my pot of tea

I have something with teapots, you know...

remember my tea pot cards, you can find them here and here and here

I sold almost all of my handmade cards at the Open House, so I need to make a new collection.

but when will I find the time?

Maybe I should plan my week:

- Monday: making packages and shipping

- Tuesday: creating textile jewelry

- Wednesday: new designs with stones and copper

- Thursday: designing cards

- Friday: creating for the EST challenge...

Well, that's the problem with creating, it just can't be planned!!! When you don't feel like it then you just mess up. Waste of the time!

But I just wanted to to show off my new teapot in this blogpost :-))

Custom made by a friend, who has a lovely shop here in Belgium, browse her website here.

And I got this yummie Yasmin tea, all the way from China (thanks Apple and Peter!).

Browsing trough etsy I found a beautiful teapot cosy and a very cute teapot necklace to make my mosaic complete!

mm, off to make myself some yasmin tea!

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.

Scraps of maps

Lately I found a big box of old world, city and roadmaps at my parents. My father collected them for years , but since he passed away a few years ago, this box is there,... unopened...
These world maps have such great patterns of lines and color spots and they are just to cool to throw away. I am sure everyone has lots of them, and could use some ideas to get rid of them ... Or let us say: to repurpose them!
So I browsed through Etsy for some ideas.
I could use them in my jewelry or make cool gift tags for my packaging, too many possibilities, now what to choose????

Click on the pics to go to the shops and find out about the prices, all these handmade goodies are perfect for an original gift (father's day for instance...)

Japan earrings by Ktwigs31

Tiny enveloppes by Zany

Bracelet made of vintage maps and Scrabble tiles by Hocusfocus

Atlas Bange Bracelet by SoitsGray

Aceo Kandscape N°5 by Annarubyking

World Atlas Bowl by Bombus

Perfect gift for fathers Day by HocusFocus

What about re-using Undeerground maps... by ideaka

cufflinks for daddy by Dlkdesigns

Gift tags by Onespeckledegg

Custom Destination Vintage Map Necklace. Choose Your Location. By Cherrytruitt

Road Map Wallet by Kelsodeosntdance

Vintage French Map Love Birds by Cottonbirddesigns

White map hearts gift card by Bombus

The 50 States Project - Nebraska by Betastic

Tasman Sea Jotter by ariandmayadesigns

Recycling on Mother's Day

On mother's Day we went to the school of the kids, where they all gave a little performance, the theme was recycling, exactly what mummy is into lately ;-)))
My two little ones gave a performance on the catwalk with clothes they made (with the help of the teachter) from recycled stuff. (They are in the same class, but Mies is a year older then Briek) (notice the scarves on my son's face, he fell with his bike a few days before...)
Maia, the eldest, danced on a song played on big trash boxes. Meron did a performance about planting potatoes. In the end all the mummys got a glass of Cava for their mother's Day :-)

It's me peeping, right in the middle with the black sunglasses on :-)

And do you remember the Bouquet of flowers I got from Veerle for the Open House? you can see it on the first pic. here.
It nearly passed away, but I could make some great pictures with the flowers that left,
mmm, maybe that's kind of re-using too :-)
I'll make postcards out of it, which I usually send as a freebee with my sold jewelry.

My creative workspace

lots lots lots to do,
Thursday is a day in the week I got a little bit more time for myself and my crafting job, I don't have to drive the kids anywhere and at noon they at eat school, that makes 7 hours all for myself!
But where to begin????

First of all: off running again! I have to pick up that, I know I have to run three times a week , and that it will take months to reach that 'runners high'. But I really need it mentally, (especially for my creative mind) so now going trough the hard times of training ;-) and I treat myself with a home made smoothie after the hard work!

Get organised
I got these in my postbox. A while ago I won a giveway on the blog of RikrakStudio , and I chose these two beautiful pouches out of her collection! (she was featured on etsy, check it out here.) They sure will help me to collect and organise all my bank, shop and creditcards, and I have a lot , as you see!!!

Dreaming of new designs
For a while, I've been collecting little old keys, I want to use them in new creations in my Fairy-tale collection.

Cutting Flowers

You may have noticed that I like cutting those flowers, it's easy, the fun is: I can do it everywhere, when the kids are playing outside I am sitting on the terrace with a cuppa, a pair of scissors and some leather scraps..., in the waiting room of the doctor, in front of the TV...
I hope to make lots of accessoires with them: bracelets, bobby pins, brooches,...

you find them here in my shop.

No time left to...

craft with this DIY package, I bought it a while ago in this shop, but don't know if I will find the time today...

well, I'd better start working , I spend too much hours to this blogpost!!!!

Find other creative workplaces on kytooyoo's blog!

Repurposed and recycled

I love working with used and vintage stuff lately. My mother brought me a big bag full of old silk ties and I try to go once a week to the trifth store to find old leather bags or clothes.
And Ingermaaike, A lovely Est friend and an amazing felt artist sended me an envelop full of leather scraps.(find her shop here)
I love to put my scissors in the ties, bags and scraps to make something completely different out of it. With the silk I make silk beads to use in my necklaces, the leather and suede is used for the little flowers on my bracelets or necklaces.

And guess what: I've been featured on Cosa Verde Blog. Cosa Verde showcases independent artists and craftspeople from around the world, providing you with one destination to find top-quality handmade, environmentally-friendly goods.

Search for the tag repurposed in my shop, and you'll find my newest eco-friendly creations!

my flickr Favorites

1. Leaf scarf d, 2. Bird Mobile, 3. miss purple brooch, 4. purple tights blue dress

Artmind stareted a new weekly feauture on het blog and I decided to play along .

On Artminds blog you can find other beautiful Flickr Favorites, or you can post your own!