My Friday Night Outfit

Turquoise Lilac Bouquet by Fleurfatale
Elaina Leather bag by Ira Grant
Hard Shoes by Hearted Harlot
Mina Perhonen dutch
Mina Perhonen

Please, spring, do come soon!

Where to start?

I do hope the sun is coming through today. I have new designs to picture and I want them soon in my shop!
I finished and shipped my orders and right now I am working on two custom orders.
You can see a glimpse of them in picture the above and te picture below.


But now I have to put lots of time in boring stuff.
- Mostly filling up papers for my daughter with handicap: boring and stressing: one mistake and you can lose the fee you get from government.
- Making appointments to visit future schools for my eldest.
- House cleaning!!!! urgent!
And I guess I really haven't time for that,
but I also made a new running schedule! I want to run 3 times a week. This morning was a rainy run, but I enjoyed!

NOT made in China

Guess what an indecent proposal I got today. I have been contacted by a Chinese firm. They studied my designs and proposed to make large quantities of my stuff for a competitive price. They can deliver within a week...
Can you imagine tons of my designs necklaces travelling the ocean in one of those huge containers? (probably made by teenage Chinese girls for half a dime in doubting and unhealthy circumstances)
I - certainly - NOT!

More then ever I am convinced to thrift, recycle and repurpose and to make one of a kind or small series of designs, like I always have done...
I know, that way, I will never be rich, and I am not good in big bussiness, but I love what I do and it makes me happy!

So hereby I want to thank my sweet customers and my EST and Etsy friends who are supporting my small handmade business!
I have said :-)))


This said, I want to mention a proposal which I am much more into!
The Eco webshop Kudzu asked for a bunch of my cat brooches, but they liked them to be made with ecological woolroving.(they even gave me the website where I could find that woolroving) I do like these kind of proposals!! Kudzu rocks!

So I am very proud to announce that my felted creations will now be made with ecological woolroving. I am very happy about it. What a great way to reduce my ecological footstep ( and the one of my customers!.)



In the meantime you can already find my fabric earstuds at kudzu's.

Sugar and Spice

'Lucy Loves Spring' earrings in pure copper

I am in a candy mood lately!
Kiwi green and berry purple: yummie!!
I hope you like them too :-)
(click on the pictures to go to the shop)

.

'Lily Loves Spring' earrings in pure copper

'Julia Loves Spring' - earrings in pure copper

Little Spring Princess - earrings in pure brass

Be different

My 'Be different' collection is growing.
I am proud of them!
Did you know I already took photography classes when I was 12.
At that time I was convinced to become a famous photographer :-)
hm, things turned out a bit 'different' (wat's in a word :-))

But I am glad that my old skills pop up from time to time, and well, that is what I think, with a good result :-)

If you like them, you can find them here.

Monday Moodboard

Photo album by Nauli

Sinead Bag by Boopaloopa

Lovely Legs by Lauraamis

The peacock and folklore pitcher by Ninainvorm

If you want to create a moodboard of your favorite European Street Team Designs, make your mosaic and add a link to your blogpost (NOT your blog please) or Flickr in Mister Linky (click on the button below and fill in your name with the link to your blogpost or Flickr picture).

shop update: a bunch of cat brooches

Meet Jeanne, Luna, Picasso, Loulou and Camille,
find them here in my shop.

What the postman brought me

A while ago, a little cute bird came to keep us company. Quite dangerous with all those cats around here.... well, I must say, my cats are very friendly for the tiny little bird, he was accepted at first sight!

It is always so fun to open up a package and find some nice unexpected goodies!

A Fortune cookie!
And colorfull candy for the kids


Thanks so much Artmind for this lovely surprise!
You can find these birdies in Artminds shop among lots of other gorgeous ceramics or make a beautiful terrarium for them.

Magical candy

Yesterday I had a shopping afternoon with my two eldest girls.
And of course we just had to drop by at one of their (and my) fav shops.
I could not resist these old fashioned 'old Dutch' sweets there!

Everything at Hema is always so beautiful packed and designed. I am not surprised that there are so much talented designers in the Netherlands, I guess it's in the genes over there! (or is there a possibility I can be affected with the Dutch Design virus too, when eating these magical sweets) :-))))

Le fabuleux destin... d'un cravate en soie...

Every time I pay a visit to the local thriftshop, the big plastic box with thrownaway ties is filled to the top.
oooh, how I like to grab in it and sort out the real silk ones and the fake.
I can sort them just by the touch, can't describe how , but well, I guess you all know the tremendous softness of silk.

I am not a tie fan, well I mean on men, maybe that is why I fel on a man who never wears them, only when he really really has to!
luckily he as a job where 'not wearing a tie' is common :-)

So what is it that makes me liking ties so much.
the colortones
the patterns
te soft touch
the knowledge that I can make a brand new necklace out of it.
Every thrownaway tie deserves the right on a second life!


While grabbing and touching, I keep asking myself why people throw them away......
are these ties 'altmodish'...
are the wearers bored by them...
is it their wifes, who are deciding to clear out the wardrobes...
did the wearers of them die...

I remember a week after my father died, my mother began to empty the wardrobes.
Gosh, I was really shocked by that.
Some people save and cherish all kind of things from deceased loved ones. Especially clothes...
well I respect my mother doing that, it was her way of accepting my fathers death.

