Month: October 2023

the netherlands in miniature.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

When people ask me what my favorite thing that we did during our recent trip to Amsterdam was, they always look a little confused by my answer.  But in all honesty, I think my favorite was Madurodam.

Madurodam is a miniature park in The Hague that is full of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks.

Well, you know me.  I love me some miniature stuff!

From the moment we rounded the corner and took in a view of the whole place I knew I was in heaven.

But first, some logistics.  The Hague is about an hour away from Amsterdam by train.  We took a train to The Hague, then a tram from the train station to Madurodam itself.

For me the train travel was part of the experience too.  We got to see a bit of the Dutch countryside including quite a few flower farms and some smaller towns like Haarlem.  I also saw quite a number of community gardens.  I love seeing those in Europe!  If you aren’t familiar, these are spaces where people who live in apartments without any outdoor space can rent a small ‘allotment’ and plant a garden.  Many of them include a small greenhouse or a cute little shed of some kind.  So fun to see!

But back to Madurodam.

You guys, I had some pretty high expectations for this place and I was not disappointed.

It was absolutely charming.

It was fun to spot places that we recognized from wandering around Amsterdam, like the National Maritime Museum …

the Magere Bridge …

and of course the Rijksmuseum.

By the way, that I amsterdam sign is no longer in front of the Rijksmuseum.  Apparently it drew too big of a crowd with everyone wanting the perfect selfie (read more about that here), so they opted to move it.

Madurodam even had a miniature de Wallen, or red light district, complete with ladies in the windows.

Not only were the miniature buildings fantastic, but so were the miniature gardens.

They had informal landscapes …

Their use of miniature trees in that little town just blew me away.  Isn’t it something?

They also had formal gardens.

That, by the way, is the back of Paleis Het Loo.  Here it is from the front.

Remember when I said I wish we’d had more time in Amsterdam?  This is one place that I would have loved to visit, but didn’t have the time.

Of course they also had some miniature windmills in Madurodam.

And some miniature tulip fields.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I was kind of delighted by some of the interactive elements, like the wooden shoe factory.

If you put a 1€ coin into the machine, a pair of Dutch shoes would fall down the shoot into the waiting truck, then the truck drove to you and you could take the shoes.

How frickin’ adorable is that?

And look how cute the little shoes are.

Not a bad souvenir for 1 € (or about $1.06), and this little pair of shoes will always remind me of the delightful day we spent at Madurodam.

If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam (or Rotterdam, or The Hague, or anywhere else nearby), and if you’re as enchanted by miniatures as I am, you absolutely should make the time to visit Madurodam!

peachy keen.

Published on by Quandie62 Comments

I thought I’d take this opportunity to compare the three shades of pinkish/coral from Dixie Belle that I use the most.

Here they are side by side; Flamingo, Cottage Door and Apricot.

Let’s start with the brightest, Flamingo.

You wouldn’t have thought I’d use this vibrant color on a piece of furniture, would you?

But I did.

Wowza!  It was very pretty though.

That being said, I typically use Flamingo to provide a pop of color on the inside, like I did with this toolbox.

If you prefer to keep your colors a little more subdued, you’ll prefer Dixie Belle’s Apricot.

I’ve used this one a bit more often than the Flamingo.

It was gorgeous on the inside of this armoire.

It was also pretty on the inside of this hankie drawer.

And I’ve used it on the insides of a couple of toolboxes now.

Including the one I shared most recently.

And that brings me to one of Dixie Belle’s newest colors, Cottage Door.

This might be the Goldilocks of the these three shades because if you think the Flamingo is a tad too bright, and the Apricot is a little bit too pale, the Cottage Door might be just right.

I first used this color on the inside of the ‘bee box’.

And then I used it again inside another toolbox.

I think it just might be the perfect shade of coral, not too bright, not too orange and not too pink.

Which one is your favorite?  I really love all three of these shades of coral, they each have their place.

And on that note, I’m going to give one of you the chance to fall in love with all three of them as well because I’m giving them away to one lucky reader.

This giveaway includes a 16 oz. Flamingo, a 16 oz. Cottage Door and a 4 oz. Apricot (because that was the only size I could get, unfortunately), plus one of Dixie Belle’s 1.5″ synthetic brushes.

The rules for today’s giveaway:  Simply leave a comment on this blog post (and please forgive me if I don’t respond to every one, but know that I read and appreciate all of them).

