Work in progress: hurt

The feeling I started to make the other day was meant to be comfort. After I finished the base in porcelain clay I somehow could not finish it...
I kind of feel hurt nowadays so I think this represents it more or less.
When the clay is completely dry, I will take off the bandages and hope that some of the bandages impression stays there.
I think I'm ready to make the feeling 'comfort' now...

Secret Santa's favorites part 1

As part of the Secret Santa questionnaire I sent out a few weeks ago, I asked the participants what their favorite Etsy shop was. I asked them not to be naughty and only list one, but some of them couldn't resist while others just couldn't decide.
I'll be posting all of the Secret Santa participants favorites in here. Please click on the pictures to see which Etsy shop is behind it. Since there were so many, there will be a few posts dedicated to this. I start out alphabetically...

New shoes

Having a contact allergy is not fun. In the beginning of this year I have been tested on what kind of stuff my skin reacts. I strongly react to leather which has been treated with chromates, certain kind of glues, hairdye and a lot more smaller reactions. The result is that I can not just walk into any shoe shop and buy whatever I like. No, I need to buy shoes with vegetable tanned leather. So, choices are limited & shoes are expensive. Think! shoes has a wonderful range of shoes that just fit perfectly.
Take a look here to buy them on-line or just to browse and drool. :)
I'm so happy with these:Maybe having a contact allergy does have it's advantages...

Dreams and wishes part 5

As part of the Secret Santa questionnaire I sent out a few weeks ago, I asked the participants what they never stopped dreaming about.
I loved reading the answers to this question and wanted to share the answers randomnly.

• for all my wishes to come through
• having a house on a big property in nature
• a trip to Florence
• living in a quiet natural place
• being able to live from creating
• peace on earth
• a country home and a quiet life
• successful shop
• lead the life that I want
• flying
• finding my real call
• my work, my passion
• a house on the beach
• light and big workspace filled with supplies
• spending my life making things
• writing a book
• having a child
• building a house
• being a dancer
• having a horse and ride that all the time
• travelling the world
• the right man
• more time to crafy and to sleep
• quit my job and move to the south of France
• having beautiful clothes and a beautiful life

Things that go bump in the night

It has been a while since I participated in the weekly EST challenges. Mainly because my energy levels have dropped to nearly nothing.
But I do love the challenges so I forced myself to make a teenytiny entry which didn't take up too much of my energy.
King for this week is Matchstickgirl. She is an amazing photographer and I encourage you to check out her work. She challenged us with the theme 'Things that go bump in the night'.
You can find all the items made for this challenge in Matchsticks blog: http://littlematchstickgirl.blogspot.com/2008/10/king-for-day.html

The idea from this card derives from our yearly handmade New Year's greetings. We always try to think up something fun to send to our family & friends. On the inside it reads: 'wishing you lots to look forward to in 2009!' Isn't it really scary but cute at the same time? :)

Sunday walk

I found these on our walk last week. I love to gather stuff while walking.

Dreams and wishes part 4

As part of the Secret Santa questionnaire I sent out a few weeks ago, I asked the participants what they would do/buy if they could wish for anything.
I loved reading the answers to this question and wanted to share the answers randomnly.

The person who wished for a fake crocheted flower bouquet, please click on the photo, it might make your wish come trough... :)

• Having my own handmade business
• More money
• A country home and a quiet life
• A sale in my Etsy shop
• Happiness and no stress
• Live closer to my family
• A second life
• A job
• Someone to clean my house for the rest of my life
• Health for my loved ones
• No violence
• Happiness and a house by the sea
• Peace and contentedness
• Harmony in me
• No worries about money or life
• Climate change to end
• House with a little garden
• A laser cutter
• Justice and compassion
• Travelling the world
• A fake crocheted flower bouquet
• Language skills
• New wardrobe

Dreams and wishes part 3

As part of the Secret Santa questionnaire I sent out a few weeks ago, I asked the participants what they would do/buy with 1000 euro, more or less 1280 dollar.


I loved reading the answers to this question and wanted to share the answers randomnly.

• Buy plane ticket and visit family
• A designer handbag, shoes or clothes
• A vacation or a road trip
• Art
• Having fun with family
• Beads
• Fabric
• Art supplies
• Cushions
• Yarn
• Workshops
• Music
• A greenhouse
• Bills
• A couch
• Amazon
• Spend it on the ones who only have 1 euro (food, medicin,…)
• New printer or scanner
• A city trip
• A new camera
• Save it
• A new sewing machine

Fresh splash!

