As some of you know, things have been rather stressful around here lately. I’m going through some pretty rough stuff at the moment, but I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

When I feel down, or out, or lost, or lonely: I go outside. There is something about being in the woods that completely calms me, brings me back to my center, and generally relaxes me. I think it’s the Japanese who call it ‘forest bathing’, and I completely understand why they call it that!

It looks a bit like a crime scene in that last photo, doesn’t it? I think it was a bird or something… I hope it got away.

And I found a skull! I felt like The Dainty Squid, I was so proud of myself for spotting it! I have no clue what animal this belonged to though.

I love making these abstract photos of light, like this last one; where you can’t see what’s actually in the photo but it does tell you exactly what mood there was at that time. I’ve got a whole bunch of them, and I’m actually thinking of framing the three best ones and hanging them in my bedroom, on the opposite wall of my bed… What do you ladies think? Would you like me to do a separate post on those abstract photos? :)

Thanks for sticking around; I will be back later with my Unravel 2015 posts!

xo,
wink

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Did you hear that? It’s the winds of change…

A lot of bad things have happened to me lately, which are making me appreciate the little things in life. When I feel down, I go outside and soak it all in, and it usually makes me feel better. I can truly enjoy looking through my lens and seeing frost on tiny parts of plants, flowers, and rocks. It helps me cope, and it helps me stay in control of my creativity, which is one of the first things that goes out the window when I feel down.

xo,
wink

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Last Sunday me and D went to a nearby swimming lake. It was a beautiful day; sunny, warm, and lovely.

I can’t wait to get outside more this month! I’m doing another Rewild your Life challenge, which means that I have to try to be outside at least 30 minutes a day. You’re not supposed to take any electronics with you, with one big exception: your camera! I did this challenge last year in September and I loved exploring the outside world a little every day.

xo,
wink

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How awesome is this: today you get to win a free Craftsy crochet class of your choice! :) Happy Monday indeed!

Upon entering this giveaway, you’ll have a chance to win one of the 10 crochet classes currently available on Craftsy. One of the classes is Amigurumi: Design Your Own Monster, by the ever-famous Stacey Trock from Fresh Stitches! Or, if amigurumi’s aren’t really your cup of tea, you could try the Tunesian Crochet class (I took it, and it’s amazing!).

All you have to do to win is go HERE or click the link below, and sign up for a free Craftsy account, or sign in to your account if you already have one. It’s that easy!

Enter to win a Craftsy class!

Good luck! This giveaway runs till next week, and I’ll announce the winner right here on the blog :)

xo,
wink

ps If you don’t really like crochet (GASP!), you can also choose from any of their other classes! They offer classes in knitting, quilting, spinning, weaving, but also fine art, photography, cake decorating, paper crafts… Take your pick! ;)

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog. Thank you for your support!

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A perfect winter wonder land, all right outside our house. We had the tiniest bit of snow the other week, but the little snow that did fall froze right away and provided the most lovely images of a world in suspended animation. Seriously, I know snow and cold temperatures can be a bit harsh, but I love the sight of everything covered in a thin layer of frost! It’s like the world is literally frozen, like it’s not moving, and for a brief period of time it allows me and my camera to capture it. I love it.

In the mean time, there has been a whole lot of this going on! I’m in full-on music mode, and I’m playing flute and guitar every day now. Yes, my fingers are sore, and I haven’t been able to feel any sensation in my finger tips in a long time, but it is so worth it ;) Next to being creative, music is my greatest outlet and I simply cannot get enough!

Ofcourse, there is also a lot of crochet going on (even though I hardly show it here…)…

I’m almost finished with the vintage fan ripple blanket! I hope I get to actually finish it because it looks like I’m about to run out of yarn, but we’ll see. If I crochet faster, the yarn won’t run out, right? ;)
Lucky for me, the deadline has been pushed back a bit, so I can work on it a little less frantic. I’ve got about three more weeks to finish it. I’m using Scheepjeswol Softfun yarn, which is an acrylic/cotton blend, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites!

There have been a lot crochet-related things happening here, behind the scenes so to speak; and I will tell you all about what’s been going on, soon! I promise. It will be awesome :)

xo,
wink

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Just a short post today, where I announce the winner of the custom canvas! The winner gets a free canvas, with the picture above on it or their own picture. Fun fun fun! :)

And the winner is: Tracey! Congratulations Tracey; the people from Custom Canvas will be in touch with you to discuss your canvas.

Thanks everyone for entering this giveaway!

xo,
wink

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Remember this photo I took for my photography class? When I was on vacation in Winterberg, Germany, I got an email from a reader. She wanted to ask me if it was okay if she printed this image on canvas, to brighten up her office. Of course I didn’t mind! In fact, I thought it was such a good idea, that when the nice people of Custom Canvas approached me for a review/giveaway, I didn’t have to think twice about what image to use!

