Special Feature Friday: Art From Dreamland

Edition 15

Etsy is a great place to buy unique art from yet undiscovered artists. This week feature is Art From Dreamland whom sells custom portraits and illustrations. The name of this shop says everything about the items they are selling.

I have come across this shop several times now, and every-time I get taken by the wonderful style of drawing by the owner of the shop. The drawings are whimsical and give the impression of a magic world. The drawings could come straight from that children book you remember from when you where young. 

Some of the illustrations available are great for baby or kids rooms, they give a vibe of whimsical and simple happiness, and some of them are educational too! They will be a wonderful thing for your child to admire.

Art From Dreamland also does custom orders varying from wedding photo's to portraits. If you have a moment or a person that you would like to have illustrated, it can be done.
A massive amount of details make the illustrations look realistic, without loosing the feeling that this is indeed a portrait of a person or pet you care about.

  
As I said, I think these illustrations are children book worthy, and I sure hope to see them in that context one day! 

Special Feature Friday: Nikkimcl

Edition 15

Today's featured shop is nikkimcl, a wonderful shop that sells high quality hand made jewelry.
Browsing through this shop I notice that the items have a luxurious vibe.

This shop works mostly with high quality materials, like gemstones, pearls and crystal. The jewelry looks well made and sturdy, but is at the same time very elegant. Also I think the jewelry can be used for many occasions, weddings, parties and everyday live. It is always great to add some versatile jewelry to your collection!

I love these sophisticated green and gold wire wrapped earrings, the green beads are beautiful and work so well with the gold elements!

This wonderful necklace has a antique look, it looks very sturdy and at the same time elegant.
The blue color of the stone just springs out and will catch every-ones eyes!

Nikkimcl is situated in the US and ships world wide! There are over 170 items in this shop, so there is a lot more to discover.

Exclusively for the readers of this blog there is a Etsy discount code, you will get a 10% discount when you use this code: SECRETSALE10. The code is valid until the 15th of December 2013.

Special Feature Friday; House of Mark

Edition 14

Christmas is coming up fast! This weeks shop has some wonderful Christmas decorations.
The shop is called House Of Mark. It is run by Salpie and Karena, from California.

House of Mark only opened In October 2013, so it is a very new shop, with a fresh look at things.

In this shop we can mostly find home decorations, and very nice ones too!
The decorations are handmade and very festive. It is possible to have decorations made for a party your organize, whether it is your wedding, Christmas, Halloween, a birthday or any other special event. It is wonderful to be able to decorate with items made especially to your wishes. At the very least people will notice that a lot of care and thought went into the decoration of your home, but custom made decorations will also make a great conversation starter.


Now, because the holiday's are coming up I will show only holiday decorations today, but check out their shop for the other products, because some of them are great for any party.

This burlap banner is rustic and festive, It is sure to make any home look ready for the holidays!

Wreath's look great on front doors during the holidays, this particular one is very colorful. In the last couple of years I have seen a huge amount of Christmas ornaments in these colors in the shops.

The only thing that saddens me about this shop is that there is currently no shipping outside of the US. However, they explain in their shop policies that they hope to offer international shipping in the future, so patience does it!

Special Feature Friday: Afternoon owl designs.

Edition 13

In the last week it has gotten much colder outside. The mistral is blowing happily, and because of this the temperature has dropped. The mistral is a strong cold wind, it feels like it goes straight trough your clothes. At least it puts me in the Christmas mood. 

It seems like just a winter coat won't do with this weather! This week I came in touch with Rebecca from afternoon owl designs. Rebecca knits mostly scarfs. They are perfect for any cold weather, and at the same time they will make a great addition to your outfit.

The scarfs Rebecca knits look big, bulky and warm. Exactly what one needs when dealing with cold weather. The scarfs come in many colors and different shapes and sizes. For example the oatmeal infinity scarf as shown above. I see these more and more lately, and I can understand why they are popular. 

The color combination in this oversized infinity scarf is great, I never thought orange and blue could work so well together! 

Rebecca's scarves are unisex, witch means they can be worn by men and woman. I think these scarfs will make for great Christmas gifts! The scarves are made of chunky lamb wool and acrylic blend yarn. Especially wool is known to give a lot of warmth. It is one of the oldest materials for clothes used by mankind, and for good reasons too. All the scarves are designed by Rebecca herself. It is possible to request custom orders, witch is great if you would like something special, or maybe some different colors!

Handmade Monday, November 25.

