Hola!

The sun came out! unbelievable!!! we are in shock!
We have been busy these past few days. Yesterday we had again a very lavish, super top-chic wedding and as I drunk my champagne and ate some shrimp I wondered why, oh why do people spend so much money in this instead of travelling... well, I don't care anymore as long as they keep inviting me to help them spend that money!

In addition, Mr Husband decided to join a race here in The Netherlands, which was actually a tour, not a race... nobody won...ok. Then, 2000 people joined to bike 120km in a very hot day..."touring" the southern part of The Netherlands and into Belgium and back to NL. I gave him my words of encouragement but refused to spend 5 hours on a bike. How do their butts resist that!

We picked the first apples off of our trees


...and I have been working on some drawings. I've been asked a couple of times if I didn't have ACEOs or just prints of my birds and flowers and to tell you the truth I didn't have anything done, however, I always sketch everything in paper so I did have stuff to start with. I've been "discussing" with our scanner which doesn't seem to want to do what I ask him to, and also been trying different papers... any suggestions? what is the best for prints?

Here are some starters:




I have some new bags too, which I still have to photograph.

My "Bug View" hand painted tile was chosen at Smidge! as the Reader's Choice a few days ago, if you want to check it out. ...and that was it... Im going to what will probably be the last BBQ of the summer in a few hours, so I have to go get ready.

Hope everyone is allright on that other side!

Some more canvas bags

I hope you got a chance to read the article that I sent to the Dawanda Shopping Directory blog. It is still here if you want to take a look.
My first thought when I started to paint this canvas bags was to make something fun for myself and... be green. I try to use as few plastic bags as possible. And reuse the ones I already have.
So, doing an easy thing such as bringing my own bags to the market or supermarket... is not that difficult. I don't know in other countries, but here in The Netherlands bags at the supermarket cos 0,10euros a piece. And you use them once and then throw them away...so you throw away your money as well.
Canvas bags seemed like a nice idea... durable, strong and painted... also fun!
The smaller version (21x25cm) is just cute. I don't think you could fit your shopping there, unless you buy at a miniature store... but you can use it to take your keys, money, cell phone... the few essentials of modern life!
I made a few too which were used as the gift which held more gifts inside, others for little girls' essentials...whichever those are! :) The latest were a whole bunch made as souvenirs for a little girls birthday pijama party. Cool uh?

Anyway, Im already thinking of some designs for autumn/winter ...but here are some new bags I made last week: handpainted, with fabric details, with beads and hand embroidery.

this one you've seen before...


With fabrics and hand embroidery:


the wings are handpainted and with a fabric detail. The trail bellow has beads:


My kid is still a bit sick (ear infection...both ears!) so artsy life is a bit on hold. Im backing... why is it that when someone is sick I bake??? weird... coco muffins and chocolate cake... It's gray outside so a nice cup of tea with chocolate cake ...is quite fitting.

Shopping List Saturday

Hello all! Here we are again... I'm a bit late with this saturday's list basically because... errr... I hadn't realized it was saturday. Yeah, a bit lost.

Two more weeks or so and Im going back to my ceramics classes. I can not wait. I was looking forward to playing with clay this vacations but in fact I didnt manage to do one single piece. I didnt even take the clay out of it's bag. Sad. But instead I've been drawing and making lots of sketches that later become really difficult to understand and explain to my teacher. Imagine trying to explain this 3D object you want to make, starting off by this 2D poor sketch...do all that in another language! I can see my teacher's face already... what?

Anyway, so my list today has to do with ceramics... things I've seen in Etsy and reaaaaaally like.


We have here... from top left:

Zsuzsi vase in persimmon orange by Oneblackbird

Cream and Green bowls by Happylake

Pea pod mug by Branch Designs

Green Bowls by Lois Aronow Porcelain

(I apologise for the fonts, going crazy again and I can not fix them... sorry!)

The colors and textures are fantastic! I really like these and their shops are packed with more beauties... It is naturally my taste, but I find it so special to sip my morning tea in a ceramic or porcelain cup, or eat from hand made bowls and plates... they just feel different. Maybe Im just a bit nostalgic for one of a kind pieces instead of cheap by the million exactly the same plates. Oh well...

