saraccino

Photo of the Day: Best Pictures of December 2011, Gallery - National Geographic

2012-02-01T17:08:00.000+01:00

Photo of the Day: Best Pictures of December 2011, Gallery - National Geographic

I just had to share this with you!

(And how cool that national geographic includes in the galleries blogger buttons for sharing!)

What a beauty! And what a unbelieveable image...!

For a boy... for a girl... and one for a friend...

2012-01-26T22:47:00.000+01:00

This stamps I made for a friend. He wanted some stamps for his niece and nephew for christmas. For her everything connected to ballet and a princess... and for him all the things connected to farming. So here we go...!

(the background of the ballet shoes I stamped with textured wall papers!)

Of course a farmhouse...

...and ballett shoes...!

...a dancer...

...and a crown...

...next to a John Deere...

(Yes, this is for the same boy who got this T-shirts!)

You see, the dancer can stay on her tiptoe...

...either with her hand going up or just dancing in a round...

...the stamps for the niece...

...and the ones chared...

...every farmhouse needs a little fence...

...and a tree...!

...and someone has to wake every one up in the morning...

...a tiny tractor stamp...

...all of the stamps can be combined...

...looks nicer with a cloud at the sky...

...a horse is liked by both!

...the measurement is in cm, so you can get an impresson how big (or rather small) the stamps are...

All of them together in one box...

...yes, some of the stamps are really big ones!

This time my hand for some kind of size measurment ^^

The last stamp I show you was not for one of the kids but a friend if mine.

You see the surface? This is not an effect I created by controlled carving... but by just cutting over the same space again and again! Love the effect, sometimes the best is not to be too controlled...

How to transfer pictures for stamp carving...

2012-01-23T00:32:00.000+01:00

I made a stamp out of one of my favorite silhouettes! Just the tree silhouette... (have a look here). I mean... you need a tree silhouette stamp, don't you? I needed one! For sure... ^^

And now for a little trick I just recently discovered (although it is one of these tricks you think: That's too easy, why didn't I used this already for years?).

Normally one has to be careful with inkjet prints because they are not waterproof.

Just think about it... not waterproof...

All you have to do is to dampen your rubber / carving stamp plate with some water... and put an inkjet print of your image on top. Press and rubb a little bit...

Et volià!

And yes, once dried, it is relative resistant... but even with the wet surface it is quite a stable transfer :) Now all you have to do is to carve along the lines!

The next silhouette I transferred to the stamp was my little spider silhouette... (spider shadow stencil)

I added a little cross to create a cross spider (garden spider, in german "Kreuzspinne").

And this way I also created the pegasus stamp with a image from Karen @graphicsfairy. I already showed you one, but I also made one for myself... I decided I couldn't do without one anymore...

Good night projects: Mittens!

2012-01-19T17:02:00.000+01:00

One of these days I forgot my gloves... it is cold outside... and I am always going by bike. Without gloves not a nice experience! So I just needed something to replace them now.

I was just back at home, it was late in the evening but I wanted to meet with friends just a little bit later that day. Therefor this quick version of some mittens :)

I had some "Walkloden" (some kind of felt, loden) left which I used.

I layed my hand over the fabric and traced with a white marker around it. See: a kind of mitten! After that I sewed two layers of the fabric together. Yes, I sewed before I cut the fabric! This way it is a lot easier to avoid the fabric to slide. Also a good method if you are sewing very tiny and complicated parts ^^

I cut it out... You don't have to secure the ends of loden!

...and turned it around.

Finished!

The fit well and are very, extremly warm!

But next time maybe longer at the end :)

Saved my hands!

And even if I did find my gloves...

I am still using the mittens on my bike if it is getting really cold and / or wet :)

Visiting Lachafa in Münster

2012-01-17T22:42:00.003+01:00

This blog entry is full of inspirations!

At least for me but I hope you'll also find some inspirations. And please tell me, because Lachafa is my little (no not so little anymore) sister and I am just sooooo proud of her and her stuff (and ideas and creativity... okay, I guess you got my point ^^). But I think it is the in the rights of a big sister to be proud of her younger siblings :) (for my little brother search for tophino in my blog, he makes great music!).

Just have a look at this collar she made! With hundreds of tiny beads sewn on a piece of felt! And all what she said was: Oh, that was easy...

