dishwasher safe as it promised to be
so I have to go out and find a different brand, or try this idea that I found through Pinterest

 it's the perfect time of year to go for a long walk in the forest

and come home by the fire place with some crochet, a pile of magazines and hot tea with cinnamon flavor

it is exactly what I plan to do the next two days

enjoy the weekend

Recently @ Pinterest

our favorite cupcake place redecorated their store, and look at the mixer lamps they made! 

on the right the perfect print for me, designed by Cathy Thorne Everyday People ~ I smile every time I see it. 

thank you to those who commented on my post yesterday about blogging and blogger. one of the issues that came up in the comments is the annoying word verification. the reason I installed it, were the 4 daily spam comments that I got since a few months. however, even with the verification I still get at least 2 anonymous spam comments a day. for your convenience I took the verification off again, and now the comment section will open in a new window. I hope this helps me to get rid of the spam and receive more lovely thoughts from you!


image sources 1. byfryd 2. flickr 3. creaturecomfortsblog 4. boxwoodclippings 5. pin

but. Pinterest. I got inspired to be active on Pinterest again. For example, I am preparing a gift wrapping presentation in November for the Newcomers' Club that I am joining here in Canada. Yes, quite Christmas oriented already! Pinterest is a great place to get your creative mind going. I can absolutely loose track of time while I am clicking and linking to blogs, pages and photo streams.

I love how natural elements like pine branches, leafs and lavender spark up gifts, as well as re-used materials like in image 3 and 4. the link in image 3 is actually also a how-to for the gingerbread cookie detail.
simple and consistent = effective. for more pictures, this is the link to my gift wrapping pin board. also, I would love to see your ideas! you can add a link to your pin board in a comment.

news I found on Pinterest:

lovely Heather Spriggs from Gatherings Magazines made a Gatherings Board, so you now have the opportunity to get an idea of all magazines and their eye candy content in one view

~

while clicking, I came across Jordan's boards, all very color organized and pretty, and got in touch with her. what a coincidence she recently moved to Canada too! check out her lovely blog too

wishing you a happy day

Lessons Learned

despite the rain, today was a lovely day full of photo shooting for the new header. actually it was a good day until I changed the header on my blog and couldn't get it centered on my page. oh well, that is what comes with a free blog template I guess; you can edit but within certain boundaries. left aligned header it is. now that I am talking about it; do you see borders around the images on my blog or not? I know they don't show on every computer, but they do on my own and I don't like it. has any one of you has this issue and know how to solve it? tips are welcome.

back to what matters: the blogging conference last weekend. I won't bother you with information on using different social media and blog traffic issues. Instead, I would like to share a few ideas on photography. 

Ana and I signed up for a micro session on food photography by Gayla Trail, who among other things, told us that there is a current trend of more loose of photo styling in the food world. I think that Aran from Cannelle et Vanille is a good example of that style. tablecloths don't need to be ironed, food may be touched to make it look more real. makes sense right? I think this trend might be applicable in the craft world too. to make our makes look real, it is ok to show work in progress, it is ok to show failed projects, it is ok to show a messy but lightly color coordinated work space. if not, I might have a problem haha. 

edit: I just found this food blog too - great styling, amazing pictures and getting me very hungry!

another tip we got from Gayla was not to compare our pictures with the ones in magazines. they can inspire us, but we don't have to think we can copy them, since those pictures were made by a complete team of professionals who have all tools available. now there she has a point. although, there are a few tips to help you get closer to the dreamy magazine pictures. you probably know this already, but it can't hurt to repeat them: taking pictures in daylight is key, use white boards to reflect the light and overcome dark shadows (can be easily made from white painted card board), and harsh light can be diffused with a white sheet.

by the way, if you are on Instagram, cannellevanille is a lovely feed to follow

I hope this was helpful

Completely Inspired

hello new week!

how is your Monday coming along?

