What the postman brought me Part2

Again a busy day ahead.....
but I first took some time to blog, I really wanted to show off with my Secret santa gift!
Yesterday Secret Santa came by, and gosh, I was happy with it, that really made my day!

mmmmm, a beautiful pouch ... and really stuffed...

OMG, what a treat!

opening the boxes one by one... ooh a sweet bird pin and ....some beautiful handmade lampwork beads...

Wow, what a delight to unpack these beautiful earrings, I loooove the colors!
(notice the cute handmade pouch, you should touch it, the fabric is so soft!

an envelop...

... with a beautiful Christmas card...

... and more cards from the hand of this talented designer!!!

It was such a pleasure to open the packages one by one!
I just love how Anna gives so much attention at the package: handmade jewelry pouches, handmade enveloppes, and yet everything fits so well togheter!
Find the graphical work of this talented artist here and her jewelry line here.
In this interview you can found out more about her creative life!

Thanks so much Anna, you really spoiled me, I will wear everything with proud!
haha, I really see the 6 of us already in the Annarubyking outfit:
The kids each a bird button, hubby the bird pin and me the earrings!!! Yay!

(Secret Santa Swap is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and also receive a gift yourself. Artmind organised the 3 previous Swaps and the next wil be organised by Vadjutka)

EST challenge and WEEKEND DEAL 15% off everything

Fairy Dream earrings


Dark Elfin Earrings

I did find some time last week to participate in the EST challenge.
This is a challenge of the European Street Team, every week, one of the members choses a new theme. It is a way to keep us creative and to discover new ways of inspiration. Every member is free to participate!

This week the theme was trolls, gnomes and... Elves. Hosted by Jealousydesign. (find her shop here.)
I am not so troll minded and as my designs are usually very feminine I chose for the Elves! But I came out with a 'troll' desing too, well I gave it the name 'dark Elfin' ;-)) They are both in my shop.




My Japanese garden earrings are back, find them here in my shop.



Alos Silk Lady Lady is back in my shop, lilac silk and turquoise stones on a copper chain! find it here.


This weekend I have a special promotion. Everyone get 15% off the entire order!! (I refund after purchase)
Maybe time to do already some Christmas shopping!
(voor Belgische klanten, mail me: fleurfatale@live.be, ik geef je de prijs in Euro door en mijn rek.nr.)

Fall is near

This is the new theme of the Euopean Street Challenge hosted by Sumikoshop. find the other beautifull entries in her blog.

Why is it that fall and autumn are so inspiring, the warmcolorpalette maybe?

I made two entries: a felted pod necklace and a pair of earrings.

They are available in my shop! Click on my pictures to go to my shop.

Indigo Blue

The new EST challenge hosted by Iragrant has the theme: your favorite color!

I combined one of my fav's: turquoise, with the beautiful color indigo blue.

I let me inspire by the beautiful vibrant blue of the Tuaregs .

The Tuareg are sometimes called the "Blue People" because the indigo pigment in the cloth of their traditional jallaba and turbans stained the wearer's skin dark blue.

The indigo blue-colored veil that Tuareg men wear is called Alasho. Taking on this veil is associated with the rite of passage to manhood; men begin wearing a veil when they reach maturity. The veil usually conceals their face, excluding their eyes and the top of the nose.

You can find my new 'Tuareg Blue' creations in my shop.

Polkadot challenge

Dots, is the theme of the EST challenge hosted by Staroftheeast.

Find the other entries here.

ingredients:

- felted balls with little seed beads sewn on them

- ethiopean silver beads

- a beautiful big resin bead with little wooden dots

gathered on a copper chain with a toggle clasp closure on the front.

