A musical giraffe & two love birds

During the last months I was asked by several people to make something for a special event. I felt quite honored, being commissioned by these friends to add a creative touch to their upcoming memorable happenings!

The musical giraffe

Let's start with the giraffe. This one was made for my colleague Nicolle, who got pregnant at the end of 2012. Not long after she announced it at work, she asked me if I could make something to put a little music box in. Well, sure...I told her it depended a bit on what she wanted. Not being sure yet, we went from stars and clouds to ducks. I directed her to Pinterest, not knowing that the overwhelming amount of baby-related inspiration this place contains would only make her choice more difficult. But finally a decision was made: a crocheted giraffe it would be!

I told Nicolle to pick a pattern she liked from Etsy (I might be crafty, but designing my own giraffe crochet pattern is a step too far), she came back with Daveydreamer's 'Girard the Giraffe'. Cute huh? (I also really love the undersea patterns in this shop by the way! Just look at that squid, the clam, the walrus...and the wanatee! I don't even know what a wanatee is, but it totally rocks big time!). During a free hour at work I dragged a big-bellied Nicolle to the yarn shop, so she could choose the colors for this creature. We assumed the pattern would be for quite a small giraffe (most amigurumi's are tiny), so we decided to go for a thicker, bulkier yarn. The giraffe had to hold the music box in his belly in the end, so a teeny tiny animal would not work! But, as it turned out...we shouldn't have done this. Just look at the picture above, the giraffe became gigantic! This might be my own fault though...I probably skipped some information on the pattern about the size and such, you know, the boring stuff...oops!

The baby was born a month early (first time in my life I actually felt pressured by a newborn...I wasn't nearly finished yet!). Of course Roos (which is Dutch for 'rose') was a very small baby in the beginning, and as I said, my giraffe became a giant. Nicolle thought he was becoming adorable, but I had my doubts. What about Roos? Imaging being a tiny baby, lying in your carrier, sucking your pacifier...just generally chilling out for a bit. Suddenly someone puts a life-sized giraffe (a giráffe, for heavens sake!) on your lap, freakishly wobbling it's head from side to side, pushing its face in yours while talking 'baby' ("oooh gutchee gutchee!"). All I can say is: I just hope this child won't have a life long phobia of giraffes.

The giraffe took me quite some hours, I even worked on it in the car on our way to the Ardennes for our climbing weekends (remember?). I had some trouble with keeping the neck up (the head is quite heavy), so I shoved some thin iron wires in it. Roos' parents might have to remove those if she ever overcomes her trauma and ends up wanting to play with her giraffe. For the rest the pattern was super clear and easy to follow. The music box easily fitted in the giraffe's belly. After putting it in, I just kept on decreasing to close the body, until nothing more than a miniature hole was left, where the drawstring of the music box went out. I loved the song it played by the way! I must admit I regularly pulled the cord during my crochet hours...it's not one of those standard baby tunes. I hope Roos will grow to love it as well!

Last week I finally found a chance to actually visit Roos and her parents and to hand over their gift. It was awesome to see how happy they were with the giraffe and how much they liked how it turned out. Roos had already grown a bit (which might come in handy, regarding the phobia thing...she's slightly bigger than our long necked friend now) and seemed like a healthy and happy baby. I hope the lullabying giraffe will guide her into many hours of quiet and peaceful sleep (so her parents will get some rest as well ;))!

Hmm...still a bit phobic?

Two love birds

Now on to the other project: two love birds (or robins, more precisely)! These were made for Marijke, one of my very best friends. Thinking about it, I actually believe it's already more than 7 years ago when we first met as two shy and vulnerable young ladies on a new journey. We clung on to each other to find some comfort, understanding and humor during that particular overwhelming time in our lives. And we sticked together! Not so shy and vulnerable anymore (I believe we actually grew some balls :P), but still finding comfort in understanding the other so well and having minds that function scarily alike. With Marijke I only need a couple of words and she will get exactly how I feel. With others, even thousands of words are still not sufficient to explain what's going on inside our sensitive silly brains...so you can imagine how precious this friendship is to me!

