And the winner

of my birthday-giveaway is...

Congratulations Miek! Send me your address at saskia.vanderzee at yahoo.com & I will send you the HEMA hooking packages!

Thank you all for playing! Sorry you didn't win, but check out this giveaway over on Turning Pages!

And again thank you True Random Number Generator for helping me!

Will post my collection tomorrow.

Keep warm!
xoxox

Empty spaces

Still couldn't shake the feeling I wrote about in this post. Feeling locked up & feeling the need to fly.

card by Sanne van de Goor via Nina in vorm

Today it hit me, you can't fly with all that stuff weighing you down. I simply have too much stuff & toys around our house.
It's not just my collections, it's my 'need of more' that has to stop now. I can't simply look at a blog or a magzine with the urge of 'having', enough is enough!

So it needs to stop now: Hello, my name is Saskia & I am a hoarder... :)

I made a decision I need to stop getting more & I need to get rid of things as well. So I get 2 boxes in, one labelled thriftstore, the other marked MP. And of course a big garbagebag will come in handy as well!
My goal: go through the house for a month & weekly drop stuff of at the thriftstore and in january I will start & sell stuff on MP.

If you have tips & tricks on cleaning out & selling stuff please leave comment! I can use some support on this one! :) 

xoxox

Ps: you can take something from my hands! You can still enter my giveaway!!!

Counted # 12

This week I was blessed:

- to get a beautiful orchid & wonderful candles

- to just be there when (all the stress surrounding Sinterklaas resulted in?) T. had terrible nightmares

- to receive 2 beautiful bags, the first on loan from school (the poem-bag with a book full of poems) & the other from Barbara de Ru

 - have 'hide-&-seek-Pete' visit our house last night & waking up this morning by those excited, whispering voices

- to get into the real-wintery-feel with lots of tea, choclate & cookies

- by getting J.'s first schoolreport in & it's just a very good one, *proud mamma*

- to be able to help someone just for a bit

- to just sit & read a book in the train on my way to Utrecht & back (I just love the library, really, I read a book a week! Never thought that would ever happen again!)
   

Hope you all have a wonderful new week!
Keep warm!

xoxox

More ‘Count your blessings’: Anki - Effie - Martine - Maartje - Iris - Debora - Mireille - Belinda – Tabitha - Marit - Froukje - Leontien – Esther – Anne – Arnika – Marielle – Judith – Maartje- Maureen – Marie-Lu - Aukje - Jolanda - Esther - Marlous – Sacha - Carla - Tess - Sjaantje - Isabelle - Marjan - Mickey - Mieke -Margriet - Marieke - Barbara - Anouk -

FFF # 47

1. Moon & Tree, 2. Horse on the Roof, 3. Sinterklass's good book, 4. Pepernoten

"In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads."

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

 

Lines from the poem: A visit from St. Nicolas

by

~C.C. Moore~

or

~Henri Livingston Jr.~

 

 

Have a great weekend

&

keep warm!

xoxox

Last chance to enter my giveaway!!!

Collection # 45

vintage Rörstrand china

My ever so slowly growing collection of Rörstrand china. I fell in love with it when I first spotted them here. Too bad I can't find them as easy & as cheap as she did though! So if you ever run in to them let me know!

xoxox

Raising Roses

Finally we can all help Roos, Kenji & their boys!

Check out: Roos, Rust & Regelmaat to see how you can help.

Thank you.

xoxox

Counted # 11

To be honest I am not at my best in autumn, foggy days. But still there were things to be happy & grateful about.

- tooth number 2 already left J.'s mouth!

- toothcontainer & teeth-schedule from

Tink om us bern

- this packet of nuts a friend gave me

- the stones & pieces of tiles I

found while visiting the place my

mother-in-law was born

- this fragment my sis-in-law

found & gave to me

So it was a very mixed week that ended with a weekend together with my mother-in-law, her sisters, nieces & my sis in law.

Going back to the place where they were born.

Very grateful to hear their memories, see all those beautiful black & white photo's of their childhood in Kamp Vossenbos, to eat & laugh together.

Hope you all have a beautiful new week, with a bit more light & sunshine!

xoxox

Want to see more blessings: visit Anki to see who else is counting!

FFF # 46

1. Flying swan, 2. Fly, 3. Fly, 4. Flying swans

I want to fly like an eagle

to the sea

~Steve Miller~



Feeling a bit stuck, indoors, dark evenings & all. This song & the feeling of being able to just fly away to vast open spaces always lifts the spirit!

Have a good weekend

&

keep warm!

xoxox

Check out my giveaway!

Foggy day

fog

making a parcel

just an elephant

maybe tea will help

mug, candleholder & heart all from HEMA

a belated birthday gift, yay!

listening to Sinterklaas-songs

always makes us happy!

Foggy day here. The weather is foggy & so am I. Normally I work on thursdays, but due to a training/course I had to switch days with husband. And it's really a totally different day to be at home! Pretty relaxed!

xoxox

Vosges Paris

The wonderful & inspiring blog Vosges Paris recently introduced a Concept-page where she hosts amazing giveaways.


I entered one & look what came in the mail yesterday:

This beautiful bracelet from Worldly Treasury!

It's so much fun to receive a package in the mail, if you want some sweet mail enter my giveaway or check out the Collégien giveaway over on Nina in vorm!

