This weekend was not really conducive to a summery feel : gusts of wind, below season temperatures and even worse ... rain, sometimes showers but ever so often a regular downpour. So, it was definitely not the weekend I would spend sitting on the terrace reading one of the many books piled up in my "to be read" stack and I needed to look for some other occupation.

As I already spent the last weekend cleaning up and reorganising things at home, I didn't want to go down that road again. Even Domestic Princessness has its limits, at least at my place :o). And therefore I chose to drop by the beadshop, grab some more supplies and spend my time fiddling with beads and wires instead of letting the weather dampen my spirits.

And this was the result : a couple of pendants and earrings and a polka dot necklace. The pendants and earrings are rather similar to what I made before but for the necklace I opted for a new and different approach, using ribbons and a metal chain. I never used fabric in jewellery before but it is something I will need to experience with, because I think it has a lot of potential.

I also bought some liberty fabric biais in view of another necklace but the band of fabric is too small to close it by using the sewing machine, so I'll have to sew it by hand, which is something I am not really looking forward to. Sewing has never really been my thing. But I'll give it a try and post about it once it's done.

Like every year before him, 2011 has come with a list of good intentions and two entries on this list are (1) participate in more swaps/tags/etc. and (2) do more creative stuff. And look at this : 2 birds with one stone with this Tangle Hearts swap on swapbot :o)

Seasonal obligation, the first ATC zentangle swap of the year has a heart's theme and should ideally reach my partners by Valentine's Day. Considering the less than punctual postal services however, I have my doubts on their timely arrival, but well ... we can always hope, can't we? I certainly had fun making those and I hope my partners will appreciate them too.

I went shopping for some jewellery supplies on Saturday and as always when I get new "stuff", I can't wait to start working with it. So I started fiddling with the beads and cords as soon as I passed the front door :o)

I ended up making this necklace twice however. When I finished it the first time, I realised I had used the oval swarovski backwards and even though I doubt that anyone would have noticed, I felt like it was staring me in the face. So I cut off the glued parts, undid everything and started over. Until I was happy with the way it looked.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but with the bleak winter light we're having at the moment, it's the best I could do.


I also made a second necklace which appears way heavier and ended up somewhat rosary looking. I liked the texture of the wooden beads and had bought these on impulse a while back ... but didn't really know what to do with them, just because they are dark and heavy and so unlike my style. In the end I like how this necklace turned out ... on a jumper in winter, I'm sure it will look great.

After seeing the wonderful stamps made by my friend Miss Thundercat, I wanted to give the whole stamp carving thing a try.
After all, I bought a stamp carving kit from Traci Bunker's Etsy shop last year, complete with cutters, carving blocks and tutorial, but never got round to actually use them.

This happy go lucky character is the third stamp I made. The previous two can be found on my flickr but I'm not happy with them. On the other hand, I would have been a natural talent if I has succeeded on first try, which obviously I am not :o)

Carving stamps is really addictive and once I buy some new carving material I see myself making other stamps. I'll keep you posted.

These ATCs were made for swaps on swap-bot over a time span of several months.

I missed the first instalment of the series and therefor didn't make any ATC for Africa, which seems to be the starting point of this programme. Seems to, because as I have never seen the Amazing Race programme, and the "race around the globe" format we have on TV, Peking Express, works in a completely different way.

These ATCs were made for a Country Alpabet ATC series on swap-bot. When the first host couldn't follow through on the series after the first two instalments, I took it over from her. It was my first experience as a host of a public swap and frankly I don't know if I would do it again. Even if we were very few in the swap, I was worried about possible flakers or other things that could go wrong. In the end it all worked out though, without a problem.

Now that all the instalments have been received, rated and archived, I thought it was high time I posted an overview of the ones I sent out (for detailed view check out my flickr ATC folder. From the letter P onwards, I made digital ATCs which I embellished with raised elements and 3D glossy or matte finish for texture. The pictures on this mosaic are the digital files though, because the pictures I took of the finished ATCs all had a nasty glare on them (due to the ATCS being printed on glossy paper).

Anyway, this cloud of hearts was sent to my partner ElsD in New Zealand. And she seemed to like it, because I got a ♥ too :o)

Below are two extra Zentangle ATCs I made but didn't send out. they are therefore still available for trade. If interested, drop me a line in the comments. :o)

I made this ATC for the Cat ATC swap on swapbot. After having done mostly digital ATCs these last few months, it was refreshing to take out all the inkpads again :o)

The background is a mixture of different inks, sprayed afterwards with a pearl glimmer mist. The cat was drawn with a fineliner and coloured in with a sharpie type pen.

Sent to my partner powderpuffmom on March 1, 2010.

As my friends will tell you, I am quite the shopaholic, even better ... I am an Etsy addict. Completely hooked on the good stuff and very proud of it too. Ever since I discovered the joys of buying handmade, I can't get enough of it : I keep buying for myself, for friends, for my parents, Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, National Garlic Day (yes, that is a real holiday) ... you name it. There's always a perfect occasion to spread Etsy love :o) Speaking of which, I should make my Etsy shop work as well. Listing things might be a good beginning for that one. Hmm ... another entry on the "the do" list, which is getting longer every day.

Anyway, this little post is to draw everybody's attention to a giveway that the talented Flora is having on her blog to celebrate spring's long awaited arrival.

Entering the give-away is as simply as spreading the word by way of blog, Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking. So don't hold back, and particpate. Although maybe you shouldn't be too many to participate, because I'd still like a fair chance of getting my hands on that lovely print of hers :o) Just kidding of course. But really, do have a look at Happy Doodle Land, and start spreading the love.

