DIY clothespin poetry

It was fairly early this morning, when I walked into my garden with a big basket full of laundry to let it dry outside.
And while I was standing there, I suddenly realized how incredibly beautiful that moment was.






Don't be fooled: I'm no Martha Steward at all. Usually I hate household chores to a point where I truly disgrace my grandmother ( scrubbing was her middle name), and most of the time I finish them as hastily and absent-minded as I can.

But still.. there is something meditative about hanging the laundry to dry: The grass underneath your bare feet, the smell of fresh laundry combined with smell from flowers and grass, the fact that your clothes are clean again, and that the sun will dry them for you, the silence that was only disturbed by the chickens of the neighbors.. I suddenly realized how lovely it all was.

Of course, I don't always feel like that, but the moment did inspire me to make something that could maybe add that feeling to any time I'd hang the laundry outside.  It inspired me to make clothespin poetry.

Want to make this yourself? You'll need:

• wooden clothespins
• a black ballpoint pen
• varnish (nail polish will probably also do the trick, if you don't have any varnish at hand)

I started with a good bunch of wooden clothespins.

Then I grabbed a black ballpoint pen and started writing words onto the clothespins. It's as easy as that!

I didn't really have a plan,
I just started by writing words that I like. 

I deliberated whether I should do them in English for the sake of this blog....
but well, I figured that in the end, I really do these projects for myself, and not for the popularity they might get on social media, so I just stuck with Dutch words. I actually really like the Dutch language ( in contrast to most of my fellow Dutchies, or foreigners for that matter)

By making small sentences, you kind of get the right amount of verbs, nouns, adjectives, etcetera.

"longing for the silence" 

So I added more.

it says something like

(slowly waking up)
seeing the sunlight dancing on bare feet
and longing for the silence
but birds discover the morning

It doesn't translate very well to English, but hey, the possibilities are endless!
I really enjoyed playing around with them for a while, making short verses and sentences.

poppies are waving slowly like clouds

when I finished writing words on both sides of each clothespin, I gave them a good layer of varnish, so they can stand the outside weather conditions and won't bleed onto the clothes.  (pro tip: if you want to keep your boyfriend alive happy, it might be a good idea to do this outside.

poor Joost...

with the varnish dried, it was time to make some poetry while 

it's a bit hard to read, but it spells: " unforgettable thoughts whisper you awake"