Sunshine yellow

New rose brooch in my shop.

I'm signing off here for an extended weekend - celebrating 20 years since re-declaration of Latvia's independence.

Happy weekend! See you on Wednesday!

My creative space

Today I'm playing with paper, scissors, punch and thread. Found an old magazine with a little funny typewriter font. Why funny? Some Latvian letters have lengthening marks (that little line over vowels) and marks of palatalization (little comma under consonants) and in some typewriters they often get too emphasized - darker than the rest of the letters. In this case the lengthening mark is a little over-sized too. That magazine looks as if someone really typed it with an old adjusted typewriter meticulously typing each letter then going back to it and adding a mark with a separate key.

To play along and see who else is playing this week visit Kirsty.

Green with a touch of turquoise

Today I'm window shopping on Etsy via Shop local feature. Enjoy Etsians from Latvia!

Green yellow bubble lamp medium size by FiligreeCreations:



Turquoise and brown crochet summer top by XauXauSummer:



Vintage nerd style cotton white and green everyday knitted vest for men by BetaPorHomme:



Green flower brooch or hair clip by picotee:

Monday moodboard - blue

Hello Monday!

One of those things that make Etsy so fun to be around is colour. To be exact - the names of colours. Blue is not just blue. It can be navy, royal, sky, steel, turquoise, cornflower, blueberry, light, dark, midnight, robin's egg, cobalt, dodger, peacock, ocean, petrol, ink... I'm a word addict :)

Moon - one of the kind earrings on sterling silver by laccentnou
New macrame bib style necklace by Cynamonn
Five blue nylon zipper by karuskisupplies
TABY - everyday purse navy blue by ikabags

Monday moodboard is a collection of beauties from my European Street Team members. To play along and see more moodboards hop over to fleurfatale.

This one of mine favourite blues. Which is yours?

Magic brushes

Now and then I stumble upon beauties on Etsy (well, not just Etsy) I'm eager to tell about on my blog and it's even more pleasure to know that the artist comes from somewhere near, this is why I'm beginning a new series about creative people and inspirational events in my neighbourhood. This won't be very regular feature due to randomness of life, but I'll try to do my best.





The artist behind these personalized wedding flutes is Ginta. I knew her work before, but we begun chatting just recently (thanks Etsy!).

You're welcome to stop by at her website Magic brushes and Etsy shop and explore more of her work. She can turn anything made of glass into a piece of artwork :)

Happy weekend!

Treasuries

It was so nice to return to making treasuries again. Saw this palette in my favourites, so I just had to look for some more beauties to finish it.

Thank you Etsy admin for bringing my Joie de vivre to Etsy front page this morning!

Featured Etsians: xoots, apezoppa, kitoki, roundrabbit, fricdementol, LoveandDream, latenightdrawing, SweetNumber, GlazedOver, AMIdesigns, GlitzGlitter, TheGeneration

Have been trying out Treasury East and I like the idea about having it at hand when I'm into treasury making mood, but I definitely miss the thrill. Will learn to love Treasury East too. Promise!



Featured Etsians: kitoki, imaginedplace, TattyBrown, nauli, ilzesmemories, Chameleonite, dreamyvintage, meliors, couragemylove, ingridArtStudio, ClockworkUniverse, calloohcallay, miskay, phydeaux, picotee, slinkymalinkicat

My creative space

I'm working on something new again and this time decided to use a hand carved stamp. As you can see I did a little testing already. Don't have much experience in carving stamps, but sometimes they are so handy. The final result most likely won't be red. That paint just happened to be at hand.

To play along and see who else is playing this week visit Kirsty.

So nuts

To celebrate Earth Day tomorrow I was window shopping for some nature related beauties on Etsy and when I stumbled upon the nut rings by lechouchou I knew the direction I wanted to continue. So here we go!

Walnuts dressed in vintage style for a party, pair of rings by lechouchou:



Inner gem - archival botanica print on ricepaper by LisaRivas:



Nuts about you, citron green by somethingshidinghere:



Porcelain mixed nuts by kgrandey:

Mad enough?

I love creative challenges, because they make the creative juices flowing. But this was tough one.

