Sissy-Boy and Yvestown

Happy Monday!!!

Let me start the week by sharing some exciting news about the collaboration my publisher and I made with Sissy-Boy. For those of you living outside The Netherlands and Belgium let me explain what Sissy-Boy is. Sissy-Boy is an all Dutch concept store divided over three main activities. There's Sissy-Boy Homeland for home décor, Sissy-Boy Fashion for clothes and Sissy-Boy Daily for food. Not all shops house those 3 activities mostly the stores in larger cities do.

The stores are amazing, selling all sorts of beautiful and honest products. And as of the 27th of March all of the Homeland stores will sell my book - EEK! And if that's not enough they have made a special Yvestown in de keuken tea towel to celebrate the launch. It comes in three colours; pink, green and blue. The tea towels will sell for about €4.95 (it's a steal) in all the homeland stores and in my web shop for those of you who can't make it to Sissy-Boy.

The launch party will be on the 27th between 16:00 and 18:00. I'll be signing the book between 18:00 and 19:00 and you'll be able to buy a tea towel in the Sissy-Boy store on the Java Island in Amsterdam.

After the 27th I'll be signing my book in another 6 Sissy-Boy Homeland stores. You can find the dates and stores on the event page. It would be really great to meet you there as often enough I never get the chance to meet you and I would LOVE TO MEET YOU, I'll promise to bring cake.

Free Chrochet Patterns

At long last I've made you guys a collection of all the crochet patterns I've made and blogged about in the past but also the patterns that were once in the old yarn shop. I don't know why it took me so long to do this ...

There's a button in the menu on the right or click here.

I strongly believe in free patterns as I believe in sharing but if you wish to make a donation you can on the crochet pattern page. Please do not feel stressed as I'm not after your money, it's just all about sharing.

Have a wonderful weekend, it's going to be 19 C here!!! I know where I'm going to be ...

DIY: A Wood Poster Hanger

Last week I bought this vintage camomile chart. As I don't want to put it behind glass I had to come up with an easy wood hanger system so that the poster didn't loose it's age, glass makes it's so modern.

How I did it:

I've used 2 cm x 0,6 cm rods that were lying around in the basement.

Measures the poster width and make 4 lengths of wood, two for the top and two for the bottom. Clip the nails so that they are approximately 1,2 cm long.

Turn the poster and use a small piece of scotch tape to attach the poster to the wood.

Measures how long you wish the cord to be. Tie a knot on the bottom bits on both sides.

Make sure you use the exact same distance left and right for the placement of your cord. If you don't do this your poster will never be centred. I've used a distance of 8 cm on both sides.

Place the other bit of wood on top and hammer the first nail exactly in the middle of the cord. Repeat this on the other side and hammer another nail in the centre of the wood.

That's it, repeat these steps for the bottom bit of the poster without the cord.

Makes a perfect Sunday afternoon project. Happy Sunday x

Parsnip and Beetroot Soup

On Tuesday I went to my friend, Ingrid, for a good old day of catching up and some shopping. We had a really beautiful parsnip soup at Villa Augustus, where Ingrid works. So yesterday I had a go at my own version.

Crochet Baby Hangers

Over the weekend I was in need for a quick crocheted gift to send off to a friend who just had a baby. I've made a whole bunch of these hangers for my own clothes using the pattern on Dottie Angel's website but I obviously needed a smaller one for the wooden baby hangers I've bought at HEMA.

After some puzzling, I've made an alternative pattern for the smaller hangers.

Click on the above image to download the pattern.

You basically make a front and a back and you crochet them around the hanger using a slip stitch in a different colour. It looks complicated but it's really simple, trust me.

They make such good presents as we all need to have hangers for our clothes.

These are all bundled up and off to their new owner.

The Flow Paper Lovers Winners

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Thank you all for participating in this quick Giveaway. Could the above mentioned winners please shoot me an e-mail at yvonne[at]yvestown[dot]com with your postal address so I can mail the paper goodies to you a.s.a.p.

Happy Monday!!!

Mini Envelopes and a Giveaway

Each year for Valentine I send little notes, cards or cookies to people who I really love and to people who have helped me or moved me or somehow touched me during the year. This year is no exception.

Just before Christmas Flow magazine sent me a big parcel stuffed with paper for me to give away to my blog readers. I never really got around writing a post about it until today. I didn't really had a clue what to do with all that paper so coming up Valentine I thought I could make mini envelopes and put mini cards in them.

To make these envelopes, download the template first: minienvelopes.pdf

Instructions

1. Print the template on normal paper. Cut out.
2. Trace the template onto lightweight cardboard. You don't need to buy this as you could easily use the base of a paper carrier bag.
3. Cut out the template.
4. Trace onto the back of the paper you want to make an envelope with. Cut out.
5. Use a ruler and a paper scorer to score the folding lines. Fold.
6. Glue the left part and the bottom part, fold back and press.

Please leave a comment as I'll give away 8 sets of Flow for paper lovers. Each bag contains the paper as seen in the images and some other paper (surprise) goodies. I'll draw the winners this Friday 14-02, Valentine's day. Open worldwide!!