Happy package

Yay! Finally time to draw the winner of the happy package. Thank you all for entering the happy package give-away. Since the guessing of what the the plastic thingies were in combination of how many were in the bottles got too confusing, I changed the rules after the first few answers. How did I know I was asking the impossible? :)
So, to pick a happy winner, I put all the names in an Excel sheet and sorted them alphabetically. Then I tweeted if someone could give me a number between 1 and 56. Lovessunflowers was first and said number 22.
The lucky winner of the happy package is... Glasfaden aka Devi!
Congrats! I'll be making something especially for you this weekend & sent it next week! :)

So, what where these plastic thingies anyway? Have a look:
Lots of you were right about the piggybank. My dad turns 70 this sunday and there will be a big party. But what do you give a man who has everything he needs/wants? Yip, a piggy bank with a 70-supermanlogo! :) I'll be putting some cash inside so he can buy whatever he needs/wants.
My nieces are doing their communion on sunday so I made them choose their favorite feeling and made a piggybank out of it too! I bought for both of them an acrylic paintset and varnish so they can decorate it themself. They both are supercreative so I'm sure they will love to do that.
And believe it or not: it's mother's day too on sunday. So these salt & pepper shakers are for my mom:
It's all firing away right now so I do hope all comes out well or I'l lbe in big trouble! :)

My creative space

My creative space today is the procteted kitchentable & the sink.
Recently, I fired some test tiles to test oxydes for the wall art feelings I'm working on. I bought all the supplies & know how they will more or less look but I love testing them out anyway. All these different textures will give different results and I'm looking forward to fire them & see how they've become. Like with paint, you can also mix oxydes together to get different shades of colors so I could make 1000 of testtiles that all look different but I'll go with the basics for now! :)
Oxydes consist of powder and you mix them with a bit of water. With a brush you apply it to the tile and let it sit for a few moments. Then you hold it underneath running water and rub the substance off. Some of it will stay in the texture of the tile so that it will give a slight color to the ceramics.
You don't get bright and happy colors with this but the effect is kind of rough & natural - I like it a lot.
I'll fire these tiles tommorrow and will show you sometime next week how they came out.

I also tested out some engobes by applying it very thin to leatherhard clay, let it dry and then scratched into it etc. These are engobes that I bought but when I have a bit more time on my hands, I'll be making my own as I have all the supplies at home. And like with the oxydes: many possiblities.
Ceramics really is a different world where you can explore endlessly...
I have to move my bum now and start claying so I can fire the kiln tonight. I made a few gifts that need to be fired by sunday so I don't have time to draw a winner for the happy package give away. But I'll do that tommorrow so if you haven't entered you can still do so...
Don't forget to enter the give away below! :)

Want to show your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's blog to play! It's fun! :)

How tuesday: make a stamp with ArtMind

I was thrilled when Danielle from Etsy asked if she could publish my 'How to make a stamp'-tutorial in the Storque, Etsy's blog. To read from the comments, it seems like it inspired many people to make their own stamp! Yeah, mission completed! :)I love making tutorials & I'm planning on doing some more when time allows it.
Are there any subjects you would like to know the 'how-to'-process?
Then I can pick my brain and see if I can come up with something! :)

Flickr favorites

1. B L U E B E R R I E S, 2. baked meringue kisses, 3. Untitled, 4. 121/365 Project - 01/09/09

I love Flickr! I love browsing through all the images and get inspired by them.
There is just so much talent out there that I thought it would be nice to show some of my favorites on a regular basis. I would love to see your favorites too so I invite you to do the same. Just make a mosaic of some of your Flickr favorites and post it in your blog or on Flickr.
Pop in and add your link if you're playing along this week.
I use Mister Linky so you can easily add your link but it keeps dissapearing and coming back for some reason.
I hope they will fix Mister Linky soon 'cause I can't do anything about it! :(
Thanks for playing everyone - I found some fantastic new work already! :)

Last tagging for a while...

Monika from Red2White tagged me with few questions and I'm answering them right away so I have it over and done with.

