Porcelain keys

It's been a while since I posted creative stuff on my blog. This work above was done in between over the past few months and I only now get around making a finished product of it.
I just need to pimp the packaging a bit but hopefully I have time to do so later this week!
I haven't had much time to work on new things lately so I'm actually happy I managed to make at least one new thing...
Next weekend I'll be at the ceramic market in Maaseik (Belgium) and I'll be taking these along.
So if you're in the area, please pop by and say 'hello' to me! :)

Eén vierkante meter

logo by Karen Vandelaer

For those who don't speak Dutch, the blog title says '1 square meter'. It's a new concept that I started up a while ago. I found an accomplice that is just as enthousiast as I am and we both set to work and hope that it will be a succes. Her name is Annemiek from TwoTreesWorld. She's also a ceramicist and loves anything handmade and special.

We felt it was time for something different on the fair/market scene. Instead of trying to take as much as you can, we thought it would be fun to take as little as possible. Just the very best of what you have and spread it out on one square meter. The 'less is more' - principle...
Another reason to keep it small is to give new makers & artists a chance to show the best of what they have without the pressure of having to fill a few meters.
We also hope to welcome people who actually make stuff and show people what they do & how they do it. It's always great to see work processes! We would love to see dialogue and enthousiasm for anything handmade. So, a concept that is accessible and fun!

To start all of this, I felt I had to open up a Facebook account even though I'm personally not a fan of Facebook. So I made an account under '1 vierkante meter' and for a few months, I was there entirely incognito. Haha, that was fun!
But yesterday, Annemiek and I deciced it was time to give up our anonimity so if you want to be our friend, don't hesitate to friend us on Facebook, blog or Twitter.
And if you are in the area and interested in taking part in the concept of '1 vierkante meter', don't hesitate to contact us at eenvierkantemeter@gmail.com to receive an application form.

The event is on april 22th 2012 in Hasselt, Belgium.
It will be held in a beautiful industrial location and lasts from 10am till 5pm.

Weekend impressions

On friday I left for a weekend Amsterdam with my Etsy friends. In the evening we went to an Etsy meeting at the Lloyd hotel. What a fun crowd gathered there. I don't have any useable pictures of the meeting itself as it was dark and small in there but it was cozy and fun for sure.
Matt and Benedikta from Etsy's Berlin office were the hosts and they certainly spread the enthusiam about the conference for micro entrepreneurs next spring. Can't wait for this summit of awesome!
All these flowers were in the hallway of the toilets - a creation of Vlinder & Vogel Isn't it beautiful?On Saturday we went with a bunch to the Craftymarket. Even though the market was connected to a cultural festival, it wasn't really busy which surprised me. But being there with like minded souls, it was certainly the highlight of my weekend.
The weather was kind of weird: sunny, cold, cloudy, warm, rainy,... typical Dutch weather for this time of year...
My friend Vanessa came to visit me at the market. I hadn't seen her in over a year and she's not only an amazing Etsy-supporter but also a good photographer as I asked her to take some pictures from the stands. I'm so glad she spend the entire afternoon with us chatting. Thanks for popping by, Ness! :)It's fun sharing a stand with someone who's a fan of your work. Marta from Martice did a great job explaining my work to people with her never ending enthusiasm! Thanks Marta! :)Nicole from Babongohome hides behind her beautiful and ecofriendly mobiles.Swee is checking out ThongbaiTatong's work.Barry & Liesbeth from Pinipiru shared a stand with Annemiek from TwoTreesBelgium.Bai from ThongbaiTatong spoiled us with a beautiful pouch and Swiedebie gave me a plush apple pincushion which will be excellent in my sewing space. Thanks so much, supersweet, smiley ladies! :) I bought this cutie hat from Swiedebie for my nephew who turns 1 in 2 weeks. He will look much cuter in it then I do but I wanted to show you how awesome it is.
So happy I remembered his birthday when chatting with Swee while looking at her pretty stand! I'm terrible at remembering birthday's! ;)It was a fab weekend spend with friends & it made me forget a bit about the load of work I still have on my plate the coming weeks. Better get back to the to do-list now I suppose...
Have a great start of the new week everyone! :)

Work in progress

Busy making happy girls for the Sunday Market...

They are excited, can you tell? :)

Evanement

First of all, this is the only picture that came out right, the few that were taken at the fair were too dark and blurry.
Just because I'm such a good photographer... *sigh*
So nothing much to show you of the fair itself I'm afraid. It was a small fair only with about 20 stands and lots of them gave information about their organisation so there were only a few stands that sold stuff.
It was inside and there were lots of activities happening in the whole building so people came to the fair on and off. This combination is great if people come for both events: the workshops and the fair. I had the feeling that lots of people came for the workshops and strolled around at the fair to pass the time for the next workshop. So it was definately not a craft fair that focussed only on handmade goods but it was great to show what I am made off and with 99 feelings to show, that was quite a lot. I loved seeing the expression of people's faces when I start to name the feelings while I explain what the project is about.
I was so happy to meet some customers, fellow Etsians and blogreaders and only that made it already worthwile for me being there.Annemiek from TwoTreesBelgium sells lovely ceramics and jewellery and it was lovely chatting to another ceramist and share some knowledge.Also Julia from TheSpottedSparrow showed up at the fair. She's such a sunshine and sells eco friendly, vintage inspired paper goods.
Make sure to check out their shops as they both do great work!

