intro

Christmas is here...

Yes it's almost Christmas...I just finished reading this story to Lode and he is so excited that it's very difficult for him to go to sleep, I remember this very well from when I was a child and now I'm a mom, unbelievable how fast it goes... This year my Christmas will be a bit different...normally I would spend this precious time with my parents, my in-laws and other family, but this year it's just me and my own small family, my dear husband and our two beautiful boys.

Of course I will miss my family in the Netherlands dearly but I'm so looking forward to the special days with just the four of us... we will play some games, watch a Christmas movie enjoy the delicious things we bought and of course I'm looking forward seeing a smile on my son's face when he can open his present ... a pirate costume that he has been asking for for such a long time...luckily for me I found these super-nice Christmas gift tags for FREE at the lovely shop from Cristina, Haciendo El Indio,.that I'm going to use, just click here you can download and print them, thanks Cristina!

I wish you all a beautiful Christmas and hope you will be able to enjoy, get some rest, be happy and cherish these special days with your loved ones ... I'm going to take a short break and will be back in 2010 so hope to see you  back around the fourth of January...

ps. if you enjoyed BloesemKids during 2009 and would like to VOTE for B:Kids at Apartment Therapy's Homies Award then please do so right here, you would make me a very happy women : ) Thank you!

#423 Homemade Happiness ... free poster

Have you ever heard of Homemade Happiness? Two very nice ladies from the Netherlands, Carolina and Diana, offer you super nice digital print packages for all kinds of parties or special celebrations like Christmas. The illustrations are so much fun to look at and children will definitely enjoy Christmas breakfast even more when you use place-mats or cake toppers like these ...

Especially for the B:Kids readers Homemade Happiness would like to offer you their brilliant 'To Wish List' poster for FREE! On the list you can write down your five most important wishes or goals for 2010...

I also love the iron-on winter woodland print and of course the Pirate party hats! Printing the Homemade Happiness files will surely make your party different and special letting your children help you make everything will add to homemade feel! Enjoy...

..To Wish List Poster for FREE..
..Homemade Happiness online shop..
..Homemade Happiness blog..

Gingerbread Houses

Yesterday my dear friend Vivien invited Lode and me to a Gingerbread House decorating party at her home ...so we bought the Ikea gingerbread DIY kit and we started...Lode was wearing his pirate costume and being surrounded by  7 princesses the party could not go wrong. The moms enjoyed seeing their little ones decorating the houses, a very relaxing and nice morning to start this Christmas week..

Of course I did some searching on the net this morning for other gingerbread houses and soon I discovered Stephanie Levy her houses which she made with her girls, thanks for the lovely images Stephanie...and via ohdeedoh I found this Modern Gingerbread house...I love it! Ohdeedoh also showed this gingerbread home from Hometta with free instructions right here...

During the party Vivien told me that she often uses Martha Stewarts website for craft projects...one lady asked us who Martha Stewart was and you can image in me being a bit surprised thinking everybody in the whole world knows who the queen of crafts is...so for you who don't know please let me introduce this fabulous website to you and find all the craft projects you can wish for!

Tomorrow I will be back with one more post for Christmas...

The Winners from Giveaway #8, 9 and 10 are ::
#8 giveaway from Lulu Carter:: Kristin
#9 giveaway from KLT Works :: Susanne
#10 giveaway from B:Kids :: Maureen and Laurie

I love this Christmas wreath, found via rather nice, it was made by anna or Heidi from one of my favorite craft blogs, pickles, the wreath comes with a tutorial, I hope you will be in time to order the felted balls...

..pickles..

The Winners from Giveaway #6 and #7 are ::

Banquet Giveaway #6 is ::  Nikko Moy

Children Inspire Design giveaway #7 is :: Wendy from timblenest

Happy news for Bloesem today and for these lucky winners...

Thank you all for leaving your very nice comments, the winners are ::

Sarah Jane Studios Giveaway #3 is ::  Megan Berry

Wendi Gratz giveaway #4 is ::  Kaylan

Sweetpea Baby Giveaway #5 is ::  Caroline Kaye

Monday I will announce the winners for the Giveaways #6-#10

Perhaps you have already seen a special Tour that I'm hosting on Bloesem since last week...it's called the Let's Get Personal Tour in which I have asked famous Dutch designers to anser some questions about themselves and show some images of their own design-homes...today Romy Boesveldt and Ilya Yashkin from KidsOnRoof are my guest...their home is gorgeous and of course so are their incredible award winning designs for children too, so I had to share this today...

Please have a look right here...

 

..Let's Get Personal on Bloesem..

..KidsonRoof..

{Thank you all for leaving your comments at the #2 Giveaway :: and Olli&Lime has chosen  A.J as the winner}

Clay Christmas decorations

When seeing the craft project from Khali in my inbox I immediately went to the craft shop and bought some clay, knowing that my son is a playdoh-addict and knew he would like to this with me...very very easy, but with great result and lot's of fun making them! Just click here to read how it is done...

 

Please click here for this craft project...

Thanks Khali from Little. Lovely.

Of course these are nearly as beautiful as the ones Khali made, but Lode and I had much fun making them yesterday...it truly is a nice project to do with young children!

{Thank you all for leaving your comments at the #1 Giveaway :: and Spunky Sprout has chosen JudyR. as the winner}

The last Open House Tour from this year...but we will definitely continue sharing Open Houses with you on B:Kids in 2010, because it is so much fun to see how artists and talented people like Rebecca from Children Insipre Design lives...thank you Brittni for creating the wonderful tours for us since the last couple of months! Today you can see a bit more how Rebecca has decorated her house, where she works and she gives some very good answers on how to run a handmade business...

Please click here to see this Open House Tour...

 

..Children Inspire Design..

Win a Baby set knitted by me!

What can you, or should I say TWO of you can win ::
a lovely baby set for a girl (pink), consisting of two baby bootees and one pair of socks OR a lovely baby set for a boy (blue,green,yellow), consisting of two baby bootees and one pair of socks, all hand-knitted personally by me, Irene,

What do you do :: there are actually two ways you can win

*1 link to this post on your own blog and write down your link in a comment below.

*2 subscribe to the B:Kids newsletter via this page on the left side banner.Yes, if you do both, you double your chances to be one of the lucky winners.

This Giveaway ends Sunday 20 Dec. and winner will be announced Monday 21 Dec. here on B:Kids.

Thank you all for leaving your comments, the Giveaway is CLOSED :: the winners are ::  Laurie J. who won the girls set and Maureen who won the boys set.

#9 A fantastic set of 3 items from KLT:Works

What can you win ::
A fantastic set from KLT:Works including a "night owl" long sleeved tee- 2T or 4T,  a "night owl" hoodie- 2T- and Letterpressed Owl thread drawing print, value $ 68.-
What do you do ::
Let us know what you like from KlT:Works, by leaving a comment below.

This Giveaway ends Friday 18 Dec. and winner will be announced Monday 21 Dec. here on B:Kids.

..KLT:Works..
..KLT:Works Etsy shop..
..Kristin Loffer Theiss..

{Ps. If you visit me on Sunday you can win a personal item from me, a B:Kids giveaway #10}

Wish you a wonderful weekend of course, I will be hosting our first pre-Christmas diner this evening!

Thank you all for leaving your comments, the Giveaway is CLOSED :: the winner is ::  Susanne from beyond the kids.

#8 A Pirate Bunny from Lulu Carter

What can you win ::
A Pirate Bunny Boy from Lulu Carter, value $ 55.-
What do you do ::
Let us know what you like from the Lulu Carter Shop, by leaving a comment below.

This Giveaway ends Friday 18 Dec. and winner will be announced Monday 21 Dec. here on B:Kids.

..Lulu Carter Shop..

Thank you all for leaving your comments, the Giveaway is CLOSED :: the winner is ::  Kristin Redmon

#7 $ 100.- Gift Voucher from Children Inspire Design

What can you win ::
A 100.- US dollar Gift Voucher, fill-up your basket posters, art and stationery you like from Children Inspire Design
What do you do ::
Let us know what you like from, by leaving a comment below.

This Giveaway ends Thursday 17 Dec. and winner will be announced Friday 18 Dec. here on B:Kids.

..Children Inspire Design..
..Children Inspire Design blog..

{Ps. Last Weeks winner from the Luxe Design Giveaway is :: bink and boo}

Thank you all for leaving your comments, this giveaway is CLOSED :: the winner is ::  Wendy from Timblenest

#6 A Forest themed T-shirt and Leggings Set  from Banquet

What can you win ::
A forest themed tee shirt and leggings set  from Banquet, USD 64.-
What do you do ::
Let us know what you also like from Banquet's shop, by leaving a comment below.

This Giveaway ends Thursday 17 Dec. and winner will be announced Friday 18 Dec. here on B:Kids.

..Banquet shop..
..Banquet blog..

Thank you all for leaving your comments, the Banquet Giveaway #6 is CLOSED :: the winner is ::  Nikko Moy

#5 A Baby Gift set from Sweetpea baby

What can you win ::
A great gift set for a newborn including a woobie blanket, bib, binkee clip and onesie from sweetpea baby , value USD 100.-
What do you do ::
Let us know what your favorite item from sweetpea baby is, by leaving a comment below.

This Giveaway ends Wednesday 16 Dec. and winner will be announced Thursday 17 Dec. on B:Kids.

..sweetpea baby..

Thank you all for leaving your comments, the Giveaway is CLOSED :: the winner is ::  Caroline Kaye

#4 Limited edition Handmade Doll from Wendi Gratz

What can you win ::
An adorable handmade doll from Wendi Gratz, USD 89.-
What do you do ::
Let us know what you also like from Wendi's shop, by leaving a comment below.

This Giveaway ends Tuesday 15 Dec. and winner will be announced Wednesday 16 Dec. here on B:Kids.

Wendi also would like to give away a free doll scarf with every doll purchased until 2010!

..Wendi Gratz shop..
..Wendi Gratz blog..

Thank you all for leaving your comments, the Giveaway is CLOSED :: the winner is ::  Kaylan