I ordered my canvas from Custom Canvas in the UK. You can choose to have your images printed on canvas or acrylic. The really cool thing about ordering your canvas here is that you can choose your own size canvas, down to the centimeter. You’re not tied to fixed, regular, sizes; when you upload your image you can crop it in whatever way you see fit. You could for instance make a thin, rectangular image, or a very widescreen one; it’s up to you!

I had to wait a week and a half for my canvas to arrive, which I thought was REALLY quick, since it had to cross a big pond to get here! I imagine that people in the UK will receive theirs even faster.

You can see I chose to get my image printed on canvas. The quality of the canvas is very impressive; it’s thick and sturdy, and looks very durable. There’s a bit on the back of the canvas which allows you to hang it from your wall.

I for one love my new canvas! I haven’t found the perfect place to hang it yet (since my walls are filled with mandalas already!), so I’m thinking I will have to save it until I have found the perfect office space.

If you would like a custom canvas as well (with this image, or one of your own images!) leave a comment on this blog post, saying what you would get printed on it, and of course where you would hang it! The kind people over at Custom Canvas are willing to ship internationally, so that includes all you people in the US!

I’ll pick a winner next week. Good luck! :)

xo,
wink

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This week my good friend and I went to visit Kampen, a place where we both used to live when we were in college. It’s a little town near the river IJssel, which is a branch of the Rhine. We both brought our cameras and we went to the city’s park, to see if Autumn was already upon us. I can’t believe I used to live right across from this wonderful park, and I never even visited it before! (in my defense, I only lived there for about 6 months and I was only ever at home at night, sleeping!)

We saw birds as well as bees, and wasps, and butterflies! Seriously you guys, how awesome is my 50mm lens? Looking at these pictures you’d think I had a macro lens with me, but nope; my ol’ faithful nifty fifty did the job just fine! :)

I love that Autumn is here. I love this season so much; the gorgeous saturated colours all around us, the smells, the cooler weather (I’m not much of a sun/warmth person!), and even though I kind of miss the long days and I’m sad to see that it’s getting dark earlier every day, I’m happy to spend the evenings inside cuddled up under a blanket :)

Which made me think that it’s about time I design some patterns for Autumn! :) I have some yarn left over from my project seal yarn bomb, which is perfect for a nice slouchy hat and a matching scarf:

You all know how much I adore this yarn, and those colours would be perfect for Autumn accessories, don’t you think? :) (the yarn is Scheepjeswol Roma Big Rainbow, by the way) Ofcourse, all the patterns I will make with this yarn will be free! Hurray!

xo,
wink

ps For all you international peeps who’ve been asking me where to get the Scheepjes yarn; there will be an option for you to purchase it soon, and I’ll definitely mention it on the blog when it’s here! :)

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How are you doing? Did you like last week’s guest posts? :) As some of you may have guessed, I was out of the country last week on a little vacation.

Me and D went to Winterberg, Germany; a lovely place with lots and lots of mountains (which we don’t have here in Holland) but unfortunately for us, also lots and lots of rain! It rained pretty much the entire week we were there. But that didn’t keep us from hiking through the mud :)

All these photos were taken with my Canon 1100D with a f/1.8 50mm lens, and some of them with added ND, UV or Polarizing filters.

We had a lot of fun, and I even managed to get some knitting done! And I even think that there will be a ‘tadah’ post soon, since I almost finished it ;)

Alright, stay tuned this week for the giveaway winner of Felted Button’s awesome giveaway, and some more seal pics! Today I’m back in Pieterburen for the final reveal of all the seal statues, and I’ll probably blog about it at the end of this week :)

xo,
wink

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So this past month I’ve been doing an online photography course by Kim Manley Ort, where we’re only allowed to use our 50mm lens to take photographs.

This is quite a challenge. You see, a 50mm lens has no zoom capabilities, meaning that it has a fixed focal length. Meaning that if you want to zoom in or out, you have to move your feet! :) This limits you, but it also inspires creativity, and it lets you think about your composition a lot more than if you were using a zoom lens.

I only got my DSLR sometime last year, and I’ve gotten myself the 50mm lens a couple of months ago. I’m just getting into photography really, so this course was perfect for me! You share your pictures in a closed Flickr group, where you receive comments on your photos from Kim and the other students. It’s really great getting feedback on your stuff from other photographers :)

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share some of my photos that I took in August as part of this class.

Street photography assignment

Landscape assignment

Self portrait assignment

Portrait assignment

Landscape assignment

Creativity assignment

Street photography assignment

Street photography assignment

Bokeh assignment

I had a lot of fun in this class! If you’re interested in taking it too; there’s another one starting in January. It costs $50 and it’s worth every dollar :)

For all you aspiring photographers out there: I took these pictures with an entry-level DSLR, the Canon 1100D. It doesn’t cost much but gives you the tools you need to understand how things like ISO, shutter speed, and aperture work! :) (and no, Canon isn’t paying me to tell you this. This is my honest opinion!)

xo,
wink

ps I took some selfies as part of an assignment, too: (also called ‘how much fun can one have with a wire shutter!)

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