Ending 2012 with a Book

2012

for creJJtion 2012 was a very exciting year, to say the least. an Instagram account, Facebook page, Etsy shop and twitter account were added to the social media family. Lieke, Miami Beach and Beach Girl, Miami City, Cato, Olympics, Juliet and Delft Blue all came to live as a baby blanket. 4 pillows, 18 Santa dolls, 3 scarfs, 3 sets of coasters, 5 baskets, numerous sets of wrist cozy's and cowls, moodboards, collages, contribution to Gatherings magazine, thousands of pictures and 3 baby rattles were made.

with the cooperation with the production facility in Bolivia and a partnership with Baby Watoto in Africa, two of my dreams were fulfilled. the support I got from you in real life, through e-mail, through this blog, on Facebook and Instagram was never ending, and there are no words to express how much I appreciate them and feel the love. it was a good year for creJJtion.

to answer my urge to document and organize and to tell you the story of creJJtion in 2012 in pictures, I am proud to present you my portfolio book. I am very happy and lucky to be given the chance to be intensely inspired and creative this past year.

THANK YOU

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on a personal level 2012 was a good year as well. we got to travel in Canada, the USA and Europe, spent lovely time with friends and family both here and there. the husband and I were able to inspire, challenge and encourage each other, sharing both laughter and tears. it was our first full year in Canada and we enjoyed it so much we like to stay a little longer. in our family healthy babies were born and we can't wait to meet them in 2013. health and luck wise some of our family members were much less fortunate and without going into details, I wish I could hug them more often and wish for them nothing but a healthy and quiet, peaceful 2013.

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for now, I am wishing you all a perfect new years eve!

let's talk 2013, intentions and resolutions tomorrow

Christmas 2012

beautiful table setting and real tree with real candles at our friends place 
crochet coasters I made based on the pattern from Mollie Makes #20 that I altered a bit at the last round

Christmas 2012

our second Christmas in Canada we celebrated with Danish friends on Christmas Eve and with Dutch friends on Christmas day. so much joy, so much love, so much good food, so much laughter, we enjoyed every second of it. 

how was your Christmas?

Gift Wrapping

there are gloomy days and there are gloomy days. well, today was a super gloomy day. and by the time I decided to take my items outside to take pictures there and catch as much natural light as possible... it started to rain. so, I ended up getting a little grumpy with the weather, and took the pictures inside after all.

what I am showing here is how I transferred basic and random tins from the thrift store into gift boxes with a little tremclad spray paint for metal surfaces. first a few layers of primer, then the top coat. the white needed a lot more layers then the red, but they both turned out pretty good I think. spray painting was one of those things I wanted to try for years, but never really got to it until recently. once I got the hang on it, I sprayed all that was within my reach, haha, so much fun! if you have no time or no will to paint them yourself, there are also pretty tins available in stores like the ones from Ikea as shown in the pictures.

in the second set of the pictures you see my take on newspaper gift wrapping, well coordinated with House Doctor gift wrap from a few years ago. I picked the puzzle page on purpose, with a wink to long waiting before opening presents, and being able to kill some time with sudoku and such. to add all the decorations to the gifts, I use double sided tape instead of glue. it is easier, faster, and less messy.

with snowflake, circle and cookie paper punches and some vintage die-cuts you can easily craft up gift tags, or use them as ornaments in your tree.

are you done wrapping yet?!

Gift Wrapping Without Paper

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it is the week before Christmas, or actually it is even less than a week now... but at least there is still time to get creative with gift wrapping. and by creative, today I mean using other materials than the regular rolls of wrapping paper. all pictures are from Pinterest with their links shown above and in the text.

why would you not wrap with regular wrapping paper? well, there are several reasons. one could be, that you prefer to wrap gifts in items that can be reused for wrapping or other purposes afterwards, like the bags (5), the boxes (7), both with tutorials, and the tins (6) which I tried myself and will show you tomorrow.

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or because you think it is a waist of money to see your beautifully wrapped gifts being ripped open in a second, and the pretty paper tossed out shortly after that. there are pretty ways to use (old) newspapers for wrapping as shown (2) with a link to a picture tutorial and (4) from a beautiful Scandinavian blog. I have tried this too and will show you some pictures tomorrow of how that turned out.

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left over pieces or 'little ends of the paper roll' can be used for wrapping too. have a look at the pretty blog Happy Like Yellow by paper artist Kim and get inspired to reuse left over gift wrapping paper pieces (8). you can also think of using little pieces of fabric or lace (1) or old sweaters (3). I know I used the sweater before in one of my Pinterest collages but I think it is so well done, I wanted to remind you.

tomorrow, when there is natural light again, I will take some pictures and show you how my alternative wrapping with newspaper and tins worked out. oh and gift tags. yes, simple to make and pretty looking gift tags too.

