Growth

This type of necklace has been on my mind for a long time, I just never found the time to actually make it. But now I have and I'm really happy because I like it.
It's a very diverse necklace with many posibilities. You can wear it classy like a choker or casual like a longer necklace since the bigger bead in the middle is mobile.
The little felt beads look like small seeds to me. That's why this line of necklaces is called 'growth'. I'll be adding more colors to my Etsy-shop soon.And a lime/turquoise version...

Madelaine

If you're an Etsy-addict, I'm sure you have seen the outstanding work of Madelaine.
Madelaine is two-hundred and seven months old.
She likes to write letters to strangers, find buried treasure and refer to herself in the third person. If you were to visit her she would probably be painting or sleeping or baking bread.
I saw a photograph of Madelaine on Flickr where she announced that she had new postcards.
You could enter a giveaway if you described her shop with one word by leaving a comment on her blog. I love Madelaine's work and I love postcards so no reason why I would not leave a comment. I left the word 'breathtaking' to describe her shop. I'm often in awe of her work and I'm glad nobody sees me sitting here when my mouth falls open and I'm gasping for breath! :)
Last week I got a convo from Madelaine that random.org picked the number of my comment as the winner. YaY!
It made me superhappy & excited.
I could pick an ACEO of my choice out of her collection, but I just couldn't choose because they are all so beautiful. Besides, I wanted it to be a surprise...
Today I received this beautiful set of postcards and my first ACEO ever. I'm impressed, the quality of the postcards is amazing and suit her work perfectly: brilliant, stylish and artsy.
And I think I need to start an ACEO collection now. How intriguing is that?
I'm also in love with her business cards... aarrggh, life can be so good!
Madelaine, you made my day! Thank you very much! :)

How was your weekend?

We did a fair bit of walking in this tiny village called Kanne (Belgium). Little as it is, it has great diversity, at one point I actually felt in a tropical forest. It was hot and humid and the smell of the wood was so overwhelming.
How I love the blooming flowers of spring, the colors and the smell...
Walking through forests and fields, meeting cows and sheep and lots of great scenery - arrgghhh, that's what I call weekend! :)

Settlers of Catan

My favorite of all boardgames: settlers of Catan.
It's really addictive too: we played it last night and will be playing again tonight. Is there such a thing called revenge? :)

About quotes...

I was talking to RunAliceRun about how a quote would look really good on her magnets.
She asked me if I had any witty ones. It reminded me of a quote I made many many moons ago. I think I was about 16 or 17 years of age. I loved the advertisements of DRUM - a tobacco I used to roll my cigarettes with. Their adds were very eyecatching back then. It would just have a blank page with the quote and the name of person who wrote/said it right beneath the quote and on the bottom a picture of a package of tobacco with the line of text 'the luxury of your own opinion'. Their whole branding was SO cool. They would have quotes on the inside of the package so everytime I got a new one, I couldn't wait to open it and see the quote.
One day, my favorite magazine back then (HUMO), they made a call to send quotes. You could win a whole page with your quote. I thought it was kind of cool so I entered a quote. I didn't hear of it until I received a big envelope with 100 printed postcards with my quote! I was impressed.
My quote didn't make it to the blank page but I love the postcards!
It says 'Stijl begint bij smaak' which means: 'Style starts with taste'
I quit smoking in 2003 and feel so much better, I do sometimes miss rolling my ciggies... but I so dislike the smell of them now. ;)

This is also my entry for the then and now project from Vadjutka from the European Streetteam. I hope it counts as it's not a 3D visual creation but just a bunch of words on a postcard. To me it belongs to 'handmade' too though! :)

1988


















2006

Oops!

OK, I'm not having the best of mondays, that's for sure. While I was giftwrapping an order, I cut off a piece of paper that was too large and OOPS, I cut the necklace...
It was purchased by a lovely 16-year old that has a love for Etsy and all things creative. I'll be making a new one tonight and hope she will like it as much as the one I messed up!
I think I'll add something nice to make up for my clumsyness...

Japanese garden in Hasselt, Belgium

Japanese garden in Hasselt, Belgium
Originally uploaded by ArtMind etcetera

These are photo's from the Japanese garden in the city we live in. It is within biking distance from our home. We went there last monday when the weather was just fantastic!

