salt dough

I just found this beautiful tutorials and have to share it with you!



Thank you Katy!

+ see my right side for more Christmasy Ideas.

How to: Organic garlands

These garlands will cost you nothing. They are made of organic sources and all you need is a needle and strong thread.
For my garlands I have used orange peel (but you can also use grapefruit, lemon, lime peel for different colours), rowan berries (or any red non poison berries will do) and beechnuts. These garlands are very simple and easy to make- maybe your children can help (only beechnuts are quite hard-so adults help will be needed).

You can cut or tear the peel and then just simply put it through the needle. Leave small gaps between individual pieces so the peel can 'breath' and wont go mouldy.
They smell nice, they look nice, they are easy and they are free. :)

Going Green Crafters and Artists

I've been invited to contribute to Going Green Crafters and Artists's blog! Well- it has been couple month ago when I was invited but today I wrote first post! Woo Hoo! Come and see my post about recycled boxes:)

17th November

20 years of freedom for the Czech Republic. I'm going to celebrate to Trafalgar square tonight.

2 new members...

... of our family are Bagira and Stanley. 2 six months old black male cats.
We adopted them about month ago and I can tell our life has changed. I had to move all my plants on a window sill to one side, so THEY have somewhere to sit and watch the birds. I had to move my aloe vera plant because that was the most tasteful thing in our house. I can't leave any of my craft tools and materials around because that are the best toys. We cannot sit on our bean bag because it's THEIR sleeping place. Our towels are warmed up because they love to sleep in the draw under the bed. Everytime we turn the tap on- the cats are there because they love to drink running water. We have to keep the toilet lid down all the time as they love to drink water from it.

It took us about 2 weeks until we remembered which cat is which as both are completely black.
Here is Bagira, nicely wrapped in a blanket. (We renamed him from Bart as we weren't too keen on that name)
And here is Stanley (we didn't rename him) staring at my friend's dog.
Here they are, our cats :)

When I was little...

When I was little I wanted to be an illustrator. I was fascinated by books and nice pictures. My favourite book called Anicka Malirka (Little Anna-the Painter) and it was about a little girl which loved to draw and paint and thanks to a magic cat she gets into the world of her drawings. That book was like my bible!
So today I'll mention just few of my favourite illustrators:

Jenny M.'s beautiful pictures are full of love, playfulness and colours.
This picture is my favourite ever as it looks like portrait of me!
And I can't get enough of this 2010 calendar!
Oh, I'm so going to treat myself this Christmas :)
For more images see Jenny's flickr or visit her cute website.

Italian based illustrator Simona Sanfilippo would be my number one choice of children's book illustrator..
Her images are so friendly, relaxed and beautiful For more images visit Simona's website.

And last but not least- London based illustrator Kate Wilson. I love her birds SO much!

I just love her style and great sense for details! For more images see Kate's flickr or visit her website.

Well, I'm not an illustrator, I went from 2D into a 3D (I have a degree in sculpture) but I still adore illustrations, graphics and paintings so much.
But maybe when I grow up, I may be an illustrator as well....

Personalized touch

✿ A while ago I made these cats. I made about 15 of them but never put them for a sale on Etsy. They sat in my wooden box for about a year, occasionally I took them to a craft fair and sold one or 2. Then my Flickr photo album has been discovered by a 10 years old girl and she wanted 6 of them for her friends for her b'day party! I added personal touch- I embroidered names on a pockets and added little jingle bells. I'm glad these cats doesn't have to sit in the box anymore! And that 10 years old girl is my youngest customer so far :)))

✿ A few years ago I found a birthday brooch with a flower fairy and number 4. I loved that image but it has been loooong time ago when I was 4 so I added a simple sticker saying- 20 years ago (and next year I changed it to 21 years ago. Now I can add a quarter of century ago :))) ) But this gave me an idea to make personalized birthday badges.
This was made for my friend's 30th birthday:

And this one for another friend:

I offer these badges in my Etsy shop. All I need to know is the real age, the number/age shown on the badge and I do the maths :)

✿ Then I had an order for personalized Mr. Snail. It was for 1 year old boy called N. I always find gifts for boys more difficult to find and/or create. I wanted some simple ornament to stitch on the snail as a bow is too girly. But car and a rocket seems too big and too complicated to make. (See- for a girl: bow, heart, flower, butterfly... Simple!) So then I added a sherif style star with a big N and voila!


✿ Then I wanted to add a personal touch to this blog. I found great free templates and uploading wasn't that hard either. I made a copy of the old template (LUCKILY!!!!!!) then there was some warning that I'll loose some items- such as fb fan page, list of favourite links etc. I didn't care so I uploaded NEW template and it was DISASTER!!!!! All pictures were squashed, endless text as long as roll of toilet paper, half of my items on the right side were missing... Quick action and I uploaded my good old template back. But I lost my list of favourite links and blogs...
So. No personal touch to this blog :))

what a week!

So far I had fantastic and very creative week!