That is for me for this week!
Remember to check Justinas blog On my perch today! Im front page and central! And sign up for the give away!!!!

Have a nice weekend!

Mariana

heads up!

Hello all... Im sorry my posts lately are a bit... telegram like... a few lines. STOP. Whatever happened to telegrams... they were fun to write and receive... I guess the email made them obsolete.
Anyways, these past few days we've had a little health crisis with my kid. Nothing serious... well, I thought it was. If you wake up one morning and your kid has blood coming out of his ear...yeah... kinda serious I'd say. When the doctor refuses to see you because "it isnt and emergency, stay home" it becomes more than just an ear infection, it becomes something scary because you don't feel very protected.
Two years old my kid, how long can it take you to take that little instrument and look into his ear to see that there is nothing wrong? How can you make a diagnose over the phone, and not even the doctor... an assistant?
So it just got a bit exhacerbated by a divergence of treatment manners which could also be reduced, once more, to a cultural difference. Believe me, being an immigrant is not a whole lotta fun sometimes. And before someone with a touch of foreign-phobia says something like go back to your own country, I say... I would If I could... Im here because of love, nothing else.

Anyway... very uplifting right?? Sorry.
Here is something more interesting and worth taking a look at.
Today, a short article I wrote for the DaWanda shopping directory blog which can be read here, was published. Thanks to Sara from Sara's Crafts of Texture, the editor and all around headmistress, for her help and patience with me, again.

And also, I've been choosen Smidger of the week at the great Smidge site. There is a little article written about me and the products. If you are looking for a nice place where to promote your work, meet other crafters, share stories and dicover new stuff... Smidge is a good place where to go.


This saturday August 23rd (almost the end of the month again!) I will be featured in a great blog run by Justinas (who must be a very just and fair woman considering the latin origin and meaning of her name). The blog is called On my perch, go take a look. The even greater news is that she has organized and will present that day a give away, and this little handpainted canvas bag will be the prize!


I will remind you on saturday, but go read her blog, discover new designers and crafters!

ok, that is it for now!!!!

Hope everyone is ok.

Click click on all those links :)

On my desk, wednesday

Seriously... wednesday again??

On my desk a couple of bags I just finished and listed in my shop in DaWanda



The middle one is listed also as part of the "August-Orangerie" promo, which means that it is just the price of the bag what you pay, no shipping costs!


Im still trying to figure the whole sewing machine thing out... I made another bag... this one to sort socks in my drawers (never too tidy)...



And that was it... that was today on my desk...

ciao!

hey!

Look look! I was featured in a treasury...yaaaay me.


It's the centre of this handfelted brooch:



Im a bit short for words today... I know, unbelievable! I have many things to do, many ideas in my head, and I have been so busy with other things ...haven 't done anything of what i wanted to do. And that makes me angry... having ideas and projects in my head that I can't materialize because ...I have to do the groceries, for instance, makes me mad. Domestic life gets in the way and I wish a day could have many more hours.

Anyway... I have to go. Until tomorrow!

Still here

Im not gone. I haven't forgotten... it is just that I have been a bit concentrated on this sewing machine business. Learning by trial and error can be fun and helps to develope your creativity, inteligence, etc... but it can be such a pain from time to time... like when the machine doesn't do what I want... who says we humans control machines??

On the other hand it is also harvesting time... broccoli, carrots, more strawberries...and since we can't eat it all at once, we have to wash, cut, freeze...




On the other hand it is also time for making jam... peach jam...


And peach crumble...


So yeah, basically, we've been eating a lot these past days... as always.
But hey! I also did some stuff. I made a large lap of white felt using some merino tops, and then combined it with some canvas type fabric. Cotton but thicker, don't know the name... and came up with this:



And then I tried this pattern to make a box type bag... you can't really tell by the picture... but it is box-ish! :)




And... recycle recycle... never throw away... with the fabric scraps, those bits one ussually end up on the floor... a flower with unidentified use yet: brooch, corsage, just simple adornment of a bag or... something!



