Secret Santa wants to know...

... if there is anything else that the Elves need to know...

I'd love to have a gathering for all of us in some place around Europe.
Like a stand in a colourful market in the city centre
of one of our amazing European cities.
Apparently I'm losing my mind with age so if he could arrange

for a replacement, that would be helpful. :)

I prefer small things over big things

I like Crocs

I'm 162,5m tall

I'm an Aquarius! Some day we will rule the world! :P

I'm a very difficult person to make a present for.

Lots of people claimed to have been a good girl this year...Oh yes! Please tell Santa I've always dreamt about braiding beads

into his wonderfully soft beard hair!
If he could please make that dream come true this year??
OOPS, looks like Santa doesn't want it this year... sorry!

Secret Santa is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and also receive a gift yourself.
Since I try to organise the game for our team, I get a lovely reward: reading all the questionnaires and knowing all the teammember's secrets! :)
What I also know is that lots of people of the team would like to read them all too... That's why I share part of the answers on the questions in my blog. And even though it's anonymous, it's still fun to read what other people wrote... Hope you enjoyed to have a peek in our team.

However, this was the last entry to this year's Secret Santa swap. All the gifts have to be sent out before the 10th of December. You can take a look at all the received gifts in our Secret Swap group on Flickr. Amazing things have been made so be sure to take a peek! :)

And there is more, this head Santa is retiring...
Now I know all the secrets, I think I completed my mission! Besides, after organising 3 swaps, I think it's time for a change. And guess what... a new secret swap person was on my doorstep. Best Secret Santa present ever as it's just an amazing woman with lots of enthusiam, a warm heart & lots of love for the European Streetteam.
She 's a very active woman as she's part of the EST Handmade blog-team, doing the then & now series on Scoutiegirl, has her own blog & runs a succesful Etsy shop.
I'm certain that you'll love to share your secrets with her - I know I will! She will be without a doubt an amazing secret swap chief! :)

The next secret swap will be organised by... drumroll...

Judit aka Vadjutka
You're already looking like a wonderful Spring Fairy!
Good luck to you!

Secret Santa is taking orders

Leaves are starting to fall here and there, the days are slowly getting shorter and here we've already been treated with rain and wind.
Fall is in sight & I love it as fall is my very favorite season.
In a distance, I also see Secret Santa is taking orders. Secret Santa is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and also receive a gift yourself.
You have to be part of the team to participate though. People can sign up by sending me a conversation on Etsy. In return I sent them back a tiny questionnaire where they have to fill out some basic questions. They sent it back to me & when I have all the questionnaires back, I start matching up people. This is a fun process because I get to read all the answers of the questionnaire but it's also very hard because I really would like everyone to be happy with their secret friend. I will also be blogging about some of the answers of the teammembers - all anonymous of course but it's nice to share & get to know the team better.

Here's a call to everyone who has not seen my numerous messages about the Secret Santa on the team thread, in the Yahoo group or on Twitter: you have to sign up before the 15th of september to participate!

Secret Santa

Picture by Simple Tess

Oops, this was a scheduled post an has been empty for a while so today is the first time that I actually blog in the past! LOL I planned to start with the first post about the Secret Santa on the European Streetteam yesterday. But the matching took me some time and I didn't manage to get it all done. No wonder as there are 101 participants... impressive right?
Secret Santa is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and also receive a gift yourself. Since I try to organise the game for our team, I get a lovely reward: reading all the questionnaires and knowing all the teammember's secrets! :)
What I also know it that lots of people of the team would like to read them all too... That's why I share part of the answers on the questions in my blog. And even though it's anonymous, it's still fun to read what other people wrote... So this is just a warning that from now on, every friday, you'll find a post about Secret Santa in my blog. Oh joy! :)

Secret Santa

Last year, Meghan or Nitelily3 organised a secret Santa for European Streetteam members. I absolutely loved that! *big smile* The idea behind it is that you make something for a fellow teammember and that you also receive a gift from a teammember. It has been great fun guessing who's your secret santa too... :)
Since Meghan has become an honorary member, I want to keep this 'tradition' and decided to start off the Secret Santa thing. It will be so exciting & fun and there are already lots of enthusiastic EST members who send me a convo that they will participate. If you're part of EST and want to be part of this, please send me a convo and I'll get in touch with you after 15th of september. Don't we all want to be Santa? :)

Secret Santa wants to know...

... what the European Streetteam dreams of getting from Santa at night ...

Someone dreams of something that will make her go 'YES YES YES'!

A few dream of a new wardrobe...

A few dream of a new camera...

Someone dreams of getting the lottery winning dust thrown at her...

Someone dreams of a big colorful package...

Someone dreams of something she can't do/make herself...

Some dream of a funky neckwarmer
(from EvaForeva)

Some dream of handmade soap...

Some dream of cute stuff...

Lots of them dream of creative supplies...

Someone dreams of a kitchen aid.
Not sure if she meant this...... or this:
Someone dreams of fiorentine & baker boots

Someone said this would depend on what Santa looked like...

Someone wants a campervan to cruise while on holidays...

Some dream of meters and meters of fabric...

(stash from the Purl Bee)

A few dream of a new studio...
(this amazing studio is from Loopsies on Etsy)

A few dream of a new house

Many dream of Peace, Love and Happiness

All images found via Flickr or Google pictures

Secret Santa is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and also receive a gift yourself.
Since I try to organise the game for our team, I get a lovely reward: reading all the questionnaires and knowing all the teammember's secrets! :)
What I also know is that lots of people of the team would like to read them all too... That's why I share part of the answers on the questions in my blog. And even though it's anonymous, it's still fun to read what other people wrote... Hope you enjoyed to have a peek in our team.

