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

Zakka Zakka

At CraftyMamas the swap for August had a Zakka theme.

Yes, what is Zakka?!

It was quite and adventure to find out and try and make my swap buddy Karma something Zakka.

Zakka according to wikipedia is: "Zakka (from the Japanese 'zak-ka' or 'many things') is a fashion and design phenomenon that has spread from Japan throughout Asia. The term refers to everything and anything that improves your home, life and outlook. It is primarily based on household items from the West that are regarded as kitsch in their countries of origin.
Zakka has also been described as "the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane"

I painted what I thought is a Zakka bag with textile paint. I've found the Kanji (A Japanese system of writing based on borrowed or modified Chinese characters.) words for strawberry, flower, rabbit and kat and painted that on the bag as well. Normally I draw my animals quite different, I now gave them a big head and big eyes to try and give them a more anime (A style of animation developed in Japan, characterized by stylized colorful art and often adult themes) look. By chance I've found wooden buttons with what look to me like japanese blossoms painted on them. These I've sown onto the bag as well.

I added some postcards my husband bought once for charity reasons. The cards had some Zakka looking characters on them.

I also added a crocheted necklace from wooden buttons to convince my swap partner I'm really trying my best to send her something zakka lol

On the Crafty Mama forum I've read that she received the package and I gather she likes it!

If she's happy I'm happy.

It was quite fun to Zakka with her...now I can't wait for my Zakka item she has made!

Please visit her log at http://lisascraftyplace.blogspot.com/

How Zakka is that?

Crocheting flowers on a beach,
pink and cherise ones...
How Zakka is that?

Totally groovy baby ;-)

The cherise doesn't show so well on the photo

and I should've pressed the flowers before making a photo

(when we got back) in our garden.

But I tried out a new flower (for me) from a book from Marie Claire Idees (ISBN 8710966004159)

and succeeded.

I made 5 flowers in total in between watching and feeding kids

and getting sunburnt legs.

All and all enjoying a great day outside.

Husband made totally delicious Pangasius fish fillets and I

showed my true colours by dishing up an extraodinary salad

which the kids didn't like ;-)