How fun are these? I love 'em! These coasters were a special request.
I love how they turned out and I'm almost sad to see them go as my customer Marieflyfly, loves them too! :)
I dyed the felt myself and will not be able to reproduce these since I used the lighter dye to make the darker splash...

Work in progress: comfort

I bought this porcelain paperclay some months ago and I have been wanting to try it for some time now. It's fun to work with: very soft, very white and it contains very small paper fibers. I needs a bit to get used too since it's very sticky but after kneading it for a bit, it works fantastic. And when it's fired, it's very, very lightweight.
Why I haven't clayed since ages, I don't know. There are still unfinished mini-feelings on my worktable. I think I haven't been in the right mood to clay...
A friend of mine asked me to make her a custom feeling some time back and she informed about it a few days ago... I think I needed this push to get started somehow.
I think I know what I'll be making for her but I decided I needed to make one myself first, just to get on the right claying track.
It will be the feeling 'comfort'. I'll show you when it's finished.

Dreams and wishes part 2

As part of the Secret Santa questionnaire I sent out a few weeks ago, I asked the participants what they would do/buy with 10 euro, more or less 13,50 dollar.

I loved reading the answers to this question and wanted to share the answers randomnly.

• Red wine
• Junkfood
• Have lunch with a friend
• More chocolate
• Dvd or cd
• On something for the kids
• A book
• A brooch
• Small illustrated book
• A gocco print
• Roses
• A busticket
• Yarn
• Fabric
• Hopefully nothing useless
• Paints
• Pizza
• Buttons
• A soapmaking book
• Really nice cake and coffee
• Crisps and a drink
• Cinema ticket
• Charity
• Food
• Handmade paper/patterned paper
• Make up
• Magazine
• Sketch book
  

Kreativ blogger award

Thank you, Gina, for passing on the Kreativ Blogger award to me.
I love to read your blog: it is a heartwarming place!



Six things that make me happy...
1. My partner and our silly cat
2. The smell of fall
3. A little ray of sunshine on my head
4. A glas of milk with a dinosaurcookie
5. Seeing an old couple walking hand in hand
6. Children's drawings and giggles

I'd like to pass on this award to: Stephanie, Renate, Monika, Heli, Nichol and Alice.

Heli, this is for you! ;)
Hmm, I love Dinosaur cookies! :)

Dreams & wishes part 1

As part of the Secret Santa questionnaire I sent out a few weeks ago, I asked the participants what they would do if they had 1 euro (more or less 1,50 dollar) to spare. I loved reading the answers to this question and wanted to share the answers randomnly.

• Save it in a jar
• Chocolate
• Chewing gum
• Ice cream
• Magnet or a button
• Almond or butter croissant
• Pastry
• An espresso
• Seeds
• Stickers for the kids
• Music (mp3)
• A homeless person
• Crisps
• Sweets
• Charity
• Pencil
• Donut
• Freshly baked bread
• Water
• Hair pin
• Newspaper
• Supplies
• Stamps
• A bead
• Playing the lottery
• Ribbon
• 1 meter elastic trim
• Give it to my kids
• Catfood
  

Conversations

I'm wondering how this number looks on your Etsy... I've been on Etsy since 12th of August 2007 - so these are my conversations for a little bit more then a year...
Actually, I'm wondering if this is normal or not...

Let's write some snail mail

A few weeks ago, I got an address change by e-mail from a Canadian friend of mine that he moved from Scotland, UK to Utrecht, Netherlands. I have know Scott for a long time now, we met in Granada, Spain many many moons ago and we have been writing each other snail mail ever since. The last few years, our snail mail correspondence has dropped consistantly and I miss it since I love getting snail mail.
Then I saw a listing called 'let's write some snail mail' by benconservato on Etsy. Emma Kidd has been in my favorites for a long time and I just love her work. I asked her if she could send some postcards to Scott's new address with a little note from me. And of course, what I hoped for, happened: today I got a piece of Emma's work in the snail mail! Hurray! And it seems to be that Scott loves Emma's work too! Thank you, Emma for making this such a great gift and experience! I'm very happy to hang one of your postcards on my wall! I'll be keeping an eye on your shop! :)

