gadget

I love the idea of this sewing machine, no more needing to hunt for the right thread or changing your spool every time you're using another piece of fabric, specially when dealing with quilting or doll clothes I think this would be awesome for any crafter around! A sewing machine that reads your fabrics colour and ads ink to your thread acording to what you need!

The student side ...

Yesterday I went back to school after being MIA for a year because of Fibromyalgia, cfs , eds and Mono! Yes I am a chronic pain patient but I try not to let it interfere with my creative side.

I have an indivicualised course at the moment, so yesterday I had to go talk to my teachers to see which assignments I would do this year and wich I would do next year, I'm finishing my bachelor my last year in two years instead of one.

So my first assignment of the year is making a 'graphic identity' for an old non interesting museum. my teacher's words not mine, through my blog I want to keep you guys updated on the progress of this. To show you my work but to also share what it's like to be a graphic design student in Belgium. Well one that goes to school parttime.

So far I've been brainstorming and I will be starting a moodboard soon. I love moodboards ever since I studied textile and fashion design I learned how to use them.

The first thing I had to do was to choose what kind of museum I would want to work for, I decided I'm going with a plant museum. my thoughts behind this was that plants are organic and I love working with organic lines, plus it gives me more playroom then say a computer museum. After I decided on that I started getting ideas for promotion stunts and I want to look into Guerilla gardening as a promo stunt for my museum.

My choice of colorouring would be greens but not old dusty greens but young green, grassgreen, lime green, citrus green.... because it would apeal to a wider audiance, also because I am going with the guerilla theme I'm thinking of using one extra color a bold one that can make a statement like Bright orange or a deep red pink.

Then my mind started racing to an exhibition I could hold there and promote... in the line of guerilla, protesting, bold... Why not make an exhibit that is of this day that speaks to current problems... PLANTS that can help with the economic and enviromental crisis the world is having ?!

As you can see my mind races when I get assignments, this will all change a lot but this is the first draft of my brainstorm session....

I hope some of you guys will be following this ;)

Mail update

^ A lovely letter from martina in croatia! I love getting mail from her, though her postoffice ruined her art by sticking the postage label on the see through window!








^a letter to Becca in the US and one to Carrie in Canada!


ps: I am always looking for penpals so contact me if you want to write!

I got these lovely real vintage/retro trimmings from my stepgrandmother, who usually dislikes me but when she wants to get rid of crap she suddenly remembers me! But I love love love these! I handwashed everything today and hung it all outside to get that old smell out of them and now I have a huge stash of real vintage trimming. I love the fact that a lot of people don't realise what they throw away.

New work area

This desk will soon get an imac ontop if it. And the little table at the side is a table that folds open for my sewing machine wich is stored away neatly in the desk.

I love seeing people's work rooms so post away! And link me ^^
I got myself a new work area for my graphic designing.... Ikea is the best place for modern afordable design. Plus I love the food there ;)

New faceup

Fiebe my MSD a dollzone Feilian got a new faceup a few days ago and here are some of her pictures.

Products used

- Pastel
- MSC
- brushes
- Acrylic paint
- eyelashes
- new wig
- new eyes

Work in progress...

Sandwich joy!

I first tasted this sandwich when i was on vacation in England, I thought this combo would be the worst thing in the world, Grapes on a sandwich JUCH! I ended up being very wrong this sandwich is very delicious, sweet, salty, crunchy and smoochie!

What you'll need

- Red grapes (seedless!!!)

- Cream cheese I use philadelpia light

- 3 slices of bread. ( You can use two but then it isn't as firm!)

- a knife

An an apetite!

How to make your own stamps/adress windows!

Since I kept buying 'plain' envelopes because I don't like a lot of the kawaii designs, i decided why not make a stamp for them! One that is specificly for penpalling , because it's an address window stamp!

What you will need for this tutorial

- Sketch of your stamp

-Lino cutters

- Lino block or the

cheaper alternative a w

hite eraser! The big ones you can buy at dollar stores works just fine.

