Petra Hoeksema - A Year of Creativity: A Craft Date Planner to Meet, Share, and Create

A Craft Date Planner

to meet, share, and create

Petra Hoeksema
Lidy Nooij
Miriam Catshoek
Bregje Konings

DO
SOMETHING
creative
EVERY
DAY

A brand-new concept that has emerged in the world of crafting and hobbies is the Craft Date. Here is a brief description. The concept is described in more detail later in the book.

A Craft Date is a fun date with a handful of creative-types in which you surprise each other with craft and DIY projects and specific materials and make beautiful things together.

At each date, a group of participants come up with a self-made project to be carried out by the other attendees and provide everyone with the necessary materials. These materials are chosen based on the specific taste of each attendee and are packaged up and given like a unique personal gift. With these gifts and the step-by-step instructions of the planners in hand, everyone gets to work.

A Craft Date is different than a workshop since you get to choose the lovely people that you want to invite. And as organizer, you get to participate in all the projects and are also surprised by the others. All of the invitees can put their own spin on the project by using their favorite colors, materials, or techniques. This way, you end up with lots of different interpretations and results, leading to new inspiration and ideas.

Craft Dates. Crafting together, but with your own style and colors. Surprising each other with creative assignments, projects, and beautiful materials. Chatting with the others, enjoying something tasty, and inspiring each other.

The idea of organizing or participating in a Craft Date was, initially, completely new to me. But for the four friends, Petra Hoeksema, Lidy Nooij, Miriam Catshoek, and Bregje Konings, it has been their go-to way of making time for each other and for doing what they love to do, namely, crafting, since forever.

I dont actually know how well-known the term crafting has become. In the world of Bregje, Miriam, Lidy, and Petra, its so ingrained that I find myself using it to describe anything from handiwork to do-it-yourself projects. And crafting can involve virtually any material or technique you can imagine. From one moment to the next, the ladies might be crocheting or painting (wearing a self-made apron) or twisting a screw into a piece of wood.

The idea to create a book about crafting came up about a year ago when Petra, full of enthusiasm, told me all about their famous creative get-togethers at lunch one day. You write a book about this! It needed to be a book that not only provided instructions on how to organize your own Craft Date, but also included examples of projects that you might do during a date. It needed to provide clear instructions and examples to inspire creative ways of packaging up the materials.

ONE BOOK, FOUR AUTHORS
BECAUSE A CRAFT DATE IS SOMETHING YOU DO TOGETHER
AND CREATING A BOOK ABOUT IT IS, TOO

The added value of a book written by four authors is that every author adds her own handwriting. This is how many of the projects in this book ended up being completed in four different styles and four different color combinations and is why it is even more inspiring and puts forward even more ideas. And even though each of the four has a different style, they complement each other perfectly. What the four have in common is their eye for detail, their nose for quality when it comes to materials and tools, and their perfectionism when it comes to technique and workmanship.

Before we started the book, we created a color pallet of all of the favorite colors of the members of the team. With the pallet in hand, we chose all of the yarns, fabrics, and other materials, which formed a lovely, coherent whole.

And hours and hours were spent knitting, crocheting, embroidering, sewing, painting, working with paper, and sometimes even bakingby all four. Many projects were conceived of, from simple ones that can be completed in about an hour, to elaborate ones that might take a whole day or even a weekend to complete. Craft Dates were even organized especially for the book, where piles and piles of photos were taken, some of which youll find in this book.

And while the ladies were extremely busy crafting and organizing, there I was, behind the scenes, working on the planning and the design of the concept. And, of course, I also took part in my very first Craft Date so that I could be part of the conversation and know, firsthand, how inspiring they can be. It makes you want to organize your very own! Really!

A BOOK FULL OF INSPIRATION

It is a book for everyone with a basic knowledge of crocheting, knitting, and sewing. We are not going to teach you how to crochet or explain how a sewing machine works. There are plenty of other books for that and many videos on the Internet. What we do do is try to make everyone enthusiastic about getting together and crafting because its so much better doing it together than alone. Its more fun, helps you get going on projects, and the exchange of ideas and tips makes it so inspiring. You discover new magazines, books, or new craft stores and visit each others craft rooms, and it is a way of guaranteeing that you free up a bit of time for yourself.

COMMUNITY

Have you had a great Craft Date or are you working on a neat project and want to show it off? Theres a place for this in the Craft Dates Community. On Instagram, for example, you can tag your photos with, or search for, #craftdates. You can have a look at each others work, drum up inspiration for your own dates, invite your Insta-friends, or organize a blind date with creative people from your town or city that you dont yet know.

A whole world will open upa very creative world. And Im proud to say that I was a part of it at the very beginning, together with my four incredibly sweet and creative friends.

Eline Pellinkhof

Author Elines Huis

Instagram: elinepellinkhof

The Craft Dates color card

THE AUTHORS