Marijke got married to Lennard last summer. She fell in love with this awesome (I don't even know him that well, but everyone who makes Marijke thát happy is awesome) young lad a while ago, and it wasn't long before they decided this was for real and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. So why wait then? It might seem quick for outsiders, but I happen to totally trust their decision on this one. Some things are just right and carry blessings from above. 

Not long after this decision Marijke asked me if I could crochet something that could work as a cake topper. To me this sounded like the perfect chance to actually give them something meaningful. A bought gift just seemed too easy for such a good friend. A crochet project would require hours of work, some real effort and dedication...which they totally deserve!

At first we brainstormed about a tiny wedding couple (a small bride and groom), but this is quite difficult to crochet (though it can be done!). Marijke really loves birds, especially the small domestic ones...so we decided that 'love birds' would be a way better idea! Those could also function as a nice decoration piece áfter the wedding (while a wedding pair might be a bit too...well...wedding-ish to put on the shelf). Marijke picked MysteriousCats' robin pattern on Etsy (this lady has a lot of other cute patterns as well! But what the héck is that horror postcard of a vampire cat doing in her shop?!), which I made twice. I added the hat, bow, hearts and rings (those are not part of the pattern) and searched for the perfect branch to put them on (which was a bit more difficult than I thought...next time get married in autumn, okay guys?). 

Marijke loved how her caketopper turned out, and it fitted perfectly well on their pie (which looks soooo yummie by the way!). She and Lennard married in a wonderful kind of circus tent with old wooden wainscots and mirrors and such...beyond awesome! Look at what a pretty couple they make together, and how lovely they look in their dress and suit. There was a beautiful wedding service (with quite some tears), campfires, an instax photo boot and lots of other cool stuff. Oh, and did I mention that Marijke promised Lennard in her vows that she will make him homemade apple pie évery weekend? Crazy, and so sweet! 

Right now they're already married for a couple of months. They expanded their little family with Ted, a tiny plushy rabbit that Lennard bought as a gift for Marijke. Trying to find their way into living together as a couple, they make an awesome pair. I love how Marijke explained it to me: "We're actually just two little kids, pretending to maintain a household..." hahaha! Humor and a lot of mutual love will get them through. I know the birdies are standing on the ledge in their bedroom, which makes me feel very honored. I really wish them a lifelong happy and healthy marriage...may they always stay 'apple pie-eating love robins'!

I love how it looks like the groom birdie is actually whispering
something to his bride in this pic :)

PukiPuki legging & headband sets

Hi folks! This post is for the dolly lovers...especially those who own the tiniest among the bjd's: the PukiPuki's (or similar sized Lati White special).
I made four sets of tiny floral leggings with matching bow tie headbands. They are up in my etsy shop now, click the link in the sidebar to go there!

Which one is your favourite? I really like the one with the yellow bow tie, I love how it looks on Mia, my PukiPuki Pong (the blank one). Did you know that these dolls are 11,2 cm in height? It's almost as small as they get, and quite a challenge to sew for (though the needed materials won't cost you much, heheh :P).

Right now I'm busy with quite a big PukiPuki custom order (not only leggings, but also shirts and hoodies and such). I thought I could squeeze in some extra leggings for anyone who'd be interested (and couldn't keep myself from adding cute little bow tie headbands to them :)).

That's all for now, don't forget to take a peek at my shop, there are also items for other sized dolls available, as well as non-doll related stuff. Oh, and feel free to say hi in the comments, if you want...I love to hear you came by. Questions, feedback or requests...it's all welcome.

Have a nice day y'all!

Wild & the Pacific Crest Trail

Reading is very important to me, books are álmost as necessary as the air I breath. Sometimes I read a lot (and quick!), sometimes one book take me weeks, but nevertheless I couldn't do without my most beloved escape. Maybe I'll write a blogpost about it another day... I know there are plenty of book-lovers out there who will get this anyway, and the need for the written word is familiar to many in some form. Often a book triggers new interests that I like to explore further. I love going through reviews before ánd after reading a book, and I'd like to add my own humble opinions to the ever growing digital source of information about old and new books.