Kartoen

I stumbled upon this... SO CUTE! :)

Friday is my day

Every friday, HeliS does a feature about an Etsy artist. The series is called 'Friday is my day'.
Last week she asked me if I wanted to share one of my days with her & the readers of her blog. I was really excited since I love to read the 'Friday is my day'-posts. If you want to know one day out of my life, go here. It will also tell you a bit more about the second part of my job when I'm not working in the shop. Happy friday everyone! :)
Heli also has another shop where she sells fab bags. I love this one:

Witlof from Belgium

This is a typical Belgian meal: 'gegratineerd witlof met puree' or 'gratinated endives with mashed potatoes'. My mom used to make it only in winter because the endives were only available then.
Nowadays there is not much difference anymore between the seasons and you can get most fruits and vegtables all year round.
Anyway, when I was a child, I always looked forward when my mom made this dish.
I loved eating the crispy crust, the smell of the cheese sauce and the taste of the soft endives.
As a grown up, I still love it and I make it from time to time, especially when the weather is getting colder. There are probably numerous ways to prepare them, but I'll show you mine.
These are the ingredients:
First you need to cut out a little triangle at the end of the endives. This end has a bitter taste and I always remove it. Then you put them in a pan and add water and salt to it. Let it boil until they are done. Pour off the boiling water and catch it in another pot since you use some of this liquid to make the cheese sauce. Let it cool off and meanwhile you can make the sauce.
Add a little bit of milk to the pan and add two spoons of flour. Stir this until there are no flour lumps left. I never follow the basic recipe to make a bechamel sauce since it always gives me lumps. I do it this way and I use no butter - I never fail doing a bechamel sauce this way. :) Put the heat on the pan and stir in the milk with flour until it gets thicker. Add some of the boiling liquid to it until it becomes a nice smooth sauce. Add some grated cheese and stir some more. Leave it until you're finished with the endives.
The endives contain still lots of water from boiling. You need to get most of that water out of it before putting it in the oven otherwise it will get soggy. Take a clean kitchen towel and press the water out of the endives. Then wrap them in a piece of ham and put them in a baking dish.When they are all in the baking dish, you can add the cheese sauce. Put some breadcrumbs on top of them, a few pieces of butter and some grated cheese. Put it underneath the grill until the crust is golden brown.
While you boil the endives, you best boil some potatoes too. Mash them and add some cream, butter, salt and nutmeg to them. The cream will make them really soft and yummy.
Put in a baking dish, add some breadcrumbs on top of them, a few pieces of butter and some grated cheese. Put underneath the grill until it's golden brown.
Dinner is being served... bon appetit! :)

Monitor cleaner

Why haven't I thought of that before? :)

What?

Found a little message in my conversations from What designers, that I have been featured on What designers blog. Yeah!
A real fun feature as I'm still not feeling well and I think I'm in need of one of those...

And the challenge winner is...

I can't believe how many of our Streetteam members entered this weeks challenge.
Is it because we're all so CUTE? :)
Must be a very inspiring theme and it made me extremely happy to see so much cute stuff. It healed me day by day and I'm almost better...
I'm delighted for every entry that has been send in and I would love to congratulate and thank all the participants for making such great items that made my blog look so cute.
In total 37 people participated with a total of 41 entries. Yes, some people even sent in more then one listing! :)
23 people have been in the draw for being the new host. Some people have been a host already, some people let me know not being able to be next weeks host.
These are the ones that are in the running of being the host:
They are represented by my happy girls:
And the innocent hand (my partner's LOL) picked the winner:
It is a very beautiful and a very last minute entry for the challenge. Congratulations Arctida! :)

artmindartmindartmind

In case you thought I was a bit crazy... it can get worse...
Frances from Matchstickgirl or Enchantedpond was so silly to make a whole treasury of ArtMind items.
The reason? This is what she said:
'This treasury is dedicated to ArtMind who has done so much amazing work organising our European Streetteam Secret Santa... this is my not so secret santa back to her... :D enjoy'So sweet and silly and it made me laugh really hard! Thanks heaps, Frances! :)

I loved organising the Secret Santa. It has been so cool to read all the questionnaires and match people up. It was like a big puzzle that I had to solve. From what I heard, most people are delighted with whom they have been matched up to and everyone is excited to get started.
It will be a magical X-mas for the European Streetteam! :)