November the 25th 2013 will be Handmade Monday. Now, I only heard about this a couple of weeks ago but the more I read about it, the more the idea speaks to me!

Last year a US family spent about $764 dollars on average per family, followed by Australia at $930 dollars per family, and a whopping average of $1000 dollars was spent per British family.

If only 20% of this money was spent on handmade items from small companies and artists, a sustainable, vibrant, creative and lucrative impulse for original craft and work would be created.

Handmade Monday is here to promote exactly this! Of course there are many big companies that sell wonderful gifts, but with buying a handmade item you are sure to receive something special and unique.

Shop owners and artists work hard to set up and run their own businesses, with high risk and often small returns. Even when everything goes right, it is still a huge amount of work. There are many little shops on the internet where every single thing was handmade with love and care. 

I know, handmade items are more expensive. Why would you buy a 25 dollar pillowcase when you can get one for 7 at that big store in town? And why would you spend that money on a handmade item if you can get it from a expensive brand?

I will tell you why;

What you get back for buying handmade is a product that you can't get in any store. Artists and crafters always work hard to improve their work. A lot of research is done before you can buy the items in the shops. A person running their own store often has years of experience, is highly motivated, and as said before, has worked really hard to get to the point where they are. They love to communicate with their clients, and what they want most is for their clients to be happy with their purchase. Handmade items are not mass produced and you are sure to have high quality item. No, you won't have a high brand item, people will not recognize your item as a Ralph Lauren cushion or a Tiffany&CO bracelet. But remember that these brands also mass produce their items, they might be expensive, but they are not truly unique. And your handmade item will be. This is great for you, but also great for anyone who will get a handmade Christmas or birthday gift!

Now, let's also think of the impact it would have on society when you decide to buy Handmade.

• You might help someone through college or university, many store owners sell because of this reason.
• You might help someone's daughter to have ballet classes, or someones son to go to soccer.
• If you buy handmade locally you will help your local businesses and economy.
• You might help a pensioner pay the rent, or a single mother pay for heating.
• Handmade items are made to last, you help the environment!
• There are many shops that recycle materials, also a great plus for the environment. 

These are just 6 examples, the list goes on forever! Really, buying Handmade will help many people.

You might have one reservation left: how can I trust a stranger on the internet to just send me these products after I paid for them? Well, here is great news; as a buyer you have a lot of rights. Websites like Etsy and DeWanda have strict policies for customers. After a purchase the shop has 45 days to get the items to the costumer. If this does not work out the buyer can open a claim and get their money back. This will also work with credit card companies and Paypal. There is really nothing scary about buying online from small businesses!

If you were never sure about buying handmade from small businesses, I hope I have helped you decide to go for it. Remember how positive it is to get your gifts and decorations from small businesses, either locally or from the internet. I am going to leave you with a link to a Facebook page about handmade Monday, here you can follow the latest news and updates. 

Have a great week and remember, Monday the 25th of November: Handmade Monday!

Special Feature Friday: NozomiCrafts

Edition 12

It has been a while! The last couple of weeks have been very busy. A good time for me because I made a few sales in the shop, and I had a large order for a friend.

Last time I wrote about a shop that sells mori styled clothes. This week I am going to stick to the kawaii a bit. A while back I came across a shop that sells needle velted items.
Of course these are all made by the owner of the shop herself! Witch makes them extra special.
The shop is called NozomiCrafts and has been opened since August 2011.

In the shop one can find wood animals, but also little cakes and macarons and adorable necklaces.
I am a absolute fan of these wonderful and adorable creatures!

This handmade jewelry is adorable, and I think it would fit in great with the cute Japanese styles like mori and lolita. It is great in detail as well!

All together this collection is very whimsical! The soft colors make the jewelry also usable for other clothing styles. All these pieces are unique and I think they are great eye catchers.

As you may know, I am a bird lover, and this owl has truly stole my heart. It is so cute in his little nest, he must be very cozy indeed!

The prices for all these items are great, I can imagine a lot of work goes in them, but they are very affordable! And, as said before, you will have a truly unique item!

I would advise you to go and visit the shop, because there are so much more wonderful items to see!
It was really hard to choose the two pictures, since they are all so wonderful!

Special feature Friday (on Saturday)

Edition 11

The last week has been extremely busy and as a result I did not get to write the Special Feature Friday for 2 weeks.
So this week we will have to do with a Special Feature Saturday.

