Spring is there at last

Lazy summer

I'm still there. Enjoying the summer. Blooming lavender. Taste of cherries. Sun. The family of bumblebees that live in the attic just above my bedroom.

Crocuses

I took these photos in my garden today. It feels truly springy at last.

Happy Easter!

This year I decided to be very traditional and dyed eggs in onion skins (here are a couple of older posts from my blog about dying of Easter eggs - in coffee and in onion skins).

Wishing you nice holidays if you celebrate them!

Evidence

The spring is here! Two weeks ago these snowdrops looked like this.

Not long now

Happy 2012!

The last day of the old year looked hopeless - the grass seemed getting greener and greener and the first spring flowers were impudently peaking from the ground. And then (it was already getting dark) it happened! The air was full with huge and lacy snowflakes. By midnight the ground was covered with fluffy white layer.

The first day of 2012 was perfect.

The first snow

Unusually late this year.

Musings on my third etsyversary

I've decided to make it a tradition and look back at the year that has passed. Just like I did on my second etsyversary. Time flies, doesn't it?

This has been the first year I've focused only on enameled jewelry. Like for many people who have been involved in arts and crafts for the most of their lives it was a little difficult for me at first to find that one particular area to put my creative energies into. Now I've found my creative outlet and it has become more and more rewarding in many ways.

Having an Etsy shop has never been just about selling. I love the creative journey and stories to be told and heard. Like The Pink Cloud Necklace which was inspired by one rainy summer morning in the old town of Rīga. The finished piece turned out almost too lovely for my taste, but it has become my best selling item. It has been featured in numerous treasuries and has received more than 1000 hearts on Etsy. The number is pretty exciting, isn't it? And I love the stories my customers have shared with me about the meaning of clouds or one particular cloud in their lives. This has also made me think a lot about the boundaries. It does make sense to be too lovely sometimes. Or too cute. Or too crazy. Or too... (insert any word here).

As for the plans I mentioned last year:

• focus on marketing (yeap, done that; some things worked better, some not),
• write in Latvian (yeap, but I'm having a huge writers block at the moment),
• try to make my enamel look more Latvian (working on that, it's a long term goal actually),
• and create, create, create (it's an evergoing process, isn't it?)

What's up next?

My plans involve trying out new techniques. Etching is the first on the list. I've invested quite a lot in new tools and studio equipment lately, so the playground is set up and most likely will lead to new designs. I intend to enjoy crafting. A lot. And that means both - a lot of fun and a lot of crafting.

Thank you for being arround and spending time with me! I'm honoured to be in your company on this journey!

Cheers!

Weekend

Hot tea and gingerbread is my medicine against this gloomy and stormy weather. I hope you're having a cozy weekend too. Or a busy weekend if you have joined the Black Friday to Cyber Monday sales madness on Etsy :)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! See you on Monday!

Close up

Misty air + sun = wonderful weekend outdoors. I hope yours has been great too.

Stumbled upon these tiniest mushrooms. Are they mushrooms at all?

Happy new week!

Where did the week go?

Hello Friday! You may be wondering about the silence on this blog. Apart from being busy with a thousand things I had a cold. Not bad enough to keep me in bed, but nasty enough to make me feel too tired to blog and sometimes even too tired to think.

The week is almost over and I feel much better now. Have even bought a skein of lovely grey yarn for a new hat that will go well with my orange gloves. It's time for something warm. Lesson learned.

So you can guess where the colour inspiration for this treasury comes:

aubepine $13.00	zverrriki $22.00	ArtByAmarose $30.00	corporanglass $360.00
sacredsuds $4.50	magdalinenHome $60.00	bellablackbird $20.00	ozetta $70.00
handmadetherap... $54.00	BlueRoomGems $62.00	mbartstudios $50.00	ShawnaCameron $12.00
redtilestudio $55.00	reyaveltman $40.00	NatalieAsIs $72.00	bstudio $15.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Wishing you a lovely (and healthy) weekend!

Happy Friday!

The taste of the autumn.

Wishing you a gorgeous weekend!

More triangles

Some of my weekend plans are about triangles.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend, whatever you may be doing!

Take me to Munamägi!

This is what Latvians do. They go to Munamägi. Now and then. Often. About once a year like me. The proportion of cars with Latvian number plates in the parking slot was 6 out of 8 yesterday afternoon. That's quite common sight. You can even buy the entrance tickets for the observation tower with Latvian currency there.

Actually it's called Suur (Big) Munamägi and it's located in Estonia. It's the highest point in the Baltic States - 318m (1043 feet) above the sea level. The pictures are taken form the top of the observation tower.

The beauty of the landscape, the closeness to Latvia and 30 years old extremely popular Latvian movie do the trick. A place to fall in love with.

Have a wonderful week!

Plans for the weekend

It's going to be pretty busy this weekend. Among other things my plans include taking pictures of the jewelry I've just finished, writing the blogpost for my other blog and listening to the livestream from Etsy Summit in Berlin.

See you on Monday!

Happy Friday!

This week I've masterfully procrastinated the creation of new things, but otherwise it has been busy and wonderful time. Love autumn!

The dahlias are from my garden. I took the picture this morning to end the week with the theme from Monday. It was cold yet sunny morning today and dahlias posed so nicely.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Friday

Have a nice weekend!

August pleasures

One of the things I love about August is blooming heather. Along with mushroom picking and scent of ripe apples. And many colours and shapes of gladioluses. My grandfather was very good at growing them.

This week my mom made some cowberry and apple jam. She's very good at it.

Love how the summer slowly turns into autumn.

Wishing you a nice weekend!

P.S. And I'm very good at not showing you what I work on currently. But this will change next week. Promise!

I'm still there

I'm sorry for my unannounced absence from this blog. Life has been hectic lately - cousin's wedding, family reunion, making custom jewelry, Etsy orders...

Haven't had a time to notice that sweet peas ar blooming. Love their scent...

I hope you're having great time too!