Daffodils in Fall

I got an order from a friend to paint her daffodils on her Damask tablecloth. All four corners as well as floating daffodils in the middle. It was quite a job; the Damask was difficult to paint on as the soft hairs on it were offering some resistance when painting so I had to use more paint to soak them before they surrendered. I think I don't want to see daffodils (or yellow for that matter except the sun!) until Spring next year. The result was really impressive though the photo's are a bit disappointing.

This week I really must paint a couple of bags (nearly finished one this morning) and make 3 gifts(of which 2 are loooooong overdue)!

Oh and I made hedgehogs and mushrooms during lunch time with the girls. After they have dried we want to paint them and then I'll show you the photo's. Hang on.

It takes two crows

I got a swap order for two crows from YeOldeCrowShoppe for two crow paintings. I ordered the handmade crafts in my previous entry and in return got and order for the paintings. Each add shipping to the total price and then maybe there is no need for money transfers. This is what I call and order swap. Love it. This time I had to pay the difference. This would be a nice idea to do more often, stimulate each other and doing a swap order so no or less money transfers.

The crow above is based on the common carrion crow in Europe and the crow below is based on the pied crow (white breasted crow-free translation for South African name) we have in South Africa.

I can only show my complete projects after they are received by their buyers otherwise I would steal their supprise moment. So they see it first and then I share it with you. These paintings are 20x20cm painted on 3D canvas and painted with acryl paint. I've added finishing touches with gold,silver and glitter and sprayed it with a fixative for protection. These crows are my first and after I've drawn it I asked my 5 year old what it was. Her reply was: crows. So they passed the test as recognisable as the colours are of course my creative expression. Fun to paint and received well:"I can't stop looking at the crow paintings. lol They SO make me smile. :-)"

Supporting other crafters

By supporting other crafters we stimulate homemade stuff. Like art we put something of our self into each craft we make with our hands and give it something special. We help each other to grow in what we do and expand ourselves: trying new things we thought we weren't able to do and jack up our confidence.

Ok I'll cut to the chase: I bought stuff from another crafter just to spoil myself!

*But there is truth in what I said, so considere it ;-) *

I've bought self made things from Violet's Ozztion Shop: click here and
she has some more at her Etsy shop: click here
and she wrapped it with so much care and I was just such a joy to open the parcel and unpack everything.
The two crayon roll-ups (crayons included) are just such cute gifts for girls. The country lady will hold my plastic bags neatly in one place. My 5 year old picked-up the doll and played with it as a hand doll ;-)
My mom used to be subscribed to Country life mag but as we're separated by 10 000kms I treated myself to my own mag. 2nd hand and cheap but with all the projects of a new one! Violet has some more...


Oh and then Violet was so kind to added a supprise to my parcel. I didn't won the August competition but she thought to send me a small supprise. Well she made my day!

This is what I got:



The most cute fabrics packed in a bag saying:

sharing just comes naturally to those who really care.

The photo doesn't show the fabric so well, especially the one with the cranes which is awesome. I've never seen anything like it before. The cute fabrics definitely are always most welcome!

Thank you very much Violet.

*Violet is a crafty mama too*

I've been busy

I've made a shopping bag from plain cotton following a pattern. The pattern is provided by morsbags, trying to get people to use less plastic helping the environment to be a safer place for animals. Please give them a visit. If I can make it anyone can, the pattern is my type: animated. So I was able to follow it ;-)

Then I've tried to make drawstring bags using the instructions I found here. I've added felt hearts and flowers I've cut and added some finishing touches with gold liner and a fabric pen. I've made 2 bags, one for each girl to use for their gym clothes at school. The fabric I've used with Pippi Longstockings on it, I've bought 6 years ago and at last used it! The girls love it. Mommy happy.

I've been tagged

Violet, the sweet hearted crafter has tagged me, so go and check out her blog. She deserves that he-he-hi-hi-haaa! Vi have you seen I have a Q in my name?! Will have to knock on the dictionary's door with this one lol Oh I see I can relax we're doing this in English lol
Ok let's see:

M indful
O verview, I love to have an overview
N itrate. I guess I'm a bit salty which can be tasty,useful,preserving&healing and also ouchy
I nquisitive
Q uiet, I love the sounds of silence
U nique, definitely. Two of my kind would've been too much lol
E njoy truly beautiful things, how minute or impressive, and to create

Oh like Vi, I think I'll tag just 3. Now to go and look for whom to tag...

Supprised..myself

Last week I've placed some orders to restock on fabric paint and some VERY cute Japanese fabrics.
This morning started really bad: headache and nausea...ugh migraine on its way.

I took the children too school, walked the dog and fell back into bed. Luckily I could manage to sleep and the alarm clock woke me up:
it is the singing of a blackbird. Wonderful way to wake up.
Anyway I had to run to help at school for an hour and a half, walked the dog and went to another appointment, feeling a bit numb but surely better.

When I came home....aaaaah
two packages were delivered!
Here are the fabric paint, liner, a butterfly stencil and a rubber stamp. I've ordered this from a shop in Belgium. Oooh la laaah, creativity here I come.

The Japanese fabric I ordered via Etsy.

Oh I can't wait to make something with this!

Isn't it adorable? Little mushrooms, moles, deer, flowers, acorns and hedgehogs

Zakka swap received..check!

What a friendly critter, don't you think? My Crafty Mama swap partner Lisa

made this for me on one of the 3 place mats.

She used very cute fabric and on the other side: red!

On the other two place mats are these words, bee and flower.
So very cheerful!

So in total I got 3 place mats, 2 coasters and a cute little bag
(see left corner) + 2 postcards from the city she comes from.
When I use this for breakfast I will surely have no grumpy morning mood ;-)
Visit Lisa's blog

Berry? Berry who?

Yesterday with went to a members' day of the "Giraffen pas of the Avro". We could stay until 9 in the evening.

This day was at Safari Park Beekse Bergen where one could walk, have a boat trip and a car safari. Beautiful park/zoo and animals have laaaarge areas to move freely.

I walked pass these berries (shown on photo) and they caught my eye, I don't know what they're called and who is eating them but they're lovely.

Aren't they the berries you enjoy with meaty dinners? Let me know if you recognise them.

I also saw the berries the tea/hot drink was made from in the Viking Village in Denmark. There they gave us the Danish name for it, the German name and have shown me the bush but I could only see it is a berry and the second word in the German name which was "beer" from the word Berry.

I'll look for a pic and call in your expertise ok?