Work in progress

A while back I already showed you these cool gecko's. It's a mould carving I made many years ago. It took me a couple of weeks to finish it but I was determined to get it done.
I planned to make a pyramid and then add the gecko's into the pyramid-walls. Well, the idea was nice but I had been a bit too confident in my ability to make it. I was only in my second year of ceramics and had not much experience building with clay slabs. It looked great when it was finished but during firing, one of the corners exploded. Ouch... I never re-made the pyramid but of course I kept the mould.

The other day I thought it would be cool to make some pendants and key chains out of them to take to the fair. Perhaps people will like the natural character of these gecko's...
I made them in five colors: red, purple, blue, green and brown.

Not sure though if I have to make pendants and keychains from them or if I should sell them just with the hole so that people can decide themselves what to do with it. What do you think?

At the moment I have 399 sales in my Etsy shop. If you are number 400 and mention 'Gecko' in the note to seller, I'll sent you one. Just let me know if you like it as a key chain, a pendant or plain and of course in which color you would like it.
I can't show the end result of all the colors yet as they are firing a way as I write this! :)

My creative space

Earlier this week I went supply shopping and bought some new glazes. Some are ready to use, others I will need to mix with water and put them through a sieve before using them.
I'm always excited to use new glazes as I ususally can't wait to see the results.
I mixed a glaze earlier and fired it. I find the result a bit too dark so now I'll try to lighten it a bit with tinoxide. Adding a tiny gram will hopefully make the glaze less transparant and a bit lighter. I love this kind of experimenting!


Want to show your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's to play! It's fun! :)

Love for Jane Austen

I accidently bumped into this item yesterday...
and of course I had the urge to search for more Jane Austen items on Etsy.
I'm a big fan of Jane Austen. My very favorite of her books is 'Pride and Prejudice' as I just love Elisabeth Bennet as a character - not to even speak about Mr. Darcy.
And have you ever seen the BBC-series of Pride and Prejudice?
I tell you: you must! It's the best adaptation made ever and Mr. Darcy aka Colin Firth is just divine... *faints*

The shop above has more cool Jane Austen related items, so make sure to check it out!

So I used 'Jane Austen' as a search term in handmade on Etsy and found these goodies:

Yardia

Spoonfulofchocolate
viaPaddingtonKirby

Flickr favorites

1. Embrulho de Natal Pontos de Luz, 2. Shipping Envelopes, 3. one metre, 4. Kits & Caboodles, 5. packaging up the little swimmer, 6. Custom packing tape..., 7. Magical Journal, 8. Cut here, 9. packages

How I love packaging... I love to wrap gifts and I love receiving gifts which are nicely wrapped.
Being part of the Etsy community has been a great joy while receiving packages. The little detail, a handwritten note, the thought that goes into it makes it even more special.
No need to use lots of excess wrapping - I love recycled packaging even more. - like the little fish in the middle! I smiled big time when I saw that picture! I think these are all pretty awesome ideas! :)

If you like to play this week, make your mosaic and add a link to your blog or Flickr in Mister Linky (click on the button below and fill in your name with the link to your blogpost or Flickr picture). I'll pop over to have a look at yours. Can't wait to see your creations and find new favorites! :)


Oh and yesterday I received the sweetest feedback ever. Vana, a very nice girl from Cyprus, decided to send me some snail mail to let me know how much she loved her pendant.
It was the first time that I received such personal feedback and I thought it was pretty awesome! I LOVE SNAIL MAIL! So thank you, Vana, you totally made my day! :)

Shoppinglists

I made two shoppinglists. One for Robbelien, my ceramic & yarn suply shop and one for IKEA. This afternoon, my sister and I will go to both places and spent lots of fun, laughter, chats and time together. We don't get to do this very often so I'm sure it will be grand!

How to make a tutorial?

This has got to be the strangest tutorial I will ever make. Dotty from TotallyTutorials asked me if I could make a tutorial on how to make a tutorial. While we discussed it we were picturing a tripod taking photos of a tripod taking photos of me working! Haha!
This won't be happening since I only have one tripod, one camera and jip, unfortunately, only one pair of hands... So, this will be more tips & tricks rather then a step by step tutorial. Feel free to add tips in the comments, the more the better! :)

