Happy Feet

1. sitting, 2. Untitled, 3. harlequin_clutch, 4. bla bla

Just back from biking to the postoffice,

the weathers is so nice and it gives me a happy feeling!

It made me make a Happy Feet flickr collection today!

I am happy:

- because it's almost summer holidays

- these schoolyear went very well for the kids

- that I don't have to take the car to go to my work, just bike to Post Office!

- with my new collection 'Colliers de Papiers' that I made lately

- with all the new ideas bubbling in my head...

Arty Gardens en nog meer 'colliers de papiers'

Het seizoen van de open tuinen is weer aangebroken. Ik blogde hier vorig jaar al over.
In de buurt gaan we zeker op bezoek naar de tuin van Paul en Erna, een landelijke tuin van maar liefst 1 hectare groot, vele schaduwrijke terrasjes, een heuse bloemenweide, kortom, een tuin om in te vertoeven en tot rust te komen en bovendien te genieten van het keramisch werk dat Pascale Verstraeten voor de gelegenheid tentoonstelt.
Termstraat 9270 Laarne

Vandaag is ook de tuin van Isabelle een bezoekje waard. Dit weekend stelt Isabelle haar 'papier'werk tentoon, waaronder ook papieren juwelen. De Vuurkorf organiseert workshops rond allerhande papierplezier. Het maken van eigen handgeschept papier (recyclage en vegetaal), afgedankt papier recycleren door te bewerken tot sierpapier (marmers, collages, orizomeishi, nat in nat technieken, ...). Met de produkten van deze workshops worden eenvoudige hedendaagse boekbanden gemaakt. Neem even een kijkje op haar website.
De Vuurkorf, aalbessenlaan 21, 9032, Wondelgem

Intussen werkte ik verder aan mijn collectie 'colliers de papiers' :

Halssieraden gemaakt uit een mix van glaskralen, halfedelstenen, vintage knopen en handgemaakte viltkeitjes en papieren kralen.

De papierkralen zijn gerecycleerd uit tijdschriftpapier, wat ongelofelijk veel kleurmogelijkheden schept. De kralen kregen een dubbel laagje vernis waardoor ze vochtbestendig zijn. Je begrijpt dat geen enkel tijdschrift hier nog de deur uit gaat!

Een kleine collectie van deze halssieraden kan je vinden in de winkel van Karwij en binnenkort op mijn webshop.

I've been working on my 'colliers de papiers' collection. They are a mix from glass beads, semi precous beads, vintage buttons, and handmade felted pebbles and paper beads.

The paper beads are made out of old magazines and given a varnish.

I sell them in this shop and also in my esty shop.

EST Challenge - weekend deals in my shop

Only this weekend I give 15 % off all my textile jewelry in my shop.
Enter 'summer jewelry' when you purchase and I'll refund you the discount.
You imy textile jewelry here.

I managed this week to participate with the Challenge hosted by Amadayu. The theme was 'pastel'. hm, not really my piece of cake, but therefor it's a challenge ;-)

I made a pair of earrings and a ring, maybe a necklace will follow...

I had these beautiful rose wooden beads for a while, I am glad they fit perfect with the pale pink sakura glass flowers.

The ring is made of a vintage button (I found a a flea market in Ghent) with a little Japanses lily cabochon on top of it.

These pastel creations are already in my shop.

You can find the entries of my European EST friends on Amada's blog.

My creative space today - Colliers de papiers

Recently I am working on some new eco-friendly necklaces :-)

The eco friendly part is the fact thath I use paper beads, made from old magazines.

I seal the paperbeads with two coats of varnish to make them sturdier and keep them free of dust and dirt, and to make them more water-resistant (not water-PROOF).

I combine them with the felted pebbles (that I love so much to make) and in this case with beautiful amethyst stones.

Well, they have to wait a bit on my workdesk today, because I am off supply shopping in this tempting shop. Antwerp here I come :-))

In the last pictures you see an already finished necklace. find more pics on my Flickr account.

Hop over to Kootoyoo's blog to find more creative spaces!

More felt, more turquoise...

I can't help it, turquoise seems to be one of my favorite colors.
From my last color scan, I learned that there is turquoise with a yellow shine and turquoise with a blue shine. Well, to make it easier: there is warm and cold turquoise. I am for instance an autumn colortype , so what matches the most with my skincolor is the warm turquoise.
For jewelry making it is important to combine the cold turquoise with silver and the warm turquoise with copper.

The word turquoise was derived around the 16th century from the French language either from the word for Turkish (Turquois) or dark-blue stone (pierre turquin).[4] This may have arisen from a misconception: turquoise does not occur in Turkey but was traded at Turkish bazaars to Venetian merchants who brought it to Europe.
The colour, however, has been employed extensively in the decorative tiles adorning Turkish places of worship and homes for hundreds of years, beginning with the Seljuks, or was derived from the colour of the Mediterranean Sea on the southern Turkish coast and the association quite possibly has caused the name to take root.
Find more about the turquoise stone and color here.

so far this turquoise thingies :-)
I just wanted to show a beautiful shawl I bought from a very sweet Russian Artist: Janebofelt
The package took only 5 days to arrive here in Belgium, and it was the first time the postman delivered something from Russia, Moscow. (well, that was what he said) :-)
I's a beautiful nuno felted scarf with some crochet doily details handmade by the very talented JaneBo. Don't hesitate to buy in her beautiful shop, the payment transaction goes very fluently and shipping is very fast! Check also her beautiful blog.

Mermaids jewelry

I made some felted pebbles yesterday, I let me inspire by the beautiful semi precious turquoise stone. I had idea to use these pebbles as a kind of cabochons for a ring. But I also like them just the way they are, a handfull of soft stones...

The big felted ring is already in the shop!

Flickr Favorites

1. colourcirkel 001, 2. Red Flower Power Brooch, 3. su mm er, winter?, 4. loyal loot collective makes amazing log bowls

The weather is so awful these days here in Belgium , it don't feels like summer! Maybe this is why I made a mosaic with happy colors and a sunny feeling.

Find other gorgous Flickr finds on Artminds blog.