My day is Friday

Friday is my day: Belichek

2012-05-12T03:17:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to Prague to meet Anastasia from "Belichek"!
Enjoy the ride! :)

Hi all!
My name is Anastasia Meliskin from "Belichek". I live in Prague with my beloved daughter and husband. I am a wedding photographer and I of course sew beautiful things out of felt.
My sweet heart let us sleep up to 8-9 in the morning and today we woke up at 9:30. I usually and check my e-mail quickly and eat a pear or an apple and make massage for Mia.

Every day I see these felt garlands and they give me a good mood.

I usually sew at night when the baby sleeps. Yesterday I sewed a hat for Mia and I also created the pattern from scratch, so I am looking forward to test it on my daughter.

Now we need to run to the old center. A last look at the house and we off we go.

Here we are. Mia does not like to be in a wheelchair and I use a sling, so she can look around and not to get bored.

I love walking in the old town. There are many beautiful buildings, interesting museums and just beautiful things.

On the way we pass from the needlework supplies store to buy some yarn.

We quickly go home using the subway, because Mia is tired and I prepare a light lunch. When a child begins to cry we do everything three times faster so salad is sliced in 5 seconds.

Then I feed my daughter, she is a bit naughty and plays :)

It's time to go Mia to the doctor. After visiting we have a great mood. The doctor said that Mia is almost healthy!

Now I cook for us a delicious dinner, and my daughter is looking forward to it.

Lightning like food eating and Mia is laying to sleep. The day is passing furiously and fast like a train.

Now it's MY time. I drink coffee, dreaming, and sew-sew-sew ...

Thank you for your company this beautiful Friday :)

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Thank you Anastasia! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Friday is my day: Oxhillcrafts

2012-05-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to Portugal to meet Gisela from “Oxhillcrafts”!
Enjoy the ride! :)

Mixed Media necklace

Hi! My name is Gisela and I live in Portugal. I have an Etsy shop called Oxhillcrafts and I am so happy to be here sharing my day with you!

6:30 am - My alarm clock wakes me up and five minutes later my two cats, Oscar and Felix, start pawing me in the face to get me out of the bed. How thoughtful of them... Today Felix decides to get back to bed to sleep a little longer.

7:00 am - It’s time to take a quick shower and to feed the cats who start meowing for food from the moment they leave the bed. I manage to have breakfast too! I always have oatmeal and drink black tea with milk.

7:30 am - I get ready to work and in the meantime I pick some roses from the backyard. They will cheer me up later in the evening.

8:00 am - Everything is tidy, the cats are getting ready to sleep again (can’t help feeling envious at this point) and I head off to the office.

8:30 am - I arrive at Silves, a lovely town in the south of Portugal where I work as an insurance broker.

13:00 pm - (meanwhile many non crafty things happened) I have time for a quick lunch and to squeeze in a trip to the post office to ship an order (all my packages are handmade because I want people to get the feeling of opening a present when they receive their orders). The camera goes with me every time I leave the office at lunchtime. Finding inspiring little things is always a possibility in this town.
14:00 pm - Back to the office to work a little longer.

19:30 pm - Somehow I manage to run away from the paperwork and go back to my little village.

20:00 pm - It feels so good to be home again. Going to my parents house to have dinner is my normal routine but today I’m going to stay at home and “dinner” is going to be very simple: black tea (I’m addicted) and toasts while I let the cats go out to the backyard to play and scratch some trees.

20:30 pm - Night is falling and it has been raining. The village looks beautiful in this light. It’s time to craft. Around the house I have small collections of colored threads, buttons, trims and other little thinks that inspire me. I’m making a necklace to add to my Etsy shop in the weekend, a crochet blanket made by my mother is also waiting to be listed. I don’t have to wake up early tomorrow, so it will be a long night!

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Thank you Gisela! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Friday is my day: Olive and Vince

2012-04-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to United Kingdom to meet Nat and Naomi from“Olive and Vince handmade toddler clothing” ! Enjoy the ride

Hi, I’m Nat and I make up one half of “Olive and Vince handmade toddler clothing” alongside my good friend, Naomi. We also each own Olive (mine) and Vince (Naomi’s). Today you are joining us on one of our typical Friday adventures, because Friday is our day:

7.06am Today is unusual because I have been able to wake unassisted without Olive telling me it’s breakfast time. It would appear she is having a lie in, and so am I J I rise in my own time, shower and make extra efforts to make myself look pretty in the knowledge that there will be a camera joining us in the workshop today!

8.00am Olive eventually joins me. She does her usual trick of hiding behind a chair in her room to avoid removal of her bed clothes. I note we have run out of nappies, I will have to tell the nursery we have succeeded in potty training.

8.25am I am at the breakfast table alone today, because Olive has insisted Daddy bring her bike in from the garden so she can enjoy breakfast “Al Biko”. We are running seriously late, so I let it be. Whilst running around the house prepping Olive’s nursery bag I return to discover Olive has finished her breakfast and attempted to help herself to another portion! Instead of crying and returning to bed, I swiftly grab the camera and capture the moment before packing Olive into the car and delivering her to nursery.

9.40am I return home, breathe, sigh and reflect how much I needed this morning’s lie in. I switch the radio on (the radio is a big part of our Friday workshops!), check our Etsy store for overnight activity and then set to work on tidying up and prepping the workshop for Naomi’s arrival. As I tidy I keep an eye out for Naomi’s car: I plan to hide behind the door with the camera and catch her unawares, I succeed!

10.30am We only have a couple of Etsy orders to work on today so we have decided to commit some time to having a little spring clean / stock check of our fabrics. It’s a therapeutic task and a relief that there are two of us lugging piles of material about the place. We come across some real gems at the bottom of the pile we’d forgotten all about!

1:00pm After this mission, we stop for lunch and today I am enviously watching Naomi feast on the sushi her husband frequently packs for her! Whilst lunching we shortlist our entries for this month’s free give away to which we like to treat our Facebook followers. We agree and announce our winner. Next we turn our hands to the machines. It’s an extra special day today because we are welcoming “Dorothy” to our team. We hope the addition of our new overlocker machine will make us double efficient (hear that Dorothy!?). With our little coterie of machines, we are indeed nicely productive and manage to fulfil our outstanding orders in good time. Naomi also fits in some pattern work, making the finishing touches to our next new release.

5.00pm It is quite usual for us to squeeze every last minute out of our day before whizzing off back to the world of Mummy! I pack up the car with today’s parcels and secure Olive’s favourite teddy, Umna bear, in the car seat - today Umna is riding up front with me and Olive will be delighted to see he’s been safely transported to fetch her. I go via the Post Office to send our sold items out into the wide world.

6.00pm Once home, Olive hangs out with Umna bear whilst I make dinner. Since launching our toddler clothing brand life has been so busy I invested a moment to devise a 3 weekly menu cycle. It hangs on my fridge and tells me what I need to do each day without me even having to think. On Fridays I like to keep it really simple, it’s always pasta something. And tonight, because it’s been a long old day and it’s sunny outside, we toast dinner with an ale shandy / apple juice for those under 3 years!

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Thank you Nat & Naomi! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Friday is my day: 2SmartCats

2012-04-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to Belgium to meet Stephanie from '2SmartCats'! Enjoy the ride :)

Hello, my name is Stephanie. I am from Australia, but have been living and working in Belgium for the past few years. I am a web developer by day, and I do my crafts in the evenings, the weekends, or whenever I have time really. My day begins when the alarm goes off at 6.30. I usually stay in bed for another 10 minutes before getting out of bed together with my two darling fur babies. I am definitely not a morning person.

I spend the next hour getting ready for the day, but most importantly getting my cats set up for the day as well, which includes feeding them, cleaning after them and play with them for a little while as they will be alone in the house while I am at work. At this stage, I do not have enough time to have a proper cup of tea, so I just have a glass of warm water. I’ve read somewhere that a glass of warm water in the morning is very healthy. It helps to detox your body. Then at 7.30, I take a short walk to the local train station to catch the train to work in Brussels.  

9 AM
I usually get to the office just before 9 o’clock. I begin to go through my emails and reply to any urgent or important business. Then I would make myself a cup of strong black tea with honey and maybe a fruit yogurt. Sometimes I cannot wait this long to get my tea, so I get myself a cup as soon as I get in to the office; especially during the awful and cold winter days.

1-2 PM
I usually go for a walk in the neighbourhood with another colleague to get our lunches. It is a very enjoyable walk when the sun is out. Unfortunately, this is not very often in Belgium. I try to eat healthily as often as I can. I am a tea junky, and drink many cups of tea each day. I switch from black tea in the mornings to different types of green teas or Pu’er tea in the afternoons.

Hmm, macarons…my favourite. I bought a packet for desert this evening. Office work finishes at 6PM, and I start my journey home on the metro and another train ride. Very often it is on the train home that I drum up ideas in my head, sketch and note a little.

After arriving home in the evenings, if I feel there is still some energy left, I will continue to work on my designs after dinner. But I do not do this on a Friday evening, as my partner and I usually go out to dinner on Friday evenings. These are some of the items I have made throughout the odd hours. So far, I have enjoyed every minute of learning and crafting. The encouragement from friends and family and the support from customers have been just wonderful. I plan to dedicate more time crafting.

I might watch a film before heading off to bed.
Thank you for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing my day.