-Lino or woodcutters

-Stanley knife

- Tracing paper

- Pencil

1. Step one is sketching your stamp idea.

2. Put the tracing paper over your drawing and trace it with PENCIL, this is important for the next step.

3. Put the image (pencilled side down) on the lino block/eraser. This way the image will appear as a mirror image, witch is the way a stamp is build. Especially with letters involved, this way the word will apear the right way when you're stamping your image.

4. Just rub the paper and you're see that the pencil will stick to your lino block/eraser.

5. Now you can start cutting your stamp with the lino cutters, be sure you remember wich pieces you want to be black ( the pieces you leave on the block)

6. A tip when you're working with a lot of curves and circles use a stanley knife and trace your lines first it'll help you to cut around the edges smoother.

7. Now your stamp is ready for a test-drive.

8. As you can see after testing the stamp there's some leftover ink on the center where your adress is suposed to be written, this is why a test is important you can always take away more. But you can never put pieces back!

9. Test two I am using a clear acrylic plate you can get these in craft stores this way i can add more presure without risking to move the stamp.

10. Voila! now you can save on expensive envelopes, make your own designs, send unique mail and just have a good time making stamps!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I'm hoping to see some results by you amazing crafters!

Blythe face up

A few days ago I received two items MSC and sandmatting sponges, for those of you who want to start Blythe customizing these items are a must! Also I found round files in a scrapbook store that where perfect for lipcarving. So here is the result of my efforts! I am also working on a tutorial for carving rubber stamps!

Before:

After :

favorite tutorials of the week

Little Letter Needle Book Tutorial - Kelly Rachel







Perfect Box Pouch Tutorial - Indie House








travel organizer tutorial - thimble

Penpals givaway!

Penpal GIVEAWAY.... kind off ...

My crafting has come to a bit of a stop since I've been poorly for a bit now. BUT! I have been making handmade envelopes! Only to realise I don't really have penpals anymore, most have become real life friends whom I talk to daily ... a shame really since I love snail mail. So here it is I filled up 5 envelopes with introduction letters, first letters that everyone hates to write so I can jsut send them out and we can start penpalling! Without having to wonder who will write first.

First few people to comment here with the email adress will get a mail from me asking for there adress. Just comment below with why you would want to be my penpal and you'll get an envie send your way!


This is just another way of finding penpals other then posting an ad! And I love writting and sending gifts to creative people so here we go let's try it this way. Comment away! These are intro letters though so people that already know me in real life or already are penpals wont read much news ;)

Journal #1

Polaroid and Moleskine

A match made in heaven is you ask me... here you can see an image of my current journal, I tend to switch around, ruled, sketchbook pages, aquarel pages, A5, A4 ... Moleskine non brand ... Though I do love moleskine journals mostly because of the yellow-ish paper, white paper tends to work on my nerves after a while because of the staining.
What do I write, draw or paste in this journal? Easy Everything and anything! I write about small anoyances because I have learned to write things down rather then to keep them inside. I stick leaflets in the little flap at the back (another reason why I love Molies! ) sketches for craft ideas, pattern ideas, random doodles, little quotes I find in books, pictures, polaroids, ... I think a journal is a great way to visualize your mind, specially when you're like me and you need that visiual stimulation to keep the ideas flowing.


So dear readers and followers, do you keep a journal ? Do you like Molies ?

For all those who can't seem to find enough ideas to keep a journal have you guys checked out 'wreck this journal' ? It's a journal but with assignments. I love the idea I don't need it myself but I love the idea of it. Anyone have any experience with these ?

ps : there will be a tutorial for the Bow Bracelet as soon as I rested enough.

Bowtie Bracelet #1 (half tutorial)

Let me introduce you to a new project that's been floating around in my head lately! The bowtie bracelet! Made out of fabric! I love making fabric bows! I put them on pins, brooches and now I thought why not make a bracelet out of them. Okay this is the first one though so it needs some tweaking. But I like seeing the start of projects!