Little side note: I've been thinking about my blog a lot lately. I have some changes in mind (or, hopefully, improvements :)). One of them is adding a 'Reading & Watching' section, where I want to review the books I read and movies/series I've watched (or at least the ones worth mentioning, the ones I think éveryone should read/see!). Please bear with me though, I'm not an expert on literature or whatsoever, and my reviews might lack in-depth criticism or professional argumentation regarding my opinion. But, maybe in actually writing down these reviews (instead of only forming them in my head) I can grow a bit in forming better analyses of books in all their aspects. I guess that would result in an even greater appreciation of the written word in it's finest forms!

So...here we go, the first book review on Lovalizious (I guess a drumroll is out of place for such an uneventful thing as a review?)... Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. 

Wild is a memoir, written by someone who had quite a messy childhood. Throughout the book are flashbacks, revealing bits of Cheryl's youth. This results in slowly understanding better why she came to the point (at the age of 26) where she decided to walk the Pacific Crest Trail (or at least 1700 kilometers of it), a long distance hikimg trail on the east of the United States.

Especially Cheryl's loss of her mom to cancer played a big role. Even though her childhood was difficult and somewhat unusual, her mother's love was one thing she could always count on. After losing her, Cheryl ended up in a downward spiral of divorce, heroin abuse and a dangerous love life. Being headed to nowhere she bumped into a guidebook of the PCT by accidence, and decided she had nothing to loose. So...she sold all she had, scraped what she earned with it together to buy a backpack (affectionately called 'Monster' throughout the book) and some other supplies, and used the rest to make little provisional packages that she'd sent to post-offices along the way ahead of her.Starting her journey still quite unprepared (with a wáy too heavy backpack and not really a clue on how to survive in wilderniss), she slowly adapts to a new rhythm: one of walking endless miles on her own, not seeing a soul for days, preparing her own food and water, sleeping in a little tent at night...only to wake up (with even more muscle soreness) to do the exact same thing over again. In the beginning surviving and walking the necessary miles each day takes all she's got. But after some weeks she starts to get used fo her new, temporary way of life. At this point her mom 'shows up' again. Not literally, of course...but Cheryl still has a lot of processing to do on all that's happened to her in her childhood as well as being a young adult. Things she couldn't deal with before, tried to ignore or buried away deeply by pursuing a lifestyle that brought short term relief, but only more emptiness on the long run.Now don't think think this book is all about emo-babble and psychological stuff. Cheryl is a tough girl and definitely had got balls. She might have been the most unprepared girl in the world who ever walked the PCT, but she did it anyway. She goes on after frightening encounters with bears and snakes, struggles through ice cold snowfields followed by burning hot deserts with Monster on her back and picks herself up again after lonely nights in her small tent. She slowly learns more about surviving in the wilderniss and lives a couple of months with extremely little money. She meets new people when passing resupply points, with whom she spends a shorter or longer time, exchanging experiences and simply enjoying the pleasure of company, finally again. A lot of those people have an impact on Cheryl, who's often touched by their kindness. But nevertheless she always says goodbye, to take on on her own again, adding a new layer of corn to her shoulders, hips and feet. No, she's not the whiney-kind of girl.I looked Cheryl up on google and was directed to her facebook-page. She's a pretty, professional and healthy looking woman now. She got married, got kids and wrote even more books. Honestly, I was happy to find out. She looks happy on the pics and seems to have found more meaning and fullfillment in her life. That's what I hoped for when I finished the book. I also found some pictures on Cheryl's facebook page of her 26-year old self on the PCT. I lóve these! And man, just look at Monster...

'Wild' was an incredible book to read, but also made me notice the existense of the PCT for the very first time. Being curious and also a bit adventurous myself, I did some research on this hike. The full route is 4286 kilometers ling and goes all the way from the border with Mexico in the south up to the border with Canada in the north (or the other way around of course). It passes through 25 national forests and 7 national parks, and goes through the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains (among some other mountain ranges), resulting in a total height difference of 4000 meter. The resupply points often exist out of nothing more than a couple of houses and a central building which serves as a bar, laundry service, hotel and post office. Now I understand that sounds like a nightmare to a lot of people (or at least many would wonder why in the world you'd voluntary undertake such a thing)...but to me, it sounds like an addition to my bucket list. And I' m pretty serious about that! Luckily the boyfriend turned out to be just as enthusiastic (after a while...not having read the book yet he thought the PCT was - just as another simple hike - something for retired people), so now we have a new shared dream.
One last thing to add: I just found out this week that this book is gonna be turned into a movie! Reese Witherspoon is casted as Cheryl, I'm curious to see how she will do (especially since she often plays such neat, girly characters...which Cheryl is obviously nót). At least I hope they won't undo the story from it's rough edges and turn it into a typical polished Hollywood production...but I definitely will give it a chance. Can't wait!I hope you liked my first book review..next will be the Hunger Games-series, only one more half book to finish. I'll be back to talk about Katniss' adventures!