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Thank you Stephanie! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Friday is my day: Craftsbynesli

2012-03-30T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to Istanbul to meet Neslihan from 'Craftsbynesli' and 'Colorfulfelts'! Enjoy the ride :)

Hello, this is Neslihan Yücesan. I live in a small town with natural beauties, a magnificent lake, full of bird chirps, only 1 hour away from İstanbul. I am a sentimental, positive and highly creative person. I have two Etsy shops named 'Craftsbynesli' and 'Colorfulfelts'. The first one is for my vintage themed jewelry, accessories, bags, purses and pillows. The second only for my felt works. Generally I spend the day by creating and preparing orders.

My 8 year old beloved son wakes me up at 7:30. He will soon be on the way to school so we are making the last preparations. He will have his breakfast at school so he only has a banana for now. He really loves being at school and he waits for the school bus impatiently in front of the house.

And this is my dear husband Ulaş, with who I am still in love like the first day. My husband works as a mechanical engineer at our family business. After a little morning chat he is off to work and I start my long day.

Both me and my husband passionately play a traditional instrument called 'Baglama'. It is also called 'Saz'. We really enjoy making music at night together. But I also try to spare a couple of hours to Baglama during the day. This gives me the chance to think and relax my mind. After playing Baglama for 2 hours I quickly tidy up the house and loose myself in my creations.

Some sewing, some coffee, some sewing, some coffee... and finished at last. These days I have too many orders and I am a bit tired but happy with the result. I send out my work to boutiques both in Turkey and abroad. These are the colorful, sugar like bags I made for a boutique in Alacati.

I go for a walk in our garden, have a yummy toast and prepare the orders I will be shipping in an hour, wear my sports outfit and go to the gym. Nearly every weekday we go to a sports club with my husband. Some times in different hours. Sport keeps us healthy and give us relief from the daily stress. I believe this way we can give much more love to each other.
Then I come back home and spend all day sewing, making accessories, listening to music and doing household. I spend too much time on Etsy. This is because I also buy my supplies from there. I try to have some time to relax and listen to my inner self. Being in a green garden gives great inspiration for my creations.

In the evening, when my husband and son come home, we have a delicious meal. The tomato soup is the star of the meal. Tonight we are alone but sometimes our musician friends join us and we make music till late.

Our day has ended, tired yet happy. Thank you for sharing my story of a day. I hope you enjoyed.

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Thank you Neslihan! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Friday is my day: ThePaperMachines

2012-03-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to Manchester, England to meet Raphaela from ThePaperMachines! Enjoy the ride :)

Totem Necklace No3

Hi! My name is Raphaela and I'm a French designer living in Manchester, UK.
I make bags and accessories, all from salvaged leather and locally sourced supplies.
In my free time, I like to play the violin, read books and watch more anthropology documentaries than anyone I know!

[9am]
Tea!! Then I check emails, and answer them as I'm having a nice breakfast. Then I take advantage of the sun and take some pictures of my new items! Then it's time for me to get into my daily sewing routine. Today I needed to replenish my stock of drawstring bags in which my jewelry is sent. Lots of fun to see them all done!

[11 am]
Post office time...Not the funniest part of the day but today is quite sunny so I decided to stop at the park on my way back. It's so nice!

[12 am]
Lunch time..I like to take my time to cook myself something nice, today it's roots vegetable bake, with rocket on the side. Yummy!

[1 pm]
Back to my studio until the early evening. Put some good tunes on and get cutting, threading, drawing and sewing some more. I love vintage decor and my room is filled up to brim with artworks in pretty frames, records and old books. It's a bit like a cocoon where there is always something nice to look at and be inspired from.

[6:30 pm]
Time to tidy all the mess I created! Then my lovely half and I will share a homemade dinner or sometimes a pizza, then I might list some items and go through my tags and descriptions, blog about my day and watch a film!

Hope you enjoyed following my day!

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Thank you Raphaela! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Friday is my day: Domatoma

2012-03-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to Swiss-France borders to meet Maryia from Domatoma! Enjoy the ride :)

Long cat who loves sea

I live in a small French town on a Swiss French border, near Geneva. This town was actually build by Voltaire :)))

We almost never use alarm clock, because our little son makes a wake-up signal at 7 o'clock and the day begins :) We all get dressed and I make coffee while my husband is trying to protect me from a little hungry guy, who just cannot wait (for example, watering flowers is a great option to drive his attention away from kitchen). My son knows that high chair is for eating and painting so he usually tries to combine the both activities, that is why every breakfast slowly becomes a creative process and we have a masterpiece every morning.

After breakfast my husband leaves for work and we stay at home for play and fun. While my son is making music, I'm trying to make a hat and a hat, learn French, answer e-mails, read, work with my photos and so on. Then we leave home to buy some food, on our way we are looking at airplanes and Mont Blanc. When we get home we make some funny food, have lunch.

After my son's afternoon nap, we are going for a walk to Geneva. We take a bus and in 15 minutes we are in Jardin Botanique. My son is very happy to run around and to see the first flowers and bees. And I'm happy that I can take photos :)) We stay in park till sunset enjoying the evening light.

We get home and make a simple supper. Then my husband brings our son to bed (after a Great Bathtub Battle of course). I'm getting into my reading corner to think and create, where I usually forget about time, meet the next day and go to sleep at two o'clock at night."

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Thank you Maryia! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: Akamatra

2012-03-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to Greece to meet Maro from Akamatra! Enjoy the ride :)

Hi and welcome to Akamatra'sworld! A world where house chores are always done a bit late and handmade jewelry takes up almost all free time and space! Please be advised that you are entering at your own risk!

Lace peach pink leather necklace

My friends call me Maro but I also respond to my little cloud, my little clothespin (I know!!!) and my little cherry when my love calls! I live in Athens with my boyfriend in a cute rented apartment with huge balconies and great light but no view whatsoever. I am convinced about two things: a) my 1.59m height is a result of radioactive strawberries overconsumption during the Chernobyl days and b) I don’t want to live without sun and chocolate.

In the morning

I have the hardest time waking up in the morning! I mean it is almost impossible to wake no matter how many hours of sleep I’ve had! I have had this problem since I was a child going to school. My father use to wake me up spraying water in my face! No kidding! I was soaking wet and still didn't want to get out of bed! I lovesleeping! I lovemy bed! The one I have now, it's my own design, built by my father. I love it more than any other furniture I own, silly I know! My love wakes up earlier than me and he struggles to get me up using any torture known to sleepers. This bell we bought in our last trip to Lisbon has proven to be my nemesis.

Well, since I try to stay in bed as much as I can and since I am lucky enough to have my workplace nearby my house (thank you universe for these little treats!) I take my breakfast at the office. Well the lab actually! I am chemist did I mention that? I have a PhD in Biochemistry and a post-doc in Molecular Biology but I will not bore you with scientist stuff. I love my work in the lab and many of my jewelry are inspired by chemistry! The day advances with lots of analyses and reporting and then it is finally time to go home!

In between

We have similar work hours with my boyfriend and we get home almost at the same time. He uses the bicycle almost all year around but I feel too cold in the winter and wait for spring to use it to go to work. I usually cook as soon as I get home. We try to eat light and healthy and it has been easy. We love salads and small fresh fish, miam!!!

As soon as we eat my boyfriend goes for his nap and I let my best friend Mr. Bosch do the dishes. And then it is coffee time and the best part of the day begins. Sometimes I drink my coffee in the kitchen reading a book (I love The Return by Victoria Hislop) and sometimes I take it to my desk. When the weather is fine I take it outside keeping company to my flowers. I worry this year about my tulips. They haven’t bloom yet, hmm…

My desk is my craft place as well. It is filled with beads and leather scraps and chains and more beads. I spend the rest of the day here. I design and draw new items, I try new techniques, I make new items and list them or I spend an unhealthy amount of time on Etsy, Pinterest and Facebook. That is if I am not out having coffee with dear friends, or visiting my parents, or just walking around with my love.

In the evening

Well, most of the time we eat light in the evening so there is no cooking involved, unless we feel like having homemade pizza while watching a movie, or reading books. Then it is time for bed. I will not lie. We don’t always sleep.

Thank you for entering my world. Take care and smile!

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Thank you Maro! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: Bartinki

2012-03-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

Hello all! Today we are traveling to the Netherlands and meet lovely Martina from Bartinki! Enjoy the ride :)

Unique Denim Jacket

Welcome to Bartinki world! To start with, I would like to explain my shop name. Bartinki is a nickname for me and my fiance Bart, given to us by our friends (sort of Brangelina style). We were called Bartinka, so when I was choosing name for my shop, I didn't have to look for long. It also shows the effort of both towards Bartinki shop - even these are my creations, I wouldn't be able to do any without support of Bart. So to know who is talking to you - here we are! (While choosing pictures for this post, I realised we don't have any regular photo - we always make funny faces! Oh dear!)

8.00am
I wake every morning to find out my cup of coffee already at the table. You know whose job is that :)

I come from Slovakia, and even we are living and planning to stay in the Netherlands, my heart will always belong to that beautiful tiny country in the middle of Europe. Many people confused Slovakia with Slovenia, but I don't mind. It's only 6 millions of Slovaks out there, so we are (as I was once told) rare. If you need help to recognize us - Slovakia used to be part of Czechoslovakia till 1993. From our modern history you might recall Velvet Revolution in 1989.