This are long paper pieces she pinned on her wall. Her plan is to change them from time to time to change the decoration in her room (she is a student now, sharing a flat).

She cut a lino stamp and printed it on the paper. You see that only a quarter of the ornament is the real stamp.

She made a combination of a pillow and a plushy!

You remember my polymer clay buttons? Take a closer look at the eyes of the whale! :)

This one is a crochet scarf...

...you can just tighten it. But she told me just some days ago that she used the scarf as a skirt!

Some pictures about Münster...

Giant geckos (a Tokkee! I had some a few years ago! Love them :))...

...climbing up and down the houses.

The same time you can find miniature versions of the city...

...would all suit into the mouth of the gecko ^^

I always love this kind of facades...!

Lachafa :)

From every point of the city you can see steeples...

...but don't believe you could sue them as a help for orientaion. Way too many!

And she made me also a crochet cap like hers! (and will make me another one.. just a reminder sweetheart! ;))

You see the cages? Behave!

Yes... this one is frightening!

The light was just magical...

...and the ducks too cute ^^

Oh, every city needs water!

The street art Lachafa and I found... and the ruins of their train station I'll show you in another post :)

Inspirations: Now he changed to green! (Leipzig)

2012-01-17T19:08:00.000+01:00

Some of you might already know the pink monkey. No, not pink anymore... He changed to green! And yes, I found him on my way to work. Am I getting a little bit paranoid? Hey, pink and now neon green monkeys! Who wouldn't? ^^

But he seems to be sorry...

And look! Here he is back again in pink! With a ballon....

He makes me smile every time I find another one of him :)

Lost ones... new ones...!

2012-01-16T14:53:00.000+01:00

Some time ago I had a give away. I made a lot of tiny and bigger stamps (have a look here *sniff*) and send them over the ocean. Sadly as much as I love snail mail... sometimes snail mail and I, we don't go too well together. The stamps were lost somehow, somewhere on their way. Strange how much it hurts!

But also there was one person waiting for the stamps she won... which never came. Also a really bad feeling...!

Therefor I carved some new stamps and send them on their way. Hopefully they'll arrive this time!

The tiny ones: Some numbers, tiny ornaments (look great if you make patterns with them!), a book, a tree... and time... everyone needs time!

The silhouettes for the swallow, the owl and the pegasus I got from Karen's graphics fairy :)

As you may see (the numbers are cm), it is not the smallest stamp :)

I changed the owl a little bit. I gave her some white "ornaments" ^^

My challenge for 2012 - stop being my own worst enemy!

2012-01-14T23:37:00.000+01:00

This is one part of my challenge. A challenge which takes part at my social life, at work, but especially regarding to creating stuff! It was and is easier for me to make things for other people. Somehow I need some kind of social pressure and deadlines. Otherwise sleep is sometimes more tempting or duties more demanding...

But I want to make things for myself. That keeps me sane, that makes me smile and yes, there is something special to have and to use the things made by the own hands. I also love the things which were made for me! It is hard to describe because no, because one of parts why I love to create is that keeping the things in my hand I don't only see the present but every moment which went into its creation. Starting just from the idea in my head...

They don't need to be perfect. I love to challenge myself, to learn more and new things... There is nothing like the feeling of mastering new methods and techniques, nothing more cool than overcoming own fears (like how to use a electric jig saw!) and even more, nothing like the moment when you jump in your own abilities! Take crochet: Going from charts to freeform... Take polymer clay: From simple forms to creating deep textures...

As I already wrote some time ago: I tried to set myself some limits for getting new stuff. I allowed myself only to take things if I have an idea what to make out of them at that moment. You know what? Nothing trains the brain and also the creativity more. No, didn't worked out for reducing or limiting my stash but did wonders to my own imagination!

This year I want to make a lot things for myself. All the things I already planned, already have the materials for, already dream to have... but always put to the side.

One of the things I wanted to do was to enhance my stichting abilities. I am so into all kinds of garnish and decoration!

Also... a big pile of small fabric pieces lying around helps...

So I take part in the crazy quilt journal project 2012. It works for me like a social deadline... Yes, I try to trick myself and even knowing it is a trick, hey, it works for me! ;)

Therefor I started sewing crazy patchwork blocks out of my stash... so I have already a good basic for starting to stich.