Cold weather is coming up so I was browsing for some knitwear. Wilst browsing I came across a shop called Deadly Mori Girl I have a huge weakness for this style, it is cute just like I find lolita cute but not as over the top, and easier to wear in every day live. The styles are quite different but yet these two styles can be mixed very well! And one could still work with a lot of lace in the outfit, and of course, for me there is never too much lace.

This shop has many lovely clothing items perfect for Mori style, the light colors, knitwear, folksy lacy type of clothes.

 I am not a fan of green, but I love this teint of green,

  especially with the lace this makes a great piece!

The items look well made and very detailed! The materials used seem of a very high quality, with beautiful lace. This style is certainly great for this time of year as well. 

The only thing I would want to say about this shop is that I hope they will come with more items in the future, this shop has potential and I think there should be so much more!

I love this cardigan, the color is so pretty and it looks very soft and comfortable.

Special Feature Friday: French Baguette

Edition 10

I can't believe it is edition 10 already! There are so many lovely shops to choose from on Etsy!
Usually I search for a while before I decide witch shop to feature, but this time I found a shop real quick.
I love vintage and antiques and we all know that a great country to shop for unique pieces is France.

This week was my anniversary of my first year in France! unfortunately I did not get to see as many antique markets as I would have hoped for. But I did find this shop on Etsy.

It is called French Baguette and filled with lovely mainly French vintage items.

                           Isn't this just great? I can picture it in the most wonderful country kitchen!

Browsing trough this shop makes me wish I had a huge kitchen, I want it all! Wonderful enamel coffee and teapots, the cutest cups, ceramic container and plates, I could go on because there is way more.
They all breath that atmosphere of a wonderful warm kitchen with a delicious meal is cooking on the stove and cookies in the oven. Really, yet again I get hungry writing this blog!

Lets not forget about the tins, I just love vintage tins.

Of course this shop also sells items that are not kitchen related, but I would really suggest you go and check them out yourself. I think there are great things to be found for the collectors! 

Work in progress

When I am working on a project I do not like to clean up the items I need for crafting until it is finished.

This means that sometimes we have go go to bed with the house being a mess, and get up with a house being a mess. Since I have started working on the shop this has become an explosive problem.

Explosive because that is what the room looks like, as if a little bomb of crafting items just went off.

Usually you can find me somewhere in the middle of it, with a cold cup of tea and an old sandwich I forgot about. In my old house this was not much of a problem because I had a room for sewing.

In this house it is quite a problem because it is small, there is not much place to put things away, and of course I am not living here on my own but with Dear BoyFriend, who I will be calling DBF from now on.

I can't quite believe how patient DBF is with me, putting up with all my stuff day in and out, sometimes he decides we need to clean up, and then we do. but about 3 hours later it is back to being a mess. I think he is sweet for helping me clean up my crap in the first place.

So, something needs to change, I should start working on one project and then finish it, and not -as I am doing now- 5 projects at the same time. Or maybe I have to stick with two, because in the evening I work on different projects since I do not like to sew in the evening. Oh dear, there you go, as soon as I find a resolution I decide something to make that resolution useless in the first place.

So I should definitively work on getting my stuff organised better, after all this is a tiny house and we will be here for another 3 years. I will dream of having a sewing room for myself one day, but for now I am happy with what we have!

Special Feature Friday: Exclusively Pearls

Edition 9

This week in special feature friday Exclusively Pearls. Why you ask? well...don't we all love some pretty pearls?

This shop has a lovely collection of pearls, braclets mostly but also earrings.
The items are very classy indeed!

                    I love these pink pearls, they are classy yet the color makes them a bit more playful!

These are items for all occasions, fancy dinners, funerals, weddings. They would certainly do very well as a birthday or Christmas gift. (Really, we have to start thinking about Christmas because it is coming FAST)

                 Also these peacock pearls are gorgeous! I just love the glace of all the different colors over it. 

There are also items for girls in the shop, it must be great for any young girl to have her very own bracelet of pearls!

As usual for Etsy these items are handmade, witch always gives me the feeling of luxury.

This is a fairly new shop, but there feedback is all positive, and I do think these items are everlasting when it comes to style.

Christmas inventory

The end of September is nearing, and the list of things to do before Christmas is getting longer.

Along with gifts for family I am also making a lot of items for the shop this year.

I can hardly wait to see everything in the winter theme in the shop, but before that time arrives there is a lot to do. I have started with 3 patchwork pillowcases, using bits of fabrics I had left. 