Your comment must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, or follow my Facebook or Instagram accounts, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, October 15, 2023 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $85, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, October 27, 2023 another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

rain, rain, go away.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Today I thought I’d share some of the prettiest garden pics I took on our recent trip to Norway and the Netherlands.

First off though, I have to say that I didn’t take nearly as many photos on this trip as I usually do.  Why?  Well, I had this notion that rather than trying to get photos of everything I would just focus on being ‘in the moment’.

But you know what?  In hindsight, I think that was a mistake.  It turns out that photos are my way of remembering the experience.  Now that we’re home, I’m finding myself wishing I had taken more time to get good photos.  It’s certainly something I’ll keep in mind for the next trip!

But in the meantime, I still have a few pretty garden pics to share with you guys.

By the way, have I mentioned that it rained nearly every day of our two week trip?  As you saw last Sunday, it rained while we were touring de Hortus in Amsterdam.

And the rain continued to follow us throughout our trip.  That may have been part of the reason I didn’t get so many photos as well.  It’s tricky to wrangle both an umbrella and a camera, especially when your camera really requires two hands to operate properly.

We did get some sunny weather in Amsterdam, and the sun peeked out from the clouds eventually during our visit to Kristiansand.

But the rest of our Norwegian ports of call were full on rainy.

But no matter, things look pretty in the rain too.

And we were prepared with rain jackets, hats and umbrellas.

That being said, we did give up on walking around Oslo earlier than we might have on a sunny day when it really started coming down.

Aren’t those nasturtiums pretty?  I used to plant those in my early gardening days.  Mainly because you can fill in a big chunk of space for the cost of one packet of seeds.  I may have to consider planting them again next year.

Autumn is probably not the best time of year to be touring gardens.

It certainly wasn’t the right time if one wanted to see tulips in Holland.

But it was an awesome time to see the hydrangeas.

Apparently even gardeners in Norway can grow magnificent macrophylla hydrangeas.

I’m so jealous!

Holland had their fair share of hydrangeas too.

For the most part, other than those macrophylla’s, the plants in Northern European gardens were very similar to what we can grow in Minnesota.

Including lots of cosmos, zinnias, dahlias, salvias, and my new favorite, verbena bonariensis.

I saw tons of verbena bonariensis everywhere we went.

It looks like butterflies like it as much as I do.

I even found it deep in the valleys of Norway.

You may remember that I searched high and low for that plant this summer and eventually found it at Abrahamson’s Nursery in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

Another plant that I’ve been hearing about lately, and one that I want to find to add to my garden next year is Persicaria.

At least I’m fairly sure that is Persicaria (if any of you know differently, please leave a comment).

Despite all of the rain, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing pretty plants everywhere we visited during our trip.  One of these days I’d love to take a garden themed tour of Great Britain.  How about you?  Are there any garden destinations on your bucket list?  Leave a comment and let me know.

 

amsterdam.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

First up, congrats to Netti whose name I drew at random to win my Amsterdam giveaway from last week.  Netti, I sent you an email so check your in box if you haven’t seen it yet!

The first six days of our recent trip to Europe were spent in Amsterdam.

At first it might seem like six days is a lot for one smaller-ish city, but we (my husband, sister and niece) all wish we’d had even more time there.  There is so much to see in Amsterdam, not to mention the surrounding areas that are easy to reach by train.

First of all, some online sources say Amsterdam has over 100 museums!  Can you imagine?

  Now, granted, some of them are quite small, like the Tulip Museum (I’ll share more about that one in a Sunday morning garden post).

And some of them are quite … well … let’s just call them quirky.  Like the Cat Cabinet Museum, or the Museum of Bags and Purses.  Then there are the marijuana museums, and sex museums that people seem to expect from Amsterdam (sorry, we didn’t check out any of those).

And of course, some of their museums are world renowned, like the Van Gogh Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Rijksmuseum.

I’ll share more on that one later too.

We also visited the Rembrandthuis Museum.

Rembrandt lived in this house in the 1600’s for about 19 years.  At the age of 52 he had amassed so much debt that he had to sell off the house and its contents to pay his creditors.  That actually ended up being fortuitous for the future curators of his museum because there was an inventory made of all of his belongings for the sale.  Thus it was possible to recreate the interiors of the home with amazing detail.

