Flemish arts & crafts conquer the world!

Karlita, a die-hard Etsian and fellow EST-teammember contacted the press to tell them about Etsy.com. One of the Belgian newspapers thought this was a very good idea so they wrote a story about three Belgian Etsy-members. So Karlita, Yasmin and myself were interviewed and photographed...

It says: 'From Los Angeles over Paris to Syndey. The handicraft of a dozen young Flemish artists and handcrafters gets sold around the world. Not that they signed big contracts with famous fashion or designcompanies. They thank their succes to a new American marketplace: Etsy.com. You can call it 'the ebay of who sews, bakes or hammers'. About 60 000 creative people already sold about 950 000 of their creations on Etsy. These three Flemish ladies are amongst them.'

"Create, variate and enjoy"

Last couple of weeks I mainly sold items to admirers in Asia, Australia and United States. I enjoy the attention my work gets, but I enjoy making it even more. It keeps stress away from me. At the moment, doing Etsy is amusement and I can't live from the profit. Etsy.com is not only a marketplace but also a meetingplace. Via the forum you can have contact with people from all over the world, make friends and exchange ideas. Etsy.com also promotes a different lifestyle by looking at a whole different way at mass-consumption where personal contact has reduced to the absolute minimum. If you buy at Etsy.com, you 'know' who made it and everyone welcomes you with open arms.

Tentative

I love learning new words. This week's word is 'tentative'.
I learned it from wisechild who has a shop on Etsy with an eclectic collection of arts and crafts.
tentative ˈtentətiv
adjective
not certain or fixed; provisional : a tentative conclusion.
• done without confidence; hesitant : he eventually tried a few tentative steps round his hospital room.
ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from medieval Latin tentativus, from tentare, variant of temptare ‘handle, try.’

My biggest fan!

Here's my sister who's wearing one of my creations. She has been great promoting my felted jewelry. Actually, I had a hard time keeping up with orders from her friends.

This is what I made for her for X-mas and it was accompagnied with a ring and a felted brooch. She absolutely loves my necklaces but fell in love with the ring. Similar items are for sale in my shop, check 'em out quick!

And for those who are wondering: we don't look alike! ;)

Veel VUUR in 2008 !

If I would translate this to English it would read 'Lots of FIRE in 2008!'
In Dutch fire can mean two things - depending on the context:
1. a bunch of flames
2. being passionate about something
In this case we wish you a lot of passion in 2008!
(these cards have been send out to our friends and family as our New Year greeting)

belles lettres

belles-let·tres [it's french. it sounds like bell let-truhs]

1. literature regarded as a fine art, esp. as having a purely aesthetic function.

2. light and elegant literature, esp. that which is excessively refined, characterized by aestheticism, and minor in subject, substance, or scope.

Hally has an amazing item for sale in her shop.

I think it's just very original, arty, fun and exciting.

And if you're still in search for a New Year's gift... you will certainly give an everyday surprise.

What are GOOBLIES?

LaPomme: gooblies are a warm fuzzy feeling that if left unattended can lead to uncontrolled shopping.
Femputer likes LaPomme's definition of gooblies.
Missbeheaven is too tired to think, but agrees with LaPomme and thinks this is a pretty list.
Gooblies make Ingermaaike go all sweet and goey inside.
HeliS thinks it means 'goodbies' to her money and she loves little Rosalita. It gooblies her a lot! (Maybe 'goobling' is a verb?)
EmmaPardos loves this colorcombination. Maybe it's a color?
Dlkdesigns thinks it has something to do with 'adoration'
MagicIsland wants to know the meaning too...
MundoGuminola believes it has something to do with falling in love.
StaroftheEast thinks that gooblies make your heart go faster and makes you get all warm inside. Joombeam thinks it has something to do with re-uniting.
SingingSilverSparrow is the 'GOOBLIES'-wordcreator.
She checked and double checked the ancient dictionary covered in dust and came up with the following: It's of a Greek descent, in the time of Cholera, where love and excitement come together in your stomach and cause baby bubbles full of 'whoo hoo' to explode in your stomach. This is the formal definition...
I'm certain SingingSilverSparrow is liking a lot of other choices in this list... :)
Kreativlink has found a meaning in the urban dictionary I don't think many people relate gooblies with this definition though...
XbyLeinaNeima is waiting for 'gooblies' to appear!
RunAliceRun love's SingingSilverSparrow's definition.
DearDodo hopes the squid will make make nice baby gooblies.
Glasfaden thinks that gooblies are sweet, cute, delicate and adorable.
Orangeyblossoms is about to get gooblies from the red apples...
Panyzsuzsi thinks gooblies are cuties.
Luckyduckdesigns likes to be among the gooblies.
Susarto fell in love with the word gooblies.
Bamboovillagepress wants to gobble up on every item in this list and loves the ridiculous cute pig.
Lusitania gets gooblies from Tito.
Twolefthands uses the word 'gooblies' everyday and loves to tease her grandchildren with pinching them gooblies.
4thGenFiberArt's family members often say 'gime oodles' which does sound alike, but I think they want something else...
MonicaJ is having difficulties with being away from all her treasury friends - she's missing all the gooblies that she usually gets when she is looking at and making them...
Paperflowergirl nearly missed seeing this gooblies-treasury
annarubyking has a real clever explanation. She believes it's a medical term from the 1800's. It used to be an ailment pertaining to nodulus in the larynx that become inflamed (as the color of this list shows) and making it difficult to speak, leaving the patient onl be able to say things like 'gooble' and 'beeblee' and 'ughl'

Frontpage by kitegirl

Woohoo, another frontapge feature! My scratching cards love to be on the frontpage!

This one is made by kitegirl - she has a nice shop so be sure to check it out!