It started like this:

♥ Last minute calls and bookings and I'm attending 3 Christmas Fayres!
First Fair is on Sunday 22nd November at St. Peter's Catholic School, GU1 2TN from 12-4.
Second is on Saturday 28th- It's Godalming Town Day and the High Street will be closed to traffic and packet with stalls. Because of my last minute booking I'll be 'out of the high street'- in Angel Court. Still good!
And third fair will be at Barrow Hills School in Witley on Sunday 6th December from 2-4pm.
So if you're from around Guildford area come to say hello!

♥ Then friend of mine ordered 20 Christmas ornaments!


♥ My Vespa has been featured in Etsy treasury:


♥ Then I listed a limited offer of 10 ornaments on Esty and it sold within 24 hours!

(10 ornaments still available on Folksy, otherwise collections of 5 are available on both Esty and Folksy as well as individual items)

♥ And then I receive an email that my Christmas ornaments has been featured on Found on Folksy!

♥ Now I just checked Craftopolis and I'm featured in Etsy Holiday Guides!



♥ UPDATE. I just received a message that my Little Robin is featured on Designs by Vanessa.

I'm thrilled!

You should see me right now- I'm still all smiley and happy :)

Free worldwide shipping this weekend!

Because of this week postal strike here in the UK (yes, AGAIN!) I'm offering free WORLDWIDE shipping this weekend! It will start this friday 30th October until midnight 1st November 23:59 GMT :))

This strike is SO annoying!! One parcel I sent to Italy went missing, other arrived ripped off with missing stuff inside (to the same customer!!!) and I'm waiting almost 3 weeks for something from the US.

So this free shipping is something to cheer up :))

In my etsy shop I'm offering supply stuff, Christmas decorations (yes, already! I'm so organized this year :))))), very popular Vespa key chains and many many other stuff.

Some of my Christmas decoration:


Some of the supply stuff:



And I just received message from lovely Lynsey that my Green Vespa has been featured in Cuteable! \o/ Thank you Lynsey! x

maximalist

My mum doesn't throw away ANYTHING. She keeps EVERYTHING. She needs EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING can be used some point, sometime. And I got it from her. (btw my dad is also collector of absolutely everything!). So the house I grow up is FULL of stuff. But maybe one day you may NEED it. I'm not complaining- as I said, I'm the same. So my house I live in with my boyfriend is also full of stuff. Stuff which can be transferred into art, craft or something useful. Stuff which is old but I'm keeping it for its beauty. Stuff, which needs to be sold. Stuff, which needs to be taken to charity shop (one day, but before I do that I'll go through the bags again and will be pleased to find something 'useful'). I love minimalists' style. I love when the house looks spaceful, sorted, calm, basically- minimalist. But I can't do that!!!!!! I did try many times and I really can't do that! I did try to have one (yes- ONE) shelf with just 3 items on. A picture frame and 2 ornaments. It stayed like that only couple of hours! Soon more picture frames moved on. Oh, and those books looks great next to it. Oh and this goes well with it....etc, etc... I love all my stuff around me. I don't like stuff to be hidden in the cabinets (apart from my boyfriends' wires and cables as I find them very unattractive and messy) I like all my books to be displayed and seen. I would love kitchen, where everything is displayed on the shelves without doors!! I need to see all my stuff. My stuff makes me happy :) I'm definitely NOT a minimalist. I'm maximalist.


Here is a blanket made by my mum from leftover yarn (That yarn has been around for ages! ie-that bright and black yarn used to be my jumper in early 90's!!!!!!)




So this is a great example, how some of mum stuff been used. Unfortunately this doesn't happen too often ;)

And here is my room in my parents house. I don't live there over 9 years but still have my room with my stuff:



(sorry for the blurry photos!)

I'll show you photos of my current house some point (as I don't have many!!!). We moved here 6 months ago but here is still so much to do!!!! Unfortunately we are renting so choices of decor are very limited to white or magnolia (yuk!) + I can't have free hand as much as I would love to.

And I'm asking you my dear readers- are you minimalist or maximalist?
And- do you know any good website, blog, flickr group etc with indoor tips for transformation, room change, re- use tips etc?

self obsession

I just went through my Photo Booth and discovered over 500 photos- mainly of me!! Am I self obsessed? Am I poser??? Here are just few of them.....





I know I have glasses obsession. And don't tell anyone- none of the glasses on these photos have proper lenses. Just clear glass/plastic!

paper period

my latest items in my shop.
I was looking for a small bags for my seeds from my garden but everything I had seemed to be too big, too unpractical... so I made myself these cute bags.

My gardener bag made it into etsy treasury!!!!!! \o/
You can see the yummy treasury here.
(I'll add a picture of the treasury as soon as the treasury finnish).

and the winner is........

Sorry for the delay!!
Thank you all for taking part in my giveaway! Its been great to read what everyone has been up to this summer!

I'm glad to announce that the winner of this giveaway is number 10-Nicole!!





Congratulations!

Don't worry if you haven't won- I'll do another giveaway some point soon!

