Birds of a feather: April 2010

Picnic - Tuna Cream

Hello Everyone!

Last weekend my friends and I went to Victoria Park (Leicester - UK) and enjoyed the lovely weather (19C degrees!) doing a picnic. Loads of fun, food, drinks and chatting... :)

My main recipe for picnic is a simple Tuna Cream - that you can use on bread, toast, biscuits,... Even for a good green salad!

Tuna Cream
Ingredients:
2 cans of tuna chunks (without the oil)
3 tb spoon of mayonnaise
1/2 white onion
1 can of corn (without the water)
How to Prepare:
Mix all together! :)

It's done!

I know, I know... very easy but some people always forget that the easiest things in life are the best (most of the times!)...

Enjoy... and don't forget about the CHALLENGE!

And the color is.... ORANGE :)

Hello sweet blogreaders :) Tomorrow we're celebrating Queensday in the Netherlands and that means a lot of orange (and off course blue, red and white). Everyone is celebrating and people don't have to go to work. There are jumble sales everywhere accross the country. You can buy all sorts of things & also eat lots and drink a beer if you like ;) Wanne know more about the history? Look here. I will make another post tomorrow about this happy celebration, over at my own blog. If you like check it out here.

On Queensday i always eat an tompouce. That's a typical Dutch thingie look here, there's even an explanation about it on wikipedia :) Normally the top of this delight is pink, but especially for Queensday it's orange :)

i found one peek of me helping a friend (and selling my own paintings)to collect money on Queensday for a good cause. Ehhh yes that's me completely in orange ha ha

For today some ORANGE inspiration :)

images were all found at weheartit.com

I hope you liked reading about this big event

that happens every year at 30 april!!

I'm off looking for some orange things

to wear tomorrow ha ha :D

Love,

Vera

One of my other loves...

That would be reading! I go through books like a little kid goes through candy! I love to read, and I love to craft, and I bet some of you do, too, so I thought this week I'd share a list of the crafty books I've read lately! I hope these can offer all of you the same inspiration they give me!

(Btw, all the links go to Amazon pages, unless otherwise stated.)

Chicks With Sticks was the very first book I read that was about knitting, I think. It's about a group of very different high school girls who are brought together by their love of knitting and a cute yarn shop. It's probably more for the younger crowd, but hey: I'm 17, and while I love adult novels, young adult stuff is always fun, too.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off is a cute, funny, beginners guide to knitting. It's great to read for instruction or just to have a few laughs. It's not a novel, but it's structured sort of like a travel guide to a foreign country, and it has a few little characters and plots woven throughout. Stephanie also has a blog here.

The Friday Night Knitting Club could be called the grown-up version of Chicks With Sticks. The idea is similar: a group of unlikely friends comes together through the power of a cozy yarn shop and some skeins and sticks. I loved this book. It's humorous and heart-wrenching at all the right moments. You'll really get attached to the characters. It has a sequel, Knit Two, and Kate Jacobs has also written an awesome novel for those who prefer cooking to crafting, Comfort Food.

My mom picked this one up because the title seemed a little absurd, but it turned out to be a great book! The Cat, the Quilt, and the Corpse is a murder mystery that involves a cat burglar (literally!) and lots of quilts. It's a typical serial mystery book, making it a quick but satisfying read.

The Handmade Marketplace is something I picked up when I was considering starting up my own Etsy shop. It's really helpful and informational, plus it's full of cute illustrations by Emily Martin of The Black Apple. It's all about getting your crafts out there and making a profit from what you love.

The Guerilla Art Kit is my favorite of Keri Smith's wonderful books (though maybe it's tied with How to Be an Explorer of the World). It's pretty much a book of tutorials on how to do cool stuff like make your own stickers and seed bombs, as well as fun activities to do to brighten random people's days. I get inspired every time I look through it again.

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter is what I just finished reading today! It's sitting right next to my foot as I write this post. This one is about the art scene in Phoenix, Arizona (which sounds like a great place to live, btw!) and a bunch of "crafty chicas" who live there. There's a lot of commentary on inspiration and "art" versus "craft" that's pretty interesting. There isn't a sequel, which is sad, because it definitely left me wanting more! But the author has a blog here.

Well, that's all for now! And if any of you have suggestions that aren't on my list, go ahead and post them in the comments! I could always use another good book to read. :D

recycled plushies

I am busy, busy, busy. So today just I quick hello from me. But I won't leave you without some eco and recycle inspiration. I found these cute plushies, made with recycled fabric, on Etsy:

sleepyking's Bon Bon and Belchick - Woodland Squirrels in Love
cuddlemonstre's Plato
violastudio's Bandit Groundhog
woolcrazy's Who...Who loves you...felted wool owl

Next week, I'll be in France. With Wifi! So I'll be back next week with a French post.

à la semaine prochaine!

Thrifted Owl Goodness

Happy Monday!!

On my blog, I like to feature a weekly post on Wednesdays with inspirational images based on a theme....So each week I have a different parade of lovely images: flowers, hedgehogs, hearts, whatever happens to be inspiring me at the moment.

I usually feature images from We Heart It. Today, I have decided to share with you a collection of owl images taken while on a thrifting adventure in Cape Girardeau, MO a couple of summers ago. I couldn't really afford to bring home all the sweet little owls that I saw, so I took pictures of them. I hope you like!!

I hope these pictures brighten your day! Have a great week!!

DIY Sunday: polaroid holder

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome back to a new DIY with me!
Oh, but first: My favorite way to dress for spring?

Well, I love wearing dresses and even though I dont dress up too often, it's my favorite thing for spring! The dress above is my new favorite dress, by the way! Soooo cute! :D

But let's move on to todays' DIY!
I made a tutorial on how to sew this pretty polaroid holder:

I used fuji instax mini polaroids, but if you have a regular polaroid camera, it will work too!

So first, you will need some pretty polaroids you want to store.

Then, grab some felt, fabric leftover and a pair of scissors. You could use a sewing machine but you could also handstitch the case. :)

I used a disappearing pen to mark the measurements of the polaroids. I also added 0,5 cm to each side of the polaroid (for sewing). Cut two equal pieces!

I also wanted to sew a tiny heart to the case, so I took some leftover fabric and my disappearing pen and drew a heart on it and then I cut it out. Of course! :)