About climbing & falling

So, as you might have read here earlier, I like to climb. My boyfriend and I started this new hobby around October last year, and now it's slowly growing into a passion for the both of us.
Our first, clumsy indoor ascents took place at an introduction lesson in a climbing hall from Mountain Network, a Dutch organization with around 6 halls around the Netherlands and an outdoor centre in the Ardennes. We had a lot of fun and it seemed like we both had a bit of the 'ape-factor', going faster than the other course attendees. No discussion was necessary, we wanted to get our indoor toproping certificate.

With this toproping certificate you're allowed to climb indoor on your own (without guidance from an instructor or whatsoever). The rope already hangs down for you, all you need to do is bind it to your harness, bind the other end to your belaying partner, and start climbing. There are different routes to climb, starting with 3's and 4's, 4+ and then proceeding to 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, etc...until about 9b (I believe! New routes are explored and climbed, when they are harder than any other that's done before, they will get an even higher grade). Mark and I followed our 4-lessons indoor toproping course in another Mountain Network hall. This organization is truly awesome, every hall seems to have great, enthusiastic and responsible personnel, eager to learn you everything about their passion and spread the love for climbing. The halls are modern and synoptic, with clear routes built by good route builders. And they have very good after-climbing beers :)

After receiving our indoor toprope certificate in November 2012, we tried to climb as much as possible, at least once or twice a week. We proceeded slowly from 5a's to 5c's and even 6a's. We discovered bouldering, a different branch in the climbing world in which you try to climb short routes. These routes are not higher than about 3 or 4 meters and have a crash pad beneath them, so belaying is not necessary. Bút, the routes are often quite intense. Whereas a toprope route might contain a few difficult passes among a lot of more doable steps (the difficulty here is found in the length of the routes, which requires a certain endurance), these passes are all collected together in one short boulder. So boulders can actually be seen as a shortened, intensified form of climbing. A lot of climbing halls have a small bouldering room, but Mark and I also discovered two great specialized bouldering halls in the Netherlands with an awesome circuit of boulders varying in difficulty. We discovered that bouldering goes together with a lot of muscle aching, but also with quick progression in the strength, coordination and balance required for our normal climbing!

Bouldering hall 'Delfts Bleau' (not my pic)

During spring this year, we decided it was time for lead climbing. Lead climbing differs from toproping and is also a bit more scary/risky. Instead of climbing on a rope that already hangs down the wall, you take the rope up with you, clipping it to metal rings in the wall via so-called quick-draws. This means that you will fall a longer distance (for example: when you fall just below the next metal ring, you will fall twice the distance to the former ring). The belayer has to gíve you rope instead of taking it in as he or she has to do with toproping. Your belaying partner also has to stay super alert with falls, trying to make the climber's fall not too static, but neither letting the climber hit the ground!
Lead climbing  is actually a necessary step when you want to climb outside. Ropes don't grow on rocks, you know :P We followed this 4 lessons course at Mountain Network Amsterdam, the hall that has the best lead climbing wall in the Netherlands (in our honest opinions at least...it's also often used for championships!).

The next video shows the differences between a toproping fall and a lead climbing fall (you can start at 30 seconds).

Now if you'd like to see how this can escalate in real hard rock climbing, click here... Don't worry, these are quite extreme examples (but still, dad: please don't watch this). You can also see the impact of a big fall on the belayer, who is being pulled upwards (or actually towards the first quickdraw).