Here is a little preview for one of the patchwork pillows, far from being finished though as I am planning on quilting the front.

I would love to tell more about the gifts I am making, but I cannot risk it, family might just read along ;)

All I can say is that it involves some knitting.

I might have mentioned before that I wanted to start crochet. This week I finished my first crochet ball, it took about 3 tries before it worked out well, that is with all the stitches on the right place and of course in the right amount. Especially ending with the right amount of stitches was difficult at first, but I get the idea now.

Cosmetically there is still a lot that I have to improve, but I am sure this will all come together eventually!

I have found some really nice patterns of a little owl, and I would love to make those!

However, with the busy season coming up I am not sure if I have time to work on the crochet any time soon.

Better be off to bed early, to be up and about on time tomorrow! 

Special Feature Friday: At Home Bistro

Edition 8

Did you know that Etsy is also a wonderful place for finding recipes?
And because it is such a wonderful international community there are many wonderful new foods to try out.
European, American, Asian, Indian, Mexican, Vegan, and so on.

I never before thought of purchasing recipes via Etsy, but I adore cooking books, and I have quite a few of them. But sometimes I like to try something out of witch I do not have a recipe. Of course there are many websites where one can find recipes for free, but these are not always accurate.
Therefore, Etsy is a great option for getting recipes, that are accurate, and not made up to accommodate the tastes of the country you live in, but actually taste as they should. For example, the average Chinese restaurant in The Netherlands does not make actual Chinese food, but rather a less tasteful version of the real thing, to make sure most of the Dutch people would like it. This makes sense for commercial shops because after all Chinese is very different from the Dutch cuisine, and when Chinese food first arrived in the Netherlands it was more important to sell then to be authentic. I am glad to say that more genuine Chinese restaurants are popping up throughout the Netherlands now.

At Home Bistro is the shop I ran into this week, this shop has quite a selection of wonderful foods, and the recipes are very easy to download after payment. The great thing about this is that you are able to work with them right away!

  Don't these cheese cake clouds look delicious?

  I would nearly lick my screen to get a taste of them!

This shop has a great varieties of recipes, desserts, cakes, soups, main courses and some traditional American dishes like meatloaf, cheesecake and marshmallow fluff cream.
Really, I dare you to go and have a look without wanting to eat something afterwards!
Another positive thing about buying your recipes like this is that you will only have to buy the ones you want to make, and you don't have to spend a fortune on a whole new cooking book.

 Could you resist this chocolate cake?
 I know I can't....

So, that is my message for this week, remember Etsy when you are searching for recipes, you will be surprised!

*edit*

After the shop owner of At Home Bistro heard of this blog she decided to give the readers of this blog a 15% discount! Use the code AISHA15 to get the discount when you want to purchase a recipe!

Special Feature Friday: SnapdragonToyCo

Edition 7

Next week is my dear nephews first birthday. Before he came along I never took notice of anything baby's might need, as cute as they are, it was never something I had to think about.
But, nowadays I have to check the baby clothes department of every store, and have a quick look in the window of the toy shop to see if there are any nice toys he might like.

I also started to pay more attention to baby toys on Etsy. My nephew seems to be very attracted by animals, if they move he has to look at them, and pet them in his own clumsy and still very uncoordinated way.

This week I found SnapdragonToyCo at Etsy, they make knitted animals, dolls and wooden children toys. Especially the wood animals caught my attention as they are so simple yet extremely cute.
Like this hedgehog for example;

I know it is wood, but it looks like it is worth it to give it a cuddle anyway!
The wood used is often solid maple wood, I find this a very pretty type of wood. The woods are finished with a bees wax. they make perfect save toys for children to play with, even when they want to stick it in their mouth. And, as it is wood, it will last forever and maybe one day even the child's own child or grand children might enjoy it just as much as their parents once did.
In my eyes there is no material more perfect for this as wood. With this shop it is also possible to request a custom made animal, just in case your favorite animal is not in the shop.

Vacation shopping

A better-late-then-never update about all the items I bought on my holiday!

As I said before, this year we went to the Netherlands and England on our holiday. Mostly to see family but there was plenty of time to do other things, for example, shop for my shop. In the Netherlands we went to this little quilt shop in Schagen, Aljona's stoffen. There I found some fabric in a peachy orange color, there where 3 types in one series, one had a tree and different kind of animals, it spelled "les amis de la forét" in the same series there was a fabric with foxes and one with branches and birds. The fabric came in a color I usually do not feel attracted to but this print was so cute, so I decided to get a fat quarter of each. However once I came home I felt like I should have bought more. I also bought 2 fabrics with a flower pattern.