There is something about tagging though...
It feels nice when someone tags you 'cause it makes you feel special. On the other hand, I always *sigh* when I get tagged because that means I'm kind of forced to participate a tagging game - even when I don't feel like it. I'm just being honest here: I have been tagged so many times that there are no people left who I haven't tagged myself. I kind of feel bad to pick the same people over and over again, so recently, I always said: 'tag, you're it!' so that anyone who wanted to play, could play. I think that's a fair way to go. There are some really cool tagging games out there and I love to read all the answers and learn more about the person who got tagged so I do hope that lots of people will still play tagging games.
But to make it officially: this is the last time I played, no more tagging for a while. ;)

What are your current obsessions? Claying & babuschka's. They basicly have taken over my life at the moment. And if I'm not claying babuschka's, I'm crocheting them!

What are you currently reading? The Botz glaze catalog. I know, not very exciting to many of you but I'm drooling over all the neat colors of glazes and engobes out there. Even though I love the whiteness of ceramics, I plan to make some kitchenware for myself & as you know: I love colors! :)

Where do you plan to travel to next? To the nearest supply shop.

What is your dream career? Haven't quite figured that out yet but what I do now comes pretty close! :)

What is your favourite film ever? Difficult as I love movies but the one that touched me most was probably 'Como Agua para chocolate'

Care to share some wisdom? You only live once.

Where would you rather be right now? On the beach collecting stuff.

What is your desert island disc? I like the sound of quiet.

If you could be any animal other than human, what would you be? A bird.

What is your favorite flower? Ranunculus

What is your favorite art supply? I added this question and I think it's quite obvious: clay!

The rules are to answer the questions, replacing one and adding another, and then to tag eight other bloggers to do the same. Whoever likes to join in, please, feel tagged!

Monika also reads my newsletter and I think she felt sorry for me when I wrote in what state my hands are nowadays: dry and painful and when I'm sanding they sometimes even bleed.
I have very sensitive skin and working with clay just dries my hands out tremendously so I use lots and lots of handcream when I'm done.
So, I was pleasantly surprised to find this gift from Monika in my mailbox last week! Thank you Monika! I'll sure be a more happy clayer now! :) and I love the postcard of the Loch Ness Monster! :)
I also got a 'Your blog rocks'-award from 21.
She made the drawing herself and revamped it at befunky. How cool!
Thank you 21! :)
I have the same feeling about 'blog-awards' as with 'tagging': a lot of people deserve this award so who am I to pick just five? All bloggers out there: your blog rocks! :) *passes out the award* :)

Don't forget to enter the give away below! :)

Dream in progress... part 1

After buying the pattern of Babette's blanket, I had been pondering about what kind of yarn I would use and I got some really nice tips from Huismus and CabbagesandKingsArt.
However, I just LOVE cotton yarn. Don't know why, it feels nice and soft and I'm attracted to the happy colors I guess. So I'm making this blanket in cotton and if I ever make a second one, that will be in merino/acrylic yarn.The pattern calls for lots of repetitive work and I like to work in batches so I made the first 50 rounds of the two round squares. It's rather addictive I have to say.
The fact that I work in one batch makes that I can actually remember the pattern after a few so it's easy to do it in front of a good movie. I still have to sew in the ends - oh joy - but will do that after the second round is done. You can see the end result in the upper right corner of the picture. Now 48 more to go and the first batch is done...

Don't forget to enter the give away below! :)

Dew sniffing and bird watching

Rare birds get up really early in the morning to go dew sniffing and bird watching & listening. I'm not usually one of them but today, I was! I got upat 4.30 AM to score some coffee and breakfast before my friend was coming to pick me up.
Apparently, it is a trip that a nature organisation (Natuurpunt) organises every year on the 1st of May. It was the first time that I joined in and saw so many bird fanatics together. Amazing how these people know what bird it is only from hearing him/her whistle.
And there were SO many birds whistling that I had a hard time to differ one from another let alone knowing which bird it was. The die hards hear a bird and then just look through their binoculars and find them at such speed that it's simply amazing.
It was such a lovely experience and all together there were about 72 different birds seen, heard and counted. I also enjoyed walking that early and see the dew over the fields and dew drops on the flowers. I love seeing and hearing nature wake up...
Here are some impressions:
Don't forget to enter the give away below! :)