My reindeer and robin are available in my shop!

x x

My shop is OPEN!!!!!

my etsy shop is finally open and I am sooo excited! Some of the photos are still a bit dark- it's so difficult to use natural light here in grey and rainy england! So I am thinking of getting a light box. Do you have a light box? And are you happy with it? What kind of light box do you have? I may look on instructables for some DIY tips...

I would welcome any recommendations and tips about my shop!



and don't forget-my giveaway is extended to monday!

christmaaaaaas!

yep, christmas came early this year! Last year I have been traveling so didn't manage to do any christmas crafting so this year I started well early! I started to sew in July, I even took sewing with me to France and done some stitching while sunbathing beside the swimming pool (meanwhile children were splashing, dads on the bar and mums were reading Hello magazines).

And here are some of my latest items which will be available in my etsy shop from tomorrow!







(have you noticed, where the items are photographed?? yes! Inside the wooden box!!!! :o)) )
plus I have many many more designs waiting to be stitched and decorated.
I am sooo excited about my shop re-opening that I even dreamed about it!
And my giveaway is still running and is extended as I'm away this weekend! + I will add reindeer or robin(your choice) to my giveaway pack!

new banner!

you may have noticed that my banner changed! I was planning a update for ages but nothing seemed to be right, nice.... Until now!
I have also changed my etsy banner (well needed!!!!!!!!!!)

here are my old designs:
my first banner:
photos of recycled flowers. But it looked too cheap, too plastic....

my second banner was created in photoshop:
(you may remember this one as I had it there for most of the time) but now I think it was too pink, too curly, too not right...

and here are some of my other designs which didn't make it through:
too flat, too boring, too gray...

this one doesn't say much about me!

definitely bright and colourful but still not happy!

And here is my latest version which I am very happy about!!!
Ta daa!!!!!!
Here you can see whole page.

What do you think? Have I done the right decision?
p.s: my giveaway ends this friday! You still have a chance to enter!

A little birdie told me...

.... that it's the right time for a GIVEAWAY!

It has been a long time since my last giveaway and with the end of the summer, new school year and my esty shop re-opening is the right time to have another one!

Here is what you can win:





-a little sketchbook/notebook for your sketches and ideas and because it's back to school time
-flower buttons- from my new esty collection and because it's the end of the summer
-cat stickers- stickers are always handy and useful and because we are going to get a cat
-pack of mini felt squares- for your crafty projects and 'mini' because we have gnomes in our garden
-reindeer or robin- because they smell of lavender

All you have to do is leave a comment under this post about what you did this summer. Just tell me if you have been somewhere nice or someone nice visited you or you did something nice or something nice happened to you or.....

The deadline is on friday 4th September at midnight BST and I will pick the winner at random on saturday 5th! Anyone can enter- I'm happy to ship worldwide. Just make sure you leave your name/nickname and email (no anonymous please!) and come back on saturday to see if you have won!


UPDATE: I am away this weekend so this giveaway is extended to monday 7th September until midnight BST. + reindeer or robin from my christmas collection will be added to this pack- just let me know which one you prefer!

Good luck!
x x

gnomes in our garden!

One day I noticed a hole in the ground in our garden. Together with my boyfriend's kids we inspected it and all agreed that it must be a hole where gnomes live. And that was when the fun started.




Kids started to build a houses for them from twigs, moss and leaves, they spent hours building it, re-doing it as it kept collapsing, or it was too weak or it simply wasn't the right design.



On the second or third night the gnomes actually visited their new houses! We know as they have left a half eaten blackberry!!! That day the kids wrote a letter to them. In the evening they put it in the house and to their big surprise they found a reply in the morning!



To their even bigger surprise the gnomes don't use a standard alphabet but they wrote in code! The kids managed to solve the code letter and keep writing to them in their 'language'.



To this day the kids have managed to find out about gnomes:
-they come out in the night only
-they like blackberries and other berries
-they like salad but it musn't be left in their house as slugs manage to eat it before them
-they don't like slugs
-there live 6 gnomes in our garden but other close relatives live in other gardens, houses and local woods
-their names are: Trixie, Marsha, Pilbill, Bubulo, Finkle and Binkle
-Finkle is the messy one and wears red hat (he left it one night in the little house; it had a hole so Daisy fixed it for him)
-they had big feast on saturday 29th August (but we don't know the reason for that feast)
-they use brown paper, similar to "baking" paper for their letters
-one of them can't spell properly

Have you checked your garden, attic, cellar, sheds? Gnomes may live near you too!!!!

I love recycling, re-using, re-doing, re-designing, re-creating, re....

...and this is my latest project.
I got this cabinet on ebay for a bargain price of £5 (about 8 us dollars, about 5.50 euros, about 150 czech korunas).



then I sprayed it with with spray in a 'ice cream' shade, impatiently waited until it dries (almost) and patiently stick colourful self adhesive foil and here we go!





and then I found this lamp shape in a charity shop:



just perfect match with the new cabinet! :o)

Photos!!

ok. in past 3 days I have problems to write my blog and upload pictures :(((( you can see some images from USA and my latest creations in my Flickr photo album. x