9.00am

Oh yes... On line world! I spend at least one hour in the morning and even more in the evening on line. My laptop is mostly on all day long, so I can respond to inquires, emails, have Slovak series on while working...

Bart's hobby is wood, and he has his own Etsy shop Ligamentum. I found his buttons sooooo cute, check yourself!

Afternoon
Off to post office, time to get some fresh air, or just simple walk along Rijn river. We live exactly in the middle between John Frost bridge (maybe you recall A Bridge Too Far movie or Battle of Arnhem in 1944 - yes, that's the bridge!) and Nelson Mandela bridge. Both spectacular.

Or I list my items. Bart is my personal photographer and our 'photo studio' is actually the corner of our dining room. We do all photo shoots on 2m squares. Yes, it's possible!

I don't have a schedule for creating. Some days I do nothing new, some days I cannot stop. I walk around, start this, finish that, no working pattern whatsoever. I don't know how other people do it. I think I would be more efficient if I had a routine, but I feel it's just not me.

Evening
Oh, the best time of the day. Cooking some pasta, my favorite macaroni with herbs, or nice steak. No, we are not vegetarians. Neither we do eat healthy, whatever it means. We eat what we like and the more, the better. Ups! Last summer we also tried to grown our own vegetables. We had some nice tomatoes. That's it!

On Bart's days off (which are also my days off) we like to drive and walk around and discover Dutch countryside. Holland has some lovely cities as well as pretty forests, very quiet, very relaxing. We enjoy both.

That's about it about our days. Soon we are moving into our first house, so we both will be enjoying larger space and workplaces. Can't wait!

Have a lovely day and greetings from the Netherlands! Thank you for stopping by!

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Thank you Martina! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: LuckyCatHandmade

2012-02-24T07:43:00.001-08:00

Hello all! This time of the week is here again! Today we will travel to Portugal to meet sweet Mafalda from LuckyCatHandmade! Enjoy the ride ;)

Coin purse, kiss lock or clasp purse, navy blue with orange amd red sakura

Hi! My name is Mafalda, I’m was born in Lisbon but I’m currently living near Bragança, in the north of Portugal, with my husband Filipe and our 3 very spoiled cats: Bunny, Mimi and Socas. Since I finished college I’ve worked in Archaeology but when Filipe, who is a surveyor, got a five-year Job in a dam building site more than 400km from home, and needed an assistant, I started working with him.

Our day starts at 6:30, when we wake up, have breakfast (cats demand to have theirs first…) and get ready to go to work. This is the time I wish I could wear sabrinas and skirts for work… Instead: security boots and a bright yellow jacket...

By 8:00 we arrive at the building site which is in the middle of nowhere... but such a beautiful wild valley with a meandering small river running at the bottom, which in some places had poplar trees

I know... I have mixed feeling about this dam from day one.

We do have to work and it’s supposed to create cleaner electricity but still it´s such a shame to ruin such a pretty place and make a turmoil in the lives of animals...

Anyway... Filipe is in charge of the surveying in the subterranean part of the dam. Mostly I help him with anything he needs when we have to indicate places to blow up the rock, build underground structures in concrete and verify the precision of the whole process.

I also help him with office paper work when needed but I choose to leave all the complicated calculus to him... Kidding! It’s really scary math stuff...

By 12:00 we return home to have lunch, that I left prepared the previous day, and, of course, pamper the cats a bit more...

By 13:15 we have to get back to work but some afternoons, like today, I get to stay at home because Filipe has stuff to do on his computer so he doesn’t need me to go. Which is great because today I have parcels for my dear customers that I need to take to the Post Office!

By 15:00 I have just finished tidying the place up and I only have to wrap one of my coin purses, finish the packaging and make sure I have all the parcels I need to post today.

I love wrapping and going to the Post Office... I always find it similar to when I send little surprise presents to my family by Mail (we don’t go to see them as often as we wish...).

I love the purses and other accessories I make and sell on my shop but the best thing is when someone else likes them so much too that they want to keep it... So it’s great to wrap them up and send them on long trip to someone who’ll be happy when they open my package... The Post Office is in a small village 16km away so I have to go by car and it’s a a sort of pretty wilderness I cross but on a lonely winding road...

Everything is still covered in dull colors. Even the almond tree’s blooming (which is beautiful since there are a lot of them around here) is delayed this year: it hasn’t rained since Christmas.

When I get home by 16:30 it’s time to take care of some chores in the garden. Finally my daffodils have started blooming!

Now is the time for some sewing, listening to Dinah Washington or Nat King Cole. I’m finishing one of my purses with cute black and white cats. It’s Filipe’s favorite fabric. I can’t say which one is my favorite – I love all of them, must-stop-buying-fabric :)

I also browse through Etsy a lot! Mostly supplies, and also to learn how to make my shop more visible (boring stuff...).

By 18:00 I start to get dinner ready and to think up tomorrow’s lunch. I also bake a marble cake - my favorite - for breakfast. With lots of talking to Bunny but mostly to her babies because she has too many pigeons to chase off... And catch! Today we were lucky: Filipe managed to get home by 20:00 so it’s time for dinner but, as usual, Bunny is already in his chair and no one has the heart to remove her... Oh well...

Until 23:00 we spend a calm evening chatting about our day, a little bit of work but mostly our great and super lucky cats! For now they are our only babies... Thank you so much for sharing my day, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did showing it to you... Hugs!

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Thank you Mafalda! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: 11 Compositions

2012-02-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hello all! This time of the week is here again! Today we will travel to Budapest to meet sweet Galia from 11 Compositions! Enjoy the ride ;)

Valentine's Day gift for her.

06:30 - 07:30
Good morning!!! Everybody is waking up slowly. My husband first. Then my two older daughters. When the baby is starting to mumble - I know it’s time for me to get up too I’m not a morning person at all!!!

My baby girl (I have three daughters ) with babytogo’s blanket...

07:30 - 09:00
Getting dressed and taking the girls to school. Today I need to dress warm with lots of layers. I’m going to spend my morning outside and it’s freezing cold!!! You see, I’m originally from Israel, and even though it’s my 5th winter in Europe, I still can’t get my head around the minus degrees... And today is the coldest day in Budapest (so far this winter) - minus 8.5 degrees Celsius!!!

09:00 - 09:30
At home after drop off at school. For breakfast I always have fruit. No coffee. No tea. Only fruit - in a salad, as a juice or just as they are. Only later in the day I can eat something which includes carbohydrates...

I eat and drink whilst I check what happened last night when I was asleep. Facebook interactions? (yes, I’m an addict) Emails? New sales? YES!! Yay - great!!!

09:30 - realizing I might be late. Running to the bus, it’s FREEZING!!!!...

10:00 - 11:30

I made it on time to a practical lesson in my photography course. Today’s subject is Black & White photography. Location - the central train station of Budapest. Here are some of the photos I took:

11:30 - I can’t feel my toes!!!! Am not sure they are still there... Need to go somewhere close to defreeze and make sure I still have them...

11:45 - 12:30
De-freezing in my husband’s office. Quietly so I don’t interrupt... An opportunity for some more B&W photography ;-)

12:30 - 13:30
Back out there, to visit my favourite beads shop. I need to get some beads for an order I received, but I’m trying very hard not to buy more than I actually need, because every time I go into a beads shop or a textile shop I find myself spending more than I planned. Do you know this feeling? ;-)

13:30 - 14:30
Lunch time. In Hungary be a Hungarian - eat beef stew with dumplings ;-)
Oops, I was SO hungry I forgot to take a photo at the beginning of the meal, sorry...

14:30 - 16:00
Getting back home to collect the girls from school... Getting them dressed with their jackets, hats, gloves, scarves, boots, bags etc. etc. 45 minutes after arriving in school - we are finally ready to go home. Did I already mention I hate this cold weather??? Now in the car - actively listening to all the stories and adventures. What a day they each had!!! ;-)

16:00 - 18:30
The girls are watching TV, time for my snooze too, just for a bit... not for long though... baby is up from her afternoon nap. Playtime with the girls. Cards, memory games, work books, dressing up. Arts & Craft using some stickers I bought on Etsy.

Girl with a camera stickers were bought from this Etsy shop

18:30 - 20:30
Evening routine is about to begin. Supper together with everyone. Talking about our day. Girls are having eggs, vegetables, cheese and yogurts. I made Shakshuka for my husband and me. (From Wikipedia: Shakshuka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, often spiced with cumin. It is believed to have Algerian and Tunisian origins). I added some feta cheese on top. Recipes will be provided upon request ;-)

Showers, teeth brushing, bed time story. Bottle of milk for the baby. Everybody in bed...
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ;-)

20:30 - 23:30
The third part of my day begins. The one that is mainly dedicated to my jewelry.
Some evenings I spend preparing orders.
Some evenings I create new items.
Some evenings I take pictures of my items.
Some evenings I list new items.
Some evenings I create treasuries.
Some evenings I read articles.
Some evenings I “play” - on Facebook, on Pinterest.
Some evenings I prepare marketing materials - like my newsletter (you can sigh up here)

Only a few evenings a month I spend watching TV (CSI or Criminal Minds... National Geographic or a film, whatever is in English and not Hungarian...).

