100 followers giveaway

Lisette almost has 100 followers on her blog. If you start following her now by clicking her 'follow' button, you might just win 7,50 euro worh of shopping in her absolutely gorgeos shop. She has some fantastic handmade goods there.

So hop over to her blog. Unless you do not care about winning...

Sewing project #1. Pin cushion

Three weeks ago I lost my sewing machine virginity. By accident. That is how some virginities end.
Next day I went on the internet to find a used sewing machine for 25 euro's. That was my goal. Because I know myself. I can get very enthusiastic about something suddenly, and get over that enthusiasm even quicker. I can't help it. Blame my father for those genes.
I found a great machine. I think it weights 25 kilo's or something and was built in the 70's, but it works. And it was 25 euro. I have to make some day time pictures for you to understand exactly how old it is. It is mint green. That old. That perfect. Never in my life had cut fabric according to a pattern and put the pattern together with a machine. But last week I was jumping of joy over my 'new' machine and I looked up an easy to make pin cushion. Not realising that I would also need to learn a slipstitch. Thank you youtube.
The cushions might not yet be perfect, but to me they are. I enjoyed making it and it was so easy to do. I just think I might be ready for project number 2 this weekend.
Here's the pattern for the pincushion. And trust me...if I can do it, you can do it.

Celebrations

This is a little try-out I did a few weeks back. A friend gave me a box of Celebrations.
Did you recognise it? When the box was empty, I saw the round(ish) shape. And, I remembered the pack of various black fineliners by Faber-Castell (PITT artist pen) I bought in London.

I just had the box and the pens on my desk and every now and then I doodled a little.
And then one day it was full. Finished. And I actually think it turned out real well. Especially for a recycled candy box. If anybody at Mars reads this, you can buy this design. *Dreams on about making a living with making art*

Rice-paddy Art

Personally, I had never heard of or seen rice-paddy art before. Boyfriend knows what I like, so he forwarded an e-mail to me with these pictures.

This is when they plant the rice plants. Nothing special you'd think.

All ready to start growing.

And then it starts showing a little...

And a little more..

The colors are not ink or anything. Just different types of rice.

It needs a little more..

Fully grown and true art if you ask me.

Here's another example.

Napoleon in Inkadate, Japan.


And an up close picture from the ground. Apparently this started in 1993. I think it is really amazing.

Vase

I just spotted this very very very cool vase on PSikhouvanjou.


Too bad I was at the thrift store yesterday and did not see this photo earlier. I think that with a dinner-tray and some vintage and various small vases this would make a perfect table piece to put Dutch tulips in.


Something to remember for my next thrift store visit.

Memo Board for Jamy

After making this memo board for my niece Ashley, I started working on one for my 4 yo nephew Jamy. His room is jungle style as his best friend is 'meneer Aap' (mister Monkey in Dutch). I believe this camouflage board will fit his room perfectly. He's not a big crafting fan like his little sis, but that makes his drawings all the more special.


Jamy is the cutest little guy in my life. The most thankful and always in for a tight hug. Always smiling when you come in. He is a sweet kid who steals the heart if everyone.

National Compliments Day

Wisdom Cards - Affirmations - Louise Hay
Originally uploaded by JCT(Loves)Streisand*

Today is National Compliments Day over here in the Netherlands. Funny that somebody believes we need that. And actually, I think we do. But, I do not think giving a compliment is the hardest thing to do.

How well do you receive compliments?

For example. When someone tells you you are wearing great shoes! What do you say? Some would say: Oh well, bought them there and there for only that much. But why don't you try: They are great huh! Love them so much! Thanks!

Or when someone says you did a great job on something. Instead of bringing it down by saying it was nothing, why not try to receive the compliment, feel it, and say thank you?

I have been trying this myself for quite a few years now and let me tell you that it makes you grow. It is a form of accepting yourself, complimenting yourself by allowing to feel someones kind words and thanking them for the love. Not bringing yourself down by waving the friendly words away.

Allow yourself to let the compliment reach you. Reach your heart. Feel it. Live it.

Try it. And if you wish to share what it does to you, I'd love to hear it.

Beautiful Blogger Award

This pretty award was given to me by Lisette from LittleZ . Sweet!