But now I am so pity my mother threw away the ties of my father, maybe my brother inherited some of them, my husband certainly not, as he does not wear them...
I am sure I would have enjoyed giving the old ties of my father a new life :-)

rTo be continued.....

Say Hello!

Say Hello to my new Cat brooches!
soon in my shop!

hearts of stone

I could not post this on 14 feb as we were busy gathering stones on the beach.
It was definitely 'Valentine day' that sunday on the beach :-))

thrifting on the beach

Hello everyone!
We are back from a long weekend in Ambleteuse near Boulogne.

We had a great time there, it was cold, but sunny,

We enjoyed some beautiful walks in the dunes and on the beach.

It was so funny to find out that my four kids also have my fever of collecting shells and stones and thrifted things on the beach
(so what is nature, what is nurture??:-)))
The fresh air did so very good to the six of us! I really had the feeling that spring was in the air, although there was soms snow left over on the dunes and it was never warmer then 2 degrees.
The sun was there and that was al we needed :)

Dikke Truiendag Warm Sweater Day

Doe je ook mee?

zet dan de verwarming een graadje lager en haal je dikke wollen trui van onder het stof :)

Vandaag is het al de 6de editie van Dikke Truiendag (ook in Nederland, kijk maar hier.) waarbij scholen aangemoedigd worden om de verwarming een graadje lager te zetten.

Ook winkels worden aangemoedigd om hun deuren niet te laten openstaan bij dit koud weer.

en waarom zou niet iedereen hieraan deelnemen?

Als je die dikke trui al nodig hebt, want een graadje minder verwarmen, merk je nauwelijks, maar het betekent wel 7% minder stookkosten en broeikasgassen.

(meer herover op de dikke truien website)

Today is warm sweater day in Belgium. Most of the schools put the heating down a bit and ask the kids to come to school with a thick warm sweater on. That way we can save a lot on energy costs and what is more: it's a lot better for the world!

So why don't you join us and put your heating a little lower and put on that thick winter sweater you have :)

My Creative workspace

Oh yes, I am still alive.
In fact I have an energy day! maybe because I had a good night?
maybe because I have a holiday in France before me?....
Anyway on an energy day I do lots of things,
have a look:
I wetfelted some new catheads.
still to be pimped with vintage buttons.

I paired these Japanese Garden earrings
They still have to be finished with sterling silver hooks.

...this will be necklaces to go with the Japanese Garden earrings.

and finally I dived in my big old wooden treasury box to find some nice balls of cotton , and I made beautiful color matches with it, for a custom order....

No, that was not all, there was some sun this afternoon so I could shoot some pics of new earrings! Soon in my shop!

Eco-logic

In het mooie Brugge bevindt zich het hoofdkwartier van een bijzondere webwinkel.
De webwinkel Kudzu verkoopt een ruim en mooi assortiment producten die bijdragen tot een beter leefmilieu: producten gemaakt van natuurlijke, gerecycleerde of recycleerbare materialen, producten die helpen energie besparen, producten die ons leven beter maken.
je vind er echt heel toffe spullen, voor groot en klein, voor huis, tuin en keuken, voor mannen en vrouwen :-) de moeite waard om eens te gaan browsen.


Zaakvoerders Millie en Valentijn willen met hun project aantonen dat ecologisch niet saai hoeft te zijn en dat er veel toffe alternatieven bestaan voor vervuilende producten.

en dus kregen mijn Pic Nic oorknopjes (gemaakt uit vintage stofjes) er ook een plaatsje! kijk maar eens hier. De voorraad is beperkt, je moet er dus snel bij zijn :-)

en ook nog leuk om te weten:

In februari wordt Kudzu één jaar! Om dat te vieren organiseren we een fotowedstrijd. Elke klant die ooit iets bij ons gekocht heeft of dat nog in de maand februari doet kan deelnemen. Het is de bedoeling dat u een originele foto maakt van een product dat u bij ons gekocht hebt. De winnaar krijgt een cadeaubon van 50 euro, de tweede prijs is een cadeaubon van 40 euro en de derde van 30 euro. De leukste inzendingen komen op onze site terecht. Alle inzendingen zijn welkom op info@kudzu.be. De wedstrijd loopt tot 28 februari.

Kudzu is a new Belgian Website (based in the historical centre of Bruges) with only ecological stuff, all products that are recycled, ecologic or recycable. Products for kids and adults, for kithcen , bath, house and garden.
The founders Mille and Valentijn want to prove that eological isn't boring and that there are lots of alternatives for poluting products.
My earstuds (from vintage fabrics) are now on sale on Kudzu too! Yay!

Monday Moodboard

Sorry for this late Moodboard,
I was occupied all morning with school contacts and therapy evaluation for Mies.
I feel tired now...
but oh, well, just focus on the good things, I sorted out a working method with a student who will help educating Mies.
And as the day started grey and still is smoggy, I feel for a lively colored moodboard!
Hello week, here we come!

Red stripe earrings by Vadjutka
Little Red Riding hood by queenNefertete
knitted macbook or Laptop sleeve by Martice
Fully Reversible Modern Everyday Canvas Across the Shoulder Bag Handbag by thebagshop