Before and after

I had an appointment at the hairdresser today.

From two tiny pigtales to a real grown-up 'coupe'.
How's that for a change? :)

Metzengerstein

I was nicely surprised to see the Etsy finds daily newsletter in my mailbox yesterday. One of my necklaces was being featured! YAY! It always makes my heart jump when something unexpected happens. Thank you, Anda! :) On this day in 1832, American poet and writer Edgar Allen Poe's short story Metzengerstein was published in Philadelphia's Saturday Courier magazine. It was his first piece to see print.

Anda also made this treasury with other related items...

I love clay

After almost a year and a half not having touched a lumb of clay, I started to show signs of missing it. If you start modelling your mashed potatoes on your plate and have an urge to knead dough into figures, then you know I suppose. So today I got all my clay-toys out and I can't wait to start actually. I will be experimenting with moulds, regular clay and porcelainclay. Hopefully I will be able to write about it in here once in a while and put photo's on Flickr too. I probably won't put my clay-results in my Etsy-shop until after summer so you can follow my progress on my Flickr.

Cure for traffic jams

A few times a week, I have to drive to work.
Taking the train is no real option for me, since I get stressed when knowing I need to catch a train and still need to finish stuff at work. There's only one train an hour so if I miss it, I'm doomed to spend at least an hour in this large and cold trainstation.
If I was a knitting-person, I would consider it... ;)
So, I drive. An hour each morning, an hour each evening and this normally three times a week.
The other two days, I work where I live so I can bike! YAY!
Today, I was stuck in traffic jams in the morning AND in the evening and it really gets to me. I'm more tired and just need something to cheer me up after such day...
I found a nice video on the EST-blog recently - and when I feel bad, I just turn that on. Try it, you'll love it too! :)

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! ;)