Friday is my day: Frances Melhop

Today I am so proud and happy to travel to Milano, Italy, the center of Fashion and meet Frances Melhop aka Matchstickgirl aka enchantedpond. She is a professional photographer and her works has appeared world wide such as Italian vogue, Paris vogue, Australian vogue, Elle etc. And today we are all honored to take a peek to one of her days. Enjoy the trip and after that I am sure you want to make some souvenir shopping from her Etsy shops :)

(Click any picture to go to shops)

6.25am

the alarm goes off and the first words that run through my head are "oooooo nooooo i'm already late!"




first steps straight into a wall...klonk...groan... dressing gown ..computer on ...
and straight to the kitchen to set up a giant coffee ..
the only way forward
dazed wanderings for another 20 minutes check my emails and grumpily go back to get my coffee

6.50am

answer emails ... not sure how nicely ..
i so dont like early mornings ...but today is a shoot day so i must soldier on

7.00 am

jump in the shower

no photos no photos!!!

7.30am

scan the news items on the sydney morning herald and wish i hadnt

pass by etsy and check the forum and my convos ...much more positive vibe

look at my little nest ..it looks so cosy but i have to go out in the big grey world of Milan

7.45am

jump downstairs with my equipment to the taxi already waiting

the city is grey and it starts raining

i go to the studio early to miss all the rush hour traffic

8.25am

arrive at condé nast studios

i drop off my equipment at the studio and wander off to second breakfast

(i do come from the land of Lord of the Rings after all)

here i am in my favourite bar in Milan "liviing"

they tell me off for taking photos inside

i ask why its not allowed but they dont know

it just isnt... o well ... italian logic ...

8.50am

back to the studio to meet everyone arriving i brief them on the idea which today is "Glamour and Glitter"

theatre style

studio, model and makeup room ...before..........

my magicians start to work

the model reads while the torture her into a new character

my usual assistant is away assisting Deborah Turveville for Italian Vogue

so the new assistant and i start to build up the set and construct the lighting i want

its a spaghetti bomb...

health and safety....!!!

i tell the assistant to lock down the wires and make it a bit less of a death trap

11.30am

finally we are ready

, the model is dressed and we put her in postiion

its always a good picture :)

i tell my assistant to do crew cam and he comes up with a few awful photos of me

and alot of nice ones of the model ....hmmmmmmmmmmmm

half way through the day he falls in love with the model and loses focus on the world

he asks her to marry him ... i photograph the proposal on his cell phone ...hmmmmmm

2pm

we have 3 shots under the belt and go for lunch next door

its very sheeshee

nice food too

3pm

espresso coffees all round and back to work

makeup and hair retouched and changed

5.30pm

7 shots away and we are finished ,... one of the clients did not send their dress so we finish early ...

(there's a first for everything !)

we breakdown the set super fast and rush off to beat the milan deadly rainy weather rush hour traffic

unfortunately i cant show you the actual shots of the model as the magazine hasnt been published yet...

6pm

in the taxi its already dark

Milan floods when it rains...it is built on a massive system of canals designed by Leonardo da Vinci...most of which are still under the streets

the taxi driver thinks its funny me shooting blurry shots of lights through his window

6.45pm

arrive home starving

i eat some fresh handmade pasta (not handmade by me) and drink a glass of red wine and relax

checking my emails .. and my etsy pixie pals

10pm

my little brother rings from New Zealand and we talk nonsense and laugh for an hour

i go back to my computer world

nearly 12pm

my eyeballs feel like theyre about to fall out so i crawl exhausted into bed

and look at my palm trees in Fiji...

goodnight

zzzzzz

zzzzz

zz

www.matchstickgirl.etsy.com

www.enchantedpond.etsy.com

Have an enchanted weekend!

Friday is my day: Julia Pott

Now let's go to London and meet Julia Pott. I found her shop last spring from Etsy and I have been in love all her illustrations ever since. She makes videos and animations too, check this cute video White Corolla by Casiotone For the Painfully Alone

and then go to her Etsy shop

and buy yourself cute tattoo or two :)

(click any picture to go to the shop)

julia pott.etsy.com

8am - I get up early and get straight to work organising orders from etsy, illustrating commissions and animating for projects. I work in my bedroom in the morning and I am surrounded by ridiculous trinkets and toys as I find that helps me work and keeps me happy.

11.50- I have breakfast and a nice cup of tea (White Tea with blackcurrant is my favourite) and watch the Gilmore Girls..anyone who knows me knows I have an unhealthy obsession with this show. I also say goodmorning to our very soft and very well behaved house rabbit Ferraby Lionheart Duchamp.

12.30- Back to work! At this point I might go off to my studio down the road from my house that I share with my newly formed animation company 'Treat Studios'. We take our work very seriously.

4pm-Time for a break! I like to go to the flea markets and find ridiculous things to buy that I can use in collages or to draw from.

5.00- This is an extra special day because It is Guy Fawke's in the UK, the day we remember the GunPowder Plot, when Guy Fawke's tried to blow up the houses of Parliament. I am going up to Lewes with my boyfriend Robin to see them and to reunite with my bestest friend and fellow animator Rosie Miles (who lives very far away from me now). We have some Japanese food and play with her cats Schmendrick the Magician and Mr Tumnus.

