Alpaca Silk Dreams

My mom is very creative, she is expert in knitting the most beautiful socks. I was inspired by her crafting magazines and books to crochet something, and I found a recipe for this pretty scarf. Blue being my favourite colour, I fell for this alpaca silk yarn - it is puffy and warm, soft and pleasant.

Crocheting a few hours in the car to the airport, I almost finished this scarf ... When it is done, I will write the recipe here on my blog, with the link to the site I found it from - If you would like to crochet a warm scarf, this is easy and fast to make.

The theme of Kim Klassen's Be Still-class is "A spark is simply inspiration ...". My inspiration was lightened up my mom's creativity and her pretty crafting magazines. 

I edited these photos in Lightroom, and I saved my first own Lightroom preset, nj_Alpaca Silk, which you can download here . The Alpaca Silk preset makes subtle changes, elevating highlights and whites, and lowering the shadows a bit, creating a soft and dreamy look. I have also used a subtle texture layer Simple2 by Kim Klassen, with blending mode Screen 9%.

What is lighting a spark of inspiration to you at the moment?

...Until next time,

Nina

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City Views and Fridays finds

Hipstamatic App, Snapseed

It is always nice to find a new biking route and discover new views along the way. 
I have been biking through Christianshavn and along the Citadel Kastellet. 
I've been admiring the serpentine spire tower of the Church of Our Saviour, a beautiful building in baroque style. The Church of Our Saviour is famous for the tower and the 400 steps, that enables you to climb to the top!

Camera +, Snapseed & VSCOcam

When I moved to Copenhagen for 18 years ago, I enrolled for a course in Danish Culture and History in the university. I still remember the lecture of the Danish monarch Christian IV, who reigned for 59 years, from 1588 to 1648. He is know for the impressive buildings he established during his reign, both in Copenhagen and other parts in Danmark, also in Sweden and Norway. 

Today Christianshavn in central Copenhagen is not only a beautiful place to visit, but also an attractive neighbourhood to live. I find the houseboats being very charming!

Camera+, Snapseed, TangledFx, Mextures & PhotoFusion

As I was biking, I noticed also very colourful tree trunk. As I got closer, I could see that it was decorated with pretty, crocheted squares!  That creative find - the decorated oak  - inspired me to find my crochet needle ... 

Camera+, Mextures, Snapseed

... And now there is a dishcloth in making. 

What has caught your attention this week?

... Wishing you a nice Friday and a splendid weekend,

Nina

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Charming DIY by Stephanie from The Enchanting Rose

I am happy to present you Stephanie from The Enchanting Rose - 
Thank you Stephanie for taking time to write a guest post with this charming & pretty DIY tutorial!

I am smitten by Stephanie's creativity and her positive view on life and living - her mild, cheerful spirit shines through her blog posts and the social blog events, she arranges. 

Be inspired by my special blogging friend Stephanie by popping over to The Enchanting Rose!

- - -

A cheery good day to you!
My name is Stephanie and I blog over at

The Enchanting Rose.

My little place consists of crafts, sewing, recipes, hymns, tea cups, 

and sweet encouragement from the Bible.

It is a great honor to be posting on Nina's blog today.

Nina is a dear blogging friend of mine and she is someone I have come to admire.
Her photography skills leave me speechless and begging for more
and the Biblical encouragement she shares always leaves me refreshed and renewed.

* * * * *

I am looking forward to sharing with you a simple craft that all of us can do :)

I had a few binder clips hanging around and I must admit that I've had these for at least 10 years 

and have never used them - pretty sad that they have sat in a drawer for that long.

I thought instead of holding papers together,

they would be perfect for holding little cards with Scripture written on them.

I like having verses out in my home where I can constantly see God's Words

so this seemed like the perfect solution for the long-forgotten paper clips.

They would also work for holding pictures, recipe cards, etc. . .

Items Needed:

binder clips

Washi tape or fabric tape

embellishments - pearls, rhinestones, etc

scissors

Apply a piece of Washi or fabric tape to the binder clip

and then trim the edges.

Fold the excess tape onto the bottom.

Add the desired embellishments for pretty decoration.

Then, write out Scripture verses or encouraging quotes onto some lovely paper

and voila! You're all done :)

Scatter the Scripture around the home or office space

for blessed encouragement throughout the day.

My heartfelt thanks to sweet Nina for allowing me to share on her delightful blog.

Many blessings to you, lovely lady.

