Craft ideas: scratching pole for your cat

My cat loves to scratch his nails on the carpet, stairs, couch and so on. It was surely time for a scratching pole, but the bigger ones are always quite expensive so I decided to make one myself.
Things you need:
– an old bookshelf
– 24 meters rope
– cd holder
– fluffy cushion
– old scarf
– saw
– hammer
– paint
– glue
– nails

1. I used an old bookshelf for the top and the bottom of the scratchingpole. I cut in into two parts, one part bigger than the other so you get a stable base. Cost: €0,-

2. I bought a wooden cd holder to use as the middle part of the scratching pole. I would attach the rope on to this part.Cost: €2,- second hand shop

3. I painted the part of the shelf that’s gonna be the bottom part. I just searched the shed in the backgarden and found some blue paint. Cost: €0,-

4. I bought 24 meters of rope in a  hardware store and I wrapped this around the cd holder, glueing it at the corners. Cost: €10,-
5. Then I attached the top and bottom part to the cd holder and put an old fluffy cushion on the top so my cat could chill on that part. Cost: €0,-
6. At last I wrapped the rest of the cd holder with an old scarf so the whole thing would be covered. Cost: €0,-

And the result is there:

Easy, cheap and fun!

If I had all the money (and space) in the world, I would decorade my house like..

THIS. 

1. People who know me wouldn’t be suprised the first thing on my list is a big comfortable looking bed from the designers of O*GE group. I love sleeping and friends find me sleeping everywhere, in class, on the beach, in the train etc. If I could earn money by sleeping I would. This Giant birdsnest looks so comfortable and really cute! The big pillows make it extra nice and cosy.

2. Such a nice napkin holder. Not that I ever use napkins or would use it  when I have one of these cool stands, it still looks really nice and original. Kind of like art. And art is always appreciated 🙂

3. ‘A few fish in a tank. Says one to another: How do we drive this thing? ‘This sink from demilked is so cool, even though fish really freak me out, I’d love to have this! Also available: fish toilet or fish couch.

4. Yes, crazy catlady strikes again. My boyfriend would laugh at me when I would get something like this, but how cool is this for a cat? This cat even looks like my cat, if that isn’t faith I don’t know what it is. not all all the fact that I have a common type cat. 

5. After the IPad, IPod, IPhone and whatever they have down there at the apple store, now introducing the IPoo. I’m not a apple-fan except for the cheap green fruity ones  I do kind of like the toilet version. Although it doesn’t look very pleasant, more like one of those toilets you find at the side of the road you only go to when there’s a IPoo emergency and the last thing you want to do is to put your bare arse on a piece of cold steel  it does look very original.

6. This bathtub from notcom just looks so comfy! I would like to place it in a somewhat more, well, appealing room with maybe some color and a  candle or two.

7. Not very pretty, but certainly original pillow from Etsy. Nice as a gift to someone who always spills their food.

8. This last one I will get, because all the items above I will never be able to affort, or rather spend my well earned money on experieces, rather than things. Just to dream away before I open the garage door, get my keys and unlock my.. bike.

I heart chicken :)

Sometimes love shows up in places you least expect. Take this chicken. I don’t eat chicken, or any other sort of meat for that matter. But my cat is on a diet so I found myself slaughtering already dead chickens for weeks. When I opened this chicken (not the chicken it’self, I was still mentally preparing myself for that) I was suprised. For minutes I found myself staring at a perfectly heart shaped chicken breast, and for a second it even looked tasty. No need to say I cooked it with love. My cat loved it. 🙂

So the moral of the story is: Love is all around, don’t try to look for it, it’ll come to you when you least expect it, where you least expect it! 😉

Mother’s Day gift ideas

Mother’s Day is coming up! Upcoming Sunday May 13 we all going to show our mothers our appreciation. Many people find it difficult thinking of (original) ideas for Mother’s Day. Here’s a few tips:

♫ Cupcakes!
Mums love sweets that look pretty!

♫ Cake with a photo frosting
When you’re like me and aren’t a kitchenprincess/prince, you could always just order a cake. I once got a cake made with a photo of me and my boyfriend on there, for our first anniversary. A great idea for your mum, your childer’s mum or any woman who deserves something special on Mother’s Day.

A present for mummy, and a bit for yourself!

♫ Jewelry
This might sound lame but there’s a reason why people give women jewelry. Because they love it!