We also went to Amsterdam where I got to go to 2 quilt shops, the first one, birdblocks, I have been there many times and often found a lot to buy, but unfortunately this time I only bought 2 Christmas fabrics. The other shop is called Dutchquilts, this shop is really quite special because they sell antique prints, Dutch but also others. It is really a nice shop to find some different kind of fabrics. Both shops are right next to each other, so if you visit Amsterdam it is really easy to visit them both!

The last quilting shop I visited was in England in Canterbury. I have been in Canterbury a few times before, and walked by the shop, The sewing shop , but I never went in. Well this time I did, and the shop is really cute. I was thrilled to find the fabric "Les amis de la forét" because at that time I really regretted that I did not buy more, so I took another fat quarter. I was especially happy with this shops selecion of Christmas fabric's, they already had a great selection, something I missed in the shops in the Netherlands.

As I would like to build a nice inventory with Christmas items this year, I need the fabric's early to get it done in time. So I was very happy to find a great selecion of winter fabric's in this shop. As well as some floral fabrics and a fabric called paint by numbers, this reminded me a lot of my childhood so I just had to take some. (but again, I should have bought more because it is a great print to work with!)

And then at last I found a shop in Weymouth where they sell wonderful beads, mostly semi precious stone.

I had a hard time finding semi precious stones in the shops, and it was great to find some here, I only took a little selection though because at this point there was not a single free spot left in the suitcase.

So, the holiday was a success, I am extremely happy with everything I bought. It was great to visit all these shops and I hope to be able to return to them again!

Vallon des Trésors

Special Feature Friday: MinkuLUL

Edition 6

We came back from holiday last week, we had a lovely time! Unfortunately I got ill so I did not get to do as much as I wanted this week.
From next week on I only have class in the morning though, so that leaves every afternoon to work!

For this weeks Special Feature Friday I choose a shop that sells the most beautiful hand painted silk scarves.
MinkuLUL has a great selection of scarves, painted in the most beautiful colors and designs.
The fabric used is silk, one of my favorite fabrics because it is so light and soft.

I can imagine it must be a lot of work to paint these scarves. They are so detailed I can imagine that a lot of love goes into making them.

I admire the craftsmanship that went into making these scarves! This is a great shop to remember for birthday and holiday gifts, I am quite sure everyone would be impressed with a silk scarf from this shop as a present. And of course, these scarves can be worn on many many occasions.

Shopping on holiday

Our holiday is going splendidly! I got to see my family and meet up with everyone. My darling nephew grew so fast, he is absolutely adorable. I was really glad to see him, and see all the new things he has learned. He just learned how to walk, whilst holding something or someone. It is adorable to see him wave, and it took a while but he got the hang of how to clap his hands as well. All very simple things but it is so much fun to watch a baby figure these things out. I am so glad to be up to date again!

And as planned, I got to go shopping for the shop, I visited about 3 quilt shops and the damage was substantial. I could not be more happy though, I just love shopping for fabrics and with the shop these experiences are only getting better.

So, a little preview of the fabrics, they are not yet washed or ironed since they are still in the suitcase for the second part of the trip, so please excuse me for the pictures being a bit messy.

It is August and time to start thinking of Christmas items, so I kept an eye out for Christmas themed fabrics and I have found quite a few nice ones, some very obviously Chrismassy (as we like to call something that looks like Christmas), and some a bit more subtle. I have a few more Christmas themed fabrics at home, and I think all together this can become a nice collection!

I fell in love with these fox and forest themed fabrics right away, they are so adorable, I now wonder why I have not bought more than a fat quarter of each. at first I was doubtful about the print because it is not a color I am usually attracted to, but the longer I look at it the more it starts to grow on me. Right now it is my favorite combination of all the fabrics I bought this week.

Owls, I love them, and I am so glad they are in the fashion, there are wonderful fabrics available with owls on them. this week I bought this fabric the owls look great and the color combination makes it appropriate for a baby room as well.

And at last the flowers, I always keep an eye out for flower fabrics, especially these are very detailed and very pretty, I went for blue and brown, mostly because it was very difficult to find another fabric in the right colors blue, but also because I thought the blue and brown looked like quite a match, and the colors in the raspberries are the same as the colors in the rose. 