I always enjoy meeting new people so feel free to drop by 

The Enchanting Rose anytime!

{PS. I am away from the blog - this is posted with the help of Bloggers pre-post planner}

DIY Paper Heart Garland

 

Paper Heart Garlands are easy to prepare and a nice crafting idea for home decoration.

It took me about 60 minutes to make these 9 paper heart garlands, using materials I  already had at home. I adjusted the lenght of the garlands by varying the number of paper hearts from 3 to 5 hearts / garland.

 

You will need:

- a heart paper punch

- some paper with print - I used an old school textbook, that is made of strong and slippery paper

- one small bead for each garland 

- white sewing thread

- a needle

- scissors

 

 

 

 

I proceeded as follows: 

• I started with punching the hearts. I noticed afterwards that some words were randomly placed in the middle of the heart, like "dilemma" (I used an old textbook from Qualitative Research Methods :-)
• I then clipped the hearts out with scissors.

 

 

• I fastened the bead to the thread by binding a knot.
• Then I connected the hearts, one by one, using three double stiches on each heart. I left a space about 4 inches between the hearts.
• Finally, I bound a loop at the end of the each garland, so I could hang them up.
• I made 9 garlads in all, three to each window, with different lenghts.

- And that's about it - pretty easy, aint it!

Crafting Paper Heart Garlands is a fine way for repurposing an old book, and for making timeless, wintery decorations.

... with hearty greetings,

Nina

 

 

 

 

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From Dream to Reality  :::  Tuesday's Blog Hop

Hearty Hearts

 

 

 

It's been quite a while since the last time I crafted ... So as the inspiration to make these light paper heart garlands came over me, I didn't hesitate.

 

White hearts are light and airy, like snowflakes. They bring a wintery feeling to the livingroom - as we're waiting for the snow to fall, dreaming of a white Christmas.

 

I used paper from an older book, and some pearls I had at home - I'll post a more detailed DIY inspirational in the weekend.

 

"Hearty hearts" are swirling softly and creating shadow hearts on the window frames and walls... reminding that:

 

The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart.

 

 

:   :  :

 

I hope you have a good week,

 

Nina

 

Sharing with

 

Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday

Kent Weakley's Sweet Shot Tuesday
Communal Global Tuesday Around the World

 

I have added 2 layers of Kim Klassen's beautiful texture 1111 to these photos.



Small Gingerbread Gifts & Repurposing Magazines to Xmast Decorations {Wordless Wednesday}

Christmas tree at the school - decorated by 3rd graders

Someone had placed this teddy in the tree - so sweet!

I'm linking to 

Reversible bags & rice bags DIY

When our children were small, I often sewed clothes and nice little things to them. Now Christmas is serving as a great occasion to find my sewing machine and get a bit creative!

I have been sewing to the small relatives - as the toddlers do not read my blog, I dare to show a few pictures here before Christmas :)

This bag of rice is 12 years old - it keeps appearing from the most odd places - I found it from the hood of our younger son a month ago!  When our oldest son learned to walk, I sewed him little rice bags with handles - that was the most used gift that Christmas! The rice bags went wherever he went - it was an easy thing to carry - it didn't tip his balance at all :)

So as this old rice back was found, I got inspired to sew a few ordinary rice bags with handles, to the little relatives that are about to learn to walk.

These rice bags contain a white cotton cloth bag which is approximately half filled with rice. After I put the white cotton rice back in to the coloured back, I set a ribbon to serve as a handle, and sewed the bag together from the top.

To the school girl I sewed a reversible bag - she can turn the bag either to pink- flowery bag or to the dog-patterned bag. I used a pocket from my old jeans to serve as a little pocket.

The other sweet niece is going to receive a pink - green reversible bag. I sewed a fish ribbon to brighten up the side of the bag. I'm going to put some the colored pencils and paper inside her bag.

The 3 -y. old little man gets a reversible bag as well. This back has a wide shoulder straps, so that he can carry all the little cars!

I'm almost ready with the knitted presents as well. Using double yarn and large needles, you can easily knit a scarf or two to Christmas.

This fluffy scarf is almost ready. It is knitted with 8 mm circular needles, using two different colored mohair yarn.

The fabrics for the reversible bags and rice bags was something I all ready had - I needed to purchase only the spotted ribbons. Sewing is fun, I should maybe arrange a monthly sewing afternoon and invite a couple of friends over ... I could actually sew a large tote to my library book ...

Linking to