then and now

This is Elly and Pim, my mother's second cousins (as far as i can tell) in Holland.
For a couple of years now I've been working on a project to preserve the memories and stories of the Dutch side of my family. Initially I tried to find out who each person in each picture was, but that proved very daunting, so now I'm just scanning and uploading all the pics and saving them on Flickr.

One day I'll go back and add the names and stories.

It's proved to be a fascinating project that has reconnected me with family I never knew I had - like Elly and Pim above. They have a family tree of the van Hoofts (my gran's side) running back to 1374! I don't know who did the work to put that together, but it's incredible.
It's also shown me a world I've never seen before - immigrants arriving at a new harbour, family portraits in a country devastated by war.

See an older world you never knew here.

hoppity happenings

A revived interest in felt creations, a great buy at a haberdashery, and an upcoming stork party all mixed together to make the GIANT BUNNY CUBE!

All you need is a large piece of felt (any colour you want your bunny to be), marker pens, thread and a complimentary colour - and this super easy pattern.

ta-da!

You can of course make any creature you want with this basic shape, just changing the features and colours of your felt. I've also upsized my bunny, but you can make them as big or small as you like.

felt funnies

A haberdashery store in Joburg recently had a sale on craft goods, and I got a fantastic little pile of bright, fun felt squares - perfect for small felt creatures and goodies! While I was laying out the colours though, someone else decided they were perfect too...

Perfect to attack that is!

Imagine her excitement when she sees the pile my mom brought me!

new year, new stuff

I'm not very big on New Year's resolutions, but I do like to try think of one or two things I'd like to change every year. Not as big as quit smoking (I don't smoke) or lose weight or any of those, but little promises to myself.

Wait - I guess resolutions is exactly what they are.

This year I have one major one I'll share... Be more creative.

This one's actually quite important, as last year my lack of creative outlet may have helped cause (depending on your world medical view) a bit of a medical calamity for me. Now that it's sorted, and I'm passed it, I'm determined not to make the same mistake again. I will be bright, and colourful and crazy and creative.

To this end, I've been searching through some of my favorite crafty blogs, and feel amazingly inspired after today! There's so much i want to try, make, play with. My last project was such fun (if totally experimental) that I'd like to do more in that vein.

Here are just a few I've added to my list:

Felt monsters...

 Throw pillows...

and christmas ornaments

What are you doing this year?

- Posted from my iPad

i made that

so this is the project I alluded to in my Etsy post.
These dolls were made for Mu & Me designer, Daley, using her own designs. Plagiarist :)

etsy bitsy

Just because you spend your life online and surrounded by tech in this digital age doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate a good handcrafted quilt. Or ashtray. Or bag. Or any number of items made carefully and lovingly by those with the talent to do so.

Etsy brings you all these handcrafted goods in a format you can understand – a website. It’s also given me a goal to reach with my new-found hobby. *plots and schemes*