Tonight I need to update all the items in my shop as my launch promotion is finished. I log into Etsy and am surprised to find out I was on “Etsy Finds” yesterday for the first time ever – SO excited!!!!
What a great finale for a cold day - warms my heart ;-)

23:30 - Bed time for me too... zzzzzzzz Good Night!!!

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Thank you Galia! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: Rotdaris

2012-02-03T04:16:00.000-08:00

Hello all! This time of the week is here again! Today we will travel to Latvia to meet sweet Ilze from Rotdaris! Enjoy the ride ;)

Leather wrap bracelet in white and blue

>>06.45<<

As usual my alarm clock is ringing and I must get ready for the new day! It is so hard to leave the bed, can’t wait till the weekend when there are no alarm clocks and I am allowed to sleep as long as I want to! It is still dark outside but during the breakfast we will be able to experience a beautiful sunrise. But the working day must start and I shake myself up and get out of the bed!

My husband is making breakfast while I’m taking morning shower and waking up our little daughter. She also doesn’t like to wake up in the mornings so always there is a little battle to win.

Breakfast coffee is ready, morning news on TV are switched on we are getting in the mood of the day.

Today is one of the coldest days in the year and my daughter doesn’t need to attend kindergarten. This makes it all easier for me as I don’t need to dress her up and take her there. She is staying at home with my husband.

>>08.00<<

It is already eight o clock and I must go to the work. I work in Riga which is the capital of Latvia, country near the Baltic Sea. Riga is a wonderful city with great architecture and interesting Old city with its small streets and intense night life. As I live outside the city I go to work by car. It is approximately 20 km and it is taking about 40 minutes to get to work. As it is so cold and smaller children don’t need to attend school, the streets are quite empty.

>>08.45<<

I’m arriving in the Tieto office - the biggest IT Company in Baltic States and one of the biggest in the world where I work as Project manager and Quality lead for several projects. The day is quite busy and intense so I don’t have too much time to think about my jewelry projects and Etsy shop. But still we are trying to catch a little creative sparkle every day - we have brainstorm paintings on our team board, we have cut some interesting Star Wars snowflakes when there was no snow outside and many other things that make our daily work more colorful. Day flies away in one breathe and it is already time to go home to my family!

>>19.00<<

I’m home at last. My husband is already making the dinner. Today we will have one of my favorites - baked chicken and rice. Doesn’t that look fantastic? While he is cooking I’m playing around with our daughter and cat.

>>19.30<<

Dinner is ready! Let’s go to eat!

>>20.00<<

Finally - this is the time I can start to work on my jewelry projects! First I need to make photos of my last order - lately I often receive orders for making polymer clay beads and other supplies for other jewelry artists. Flower buds in all possible colors and other flowers like tulips, narcissi and lilac are on the top right now. I use a modified old box from my crafts owen as light box. I have an external flashlight and this works perfect for taking pictures of my works.

<<21.00<<

This is Etsy time! Checking messages, statistics, treasuries and team conversations! It is amazing that so many great and talented artists are brought together in one place!

>>22.00<<

It seems that this day has been long enough and I will have no time to sit at my table. Well, the weekend is near and I will have time to fulfill all my ideas very soon! Feel free to check them in some while in my Facebook page, Twitter and Etsy shop!

Sweet dreams everybody!

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Thank you Ilze! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: Verluisant's hope

2012-01-27T01:28:00.000-08:00

Hello from frozen Greece! Winter this year is really cold even on the islands! Yayyy :)
Today we will travel to France to meet sweet Lucie from Verluisant's hope! Enjoy the ride ;)

Fox

9h00
Bonjour! Welcome into my world! My name is Lucie and I'm the designer behind Verluisant's Hope. I live with my husband in a town near the center of France. Today is a very good day because I don't to have wake up early!! The rest of the week, I work in a school and it's always a challenge to leave my bed. The fact is that I love to sleep and my nights are filled with interesting dreams. Indeed, it's a dream that brought me the idea of paper cutting!

9h10
Breakfast time: impossible to survive without my morning tea.

9h30
I go to the kitchen and I feed the cutest occupant of the flat: Winchester, my little rabbit seems to be always starving while he is pretty plump... My second «pet» is a carnivorous plant, but she catches the flies herself.

10h00
I'm finally dressed after a few minutes spent to choose my outfit. I must confess I love clothes and jewels... and Etsy is my favorite market for this kind of items! For instance, the wonderful dress I wear comes from Patricia Valery and my necklace from Corail Menthe, both Etsy shop I heart!

I switch my computer on, check my e-mails and go to see what's new in my Etsy shop. I have also another on line shop, in a french site. I try to read the forums, making treasuries and keep in touch with my teams. Then, I read the news, my favorites blogs and I write my to-do list for the day. I choose good music (today I begin with Peter Doherty, then maybe a bit of Muse) and I'm ready to start creating! Today, I'm starting a new papercut inspired by "20 000 lieues sous les mers" my favorite Jules Verne's book. I usually make one or two drafts before the final drawing on black paper. During this step, I choose some papers for the background of my papercut. As a bookworm, I passionately love beautiful papers, so I collect old books, vintage dictionnaries and maps, beautiful sheets and colourful fabrics that I use in my work, jewels and papercuts.

12h30
Today, Julien, my husband is taking care of cooking <3 ! Menu: omelette and chicory salad. Simple but tasty!

13h30
Help! No more black paper. I need to go downtown for a little bit of shopping. I introduce Moulins, a little provincial town with some beautiful old stones. The weather is cold but, for the first time since morning the sun is out of the fog.

16h30
I've got the paper, a discounted dress and a brand new lipstick (yes, it was unexpected)!

17h00
Five o'clock tea! Impossible to survive without my afternoon tea. During tea time, I dedicate my time to my other passion: reading. I studied literature and there is an influence in all my creations. Today I read for the fourth or fifth time "L'écume des jours" from Boris Vian, a surrealist (and sad) story of love. Maybe a future theme for my papercuts or my jewels!

18h00
I spend a couple of hours on my computer, chatting with my sister and my friends and searching for new ideas. Usually, I choose this hour to list my new items in my on line shops.

20h00
Dinner with Julien. Our tradition is to watch some films or series before we go to sleep.

22h00
I'm beginning to yawn, so, after a hot shower, I join my beloved bed! Bonne nuit!

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Thank you Lucie! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: Villa Figura

2012-01-20T02:21:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Today we are traveling to Netherlands to meet sweet Anneke from Villa Figura. Enjoy!

Map of Imagination

Hi there! My name is Anneke from Villa Figura. I live together with my partner Bas, toddler Tom and baby Maas on the outskirts of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. On a typical Friday you would find me working as a Service designer and consultant (Huh?). Today is different because I'm still on maternity leave. My days are pretty much scheduled around our baby Maas.

6:30 >> These days mornings are dark and cold. I feel reluctant to get out of bed, but our children are already wide awake. 'Rush Hour', as we call it, starts. Bas hurries off to work while I wrap the kids up warmly to go outside. It’s a rainy day in the Netherlands...

9:00 >> After I bring Tom to daycare, I return home with baby Maas. While Maas sleeps in the pram, I quickly do some chores around the house. Cleaning up after breakfast, picking up toys, and the laundry. The hamper just keeps on filling up!

11:00 >> Now, I was hoping to do some illustration work, however Maas decides otherwise as he's quite moody after his feed. Change of plans. A stroll to the supermarket will calm him. I drop one of my Etsy orders in the mailbox on our way.

13:00 >> I finally sit down to attend to some requests for custom prints, prepare orders and pre-stamp some of my envelopes. The moment the sun peeks through the clouds I take the advantage of it to shoot some product photos for my Etsy shop.

15:00 >> I decide it is time to cross the visit to museum Boijmans off of my maternity leave bucket list. It is our first official mother - son 'date'. Two-months old Maas even gets his own entry ticket! I enjoy the nominations for the Dutch design prize and the collection of applied art and design. Judging from his wailing Maas will not wait for his feed 'till we get home and I really don't want to risk a drama on the tram. So, Maas treats me to some unexpected cappuccino in the cafe while I feed him.

18:00 >> The second the front door opens and Bas and Tom come in, our house changes from a tranquil retreat, into a happy exuberant mess. Tom and Bas frolic on the couch and build a train track together.

21:00 >> After a bath, a story and some milk, both our boys are asleep now and I quickly sit behind my laptop to work more on my alphabet project. I'm under a little pressure to create the letter Z, V and B monograms as I have already got orders for them! We should go to bed early because this weekend we have more friends and family coming over for a baby visit. But Bas and I cannot resist an episode of House and curl up on the couch together. Sleep tight!

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Thank you Anneke! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!
Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

xo
Tatiana

Friday is my day: Fattidame

2012-01-13T04:25:00.000-08:00

Hello dear fellows! Happy New Year to all of you :) We are back (so sorry about last week's missed post, I am sure I put it somewhere :D) with a fresh series of European Artists sharing their Fridays. Today we start the New Year with Paola from Alessandria, Italy once more. We love this country :) Enjoy!

Hello! I’m Paola from Fattidame!

Giorgio the octopus

I live with my soulmate Filippo and our three terrible cats in a nice village north of Italy. We live in the countryside, not far from the town Alessandria. I’m very lucky because I work at home for my husband's building enterprise and I can deal with my etsy shop part time! Now here is my typical Friday...