we are having a warm Fall day, Indian Summer like and very beautiful

last Saturday I attended the Blissdom Canada 2012 event with darling Ana

aside from the commercial acts from some of the sponsors, we had a great day together

and left the conference center all fueled up with ideas for our blogs, 

both regarding content as well as picture taking

I plan to organize my thoughts and ideas this week, and share some tips and ideas with you!

some pictures of last week that I color matched

they speak for themselves

the last picture is from yesterday, a beautiful sunny Fall Sunday

I visited a well organised Fall fair with a lovely friend and we decided there and then that we were very lucky

~

have a wonderful new week

DIY : Crochet With a Pen

my excitement yesterday

was all about : crochet with a pen!

for this DIY project you need porcelain markers, some doilies and mugs or other dishware

first of all, let me excuse the colors of the paint on the mugs : it irritates me that I can't get the colors right

the blue is a more darker Delft Blue in real life, and the teal is not as neon as it seems

~

well, what do you think? are you sharing my excitement?

I started out with the Nordic winter decor, just because I wanted a try out before I did the crochet painting

that's the way it works for me when I haven't done a certain craft for a while

I start with a try out, to get the hang on it again

as some of you might remember, in my early blog days, I did a similar project to this

big difference between that project, is the size of the tip of the pen was much smaller this time

with the dolies on the table and the mug in my hand, I just did it

no try out on paper, no pre-design, just do it

I definitely had my very happy moment yesterday when I re-created three doily patterns on the mug

can you tell the resemblance?

if I may say so, I am very pleased with how they turned out!

also, I can see the endless possibilities for this project

different colors, repetitive patterns, symmetrical patterns...

but for now, we just have two new mugs

to drink tea and latte's with a very bright smile

Little Preview

before I am showing you some bits and pieces from last week

I have to tease you with a sneaky little preview

of what I will be posting tomorrow...

I am only slightly excited about this, 

as you can tell, haha

~

last week was a week of finishing two cowls

babysitting lots of kids, among them two cuties in that lovely play area while their mom attended a meeting

~ for those who have been reading my blog for a longer time and are raising their eyebrows now: 

going from business strategy consulting to babysitting, blogging, crochet design and teaching Dutch 

is indeed a big change. now a year later I won't say it was easy, I will say I am having a good time  ~

afterwards I had that delicious lunch all by myself, in my absolute favorite local cafe 

they make the best fritatta's ever and serve perfect latte's in a very welcoming atmosphere

if you ever find yourself in the Toronto area, let me know and I will drag you there for a chat over lunch

oh and the croissant is a very welcome treat we got ourselves on Sunday morning, hmmmm

for the love of color : neon pencils and the felt stack I found, not bought, at Purl Soho

next to my latte is a lovely bunch of yarn, a few skeins with a story

I am checking out a few yarn suppliers from Canada, to see if I'd like to use their yarns for my designs

don't get me wrong, Catania is a great yarn, I am very sure I will keep on using and selling it for a long time

however, there is only so much you can do with a fine cotton yarn

you know what I am talking about, right? so, among these colorful skeins are 

a linen, I've never worked with that before so I am really looking forward to give it a try

three different weights of merino wool, I was thinking blankets, scarfs, wrist cozy's may be...

and some mix yarns

~

I would love to hear from you, and stay tuned for tomorrows reveal of my latest project!

Two Fall Projects Finished!

good morning to a new week

and an update on two finished Fall projects!

here is the story of two cowls, made of yarn I found on our travels along the East Coast of Canada

to tell you more about the left one in red tones, let me take you to Victoria, on Prince Edward Island

a cute little town at sea, quite touristic with a few lovely shops

one of them being Ewe & Dye Weaving, owned by darling Christine

she happened to have just finished spinning this cheerful yarn, and I couldn't resist

wool from her own sheep; washed, dyed and spun by hand - isn't that the perfect thing?

