Victorian Card making; a LiLi-like tutorial

Hi all!

I have been busy!
First this cupboard was changed

into this one:

I thought it would take me two days or something but actually I was busy a whole week! This cupboard is LARGE!
Then we build another cupboard in our basement, with three sliding doors, so I can save a lot of things

This box only took about a day and a half to explain to hubby (but why that MUCH Lili??)
And I have cleaned all our linen closets. The thrift store is going to pick up a lot!! Usually I like what I buy, but sometimes...I have decided now that it is better to part with those 'mal-buyings' as soon as possible, in stead of keeping them year after year, feeling guilty every time you clean your closet. Nope. That crimson red cloak/coat in which I visually double size has to go now! Phffew what a relief!
And of course I was cruising the internet looking at all those valentine creativeness and things to buy.

Somewhere I saw those Victorian three dimensional cards. I have bought some replicas in the early nineties in London.
when you look sideways to such a card you see this:

and they inspired me last year to make this birthday card for my aunt.

Ooo I liked those Victorian Valentine cards, so why shouldn't I make those myself? I started Saturday and couldn't stop! You really should click on the picture. It was too sunny yesterday in our living room, but I definitely wanted to take to pics before the first cards would be send today! And I think that the 3D effect isn't as stunning in the picture as in real life, to tell you in all modesty.


Please do try this at your home;
All you need is some german scraps.(I have tons of them. Using them all the time.) Some card board which is used for making cards. Some glue and scissors. And when you are very uncertain you will need a measurement instrument, like a ruler.

This is how it works:

You bend the card the way it can stand and then

This is of course just an example, you cut a heart shape of music paper, which you glue directly on the card.

Now you cut a small strap. Fold it into some kind of rectangle. If you are uncertain use your ruler, but you can just do it when you have a good eye. Be sure to check: when you fold a right rectangle you can fold it into a diamond square as well. Mmm you learn some maths while reading my blog!

Glue this rectangle onto your scrap (in this case a rose) and the other side of the rectangle onto your card:


Oops, I'm holding the card upside down now, but I do hope that you know what I mean...

The next stage is almost the same, but I forgot to take a picture hahaha!
Fold a rectangle, glue that on the little guy (in this case) and glue the bottom of the rectangle on the bottom of the card and the upside back onto the rose that has already been attached in a previous stage.
Now your card is three dimensional, can stand on it's own and can be folded in an envelope!
Of course you can cut the bottom into a nice shape and glue some additional scraps as well.

You can put your message on the bottom of the card, even put some nice stamp Happy Valentine or some cupid on it!
I do hope you understand my tutorial! Actually when making pictures and making a card it didn't work out, it was the first card which couldn't stand on his own and couldn't be folded neither! So I did another card and mixed up the pictures.
If you don't understand, please don't hesitate to ask, I will explain better.
Next time I will show you the Victorian Waving Card, an invention of yours truly! And I will announce the winner of the January give away.
Speaking of which; one of these (kind of) cards will be given to someone who gives a comment in February!
Could well be this one:

Or this:

Or this one:

See you all next time when I'm going to show you how to make those waving hands!
Take care, xoxo LiLi.

Having a bad hairweek and a January giveaway!!

I have been so busy. I just didn't have time to blog. We have been decluttering and reorganizing our house. We (read I) have way too much stuff, so we brought an awful lot of things to the goodwill store ( I wasn't even allowed to bring my own stuff away and to come anywhere near to that store). And Hubby had to ride 2 times with our Renault GRAND espace filled from top to bottom. Some things went, like the neongreen pvc rainboots with stiletto heels I bought at Fiorucci's in Milan (Italy) back in '86 ( I have kept the box though). Other things are now taking new positions. Hubby finally drilled some holes to hang the rack I received as a birthday gift from my cousin. He wouldn't have this 'brocante' rack in the kitchen......but......

When he managed to get the rack onto the wall, he even styled it. Mmmm some things seem to be contagious!

And then of course there was my hair adventure.
I guess it started in Italy about 18 months ago...