The necklace measures 44 cm.

available in my shop

etnic roots

As I was looking for inspiration for the EST challenge, Kraplap told me I could also let me inspire by the traditional clothing of the countrys were my adopted kids were born.
She did not have to ask me twice, I admire the etnic roots of my kids!Flower Hmong
My eldest daughter Maia Dinh Thi Phuong is born in Hoa Bhin in Vietnam, situated in the mountains not far from Hanoi. As most of the Vietnamese have the ethny Khin, my daughter was originated from the Hmong, a minority Ethny who live in the mountains. I am very proud of that :-)

Noted most among their many crafts, their embroidery is stunning. The H'mong are among few people left in the world who, for the most part, still make their own clothes independently. Even if they buy the yarn at a local market, they still typically weave and embroider the fabric themselves. Many H'mong, though, still cultivate and dye, using local indigo plants, the cotton and hemp from which they make their clothing. From newborns to the recently deceased, the H'mong are dressed in finery. Other noteworthy crafts include the silversmithing and bronze making of jewelry. Indeed silver acts as a bona fide currency for them.

The eaarings are already available in my shop.

Find some beautiful pictures of the Hmong in this gallery of Dutch photographer Rob Oudshoorn.

Flax flowers from my homeland....

This time it was not so easy creating for the Challenge with the theme: Let your entry be inspired by the traditional costumes of the country where you were born .This challenge is hosted by Kraplap. find her blog and the other entries here.

I did not find much information about traditional clothing in Belgium, I am sure there must be, but I had not the time to do much research!

So, I know Flanders was well known for it's lace (especially Bruges) and I learned making lace doilies when I was a child, so I have the skills to make myself a piece of lace, but all material lays stocked up at my mothers and I really hadn't the time to hop over there!
But I thought of something I also have a connection with: linen.

My parents almost grew up between the flax fields and both my grandparents were working in the flax agriculture. When I was young , the flax industry was in a crisis as cotton and synthetic fabric (which were much cheaper) became more important.

But nowadays increasing worldwide demand for linen makes it again important. Flax is one of the few crops still produced in Western Europe, with nearly 130,000 acres under cultivation annually. Climatic conditions in this region are perfect for growing flax!
Here you can find more about the huge work it is from Flax to linen.

Linen is crisp, clean and comfortable. Soft, yet strong and durable. The more it is used, the softer and stronger it becomes. It can absorb up to 20% of its weight in moisture before it feels damp, and easily releases moisture to the air to remain cool and dry to the touch. Flax remains colorfast and launders beautifully. It has the additional advantage to be non-allergenic. Flax requires considerably fewer pesticides and fertilizers than other crops. The fibers are recyclable and eventually biodegrade.

So I found the material for my challenge entry: something typical for the region where I was born: linen.
I used a dark grey linen fabric and combined with light lilac (the color of the beautiful flax blossom) sugulite stones and dark lilac ribbon. The silver chain and hoops go very well with these colors.

Available in my shop.

Wild versus Elegant: my creative workspace

We had some holidays, these last few days, so the kids were home. The weather was beautiful, and they played outside in the garden in our little plastic swimming pool :-). I was thinking of what to do outside too. It would have been an option to just read a book in the sun, but there was a new EST challenge theme, and ideas were spinning in my head. So I took my felting stuff and enjoyed making felted pebbles. (I have no pictures of me playng with felt outside, but a picture of the sorting and knotting of the beads: as you see I use often a felted plaid to keep the beads on their place)

The result is my entry for the EST-challenge hosted by Vilte.

You can find her shop here. and the other challenge entries on her blog.

My Pebbles and Honey necklace is already in my shop.

find some other creative workspaces on Kotooyos blog.

Wings of Desire - memories

...When the child was a child,

it didn’t know that it was a child,

everything was soulful, and all souls were one.

When I was working on my entry for the EST challenge with the Theme 'Birds', my mind was wandering...
I used a big brass wing that has been given een beautiful verdigris patina.

That wing in particular made me think of one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen:
'Der Himmel Uber Berlin' from Wim Wenders. (In English the title is 'wings of desire'.)

Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry partially inspired the movie; Wenders claimed angels seemed to dwell in Rilke's poetry. And one of my most fav band played in that movie (I was in my twenties then ;-): Nick Cave and the Birthday party.

Find this limited edition creation in my shop.

Find the other European Entries on the blog of Carmenesque.