(7:30)
It’s time to wake up! The alarm rings at 7:30 a.m and for me is always a blow...

But three hungry wild animals are waiting in the kitchen for their breakfast ;) They are Natalino, Chicca and Virgola. If I want to have my breakfast, I must feed them before it!!

My husband’s already at work, so I get my breakfast alone with a cup of “lattee caffè” and some biscuits. I try to organize my day, but I’d like the day to last 48 hours ;)

(8:30)
It’s time to go to the office... It is not a long way, I just go up in the attic of my house and dive into the paperwork ;)

(12:00)
I prepare lunch for me and Filippo. Just a plate of pasta, some vegetables and a good coffee. We talk about work, but also about our day. Then Filippo goes back to work.

(13:30)
After lunch I can spend a couple of hours on my pc! I check my on-line etsy shop, blog, emails, I think about some new ideas for my shop and I draw inspiration from my puppies sleeping all day!
If It’s a sunny day I can take pictures of my new items.

(15:00)
Almost every day, I go for walking in the countryside near my home. I love this moment because walking makes my body feel good, but above all my mind. I love to walk near nature!

(16:30)
After a warm shower I take out my sewing box, threads, needles, fabrics and I watch what is being born from my hands and my creative mess! It’s always a surprise: A camel, a mouse, a cat, a dog or a pig...

(19:30)
It’s time for cooking! Filippo arrives at home and while I’m cooking we talk about our day.
After supper we watch a film, read a magazine or a book.

(23:30)
But the bed calls me... another day is over.
So Good Night!

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Thank you Paola! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!

Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Tatiana

Friday is my day: Leen's

2011-12-17T00:52:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! This time of the week arrived again :) Today we travel to Belgium and I am glad to present you Leen from Leen's!

Set of 4 greeting cards by Leen's

Hello, my name is Leen. Together with my partner Dieter, I live in a flat in Antwerp, a Belgian city. I hope you'll like to follow a day in my live.

7:20

My alarm clock rings. It’s difficult to get up, because it’s so cosy and warm in bed. I have this problem especially in autumn and winter, when it’s still dark in the morning and cold outside. When I finally get up, I start my day with a few yoga exercises. I take a shower and get dressed.

8:30

I have breakfast together with Dieter, who works at home on Fridays. I write in my “to do” notebook (it will be a busy day…) and I make my first cup of tea of the day.

9:00

Our living room is split in two parts. One of these parts is the studio where I work. It was a very busy week and I've made a big mess of my working table, so first thing to do: clean up!

9:30

I actually don’t like to clean up, but I’m always happy when the work is done. A clean desk makes it so much nicer to work. I reward myself by changing my inspiration board: a magnetic board filled with cards from artists whom I admire and some other stuff I like.

9:45

While I was hanging one card next to the other, the postman delivered a box with the holiday cards I've illustrated. I decide to start photographing them immediately. The earlier I can put them on Etsy, the better! It happens to be a tough job: the sun shines only every now and then, and most of the time there are big clouds that take away all the light. After a long time of trying and making a lot of failed pictures, I choose the best ones to place in my shop. I adapt the pictures a bit in Photoshop, and then I can finally make my listings on Etsy.

12:15

In 15 minutes I have an appointment with my sister in the city centre. I take my bike (my favourite means of transport) and I arrive just in time.

12:30

We have lunch together and we talk a lot about the things that keep us busy. My sister is a writer, and it’s so much fun to share our creative processes, encouraging each other and giving advice to one another! But of course, we do talk about many other things too.

13:30

We go to the shop, as we need both food for dinner. After shopping, we decide to have a coffee in one of those great coffee bars in our city (because we just can't stop talking ;-). Coffee bars are dangerous places for girls like us; we tend to spend hours and hours over there…

15:30

Back at home. I check my mailbox, make a post for my blog and start reading other blogs, a very inspiring but time-consuming activity. So I decide to get away from my computer and to do something with my hands. Making buttons from the fabric I designed a whole while ago seems to be a good idea.

18:00

Time flies and I need to start cooking for dinner. I’m going to make a dish from “de groene prinses”. She creates gorgeous vegetarian meals. Since the existence of this blog, it has been much easier for me to decide what to cook. Fortunately Dieter loves these meals too.

20:00

While Dieter is doing the dishes (lucky me!), I get back to work. I come to the conclusion that I haven't done pretty much of my to do list today. Ok, first I need to finish some commissioned jobs and then I will finally tackle the design for that tote bag. It’s going to be a long evening...

And for tomorrow: happy weekend everyone!

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Thank you Leen! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!

Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Tatiana

Friday is my day: My Cherry Tree

2011-12-09T02:07:00.001-08:00

Hello! Another Friday is here and today we are traveling to Slovenia to meet Vesna & Mojca from My Cherry Tree and Cherry Time!

Hi I am Vesna!
I own My Cherry Tree and I am also a part of Cherry Time team. (handmade shop with my best friend Mojca). We live in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia.

My Cherry Tree is all about beautiful vintage and antique goodies and handmade collection inspired by French vintage postcards, music, love and beautiful vintage supplies.

Cherry Time is about unique handmade goodies for women and kids.

My Friday

{7:20}
Breakfast, browsing through emails, conversations, making morning treasury...Discussing ideas, options, materials with Mojca.

{9:00}
Styling vintage and handmade goodies, taking photos, creating, packing...

{11:00}
Time for my day time job.

{18:00}
So happy that weekend started with unlimited time for creating and enjoying free time...

Cherry time team Vesna & Mojca

Visit our blog and take part of our giveaway.

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Thank you Vesna & Mojca! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!

Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Tatiana

Friday is my day: Strangewoodart

2011-12-02T00:06:00.001-08:00

Hello Hello! Have a great December everyone! Today, while we are still spending one more week in beautiful Italy, we will have the chance to meet talented Linda from Strangewoodart. Enjoy the ride!

My name is Linda and I live in North Italy with my partner and my son, Nicola. We live in a pretty village, where you can still find an authentic magical atmosphere, very different from a town, from which I have ran away many years ago. Working from home allows me to spend as much time as possible with my family and look after my son. I consider myself very lucky. And now, here is my typical Friday:

Sculpture Art Doll from Strangewoodart

(7.30)

I wake up before everybody else, because I like to have breakfast by myself with a large mug of "Latte" and biscuits. I love listening to a relaxing CD and write my list of priorities for the day, even if by the evening I have accomplished only half of what I was meant to do. The trouble is that I always expect too much from myself.

(8.15)

Federico and Nicola wake up and have breakfast. My son takes always a long time, because he listens to fairy tales, he plays and tries to delay going to pre-school. It would be nice to stay home and play, but only for today though...

(9.15)

As quick as thunder, we manage to go out, before the school’s doors close. Nicola begins a day of play and activities with his friends. The village is small and we all know each other. He has known his school mates since birth.

(9.30)

Now I have a few things to do. In the village we have everything we need: shops, chemist, postal office, council office and a famous museum: the Museum of the Mask, where you can discover traditions and cultures from most of the countries in the world with ethnical costumes for every ancient festivity. I like to stroll along the village streets, where you can see very old houses with religious frescos painted on the walls: the atmosphere is enchanted.

(10.00)

Finally at home: I check my on-line shop, emails, blog and all activities relating to the web. If I did not have a precise plan, I would risk to spend all day in front of my PC. My house is on 4 levels and my laboratory is in the attic: this is a very important place for me. When everybody is in the kitchen, I can work in peace. I try to be organized, but it is really difficult for me. I can’t help it, this is the way I am... Therefore every couple of days, when I start to struggle finding things, I decide to sort everything out.

(10.30)

I start working with air drying clay. My work is divided in different phases: modeling, drying, sanding, hand painting, finishing. Today I will shape a few sculptures, which will take at least 3 days to dry. I prefer to make as many as possible, even in the small breaks during the day.

(12.30)

I prepare lunch for myself. Sometimes I meet up my partner for lunch, but today I have many things to finish, so I have decided to stay home. During my meal, I watch the news to know what happens out there in the world, even if I can see that these are difficult times for everyone. Often, I can’t wait to get back to my colorful sculptures or relax half an hour changing channels.

(13.30)

If I am lucky and it’s a sunny day, I can take pictures of my items. I always have to take pictures of myself and it is really hard, because I have to try over and over until I am fully satisfied. For Christmas I hope that Santa will bring me a camera stand.

(14.30)

It is time to go to school to pick up Nicola, because today is a sunny day and we can go for a walk. Near our house there is a large square with a view and a play area, but today is too cold for that and no one else is there.

(14.50)

We decided to go to Ovada, the nearest town, for a walk in the city centre. There the atmosphere is quite different, closer to a city lifestyle, but it is important not to lose touch with “civilation”, as we say jokingly here in the village.

(17.00)

Back home, Nicola falls asleep for an hour and I can spend time drawing. I have registered to the Sketchbookproject and, before starting, I try to practice the techniques to find inspiration and study. I’ve always loved drawing and I happy that I am managing to find a way to keep my passion alive. It is important to find time to do what you like, even if it is only a hobby, rather than work. I think that this is a good opportunity to get stimulated to achieve the best I can even in this field!

(19.30)

Dinner time is getting closer; I start preparing the meal. I love cooking, but today I have little time. I prefer to cook at weekends, when my two boys spend their time wondering around together on their bicycle. I prefer to cook pasta dishes and puddings, obviously Italian style. While we are dining, we talk about ourselves and how we have spent our day and we enjoy planning for the weekend.