There are a few rules to follow when receiving this award besides thanking the nice person who gave it to you and linking his/her blog. Now I have to post 7 facts about myself here. Boy oh boy. Here goes nothing.

1. Coffee and me. Love hate relationship. I always loved the smell of it, but I never liked the taste of it. Until I went to Italy. Rome. And boyfriend advised me to try a real cappuccino. That is when I embraced my enemy and never let go. I can't let go. It has me under control. I drink regular coffee now, black even. One cup in the morning, one at night after dinner. And if I skip one out of two...I get a terrible headache the next day. Took me ages to find that out. Where does the headache come from...

2. For years I am keeping a butterfly image with me. One day I wish to get it as a tattoo. Not soon though. I am waiting for the right moment to come..

3. I have no tattoos or piercings besides my ears. I used to have three rings in my right ear, but when I was 15 or so and in France on holiday my ear turned black and blue so I took them out and they never went back in. Not even sure I ever told boyfriend this now that I mention it.

4. I take a bath only once a week. On Sunday evening. And then to get in bed with clean sheets. Wow makes me feel like a princess.

5. I shower the other 6 days of the week. What did you think!?

6. Sometimes I think I have multiple personalities. They all blend in nicely.
During office hours I am a manager in Logistics for a worldwide trading company that is in the Fortune 500 private companies. Big shot huh!
At night and on weekends I either work on my 1,5 year old 'business' in teaching others to draw mandala's and help them to show what their subconsiousness is telling them in their drawings. I heal others through energy and I am clairvoyant. Can't help it, comes in the package.
In the itty bitty spare time left I am now trying out crafts. Oh and not to forget...I am trying to study creative therapy. But I must say that I haven't gotten around to that for a few months now. Not sure how come.

7. Boyfriend is a DJ and I am very VERY proud of him. People ask me how I hooked him up.. Trut me, I met him long before het got where he is now. And I plan to keep him in my life for many many more years than the 8 beautiful years we shared up to now.

I would like to give this award to the following 7 people now who's blogs I read randomly through my google reader.
Ittybittyinchies
Dutchhandmade
365 days of Vee
Just add water silly
PSikhouvanjou
Mamutopia
Paperfection

Eastern theme ATC

These ATC's were made for the Dutch ATC group on yahoo. The challenge was to make an ATC with an Eastern theme. I find the colors black, red and gold suit that theme best, so I tried to use only these 3 colors. On this first card I drew a small mandala on the left side of a statue of Buddha.

For this second card I used the other half of the Buddha statue face. Chinese new year is currently being celebrated and we are entering the year of the tiger. That inspired me to find the Chinese sign for that and to try and draw a tiger. Did you recognize it?

This third and last card is my drawing of a Chinese tree on a picture of a paper Chinese lantern.

I hope the ATC group will like them. Because look what I received in return! Beauties!

Swap-bot

When I announced on twitter that I found a new thing called swap-bot. I got a lot of: 'What's that!?' replies. Here you go: http://www.swap-bot.com/ I love snail mail, so I signed up. Meanwhile my first swap is a fact and I sent out the above in a package to the person that I was assigned to by the swap-bot. I had to send one handmade item (the memo board I made myself) and one purchased item (the matrushka fabric). My swap partner was very happy with the goodies.

Memo board for Ashley

1. Memoboard for Ashley, 2. Memoboard for Ashley, 3. Memoboard for Ashley

I made this memo board for my (almost 3yo) niece Ashley. She loves to draw and craft and now she has a very lady-like board to show her art on. Here's Ashley showing off het Carnaval mask.

Of course I am making my nephew a board as well, but I am waiting for the ribbon to arrive. It is going to be a camouflage board for his jungle bedroom. I'll show it off later when it's finished.

If you'd like a memo board like this, check out my Etsy or brand new DaWanda shop for details. I have some similar fabric and ribbon left to make you one.

Retro fabric shopping

Don't you just love it when you hit second hand gold?

Blending Blue free patterns and downloads

Not too long ago I wrote about winning a voucher from Little Z handmade. Lisette makes the prettiest things. And now she is sharing her patterns on the Blending Blue website. Personally I am totally in love with this Pencil cover. When I have enough courage, I will make it for myself one day. The problem is not her pattern, but my (lack of) sewing machine skills.