So, my first week of holiday has been very fruitful! Thursday we will get on our way to the UK and I hope to find a couple more quilt shops there, I would still like some more Christmas fabrics and I really hope to walk into the fox and forest fabric's again. I also hope to find one or two bead shops, I checked out one bead shop in Amsterdam but was not greatly impressed by the assortment, so I did not buy much.

The last thing I would like to let you know that this week there will not be a Special Feature Friday. But I will make that up with you the week after, and take extra care of finding an extra nice Etsy shop to share!

Special Feature Friday: Millionbells

Edition 5

Earlier this week we finally went on our holiday, it is wonderful to meet up with family again!

However I nearly forgot about the Special Feature Friday, but luckily I remembered right in time.

Lately I have been looking at a lot of crochet patterns, at this moment I have not yet learned how to crochet but the patterns available are so incredibly cute! It is just a matter of time before my first try.
I hope to find a knitting and crochet shop this holiday so I can buy some supplies.

So this week I will feature Millionbells I have seen her a couple of times before on Etsy, this shop owner designs crochet patterns and after payment you will receive a PDF with instructions on how to make them.
The patterns are really cute, there are patterns for plush toy's but also for hot water bottles and egg cozy's.
(because the only thing to make a Sunday morning breakfast better is a cute egg cozy on you fresh warm egg)

The patterns are available in Dutch and English!

Special Feature Friday: HollyLollies

Edition 4

Last week I wrote about a shop selling food items made from polymer clay.
I'd like to stick to the theme a little while longer so I decided to write about a shop that sells real food items.

HollyLollies sells handmade lollies. The lollies come in different flavors and look very pretty! They truly look like real treats!

This shop is quite young but seems very promising. The owner makes all the lollies herself by hand.
They are made of pure sugar with no corn syrup added.
She used dried fruit, flowers and sprinkles for decoration, what makes the lollies look extra tasty.
It is possible to customize the order, so this would make great opportunity's for themed party's or holiday's.

All together these lollies look so wonderful with all the colors, it makes me feel happy!

Special Feature Friday: My Secret Cravings

Edition 3

This week I found this shop that made me feel very very hungry, not very weird because it is called My Secret Cravings and one thing is for sure, their items look delicious!

However, they are not for eating! The items in this shop are mostly made of polymere clay, and they are shaped in the most delicious foods we can imagine; Macarons, Ice creams,  Cookies or even a croissant with an egg or a nice cup of coffee! these items can be used as decoration, I can imagine they would be great for dolls houses. But some of them come as necklaces or earrings.
The miniature food is so detailed, I am quite amazed by it.

This shop is adorable! This shopowner also sells fabric covered button ponytail holders, wedding cake toppers and necklaces with owl pendants. I would say that checking out her shop is really worth it!

A day off

Today is my day off, our French teacher is on a holiday so no school on Tuesday.
Luckily there is enough to do! This weekend my parents in law are visiting so I will need to take some time to make the house a bit cleaner.

But then I will have an afternoon of me time!
At this moment I am working on Mars his new pants, it only needs the zipper, waistband and then it will be done. I will put the zipper in today for sure. Somehow I always like putting in the zipper, it gives me the feeling I am nearly done!

There are also 2 pillow fronts I have that need to be sewn into pillows, I am quite sure I can finish those today as well. Hopefully I will have time to take pictures of them right away!

The weather has cooled down quite a lot, it was about 36°C before the weekend. right now it is only 22°C  it is very refreshing, and it will make me more inclined to actually do some hard work, including ironing the fabrics.

In August we will be visiting family in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, I am making a list with shops where I can go to buy supplies, for every city I know we are going to I have some addresses  and I hope to be able to buy a lot of nice fabrics, lace, ribbon beads and metal findings!

Certainly looking forward to the trip, it has been 3 months since I have seen my nephew and I bet he changed a lot, another 2 months and he will turn 1. It is also grandma's birthday and I am happy we can be there. In England we will be visiting Mars his family, and Stonehenge, a place I wanted to see for a while now.
All in all, a lot of things to look forward too, but now it is time to get some actual work done!

Special Feature Friday: twentyseven27 soap

Edition 2

This week I have chosen twentyseven27 soap shop for the Special Feature Friday.

This shop owner makes soap out of goat milk. she uses raw goat milk, not from a can or package.
She adds oils her soaps for moisturizing. A big plus is that her soaps contain no parabens, SLS or Pthalates. This is a great extra especially for people with sensitive skin.
There is a range for people with dry skin.

