vacation la balcono

we had a lovely time last weekend...

we soaked up some sun,

read dutch magazines,

and enjoyed being lazy.

we opened our red parasol,

enjoyed the blue sky

and drank fresh orange juice.

it felt like back home in the tropics. ♥

on other news,

please visit Wifely Steps, Toni has a special series of wifely steps posts from her

blogger friends. today's post is the 4th from a series of 7.

{ the guest blogger is me! }

please drop by and wish Toni & Husby a happy 7th wedding anniversary!


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oops, please don't miss the giveaway on my previous post! ♥

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craft corps book giveaway

so this morning i got a wonderful surprise from the post.
my craft corps book arrived!

so what is this book all about?

"Through a series of insightful and often humorous interviews, designer, TV host and writer Vickie Howell gets to the bottom of how 30 influential designers and 60 every-day extraordinary people are taking part in creating and living the new, American Dream. Craft Corps is more than celebrating craft; it is about creating your life through the shift in career possibilities, making a living doing what you truly love, and celebrating individual creativity in a fast-paced, electronic world. It is an ever-growing community of people that flourishes online, both locally and globally. Craft Corps is a book, a blog, a community, a movement."

and what made me so excited about it?

because i'm in it! ♥
i'm one of the 60 crafter profiles included in the book. 
to say i am delighted would be an understatement, i'm absolutely thrilled to the moon! 
Thank you so much Vickie for the wonderful opportunity to be part of it! ^-^

so to celebrate, and to share to you this wonderful, inspiring book from Vickie Howell, 
i'm giving away one copy to one lucky reader. 
if you'd like to join, please leave a comment to qualify for the giveaway. 
you may share a story as well of a time when you made something for someone. 

giveaway will run until Thursday of next week, 3rd of June. 
will announce the random winner on Friday, 4 June 2010. 
winner must contact me within two weeks for his/her postal address, 
otherwise i would have to draw another one.

please share this post to your friends or on your blogs! 

thank you, and have a marvelous week!

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are you a crafter? do you love creating? 
join the craft corps community! submit your story by clicking on the widget below:

Trade Secrets

Hello there! I'm guest blogging for Etsy Ireland today!

I have always loved sending snail mails as much as receiving them, since grade school in fact. I love the handwritten notes, the stationery specially picked for me, and the enclosed little surprises like an odd sticker, an old postcard, a bookmark with a beautiful quote, a comic strip torn from the paper, a photograph. I know the feeling of receiving something unexpected, and how it makes a simple letter even more meaningful. From these feelings so vividly tucked in my memory I have sent out every package from my shop. Regardless of the amount of the item purchased, packages big and small were all carefully and lovingly wrapped from my home. The reason I do it is simply because I love doing it. Packaging is definitely my most favorite part of shop-keeping.

Which brings me to my trade secret #1 : Business Cards

I always enclose a Thank You card in all of my packages in the form of these postcards. There's a pretty space at the back where I can write my handwritten notes as well. These lovelies I got for free from Vistaprint . For free, yes. I can pick the design from hundreds in their library and customize the texts for my business and only pay for VAT and shipping. For a small fee, I can upload my own photos and designs and voila, my very own unique postcards. I also have return address stickers and rubber stamps availed for free from them!

The gift tag used here is from an old set of free business cards from Vistaprint   which contained my mailing address. When we moved, I felt so stupid for having my address printed on the cards and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away because the material was very good and I love its design. Then a bright idea hit me...gift tag punch of course!

That little tag is still from the same business card with my shop name beautifully printed on the upper corner. A scissor and a hole punch transformed it into a cute gift tag. I love it when nothing gets wasted.


Handmade cards and notes for shop customers are still the best way to do it, but as your shop gets busier, it's handy to have something cute and ready-made for you to grab and write on.

Trade Secret #2: my favorite shops

This is definitely my favorite online shop here in Ireland. Cara Craft Supplies is my source for punches, cutters, and other crafting tools. The delivery is super fast too, and their prices are very competitive. I always shop around for good deals, and all things considered - shipping fee, customer service - they're my best choice.

And finally, my favorite brick and mortar shop in all of Dublin. Ritzy Rags is a charity shop of the Friends of the Elderly and they stock beautiful vintage clothes, linens, shoes and bric-a-bracs, and unlike the rest of the charity shops around Dublin, theirs are mostly, if not all, from France. The items you'll randomly find are very unique and it's one of the secret jaunts of costume designers and young design students. Thing is, you'll have to drop by week after week because you just never know when's a good thing coming in the racks and shelves. 

spending and saving

At a time like this when most parts of the world are still in financial crisis, people's attitudes and spending habits change. They tend to become more creative with how they manage their finances to stretch their paycheck and get the most value out of it. In doing so, they can set aside  something for their savings and still afford the little luxuries in life, from giving presents to a bit of shopping. 

Our custom at home is not to buy expensive presents for each other, always the simple and thoughtful presents top the marks especially if it came with a sweet card. Presents doesn't have to be expensive, there are lots of simple but thoughtful ideas to be had online. With a little bit of creativity and attentiveness, customized t-shirts make great gifts. You can have full control over your design, and yet save yourself from the technical details of printing it yourself. If the celebrant is a soccer enthusiast (hello South Africa, World Cup 2010!), this year is perfect for the coolest soccer t-shirts.