Oh...and Lisette is also to blame for my most recent addiction. She started a Dutch Group on swap-bot and now I am hooked. And happy!

Another swap-bot package!

My mailman (or woman, I don't know really) is busy these days. The second swap-bot package arrived today. I love these presents! Marjolijn made me this very pretty little notebook. I will use it to try out the art-journal thing that is hot right now. Although the pages are blank, Marjolijn made me a scrapbooking/cardmaking thingie on every page. She did not attach them so I can use them for my own crafts. How smart is that! And because Marjolijn said she does not read English, here's the Dutch translation to this post. Mijn postbode heeft het maar druk deze dagen. Het tweede swap-bot pakje kwam vandaag aan. Ik ben gek op deze kadootjes! Marjolein heeft dit heel mooi notitieboekje voor me gemaakt. Ik ga het gebruiken om een art-journal te maken wat zo hip is op dit moment. De pagina's zijn blanco, maar Marjolijn heeft een klein scrapbook/kaarten applicatie gemaakt voor me op iedere bladzijde. Die kan ik weer voor mijn eigen werkjes gebruiken. En ze zitten niet vast. Hoe handig is dat!

Tea time on swap-bot

My first international swap on swap-bot is a fact. Today I sent 10 teabags to the USA.

When I came home from work, the mailman already brought me the tea from Judith. I have to say I was surprised seeing that on an international swap, my package came from the Netherlands itself. Apparently the swap-bot does not make that difference when assigning partners. Because I love tea and try new teas, I hoped to receive the swap from abroad. But, on the bright side...if I like these teas, I can buy them more easily!
And another very positive note: I love the way Judith wrapped up the tea! What a clever and creative way. So this swap did inspire me for a next tea swap.

Now, if you'll excuse me, the water is boiling. Tea time!

Crafts market Sevilla

We have booked our holiday to Andalusia Spain. End May we are going on a fly-drive for 2 whole weeks. Sniffing culture, good food, great places and relaxation.

I signed up to a blog about Sevilla because that is one of the cities we will attend. But look what they have the rest of this month; a crafts market! Wish I was there already.

Heart ATC and swap-bot

Creativity is dangerous these days. It EATS up my time. I start something and get so lost in it that my days or nights are over before I know.

The truth? I love it! I love the flow, the passion I can put into these small projects. The heart-art you see here are ATC's I made. ATC is something I read about recently and I decided to give it a try.
An artist trading card (or ATC for short) is a tiny, original piece of art created with the intention of swapping or trading it with another artist, not selling it. The one rule an artist trading card must adhere to is the size. An ATC must be 2.5x3.5 inches or 64x89 mm. (source and more on ATC's here )

I will be taking pictures of my ATC's and upload them on Flickr here. These 3 hearts were made for a Dutch swap group. I am looking forward to receiving ATCs from other people now to get inspired for more creativity to eat my time.

Memo board project

As mentioned in my previous post with the felt heart, the actual project last Sunday was to make a memo board. Mine was not yet finished, but I put the ribbon and buttons on today.
I made this to hold the business cards I have from others who want to promote themself in my practice. There's a yoga teacher, 2 spiritual shops, a life coach, a beautician and myself of course.

I enjoyed making this board so much, I made 3 more and I intend to make many may more in the future. All sizes, all colors. Keep an eye on my Etsy shop if you want one.

Never too old to learn

Never in my life had I touched a sewing machine. I used to watch my mother work it when I was a child, but I do not think I will ever be able to make clothes myself.

Today two friends were over from the south of the Netherlands. We were in high school together and a few times a year we meet. Today we were going to make a memo board. We did...but mine is not yet finished, so more about that later.
My friend M. brought her sewing machine. And the box with buttons, thread and in that box were 2 felt hearts. As I am a reader of many many craft blogs, I immediately felt the urge to put the 2 together and stuff them. But...I never touched a sewing machine in my life. So, this was the opportunity to learn. My friend S. showed me how to do it and the above was the result. Not bad if I may say so myself! I stitched the ribbon on by hand later. But then I got excited...

I saw this little piece of fabric, cut a heart shape and stitched that on as well. So, now I have a problem. I think I liked doing this...a lot... anyone have a sewing machine for me?