Crafting With Paper

snap shots of today
wrapping the crochet cushion for a dear friend who had her baby a few months ago
enjoying the beauty of this flower, the branch probably thinks indoor it is warm like Spring
and making a calendar for 2013
one of my goals from now on is to document more of my ideas and I thought, why wait till January first?

oh the joy of working with paper and yarn...

happy Tuesday to you

Holiday Cheer

when I look through my pictures on Instagram, I see a lot of Holiday Cheer!

one of the last gifts shipped for Christmas, a branch that decided inside our home it is already Spring and bloomed beautifully, lovely PiP Studio plates I was lucky to receive from Sinterklaas

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gift wrapping, and a Blurb book creJJtion 2012 portfolio arrived in the mail

based on this first trial, I can highly recommend their printing work, the paper and the colors are truly beautiful

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custom baby blanket design, lovely Winter morning glow on the trees, the LED mini lights and Christmas wishes we gave to the sweet Dutch kids after the last class of 2012, and some inspirational books I found on sale at Anthropologie

wishing you a merry last week before Christmas!

In Progress

an update on what is in the making here

I just finished a custom design for a dear client. she requested the Miami City blanket, made with the colors of the Miami Beach blanket but without pink, for her baby boy yet to be born. the ultimate joy for me, custom requests like this always make me very happy.

for my mom I am making a pair of wrist cozy's with a lovely red merino wool, my mom loves red in all shades. if you like to make a pair yourself have a look here. and for a finished pair, look here.

also I am still working on a massive stripe blanket in brick red and grey-ish blue. a blanket I must admit I started over a year ago... I hope to finish it this Winter. and until then, I am happy it keeps my legs nice and warm while I am knitting, sipping tea and watching a Christmas movie.

wishing you a warm weekend

Embroidery @ Pinterest

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1. 2. 3. 4.

sharing some of my most recent pins with you this week from Pinterest.

I just can't get over the pretty embroidery projects from Tatiana. look at those different and all very pretty hearts she made. cross stitch, embroidery and sewing, Tatiana does it all. and to my eyes each and every thing she makes is looking absolutely perfect. hop over to her beautiful blog to find more of her makes.

the top left image is from Belle & Boo, called 'Elle & The Snow Dove', so delicate and pretty. 

and the lovely knitted Christmas ornaments are by the Scandinavian duo Arne & Carlos and the patterns can be found in their book, that is still on my bucket list. they also have a facebook page.

happy linking, pinning and stitching!

Gift Wrapping

the new Wednesday series : gift wrapping

just in time for Christmas, I am sharing some gift wrapping ideas with you. I would like to start talking about the basics: wrapping paper and decorations or embellishments as you might call them.

wrapping paper comes in all sorts, sizes and prices. what I recommend is to get the paper, ribbons, tapes, gift tags all in once, to make sure it all matches and prevent worries about that later on.

I always try to get the most basic paper, that can be used for other occasions later on in the year as well, and I combine it with a few beautiful wrapping sheets from a paper store. just like with clothing, I love layering.

for example, in the pictures you see kraft paper that I used as a background for a paper that I specifically love, with the little elf's on a row. by cutting out the elf's instead of wrapping the whole present in it, I manage to do two things in one: make the elf's stand out, and save more of that pretty but also expensive paper sheet.

you also see that I stamped a sheet of the kraft paper with snowflakes and stars. I created my own unique paper.

the other thing I like to do with wrapping paper is to reverse it. take a good look at the red and white wrapped gifts. you will notice that it is not a white and a polka dot paper separately but it actually is the same paper, from ikea. all coordinated, and so simple. now that is what I like, haha.

talking about embellishing and decorating your gifts. washi tape is such a great thing. take this bow tape for example. by cutting the tape in between the bows, you can use them as pretend to be real bows. the wooden moose and stars are from walmart and come in a little bag of 6 or 8 for only $1. they can be used as decorations for your gifts, but you could also use them as gift tags if you like.

gift tags. we will talk about them next week. anything else you'd like to discuss when it comes to wrapping?

Christmas Shopping

a large update on the finished items that are available in the shop

all perfect items for your Christmas shopping ~ Santa dolls, cards, cozy sets and... the cushion covers

something for everyone on your list. well may be not the men, but aren't they always the toughest to find gifts for?

with the Christmas cards you support Baby Watoto, read more about the partnership with them here

they come in a set of 10 different cards

and the fun part is you get to choose the color of the envelopes; red or white

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the Santa dolls are running out of the shop, so hurry to chase your own favorite!

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the wrist cozy's and cowls are such a great gift for the Winter, seperate or in a set

make sure you get the color of your choice, the set in cream white is already sold out

  

happy shopping!

for any questions or custom ideas, please feel free to contact me through crejjtion@gmail.com

holiday shipping dates: 

USA ~ December 13

Canada ~ December 16

Europe and elsewhere ~ not sure if it arrives before December 24

you can always contact me for guaranteed shipping possibilities