This blog was remained desperately inactive for the past year, although I have been doing creative stuff and have been keeping busy (my flickr can testify to that :o))

I'm going to upload some of the things I have been doing shortly, so stay tuned.

The internet is a formidable source of art and everytime I come across the works of a talented but unknown artist, I am grateful for whoever decided that have a global internet was a way to go. So many artists would otherwise never have heard of ...

And as they say in Dutch "Waar het hart van vol is, loopt de mond van over" (which roughly translated means that the mouth is overflowing with whatever is flooding the heart), I thought I'd share some of my recent discoveries with you.




First of all, I discovered a great Belgian artist Sybile and immediately fell in love with her paintings. It's therefore no surprise that I couldn't resist buying some of her ACEOs, as you see on the picture.




Another artist with exquisite drawings, is MissTigri. I am carefully eyeing up the items she has in store and I'd love to have one of painting reproductions framed at home. For budgetary reason, a wallpaper has to do it for the moment. I choose Melancolie (see left) to look at every day but all her paintings are available as wallpapers, downloadable on this page.



And of course, Gorjuss's gorgeous new website, could not be omitted in this list. She just redid her whole website, be sure to check it out.




And last but not least, I discovered Celsojunior, a Brazilian graphic artist in a completely different style than the ones listed above, but with great illustrations. I ordered a skin for my ipod yesterday from Skinizi with his "Sixth Sense" Illustration (see to the left) on it and I will definitely post a pic of it on my flickr once (and if !) I have successfully customized my ipod. :o)

As I keep disovering new artists every day, I'll sure keep you posted on my discoveries !

I remember distinctly promising to keep this blog up to date ... call it a New tear Resolution of mine. But like most resolutions, this one went unheeded and before I realised, winter has already traded its place with spring, we're the end of March and I havedn't returned to blogger since mid-December.

Time for a change ! I'll try to drop by more often. Promise :o)

I just wanted to share that until Sunday, Christy is giving away a digital collage sheet to anyone who mails or comments on her latest blog post Day 15/29 Days of giving. There are some amazing sheets available, go check it out !

As I wasn't committed in a lot of swaps this December, I decided to take on the role of one of Santa's elves and send some happiness around the world in the shape of wishes from the swapbot Wishlist Group.

Most of the packages consisted of hot chocolate (must be inspired by the cold winter season), Season's Greetings cards and the odd tea or souvenir. I hope the recipients will receive them before the end of the year, although I have to say I have been amazed at the speed of postal deliveries these last week : a greeting card sent on Friday arrived Monday in the US ... can't get any quicker, can it?


Maybe the postal services got a helping hand from Santa's little helper (picture below)?

From Nov. 28 till Dec. 28 2008, Brussels is one of Wintry Lights and Entertainment. Have a look at the official website to learn what's cooking in Europe's capital during the Holiday Season.

As I went shopping near Grand Place for Choc-o-lait chocolate sticks to send out for the wishlist group on Sunday (see other post), I was awestruck by the beauty of the light show on the Grand Place. My pictures came out a bit blurry though and don't really do it justice. But if you happen to be near Brussels, it's worth dropping by (finding a parking space is a nerve wrecking experience though, better come by public transport :o) )

Through a giveaway contest on the Swap-bot Blog, I discovered what seemed to be a great website to get to know new etsy stores. Unfortunately I didn't win the giveaway but I did pay Geteurofied a visit and ordered the holiday sampler which arrived yesterday (contents on the left).

Besides samples, a lot of stores added discount codes too ... a great idea in these times of financial crisis! The list of the participants lets you click through to the individual etsy stores. And now I'm off to scout for new favourites :o)

I should start working on the ATCs for the Open Theme swap but as always I am a bit at a loss when it's an open theme. While I wait for the muse to find me, these are the ATCs I made for the Pin Up Girl ATC swap on swapbot. I hope my partners will find them to their liking. I always find those vintage drawings sexier and sassier than modern day pictures ... maybe I was born in the wrong era?

I wanted a brown necklace to go with my beige shirt and now that I have discovered the joy of making me own, I didn't feel like buying one ready made. So after browsing through the bead shop on Friday (amazing how one looses track of time in that shop ... must be the twilight zone !), I came home with a bag of brownish beads and this is the result.

The Holiday Season is nearing and everyone receives wishes ... even my kitties :o) Lynn and Lotje received their very first Christmas card yesterday, in an envie adressed to them and accompanied by a little note written by the humble servant of Pal, Harvey and Brady, three magnificent Main Coone blokes from the US.

As part of the same swap, I will be sending out Christmas cards from Dyadis, an organisation that trains and places dogs to help physically disabled persons regain more autonomy and freedom of movement. That way I'm contributed to this important project and as the card features (obviously) dogs in a Xmas setting, I tried making a Season's Greetings card with my two little monsters on it to send along. Everything will be send out tomorrow, L&L still have to paw the cards :o)

Thanks to a picture posted on Moni's Flickr I learned that the Go Make Something website (a great source for creative inspiration by the way) was holding an Open Theme ATC swap, so I decided to take a chance and see if I could make it on her list. I hope I will because I love making ATCs :o)

On browsing though the website at the same occasion, I discovered that Lisa Vollrath was also holding The Original Printables Holiday Countdown on her website: every day of the Advent a printable sheet of images is up for grabs. Check it out!