The theme of the second Etsy Team Latvia creative challenge was This is madness! - hosted by aiaiai (the winner of the first challenge) and inspired by one of her favourite movies Educating Rita.

After much struggle with myself I decided to stick to my roses and make one of them into bold Forget the rules ring. This is as mad as I can go this wonderful spring.

More about our creative challenges on Etsy Team Latvia blog.

Monday moodboard - beautiful

Hello Monday!

Old antique exotic moth insect art print by slinkymalinkicat
Handmade ivory gorgeous mohair shrug by reflectionsbyds
Amigurumi - Mother and child snails - Mother's day series by MissusD
Life is beautiful hammered ring set by meltemsem

Monday moodboard is a collection of beauties from my European Street Team members. To play along and see more moodboards hop over to fleurfatale.

Don't miss the spring!

Finished panel

This is the update for my creative space from yesterday. The panel is finished. I already used it to photograph my brooches. Love it!

Happy weekend!

My creative space

This little wooden panel is going to become the new background for my brooch photos. The first layer of paint is drying. It looks like I'll need another one. Then I'm going to sand it to give a little distressed look. And then the brooches and the camera come in. Stay tuned for the result.

To play along and see who else is playing this week visit Kirsty.

Here comes the sun

It feels like years since it's been here. Happy window shopping on Etsy!

Feeling the sun - 8x12 fine art print by kitoki:

Icare (original drawing) by milkylane:

Yellow berry necklace by XauXau:

Melamine plate - doily, yellow by olivemanna:

Roses

Listing in my shop soon.

Thank you Kim!

This weekend my Tall grass necklace sold right from Etsy front page where it was featured together with other beauties in this wonderful treasury by Kim a.k.a. visionquest.

Kim creates simple organic jewelry like this Seeing stars - sterling bracelet:

Monday moodboard - crisp

Hello Monday!

Button ponytail holders, Parisian kitty and free bird by creamrose
Little squares - patchwork messenger by helisengezer
Natural genuine Baltic driftwood by alatsupplies
Little brown bird, embroidered wall art by lapomme

Monday moodboard is a collection of beauties from my European Street Team members. To play along and see more moodboards hop over to fleurfatale. It's fun!

Enjoy the spring!

Progress

Working with a new colour helped indeed. This brooch is almost finished :)

Happy weekend!

My creative space

This turquoise felt is waiting to be cut and sewn into brooches. I don't feel very creative lately, so this could be my rescue. Love the colour!

To play along and see who else is playing this week visit Kirsty.

Connected

Here are the beauties I found via connections - another fun way to window shop on Etsy! Enjoy!

Polka dots skirt by jenfashion:



Brooch by ditav:



Handpainted tumbler for the handbag aficionado by houseofharriet:



I was never good enough in math stacking rings by lunaticart:

Tall grass necklace

I created this necklace for Etsy Project Embrace weekly challenge Rebirth and Revival.

More challenge entries are here.

Easter

A few photos I took these holidays.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Easter! See you on Tuesday!

My creative space

Today I'm warming up for the Easter and dying eggs in coffee. Never done it before, so it's kind of a test run.

I'm using the coffee grounds from my coffee machine and adding some fresh coffee as well to make sure I get enough colour out of it. Bought a cheaper brand especially for this occasion. The pot with water and coffee is on the stove and I'm letting it boil for a while.

While the coffee is boiling (the scent!), let's wrap the eggs. This time I'm using strips of an old sheet and different corns. Would have used some leaves and grass too, but the spring is late this year, so no green stuff around yet.

These beauties are ready for a dive in the hot coffee! After boiling for some 12 minutes the eggs are ready.

I've taken them out of the coffee and put into cold water for some 15 minutes. It looks like they have changed the colour indeed! Yay! It works! Ready to unwrap?

I'm using just a little olive oil to make the hues deeper. Just look at the patterns!

On the Easter morning I'm going to dye the eggs in onion skins again - the tutorial from the last year is here. If you trying something of this out, please, share the result. Or if you know some other natural dyes for Easter eggs, let me know - I might try them out :)

To play along and see who else is playing this week visit Kirsty.