Growth

This type of necklace has been on my mind for a long time, I just never found the time to actually make it. But now I have and I'm really happy because I like it.
It's a very diverse necklace with many posibilities. You can wear it classy like a choker or casual like a longer necklace since the bigger bead in the middle is mobile.
The little felt beads look like small seeds to me. That's why this line of necklaces is called 'growth'. I'll be adding more colors to my Etsy-shop soon.And a lime/turquoise version...

Madelaine

If you're an Etsy-addict, I'm sure you have seen the outstanding work of Madelaine.
Madelaine is two-hundred and seven months old.
She likes to write letters to strangers, find buried treasure and refer to herself in the third person. If you were to visit her she would probably be painting or sleeping or baking bread.
I saw a photograph of Madelaine on Flickr where she announced that she had new postcards.
You could enter a giveaway if you described her shop with one word by leaving a comment on her blog. I love Madelaine's work and I love postcards so no reason why I would not leave a comment. I left the word 'breathtaking' to describe her shop. I'm often in awe of her work and I'm glad nobody sees me sitting here when my mouth falls open and I'm gasping for breath! :)
Last week I got a convo from Madelaine that random.org picked the number of my comment as the winner. YaY!
It made me superhappy & excited.
I could pick an ACEO of my choice out of her collection, but I just couldn't choose because they are all so beautiful. Besides, I wanted it to be a surprise...
Today I received this beautiful set of postcards and my first ACEO ever. I'm impressed, the quality of the postcards is amazing and suit her work perfectly: brilliant, stylish and artsy.
And I think I need to start an ACEO collection now. How intriguing is that?
I'm also in love with her business cards... aarrggh, life can be so good!
Madelaine, you made my day! Thank you very much! :)

How was your weekend?

We did a fair bit of walking in this tiny village called Kanne (Belgium). Little as it is, it has great diversity, at one point I actually felt in a tropical forest. It was hot and humid and the smell of the wood was so overwhelming.
How I love the blooming flowers of spring, the colors and the smell...
Walking through forests and fields, meeting cows and sheep and lots of great scenery - arrgghhh, that's what I call weekend! :)

Settlers of Catan

My favorite of all boardgames: settlers of Catan.
It's really addictive too: we played it last night and will be playing again tonight. Is there such a thing called revenge? :)

About quotes...

I was talking to RunAliceRun about how a quote would look really good on her magnets.
She asked me if I had any witty ones. It reminded me of a quote I made many many moons ago. I think I was about 16 or 17 years of age. I loved the advertisements of DRUM - a tobacco I used to roll my cigarettes with. Their adds were very eyecatching back then. It would just have a blank page with the quote and the name of person who wrote/said it right beneath the quote and on the bottom a picture of a package of tobacco with the line of text 'the luxury of your own opinion'. Their whole branding was SO cool. They would have quotes on the inside of the package so everytime I got a new one, I couldn't wait to open it and see the quote.
One day, my favorite magazine back then (HUMO), they made a call to send quotes. You could win a whole page with your quote. I thought it was kind of cool so I entered a quote. I didn't hear of it until I received a big envelope with 100 printed postcards with my quote! I was impressed.
My quote didn't make it to the blank page but I love the postcards!
It says 'Stijl begint bij smaak' which means: 'Style starts with taste'
I quit smoking in 2003 and feel so much better, I do sometimes miss rolling my ciggies... but I so dislike the smell of them now. ;)

This is also my entry for the then and now project from Vadjutka from the European Streetteam. I hope it counts as it's not a 3D visual creation but just a bunch of words on a postcard. To me it belongs to 'handmade' too though! :)

1988


















2006

Oops!

OK, I'm not having the best of mondays, that's for sure. While I was giftwrapping an order, I cut off a piece of paper that was too large and OOPS, I cut the necklace...
It was purchased by a lovely 16-year old that has a love for Etsy and all things creative. I'll be making a new one tonight and hope she will like it as much as the one I messed up!
I think I'll add something nice to make up for my clumsyness...

Japanese garden in Hasselt, Belgium

Japanese garden in Hasselt, Belgium
Originally uploaded by ArtMind etcetera

These are photo's from the Japanese garden in the city we live in. It is within biking distance from our home. We went there last monday when the weather was just fantastic!