Secret Santa wants to know...

... what makes you smile...

But unfortunately, Santa has been really busy and has not found the time to write this weeks blogpost. He would love it if you could help out and post a link to a picture that makes you smile or send it to mitsy@artmind.be.
He'll put the pictures on this blog asap! Please let Santa know if you would like this to be anonymous or not. :) Thanks so much for your help.

This is what makes me smile: steelblue sky with fluffy clouds & I love to find figures in them! :)
Kim from Viltalakim chose this picture and I love it! She also linked to a very funny video that will bound to make you smile! Check it out! :)This is Jessica Jo's little girl. Her name is Alice and I can see why she makes Jessica Jo smile!Suzi from preciouslovearts sent me this sweet picture of her cat Bob when he was only a few weeks. Smiles indeed! :)

PhotogenicGallery smiles at her nephew Jordan (he's 24 now) looking at this picture. This makes her smile reminiscing about how joyful he was (and still is) & I can remember how his laugh took over his whole body!

Hehe, this is Fleurfatale's photogenic son. Apparently he doesn't like to be photographed but I'm glad she did caught this precious moment where he shows off his drawing with a chocolate covered mouth! It makes me smile too! :)These rascals make Kylie smile. I bet she's mighty proud of her daughters being so silly - I love that one of them is doing the donkey-sign! :)Frida Khalo (her cat) is what makes Anapina smile. I love the picture in the upper right corner - what a cutie! :)This photo makes Vadjutka smile. It's a photo from a Mongol film called Story of the Weeping Camel. He weeps, because his mother left him after he was born, not feeding him with milk. Inhabitants of the local community try to convince the mother camel to feed her baby, but she is very stubborn. Int he end the magic violin-player comes, and he plays so beautifully that the mother camel starts to weep and gives food to her baby camel. On the photo you see the baby camel. :)
Thinking back on a holiday in Egypt makes Charlotte Hupfield smile.Ingermaaike gets very happy when she sees a briliant idea, some may need a little more work...This cutie makes DeerLola smile:The dogs of StarOfTheEast are making for many smiles...Bollywood movies is what makes Swiedebie smile:
Secret Santa is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and also receive a gift yourself.
Since I try to organise the game for our team, I get a lovely reward: reading all the questionnaires and knowing all the teammember's secrets! :)
What I also know is that lots of people of the team would like to read them all too... That's why I share part of the answers on the questions in my blog. And even though it's anonymous, it's still fun to read what other people wrote... Hope you enjoyed to have a peek in our team.

You don't have to be part of the team to send a link to something that makes you smile... I'd love to see it! :)

Naughty, naughty Santa's

Last week, Karlita asked me if I could go and have a coffee with her today. There is this gorgeous chocolaterie in our town named Boon. They have delicious coffees and serve nice chocolates and chocolate mousse with them. It's already a treat to go there but this time the surprise was even bigger...
Karlita was already there which I found fantastic because it's always so busy that you never know if you have a place to sit.
Nearly as soon as I sat down and told her how I was doing she handed this big brown bag to me. It's a bag where Saint Nicholas hold the presents in. And today is Saint Nicholas day in Belgium but I didn't expect to get any presents.
Turned out that some members of the European Streetteam send gifts to Karlita for me because I organised the Secret Santa. I couldn't believe my eyes really. People did ask for my address but I refused to give it because the biggest joy for me was organising the Secret Santa.
Really, it was great fun and I got to know the team so much better. I also enjoyed sharing some of the info through my blog and loved that they all enjoyed reading that.
Secret Santa has been an incredibly amazing event and I didn't expect to receive so much warmth and generosity. I feel a bit embarrased too because it was not neccesary at all - it has been a great pleasure for me so I do dare to call you all a bit naughty! :)
Good that most of you already received their gift! :)
I can't show any pictures yet as my partner run off with our camera but Karlita has proof of many smiles and happiness. Rests me to thank all of you for being so kind, sweet and lovely! You are all incredible! Thank you so much - it has been a wonderful Saint Nicholas day for me with the most amazing surprise ever! :)
I will show some pictures as soon as I have the camera! :)
Please hop over to Karlita's blog to see me unwrapping it all... :)

Secret Santa wants to know...

... what do you NOT want him to bring you ...

nothing crocheted ,nothing handknit
(via whatnottocrochet - check this out for laughs)

Pink girlie stuff...

Plastic stuff (via DesignforMankind)Bling-Bling

A cordless headset as my hubby bought me a few years ago.
It went back to the store.

A rubber duck perhaps...

A pack of handkerchiefs
(not even if they are cute as these?)
(via Oh-deeh-oh)

Dishcloths (via peanuttree on Etsy)

A baby/child
(not even if they are cute as this one?)

Life animals
(not even if they are as cute as this one?)

a lump of coal

Knitted socks

Go to NetGranny for all your custom knitted sock needs.
The site hires 20-or-so surrogate Swiss grandmothers to do your knitting.
Simply go to the site, pick “the granny of your desire”,
pay with your “kredit” card and your custom socks will be on your paws in about two weeks.

A voucher for the gym.A weighing scale...

New underwear

Secret Santa is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and also receive a gift yourself.
Since I try to organise the game for our team, I get a lovely reward: reading all the questionnaires and knowing all the teammember's secrets! :)
What I also know is that lots of people of the team would like to read them all too... That's why I share part of the answers on the questions in my blog. And even though it's anonymous, it's still fun to read what other people wrote... Hope you enjoyed to have a peek in our team.