Ladies of Etsy exposed

Here is the treasury VickiDianeDesigns made to show off the artists behind the handmade goodies...
My baboeschka loves sitting on TwoLeftHands head! :)

Special listing...

The other day, VickiDianeDesigns asked me to show my face in one of my listings so she could use it for her 'The ladies of Etsy exposed' treasury series.
I love seeing the faces of Etsy artists so why not show mine? Also a good opportunity to make a listing for a custom made ceramic feeling. I have had so many wonderful feedback on my 'how the outside can tell how you feel inside'-work that I would love to be able to create someone else's feeling. I haven't had the time yet to create mini-feelings but hopefully I will find some time soon...

About kindness...

When I think about kindness, I think about my friend Monica.
Once in a while she drops me a line and wonders what I'm working on. I love it when she does that! So sweet! Then I usually have a virtual cup of coffee with her and we virtually eat pastries on the side. It is so nice to have an unexpected little message full of kindness. I never met Monica in person but feel she is just loveliness all together. Yesterday, I found the sweetest artwork in our mailbox - just because she wanted to surprise me. I should send her some beautiful Belgian pastry like 'vlaai' or ' éclaires' but I'm afraid they will be eaten by the postman! :) Thanks so much Monica, you made my day and besides that, you made my mom jealous, just like me, she loved every one of them! :)

My niece loves Flapi

Some time ago, I got a request from Marianna from Flapi at Etsy. She closed her shop because she's moving to Barcelona, Spain very soon and will be living and studying there for a year. She wondered if I was interested in trading some items with her. I know my niece would love her stuff so I told her to choose some items and Marianna send it directly to her. My niece, Anne, loved it. She was SO excited to receive the package & opening it. She also loved the goodies Marianna send her: a beautiful postcard & a coloring book. Tonight she came to visit me and I took a picture of her wearing one of Marianna's creations. I think it looks great on her! :)
Thank you Marianna for a lovely trade - good luck in Barcelona! :)

Invasion of ladders

We have been very busy painting the laundryroom, toilet, kitchen & atelier. The last room is not so evident to paint as it is a 'vide'. I'm not sure if I'm using the right word here, but it is a room above our kitchen which can be reached from the kitchen by using a ladder. So there is lots of open space but how do you paint those walls?
We made a construction of ladders and wood so that we could actually reach the ceiling & walls. It is not very big but very uncomfortable to paint.
However, I love this spacious feeling. When I'm in my atelier, I'm also in my kitchen and that was what I wanted when this room was designed.
I love sitting in the kitchen - also when there is no food around! :)Our little garden when I look outside my atelier window - still needs more green I think!

New word: wilted

A few weeks ago, I used this picture to express how I felt. My friend, Julie Garland wrote me some words of comfort after seeing the pic on my blog. She used the word 'wilted' which is very new to me so I made her explain it... This is how she worded it:
'Let's see... people generally use the word wilted when they talk about flowers or plants and not about people! I was just referring to your blog pic and that flower definitely looked wilted. If you get a bouquet of flowers and don't water them for a week they would droop and look sort of lifeless - you would then say the flowers have "wilted". Basically the opposite of looking fresh and vibrant! Of course this explanation is from the dictionary in my head! Here are some official ones!
1. To become limp or flaccid; droop: plants wilting in the heat.
2. To feel or exhibit the effects of fatigue or exhaustion; weaken markedly:
3. To cause to droop or lose freshness.
4. To deprive of energy or vigor; fatigue or exhaust.'
Thank you so much, Julie, I love learning new words but I hope I don't have to use this one very often... ;)
This photo I found tonight in Flickr when getting back from work. It's made by Yasmin . I think this represents how I feel right now: more balanced but still vulnerable...

Fluffy, the Elvis cat

We have a project running in the European Streetteam to make a book with pages of all European streetteammembers. If you want to enter, you have to make one folded A4 paper with some information on your shop on the front, in the middle page you put an artwork and on the last page you can add photo's of work that is in your Etsy-shop. Kreativlink made an example as she will be sewing the book together.
I was running late for the deadline, so I checked in the EST thread on some of the details and mentioned the inside of my page was a bit fluffy. It reminded me of Fluffy, our neighbor cat, who actually is the terror of the street. He rules! But he's cute as hell and looks a bit like Elvis to me. I just quickly wanted to share some photo's of him... :)