Again a lot of practice followed after gaining our indoor lead climbing certificates. Toproping, lead climbing and bouldering as much as we could, I started to try 6b's and Mark even did some 6c's. The progression made us grow even fonder of our new found passion, maybe we actually got a bit addicted! We bought gear, starting with our own harnesses and shoes, belaying devices, carabiners, etc.  (And let's not forget the super fashionable climbing leggings I bought at ebay...) During the last months we also got our own 70 meter rope, quickdraws, lifelines, slings, prusik cords and helmets. I even sew my own chalk bag (holding magnesium chalk to powder your fingers during the climb). These were the necessary items for our ultimate goal: climbing outside!

Yup, our most recent course took place at the Mountain Network outdoor centre in the Ardennes! Two weekends were spent in the Dinant region, resulting in our outdoor lead climbing certificate. We had the most awesome days under the guidance of some great instructors who know an awful lot about climbing. The weather couldn't be better, neither could be the Belgian beers at the end of the intense days. We slept in tents at the campsite next to the Mountain Network office and bar, located in an old farm/castle building. We learnt how to climb multipitch at Freyr (see the pic), which means you climb several lengths of your rope (so you can climb a lot higher!). We did some abseiling and were taught several knots and other rope techniques. It was quite a lot to take in, I still have to let it al sink in and probably read it over in the little information booklet we got. The best we can do now again is practice, practice and practice even more. And now we got all the gear ánd licenses to climb outdoors independent, there's nothing that can stop us!

We climbed on that rock on the right...looking out over the
river (the 'Maas' and the castle on the other side!)

So...that's my small climbing history so far. The birth of a passion that has brought me much joy already in such a short time. It lets me discover my physical and mental abilities and boundaries, making me push my limits and always (literally) reach for that next hold. The climbing community is kind and social, not too big or pretentious. I climbed next to the Dutch lead climbing champion one sunday afternoon...she was just practicing, as were we! My experience with outdoor climbing so far is small, but holds a lot of promises. Being in nature while climbing, touching the rock to find a good hold, feeling the sun and the wind on your back and admiring the view once you're above the trees...I can't wait to go again. I'd love to share more of my climbing adventures here on my blog, as a little climbing diary. Don't know if anyone's interested in these stories...but hopefully this post cleared things up a bit about what I have been doing on the walls the last months.

Ps. If you're interested in climbing and you're a girl, you might like www.cruxcrush.com... an awesome climbing blog by and for girls!

Yours truly, Miss Monkey :)

Middie Parson Grace

Yesterday I finished my third custom Middie! I thought it was time to share something of these little cuties on my blog. This time it was a Middie 'Parson Grace', sent to me by the lovely Jen. She gave me enough freedom and time to enjoy working on her beloved doll (thank you Jen!) without pressure.

Parson Grace has a beautiful hair color (salmon/blond/pinkish), I tried to match the face up as well as I could to make these pretty hairs show off even better. Working on a Middie means 'tiny work'...the lips and nose are much smaller than those of normal Blythes. I secretly love working on a Blythe after carving a Middie, just because of that feeling that the Blythe is so much 'bigger and easier' (which I never feel when I normally start working on a Blythe :P)...heheh! 

Jen wanted her Middie to become a sweet and innocent girl, nothing too flashy or wild. I hope I succeeded in this job :)

For anyone who's curious...carving the lips, nose and nostrils probably take me about 4-8 hours (depending on how 'heavy' the customer wants the carving, and well...just on how things are going). The actual face up (using pastels, pencils and gloss) takes me another 2-4 hours (normal Blythes take me a little bit longer on this area). Then also count in the head opening and closing again, adding custom lashes and making some nice pictures of the 'new' girl...and that's what it takes me to customize a Middie! Of course this is just how it works for me... I've often been wondering how long it takes other customizers though (please leave a comment if you want to share!)!

If you're interested to see the other two Middies I've customized before this Parson Grace:
- here you can see Bellamy;
- and here you can see Lucy!

For now it will be the last commission I took regarding customizing...I'm just too busy at the moment. My colleague at work will be leaving for three months due to pregnancy, and I will take over a lot of her patients. Of course júst when I also have to do quite some internship hours for school...so busy times ahead! ;)

But..I dó have some girls at home which I'm slowly working on when I have the time, and that will be up for adoption as soon as I have them finished. So stay tuned!