♫ Canvas with a nice picture of the family
Mothers love their families, so pictures are always nice. To print them on a canvas makes it extra special. You can even choose to print them in black and white or sephia for a different effect.

♫ Donate money to childrens’ charity
Mothers care for their children and are sensitive when it comes to children in need. To make a donation in her name to charities like Unicef, Orphans in Need, SOS Children or the Red Cross you help many children all over the world, some even without a mother.

♫ Make a special basket
Ofcourse you can buy the shop made baskets with soap and parfume, but making your own little basket makes the gesture even more appreciated and special. You can think of:

– Tea basket: including for example a lovely teapot, big teacup, different (special) teabags, chocolates.

– Relax basket: including for example lavendel soap, potporri, scrubbing glove, face mask, candles, bathsalt, homemade cd with
chill songs, body lotion. If you want to make it more expensive you can add a bathrobe, bathslippers or soft blanket.

– Chocolate basket:Is (your) mum a chocolate fan? Fill a basket with different kinds of chocolate, in different shapes and flavours. Add chocolate milk, chocolate fondue set, strawberries etc.- Perfume basket: including lovely parfum, potporri, nailpolish, mascara or anything to do with

– Cooking basket: including for example a homemade cookbook (by you or the kids), cooking apron, cookingstuff that she needs
(if she wants a applecutter, give her an apple with it). You can make it into a theme as well, like a pasta theme with pasta
recipes, different kinds of pasta, pestos etc.

– Baking basket: For example a cupcake basket with all the ingredients for awesome cupcakes.

– Nailcare basket: If she likes to experiment with her nails, give her different kinds of nailpolish, nailart, manicureset, nail file,
nailpolish remover, fake nails.

– Reading basket: Boy a book that she might like and make a bookmarker (with kids). Add some cookies, chocolatemilk and warm socks
for her time on the couch. (or in the summer spirit: sunglasses, small bottle of wine, bag of nuts). Also doable with a magazine (with a subscription?)!

Don’t forget to add a homemade card with the basket!

♫ Organize a familybrunch / dinner
Mums love to spend time with their families, so it would be appreciated when you get the whole family together for a big brunch!
Set the table nicely, with napkins and fancy glasses. You can make a nice meal that she likes, or have different sandwiches and breads
freshly prepared, orange juice, coffee / tea, eggs, different spreads, pancakes, make fruit ice-cream etc. You could also do something special like cheesefondue or
gourmet.

♫ Make a collage
Make a collage of family pictures. Buy a nice photo frame and have some pictures printed out.  You can put the pictures in the frame like
that, or make a bit of an artwork out of it, with coloured paper, stickers and funny comments. This present always scores because it’s so
thoughtful and personal.

♫ Make Mother’s Day Fortune cookies
Fortune cookies are not too difficult to make. For Mother’s Day you can make them with special notes in them, telling mum why she’s so special
and the best mum in the world. Also really fun to do with children! Here’s how you do it: Click!

♫ Make something with the kids
Kids love art, and mum loves to get her childen’s artwork.
– Let your children paint their hands / feet to put on a big piece of paper. You can put it in a photoframe.
– Let the children pick out some bead in a shop and let them make their own necklace for mum.
– Get a random box and let the children make mum a nicely decorated jewelry box
– The same you can do with boring pots, kids can paint them and you buy a nice plant or flower to go with it.
–  Or.. boy a white photoframe for the kids to decorate and make a new photo of the kids to go in it.
– With some colorful beads they can make keyrings.
– Let the kids make a drawing and stick it on a winebottle as an original label. (you could have it saying best mum in the world)

What not to give mum for Mother’s Day:
Some men are a bit clueless when it comes to (Mother’s Day) presents. So here a few tips so you definitely won’t be going wrong again.
– Don’t give her things for the house, like a hoover or cleaningstuff unless she specifically asked for this! It would just remind her that she’s only good for
cleaning and you don’t want to make her feel bad on her special day. So unless you give her a ‘luxurious’ product to make everything easier (like a dishwasher, dryer of a luxurious cappucino maker and you’re not the only one drinking cappucino yourself!) it’s definitely a no-go.
– Don’t give her something that needed to be replaced anyway.
– Planning a family outing when mum is already very stressed. Let her decide this, and give her also the option to take the kids somewhere yourself and let her relax for the day.
– Money. Money is not a present. Very unthoughtful to give the woman that carried your children money because you’re too lazy to go and buy her something nice.

What are you giving your mum for Mother’s Day? 

Lots of love,smiles and happiness,

Evalina

Reusing old shoe boxes

It’s World Earth Day today, and this calls for a serious earth friendly post! I’ve decided to add a category to my weblog: Reuse & Recycling. Under this category I’m going to post some tips how to make something new out of old junk. I believe we can be much more ‘earth-friendly’ by recycling and reusing things we already own. We don’t need to keep buying, but can be a little more creative ourselves and make something out of things we already have laying around the house. It becomes much more personal and original that way and we develop ourselves by doing something creative.

I found some pictures of people reusing their old cardboard shoe boxes. I used to do this a lot myself (now I lack old shoe boxes because I haven’t bought new shoes in ages!) and I loved it. It’s handy and looks awesome.

The only things you need are old shoe boxes (that you probably already have), wrapping paper / magazines / news papers, glue, scissors and lots of small things that need to be organised.

Also nice for kids! You can even do this with your youngsters, making treasure boxes or jewelry boxes.

Or what about using it for wrapping presents? Use some nice wrapping paper or cut pictures out of magazines that the birthdayboy/girl might like. You (and your kids) can decorate the box to make it an extra personal gift.

Lots of love,smiles and happiness,

Evalina

Easy and awesome shadow art!

Incredibly easy to make and it looks awesome! After my first attempt I decided to try another one, it’s so much fun to be creative and you end up with something nice for the room. 🙂 I’m not really that happy about it, but the idea is nice and it’s definitely worth the try! All you need is a canvas, some old newspapers, glue, scissors and a black marker.

Worth the try?

Lots of love,smiles and happiness,

Evalina

Indian Style Living

Last year I went travelling through Asia and New Zealand. I started off in India and immediately fell in love (not with a Indian, wait for it) with the colours. India has many faces, but even though it’s also the most discusting place to be, it’s also the most beautiful. You had to be there to understand. India is incrediably colourful, you see it in the clothing they wear, the markets on the streets and the interior of the many restaurants. A typical Indian restaurant has no chairs to sit on. You have to take off your shoes at the entrance and you pick some of the many pillows and cushions to sit on. The tables are often made of coke crates with a large plank on it, hidden by a colourful rug. There’s also many tapestries and transparant curtains hanging on the wall, ofcourse in various wonderful colours. I was hooked. When I’d have my own apartment back home, I’d decorate it Indian style. It makes me happy to be surrounded by colours. Here’s some inspiration for all of ya Indian style lovers out there!

This style can give a bit of a ‘dark’ impression in your house. The picture in the bottom left corner shows it doesn’t always have to be like that. You can keep your walls white and decorate with colourful cushions and rugs.

So what do you need to decorate your room / house in Indian / Bohemian style? Here’s a few tips:

Colour is number one. No Indian / Bohemian style house without it.  Number two is cushions. Lots of them, in different shapes and colours. More than your couch really needs, if you have a couch. Big pillows and cushions on the floor also make a brilliant place to sit.

Three: Tapestries and transparant curtains on the wall. Especially a good option if you have a big white wall, want some colour but don’t want to paint it. You have ’em in various colours, big or small.

Four: Low tables and chairs. Decorate them with candles, trays, books and vases.

Five: Indian style rugs. There’s so many of them!

Six: Photo frames on the wall in different shapes.

Seven: Lamps. Indian style 🙂 Or candles ofcourse. Oil lamps are also pretty!

Good luck! 

Paintings.. but different

Do you also have a lot of different beads, coins, buttons and other stuff dominating your drawers? Don’t know what to do with it? Here’s a nice way of using them.

The idea for this creative outburst came from a New Zealand magazine that I read in Kurow, a tiny town in the South Island.

What do you need?
– Paint
– Brushes
– Canvases
– A lot of old beads, colourful buttons, coins,  clips, paper money or whatever you find at the bottom of your drawers.
– Glue, glitter (or glitterglue :P)

I really wanted to make something that would remind me of my travels, but ofcourse you can make whatever shape you want.
First of all I painted the three canvases in three different colours. I let them dry while I looked for maps of New-Zealand, Nepal and India on the internet.When I found them I printed them out and cut out the shape so I could trace them on the canvases. I traced the outlines with glitter. And then the real work begins.. Big beads & other stuff first, the small beads all around them until the whole map is filled.

Doesn’t it look lovely? 🙂

Lots of love,smiles and happiness,

Evalina