But in addition to museums, Amsterdam is just a very charming place to wander around in with all of its canals, bridges, and narrow gabled canal houses.

Although nothing is more than about an hour away on foot max, the public transportation system is super easy to use as well.  All you need is a credit card with a chip.  You tap as you get on a tram, and then you have to be sure to also tap on your way out (that’s how they know how long of a trip to charge you for).  Most of our tram journeys cost around $3.

On our first day in Amsterdam, we ended up stumbling into one of the traditional Dutch pubs, known as a bruin café or a brown bar.

Please forgive Kris and Debbie if they look a bit worn out.  We’d been on an overnight flight and none of us got much sleep.  Plus it was over 80° in Amsterdam that day (which is totally unusual for them in September), so we were both hot and tired.

This was clearly a spot normally favored by locals and it was the one instance during our entire trip where people tried to speak to us in Dutch.  We later found out that brown bars tend to be local watering holes, sort of the Dutch version of an English pub.

While in a brown bar, you have to order some of the brown food to get the full experience.  We tried the bitterballen, which are basically a meat and gravy sort of mixture that is rolled into balls, then battered and deep fried.

I thought they were delicious.

We also tried the ham and cheese kroketten, which was also good.

Speaking of stumbling across something unintentionally, that’s also how we ended up in the red light district.  We were trying to make our way across town on foot and the route took us down this alleyway.

I didn’t quite notice the red lanterns at first and it was a little startling to realize there were scantily clad ladies about 2′ away from me behind all of those windows.  Awkward.

Over the coming weeks I’ll share more about some of the side trips we took outside of Amsterdam itself, as well as the 2nd half of our trip which was spent on a cruise around Norway.  So be sure to stay tuned for that.

If any of you are looking for a city to visit in Europe that is super easy to navigate, where nearly everyone speaks English, and you can use your credit card for pretty much everything (in fact I saw more places that didn’t accept cash, rather than the other way around), Amsterdam just might be the perfect spot for your next getaway!

Have any of you been to Amsterdam?  And if so, what was your favorite thing to do there?  And if not, what are you waiting for?

the merry fairy box.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

OK, I know it’s too early for Christmas.  But for those of us who make things to sell, we have to get going on that now.  I find that November is the best month for selling holiday decor, and guess what?  That’s next month already.  Yikes!

Anyway, remember my holiday themed toolboxes from last year?

My favorite was this one.

I actually ended up keeping it.  I love the subtle nod to Christmas with the poinsettias and the red typography.  It doesn’t scream Christmas with candy canes and Santa Claus, and that’s what I like about it.

This is another one from last year …

I used some of that same Christmas floral transfer, Evergreen and Holly, from Dixie Belle.

Unfortunately, that transfer was a limited time only sort of deal.  They don’t have it anymore, and as far as I can tell they aren’t coming out with a new one for this year.

So I have been searching high and low for something similar to use on some toolboxes that I have waiting in the wings for this year.  But everything I’m finding is coming up short.

I did order the Holly Jolly Xmas transfer from redesign with prima, but those designs are a bit too big to fit on a typical toolbox.

When the new I.O.D. holiday release came out, I was super excited about a couple of their new holiday transfers; Candy Cane Cottage and Fairy Merry Christmas.  So I ordered those too.

I noticed that the sheets they came on were a bit smaller than usual, but I figured they’d still be perfect for toolboxes.  But I was wrong.  Or at least sort of wrong.  A few of the elements are a good size for toolboxes, but many of them are just way too small.  Plus, I’m mainly interested in the florals, which are absolutely gorgeous, but again, quite small.

All in all, I’m pretty disappointed.

But that being said, I am going to try to find ways to use them … maybe just not on toolboxes.

That brings me to today’s project.  I have a stash of various recipe or card catalogue type of wooden boxes.  So I decided to paint one up that was just the right size for one of the images from the Fairy Merry Christmas set.

I painted the box in Dixie Belle’s Cactus, and once dry I added a merry fairy to the top.

Sweet, right?  But maybe not 100% my cup of tea.  I love the delicate look of the holly, and boy oh boy do I wish they had some transfers that were just sprigs of that holly!

The closest thing to that in this transfer set are the three wreaths that are included.

Two of which are a mere 6″ wide and tall.

I really wanted to use more of those pretty holly elements on this box though, so I ended up cutting up one of the wreaths and re-arranging it around the front of the box.

