Monday 27 April 2009

New Project Finally Finished

Finally we are fairly organized in our new workplace!


It is so great, all that space, that light! It was a lot of work and we are more or less broke, but it is worth it!


May I get your attention for this amazing contraption design by our technical director, miss Estella, to solve the problem of the storage of our ginourmous chain stock:



This was no easy task in a room with practically no walls. The basis is from the scrap shop, only the wheels and rods are new. It has four pulls and rolls smoothly despite the enormous weight.


It seems an absurd amount of chain, but believe me, it is never enough.


This is the 'shipping department'


And Estella's painting corner:


The supplies, also never enough...


Work in progress...finally we can have many projects going at the same time.


Once more. So was it:


And so it is now:


The (happy) end.

Friday 24 April 2009

Little Sister: Green


Wednesday was Earth Day and that made me think of an opportunity for a subject for a Little Sister post. We have been recently contacted by the Victoria and Albert Museum for using our pictures of our 'Give me my Medicine' necklace seen on our Flickr account, after a while we have been choosen from the hundreds of pictures of jewelry made with recycled material, to be one of the most creative contributions, as selected by artist jeweller Professor Dorothy Hogg. Hopefully these pieces will also be published in a book (keep your fingers crossed!).
Now I hope that you, who are reading this post are green and do your best to make our world a better place. So I would love to see what you do, not only on Earth Day but every day! Show me your bicycle that you rather use then your car, show me your way of packing your items with recycled material etc. Hope to get pictures of EVERYONE, as always :)


To get some inspiration, I've made a treasury with recycled items:


Swiedebie shows several examples of recycling, I love the clock she made with reused kids buttons and an old clock mechanism:



ZsBCreations made a gorgeous cuff all with upcycled-recycled materials, recycling can be chic as you can see:



Karuski makes her packages with a used bubble mailer which she has covered with a piece of vintage wall paper and left over paper tag. A great way to re-use the mailers in a pretty & personal way!:



Psarokokalo made a bag of old sheets, ripped them and then knitted to become this pretty bag:




Vaisto loves to recycle: 'rugs, scarves and house-shoes finger crocheted out of recycled clothes cut to strips, fluorescent poi of an old children's windbreaker jacket, a skirt of recycled and leftover bits and pieces, and finally my bike loaded with clothes going to recycle bin...sometimes I feel like we are the recycling center of our family & friends ;)':



I made these little baskets about 10 years ago, found the telephone wires on the street, leftovers of the repair guys of the telephone company. I still use them daily for my bits and blops next to my bed:



Heli shows to of her daily green activities: 'I always try to take a shopping bag with me when I go for groceries shopping. Turkey seems to love plastic bags and you notice that everywhere on the streets, parks, at the sea...


The other thing I do - my husband says that I must be the only one in Turkey- I always fold milk and juice cartons and flatten everything that is flattenable. Did you know that inside one juice or milk package you can insert even 25 empty packages, though it requires a little patience and a huge milk or juice lover :)'



Carmenesque found a great way to storage her beads:
'I love sushi and with my orders I usually get 1 or 2 little plastic bottles filled with soy sauce. I put the soy sauce in a larger bottle, place it in the fridge and I wash the plastic ones and after a day of drying I can use them as my storage of small beads. And they perfectly fit inside my little drawers :)'


JaneBoFelt says: 'I like sweet "zephir" in chocolate - marshmallows. I bought it in small boxes and these boxes suits well to store small buttons, clasps etc. And I reuse bubble wrap from packaging - I do resist for felting from it.



IngerMaaike has three boys, so you can imagine the amount of holes in pants, she made smileys of felt to repair them, instead of throwing them away.


PetitPlat: 1. Diverse stuff for the miniatures themselves. 2. Ferrero Rocher boxes to store all my minis. 3. I use advertising and punch little butterflies that I glue on my little packaging boxes. (yes I do buy boxes, making them is just too time consuming for me) 4. Bubble Plastic Paper that I receive when ordering mini dishes:


ArtMind seperates all the garbage, like glass, paper, plastic etc.:



Alatvian says: I do almost everything I can to help our planet stay green. But I am especially proud of my green garden with natural grass and narrow high beds and my compost heap, where I recycle all organic remains from our household and the garden itself.



LaTouchables makes nifty decorations for her home with found/ repurposed objects, a mirror frame with drifwood, a braided rug and an old IKEA clock with a new picture in it:


XbyLeinaNeima made organic hemp summer totes. They both are appliquéd with hand dyed second-hand laces - hand printed with dried herbs(+ one of them with second hand ribbons + sequins and beads). And the lining of them is made from second-hand material.

Lapomme makes all her packages of recycled items: 'The cloth sachets I make from fabric scraps I get from curtain and pillow manufacturers. The plastic sachets that I use for my paper products, I save from my shopping. I sew them up with my machine, just as I do with the cloth bags. The blue plastic bag I got from marché saint pierre in paris (a fabric shop), the green bag from des filles à la vanille, a clothing store in montpellier.

Tuesday 21 April 2009

Challenge Review VI

Here is another review of the Challenges that the European Street Team has had till now and our entries. If you wonder about the other challenges here are the previous reviews.


The Native Tribes Challenge:




The Back to your Childhood Challenge:





The Twillight Zone Challenge:





The Tree Challenge:





The Time Flies Challenge:





The Delicate Balances Challenge:


Friday 17 April 2009

Little Sister- More Curiosity


1. klstafford, 2. linnphotography, 3. shutterclick, 4. iamwoman

Yes, I am curious, I have no problems with admitting that! After last week's post and seeing all your lovely faces (thank you all!) I would love to see your workspaces. You don't have to show the complete space if you want, it can also be your favorite spot, a nifty storage idea, a nice display etc. So again I'm asking EVERYONE to send me pictures or a link of their workspace. I will add all the pictures here in this blogpost.
Can't wait to see your little paradise :)!

The first is the workspace of Carmenesque:



Here is Kraplap's workspace/ showroom:



Vaisto's atelier:



This is alatvian's creative table:



A huge mess with tiny miniatures of PetitPlat:


Kreativlink's space, she can reach everywhere from her chair, nifty!:


The creative space of ExoticFlavour:


The glass atelier of Pamela Angus:


The ceramic workspace of ArtMind:


The workspace of Vadjutka:


The fiber space of Inger Maaike:

A peek in LaTouchables's workspace:


XbyLeinaNeima's creative space:


JaneBoFelt's Fiber space:


Swiedebie's Monsterfactory:


Viltalakim's creative space:


psarokokalo's atelier:

AnnleeDesigns knitting spaces:


TheHouseOfMouse's Mice factory:


The place where the CreationsofEve are created:


Mosaic paradise of BlueTerracotta:


MQuin's creative space:


A very organized silver atelier of JealousyDesign:

The studio of peskycatdesigns: