Tuesday, 25 December 2012 by Irene Hoofs
Dear readers, a Very Merry Christmas to all of you.. here are just some words to end this year on Bloesem..It certainly has been a turbulent year for me personally.. having experienced the loss of my dad.. but it also has been a great year to look back to. There are many reasons to be grateful and celebrate Christmas.. my two beautiful sons, who are often unbelievably naughty, too energetic at times and without a doubt the most challenging and rewarding job in the world ... kids really do make life worth living.. nothing compares to their cuddles, smiles and funny words..
And
celebrating that my husband and I have been together for almost 20
years..
and having my mom and step-dad over in sunny, but very
Christmassy, KL..!Celebrating
my two Bloesem blogs and all my on “the-side-craft-projects”...some of
which I am sure are unlikely to be any cause of celebration when they
are finished.. and while now and again I feel like giving it all a
break.. and do something completely different with my life.. I simply
love my work or should I say Bloesem too much that the thought of
changing course always quickly fades away..So
it must be you ... my dear readers, the people I work with and the
people I meet online and in person through Bloesem that give me so much
energy and passion for this work.. and I would like to thank you for
that..I
look forward to being back online in the beginning of January and thank
you all for supporting Bloesem during the past year and I hope to see
you next year! Happy Holidays!
- Irene xoxo -
Thank you Tiffany King for being a Bloesem contributor and welcome to
Sufiya and our new Facebook Fan Page. We have big plans for 2013 and
can't wait to share it with all of you, one of it is that we will be
launching a new site in March. Very excited!
Thank you to all
our sponsors and our two craft contributors on B:Kids, Veronique and Meta.
BloesemWears ... and thank you to those of you who had put in your orders with us.
Let's do it again next year!
Monday, 24 December 2012 by Irene Hoofs
Too lovely to not share. Our little wooden Christmas magnets are a big hit at the Bloesem home. I see more wooden projects coming up next year. Our Ikea cookie cutters came in handy again, and we loved the touch of glitter. Have the kids paint them too for some color time.
CLICK here for more images and explanation ...
A tip or two...
*The type of wood we got is soft and light. Perfect for cutting and making small magnets.
*Not advisable to do with children, but decorating it once it's cut would be something fun they can enjoy.
*Sand paper the sides if you want a smooth finish.
*And you are done! Easy Peasy.
Friday, 21 December 2012 by Irene Hoofs
Are you overwhelmed with Christmas crafts? We hope not ... here's one Sufiya, I and the boys made last week. A simple but most important fun thing to do and we all love the result.
White Christmas ornaments made out of air dry clay and cookie cutters from Ikea. Both easy things to find.
Here's a little tip or two.
* Roll out the clay thinly. Our's were at least 5mm wide.
*Cookie cutters are sharp, do make sure your kids are not pressing their fingers onto the sharp side.
*During the process of drying the clay, flip the ornament onto its other side to avoid the bottom being too flat. We let them completely air dry for a full day.
*Sand paper edges to have that smooth finish. Simple right?
They are quick and easy, you still have time to add these to your tree.
..B:Kids craft projects page
For all you B:Kids Moms', Jurianne Matter is one of our Christmas Home inspirations this year.
Click on the image to visit her home and see how beautiful her paper ornaments hang in her tree.
Only a couple of more days till Christmas and there is still time to make your home perfect for these special days with your family. Hope all our guides and ideas helped.
We are also announcing our random winner for the Jurianne Matter Christmas Box Set giveaway hosted on our Pinterest Page. The winner is Kathie Gariepy ... Congratulations!
Next year we will be hosting many more giveaways via our FB page, Pinterest boards or just here on the blog.
Thursday, 20 December 2012 by Irene Hoofs
I believe it was Shanna Murray who started the beautiful chalkboard trend for the Holiday Season ... walls, calendars, wrapping paper and more. It has definitely been a chalkboard trend this year and I love them all... I have searched for some nice free downloads for you and some ideas you can still do before the Christmas weekend starts ... 
Here are some beautiful gift tag printables that Jan over at Poppytalk posted the other day ... for more black and white Christmas move on to the next page...
Such a great idea... some black wrapping paper, a white paint marker and This way everyone has personalize wrappers made by you. Easy-peasy chalkboard presents idea.
How do you make chalkboard permanent? Because this Christmas party invite on the left looks too perfect to be wipped off. Would you prefer a chalkboard Christmas tree this year? Instead of hanging ornaments, draw them with colored chalks.
Let's take advantage of these free printables holiday greetings in the image above.
Cutest mural ideas. Love this idea of making illustrations on the wall for a photoshoot with your kids. A nice picture and great photobooth idea. The baby picture on the right is by One Claire Day.
What a great way to end 2012, what do you think will be the new trend next year? ~irene
Our favorite part of Christmas next to presents..FOOD. Here's some too-pretty-to-eat Christmas treats. [READ MORE]
Little ginger stars to fill up in a bowl on Christmas morning while unwrapping presents.
Easy chocolate and orange stars recipe for a quick bite. Mushroom meringue on a cake never looked so good. Making meringue can be tricky but lets try out this Guiness Gingerbread Cake recipe.
I know you chocolate lovers will love this. Its even better when it's a recipe for Chocolate Ganache Pie. How cute are these little Christmas details too.
Sugar rush with more merigue recipes. This time it's for a white Christmas scene of igloos and snowmans. The website says its easy, so lets see here.
The traditional gingerbread ornaments idea. But look how beautiful these are drawn with white icing, and on the right for gingerbread fonts to spell out names for your tree.
Turn your kids toys into stylish ornaments. A little glitter here and there and voila. Not to forget something special for the adults with eggnog shooters. Sweet and yummy with a little edible gold glitter for the last touch of fancy.
You are all set for Christmas, and we hope all our Christmas ideas from Bkids and Bloesem helped make your day perfect.
