3.10

March has not been my friend! And I won't play with him no more (just three more days, I keep telling myself...)
I won't start telling you what went wrong for two reasons:
1) it would take a lot less webspace to tell you what went well
2) this is not what this blog was supposed to be about
(not that I'm known for suffering in silence...)
But because almost nothing went according to plan (and quite a few things weren't "planned" to happen in the first place) I'm just going to post some pictures I had promised a long time ago and be off again to wait for April. Maybe she'll be nicer to me  ; )

So, here's a picture of my woodcarving WIP (although I've been working on it since I took the picture, and it looks a bit different by now):

And here's a picture of something green (as promised in my last post, still not finished though):

And do you remember I said I'd keep you posted on the paper-maché head? Well, it did dry eventually, but had changed it's shape so much, it looked like it had suffered a severe case of smallpox. I guess I didn't cut the paper small enough to smoothen it out more... I need more practice, that's for sure!

That's got to be enough for today. I'll crawl back into my cozy nest and sit the rest of this month out (there's not much else I can do). See you in April!

2.10

As you can see our calendar project is still running, although this one really pushed K's patience. Halfway through the stitches around the heart she felt like giving up. I told her she didn't have to do them in the first place, but like all 6 year olds she wanted to do it like mum. And again I have to say I like hers (on the right) better than mine (but that's just motherly pride speaking I guess  ; ) )!

I've finally finished my latest crochet project, which is a little short summer dress for K:

(summer garden granny square by courtesy of, but without her knowledge, the wonderful Lucy )

 

Look at her flapping her wings...  ; )  All magpie chicks need practice (she doesn't like being photographed, though...)

I hope she still likes the dress once summer arrives... right now it's hard to believe spring will ever come! Now that the snow has melted away it's getting colder again. I'm dreading "carnaval" at minus 7ºC, stepping on my own toes so they won't freeze off, and K in a way too thin princess dress... with no hat on 'cause "with my hat on I can't wear my crown!!!" Where's global warming when you need it?  ; )

Now I'll have to leave to pick K up from school. But I'll post again soon, I promise! I still have to tell you about my new woodcarving project, and a new crochet project as well (something green for a change)!

So hopefully I see you around soon!

1.10

Hi there, world,
finally I'm back to writing again... Christmas (aka my birthday) and New Year's have come and gone, but winter has decided to stay a bit longer here, which is a first since I came living in the Netherlands. Time was spent doing wintery things, like baking a lot. K loved decorating our candy houses

and they even tasted lovely ( I managed not to burn them in the oven for the first time ever ; )  ).

A new year brings new projects, and this is one K and I are going to do together:

The idea is to make something for every month of the year  and put it in a calendar. K and I each have our own calendar, but we'll use the same creative technique and theme for each month. Since it's cold out there and we've had snow now for a while our theme for January is snowflakes. And I have to admit, K's (on the right) looks a lot more like the real thing than mine... I guess I got a little carried away...

I've also wanted to try out papier maché for ages, so I finally did. Of course I did glue paper to balloons to make lanterns when I was a kid, but I had never tried to make real papier maché.

If you haven't tried, do so! You'll be surprised what you can do with it (well, I was)! It behaves like modelling clay, and I'll certainly experment with it a little more in the near future!

I started by cutting a newspaper into little pieces,

then I soaked the stuff in water over night,

squeazed most of the water (but not all) out of it again,

sprinkled some wallpaper paste (the powdered stuff, and not too much of it) over it

and worked it like bread dow until it all was mixed well.

If you want to try this and your papier maché is too dry to work, just add a little water.

Then I took a toilet paper roll and stuck a paper ball to it with masking tape.

And then the messy bit started: I stuck the papier maché to the paper "model" in little bits at a time.
An hour and a half later (I guess I can't just do quick experiments, I always try to make things as good as possible...) I ended up with this:

Now the waiting begins... It'll take at least a couple of days for it to dry completely. After that I want to try whether you can sand it smooth, how to paint it... the finishing touches if you like. Can't wait to see how this will turn out in the end!
I'll keep you posted.