At that time I was having a reddish 'coiffure'. During our stay in Venice, sun and sea made a blond out of me, again!
Well, I decided to stay that way for a while, but the lack of sun and sea out here, made it necessary to me to use some chemicals to color my hair once in a while. The results differed...last time when I experimented, probably beginning of December 2007 I had to use 3 packages of hair color shampoo (the one that lasts) until I reached a kind of yellowish blond that was acceptable. When I went to my hairdresser, to have a cut, he said: You're blond! (they just don't like it when you do these kind of things at home. I do understand that.) But it's so much cheaper to DIY your haircolor AND it saves an awful lot of time. OK there are some risks as well....
I told my hairdresser that the color was not exactly what I had in mind. So he told me that when blond is too yellow you have to make your hair a little violet. I have to say that I agreed and experienced this in earlier years myself. As my hair has been white, yellow, orange, deep red, brown, I guess black and gray were the only colors missing in my hair-experience. The hairdresser told me also that my hair would look fabulous a little more silvery, more platinum, with little purple strikes. Well I thought that after 3 packages of superblond my hair could do with a little rest, but that platinum blond sounded just like me:

This would be the new me, blond/silvery/ purple hair, woman of the world....(of course no cigarette, but this picture does reveil the reason why I started smoking once. Luckily I quit some years ago.) So when I saw a dark stripe on my head I thought it was time to go to the hairdresser again. This time I would take no risks whatsoever. Ok world, just wait for the new LiLi to arrive!
It all started quite disappointing when the boss of the salon told me that I couldn't have platinum-blondish hair and purple ends in one time. Ok it would look good when leaving the salon but when I would wash my hair, every hair would turn violet, another possibility, purple extensions, wasn't possible at this time either; they wouldn't hold onto the new colored hair. They could color my hair platinum blondish, but I had to wait for about a week until they could finish the job with purple. Well all right I would

be blond first. Ok, Saturday at 2 p.m. in a hair salon, mirrors everywhere. They put me somewhere in the middle of the salon putting the chemicals on my head, modeling my hair like a very funny little cap and I saw my hair slowly turning into....yellow, a kind of corn color. "Ehm, ehm, isn't this color just a little tiny eeny weeny bit too yellow?", I asked shy.
'You never can tell when it's still working...' I was told and so I sat there for two hours....still...yellow. Then he washed my hair, put something in it, washed it out again, gave me a massage with something else, put on a red light, rinsed the hair
again, put an amazing lot of gel into my hair and started to blow it dry. For a while I was stuck in my chair, I just couldn't open my mouth...but finally I told the hairdresser that I didn't thought that was me. That yellow hair, those tiny curls I hated every hair!! Ok, the hairdresser was honest, it definitely was too yellow, but now he was going to put another color in my hair, a silverish blond color, which would turn the yellow into white. So I would end up as a platinum blond. Ok chemicals on my head again, modeling my hair like funny looking cap again...sitting in the middle of the salon again...washing the chemicals out of my hair again, putting something onto my hair again, lamps again. Oh my, I thought I was going to take roots...Finally they uncovered my hair and started to blow again. AAAAAAAAAh this time I was even more shocked. I was as gray as a pigeon. Oh no this was definitely not ME. And it was definitely almost closing time...

Do you want to have it changed now, the hairdresser asked me, OOOH YESSSSS what do you expect?? I was going to meet Elizabeth for the first time the very next day. Couldn't face her as a person with less blond hair than my grandmother when she died at the age of 84! Well I could choose; just stay gray-headed for the weekend, or turn back into yellow-blond now...While the salon was already closed. Sorry, but that was an easy one. I just don't want to be gray yet, not before I'm about 101. So I turned blond again...I have to say a little more lemon blond. Out of 3 the last was the best color..yes I'm always
optimistic. But it turned out that I didn't want to be lemon blond for more than a few days.
So, yesterday I had a haircut and the hairdresser changed my hair from blond into a kind of auburnish-eggplantish color for free and I sat there for another three hours. I won't bother you with the process this time...but I have to say I'm happy now.
So Elizabeth is one of the few people who actually saw me with that lemon blond hair. I stopped by and look what she gave me:
oooh she is such a creative person! Thanks Elizabeth, it was so nice to meet you!!