Triptych Aus-three-lia

This is the result of an assignment in the academy of fine arts where we had to make sure that one could see nature into it.
As I had just returned from Australia, I still had it's impressive scenes of nature in my head. Actually, I 'was' impressed and that's one thing I wanted to show in this work.
There are some more photo's of details in my Flickr.
The immense pancake rocks were burned on my retina. So many colours and so impressive that it's hard to explain it in words. And it's also not easy to express this feeling in ceramics.
The mudflats are a different story. It's a place where the land meets the sea. Sometimes it's also named 'between-land', not exactly water but also not exactly land. Located two kilometres east of Derby town site, this wharf experiences the highest tidal range of any wharf in Australia, the tide can reach up to an amazing 12 metres. The Derby Jetty is at the eastern end of King Sound, an area of water known for its shifting mud banks and swirling tides making navigation very difficult.
It's a very strange feeling to walk over the mudflats as it feels like you walk on a sea of cotton wadding.
The baobab is a family of eight different trees. One of those appears in Australia. These trees grow between 5 and 25 meters high and have an enormous girth. The three holds water in his trunk to survive the dry season.This was my first assignment in the academy of fine arts and it remains the most special to me.
It has a prominent place in our home and in my heart.

Sage van de Biesenburcht

Sage van de Biesenburcht
Originally uploaded by ArtMind etcetera

This is my first experience with fd's Flickr Toys.
I think I'm already addicted! :)
These photo's were taken at a Medivial feast today. Nice surroundings, happy people, beautiful wheater and creative children.
What more could you wish for on a sunday? :)

Upcycling with Etsy How To

Oh, I love this 'Etsy How To' so much, I just want to share it with everyone. I wouldn't know what kind of plastic to use in Belgium though, our plastic doesn't seem to have numbers on them! ;)
I have only used the commercial schrinking stuff but this is so fantastic. Can't wait to try! :)
You can also read the article in The Storque, Etsy's on line newsmagazine with wonderful reviews, how to's and more more more *echoes*

Blooming orchid

Our first orchid is blooming - look how beautiful!
There are some more photo's in Flickr!

Blossom impressions

Living near an area which has a large fruitindustry certainly has some advantages. You can go for gorgeous walks, enjoy the blossoms, buy freshly picked fruit along the road and absorb the new live as it grows.
I love it and wanted to share some impressions.
You can find some more in Flickr.

New color

A while back, I asked this on the critique-forum:
I have been told a few times now that my avatar looks like Target which happens to be a large chain of stores in the United States. Very commercial which is quite the opposite of Etsy. I'm from Europe and had not heard of Target until someone told me. I wonder if a lot of people have negative connotation with it and if I should consider changing the color. I would like to keep the logo as it's kind of whimsical and fun - I like it that it are not two straight circles. I also prefer a logo better then one of my items since I find it more recognisable. Any opinion would be appreciated and make me more deccisive about it... Thanks!
I got a lot of response to that and I actually got many new ideas for a new look.
It's just that I love the logo and I did not want to change it.
First I changed my old one in reverse. It looked like this:





I didn't like it very much so I went drastical and decided to change to a whole new color: LIME
This means I had to change my banner and the colors of my blog. A bit of getting used too but a spring clean can't do any harm I think. Over time, I will change my stationary too... I beter start making lime happy girls now...

April: frontpage month

Getting on the frontpage of Etsy is a spell of luck.
I think I won the lottery this month. And I do feel a bit embarrassed of being up there so frequently but I can't help it! Admin chooses the frontpage out of all the treasuries that are being made. I'm not feeding them cookies or giving them other treats, it just happens. I'm a treasury-addict just like all these curators:
Villadesign : medditeranean olive & passion pink
MonicaJ : Tangerine storms
3FUN : the title got lost because T-West wasn't working :(
Missbeahaven : Raspberry orange sherbet
Iragrant : I'm not prepared
PamelaAngus : Who stole the bunny's eye??
Knots : Brack
JKPhotography : Green
Fashionknitwear : red and blue for... something new
UneFemme : Faded Memories
AnnaRubyKing : Color abunda
Julie Garland: Black white red grey
Thank you very much for adding one of my items to your treasury.
I hope I can return the frontpage favor one day! :)