Sssttt...

OK, this is how my blog will look in the next few days...
I'll try to get my Flickr favorites up on Tuesday and post my creative space on Thursday but other then that, I'll be tackling my to do list for the fair. Still lots to do.
Once the fair is over, I'll be back with a report on the fair and our European Streetteam meeting, fresh tutorials, peeks into work in progress, show more favorites, finish my Babette blanket,... so stay tuned! :)

Craftparking flyers

This morning, the craftparking flyers I requested arrived. Jippee!
Off on my bike to drop them at our tourist office, the fashion museum, Z33 exposition space, the juniper museum and the cultural center.

My creative space

Sometimes, one picture does not do a creative space justice. There is always lots happening in my workspace. Last saturday, I decided to clean it up and put the tripod behind my chair.
Now you can see what I've been up to last week...It has been hectic preparations for the Craftparking fair in Maastricht on the 16th of August. Glazing, and claying and glazing and card making and glazing and decorating packaging and glazing...
The kiln is firing right now - it's cooking all happy colors! YaY! :)

I would also like to tell you about a lovely feature in Australian based on line magazine 'Living Creatively'. It's a monthly on line magazine that has the best on offer in the worlds of art, craft, design, urban living and fashion from around the world. If you don't know Living Creatively yet, you must visit now & go back often 'cause it's more then just pretty as it's inspirational & informative at the same time. And soon they will also offer a chance to buy & sell your handmade products via Living Creatively. Watch that space!
Want to show your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's to play! It's fun! :)

Secrets

I went to the attic yesterday because I knew that I still had some old suitcases which I couldn't throw away when I moved into this house.
Now I have a destination for at least one of them. Not sure yet if I will use the big one or the small one. Can't tell yet what I'll be doing with them but please be patient, I will soon tell more... Teasing you all is half the fun anyway! :)
I love secrets, don't you?

Flickr Favorites

1. Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting, 2. Cupcake Wrappers (Handmade & Bought), 3. flowers marrying cupcakes?!, 4. lemon cupcakes

This weeks inspiration was a spell of the moment. Just when I was about to search a theme for my Tuesday's favorites, I got a convo from my friend Kerrin from Sigmosaics who showed me some pictures of the pricing tags she made for the Maastricht fair. She was inspired by my tutorial and I just love 'em!
I had such a chuckle at mine and they will look dreadfull next to Kerrin's! LOL But I'm so glad that inspiration is drawn from my tutorials & It's fantastic to see the results.


Talk about cupcakes... if you don't know Alicia McCarthy aka TheRedDeer, you should go and take a peek at her blog. Every monday she posts ABCupcakes in her blog. During the week anticipating that, you can vote between three tastes that you would like to see her make next.
She posts beautiful pictures of the end result and always adds the recipe and sometimes a tutorial on how to make 'em. Yummy stuff but beware for drooling...

If you like to play this week, make your mosaic and add a link to your blogpost (not your blog please) or Flickr in Mister Linky (click on the button below and fill in your name with the link to your blogpost or Flickr picture). I'll pop over to have a look at yours. Can't wait to see your creations and find new favorites! :)

Tutorial Exchange Program

Remember I told you about the 'Create a Tutorial exchange program' on Totally Tutorials?
When I saw that Michelle from Evie's Tool Emporium was giving a metal letter and number stamping set, I sent her a convo to let her know I was interested in doing a tutorial on it. Yesterday she let me know that she was going to sent a set to me! Jippee!
I don't do metalsmitting but as you know I do love clay. So I plan to make a fun tutorial using polymer clay so that it's accesible for everyone because not everyone has a kiln.
Oh joy, new supplies! *jumps up and down*

Cooking the kiln

The past week I have been making a lot of small items for my friend Kerrin from Sigmosaics on Etsy. She uses some of my ceramic work to create her mosaics. How cool is that?
She will come and visit me soon and placed a large order. Since clay is such a slow craft, I need to work on it now otherwise it won't be ready when she arrives.
As a mosaic artist, she loves colors of course and therefore I have been experimenting a bit with mixing glazes. Here is the result:
Here is one of mosaics where Kerrin used a ceramic tile from me :) Isn't it beautiful?Here are some more detailed pics of the samples:Special request paws for dog eating bowls - haha lucky dogs! :)And here I messed up majorly I think. I was supposed to get a purple mix but I'm afraid I added too much cobalt to the substance and got more blue then anything.
Will try purple again in next firing.
Ususally I'm really good at writing down what I mix together but for some reason, I didn't do it for the purple oxide... too bad - need to experiment to find it again! :)