I think I did a pretty good job of disguising the fact that it was originally wreath shaped.

I chose to add another of the merry fairies inside the lid of the box.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do think these transfers are very pretty.  I love the subdued color palette, and the artwork is beautiful.  I just wish they were more suited to my needs.  Selfish of me, I know.

I think this transfer would be perfect for making gift tags, or maybe small wooden Christmas tree ornaments or something.  And who knows, maybe I will end up doing something like that with some of them.

Certainly, this little box turned out nicely.

But I sure do wish I could find another Christmas floral that I like as much as I liked that Dixie Belle Evergreen and Holly!

How about you?  Do you have a favorite Christmas transfer?  Any suggestions for one that might work on my toolboxes?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

de hortus.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

I’m finding that my garden needs a bit of work this morning after being neglected for nearly three weeks spent first traveling, and then recovering from covid (we did recover pretty quickly, thanks for all of your well wishes).

Since my own garden is not nearly in ‘blog-worthy’ condition at the moment, I thought I’d share my recent visit to Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam (or as the locals call it, de Hortus) this morning instead.

Like any good gardener, I always try to check out any local botanical gardens when I travel.  While researching for this trip, I was excited to learn that de Hortus was only about a 20 minute walk from our hotel in Amsterdam.

We had set aside some time on our first full day to check it out.  I’m lucky that all of my traveling companions were willing to humor me and visit a botanical garden for a couple of hours.

Rain had been holding off for most of the earlier part of the day, but sure enough, nearly as soon as we got to the entrance the skies opened up.

So it maybe wasn’t the best time to be viewing the gardens.  Then again, sometimes I think gardens are prettiest in the rain.

It also was not exactly the best time of the year if one is hoping to see lots of flowers.  But then, that sort of mirrors my own garden.  I focus much more on plants grown for their foliage, rather than for flowers.

But that being said, there were a few things blooming, like this … hydrangea??

All of the plant signage was in Dutch, so it took some creative translating (sometimes with the help of google) to figure out what the plants were.

I was surprised to read that this plant is in the hydrangea family, since the flowers look nothing like any hydrangea that I grow.  Apparently in the U.S. we typically call this Yellow Wax Bells and it is good for zones 4 to 8, so I could put this in my own garden.  The University of Wisconsin-Madison says that it’s a good addition “to the back of larger shaded beds or borders or in woodland gardens,” and I just so happen to need a plant for those exact conditions in front of my new section of fence in the fern bed.  Hmmmm.  I wonder if I can find it anywhere?

The Hortus isn’t really about flowering plants though.  It was founded in 1638 and is steeped in history.  It was originally developed during the time of the plague to grow plants for medicinal purposes.  These days they have specimen plants from all over the world, many originally brought back by members of the Dutch East India Company.

I had to laugh when I walked into their three-climate greenhouse though.

Surely I didn’t go all the way to Amsterdam to see the plants that grow in my mom’s backyard, lol.

They also have a sub-tropical and a tropical section of that greenhouse, and there is a really cool catwalk that you can go up to and walk around in the tree tops.

Sidebar note; Mr. Q and I watch a BBC show called Van Der Valk, which takes place in Amsterdam.  While recovering from our covid last week, we got caught up on the most recent episodes available from Masterpiece Theatre.  We were having fun trying to spot locations that we recognized, and there were a few!  But I was especially tickled when the victim in one episode was pushed off the catwalk in de Hortus!

Fortunately, no one fell to their death during our visit.

The Hortus Botanicus is a bit on the small side at right around 3 acres, especially when compared to the ginormous Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (1,200 acres) that I’m used to, but it was the perfect size for the limited time we had.  It was a peaceful respite from the otherwise quite crowded city surrounding it.  It’s in the Jewish Quarter of the city centre, only a five minute walk from the Rembrandthuis Museum, and quite near the Holocaust Memorial.

I have to admit, I think my favorite spot in the whole place was the plant area of the gift shop.

It was just so darn charming.

If only I could have brought some plants home with me!

But no, I’ll make do with bringing home some pretty pictures and some wonderful memories instead.

And now I’d better get back out into my own garden and start tackling three weeks worth of weeds!  But before I go, tell me, have you been to de Hortus?  Or any other fabulously foreign botanical gardens?  Leave a comment and let me know.