Next week news coming about a "give away" which will be hosted by another blog. What will be given away is this bag I painted specially for this ocassion:


But that is for next week.
Hope you all have a nice sunday!

On my desk wednesday!

Yes, wednesday again. Unbelievable. Where did the week go we all ask ourselves... week after week. Nobody knows... but it is half way gone for sure.

But it is the time of the week to shop what's on my desk.
If it is too warm, I ussually don't feel like felting because...you know... wool, sun... it just feels too warm. Plus, considering the little sun we get around here, if it is sunny outside...I am outside as well.
But these apst few days it has been horrible. Warm/cold/rainny/sunny. So I've been inside and I went to check on my stash of wool, see if it is still there, and got the urge of wetfelting a bag.

I did that, and now I am working on some embellishments and ...I have to figure out how is it that Im going to hang it from my shoulders.




But all of this happens while we are harvesting from our garden before it is too late, and turning about 2 kilos of peaches into yummy jam.



So, we are pretty busy these days.
How is everyone doing over there, on the other side of the screen?

oh, sun again... going outside! bye!

A look around DaWanda's shops V

Hello everyone. I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. I had a wedding which took place last weekend in a castle... all very glamorous and chic. My husband and I, not very fond of grand displays of wealth, kept repeating ourselves "with the amount of money they are spending here this weekend, I would quit my job and travel and travel... ". Some people just rather have a majestic "most important day of their lives" (which is super ironic considering that according to statistics 45% of them will end up hating this day within the first 10 yrs of their marriage, and divorce...no, Im not a cynic. Just... saying).

:)

Anyway...but the thing is that we weren't that far away from the ocean, and yet we couldn't travel to it.
You see, I grew up by the ocean and now that I live inland, I miss it terrible. The big waves, swimming, walking, open spaces, black sand, sea lions looking above the waves to check on people, parrots, seagulls, whales, orcas and the rest. The good thing about living next to the ocean is that you get to eat lots of fish and sea food. YUM. So, I went looking for fishes in Dawanda...

...and i found, of cours, Anna's fishes in her shop, HalfanAcre:


I really like these fishes. Colorful, great patterns on them and the colors are great. Vibrant...very summery. I would have included them in this summer thingy going on in Dawanda. They would definetely liven up any house indoors or outdoors.

Then I found, by Glasprimitif this great "Oriental Fish", painted silk to bring you good luck:


Fabulous colors again. I admire anyone who can paint on silk and have such great results. Did not work with me ...

In Maggiejo's shop I found this great set of pendant and earrings of enamelled copper.

I just love the colors and the texture. I am so very intrigued about this technique. It's in my list of "to dos".

And last, but not least, from Portugal, a great pot stand in olive wood by Alentejoazul :


I love olive wood (olive oil, olives, the shadow of an olive tree, the memories of picking olives in summer...etc). The grain is so pretty and comes so much alive! This shop has great kitchen ware also in wood...


So, those are the fishes. What do you think?
Got any fishes to shop, want to put them up here in this post? send me a pic! The contact button is there on my website: Florcita


It's monday so...have a nice week!

Birdland bag

A week or so ago I made this post about the new line of handpainted/collage canvas bags that were coming to my shop. Then, Ruth, the brain, hands.... everything! behind Birdland Creations asked me to paint a bag with the logo of her shop.
I like custom orders because it is something new, you have the chance to talk and get to know a bit the person behind the shop...and it is ussually a nice experience. A challenge.
So, I set out to do it.

I printed the logo in A3 size and then tried to copy it onto the bag as acquaretely as possible. There is no making mistakes here or you have to throw away the bag and start again with a new one.






Then it was time to start painting. I mixed some yellow and red for the orange flower and beak... only I mixed too much! I don't like throwing away. I hate wasting materials... and there was so much paint left! ... quick! I thought, grab another bag and paint something else.











...the "paralel" bag. Some tulips.









The finished bag:


And the little (21x25cm) tulip bag:


This was fun, really, it was. I started to get all sort of ideas whilst painting this bag for Ruth. And I'm glad that she likes it too!