Christine is into weaving, among other things she makes the most beautiful tea towels and poncho's

she also told me about how rug weaving is an old technique, practiced on the East Coast for a long time

if you're interested, check out Deanne Fitzpatrick's website with online courses and free videos

and Doris Eaton's book about artful rug hooking

well, from rugs back to the knitting a cowl - I loved making this comfy red-pink one

it took me 3 restarts before I go the right amount of stitches and size of needles 

because I wanted this one skein to become one cowl with the right measurements

I ended up using needle size 7 mm, cast on 16 stitches and knitted the Dutch 'patentsteek'

in Dutch, there is a YouTube tutorial here that worked well for me

also, as I was browsing online... 

I found you can do this stitch with two colors and this Dutch YouTube tutorial seems great and clear to me

in English, I think it is called the brioche stitch - even though it is done differently, the result looks the same

this silent tutorial is very clear to me

the depth of the 'patentsteek' doesn't show too well in the pictures, that's why I added the picture top right

to show how it looks when you open up the stitches

if you'd like the depth of the stitch to show more, you can choose to knit this cowl in the round

the stitches will be stretched width-wise when you wear it, and show off the structure

as I am typing, I am thinking that will look great with a two colored version as mentioned above...

well, the purple cowl according to this pattern is crocheted with a soft yarn I found in The Loop in Halifax

the yarn is a mix of mostly cashmere, merino and silk - I can't think of a more luxurious combination

now with this project, I didn't enjoy the making at.all. I decided I am not made to work with light weight yarn

I absolutely love wearing it though, now that it is finished! 

~

needless to say, I am very happy with me two new cowls

and hope I did not pick up on the cowl fever to make several more...

wishing you a lovely week

Guest Post : Yarn from Las Vegas!

well, I must admit, I am pretty excited to announce the first ever guest post on creJJtion!

sweet Amanda from the Thornton journal blog approached me lately

and kindly offered to write a post about her local yarn shop... in Las Vegas

I have never been to Las Vegas, but I do have all kinds of visions in my mind of what it would look like,

based on the movies and stories from friends who visited

however, those visions never include 'normal life', let go yarn shops and projects

so of course I was super curious and said 'yes' to Amanda and her guest post!

~

please enjoy reading her story; watching her wonderful pictures,

all of them being pretty, but the 5th one is my favorite ~ I mean, those colors... wow

and her beautiful latest knit project with 4 needles and hexagons; something I haven't dared to start yet!

and make sure to check out her pretty blog to keep up with her yarn projects, as well as her super cute girls

thank you Amanda for your lovely contribution!

~

Hello creJJtion readers! it's Amanda here from the Thornton journal blog

I am so happy and honored to be able to share some photos and words with you today

my favorite posts that Maaike shares with us are the ones where she photographs her swoon worthy travels- especially when she hits up a yarn shop! 

so I thought as a guest writer, I would stay true to the creJJtion blog and share some photographs of my local yarn shop and a peek at my current knit project

the owner of this cozy shop fixed up old shutters with pegs,

 in order to display these rad skeins of yarn

a vintage high chair is used to display scarves,

knit up in the shop's novelty yarns

I just love all the hand painted yarn that is carried, 

and how organized the shop is with wicker baskets full of products

how cute is that antique cupboard!

not only does the owner carry some of my favorite brands of yarn, 

she also carries locally spun and dyed yarn

there is something about a jar brimming with needles that makes me so happy

~

Sin City Knit Shop is based out of, you guessed it, Las Vegas

it is actually a new shop, it has only been open for about 3 months now, 

but I am super excited to have such an aesthetically pleasing,

well stocked shop down the road (*cough* 30 minutes down the highway) 

you can find them on Facebook too

this was my first time visiting Sin City Knits, but I will definitely be back to stock up on some Noro yarn for my current knit project

I have been working on this Noro Hexagon Blanket for a little bit now. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the year, but with Christmas coming up, I might just put it on the back burner to work on some presents. I'm thinking my mom would love those wrist warmers Maaike just shared the pattern for- we shall see!

Well thank you Maaike for having me on your blog today, 

and I hope you creJJtion readers enjoyed my post

be sure to visit me at my blog for more of my yarn adventures

xo Amanda