Month: July 2014

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Button Bracelets

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Getting crafty!

Hazel & Telullah

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I was finally able to go to a few different stores and gather some supplies for my first craft project.  I wanted to start out nice and east and make something special for my friends and family members who are far from me.

I think because I went to summer camp… (and maybe because of my Aunt Linda who for my sixth birthday gave me a friendship bracelet kit) I have always had a fondness for bracelet projects.  Maybe it’s also because of these things that I’m so used to working with the above materials

Materials

  • Buttons (two or four holes are easiest)
  • String or wire
  • Scissors
  • Paint or nail polish (If you buy plain colored or wooden buttons, you can paint them for a splash of color or flair.  I have a million colors of nail polish, so I purchased some cool textured buttons and painted some)

This is…

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A Pipoos Fail

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A few weeks ago on my crafting blog, Hazel & Telullah, I shared with you guys how excited I was to find a craft store similar to Michaels or A.C. Moore in the United States… I finally had found that store… Pipoos.  Job and I decided that since Pipoos is located in Amsterdam Noord, we would also go and check La Casa Vecchia, a store owned by Marijn, a friend of ours. This was my first time on the ferry to Amsterdam Noord and I was really excited. To get to Amsterdam Noord, right now you can take a free ferry with your bike across the IJ (from either Centraal Station or from a place close to our house).  We met at Centraal Station after work to get on the ferry and made our way across. It was really exciting for me to take the ferry.  It reminded me a lot of when I was a child and we would take the ferry to Block Island from the Rhode Island mainland or when we would go to Cape Cod… (I’m not even sure if I took the ferry in Cape Cod but I just associate Cape Cod with a  ferry). The ride was short.  Everyone crammed on with their bikes and as soon as the boat reached the opposite bank and let down the gate, the bikes just as quickly scrambled off the boat as they did on. We got on our bikes and made our way over to La Casa Vecchia.  This shop is located in an up and coming area of Amsterdam Noord.  It reminded me so much of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY.  The entire street right now is under construction, but the houses and buildings on the street all look new or recently renovated with really hip and cool shops lining the street.  La Casa Vecchia is near the end of the street.  Outside sits a nice bench and a table with chairs.  It’s really welcoming.  The shop sells vintage and “second chance” furniture.  It’s a small shop with two rooms.  The main room has a large desk in the middle where Marijn, the owner, works from.  It’s a really cool desk with a glass panel where she can display some products.  The shop is filled with an assortment of vintage chairs, cabinets, tables, mirrors, glass jars and other nice home decor.  The second room has more of the same, some suitcases and some other objects.  New things are constantly coming in to the shop and everything is hand picked by Marijn.  If I could afford it, I would own half of the things in there. It was nice to see Marijn at work and we had a lemonade with her outside at the small bench and table out front.  It was a beautiful day.  We caught up with her about how the shop opening went and talked about our upcoming trip to Belgium with her.  A few other people came and poked around the shop while we were there, so we let Marijn get back to work and headed on our way to our next stop, Pipoos. We biked and biked until we finally found the large shopping center in which Pipoos was located.  We parked our bikes and set out to find the shop.  We walked all along the front of the building and around the back side to find Pipoos…CLOSED.  Remodeling.  Opening again August 1. There are very few words that can truly express the emotions I proceeded to feel after I saw this.  My excitement turned to red hot anger.  I had been so enthusiastic to go and spend at least 30 minutes perusing the isles.  If there is one place that I can spend hours in, it’s a craft store.  I see all of the amazing products; paints, beads, strings, glass jars… and my brain starts swirling with projects.  I was also really eager to come here because I was going to purchase a few things to bring along to Belgium and do some arts and crafts with Moos, my two year old nephew.  My dreams were shattered and all I wanted to do at this point was go home. (I know this probably sounds a bit extreme, but the past few months had been really hard, I finally had money, and I had a new found passion to make some things for my friends and family.) Job tried really hard to cheer me up and make me happy.  He even suggested maybe some of the other stores in the shopping center might even had what I wanted to buy.  We got an ice-cream and I took a look around at a few stores but was completely unsuccessful.  Job found these things… (which he tried on and we did not proceed to buy)

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but nothing was quite what I was looking for.  After about 15 minutes we both just gave up and went home. At least we were able to see the gorgeous La Casa Vecchia and talk with Marijn. Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be able to venture out to Noord again and Pipoos will be open and I can stock up on crafting supplies.  Until then, I will continue to travel around Amsterdam and visit the different art stores to get the supplies I need.

Belgium

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Last weekend Job and I got to take a small vacation with his family. We ventured just over the border to Belgium to spend five days in a very large house with Job’s parents, his sister’s family, his brother and his brother’s friends.

It was really nice to spend some time with the family and be away from the city and just relax.  We stayed in Gemmenich, right over the border of the Netherlands in a French area of Belgium.

During our week, we got some time to play with Moos, kick around a football, visit some American Military cemeteries and visit a cave.  We also had some lovely meals with the family, took a walk in the woods, and of course, watched some football!

It was really nice and relaxing and a fun time…and I learned about Helaas Pindakaas which is my new favorite thing to teach my friends and family from the states!

And for those of you who want to know about helaas pindakaas, it is an expression which means something along the lines of oh well, that stinks for you… or that you’re out of luck… A good example is if you get to a store just as the store keeper is closing. He or she would say to you Helaas pindakaas.. Out of luck, not opening back up so you can get your thing.  Job told me his theory of how this came to be an expression.  He said that he thinks it comes from all of the kids who have packed lunches from their moms, and when they open their bag and just find a plain boring peanut butter sandwich, they would say Helaas…pindakaas!! (Which literally translates to unfortunately peanut butter). I think his theory sounds very plausible and I really enjoy the phrase.  And Job’s mom even said helaas to us while in Belguim.  We had bought this dessert called Vlaai which is kind of like a tart or pie from the Limburg region.  As we were eating breakfast one day, the doorbell at the house rang and there were two boys.  They had a few items in their hands and were going around the neighborhood trading their items with items from each house they stopped at.  Job’s mom chose to trade them a delicious vlaai for some crackers and as she walked to the door with the vlaai, she sang out, “Helaas!”  It made me really excited because just a day or two earlier I had learned the expression of “helaas pindakaas”.  In Belgium, they also had a brand of peanut butter called helaes which we believed was a play on words and started the whole conversation about helaas pindakaas.  I made sure to include a picture below!