Besides the fact that these soaps are made with proper goat milk and contain very little harsh ingredients they are also very pretty to look at. They come in many different colors and smells, and in the most beautiful swirls. The wrapping of the soaps has also been considered well, all in all they look like wonderful little gifts.

But it does not end with soap! This seller also sells body butters and laundry soap in her shop.
The laundry soap can be made in a scent you prefer, and if you have allergies she can take this in account!

Looking trough her shop I wish I could smell all the items personally, but I guess this is one thing the internet can't do.

New Tags!

Last week I ordered tags for in my fabric items, it seemed like tags where the only thing still missing.

We ordered from a webshop and they arrived super fast! 

I was working on a couple of pillows that only needed their button sewn on, but I was so enthusiastic about the tags that I decided to sew them in anyway.

It really feels like a finishing touch, even though the tags are mostly on the inside of the items, so they are not even visible. But it makes me extremely happy that they are there nonetheless!

Special feature Friday: TeaHeritage

Edition 1

From now on every Friday I will feature an Etsy shop that I like in my blog, one of witch I think it would be worth to have a look at. After all, there are so many shops that deserve more attention!

This week I ran into a shop called TeaHeritage, if you love tea like I do you will certainly appreciate it!

The seller makes personalized tea bags, they are wonderful for if you are organizing a high tea, or if you like to surprise your guests with something different.

The tea bags come in different shapes, and the tag will be in sinc with the theme of the bag.

This seller has a great eye for detail, and she ships worldwide!

The tea comes in different flavors, so there will be something for everyones taste!

New Fabrics

Last week I found a website with wonderful fabrics! It was very hard to choose but I ended up with 10 new fabrics. I tried to buy matching colors, but this is so difficult to do via the internet. I really like the combination of red and pink and I wanted some materials in those colors, when you order via the internet it is always a surprise until you actually get in in your mailbox, but I think I nailed it!

Also the blue and green colored fabrics will add some nice variety to my collection! I am especially in love with the bird prints, they are wonderfully detailed and so pretty in colour!

Today we went shopping to get some needed items for the house, but tomorrow I will have enough time to work with these fabrics!!

A small project I quickly want to share with you! I found these 2 fabrics on Etsy and fell in love with them right away. when they arrived I realized I had lace that went exactly with them color and style wise.

all together it had to become this pillowcase, and now I regret not having supplies to make more!

In August we will be travelling to the UK and the Netherlands, I will certainly keep my eyes open for this kind of fabric!

It is never too early for Christmas

Or that is my opinion at least! I usually start with Christmas items in August, and then I will make gifts and decorations for the house, when they are done I put them away until it is time to get out the lights and the tree.

This year I have decided I wanted to start a bit early, I would love to have a Christmas collection for the shop, but of course our house needs some extra decorations as well.

Because we moved last year I had to leave most of my decorations in storage in the Netherlands, and even though we had some really nice Christmas bits, there was a lot I missed.

For now I have started with a pillow case, with a star of different prints.

Christmas quilting fabrics are some of my favorite types of fabric's to shop for, whether it is for a gift or for myself, or as it is now, for the shop. It seems I have to go shopping soon, and get some new fabric's to freshen up the collection!

Etsy here I am!!!

Last Christmas I got the idea in my head about starting a little Etsy shop, it started out really small but soon it started to grow.

it grew fast! and the more I thought about it the more fun it seemed. making my crafts for other people to wear? I can think of a bigger honor.

So the work began, collecting supplies and building idea's, it was absolutely wonderful!

To start work on something, build its shape, add detail, it is great every single time.

Today is the day I opened the shop, it is extremely exiting and even a bit scary, but I am very happy it is open.

I do not have one style, there are many things I love, hairsticks for example, such a simple way of wearing your hair, but a hairstick with a pretty bead will alway's look great! and there are so many updo's!

I love to sew of course, so I had to have some sewn items, therefore I made pillowcases and aprons, there are so many things one can do with either of these items! 

And then I found a lace collar, I had to buy it without really knowing what to do with it.

But it did not take long and I decided to sew beads onto it, I wrote a blog about it a little while back.

Some of my inspirations are: Victorian era, Quilting, Long hair, Fantasy, Pin up, Lolita, Mori girl.

So, I declare the shop opened!

Here are the links to the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VallonDesTresors

And the actual shop on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/VallondesTresors?ref=si_shop

Come to have a look and let me know what you think!