Due to some change in my workschedule, there will be no collection tomorrow, sorry!

xoxox

Birthday Giveaway!

Here's my treat for you!

Some typical dutch food, tompouce & rookworst!

I can't mail food out, so I am giving away

this fun DIY-pakage from HEMA!

And because christmas isn't that far away,

this friendly reindeer is also included!

Want to win these packages?

The how-to-do is in dutch & english!

I will ship worldwide!

Just leave a comment

before november 29

&

I will announce the winner

on november 30!

Good luck!

ps The 'We make sense' print in the previous post I bought more than 2 years ago at this Etsy shop!

xoxox

Counted # 10

What made me happy this past week:

- finding some bright pink candles at the supermarket:

- being born on 11th of november made a very fun & special day this year! I had to work but with the help of some twitterfriends I felt like a true birthday-girl!

- getting all those sweet comments on my blog made also a big contribution to the 'birthdayfeeling'!

- it was so beautiful to witness my coworker & sweet friend get married on my birthday. It was already dark when the ceremony in the old townhall of The Hague started, magical!

- getting taken out for dinner by my sweet husband was a true treat! We hardly get out just the 2 of us, so it was really a breath of fresh air to us.

- getting some wonderful gifts at my birthday:

 - Keecie wallet

 - a card from Mireille 

- beautiful pink roses 

- funny face buttons 

 - owl stickers in the mail

- birthday-art from J. ♥

- birthday-art from T. ♥

- having a wonderful saturday evening with my mother & the inlaws, having lot's of great food and drank some good wine!

- to finish the week a great sunny sunday, preparing the giveaway for tomorrow! :)

Have a great new week!

xoxox

Anki & Iris started to count and Effie - Martine - Maartje - Debora - Mireille - Belinda – Tabitha - Marit - Froukje - Leontien– Esther – Anne – Arnika – Marielle – Judith – Maartje-

Maureen – Marie-Lu - Suus - Aukje -  Jolanda - Esther - Marlous - Sacha - Carla - Tess - Sjaantje  - Isabelle - Mickey - Marjan followed!

FFF # 45

1. 37, 2. Bingo number 37, 3. 37, 4. 37, 5. 37, 6. 37, 7. 37, 8. 37, 9. 37, 10. 37, 11. 37, 12. 37, 13. 3714. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

"Age is strictly a case of mind over matter.

 If you don't mind,
it doesn't 

 matter."

   ~Jack Benny~

Yes on this special date 11/11/11 it happens to be my birthday  & yes that number above is mine for this coming year! :D

And because it's my birthday, I will host a giveaway coming monday! Stay tuned!


Have a great weekend!
xoxox

Collection # 44

deer/fawn figurines

xoxox

Some link l♥ve

♥ some knitting-humor

via Laylock

♥ necklace Grietje from

Lammers & Lammers

@ Studio de Winkel

♥ Check out this beautiful giveaway over on The Little Hamster, you can win the most beautiful tassel bracelet & necklace!

♥ DIY --> Well this necklace takes me back to the seventies! Link via the Crafty Crow.

♥ Just for us mothers of boys: Boyslabel

♥ Porcelain love at Artmind

♥ Just check this How to be a retronaut out! You can wander through it for days! 

♥ Found this wonderful clip via Tiny Happy, it's simply amazing:

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Happy monday & have a great week!

xoxox

Counted # 9

The biggest blessing this week has to be that T. is doing fine now & the fact that we have a childrens' hospital near that makes staying in hospital fun, well at least for T. it did!
And for me as a mother it's so good to be able to be with your child 24 hours a day.

Apart from (or due to) our hospitaltrip we had a very relaxed week.

What made me smile this week:

- the autumn-art T. & I made together in hospital (yes it's a hedgehog ♥)



 - this plastic deer I spotted over here & bought it thogether with the moustache-eraser over here

- making paper crane birds' just beacause I had 'itchi-fingers'



- finishing another cowl & to avoid the question:

Voila!

Have a great, new week!

xoxox

Anki & Iris started to count and Effie - Martine - Maartje - Debora - Mireille - Belinda – Tabitha - Marit - Froukje - Leontien– Esther – Anne – Arnika – Marielle – Judith – Maartje-

Maureen – Marie-Lu - Suus - Aukje -  Jolanda - Esther - Marlous - Sacha - Carla - Tess - Sjaantje  - Isabelle - Mickey - Marjan followed!

FFF # 44

1. Vim, 2. { Serenity needed }, 3. -, 4. Untitled

Love is the light

Scaring darkness away

~Frankie goes to Hollywood~

Thank you all for your sweet comments regarding little T.!

The doctors call it a 'sensitive raspiratory system', that reacts to a cold by cramping the lungs together, leaving T. short of breath.

Everything is slowly turning back to normal, T. still gets medication every 6 hours & his breathing is almost clean.

Hopefully you all have a good weekend!

xoxox

Perfect timing

Yesterday we had an easy day at home. T. & I picked J. up from school for an afternoon of lego, tea & cookies.
And then the postman delivered the perfect book for this kind of afternoon:

Dottie Angel The suitcase series volume 2

with an envelope with thread

& knoopjes (=buttons)

Just what I needed: eyecandy, tea & choclate-cookies from Zelfgebakken.

xoxox