Lovalizious on Facebook & some random things

Hi folks! It's been a while again...I've been busy with a lot of things lately. My graduation year (I work as a physiotherapist and study to become specialized in geriatrics) officially started, I have a lot of work (internship and essay) ahead of me. The weather finally became better over here (this week we had two days with +20 degrees Celsius!), so at least I could do my homework on my roof terrace, yay!

Meanwhile, I try to keep the Lovalizious business up and running. I decided it was time to make a Lovalizious-facebook page. It was a step I hesitated to take for a long time...it feels a bit pretentious somehow to start your own 'page'. It's not like I'm a big business or whatsoever, just a crafty girl who sells things sometimes and likes to share her passion online! But on the other hand, I can imagine that not all my facebook friends are interested in my crafty work, while not all people interested in Lovalizious might want to know about my personal life (as far as I share that online :P). So two different places for these things sounded like a good plan, and the Lovalizious-facebook page was finally born.

Hit 'like' if you want to stay updated, I'd be honored!

As I said, I tried to keep the crafty business up and running besides my work and studies. There were several new shop updates: some hoodies (Blythe and YOSD), knitted beanies (Blythe) and the PukiPuki set and lace doilies you can see below:

I'm working on two homemade custom girls (they might take a while) and accepted a commission for a custom Middie. Currently I'm sanding down their faces and carving the mouths and noses. I ordered some new eyelashes and eye chips. I really wish I had more time to customize, I like creating new little characters!

I made these ultra colorful pillowcases for my friend Bernadette. She bought the beautiful fabrics in Peru a while ago during a holiday, and still had not found a good purpose for them. Since her little garden corner is finished now, she thought they might make some nice cushion covers and assigned me to make them! Sewing with such joyful fabrics make me happy :)

I bought this cute camera strap on Ebay for only 4 dollars including shipment! Interested? Here's the link to the store!

As I mentioned before, I did some homework (and also some crafting) on my roof terrace. It was finally warm enough! It resulted in more work though...looking around and seeing dead plants, dust and dirt everywhere, I couldn't help myself ending up cleaning the whole place. 

In the weekends Mark and I have been climbing again. We visited a bouldering centre and got our lead climbing certificate. We're getting closer to our next goal: climbing outside!

Marks parents celebrated their 26 year anniversary and took us for diner at the beach. It was a beautiful evening with a stunning sunset.

I did a little bit of urbexing in my own hometown. A 10 minute bike ride from my home there are some old apartment buildings being taken down. The whole area is fenced off, but it was easy to get in and take some quick shots (I really shouldn't do this on my own though, I was SO nervous!).
A lot of decay and demolition was going on, while in the surrounding gardens some glorious trees showed full blossom...I loved that contradiction.

I got some new snowboarding gear. Being on Roxy's mailinglist, I got an extra 50% off (on top of the 'end-of-season sale'!). Even though I still have to wait a year before I can use it, I'm so happy with my new and cheap scores!

And last but not least...my two ever loving assistants and companions. Even though they break down my house weekly, love each other so much they make me feel left out and act quite retarded in general, I wouldn't miss them!

Thanks for reading and watching again my lovelies...don't hesitate to leave a comment if you like! A lot of randomness this time, but I hope to share some tutorials and a new travel journal soon! 

Lay your head down and dream away...

Last year I visited a fabric fair with my bestie Eef, and came home with some wonderful world mapped linen. It has the most delicious soft colors and a bit of a vintage feel to it...making me dream about far away places! So what would be a better purpose for this fabric than some cute pillowcases, to lay your head on and daydream away?

I actually made four pillow cases. I kept one for myself, and one went to Eeffie (with the yellow-ish back). The remaining two are now available in my shop, since I finally uploaded them yesterday!

The two cases that went into the shop both have a green-ish backside. One is more greyish green, the other mossy green...both soft, ribbed fabric that match the world map perfectly well. The pillow cases close with a strip of velcro, neatly sewn into the upper flap.

I also added a little tag, saying 'handmade with love' (which they are!).

So...if you're interested, head over to my shop to get one, or maybe use this post as an inspiration to make your own! I'm pretty sure different kinds of world mapped fabric are available out there, so check your local market, fair or Etsy and get behind your sewing machine!