If you want to help I will be very happy, sharing is the easiest way to go and the more people learning about the shop the better!

Hairsticks

A while back I wrote that I would love to be able to make my own hairsticks.
it took quite some research and testing but I have now made a pair I absolutely love!
I think the tops of the hairsticks are often the eye catches, so I went on Etsy and bought a pair of gorgeous blue beads.
they are so pretty to look at!

I made the stick in the right shape and painted them with pearl effect paint, and finished them with varnish.

starting with new projects like these take a lot of effort, to find out what materials to use, witch shapes and colors and what details are nice.

but it is a journey I always enjoy, for every new project.

Beads and Pearls

This week I started on a lace collar, I got some beads from my sister and thought they went so well with the color of the lace. I also have some little pearl beads who I will be sewing unto it as well.

the beads are tiny, only a little bit bigger than 1 mm. it takes a lot of work to sew them all on.

However, it is a nice thing to do in the evening, whilst watching some shows.

when the beads are attached I will sew it onto a piece of fabric so it can be used as a collar.

at this moment I have put about 4 hours work in them, I think I will need 4 more hours for attaching the beads. but, when it is done I will have something to be proud off! 

The first Hairsticks

Yesterday I finally started with my first hairsticks! I decided to test with paint first on a couple of sticks, so I bought a basecoat and paint from 2 different brands.The painting itself was not very hard, but it was good to try out. I found that I need to improve my techniques a bit since I have hardly any experience with paint.
I am happy about the results though.

I added the basecoat to all 3 sticks, the stick on the left I painted with purple acryl.
On the stick at the back I added a effect paint, it was supposed to be blue but turned out more like violet.
The stick on the right is the purple acryl with the effect paint over it.
That also became my favorite stick! the colors come out so pretty!

The effect paint takes long to dry, so I have to stay patient for a while longer, I will be able to add the finishing coat tomorrow evening, after that I will be able to test how the paint holds. I am certainly very curious to that!

Last week I was back in NL for a while and I bought a small amount of beads, mostly semi precious like Onyx, Amethyst and Jade. I can't wait to work with them but it makes me a bit nervous as well.

but, in the worst case scenario I can take them of a stick when it does not work and use them again.

English rose pillow front.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a ruler for on my sewing machine. 

I always found it quite difficult to make straight lines next to each other, but with this extra accessoire it is much more easy! At first I practiced on some leftover fabric, but soon after that I decided to try it out on a soon to be pillowcase. I love the effect, it is so simple but it adds a lot to it. 

About the fabric, I found it in a quilting shop last month, I fell in love right away.the colors are so soft, and the print is simply gorgeous! I think I would describe it as romantic.I would love to make a big quilt with this type of fabric.Prints with English roses always have my weakness I suppose.

Meanwhile I am working on some other projects as well, I found a picture of a gorgeous white summer dress. Of course it was impossible to find a pattern for it, so now I am trying to draw the pattern myself. Up till now that seems to be fine. but I know little problems will still be on the way!

I hope to get this dress ready for summer. the color is yet undecided though. The idea of white really speaks to me, but it is a long dress and I do not want it to become like a wedding dress.

someone said mint green would be nice, and I am certainly keeping that open as an option!

I also received some cute lace collars by mail this week, I have some idea's for them and I hope that will work out. More about that later!

Crane and Chrysanthum

yet again it has been a long time since my last post.

in September I became an auntie, the boy is 5 month's now and such a darling!

In October I moved to France, we had quite a busy time until December.
and in December we went on holiday to Canada.
It was wonderful! 2 weeks in Toronto. I had a great time.
we went to see the Niagara falls and the falls were very impressive.

Last week I found a place were they give free french lessons. there are 4 lessons a week each of 2 hours.
The teachers are retired elderly who volunteer,isn't it wonderful?
I will go there 3 lessons a week, and hopefully start speaking French faster!

Now things are finally settling down, I am done sewing curtains and making the house comfy.
and there is time again for my sewing.

Last week I got to make some pillow cases for on the couch.
We bought a Japanese print a few weeks ago, and I wanted pillow cases in the same theme.

They worked out so well! I still have to sew a button on the back though.

I saw a special sewing foot for quilting I would love to order. I have some great idea's for oven gloves.
Hopefully I get to order them next week, so I can get started next weekend.

I would also love to decorate my own hairsticks, at the moment I am looking for hairstick suppliers.
it is hard to find any in Europe, but I am sure they must be there. So, the search is on!