Je hoeft niet altijd jarig te zijn om te mogen trakteren. Vind ik. En vindt kleinkleutertje gelukkig ook. Daarom bakten we op de laatste vakantiedag, samen met een heel stel buurkinderen, een lading egelbroodjes.

Natuurlijk maakte ik er wat mooie labeltjes bij, en hup, in een leuk zakje ermee.

Vervolgens brachten we de egelbroodjes met de bakfiets naar alle vriendjes en vriendinnetjes die de volgende dag ook weer voor het eerst naar school gingen!

Zoals bijvoorbeeld naar Luuk (de zoon van Homemade Happiness-collega en vriendin Caroline) die het broodje nog voor het avondeten op had gegeten

Goed, de scholen zijn allemaal weer begonnen, maar het egelbroodje is zowiezo een superleuke traktatie. Bijvoorbeeld als de herfstvakantie straks weer voorbij is!

— Leuk om te trakteren? Op de superleuke traktatieblog van Artoek, hier, vind je het egelbroodjes-recept! —

Some of you might know that earlier this year 3 sweet japanese ladies came to our house to take pictures of our interior. They were making a book about handmade Dutch interiors. We spend a lovely day together, ate loads of haring, drop and stroopwafels and they took about 250 pictures.

And today the mailman arrived at our doorstep, delivering two copies of this inspiring book!

I really like what they made of it. Our house looks very clean and organised (a lot cleaner than normally ;-)) and I love the opening spread where they portraited everyone on their bikes (we are on the yellow bakfiets)

Here’s a shot of our livingroom, entirely filled with thriftshop furniture (and a very serious-looking 4YO!) on her horse.

This is my studio, with a ubercute dear made by Marlous from Planet Fur and a mini model of our house…

Here’s another shot of my studio (with the yellow wall), our upstairs kitchen (the green wall), our dining room (with my favourite Engelpunt tablecloth) and the vintage seventies servies we found in a Dutch thriftshop and our daughters playing with a little fabric house (in which they practically lived during the entire winter!)…

Here’s some more shots of the studio (with hanging chair from Ikea), my collection of embroidered birds and a small part of my vintage craftbooks. And ofcourse the kids room, with (again) vintage thriftshop furniture and the huge wall decal we bought at the awe inspiring American webshop ‘Graphic Spaces’…

And on the right side you see our chandelier, which we made with an dead treetrunk (which we spotted ourselves in the middle of december, in a cold and very snowy forest - true story!), a couple of christmas lights and a collection of hearts.

And these are the ladies that made this wonderful book happen: Miho, Masami and Naomi from Driehoek!

Thanks so much ladies, for this great book and opportunity.

Among other Dutch crafties that are featured are: Caroline (from Homemade Happiness), Jantien en Hester (tas-ka), Erika (Miko Design), Jane  (All the luck in the World), Bjorke (byBjor), Nina (from Nina in Vorm) and Joschka (Mus Handmade)

—- like to take a sneak peek too? You can buy the book ‘Nederland - mijn interieur’ at Amazon, here. The book is filled with inspiring handmade interiors. So if you like a sneak peek into the houses and lives of these craftygirls, go fetch the book!

PS: here’s all the crafty ladies on their bikes! We are on the right page, with the yellow bakfiets!

Sometimes, for instance while riding a bus or train, my pre-schooler asks me for a story. I always get stuck on my own version of Snow White. Not because I lack imagination, but that’s just the first thing that comes to mind.

That’s why I love these Story Telling Cards by Eeboo so much. Just pick 4 cards and fire away! There’s a golden key, a castle and a witch in a bottle. Well, what’s that witch doing in that bottle? And who has the golden key to get into that castle? Before you know it, you’ve made up your very own fairytale.

They’re also great for pre-schoolers, to learn how to make up their own stories too!

I’m definitely thinking of buying the Circus Story Set, I love that vintage style big top illustration style.

There are different themes. The circus set features:

I’m always on the look-out for cute and funcional lunchtime items. And this handy fork with cute casing definitely comes to mind when making a wishlist of all things I’d like to put in my 4YO lunchbag! It would make eating her daily fruit salad even nicer AND keeps her bag a little cleaner afterwards.

It so beats the small forks I put in now (which are boring but also little drama to get lost at school ;-))

— like it? You can buy it at Romp webshop, here, where they sell a whole lot more cute and handy items! —

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Lieve vrienden, familie, kennissen, (ex-)collega’s, boeren & buitenlui,

Sommigen van jullie hebben misschien de nieuwsbrief ook al ontvangen (in dat geval mijn welgemeende excuses), maar waar het hart van vol is, stroomt de mond van over…sinds VANDAAG houd ook ik een blog bij!

Je vraagt je misschien af waarom, want er zijn er al zoveel.
Het antwoord is simpel: omdat ik het leuk vind!

Als ondernemer met een creatief bedrijf én als moeder van een ondernemende peuter (met nummer 2 op komst) kom ik regelmatig op (virtuele) vondsten die ik graag wil delen.

Van handige tips & tricks tot ‘gewoon mooie’ plaatjes en filmpjes, van prachtige peuterfeestjurken tot de ideale crèchetraktatie, van business- tot borstvoedingstips, van inspirerende beelden tot (af en toe) mijn eigen ups en downs als ondernemer/moeder en natuurlijk de nieuwste nieuwtjes van Ozowiezo.
Uiteraard ook veel aandacht voor alles wat er te koop is op internet: links naar schattige kraamcadeautjes, mooie stoffen, eigenzinnige handgemaakte produkten en handige dingen om je leven nèt wat makkelijker te maken.