7pm- Then we all go and watch the fireworks together! Hooray! Its madness, but very good madness. Lewes is one of the most epic Fireworks nights in England (there is so much stuff on fire and so many fireworks its ridiculous!)

1am- Exhausted! It's time to have a cup of hot chocolate put on some very soft pyjamas and go to bed.

Have an ace weekend everyone!









P.S

I will be on holiday next week, we are heading to cappadocia and pamukkale, so no "friday is my day" next week. But I promise week after that we have again one very interesting guest :)

see yous!

Friday is my day: Star of the East

This week I don't want to travel far so we will go to Mugla, south of Turkey and meet Star of the East. Well one of them, the younger Estella. There is another Star too, mother Esther and they run together a jewellery shop on Etsy and not just some jewellery shop. They make amazing and different and very creative jewellery, as they announce in their shop: anything but boring! That's true! Go and see!



(click any picture to go to the shop)

Star Of The East.etsy.com

8:30 Alarm goes off, waaaahhhh way to early for me…. I stroll out of my bed to get my Etsy and coffee fix. I have to say I’m totally NOT a morning person. Check emails, convos and the girls at the EuropeanStreetTeam.

9:15 Time to take pictures of the items we made yesterday, there is always a basket full, and also always doggie on the background.

9:40 Mum wakes up so I change clothes to model a bit :) I have many fans watching me…

10:00 While loading pictures to my PC I drink my second coffee, trying my best to wake up.

10:15 Preparing packages.

10:40 Just when I’m about to go another sale at the supply shop (yaay) so quickly another package for the road.

10:55 I finally go and find out that the birds have been busy at night, YUCK

10:57 I arrive at my friends place, we go together to a drawing course

11:05 We arrive at class and start to draw…The courses are given by the municipality for very low prices, mostly women participate. It is fun and gives me time to draw.

12:00 Getting quite hungry as I hadn’t have breakfast, busy with a portrait to warm up before starting with an oil painting (portrait) next week. I go to the bakery to buy a small baguette and eat it while drawing.

13.15 Need some fresh air, the class room is right at the beach and there is a sailboat festival, an amazing view, so glad I have my camera with me (for Friday is my day).

15:30 Class is over and I go down town, first to the post office then to other errands and groceries. The post office is 20 meters from the sea :)

17:30 Finally home, quite tired and hungry so we decide on pizza

18:15 I pick up the pizza’s yummmm

19:00 Feeling very sleepy of the huge pizza so I read back, the girls of the Team have been chatty (again) 31 pages….

20:30 Time to get in action: photo editing, and new listings for all 4 shops.

22:00 Time for a warm shower (sorry no pictures in there).

22:30 I dive in our workroom to get some projects finished, I admit: I’m messy…

23:45 Some more new items in the shop to list and a little chat.

00:45 Time for my lovely book and then of to dream world :)

Wishing you all good weekend again :)

Friday is my day: Kreativlink

Tadaaa! Today we will meet "crazy" and so fun and loveable Renate aka Kreativlink. She makes the most great and creative leather and painted fabric journals and she makes us in Etsy's European street team laugh. a lot. If you haven't visited her journal shop yet, please do it now! Her books just fly from the shop...

(click any picture to get in the shop)

www.Kreativlink.etsy.com

8:26 Time to start the day. Since crazy dog has a basket in our bedroom I can sleep as long as I want. Yeah! You are jealous now, right?

Down it goes, first thing is to turn on the computer and check Etsy. I chat with the Euros and answer Convos and eMails I got. As most of my customers are in the US, they are very active while I sleep. Get some breakfast and have it – yeah, in front of the Computer.

Finally I can drag myself away (I have to fight hard each day) and under the shower it goes. Now really ready to start working. I’m cutting leather and packing orders.

When I’m finished I see that it’s already after 12:00 and the post office is closed until 14:00 now. So its only crocery shopping for now.

I take the nearest supermarket and try to resist all the chocolate and sweets. As you can see, I was good. The cans of catfood are for crazy dog. He grew up with three cats and is used to it. Maybe he’s a barking cat in real, who knows?

But now I really need some work done so I‘m a busy bee for some time. As I get bored easily, I switch between cutting, sewing, painting, paper folding, drawing and so on. Of course with little Etsy breaks all the time.

16:00 I give up hope that more sales will happen and drive to the post office.

Back home I continue working on some of the 352 started projects …

17:30 Time to start cooking. Spicy chicken. Mjum!

18:00 Hubby is coming home. We have dinner and are chatting a bit. Afterwards he makes a punch button for me. I never get them right so that‘s officially his job now.

19:30 One and only son comes home and again crazy dog acts like he has not seen him for years!

20:15 I chill out with hubby …

22:00 Back in my workroom and try to finish some journals. But it‘s hard because the challenge of our Streetteam is over and now we are all waiting for the next weeks host to appear and give us the new theme for next week. It‘s crazy and a lot of fun, I get nothing done but have tears in my eyes from laughing.

23:30 Finally the forum is quiet and I succeed to work a bit more. I have that little TV window in one of my monitors and watch silly things on the side. And I go down in the basement to take some photos in my “lightbox”.

1:00 I got to bed and read as long as I fall asleep with the light still on …

Good weekend to all sweeties!