Introducing: Ufo

Ufo is Daisy's son, born on April 6, 2003, in my bed. He is about three times the size of his mum, though.
Despite his good start in life, and the fact that he hasn't known any hardship, Ufo is not a cheerful boy. He seems overwhelmed and worried all the time.
All dogs smile, you know, that silly grin with floppy lips, but Ufo very, very seldom does. A very serious young man, or maybe when you are a king size softie you have to keep your distance to be taken seriously, who knows.

Ufo is madly in love with Elsie, our little black terrier with an attitude, but she is merciless. That does not help his humor either. Oh, and he is terrified of storms and hates Ideefix, an other tiny terrier.
So funny how the dogs have their sympaties and antipaties within the group, and how the groups dynamics change with every newcomer. We knew nothing about dogs when we started taking them in, but since than, we have read a lot and observed a great lot and is amazing how 'human' dogs are. Much more tolerant and community oriented than humans, though. And female friendlier, too :)

Here he is, trimmed but still overwhelmed by life. We have earlier blogged about Ufo, here.

Next week you'll meet Ufo's brother, Leo.

Monday Moodboard

1. alatsupplies  2. Jealousydesign  3. UltimateOrganicSoap  4. iragrant

My moodboard of today might have happened because of my coffee next to me, coffee with lots of milk :)

Last week ended great, with Frances reaching her goal, you can still become part of this wonderful project!

And I've started a Tumblr blog a few days ago, seems like fun and so easy! And I like the fact that it is visual.

Wishing everyone a great week!

See more moodboards at FleurFatale's blog!

A Way With Words

Two weeks ago, in my post The far east challenge, I asked your ideas about how to compete with the low prices of our far east Etsy colleagues. Several of you responded with very bright insights in the matter and I wanted to thank you all.
One of the comments that spoke most to me, was Ingermaaike's. She says, among other things:
The story is vital, the product is of course a product but also a piece of an illusion, an idyll. This is something we all need to make better use of :)
Yes, I couldn't agree more, we need to sell the story, more than the product self.

To illustrate this, a funny example of a purchase of mine. I had seen 'candlewicking' mentioned a couple of times as an old historic american craft, so when I saw a candlewicking pillow kit on Etsy, I read the product
describing on the kit. It went like this:
'This lovely pillow kit is a combination of 2 American traditions. The design is based on a documented example of nineteenth-century folk art in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. Included is a picture of the actual design along with its fascinating origin and rich early american history.'

So, I bought it and when the kit arrived, said candlewicking was revealed to be (mostly) french knots.

Self I would have described the item as follows:
Embroidery kit of a traditional motive executed in french knots with white thread on white muslin.

Accurate?: Sure. Would I have bought the kit?: I don't think so.

We have a lot to learn, people. Besides creativity and photographic skills, we need also a way with words.
Oh dear...

In the mean time, I am making french knots to my heart's content. Kind of zen, really. They should call them Washington knots for maximum patriotic effect, though...

My Friday Night Outfit

Handmade Earrings Emerald Green Chalcedony Briolettes on Oxidized Sterling Silver, Emerald Summer by Polestar

Vintage black pirate riding mid calf tall womens Leather flats fashion boots by Grannyvintageshoes
Little grey tube dress with ruffled sleeves by Lirola
The Cutest Bag- Green Black by StarBags

There is no Halloween here, but always place for some mysterious blacks and for the finishing touch lovely emerald green details.
Wishing you all a great week and for those who celebrate it, happy Halloween!

Our Creative Space...

 Mum has woven a small piece with ribbons, small but it took a few hours to accomplish.

After weaving it, a piece of interfacing has been ironed on it to keep everything in place and making it strong.

Then we sewed a border and backside of soft pink leather. Made holes and rivetted them for a corset closure, and finished the cuff.

It still needs to be photographed and listed, but it makes me wonder. How can people say expensive to handmade? I do understand 'above budget', but not expensive when they do not know how much work is involved, or I guess that is the problem, people should know how much work there is actually involved in handmade. I guess that showing creative process is the way to show people how much we (with we I mean creative people in general) put into a piece.

Mum found herself another frustrating job, she somehow likes to frustrate herself with boring projects :) She does like to do it, she only wonders how she get herself in to such things. This one has a funny story too, which she will share, next week. Oh and PJ's are a must with embroidery, no other outfit works better!

And finally my progress in my table cloth. Not as much as I hoped but almost three quarters are finished, so the end is in sight!

You can see more workspaces at Kootoyoo's blog!

Introducing: Daisy

We found Daisy on February 22th, 2003. An aquintance had a very light colored spaniel that we liked a lot and he told us that they had decided to give him to us and then the dog got lost or stolen. An other aquintance told us to have seen said dog in the street at night.
So Estella went in the middle of the night to look for the dog. Street dogs roam the streets at night in packs, looking for food. There are so many of them in our small city! Many are beautiful dogs, bought as puppies for good money and thrown out or abandoned when the dog is grown and it is winter and it pours with rain and walking a dog is a drag.

Well, Estella didn't found the lost spaniel, but look what she did found! Of course she was very dirty and skin and bones. And this is what she looks like when 'peeled', she has beautiful human eyes, gray and soft.
Very soon she put on weight, lots of weight, as a matter of fact, and a month after arrival she gave birth (on my bed) to seven puppies, all of different pluimage, probably souvenirs of every one of her pack friends!

Daisy is a crazy little dog, well, most terriers are crazy, but she makes the funniest noises and weird jerking movements with her head and sighs and talks and smells as fresh baked bread.

Dogs not only need food and care, but they need hugs and kisses twice a day, did you know that? They thrive on love, yes they do...

Monday Moodboard

While the birds are singing here, Frances is busy with the Ancient Olive Tree Project in Italy. She still needs funds to actually be able to complete everything! If you would like to become a sponsor and recieve work from her and by that helping her with her dream, please check this site!

See more moodboards at FleurFatale's blog!

Another Visitor

Now that I think of it, it is pretty funny how two city girls (Mum born and raised in Madrid me in Amsterdam) got so easily used to having visitors in our garden and home such as turtles, snakes, scorpio's, lizards, chameleons and other creatures.
Luckely we are both cold blooded and pretty relaxed about our interesting visitors. Only problem is to keep them actually safe from our doggies, who are mostly hunters and will kill them.

This tiny little grasshopper was on our fireplace yesterday, in our living room. It is a miracle how it survived the journey from our frontdoor till there without beeing noticed, but I had to safe him eventually by catching it in a glass and bringing it outside. Cute, eh?

My Friday Night Outfit

Purple Rain - Kunzite and Enamel Earrings by staroftheeast
Clutch with a knot in Apple green by milloo
Purple Bohemian Maxi by italianpostcards
Soft leather ballet flats by lunashoesuk

Purple and green has always been one of my favorite color combinations. I can't say that I wear it often, but love the look of this outfit!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Our Creative Space...

Mum is busy with a bubble smock bag. And as it turned out that the fabric is tougher then anticipated, there is coming steam from her ears. It can be very frustrating when fun projects turn out in to a nightmare, but she will finish it, o yeah, no giving up :)

In the mean time I'm happy to tell you that I passed half of the tablecloth, by working on it for quite some hours every day. Still quite some left and then it will need to be washed, ironed, cut into a circle and the border, which I can't wait to show you!

A little fun in between project are these wrist spoilers, made with vintage velvet, antique handmade lace and other yummy stuff. They still need the leather finishing touches.

And I though you might want to see the bag of last week, which will be listed in our bag shop today or tomorrow, turned out great, if I may say so :)

You can see more workspaces at Kootoyoo's blog!