One of my blogreaders, Nynke of TheLifeOfAPurpleRabbit, surprised me with a visit and she made me this beautiful scarf. She made it in my favorite color: green. That gave me goosebumps and I think that unexpected gifts like these are the best! I'll wear it with pride, Nynke! Thank you so much!And Cecilie, originally from Denmark but now living in Bonn was my first customer on the fair. She's a fan of my work obviously and I suspect that she knows all the mini-art-feelings by name too. How cute is that? After the contact I've had with her (and her husband who purchased some of my work as gifts) via Etsy, it was supernice to meet both of them in real life. Thank you too for stopping by.

I did take my ripple blanket along and I did hope to chat a bit more with Mariana from Florcita and with Kim from Viltalakim, but it was too busy for that, which is a good thing I suppose... :)

Jewellery display and price tags

While I haven 't had a chance to crochet for a while, I am really missing it and I can't wait to get back to it next week. But I've done some other cool things besides preparing for the fair.
I love a new project to tackle and making a jewellery display for our collaboration pieces was kind of a challenge. I wanted it to look clean and contemporary but also with a little twist.
I painted the frame, took the picture out and replaced it wit foam board.
Do you think I succeeded?I love the bended semi-transparant paper - it's so easy to hang earrings from too.
I also made new price tags from the left over transparant paper and foambord (used for making model houses). I'm so happy with the new look: clean, clear and modern. And sooo easy to make too.
Print your text on semi-transparant paper (I used 110g). Cut it out with a knife.
Measure how long the price tag is and cut the foamboard a bit longer.
To make the little cut line in the foamboard, I keep the part where I cut it out to put my ruler on. Makes cutting much easier.
Slide your knife, while holding it a bit to the side, through the foambord.
Then squeeze the paper into the foamboard.
So easy to make and good to look at. :)

Tutorial on Poppytalk Handmade

Today, one of my tutorials is published on Poppytalk Handmade. It's all on how to make bowls of unspun thread. They are easy to make, you just need patience for them to dry. They make also great baskets for easter eggs. Hop over to the tutorial here.

I'll be giving these 2 bowls away to the first visitor of my next fair. The only thing you need to say is 'I read your blog' when you come to my table! My next fair is this Sunday the 7th of March in the Cultural Center in Hasselt, Belgium. It's a celebration of International Woman's day then and the initiative is called Evanement.
I also made 15 'I read your blog' goody bags so that I don't have to dissapoint anyone else who says that! :) Hope to see you on sunday!

Evanement - international women's day

In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
A woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day - to press for their demands. It wasn't until International Women's Year in 1975, that the 'International Women's Day' was given official recognition by the United Nations and was taken up by many governments.
So, 8th of March, women will come together to celebrate solidarity, equal rights and freedom.
The city I live in organises an event the day before called 'Evanement' with a market where women's organisations are presented, workshops are being held and where lots of female artists get a chance to present their work.
I'm one of those artists and it's in exactly 2 weeks on the 7th of March. Eeeks, I still have lots to do in preparation so I might be a bit absent on the blog in the coming 2 weeks.

Apart from the market, a few of the activities that you can do there are:

• Tango for starters: fun to try out if you never have before.
• vestiare populaire gives you the opportunity to dive into a dressing room with more then 600 outfits which you can fit on and then be photographed in a studio
• 'de koekjesfee' or the cupcake-fairy is there to make and bake fabulous cookies and cakes
  (kids older then 4 and accompagnied by an adult)
  
• Chocolate, bittersweet a workshop from Fair Trade about the production process of chocolate and in insight in the cacao market.
• A 'how to raise my child' game to get an insight on how other parents look upon issues with their children. Fun and humor garantueed.
  
• An exhibition about breast cancer and how to prevent it
• A workshop with Michaël Verheyden about handbags & fashion accesoiries
• Iris Mondelaers who is a jewellery designer will show how an item is born from start to finish.

For some of these activities, you can sign up before hand but only on the day itself at the info desk of the event from 12u. The info desk is located in the hallway of the Cultural center.

In the fashion museum there is a workshop organised by Knitting guru Stephane Martello.
If you want to take part in the workshop, you will have to sign up. The cost is 10 euro's which includes a visit to the Fashion museum. You can get more info here: modemuseum@hasselt.be



And last but not least, in the evening, Axelle Red will give a show in the cultural center.
She's a Belgian artist that is well know internationally too. She's actually from this city but now lives in Paris. If you want to hear what kind of music she brings, go here.
Tickets for this (15euro) also have to be bought upfront. You can do that via e-mail: plaatsbespreking@ccha.be




If you plan to visit and need more info, feel free to contact me: mitsy@artmind.eu

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!
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