Another creative way of managing expenses is by shopping around for coupons and discounts. This is very common in the Dutch culture as well (korting, aanbieding), and we used to get loads of flyers of them in our mailbox in Amsterdam. I have to admit this has rubbed off on me, and I'm really proud of the huge savings I now make so effortlessly. Recently I got my set of crystal champagne flutes from the coupons I have collected in my local grocery. Sweet! For online shopping, check out Savings.com for free online coupons.

Share your spending and saving tips, I'd love to hear from you!

the craft room

hello there, welcome to my craft room once again!

i had to re-arrange this room recently because we had guests coming, therefore i had to make some space so they can at least move around our only spare bedroom. it's quite a challenge to tidy up when you have hoarded loads of stuff crap and you only have half a small bedroom to manage along with. after a week of dragging furniture around this tiny space, i finally settled on this arrangement. and i'm loving it! my tools are close at hand, my supplies on both my sides and it's very nice when i can find everything in its own place when i need it.

1. tissue paper for wrapping shop orders
2. packing area - holds my thank you cards, adhesive tapes, scissors & a roll of baker's twine
3. chest of drawers holding stocks of glassine bags, cello bags and rolls of baker's twines
4. tins and boxes holding ribbons and sewing notions
5. stocks of deco tapes and paper washi tapes for my supplies shop
6.  more shop inventories, some WIPs waiting patiently for their final packaging
7.  baskets of yarn and fresh lavender for a new project
8.  my sewing/daydreaming/writing table. also holds my basket of outgoing posts and more craft supplies.

this window lets in a flood of natural light, so it's perfect for working with my sewing machine, or writing thank you notes, or for sitting around with my cup of coffee in the afternoon.

this bookcase used to sit in our bedroom and i dragged it in my craft room because it can hold so much and yet take up so little space. i pimped it up a bit using wallpaper which i snagged on a sale at Laura Ashley. the table next to it is my packing area, my favorite part of course, and i love having my supplies close at hand.

i used a wooden cutlery holder from Ikea to hold my Thank You cards, calling cards, postage stamps, stickers and tags. a set of tin buckets holds my baker's twine and scissors and cutters. this table has shelves under it which conveniently holds my bubble mailers and mailing envelopes.

the closet on the far right holds my sewing machine, fabrics and boxes of collected scraps and bits and pieces of everything with crafting potentials.

so, this concludes our mini-tour of my mini-craft room. before you make any conclusion though that everything looks neat and organized, i'd like to let you know that it wouldn't be anymore in the next 24 hours. it just so happened that when i took these photos, my guests (my mother-in-law and her childhood friend Antje) have just left for the Netherlands and therefore i haven't been in this room for the last few days.

share your space, leave a link so i can visit yours as well!

happy wednesday!

♥

coffee is on the way

...and other prints by Helen Dardik

etsy shop: Orange Studio

blog: Orange You Lucky!

today, i'm loving giclee prints, beautiful colors in classic vintage style,
and playful illustrations by helen dardik.
enjoy!

coffee is on the way

{ this print reminds of my friend Anne, the javaqueen! }

make time for tea

{ i ♥ this. so much. }

awesome

{ an awesome reminder for the crafty! }

sweet anticipation

{ ahhh, love. sweet love! }

a walk with a duck

{ a duck in red shoes, how cute is that! }

mary had a little unicorn

{ apple printed coats are soooo in. love it! }

ABC

{ this is not just for kids. perfect for kids at heart as well }

see more gorgeous prints from her Orange Studio.

Inspiring Monday with Paper Atelier

Hello everyone! I'm glad to be featuring my favorite handmade shops again on my blog. It definitely makes for a good start of the week for me.

I'm thrilled to feature today the Paper Atelier shop by my friend Glenda. She's got loads of new stuffs in her shop so i'm really excited to show some of my favorites.

Fine Art Photographs by Paper Atelier

gorgeous prints from her travels

1. Handmade Vintage Typewriter Cahier

2. Plans For World Domination Moleskine Cahier  

3. A Pair of Buttons Note Cards - Personalized (Set of 5)  

4. Red Flower Handmade Fabric Notebook  

5. Burst of Daisies Mini Note Cards (Set of 5)

One can never have enough notebooks and notecards. I know you'd agree. Check out these yummy, yummy Paper Atelier handmade notebooks, gocco printed moleskins and notecards.

 

Meet Glenda over at Oodles of Goodles, the lovely lovely blog she keeps with her sister Mai.

Happy Monday!

korean fashion and beautiful photography

♥

i have a friend in south korea and she's one of life's many blessings to me. my good friend H who belongs in the same "blessing file" is also married to a wonderful korean man and they have one little chinky bundle named Missy. aside from them, i'm also in love with many things korean....

like beautiful photography...

and simple and sweet fashion!

what could be cuter than a girl in a bicycle, or in this case, with a gorgeous bicycle!

floral dress, teal cardigan, leather belt and pink patent bag with a chain shoulder strap = love

this dress spells dainty. and dreamy days. and walking barefoot in the grass. and a tall glass of cold lemonade.

i want her pink wellies. 

pronto.

florals with cath kidston

many thanks to your sweet comments and emails, i too am glad to be back blogging again. sometimes there are too many voices on my head and too many thoughts for me to sort in silence. while i love my quiet times, i'm now ready to blog and read blogs again.

so....

at the moment i'm dreaming of summer and warmer places and a break from the damp irish weather...

vacation a la cath kidston

i'm totally smitten with the new clothing collection from cath kidston. 
spring has put me in the mood for everything floral and feminine, so i'm really swooning here.

 where are your dreams taking you?

in the meantime, have a fun weekend!

p.s. the picture of the girl with the bicycle ticks all of the boxes on my list.