It all started with an idea... and where do Ideas go? Right in a journal I love keeping random journals with everything and anything in them!

Here you find some pattern sketches of things I though I would need, turns out I was right!

• Two pieces of rounded fabric for the bow body
• One small piece for the bow devider
• Two broad pieces of fabric for the bracelet body
• One finer strip of fabric for the middle
• Two pieces of male and female velcro OR snap on button

• Sewing machine
  
• Needle
• Thread (white for this fabric)
• Iron
• Some loose feltwool or cottonballs ( to stuff the bow with)
  

And here is the end result, now I know this isn't a tutorial but I just wanted to see if anyone wanted a detailed tutorial before I type one out ^^ so let me know if there is any interest in this one.

Into my world

A small glimpse into my room. I love collecting boxes and trinkets. I love pictures and memories on the right you see a black and white picture of my cousins and I, as bridesmaids on our grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. I will show you other parts of my room as well you can see where my inspiration comes from (all over the walls) and how I keepmy art supplies ( basicly everywhere as well.)

Also you can see Tibby my Blythe she's a big inspiration as well as is the entire dollie world. It's a part of me that wants to get my childhood back and escape into the lovely world of toys and trinkets again.

Blythe helmett #01

Blythe Helmett / Felting wool / Crochet

Materials used

• Felting wool
• Basin of hot water
• Basin of cold water (to scare your wool at the end)
• Marseille soap
  
• Crochet hook #5 (it says to use 8-9) but I like a firm crochet for felting.
  
• towel
  
• 2 buttons
• Needle and thread
  

Techniques used

• crochet
  
• felting
  
• sowing
  

Blythe Hat .... This is my first project with the felting wool I found at Veritas. It takes some getting used to to crochet with this stuff since it raffles easily and your hook gets stuck between the thread instead of over it but once I got the hang of it It was amzing.

But the magic of felting wool truelly happens when you felt it. The wrapper said machine felting but I prefer the look of hand felting more so off I went got my basin, hot water, marseille soap and a towel and I started felting the hat. This was the result of felting for half an hour, but I could have gotten it more smooth if I felting a little bit longer. But I wanted the crochet feeling to stick for a bit so half an hour felting was all I needed.

I can make around 2 hats out of one ball of this yarn by 'schachemayr nomotta' And the price was very okay too. Being a student I do try to think about my wallet!

I already crochet a second one with multicolored wool so keep your eyes open on a second one of these.

Future plans ...

I've been in a little of a craft break lately mostly because of health reasons that I wasn't able to do a lot. But here you have a list of things that are to come in the future.

- Reviews (zine, items, brands, blog,craftbooks, cookbooks,...)
- Tutorials
- Inspirations (images, items, blogs,...)
- Things I have made but wont share a tutorial for
- Give-away's /contests
...

Ideas are always welcome.

Things I am working on at the moment.

- Bow brooches
- Blythe handfelted hats
- A zine
- A journal... I think everyone who has an itch but can't put that itch into a solid item should get a journal ... at least a place to keep your ideas ...

Introduction

What will this blog be about... well anything and everything that I make! Or things that inspire me! Things, people, texts, videos, pictures, ....
Some of my favorite things are sowing, painting, etching, blythe customizing, .... Once in a while I will host a contest! For my lovely followers and general people who drop by and have a look around.

About me: Well I'm a 22 year old art student, graphic design, but I also have a degree in textile and fashion design. I like to know a lot of different techniques so I can grow as an artist and creative person in general Knowledge is power ! I have chronic pains and I am tired a lot... this does tend to affect my life in many many ways. Including in my art and in my zine 'tired eyes'

I am a doll collecter, I think most people who'll drop by here will be dollie lovers, I have one blyhe and 4 bjd at the moment, and a kewpie and a little apple doll!

I love sewing and cute fabrics! If you ever want to do a fabric or art swap in general let me know! that's also one of the things I love swapping and penpalling! Mail = love

Life is an occasion you have to rise to it!