While telling you that tiring hair story I was able to show you a part of my hair clips and hair grips on cards collection.
I think they are quite fun. And they still are cheap. I think I have never paid more than a couple of euros a card.
Do you want to start your own clip- or grip- on- card collection? I can help you getting started. Just give a comment on this post or one of the next posts in January and you are joining the free giveaway. Of course there will be a hair clip card involved, but it will be a surprise!

                                                                                                            

                   

                      




Somewhere Februari I will draw a winner.  I am still  so busy,  having  a self made inquiry for school to score. And I have organized a swap for 86 women attending a dutch home improvement internet site! I want to be more creative, the only thing I made this week is a self made present for a little baby girl: Just stick her name on one and some polka dots and lavender hearts on the other little coathanger.

I just don't have time to have a paid job!
Ok see you next time, don't forget to post a comment, remember the giveaway! Take care! LiLi

My neighbour is showing her underwear...

Hi!!

A while ago I ended my post with a cliffhanger about my neighbour showing her knickers. After that, every time something occured, so I had to postpone this post over and over again. Today finally the day has come that you are going to meet my neighbour Z. and one of her collections too.
Every time we met, Z. and I were chatting about fabrics and mother of pearl buttons and stuff, both agreeing that it was very wise not to invite your neighbours too often. But in the end we both couldn't resist tempation. So (finally) Z. invited me to come over and have a chat about her collection of old underwear.



Originally coming from Rhoon, a village near Rotterdam, Z. managed to lay hands on a pair of underpants that once belonged to I cannot remember which Bentinck count of Rhoon, just look at the embroidered initials in red.



Every piece has this kind of embroidery, mmmm we both were born in the wrong era, I guess.
Though there are signs that time was money back then; what to think of this 'quickpee-er' (translation by me)? At the turn of the 19th into the 20th century, those ladies didn't have time
put down their nickers when they went to the loo (which might have been open field as well). Z. is showing here how this garment worked....

And there is something else we have in common, we both like those things you find on the street for free. Here is one of Z. best finds ever. A triangle truck, original paint, whow!!


And she has a clock, which was merely old wood to a friend who wanted to use this as restoring material and look what she has done with it:



She just put in a classical looking alarm clock (and of course bought a spare one as well, that's my girl). We spend hours at her house, almost forgetting to drink coffee. Next time it's my turn to show some of my collections. I am looking forward to it. Thanks for inspiration Z.!
Have an inspiring weekend! Hugs, L.

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2008!

Hi Everyone!

Now on the first day of 2008 I would like to wish everybody a very happy, healthy and creative 2008! A new year full of great expectations and good intentions lies ahead of us. I hope we all work to make it a happy year. Sometimes little friendly actions can have such great impact. I know that we don't have the power to make 2008 a good year to each and everyone, but I do know that we can have influence. Helping other people, listening to them and making people laugh sometimes just can make a difference. Let's create, let's be positive, let's be so 2008!



Yesterday, I noticed that my 14-year old daughter Eva was a little disappointed that she had not appeared in my blog, yet. Ok, Eva here you are, changing 2007 into 2008 with a little help from firework. Have a very good 2008 too! You know that we are so proud of you!

I cannot help it, but I like the number 2008. 8 is my lucky number!
Hope you all have a very lucky year and that all that you want to contribute will succeed as well! Hope to share a lot with you. Love and hugs L.

It's still Christmas over here!

Hi there!
December 25th is Christmas everywhere, but here in the Netherlands there is a second day of Christmas celebrations too, which is today. The first day we usually have guests, but this year we have visited my aunt and today we are staying home, relaxing.

This is our Christmas tree. I never have a theme, or a theme color as I just keep every ornament that I have got and I really get attached to it. I prefer glass blown ornaments, especially vintage ones. Well let's take a closer view.

This is one of my absolute favorites!
It once belonged to my parents, who are no longer with us anymore. I inherited their Christmas decorations. This glass top, whip or tumble (I'm just not sure which word matches the dutch word 'tol') was in our Christmas tree as long as I can remember.

I don't have many ball shaped ornaments, only some vintage ones which are all decorated, just like this one, which belonged to my grandparents. Many of them still have candle grease over them, remember the time we only had real candles in the Christmas tree? I still can remember when my father came home with the new electric candles, oh boy weren't we modern people?