Idea
Of course you start out with an idea you want to make a tutorial about. Don't be afraid of making a tutorial about something that you find super easy to do. It's not ridiculous to post a tutorial about something you have done a million times, someone else might never have heard about it or even seen it.
Google your subject and see what's out there already & make your tutorial better and completer. This is one of my favorite tutorials ever, it's so simple yet so effective:
Tripod & Camera
This is the most important thing to have to make a tutorial. People love to see lots of pictures on the subject, preferably close ups. A tripod is essential as you need clear, steady shots. Besides, sometimes you need both hands while making something so you can't hold the camera at the same time.
It's essential to use the timer-function on your camera. I always set it at 2 seconds. That usually gives me enough time to get my hands where they need to be on the picture.
Act as if you are making the subject but keep your hands as still as possible while taking the picture. Preferably, zoom in when you are making something small so that you can show the details. Don't be afraid to make enough pictures as once the process of making is finished you don't want to start all over again because one shot is not good enough to publish. Look at the pictures when you have made one and decide right away if you need more.
Materials
Get all your materials ready before you start making the tutorial. The first picture of a tutorial should always be the materials I think.
That way, people can see right away what they need and decide if it's within their reach.
If possible, try to use as little materials as possible, that way people don't feel like they have to go out and spent a fortune on supplies trying to make what you show.
Think about alternatives. If you don't have lime paint for example, use yellow and green and mix it yourself. This adds value to your tutorial.
Surface & light
Use a non-distracting surface. If you try to show something when the surface is a granny blanket, people won't see what you are doing. Use a large paper sheet, a plastic (no prints) tablecloth, a piece of cardboard, a clean table,... to work on.
Make sure you work in a room with direct daylight as otherwhise your pictures will be dark and not attractive to look at.
Step by step
It's best to take pictures of every step you do when making the subject. If you are uncertain about what they can be, you can write them down beforehand. I ususally just start and take enough pics of all that I do and decide later whether a shot is neccesary or not.
Prepare beforehand what you are going to do. For example, if you are going to make scratch off lottery tickets, skip the part where you cut all the paper. It doesn't add value to your tutorial if you show it as it's obvious that the paper needs to be a certain size.
In case you need to show different steps along the way, while it will take you a while before arriving at step 2, make the steps beforehand. For example, you want to show how to make a granny square. Make steps out of every row you crochet, so that you have a few squares at hand to stick underneath the camera while making the tutorial.Upload pictures & crop
When you are done with all your pictures, upload them to your computer and crop them!
I use Picasa to do this. Picasa allows you to easily make square croppings which is a great size for a tutorial. When you crop a picture, it will also show clearer what you are doing.
You can also adjust the light balance in Picasa. It's a free and easy program to use.
Photoshop is an option too if you know how to use it of course.
Add text to the pictures
Don't make a book out of your tutorial. Keep the text limited to the most essential words. A tutorial should be able to be quickly scanned by the brain without getting too much in detail.
The pictures should speak for themselves rather then you giving a lecture on how it's done.
For example, you use a stamp and stamping pad for something. Just say you use a stamping pad without getting into detail why exactly you use that certain brand or pad. When people have questions, they will leave a comment or contact you via your blog.

Add labels to your blogpost
Once you have everything written down in your blogpost, don't forget to add labels to your post.
The search engines will pick up on the labels and generate traffic to your tutorial.
I have a bad habit not to label my blogposts but I try not to forget when making a tutorial.

Promote
After you have put in all the effort of making your tutorial, of course you want people to see it. Therefore shout it out on Twitter, post a picture with a link on Flickr, start a thread in the Etsy forum, send a link to TotallyTutorials,...
When people like your tutorial, perhaps they will suggest it to other people or blog about it. Never ever copy/paste an entire tutorial, but add a link to the author's blog to give them credit for the hard work they put in. You can find a tutorial on this here.

Just for the record, my blog traffic has increased significantly because of the tutorials I post in my blog. I love blogging and sharing ideas and it makes me happy and content to know that readers out there enjoy perusing my blog for fun stuff to make or do.
I enjoy reading every comment that is left & sometimes it leads to new ideas so keep them coming! :)
There is also a reason why Dotty asked me to do this. She recently started this awesome exchange program on TotallyTutorials. Basicly, supply sellers offer free products to those promising to create a unique tutorial using the supply given.
How cool is that?
Dotty heard from a few people that would like to participate but they didn't know how to do a tutorial... so that's why she came knocking at my convo door.
Make sure to check this out as this is a fantastic opportunity to test new products or techniques and share your knowledge!

Winner of giveaway

Yesterday, Rueben from ShareSomeCandy told me who the winner was from the ShareSomeCandy giveaway. Ohhh exciting!
Mr. Invincable has been very impatient to know who will be taking care of him.
The winner is Kim Sienko from NestofOwls. She was excited and delighted and that makes me superhappy. Now I know I can sent him off to a loving home, it's much easier to let go!
You know that people who buy what you make, are probably going to love it as they choose it themselves.
With a giveaway, you don't know if people enter just to win -whatever the prize is-, are just being polite to enter or really, really, really want to win.
Well, I'm proud to say that Kim entered the giveaway because she really, really, really wanted invincable... Big congrats, Kim and thanks so much for the love even though you haven't met him yet! :)
Check out Kim's shop full off beautiful cards that breathe a 'green' air. She even has a section where she makes cards from paper that derives from Elephant poo. Nice! :) This is my favorite:

How to make a memo clip holder?