(21.00)

While I prepare the evening coffee, Nicola and his dad play happily. Their games are always boisterous: trains, cars, fighting... And I used to dream of dolls and fairy tale castles...! Sigh!

(23.30)

Nicola sleeps already. It is time for the evening rituals: relaxing, reading a book, before switching the light off. It was definitely a busy Friday... And from tomorrow a relaxing weekend with my family!

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Thank you Linda! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!

Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Tatiana

Friday is my day: Satyrikon Lab

2011-11-24T22:08:00.001-08:00

Hello Hello! This time of week has come again and today I am so happy to present you Roberta Cortese from Satyrikon Lab! Enjoy :)

Hello, I’m Roberta from Satyrikon Lab, the shop I share with my friend Loredana, and where my paper creations are crossing her fabric jewels and hats. We live in the center of Turin, Italy, and we usually don’t really work together, though right now we’re both working on a bigger project and therefore she will join me later on this day... I’ll start then with my Friday!

Mini Photo Album with Accordion from Satyrikon Lab

[7:15]

It’s a bit granted, but it’s true: I cannot start my day without a good coffee! We have several coffee makers, this is the little one just for me, ‘cause my husband went out earlier today.

[7:45]

Morning chanting with my daughter Sophia (we are all buddhist at home) and then my puppies Sirius (left) and Gea (right) ready for our morning walk: they’re 8 months old, very lovely but also lively... and they hold us fit!

[8:15]

I take you outside with me and show you my morning path, from the nice little street just in front of my house, to the very beautiful park where we meet every day a lot of good friends. In the last picture just a few of them, left to right: Gea, Sirius, Wall-ee, Frida, Greta, Pupa, Sumà, Splif.

[9:30]

After the second coffee, checking everything on my pc: private posts, Etsy shop, Facebook page and account, and... to not forget: today is #FF (follow Friday) on twitter, which is something I really like because you can always get to know a lot of very interesting people.

[10:00]

Coming and leaving post: the postman just brought me these really beautiful fabrics I ordered from USA (through Etsy, of course...) and the two mini wedding photo albums I sold yesterday are ready to fly to Dubai!

[10:15]

Sorting pictures from our last event and playing Big Editor with the post Loredana wrote last night for our blog. There in the photograph is me, playing model and wearing an amazing dress made by Loredana, which has actually 4 sleeves and is completely convertible (you finally have a dozen dresses just with only one!).

We presented Loredana’s dresses together with a reading of Mozart’s letter (ok, actually, I’m an actress... and this is not a joke!) at the opening of a show room of arts and crafts here in Turin. I’m very happy because I’m organizing the whole thing with my association Satyrikon and sometimes it’s not so easy, but the opening was a big success and... together with us there are two other Etsy fellows: Sonia from lofficina and Vincenza from Ferrarel; we’ll be together until Christmas!

[13:00]

The gorgeous sight seeing from my living room: La Mole Antonelliana, major landmark of Turin and a building I really, really love. Next, you can imagine a picture of me getting everything ready for assembling my little hand coloured, paper-glass framed pictures.

[14:00]

Sirius and Gea waiting because they know Sophia’s school must be over. Lunch with Sophia. Our menu: piedmonts tortellini, potatoes salad with tuna, persimmons (we love them!) and coffee at the end, of course (third and last one).

[15:30]

Time to go! This was my way to the show room today: the arcades of via Po, the big San Carlo square, a (not very short) stop to the central postal office and finally via Botero, the little street where our show room is.

[16:15]

And here it is, our show room, Loredana’s and my little corner! The place’s name is Lacca (lacquer) and it is actually a restoration lab which put us u1p for all the duration of our events. We called our program spunicunifait, which is a word invented by Mozart, and there will be further readings and workshop... always on Friday!

[16:30]

Starting something unusual for me and learning from Romina, which is a very patient teacher. I want to strip this old little windows, change its glass and reuse it as a frame for one of my photographs.

[19:30]

After closing her tailoring atelier, finally Loredana join me at the lab... and goes on working! Here she’s making one of her fabric wrapped rings.

[21:00]

Time to close! Last walk back home, through via Monte di Pietà, the arcades of via Pietro Micca, piazza Castello (the heart of the city) and last but not least la Mole Antonelliana again! In the night it shines together with the Fibonacci series on her.

[21:30]

My husband set some appetizer for me and I like to play with food... Well, at the end I’m home: let’s have dinner, wait for Sophia coming back from the cinema (“Melancholia” tonight), take a good book with me to bed for the last read before sleeping... I think I can be fully satisfied: it was a long day but a beautiful Friday, as usual!

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Thank you Roberta! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!

Until then, have a great weekend and be creative :)

Tatiana

Friday is my Day: The Drifter Leather

2011-11-17T05:01:00.001-08:00

Hello all and happy fall & winter season! This is Tatiana from ILaBoom and I will be taking care of this wonderful column as long as needed :) I am very happy to present to you, all these wonderful artists talking about their (and mine to tell you the truth) favorite day, Friday! This Friday 3 amazing and talented girls from Northern Greece, The Drifter Leather team will keep us company!

leather tobacco pouch by The Drifter Leather

Hello! We are Maria, Callie and Christiana a.k.a. The Drifter Leather team. We live in Thessaloniki, a city by the sea in Northern Greece. We live together and with our father, Maria's husband in a house we call home. We also work together making shoes and handmade leather accessories. Today we are going to share with you one day of our lives.

08:00 Callie, Maria, Christianna, is time for us to wake up. The view out of our window reminds us that fall is almost over and Christmas are coming. We are drinking our morning coffee (we <3 coffee) and checking out our Etsy shop, our Blog and our FB page. So excited we sold two tobacco pouches, today!

This is our view from our window. Our neighborhood, Pylaia still looks like a village!

09:00 "Callie is having her regular graphic design lesson while Maria is going for shoe work at our workshop in our garage and Christianna is packaging the tobacco pouches that we sold. She soon will be leaving for the post office and for the grocery shopping.

14:00 Callie, Maria and Christianna are cooking together. Cooking is a great challenge for the three of us. We usually cook together or watch one another cooking! We love spice and greek cuisine."

17:00 "Callie and Christianna are setting a photoshoot for our shops. Callie's passion is photography! She has been photoshooting bands and models the last 3 years! Maria is creating a treasury collection and browsing the internet.

18:00 "Our evening coffee! Talking about our accessories designs and collection. Scheduling our Christmas designs. Also talking about our studies and lives!"

19:00 "Christianna is rehearsing and composing. She is studying music and lately has been trying to create her own music."

"Maria is crafting a custom design. We love it when we get special requests from customers. It's a great challenge for us and it's so satisfying to create the customer's dream accessory."

"Callie is practicing on sketching and on using the graphic design software."

22:00 "Christianna, Callie and Maria are watching a movie. We all love comedies and romantic movies so we never argue about which movie we are going to watch!"

24:00 "It is bed time for all of us! It was a busy day, Friday is definitely our Day!"

............................................................................................

Thank you so much girls! As for all of you lovely readers stay tunned for our next week's guest!

Until then, keep up the good work and be creative :)

Tatiana

Friday is my day: Helmitarha

2011-07-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hello and happy July to everyone! Today we will spend a day in the company of Jana in Finland. She creates very striking and unique jewelry from beads, stone and leather - go take a look at her shop helmitarha.etsy.com for more of her beautiful work!

With this post it's time for me to say goodbye and thank you to all readers, commenters and especially the artists who have shared their day while I've been taking care of this blog. A big thank you also to Heli for giving me the opportunity to work behind the scenes here. :) Thank you all!

The blog will go on a little summer break now, but will be back in August when Heli is back at the helm. Have a very good summer, everyone!

- Maria/Morrgan

Flying Over Coral Desert - bead embroidered necklace. Fossil coral, MOP, crystal, pearls
helmitarha

Hello! My name is Jana and I’m the artist behind Helmitarha. I live in Kotka – beautiful city by the Baltic Sea. I live with my husband and our precious little squirrel-dog Liisa.

This is one day from my life.

6:45
I get up. I need to be at the office before 8:00 and I still need to get myself ready and drive 20 km to the city.

Check the weather – nice! Warm, but a bit cloudy.

Then I get a judgmental look from our dog for getting up so early. She’s always the last one out of the bed.

Then I get myself ready and go to the living room/kitchen. While the coffee is getting ready, I have a whole bunch of hungry fishes to feed.

Then I have a short moment to check my e-mails, blog comments and my Etsy store.

Coffee is ready and it’s time to sit on the porch and enjoy the weather. :) In summer we try to have most of our meals outside.

Hmmm... Looks like grass needs some trimming.

7:30 It’s tme to leave for work.

During the day I work in a small propery management company, but I’m always waiting for that special moment, when I come home and open the door to my workroom.

18:30 Here it is – one of the greatest moments of the day. I’m home and I can go to my tiny nook and dig into all of my treasures.

This is my temporary workroom. We moved to a new house just a couple of month ago and I still have a lot of things packed in the boxes. This room can fit only my table and couple of drawer units, but I’m planning to move to a larger room once we finish the reno.
Here is the other corner of the room. You can see my antique typerwiters right by the big pile of boxes that I still need to unpack.

