Part of something bigger - volume 1

Last Friday, I received a package from Ama from Miss Minoes. I was very surprised and thought it was very sweet of her to send wishes and a gift for Julie. It was a text balloon that was made with wire and yarn. There was a word in the middle & I didn't really know what it meant but she wrote that the word 'als' meant dreams and fantasy but also that it was part of something bigger...

A bit mysterious to me and I actually searched the net to find if there was a meaning of the word 'als' but couldn't find anything really. So I let it go and reckoned that what Ama said would be true and I was happy with the pretty text balloon.

Today, the postman rang and delivered many packages from all over Europe. All from people that I know via Etsy. Hmm, I was very surprised and started with opening the envelopes from Austria. Baa from Baahar and Renate from Kreativlink send me the following: (the words mean 'a')

Then I opened a package from Belgium from Sandra from Zsazsazsu. The word on the hanger is 'small rose' accompagnied with rose petals and a beautiful, tiny, crocheted rose.

 

There was also a package from Germany from Ella from P8buttonart. It was a hanger made with buttons and the word says 'door'

Swee from Swiedebie (Netherlands) send two beautiful hearts and the words on there are 'as' and 'the'...

 

Inger from Ingermaaike send a mobile with a felted tree all the way from  Norway and the word 'as' was embroidered onto it.

Up until now I don't have a clue what all these words are trying to say but I suspect that there are more words on the way to complete it. After all, they seem to be part of something bigger...
I can't wait for the postman tommorrow. Thank you all for the sweet & very unexpected surprise for Julie!!

Art journaling

For years and years I've been frustrated that I can't draw properly. At least, that's what I tell myself. Of course I can draw but I don't think it looks really good. It doesn't look like all the artists that I admire in their drawings. But then, each has his/her own talent, right?
When I have an idea, I do see images in my head on how it should look but to transfer 'em onto paper is another thing.

I remember when I was in art school, the teacher insisted that I would draw my idea onto paper even though she already understood my idea while I was explaining what I was going to do/make. She said: 'if you can put it on paper, you can make it'  Hard work for me but it somehow forced me to pick up a pencil and draw...

I love seeing people's sketchbooks and art journals and I wish I had one of my own.
I must say that I often attempted to draw something and I have sketchbooks laying around with only one drawing in them. I always give up somehow.

I started another one, and I have a feeling that I will keep up with it as I want to do this for our daughter Julie. I plan to write & draw stuff about her and her little adventures that she will most definitely have. It's a challenge for me and I will have to learn to be satisfied by the fact that my drawings are not quite as they are in my head... but I still want to capture all these precious moments so I think it's worth it!

Do you keep a journal or have you attempted art journaling?

Visitor's gifts

It's been a month since my last post and I really don't feel bad about it. I'm taking all the time of the world to spend with our newborn, Julie. She's already five weeks and growing really well.
I'm a nursing mommy so I really have to steal moments here and there in between feeding so I'm not back to claying yet. I did reopen my shop on Etsy since I have stock already made beforehand.

I wanted to share our baby announcement cards and gifts with you. The card is made by my good friend, Anna from LilaRubyKing. Not her usual style but that's because I asked her to do something with the red gingham fabric. I love 'm, they are really pretty.

And as I mentioned in an earlier post, in Belgium it's a tradition to give a little gift to people who come to visit the baby. Both my partner and I made something. We decided to use jars that are used for conserving goods. My partner grew strawberries and rhubarb in the vegetable garden and made jam from it and I made a mould of the jars and casted little porcelain jars and filled them with chocolate coated beans and they can be used as tealight holders afterwards.

 

Here's how it's displayed in our home. The little glasine bags are filled with sweet candy for the little ones. The big jars in the back are filled with candy too, just for eating while visiting. :)

  

Remember I made name labels to attach to the baby gifts but couldn't show 'em yet since the name and gender was still a surprise? Here you can see them on the jars.

 

Thankfully, the visitors really love the gifts so it's nice to know all the work is not wasted! :)