blue birds

last week i didn't feel well and because of that i didn't have the energy to do much. today for the first time I felt better and more energetic. I finally finished this blue bird cushion for yeliz! hope she likes it.

for kris

a friend organized a great ladies dinner! it was so lovely to have a night with friends. thanks kris. I made her this zipper bag. for the first time I sewed with the leather my father gave me. I combined it with linen and it came out surprisingly well.

cheer up

oke...the weather here in sweden is something special. after living here for almost two years I understand why the swedish people love to talk about the weather. latetly it has been only grey skys, no sun for three weeks now, the same grey sky every day! and i can tell you that doesn't help for a good mood. so I decided to cheer up my day by making a new keycord and a matching bracelet. the swedish dalahast on the ribbon makes me smill every time I use my keys now.

happy birthday boy

yesterday we celebrated stije's birthday with his friends. he was the happiest boy on earth, so great to see. we did lots of games, they made a big drawing of a zoo together and I face painted all the children. what more can you wish as a six year old boy.

working on assignment

I just love making something on assignment. Sarah picked these two embroideries and together we decided what shape and color. the "peacock" and "lady in love" are now on it's way to their new owner.

only one

it wasn't difficult to pick a winner for the felt basket, because there was only one response ;-). so, Ingrid, the felt basket is yours and i very glad that it will get a good destination at kindercentrum mergelland! can you please mail me your address at vanflora@hotmail.nl?
at vlijtig i found this great tutorials to make all kind of bracelets. since I am not so good in crochet, knitting or anything else with threads and making knots, this macrame bracelet was a big challenge for me. it turned out way too short, but never the less i am happy i was able to make it proper.

felt basket

Do you have a purpose for this felt basket, measuring 11 cm wide and 9 cm high? please let me know and maybe you will get this basket. I made it from a piece of felt, which I had made a long time ago without any purpose. making this basket, made me realize that I don't have a purpose for the basket either ;-))....so that's why I would love to give it away! leave your comment before 10 february and I will announce the winner 11 february.

doggy bag

this cute dog kept staring at me, from the floor in my studio and I was fascinated by the look in her eyes and by the pink ribbon in her hair. I decided to make a small shoulder bag with it. a friend saw it and wanted to buy it immediately for her daughter. happy she found a new home straight away..but also a little sad she is leaving, after being on my floor for a long time.

trying

I always get a little stressed when I see all these blogs of mums preparing their child's birthdays months ahead. here I am, only 3 days before my little boy's birthday, thinking what quick solutions I can find to cheer up this day and make me feel less guilty ;-)
I asked him what theme he wanted for his birthday and he first came up with dinosaurs, and this morning changed to animals (in general). but i already made a dino stamp. well dino's are animals as well and we will make it up to him with the party for his friends (which i planned a little further away, to give me some more time ;-))....

I made the felt birthday hat a long time ago, but in a mysterious way i didn't make a six (and we definitely celebrated my oldest 6th birthday)...anyhow, I quickly made it and thought while making it, i also have a 9 now, so no stress for next year ;-)... napkins are also ready, now I only have to bake a cake..

hello hugo

we finally met our new nephew hugo. made him a stamp to let the world know he is here!

swedish boats

for a dear friend who left sweden to move to munich, i made this bag with an embroidery from france with swedish boats on it (you can tell by the flag on the boat) amazing don't you think? to find something like that in france.. I gave it a swedish look with the flower lining.

gipsy lady

I love making products on assignment. this gipsy lady will go to new york! I recently expanded my website with van flora create, where you can pick an embroidery and together we will mix and match and decide what to make with it.

birthday

els celebrated her birthday, we made a lovely winter hike and had some tasty dutch "worstenbroodjes" my!! was that a long time ago since i had those! as a present I made a small zipperbag with some beauty products in it. the boys made lovely drawings to complete the gift.

warm gifts

found these really beautiful and warm gifts in my postbox. thanks kirstel from vlijtig, you cheered up my week!

moose

since we live in sweden at the moose lane. the moose is a big topic in this house. stije made such a beautiful drawing of a moose, I decided to make a stamp of it.

baby mattrass

happy new year everybody! I wish all of you a happy and creative 2013. I always like sorting out our stuff in the beginning of a new year and i came along a baby mattress, which we still use once in a while for small visitors, but figured out we could use it more than occasionally. found this cool fabric at ikea and made a cover. it is now in the boys reading corner upstairs. big hit!

namebaskets

a dear friend asked me to make four baskets for her daughter and her friends...it was a hard work to finish them in time...and luckily i didn't forget to make a picture before wrapping them. i like how they turned out. the girls found their basket filled with "pepernoten" the next day with their shoe by the fireplace ;-)

darker days

once in a while I organize a crafting day for some dutch friends. talking, crafting and preparing for the darker days. so much fun doing this together. we made some felt hearts and canlights.

france

me and the boys will visit my parents in france during autumn leave. to thank them for all the lovely embroideries they found for me I made them two cushion covers from this embroidery. it's a view of a town close to my parents house. hope they like it.

almost 8

my big boy is turning 8 soon. together with a friend in his class he will throw a lego party. my birthday boy is the ultimate legoboy. he can build what he sees or what he has in mind. keeps amazing me. I made them this inviation. both boys loved the "talking" lego puppet.