Inspired by a movie

The last movie I saw was 'Slumdog Millionaire':
A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers. It's a movie that gives you a real happy feeling because it has a happy end: A poor boy becomes rich and meets the love of his life, the bad guys are death or punished....the Bollywood Dance at the end of the movie is hilarious.
It is a brilliant movie and it has been awarded in Hollywood with 8 oscars!!!
But when I left the cinema I had this thought: "how can these oscars ever change the faith of millions of Indian people living in poverty and without any expectation on a better future,...."

I found these beautiful Unicef cards with screenprinted Indian Sari motives on it, and let me inspire by them to make a little collection of 'Indian Inspired' earrings, and this is my entry for the European Street Team Challenge, hosted by Leelabijou, with the theme : inspired by a movie. Find the entries of my European friends on leela's blog here.

You can find these Indian Inspired creations in my shop.

And this is also a great way to introduce you to my Belgian Etsy friend Silvia who has an Etsy shop full of Beautiful Etnic and Indian inspired jewelry!! This is her blog and this is her shop!

repurposed and restyled

The result of yesterdays cutting and destroying: a new design made out of an oldfashioned bag,

Ah well, this is my interpretation for the EST challenge theme 'Time flies' hosted by Petitplat. Look at the other EST entries here.
The repurposed flower necklaces are limited edition and now available in my shop. I am thinking of making some brooches too!

And remember you can still enter my give-away :-))

Beautiful, Beautiful secret bunny!

YYesterday I got a lovely package in my postbox, all the way from Stockholm, Sweden!
What a surprise: it was a gift of one of my favorite arists on Etsy, Britta from the shop Birribe.
Birribe has a degree in art and crafts and works with textile materials. She designs textileprints for institutions and privat homes. She is inspired by nature and has her very own colorpallette (which I like a lot!) You can see and feel her passion for colors and nature in all of her creations! (even in the packaging!) Do take a look at her website and discover the beautiful paintings she designs...

Thanks a lot Britta, as you see, a while ago I made a felted brooch that fits perfect with the shawl! And as a cherry on the pie (as we say in Belgium) you present came a day after my birthday!

shell of my childhood....

The new Challenge theme of the European street Team challenge is this time 'back to your childhood' hosted by febystandesigns.

Graving in my memories I found this old box with my old shell collection. When I was a child we often went to the seaside on holiday , with mum, dad, my brother and sister (not the Belgian coast but the French one) I did not like to swim, did not like the salty taste in my mouth, and while my brother and sister were building sand castles I roamed on the beach looking for little treasuries, I enjoyed collecting shells, and it never stopped, even now if I am on a beach I am always looking for those beautiful treasures of nature!

I took one of this beautiful shells with a gorgeous colorpallette (deep orange and shades of lilac purple, a beauty!) and tried to match with semi-precious stonesn dangling on a handfelted choker.

it's already in my shop :-)

lavender dream

My last challenge entry. Did not have the time to blog about it.

It is already sold, but I still want to show it!

The challenge theme by Janebofelt was Combination of Dissonant'. You can see the other entries on her blog.

I tried the combination metal (copper) and fabric (silk), and it is also 'ton sur ton' (using one color in differente shades).

Palepink was the winner of this Challenge and chose the theme SPRING! YAY!

To show my 'Lavender Laia' Necklace I made this Mosaic,

and combined with the work of two talented artists.

-Rose by Aliette

- world of flowers by Monicaj

(click on the names to see more of their work)

Haven't had much time this weekend, spend sunday afternoon at my parents in law :-)

When I came home I felt the urge to do something creative , or at least to spend some time on Etsy, mmmm, what a relief....

So I enjoyed making this mosaic, it features my EST challenge entries.

The EST challenge was this time hosted by a lovely friend of mine: Veerle from Nevousinstallezpas. Veerle opened her Etsy shop a few weeks ago, but I know her some time longer.