Today I want to start a new project. I still don’t know, what it is going to be, that’s why I look for the inspiration around me...

stone beads...

seed beads...

My cabochon folder...

and bookshelf...
Then I decide to open the jewelry box and look at some of my favorite pieces.

Very often I like to ty new things – fresh design and unusual color combinations. That’s why most of my jewelry is one-of-a-kind.

22:00 Oh, I discovered 3 new sales in my Etsy store. Yay!

I sit down at my table, get my portable packing station and start packing the sales.
I enjoy the packing process, as I always imagine the face of the person that will be unwrapping it – untying the ribbon, reading the hand-written note and then discovering the jewelry piece that they are going to enjoy for many years to come.

23:30 It’s been a long day. My hubby pours me a glass of wine and we sit in the living room and talk about the day. Then I take a book in one hand and dog in the other, and we all head towards the bedroom.

Thank you for spending this day with me! I enjoyed your company! Have a good night! ;)

Friday is my day: Weird&Twisted

2011-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week brings a treat for us yarn enthusiasts - we'll spend a day with Weird&Twisted, a spinning duo in Germany. Their Etsy shop with the same name (WeirdAndTwisted.etsy.com) has more of their wonderful, imaginative yarns, so be sure to take a look there too!

Bright Fish - Handspun Ocean Art Yarn that GLOWS in the Dark
WeirdAndTwisted

Hi World, we’re Weird&Twisted, a team of two German spinners. It’s been quite a challenge to document our day since we usually don’t work together. We decided to take turns in describing our day, and to split photos, so that’s that taken care of :-) To clarify who is who and to make the whole thing more fun we’ll write in two colours: Weird is green, Twisted is red. In the split photos, you’ll find Weird on the left side, and Twisted on the right.

I usually try to get up at 7, if I didn’t work too late the night before. My husband or I make coffee, take turns in the shower and then he’s off to work. I work at home, so I usually take my coffee and cereal to the computer and start my day checking the shop for orders.

I get up when breakfast is ready. :-) I’m in the extraordinary position of having a husband who gets up before me. (Well, that’s true for working days, because I’m the one who’s got to do breakfast on saturdays and sundays.) We have breakfast, then my beloved husband leaves for work. I stay where I am - I’m self employed and work from home, both a curse and a blessing.

After breakfast I start packaging yarns a customer ordered yesterday. It was Twisted who started designing each envelope individually, Weird&Twisted style - now we always do this.

We used to send along small chocolates and pretty invoices with a personal note of thanks, but due to customs reasons that’s no longer possible. Now we only send the yarn(s), each with a banderole specifying the important information, and business cards. When someone buys many yarns at once, or keeps returning often, we sometimes send along a small thank you - such as some of our handmade stitch markers or even a small skein of yarn.

My general goal is to spin four or five yarns per week, and list as many. In preparation I usually card batts, which means I blend fibre on a drum carder. I often card all the batts for one week in one day, if I can fit that into my schedule, but today I only card one batt. I choose softest merino wool of bright greens, fine merino wool of light pink, and white bamboo flakes.

Well, as I said, I work from home. I switched to a standing desk because it’s way more healthy for my back. If I work on a desk all day, not even yoga can soothe the ache and relax the muscles, so my standing desk is where I’m happy. :)

I’m a Social Media Consultant and Coach, and I have to do lots of different things. On this day, I wrote a proposal and a new blog article. If you want to know more about what I’m doing, feel free to check out my (German) Social Media Blog!

I try to get as much done before noon, before my brain is all up and awake and wants me to do aaaaall kinds of stuff but work.

When I’m done carding, I set the batt (that’s the piece of mixed fibres I take off the drum carder) aside for later, and now it’s time for a different kind of work. I currently balance three jobs: the Etsy shop and all that’s involved, a part time job for a market research institute, and (the most important one) writing my thesis. I’ll work on the thesis later, now I have to test some software for the market reasearch institute.

After a few hours of testing, I can finally prepare for spinning! I document the ingredients on file cards, split up the batt into managable pieces, string the beads onto golden thread, fix it to the bobbin, and start spinning.

I have a light lunch, and on most days (as on this one) some rice wafers with chocolate which I’m particularly fond of. Well... and then I start working again. Did I say it’s a blessing AND a curse!?

Every so often, I stop to spin in a flower. This is a little tricky and takes some time and patience, but as with everything, it gets easier with practice :-)

While having some bread and cheese for lunch, I edit some of the photos I took last week. I usually use a photo tent, and I don’t want to set everything up for just one or two yarns, so I have established Friday as my photo day. That way, I can take pictures of all the yarns I spun during one week.

After lunch, I finish the yarn. I wind it off the bobbin using a so called niddy noddy, and then I weigh and measure it. It also needs to be washed to set the twist. It will be ready for photo shooting and shipping after a few days, when it’s completely dry.

Sometimes, we both have coffee together. We get some cake or bake waffles and have a break.

This cake was really yummy!

After our break, I make a detour to the local supermarket and buy groceries, and when I get home I work on my thesis. I study Prehistoric Archaeology, Archaeology of Ancient Near East, and Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg. My thesis is about identity and material culture in prehistory (exact time period to be defined), which is an absolutely intriguing subject.

On I’d say two days a week, I spin. So after my coffee break is over, I grab some fiber, like this wonderful batt I prepared some weeks before. As the drum carder is at Weird’s place, I tend to card a whole bunch of batts at once and stash them at home.

And then I start spinning! Yay!

I seldom finish a yarn in one day. I like to take my time, and I tend to spin a bit finer yarns that can’t be rushed. So the yarn sits on the bobbin and waits for me to finish it another day. :)

I hoped to have enough time for listing a yarn and writing a blog post, but I’m still buried in my books, and looking at the clock I think I will have to postpone anything else until tomorrow.

When I’m really, really good, I have some more time to take pictures. I carry my Ikea “Lack” table over to the window and do the drill: One picture of the whole yarn, one picture of the skein, one where you can see the yarn’s structure, one close up - and one for fun. :) I like taking yarn pics, so if anyone sees a job opening for a full time yarn fotographer, call me! (Just kidding, I like my job. :D )

Sometimes I finish the day with more work. Well, I’m self-employed, so that’s not a bad thing! ;) At about 7 pm, my husband returns from work and we spend the evening together cooking, enjoying the meal and having a good time.

I decide to keep working on the thesis until my husband gets home. Then we’ll cook dinner and enjoy it in front of the TV, watching an episode of Battlestar Galactica. We have already watched the whole series, but it’s been a while and we wanted to start again, wondering what it’s like to watch the beginning when we already know what will happen in the end. Afterwards, we might play a board game, or Lego Batman on the PS3, or he’ll play some PS3 game and I might get the chance to list a yarn, or write that blog post. When we go to bed, my husband often reads to me - what better way to finish the day? :-)

Friday is my day: Skrynka

2011-06-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's time for a visit to Ukraine, to say hi to Natalka. Her Etsy shop skrynka.etsy.com is full of beautiful embroidery, both to wear as for example jewelry and belts, and to decorate your walls. Be sure to take a look!

Enjoy and happy Midsummer!

Hand embroidery - Burgundy heart with palpitation - Cute cross-stitch in wooden hoop
skrynka

My name is Natalya Pavlysh, but I like it when friends call me Natalka. I live in Ukraine, in the longest city, Kryvy Rih. It is 150 km long so some people from south of the city never meet those from its north.

As a child I loved making things with my hands. Whenever I saw interesting clothes, bags, scarves my first thought was "can I make it myself?". So I know how to crochet, sew, knit, bead... but when I started to embroider, it became my passion. I just can't stop since!

Now I am currently a stay at home mom and as I have got plenty of time I decided to use it wise, turning my passion into a little business so I opened my Etsy shop. Skrynka (Скринька) in Ukrainian means little box, usually used to keep treasures like jewelry or granny's legacy. I imagine that my shop can be a little box of embroidered treasures: jewelry, home decor, accessories.

As you will see I spend my days around my baby-son Oleg, husband Yaroslav and my etsy shop Skrynka.

We usually wake up around 7 o’clock. But we get up a little later. I’m a breastfeeding mother and the first thing my son wants, when he wakes up, is having his breakfast.
While my husband is at home I try to check my e-mails and the Etsy forums threads as they are important for me. Then he goes to work and I have my breakfast. One thing I love most of the summer is that I can take a mix of berries for breakfast, vegetable salad for lunch and ice cream with currant as a night snack.

Then I try to embroider just a bit. Usually I can’t because Oleg is a very curious child and he must take my embroidery hoop or needle or bother me another way.

Nearly 9 or 10 o’clock Oleg has his morning sleep and if there was a sale, I pack it. The packaging of each order is always a little different. It depends of my mood, color of embroidery, envelop. But it is always a handmade box or bag.

I’m almost done, and have no time left to sit at my computer. In the morning my son sleeps about 30 minutes, rarely an hour. Oh, there’s still time to make a treasury...

When there are no sales, I spend this time for some designing or for inspirational things. I draw my designs on paper with colored pencils. I don't like to use computer programs for that. The old pencil and eraser method is much more creative.

