Merry Christmas and a Wonderful 2014

beautiful crochet work by Sandra

taking a moment to thank you all for another Wonderful year of blogging, instagramming, live meeting and joy we shared together. my life would not be the same without you in it. the encouragement, laughter, friendship and fun I get from you is priceless.

it's been a beautiful and moving year for us. it started with a tiny Floyd moving in, then came the move within Canada, soon after that the news we would be going back to The Netherlands later that year. in June the first Create 'n Date happened, a few months after we moved across the ocean and started building our new life in the South part of The Netherlands. all went well and we are thankful for that.

however, we are also pretty tired and looking forward to doing a whole lot of Nothing the coming week. therefore, this will be my last blogpost of 2013. thank you again for all your support and encouragement in the past year. I can't thank you enough, you've been amazing. 

I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas with lots of laughter, delicious food and joy. some good sleep too, warm snuggles, and kisses under the mistletoe. a fantastic start of 2014, which I wish for you to be a wonderful and healthy year, with lots of yarn fun.

we are off to Sweden to spend time with family, sitting by a similar but different tree. hopefully letting a slightly larger Floyd chew another stick in the snow, and making long walks in Winter Wonderland, after which we warm up by the fireplace and watch another feel good movie.

hope to see you again in 2014

xo Maaike

Thankful for Blog Friends

this week Christmas began for me, when this totally utterly beautiful and sweet package from darling Sandra fell on the doormat. we've followed each others' blogs for quite a while now, at least two years I would say. I love her style, her perfect makes with yarn and fabric and beautiful patterns. 

when she was feeling under the weather this Fall I decided to send her a little something for the necessary distraction. totally not expecting anything in return, you can imagine how happily surprised I was when this little parcel showed up!

so thoughtful, so generous. handmade doily perfection, I saw this one on her blog and was all pooh and aaah, not knowing that by that time it was on it's way to me. lucky, lucky me. also, the cutest Christmas fabric that makes me want to start quilting right now. and munch those chocolates even before that. I might have done that already…

you are so sweet Sandra. except for the chocolate, everything will get a special place in our home. thank you so much for these treasures, you are too kind! on a side note, I can totally see us meet one day and feel like we've known each other for years. just like when I met Annemarie, Claire, Saskia and Annette this Spring. 

xo

Week Before Christmas

it's  the week before Christmas. we are getting ready for time with family, no work and obligations. cozy times by the fire with some red wine. winter walks with Floyd in the snow ~ we hope. warming up inside and sleeping in. playing board games and singing Christmas songs. I am so ready for this.

in the mean time I enjoy walking Floyd in the fog or winter sun. there is something so magical about it.  the stillness, quietness… relating to the images, I enjoyed a change of scene last week for a coffee in a next village, all by myself. wonderful. over the weekend I started a new shawl in a lovely scallop pattern, which I will tell you more about tomorrow. 

last week I squealed with delight when the stamp with my name on it arrived in the mail. a very dear Canadian friend participated in a generous give away on Instagram by Sycamore Street Press, and she actually won! a custom made monogram stamp, not only for herself but also for 2 friends. lucky, super lucky me, I was one of them. I am stamping happily away now with my first ever monogram stamp. love love love it, Eva and Kirk did such a great job. their site is totally worth a good look, remember I got this print from them too? 

wishing you a happy week-before-Christmas, hopefully as stress-free as possible

30% OFF handmade items in the creJJtion shop is still on, if that could be of any help

Cozy

cozy times indoors is what these weeks seem to be all about. Sinterklaas has left The Netherlands and is now on his way to Spain again, until next year. 

this means our little country can now be Christmas-fied in all it's glory.

we got two little trees instead of one large one this year. they are in our living room now, not pictured, and waiting patiently for their lights. I am still working on the diamond and bird garland, that will hopefully be finished and go up this week.

on the shop front, I have shipped cards and Santa dolls, and the give away on Instagram shipped to Sanne, she choose a lovely set of the wrist warmers. the 30% OFF on handmade items is still on, so you might want to hop over to the shop.

this week I will post the pattern for the potholders I have been working on. I am also working on a new baby blanket pattern, but I won't make any promises on when it will be up. just to be safe. may be this week, may be next…

how is Christmas coming along in your home? any exciting gift projects in the making?

xo

Update on Grandma's Crochet Potholders

* there's no black yarn in this post, even though it may seem so. it is all blue, one of them beautiful dark blue * 

last week in this post I showed you my new project: crocheting after my grandma's potholders with SoftFun yarn by Scheepjeswol. what I didn't tell you is that my dad has five sisters, my aunts. so I can see a lot of crochet potholders in my future… 

I finished one ahead of the others, to see if I could work out this pattern in the first place. it has some tricky parts in the white edging, but it worked out pretty well I think. it's a little larger than the original one my grandma made and I like that. to be honest the original was a little too small, not so practical in my opinion. 

I started the fun with lots of colours and combinations. the first ones all blue, and one with the variegated yarn. I am not too keen on that one, but I may have to finish the whole potholder in that yarn to see the full effect? what do you think about the variegated one?

but, since it is December, I couldn't stop myself and added some red and green to the palette. 

yes, now that sparkles the festive holiday spirit, right? 

wait a second…. sparkle? all right, I ploughed through my stash and dug up some thin gold and silver thread. now the real fun begins. a little kitsch may be yes, but that could be nice if used only a few weeks every year, I figured.

dark blue and gold, now with a green edge to set it off. white and silver, probably ending up with a bright blue edge for that kitsch feeling. what do you think? I am having fun, that's for sure. and as a result, I have lots of chances to test my own pattern. a new potholder pattern that I would love to share with you soon. that will allow you to crochet some last minute Christmas gifts?

my bet is every host would smile instantly when she unwraps a beautiful set of handmade-by-you potholders with a little sparkle in the middle…

or, as I am looking at them now, I am thinking they could be cute decorations for your tree or garland too, just like this? ooooh the possibilities. crochet and yarn have not let me down for that matter yet!

yarn SoftFun by Scheepjeswol

xo

30% OFF Holiday Sale

since we are entering the season of giving, Sinterklaas is around the corner, Christmas will soon be here, and I have been reunited with my shop items after our move, I have decided to host a 

big Holiday Sale with a generous 30% off all handmade items 

there is something for almost everyone on your list. there are kid-friendly Santa dolls, Christmas cards with your choice of red or white envelopes, pretty flower cushion covers that would look great on any couch, and comfy gloves with matching cowl that are also available as a set to keep you warm during Holiday season and beyond.

for a limited time only, so head over to the shop and get your shopping done! let me know if you have any questions regarding custom items.

if you are on Instagram: find the creJJtion feed and share the sale image to win a free item of your choice ~ entries welcome till Dec 5. good luck!

Have a warm winter weekend. we're going to see if we can find a tree… how exciting!

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 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.

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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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