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.

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.

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.

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.

This weekend was cold and rainy, like the last ones and probably the next ones too. I finally managed to go to the carwash because the car was black from the salt and the slate we had. Every time I wanted to go over the past weeks, it was pouring or snowing and I like to enjoy the 10 EUR wash for at least a few hourse :o) This time I did make it back to the garage before it started drizzling again and my car was at least clean until Sunday.

This grey weather has one positive consequence though : as there is nothing appealing outside, I have all the time I need to get some creative juices flowing :o)


This is the first full length necklace I made in my favourite colour ... purple ! I wore it to work today and if I may say so myself, it looks absolutely fab on a white shirt.


I also made some earrings (again) and I am considering opening an etsy shop to sell some of them. I just have to read through all the rules and regulations to see how to make it work. Serious thinking and reading ahead.

Like most women, I like things that are pretty and sparkly, so it comes to no surprise that I love jewelry. Moreover as I am not allergic to any "cheap" material (just allergic to gold, go figure :o) ), I can easily wear colourful fantasy earrings, necklaces and the like.

I had been looking at beads and crystals before but I didn't know how to start. So, I bought myself a book, the basic materials and set to work.

For the last two nights, I have been assembling basic necklaces, earrings and brooches (see the pictobrowser below) and I am quite pleased with the final results. I gave the small blue necklace away to a colleague because I miscalculated the lenth of the cable and it ended up being a real choker for me :o). The people I showed my makings to seemed to like what I made, but maybe they were just being polite.

Anyway, I also bought a few new books yesterday to make some jewelry using swarovski delicas and there are amazing pieces explained in it. I'd like to start marking those, but I think I'd better work my way up gradually : you cannot drive a F1 car, if you cannot properly ride a bike, right?

I became really hooked with this zentangle thing, don't let anyone tell you they're not addictive :o)

I joined a swap on swapbot for handdrawn black and white ATCs (send by date is end of August but I decided to start early) and since zentangles are allowed, I made these 4 ATCs yesterday.

These were fun to make so I'm sure that my zentangle ATC series will go on for quite some time (just like the Japanophilia series).

Today I will be working on a decorated fan that I have to send for a private swapbot swap. I guess that the result of this crafting will be the subject of my next post.

I have a week off from work this week as our office is closed for annual holidays, so I'll have plenty of time to do some crafting and catch up with my long overdue penpal letters. I also bought a book about beading this weekend, and I am eager to go to the beads shop and get some supplies to try some of the models I found in this book.

I'm also expecting my order from skybluepink to arrive this week with the charms, the bottlecaps and all the other trinkets I ordered. I received a lovely bottlecap pin but I haven't taken a picture of it yet. I definetely want to try this too. Oh, so many ideas spinning around in my head.

I returned to the bead shop yesterday and seeing me there 3 times in as many days, convinced the shop keeper to give me a fidelity card :o) 7 more purchases and I'll receive a discount of 5% on the amount spent.

As the thongs I made this weekend already left my hands (sent out in swaps or grabbed by a relative), I made four new ones yesterday which appear in the picture browser of the previous post. Two of them have already found new owners too (both blue ones) and I guess the other ones won't stay too long in my company neither.

I have been very busy this last month, hence the lack of posting.

Meanwhile, summer has returned to the country and with the long days and the sunshine, my eager to try out new things has also emerged from its wintersleep. This weekend I tried out something new : book thongs ! Below an overview of the 4 I made.




Three of them are meant to be sent out in swaps (to the UK, US and Oz) and I intended to keep the red one for myself. Intended because when I showed off my "creations" to my mom she "confiscated" it. I should see this as a compliment, she wouldn't have grabbed this thong if she didn't like it ... but now I have to make myself another one. At the same time, several friends who had a look at them asked for a personal thong too. I know what I'll be doing next weekend :o) If I start going to this new bead store I discovered on a regular basis, maybe I can ask for a discount card (which would be most welcome considering the price of these little beads).