Testing new backgrounds

It was on my mind for a while now and today I finally managed to make some pictures on different backgrounds. Not sure how they turned out so if you have a moment, don't hesitate to drop your opinion. :) I'm hesitant to a new background because we can't switch our items around in our Etsy-shop, so I'm afraid it will look messy and incoherent with all different backgrounds. I'm SO indecisive.

Happy & lucky me

This morning I found a little surprise in our mailbox.
The dominomagnets of my artwork made by RunAliceRun arrived. I was speechless with how much care they were wrapped! They came in a beautiful box with padded material to protect them. Another pair came in a plastic sleeve with a lovely paper top. I'm a person who enjoys little things and details. After I enjoyed the care that was put into the packaging, I couldn't wait to open it. I absolutely love them! I can not rave enough about the quality of the work of Alice!
She was great to work with. She didn't moan when I asked about a silver lining, she happily made six great magnets. I think I will need to order some more in future. I have more ceramic work that would fit great on those magnets. So, if you ever are in search to personalize your work, I can definately recommand RunAliceRun!
Alice, you have succeeded very well in making me a happy girl today! Lucky me! :) Thank you, Alice!

Nicey-gang

I met Jenarter in a forumthread on Etsy.
Apparently we were so nice to each other that we decided to form the Nicey Gang. It only has two members at the moment but if you would like to join, we can send you the Nicey Gang Entry Form. You don't have to do anything but being nice. Life was never so easy!
Want to know more about Jen?
Name: Joyous Jen
Favorite Furry Creature: Bunny's, ahhh, I guess our cat Monkey
Favorite Nicey Weapon: Hugs and Compliments
Awesomeness level: 87 and a half
I think Jen has a freaking awesome banner too!
Love love love!





I also prepared a poster sketch for a treasury which includes all people who commented on my avatar question in the critique thread. I hope to grab a treasury soon because I think it looks fab! :) Unfortunately I couldn't include them all since I a treasury only has 12 places and 4 alternates...

Educational fairs

The past weeks, I have been busy at work with educational fairs for elementary school teachers. The company I work for has a lot to offer for schools and children. One part of my job is to design creative packs for groups of children. I do this together with a team of creative ladies.
It's great fun thinking up the ideas, gathering all the materials, creating the actual product and then producing these creative packs 'ready-to-use' in the classroom. On the educational fairs, we promote them and give demonstrations too. As you meet the public that actually uses the product we design, it is fantastic to hear 'oh's' and 'ah's' as they see all the displayed models. The teachers who visit the fairs, do this in their spare time so they are the most enthusiastic of them all! How much fun is that? Great fun! The days at the fairs are long and tiring but also give a lot of energy because of the positive atmosphere. Besides, I get to see some of the countryside too since I actually have to drive to the other side of the country sometimes - mind you, Belgium is very small and it's only a 2,5 hour drive or so! :)
The model displayed above is a necklace we designed & demonstrated for Mother's day. It's made out of paper beads which are covered with little pieces of Decopatch paper and when they are dry, we put them on an organza ribbon and add little wooden beads in between them. Because of the varnish-glue that we use, they have a tiny shiny effect and it looks real chique so that's why it's called: 'chique collier' which means 'fancy necklace'.
I think a lot of mommies will be really happy getting this as a gift from their child. At least, that's what we've been told at the fair all the time... ;)

Whimsical coasters

These coasters are a special request from RunAliceRun! She has two great shops here on Etsy: RunAliceRun and PipingHotPapers. Alice likes to sit in her kitchen in the morning and wake up with a lovely cup of coffee. Therefore she wanted some whimsical coasters to brighten up her day. I loved making these coasters especially for Alice - she's a lovely personality that makes me laugh and smile quite often! :)These coasters are made with the wetfelting technique. I have used my own handdyed felt so there might be some colordifferences. I used two colors: turquoise and kobaltblue and I think it looks fabulous! Thank you Alice for giving me the opportunity to make these for you! They were a lot of fun making so I might add some to my shop sometime soon.

Townhall meeting

There was a town hall meeting on Etsy yesterday. For that, they shut down treasury West temporarily. Hmm, just when I have time to make a treasury, they decide to do that! ;)
So, I went to the townhall meeting instead. It was quite interesting to hear about some of the changes that will take place on Etsy in the near future. You can read all about it in the unofficial Etsy news and later this week in the Storque, Etsy's on line newsmagazine. There was also time to ask questions but they never answered the 'when'-questions like 'when will the currency converter be implemented?' I think that was a bit wishful thinking... well, it never hurts to try! :)

No mess

Being a busy bee, I tend to leave bits and pieces lying about instead of putting them in the right spot. I work best in a clean and tidy workspace, so either I clean up before or after but when I'm busy at work, I'm not taking the time for that and things get out of hand... Then they don't disturb me all that much since I always find a way to tuck them away a bit further then were I work at that time. But after some time, I don't have any room left and I'm bound to tidy up my mess. So I did today... My atelier is not completely finished. There still need to be put wooden floors, a long workingtable, cabinets and it still needs to be painted. Meanwhile, I'm trying to gain as much space as I can with simple solutions as wooden wine crates. My partner had a few of them lying about and I claimed them to use them as little cabinets. I can put stuff in it and on top of it.I can make double mess that way - I like that! :) Now it's looking all good again - fresh start of the new week!