welcome

I promised myself not to make anymore of these garlands, because it is so much work. but this little boy made me make an exception. and luckily it was a short name ;-)) welcome little boy!

brids

on one of my latest visits to the thriftstore I bought a necklace with lovely wooden bird beats. tried to combine them with felt balls. have lots more birds...lets see what else I can make with them.

restore

people keep asking me to restore trousers and of course I love to help them. but in the meanwhile my pile of trousers which needed restoring kept growing and staring at me. finally today I forced myself to do it. otherwise trousers wouldn't fit anymore...

ljus

days are getting shorter and darker quickly here...neighbors moving (so sad!), made them this light (ljus) in a box.

autumn

last year vlijtig made a beautiful autumn garland. by the time I had the time to make it, it was too late....so i decided to give it a second change and because autumn is so short here I had to handle quickly...and yes! this year our hallway is all autumn! and I could use the yarn I bought in the thrift store...finally a good destination for that, only still about 100 meter left ;-))

amazing

on our trip to the states we came across this amazing exhibition of a crochet coral reef. it was so impressive. it was made by a group of women for a good cause...was happy to donate for this cause! seeing this made me realize I really want to learn crochet...i tried once, but have to be persistent i think to make it work.

some unique pieces

The making of the creations with vintage embroideries always takes me a lot of time. not the actual making, but the process of combining, picking the right piece...that's what takes the time. sometimes i put down a combination in my studio and it needs to lay there for a while before I allow myself to make it. it just has to feel right, the combination, the colors. one's cut, i can't change it anymore... but my new mini collection feels good. they are available at my shop now.

saying goodbye again

was so happy we had a reason to visit one of my favorite thriftstores in stockholm. kate is moving back to austratlia, which is the sad part! but eline and i had a good reason to take her for a last visit to one of our thriftstores. found such a nice silver necklace and beautiful thread and some nice books...have to go back soon! but unfortunately without kate!

gifts

sometimes I can't keep up with all the birthdays, new borns, marriages. and living abroad makes me feel like i have to put in more effort. i try to make a lot of the gifts myself, but sometimes i just don't manage...but in that case my viking stamps from herzensart do the job.

hairclips

at muji they sell hair clips in beautiful matt colors. jilles had a party from a girl in his class, so to brighten up the gift i made these clips.

roses

love how this bag turned out. unfortunately it was an order, otherwise I would have kept this one. I was happy to hear that the gift receiver was very happy with it.

spoiled

it's such a joy to receive a postal package from vlijtig! this time she really spoiled me for my birthday! I loved it, thanks kristel!
oh...and i just love the ribbon she made!

hectic time of year

what a hectic time of year this is. the last week of school. so the time of saying goodbye is here again. this is a part of expat life which i think i can't get used to. some close friends are moving this summer. one of them did a big order for bags to give to other friends for saying goodbye. I loved doing this order with her. we picked the embroideries and the linings together. I can only show one at this point, since she hasn't given the rest yet.
PS.........can you believe I took this picture at eleven in the evening?? it's stays light now for such a long time and the sun comes up so early in the morning. the birds are already singing at 3 am?!!?? another thing I am not sure if I will be able to get used to...

folklore bag

a friend gave me this nice piece of fabric. I loved it and decided to use some to make her a bag. this was my first sewing outside this year while the boys were swimming (brrr...still too cold for me, although, to cool off I jumped in and went out as fast as possible ;-))

new babies

a lot of new born's, cards keep coming in. in stead of running to this swedish super store to buy a lovely new outfit for the little ones I decided to make rattles. blue for the boys, pink for the girls. it was so nice to sew them in the sun.

international day

on friday we celebrated international day at school. It was so much fun. children had a passport with a all countries in it and different questions for each country. they could earn stamps at each country. I made these typical dutch stamps. the children could play a game of "sjoelen" and not only they loved it!
the same day the boys also had a birthday party of hidde, to add a little extra to his gift i made the name stamp.

harmony

together with a friend I made the composition for this cushion cover. she is a relation therapist and wanted pillows for her waiting room. I like the corporation in these projects. I am happy to make it and i know for sure the the receiver likes it. the combination of felt and embroideries makes me happy.

sweden embroidery

i haven't been doing much this week since they have removed my wisdom tooth last friday, was forgotten how much it hurts. and today the surgeon reminded me i am not 20 anymore. He said it takes more time considering my age, thanks for reminding me! I didn't have much energy and spirit to do something. a friend (who is leaving sweden to live in canada) asked me to make something with this lovely swedish embroidery. She was very happy with the result! that's the good news. the leaving part makes me a little sad.

envelopes

Roel made this really beautiful campaign for work. They worked with a designer of ittala. I loved it and had the posters already for a while. He asked me to help him think of something to give some of his employees as a bonus. I suggested to make envelopes out of the poster to pack their little gift. I used this very easy tutorial.

egypt

we have spoiled ourselves really a lot lately. this time we went for some warmer wheater to egypt. we had a lovely week, with lots of sun, fun and swimming. stije even went snorkeling in the reef and saw the most amazing fish, so proud of him. they both got a henna tattoo and nothing could make them more happy...hmmm...let's see when they will be bigger and one day come home and show me their real tattoo, don't want to think of that yet ;-)