Kortom: fresh pics, flicks and tricks for parents & kids. Met iedere week een paar verse posts!
En voor de mensen met een chronisch tijdgebrek en/of een ellenlange, onoverzichtelijke lijst bookmarks: je kunt een RSSfeed nemen op onze blog…

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Superleuk om terug te lezen. Helemaal omdat het nog steeds opgaat. Goed, die baby-op-komst is inmiddels een enorm uit de kluiten gewassen bijna-peuter, en de ondernemende peuter van toen is nu een kleurende-en-knutselende kleuter, maar toch… een fijne trip down memorylane!

Cute birdy bookmark which gently grips itself to pages for a better hold - and a free download too!

There’s no escape: autumn has come upon us. No crying over losing summer (as there still might be hot and sunny days ahead), but instead let’s celebrate all things you can do in autumn! Like: long windswept walks on the beach, thrilling hikes in the forest, finding acorns and golden leaves, making appelmoes and baking loads of creamy cookies. And ofcourse, the best part: sitting in the most comfy chair in the house, reading the biggest book from the library, while sometimes gazing out into the rain against the window.. Joy!

So, for that last thing, I found the cutest birdie bookmark which you can download for free at Jinjerups amazing blog, here! Make sure to check out more of her work, since she is a very creative and generous lady, offering new freebies every week…

I must admit, I’m sort of a lazy mom. I’m can’t set myself to make cute bento lunchboxes, but I do want to make my 4 year old be happily surprised when she opens up her lunchbox.

That’s why I love these mini lunchbox notes: just make a peanutbutter sandwich, toss in a mini-cheese and a banana, and then finish that off with a cute little note - easy peasy! And they come with extra stickers too, which you can use to jazz up a banana or a sandwichbag.

Another thing on bento lunchboxes for kids: my kids are good eaters, but they’re not particulary fond of riceballs and nori.. which are the main ingredients for a lot of amazing bento boxes. But today I stumbled upon the great bento blog ‘What’s for Lunch’. This mom makes bento lunch boxes for her kids AND her hubby, and she makes them with wholegrain bread and cheese - more the ingredients that normally go in our lunchboxes too. Above you see two great examples of her work, which seem reasonably doable…

— like the mini lunchbox notes? You can order them at the wonderful shop Paper Source, right here! —

Love these vintage colouring plates! Found them on the amazing blog ‘Agence Eureka’. This blog is filled with a huge collection of vintage bookplates, colouring plates, illustrations, magazines, ads etc.

It’s in French, but the images speak for themselves. And there are so many of them, too!

A little tip: go here to Agence Eurekas Blog. Then click on the colouring plate you like. You will then be taken to Flickr, where you can choose the right download size (just choose the biggest available, to make sure your print will turn out nice).

— not just for kids, but great for adults too. Print and frame for a beautiful decoration! —

Summer holidays: it’s great once you’ve reached your destination, but the roadtrip can sometimes be tricky…

We went to France, by car. It was a 8 hour drive, with two kids ( a 4 year old and a 1 year old). Thankfully, it wasn’t too hot. And we prepared very well: we had a great travel snack box (a minimum of candy and of lot of yummie fruits, baby carrots, mini meatballs, little cheesebites, healthy sandwiches and gallons of water) AND I brought a big box of presents: every stop along the way they each got a little something they could play with the next part of the journey. Small things, like a little book, a doll in a bag and of course my very own handmade I spy bottles.

But the smartest thing (by far!) was the seat organiser that I bought in a thrift shop. I strapped it to the back of the front seat so Lena could get her toys herself. And she liked putting them back in, so they didn’t end up on the floor - meaning I didn’t have to twist and bend like a yogi to retrieve lost toys

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Like this idea? I found my car seat organiser in a thrift shop, but later I found this car seat organiser with Pippi Longstrumpf in Blomma webshop, here! —

A little while ago I posted a craft project for DIY I Spy Bottles. I made two! For Lena I made a fairytale themed I Spy Bottle, containing a single shoe, a crown, Snow White, a pink heart, a golden coin, a real pearl and so on. I put them in a big bottle and she had a great time finding all trinkets. The pearl took the most time to find: even her 29 year old uncle had to shake that bottle for a good 15 minutes

For Jet (who’s only 1,5 year old) I made a smaller version, so she could hold it more easily. That way, she could spot something very quick too. Her I Spy Bottle was circus themed, and she liked the lion best - closely followed by the red car

All in all, I think it’s a great DIY project: the kids played with it during the whole trip,  during the holiday itself AND on the way back. And making it was fun too, and very easy.

I used this tutorial from Silly Eagles Blog. I did change a few things though, like using bigger bottles, taking a photograph of all hidden trinkets (rather than drawing, which I thougth would be too time-consuming) and I chose to make it themed bottles. But the idea stays the same!

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Want to make an I Spy bottle too? I’ll give you one extra tip: make sure to find bottles with a wide neck, so you can put bigger trinkets in them.

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Extra tip: make a bunch of themed I Spy Bottles to fill birthday party goodiebags - a garantued hit!