My father's workmate and buddy 'Kees', was a glassblower, working at the same laboratory as my dad. Of course our glass ornaments were vulnerable, and I loved playing with them, so once in a while my mum asked Kees to blow some new ornaments for us. This bird is a real 'Kees' and we had several psychedelic ornaments like this one, including a very large treetopper, which came out of the box broken last year.


Once a year Kees held a demonstration blowing glass and then there was the opportunity for children to blow a glass ornament as well. Blowing glass is a special job, you have to blow precisely, when you blow too soft the glass ball will not get bigger, if you blow too hard the glass ball will implode and you will end up with something like this:

Kees died of cancer about 25 years ago, but we still cherish these ornaments and he will come alive a little bit every Christmas in our house.



I also have a lot of crafted ornaments, starting with the paper Christmas bells my brother made with real glass glitter that has tarnished over more than 40 years
My daughter and son have made several ornaments as well.
Unpacking the Christmas decorations is a true walk down Memory lane to me. I wouldn't want to switch with anyone in the world!


This little Christmas gnome is my husbands pride. He, his elder brother and his sister got one each from their aunt and every year this little fellow gets a very good spot during the Christmas days.

My children used to choose a few ornaments every year and had their own little trees, but this year we only had one tree. The yellow cab was one of my sons favorites of course. I also like to buy christmas ornaments during the holidays, of course in Disneyland Paris. This 'watch'ornament says summer 2007 Germany.

I can talk hours about my Christmas ornaments, I really enjoy them and that is exactly what I am going to do now, wishing you a very merry Christmas as long as it takes!

Swapping again

Hi you all out there!


I haven't been able to write for a while due to the loss of my uncle Willem December 9th. My uncle was 87 years old and ill, but still so much enjoying life. We miss him. I wasn't in the Christmas-mood at all and I didn't feel like writing.

Though I am still not entirely in the mood, I'm going to write a post, as I promised Anja to do so, which is good, this is a good opportunity to start writing again.

A while ago Anja asked me whether she could make a special Christmas gift for me. Yes those people really exist!! Of course I was flattered, but let's face it; I'm not the queen. So I told Anja that it was alright for her to make a gift to me, as long as I was permitted to make a gift for her as well and Anja agreed. Yes! Another swap was born, it seems that I can't write about anything else.



And a few days later this beautiful package was waiting for me!

And these beautiful things were inside



Anja crafted me a Christmas card and bought me an genuine antique card, both are so nice!
She made me an object; a jar with a nostalgic image, so lovely decorated, well look for yourself. On top of this page you can see this goes sooo well with my other Christmas decoration.
Last but not least she sent me a Christmas ornament-bird. Anja is a 'clairvoyante' apparantly, because I have Christmas birds in all sorts and sizes; I love them and this one was not in my possession. Thank you Anja!!

Oo it's so nice to receive such presents and to be able to give something back. Swapping is so 2008!

Remember to check Anja's blog it's all about her home, a true classic house, enjoy!

Just a few words about another swap; Vicki from Hollyhocks received my part of the swap after about six weeks, but she isn't angry with me at all. On the contrary hahaha, it was such an exciting swap, thanks again Vicki and good luck!

Well I hope to pick up blogging from here again. Wishing you all happy holidays!
Hugs xoxo L.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Yes! Our Santa (Saint Nicolaas, yep the real one) is in Holland! It's the time of giving and receiving presents. And today it just looked like Santa visited my home already, as our postman delivered a package from Norway. The generous sender is Sol from My kind of blog.

A while ago I asked her whether she could buy me the Norwegian home decorating magazine "Vakre", as I couldn't get it here in the Netherlands, or perhaps we could swap. And yes she did!! Isn't that wonderful, just helping a complete stranger?? Thank you so much for that gesture. But that is not all! She sent me a Swedish magazine as well, and some pictures she has made herself. You should check her blog as she is a very talented lady. On top of all that some very lovely "Tilda" pictures, I'm sure I am going to use them while crafting some Christmas decorations. Thank you very much Sol! Hope you will not need the hankies for too long!! Take care!
Does Santa looks familiar to you? Well sometimes he is in my bedroom too...need I say more? Hoping he will bring some more presents to our home on December the 5th!