By now you must be getting tired of me talking about the craftparking fair in Maastricht... but I made another fun thing I'll be using on my table and I thought I would share it with you! :)
I bought little baskets and will put my items in there. But to show what's inside them, I made memo clip holders so I could clip one of the items on them together with the price tag. That way, people can easily see what's inside and how much it costs.
It's fun & easy to make and most probably you have all the materials at hand.
Here is what you need: plaster, water, plastic icecream container (great excuse to eat icecream), toilet paper tubes, clay, scissors, vinyl glue (white glue - can be wood glue too), wooden lollypop sticks, small and large clothes pegs.
Put with one wooden lollypop stick some glue at the top of the other.
Then put the little clothespeg on the stick and let them dry.
While the sticks dry, you can prepare the bottoms. Cut a paper toilet roll in half.
Add clay around the bottom so that the plaster we will poor into the tube later, can't escape.
If you don't have any clay around, look here for another method of making these.
Make some plaster.
Attach a large clothespin at the bottom of the wooden lollypop stick. This will make the stick rest on the paper toilet tube.
Poor some plaster into the paper toilet tube and put the wooden lollypop stick on top of the paper toilet tube so that the bottom part of the wooden stick sets in the plaster.
Let it set for about half an hour and then take away the toilet tube paper.
The memo clip holder is ready to use!
This is how it will look on my table.
I also made a large one to attach my cards on.
And here a little try out on how my table will look... on the floor! LOL :)
I'm debating if I should paint the wooden wine crates lime to add some color and make the feelings stand out more... any thoughts?

My friend Kerrin from Sigmosaics made some price tag holders inspired by this tutorial.
You just have to go and see them, they are amazingly cute! CLICK HERE!
Share
|

My creative space

Last week, my postcards arrived and not only that, I also had business cards printed. Up until now, I made them myself but since I was printing anyway, I decided to have them printed too. It will save me lots of time in future.
Today, I'm going to make a business card holder. I'm not sure wheter I'll make it whimsical or minimalistic...

Want to show your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's to play! It's fun! :)

Oh, and I'm very excited about tommorrow's blogpost so make sure to come back and check it out! :)

Mini Art Buttons

Don't you love buttons? I do! Especially when they are super small and cute.
I asked my friend Alice from PipingHotPapers to make me some buttons so I could offer them in my shop. She did a wonderful job. I love this newest addition to my Etsy shop and I hope they will do great at the craft fair too! :)I'm also very excited to announce the winners of my postcard give-away! Yay! It looked like there were 75 participants but someone cheekily entered twice! LOL ;)
So, I put 74 numbers in the randomizer to pick three winners. The three lucky numbers are:

And here are the names who left comment 5, 40 and 11:
OMGLia, Kreativlink, LindaB
Congrats to the lucky winners! :)
Thanks so much for participating everyone! See you next give-way!

Flickr Favorites

1. 2005-05-18 Belgium flag of containers, 2. Atomium - Brussels - Belgium, 3. Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Brugge, Belgium), 4. Trappist Beer of Belgium

It's Belgium's National holiday today. Time to celebrate the national colors and show some of Belgium's most well known landmarks. For me it's just an excuse to have one of my favorite beers! :)

If you like to play this week, make your mosaic and add a link to your blog or Flickr in Mister Linky (click on the button below and fill in your name with the link to your blogpost or Flickr picture). I'll pop over to have a look at yours. Can't wait to see your creations and find new favorites! :)

One Pretty Thing

To start of this new week, I wanted to share the link to One Pretty Thing with you.
It's a daily website dedicated to bringing you inspiring projects for a handmade life.
Rachel searches the web for tutorials & DIY projects and brings them together on One Pretty Thing. There is just no easier way to find out about all the inspiring things that can be found on the WorldWideWeb...
Besides all that, there is also a treasure on information about how to run your handmade business. Links to all major blogs & sites that have written how to's about selling, marketing, blogging,... OnePrettyThing is a site to bookmark or subscribe too - you won't regret it!
Thank you Rachel, for making our lives so easy! :)

How to make and use a template?

After I made little packaging bags, hopefully I will also need some big packaging bags. :) The stamp I made from the sponge will not be big enough for the bigger bags so I made a template. My logo is not so easy to make a template from as it consists of circles and they can't really connect but I managed to do it with a little cheating...
Here is what you need:
Tempera paint, a paintbrush, paper bags, a sharp knife, your logo printed onto a thick plastic sheet.
Cut out the dark part of your logo as that will be the part which will be stamped onto the paper bags. In this case, I cut away the inner and outer circle. Keep your knife as straight as possible. That way you can control the sharp knife on the plastic better.
Mix some tempera paint to the color of your liking.Put the template on the paper bag surface. Since the circles are loose, I'm placing them all inside the bigger cut out circle and take away the second circle.
Hold both circles and dip the sponge with paint over the template. Don't use too much paint as it will go underneath the template. Just little bits. Since the inner circle is loose, I have to hold it and make sure it doesn't move. It's a bit tricky but you can make templates where this is not neccesary.
Haha, you can see where I held my fingertips on the plastic template.
Take away both templates and look at the result.
First I planned to stamp my website address on the bottom but making the template would have taken me forever so I decided to attach a business card on the bag. :)
Slowly but surely, I'm getting ready for the craftparking fair in Maastricht...

And if you haven't seen my new postcards yet, hop over here and leave a comment, you might win some! ;)

Share
|