Between morning sleep and lunch we go to the post office to ship orders. It is not so far from our apartment, just a few minute’s walk. Here we are. :)

Usually we use a baby-carriage for our walks but if it is a short distance to the shop or the post office I use a baby-carrier. On the way back home I buy some flowers. I like it when even a small bouquet stands near my monitor. It makes me smile. :)

After lunch we play a couple of hours and my son goes to sleep again. It is my craft time at last!

I’m working on the balcony. It is a small place where Oleg cannot come because the way is blocked with a chair. Only here I can expand all my tiny craft supplies. And there is enough light to take photos. But I can only take good photos in the morning, when the sun is shining.

Of course I also review my ETSY shop, e-mail and chat a bit with my teammates.

When I need inspiration, I visit Ukrainian and Slavic ornaments photo galleries, I look at my photos got in folk art museums or local exhibitions. I'm truly inspired by Ukrainian folk cross-stitching embroidery. It is in my blood I think. I have a few festive towels from my granny. She has embroidered them when she was young and now they need to be restored but they are so beautiful with their meaningful ornaments, she used ancients symbols of water, earth and the Guardian - keeper of the family fire.

I understand that I can't convey all the folk embroidery significance, but this is not my goal. I try to make wearable ethnic things that can find their place into everyday life.

Time goes quickly and at 16 o’clock Oleg wakes up and my crafty time is over until night.

This evening my husband plays tennis and after a snack we go for a walk to the courts. It is not so far, only an hour of strolling. So I use the baby carrier again and even decide to go by bus. A couple of days ago it was rainy but now it is hot again, very hot. And it isn’t pleasant to walk this time of the day.

Courts are near a small pond, there is a walk-only zone around and we can walk and play while the game goes on.

But Oleg misses his dad and for a while I cannot take him away from the fence.

It was a month ago but I can’t resist showing you the first place’s prize which my husband won. Isn’t it cute? It fits right into Etsy’s style!

When the game is over we go home. The heat is gone and we decide to walk. Oleg even eats and falls asleep in his sling.

We live in an industrial city but even here you can make good photos sometimes. This picture was taken 2 years ago on the bridge while we were heading back home. Look, do you notice the shaft and smocking pipes on the horizon?

We went home tired and Yaroslav with Oleg went to their beds immediately after bath. But I get my ice cream with currant and sit in front of the monitor.

There’s a lot of work to be done: e-mails, shop, treasuries and of course chat with my Etsy friends. :)

Friday is my day: colettecolor

2011-06-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week we will visit Colette in Hungary! I adore the wonderful colours and attention to detail you can see in her Etsy shop colettecolor.etsy.com, which has bags, pouches, jewelry and more. Enjoy her day!

The mute tulip handmade wool appliqued zipper pouch
colettecolor

My name is Nicolette Ludvig. I live in Győr, in Hungary, in the heart of Europe, halfway between Budapest and Vienna. It is 20 years now that I’ve been exploring the secrets of colours. I do sewing, knitting, crocheting... and I’m passionately interested in whatever is made of yarn and textile.

Thank you so much for the invitation to this blog. You know, I started my ETSY shop merely six months ago, and I highly appreciate every support.

Please come with me, as I’m presenting you how I spend my days.

I get up early in the morning, opening my eyes at about 5 or 6 o’clock. The house is all quiet yet, my dear husband and our three sons (16, 13 and 5) are all sound asleep.
I read my e-mail messages and the orders, I review my ETSY shop, and my blog.

By the time my loved ones begin to strech in their beds, I’ve already finished the administration.
While my husband goes to the bakery for some fresh rolls, I make tea and coffee. 8 o’clock – the house is quiet again. The older boys have gone to school, the little one to the nursery, my husband to his workplace.
I’m alone now with my rolls of textile...

Let the creation begin!

That is... wait a minute... some things are missing! I need some zippers, wooden beads, cotton yarn, etc. I must go to the town center! On the way home, I visit my painter friend, Hokata. She’s my partner in planning a summer camp for creative people who make wonderful crafts of all kind. ... I mean, whatever is made of textile! Sipping our tasty tea we chat about the details of our plans.
We are bound together by the joy of life and the love of colours. I’ve decided to recommend her ETSY shop deeply from my heart.
Visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/hokata.

I arrive home at noon. I usually leave out lunch… there’s nobody to prepare it I like eating fruits, so I gulp down an apple, or it’s the season of cherry now, and there’s plenty of it in our garden. If I need any substantial, I prepare a banana-shake.

I peep to my studio... Oh, my! Who on earth did this mess? (No question, that was me...) It would be proper to tidy everything in up, but there are too many orders, I haven’t got time to do that.

I often go to do sewing in the garden, ’cause I’m keen on my garden, plants and flowers around me. I love sunshine and twittering of the birds. My garden means excellent inspiration to me, the work is progressing better in an environment, like this!

Let’s see the orders for bags... well, there are lots of it! I will hardly finish sewing them within the deadlines. I would boldly say that my products are pretty popular in the Hungarian market-place of handicraft.

If only it were true with ETSY too! That’s my secret dream.
In addition to preparing bags, my other passion is making those colourful round purses. I use various techniques to make them: appliquéd trimming, embroidery, yarns, crocheting. Of course I find colours very important, too and my shop’s name also suggests it. COLETTECOLOR the shop’s name is, which expresses that me and the colours are inseparable companions.

Wow, it’s 3 p.m. now, I must go for my youngest son to the nursery school. On the way I drop into the post office to send the parcels. I’m going to make some tasteful pizzas for dinner so we buy the ingredients in the store. FRIDAY is PIZZA DAY in our family.

When we arrive home, the rest of the family have come from school, training or work. It’s family time!

I knead the dough for the pizza and prepare the other ingredients.
The boys’ favourite is pizza Hawaii with bacon and pineapple, my husband and me like it with slices of tomatoes and aubergine. At the dinner table we chat about the events of the day, while we, adults are sipping a glass of good Hungarian wine after the Italian flavours.

In the evening the older boys go to their own programs, the little one, his daddy and me ride our bicycles to the highest point of our neighbourhood. (165 meters :) The scenery is breathtaking.

photo by Zoltan Toth
http://www.panoramio.com/user/1140367

At home again... We collapse into our beds.

„Good night, sleep tight! Don’t let the bad bugs bite!” :)

Friday is my day: anniejewelry

2011-06-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's time to go to Croatia and say hello to Anica! She creates wonderful wirewrapped jewelry with incredible detail - see for yourself at her Etsy shop anniejewelry.etsy.com. First though, enjoy her day!

(I'm doing a bit of travelling myself at the moment - this Friday I am celebrating my 30th birthday in Scotland. :)

my inner sense - silver wire wrapped necklace
anniejewelry

Hello everybody!

I'm Anica, which is the Croatian equivalent of Annie. I wish you a warm welcome into my small world!

Today is Saturday and I'm going to spend it at home, in my beautiful town of Samobor, Croatia. This is really not a typical day because I spend most of my days in a nearby Croatian capital, Zagreb, where I work full time in an insurance company. The job is stressful so I can't wait for the weekends to have more time for the people and things I love.

I'm an early bird and I got up even earlier than usual. My hubby and daughter are still asleep but there's another family member to welcome me with great joy – our Maltese dog, Masha. We cuddle and I make her a ponytail so she could see me better :) Then I take some time to groom myself :)

We have a house with a garden and some strawberries among other fruits and vegetables – perfect for a healthy day-starter. I go and get some – my mother in law is doing the gardening and she loves it but she's away at the moment so there has to be someone to replace her. With the smoothie at my side I check Etsy, FB and some portals for news.

My daughter wakes up, I make her a breakfast and take her to her cheerleading class. Taking a stroll through Samobor is always a good idea – today I am admiring the beautiful roses. Then I buy newspapers and have a coffee in my favorite bar.

My husband is now awake so I pick him up and we both go to pick up our daughter and take Masha for a walk. We have beautiful parks, lawns, even woods and hills practically in the center of Samobor.

We come back home and the hubby cooks another coffee, much better than the first one :)

Then we're off to Zagreb to choose some ceramic tiles. We are renovating our attic and this is important for me because I'll finally have a studio in my current kitchen!!! Looking forward to it! It's very complicated to work on a dining table, always having to pull out and put back all supplies and tools or tolerate the creative mess :)

After getting back everyone's hungry and I make a soup, a quiche and a salad – perfect! Taking a nap in the afternoon is a must, at least for some of us :)

My hubby's watching tennis, the daughter's friends are at our place and, as for me, now it's time for my crafting activities! I'm choosing the balcony, it's almost summer. Although I adore silver and love working with it, I've been playing with bronze lately. It's much cheeper nowdays that the prices of silver have risen enormously and those warm tones go very well with the turquoise, shells, corals – all summer delights :)

I choose a coral bead, bronze sheet and wire. After finishing the pendant I oxidize it – I can't resist doing that, perhaps I have some kind of a disease?!

Later, I take out the newly acquired supplies. I'm thinking about opening another shop (I already opened a profile, doKIDyourself). This one would be something completely different than the jewelry I sell as anniejewelry. Take a peek at these beads I made several years ago - the other shop should feature something similar to this. I adore children's illustration and all the cute stuff for kids. What's stopping me from working on it and opening the new shop is the lack of time, of course... Let's hope I will find some soon :)

The evening is reserved for the family, TV, new listings, renewals... just the usual stuff! One great day behind me! Good night everyone!