On my desk, wednesday

Running running running all day. Too many things to do, so little time.
Our garden has exploded with this tropical weather we are having in The Netherlands... rain, sun, rain, sun. Plants grow like crazy. And yesterday, first dry day in....weeks, we went out and put some order there. You know how plants are...when you aren't looking everything gets out of control. And, our friends the moles came back, so we have nice mountains all over the garden. Great for plants (the tunnels they make give air to the soil) not so good for the gardener...us.

But, in keeping with the garden theme, this is what I was working on today (I started it months ago!):


Iit's a flower garden... sort of a bug view. Quite similar (or style like) a few handpainted tiles I made a month or so ago:




Anyway... is it wednesday already???? wow. Gotta go...

New old machine

A few months ago I received as a gift, a very old sewing machine. The neighbour of a friend of mine, a very old lady, was moving away and she wanted to get rid of this machine she hasn't use in... decades. It is actually a machine from the 60s. Old.
I have absolutely no clue about machine sewing. The little sewing I have done in my life has always been done by hand. I always wanted to learn and never had anybody to teach me (my grandma refused because since I was going to University to study big things, what was the point of learning how to sew... that was her reasoning which I still don't get).
I had that machine laying around (like everything, in the living room) until a few days ago I finnally sat my mother in law in front of it and gave a command: "make it sew!". No, not really or I wouldn't be alive now.
She sat there and patiently showed me the laberynth the thread has to follow, through loops and holes and little needle eyes. The secret thread underneath...aaaaha! so that is how it works! I didn't know about it!!! And all sort of things. And she said... ok. Sew. That was a command. And I folded a piece of fabric and stepped on the pedal... and I haven't stopped since.
No, not a pro yet (or ever)... not by chance. Buuuuut, just to make myself learn, I decided to make two little bags to take as a present to a play date with my kid. We were going to visit girls, so... little bags I made:



And then I got excited by the results (hey, pretty darn good for a first timer!) and made a combined bag, two different fabrics... and lining!!!!




Wait wait... that is not all... I do work with hand made felt after all, don't I... I made a few laps of felt and then tried them on the machine... shouldn't be so thick next time. I tried that "free hand sewing' thing... kinda fun!

(two different shades of green merino and some linen fibers)



(beige merino -black in the front- and those stripes are silky lint).


Not fully satisfied, after all I am in experimentation phase, I went and downloaded a bunch of free patterns from Amy Buttler..........pffffffffffff.... not only is everything in inches (ok, I could do the math...could...maybe...); but I think...nonono... Im sure that that is a complete other league. Delusional, moi???? naaah.
So back to simple.
I harvested some lavender from my garden yesterday, so this morning I made small little sachets with fabric scraps, stuffed them with lavender and put them around in my drawers. My drawers, because my husband can not imagine his socks smelling like lavender. I made extra small sachets to include in the packages sent to customers.


And last... recycle, recycle, recycle.... nothing gets thrown away: a multi-scrap sachet.



This should provide enough reading for the rest of the week...hahaha...
Have a nice monday!

Saturday's shopping list 2

Is it saturday again?? sure?? where did the week go... what did I do this whole week??? For some reason I get the feeling that I spent a lot of time in the supermarket this week...or at least I went too often. Do we eat that much...? apparently.
Well, since I spent all my money in food, my saturday's shopping list has gone from 13 items to...4. Yeah, drastic cuts in the budget :) I actually wanted 6 but Flickr won't cooperate, so it's just 4.

This saturday's list theme is Flowers!

From top left:

Flower brooch by woolyfabulous

Girl and Flower print by Lilypang

Mini cherry Blossom earrings by Jorgensenstudio

Regency Necklet - a textile necklace and bracelet in one by Fancypicnic

I love all of those items. It is a short list but a quality one!
Hope you enjoy it too! Do click on the links and visit the shops...

Have a nice weekend!

Well, the links are all weird...but they wont fix. Since it's too warm to discuss with blogspot... and the links do work, I 'll just leave it like this!