I met Veerle online. funny Story. I was browsing on internet and tagged with the word Flamenco. My Ethiopean daughter has Flamenco classes and maybe I was looking for shoes or a dress. But I found a flamenco ring, made by Veerle! With the ring I found her blog and website, a while later I followed a crochet course (with Veerle as a teacher) at the Miat museum in Ghent .

Since then we have met several times in real life and we have a lot of creative plans together.

you'll see :-))))

The brooch and the necklace are available in my shop

The beautiful painting is an artwork of Lindstromcommac

The funky illustration Mybirdofhappiness is made by johnwgolden

recycling....

I've been working this weekend on my challenge creation. This time the theme is: recycling, sustainable future. hosted by Vadjudtka? Go visit her shop with wonderfull mixed media jewelry!

I like the idea of recycling and repurposing a lot.

I have lots of beautiful clothes of my kids in gorgeous fabrics that I can't throw away. I love to visit flee markets and buy vintage fabrics, just because I am fond of these vintage patterns and colors.

One day (when I've learned how to sew) all these clothes will have another live as a bag or tote, a headband, a brooch or maybe I make postcards out of them :-))

For my Challenge creation I used a torn silk scarf (one my mother dyed herself in the Seventies) and a torn (silk) pair of trousers (it was really worn out since my three daughters have worn it :-) , cut it into pieces and made some silk beads out of it,.

I combined them with destash beads of the same colorshades and some gorgeous ribbon and silk threads. By using the ribbon as closure you can adjust the lenght of the necklace.

You can find 'jungle fruit' soon in my shop. (click on the images to go to my shop)

Fabiola & De indische waterlelies

This week the Challenge of the EST (hosted by stemmellina) has the theme " your Favorite fairy Tale" (feel free to visit Stemmelina's shop and blog)

I just can not choose only one , a lot of tales are my fav: Snowy White, The cat inboots, Little red hat, Alice in wonderland, little mermaid,... I grew up with the tales of the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen... I still remember the very first movie of Snowy White made by disney. I was so small, but it have still memories of it, it makes me dream back in the past...

The fact that I chose 'The Indian Waterlilys' (a tale written years ago by the Queen of Belgium : Queen Fabiola), )is a funny coincidence ( I am not really a royalty fan)

I had a ring in my shop in polymer clay, a customer asked me if I could make a brooch in felt with the same colors and form. Playing with the felt and the colors, the fairy tale came in my mind. You can find the whole story of the Indian Waterlilys here.

You can find my brooch in my shop.

and the other entries on Stemmelina's blog.

Deze week is het thema van de Challenge van de European Street Team: "je favoriete sprookje'

Ik vindt het zeer moeilijk om er een favoriet uit te kiezen, ik ben opgegroeid met de verhalen van de gebroeders Grimm, en Hans Christian Andersen , toen waren het al klassiekers, ik hou van de heerlijk ouderwetse exemplaren en liever niet de Disney versies! Ik herinner me bijvoorbeeld nog (ik moet 5 jaar geweest zijn) dat ik met moeke en vake naar de eerste echte sneeuwwitje film ben gaan kijken (in de cinema), een ongelofelijke ervaring in die tijd (ook voor mijn ouders!) goh, ik wordt er toch een beetje emotioneel van!

Maar ik koos dus voor een sprookje van ons aller Koningin Fabiola. In lang vervlogen tijden pleegde hare Koningklijke hoogheid nog verhaaltjes te schrijven. De indische Waterlelies is het bekendste , waarschijnlijk ook omdat dit verbeeld wordt in de Efteling.
Ik ben niet echt een koningshuis fan. Het feit dat ik voor dit sprookje koos is eigenlijk een beetje toevallig. Ik heb een waterlelie ring (in polymeer klei) in mijn shop en ik kreeg vorige week de vraag van iemand of ik de vorm van de ring niet kon gebruiken voor een broche in vilt.
Terwijl ik de waterlelies aan het vilten was, dwaalden mijn gedachten af naar de waterlelies uit de efteling. en voila, mijn Challenge creatie was geboren!

je vindt het sprookje hier .
en hier vind je mijn broche