The heart fabric was painted by my little sister Lachafa years ago.. when she really was still a little one! ^^ I never had a use for it but I kept it all the time. You see the single heart I stiched? :)

(and yes.. I'll make some better pics with better light. But still the dark season here...)

I played with dyeing some fabrics. This white fabric with roses was my test object. And now the pieces came into use...

A little fabric piece where I started to learn bubbles with fabric paints... also kept in my stash for years...

The january block before...

...and after. Still having a lot of errors but every one helped me :)

And some of the blocks for the next months...

Some with stamped fabric like the violett pieces...

And no... all not ironed ^^

As you may see at the colours: All made late at night. Too late for ironing!

All the blocks are about 30 x 30 cm...

...this stripe of fabric pieces in the middle was a leftover from a quilt I made... five?... years ago ;)

The wrinkles are not so bad like they look on this pic!

And in the end the blocks will be joined :)

That's why I won't use beads for the embroidery.

As lovely as they are, cuddling with them is not the best idea...

In the circus

2012-01-14T15:34:00.000+01:00

Maybe it is going to be boring... but again: My new favorites! It is really difficult to choose at the moment which ones to wear!

Some stripes, a little bit of black smear and stripes in red and cream... create a lovely vintage effect. And hey, elefants! Who can resist elefants?!

I used crafting paper I got from a friend, while searching through her trash and materials and tools (Oh, I love to go through other work stuff!) I found a little paper punch for these elefants. I punched two elefants in the paper, cut out the circles, glued them on cardboard...

...and used a ink pad for stamping to roll the circles in the ink... and paint the elefants... Don't be carfeul at this step! The result will always look great and the smear effect is (at least in my opinion) important to create the whole effect!

You see, I am going to be a little bit more sophisticated with my paper earrings: I am using now metal for the holes!

And last but not least: A thin layer of 3D laquer (glue). You can still see how the punched elefants pop out!

Bits of this and that (or how looks my table)

2012-01-13T00:24:00.000+01:00

I thought maybe you would like to see some of my thousand UFO which lay around or in big piles on my desk! No, I don't show overall pictures, the mess looks even worse as a foto! ^^

The star is made out of real clay and "stamped" with some lace.

Below you see some new carved stamps. I am just carving a lot of more new stamps because the ones from my giveaway never arrived their destination... (yes, I was surprised how much it really hurts to know that the stuff one made is lost...). So the new batch is nearly finished... hope I can send it at the weekend.

*sniff*

But back again to... stuff! Some pendant I am using as a experiment to play with all my 3D laquers. And pieces of a big cone I drilled a hole into (with my dremel! ;)). I also added a thin layer of silver with acrylic paint. I think it brings the texture better to the eye...

And a button. Of course.

A lot more of plant material! Kasuarines, don't know what the yellow are and also the long one was something my family found being on Mallorca... (and of course they thought of me!). Also with some silver colour added....

Wooden stars... Still without holes. They also need a thick layer of laquer... or maybe more colour. Although the colour seems bright it is almost a little bit dull in reality.

The cover of a fraunhofer magazine. I love the little pictures, perfect inspirations for stamps! They captured the essence of the silhouettes in a great graphic way!

Old christmas decoration... turned to earrings. The metallic colour is great, shining but not too extreme.

Started scanning / taking pics of beautiful wrapping paper (small used leftovers). Oh, I would love to have fabric like this!

As soon as you put something new on the floor... (I want to paint or wrap the wood)

...the black shadows arrive!

Tape! I bought for christmas a lot for family and friends :) And one set for myself...

Some clay stuff...

Just an example how the advent calendars looked like...

Still don't now what to make out of this tiny crochet flower. But love the beads!

There is more... lot more... but maybe I'll repeat this kind of impressions :)

Inspirations: All the things... (Leipzig)

2012-01-12T10:11:00.000+01:00

"This is dedicated to all the things you really believed in!"

I don't know who put this big vinyl poster on the wall of the house. But I had to take a picture as an impression! Especially because behind the fence there were these old toys.

The poor little ones...

Somehow this is a really sad picture for me. But combined with the sentence above... it appeals to something in me. Like a memory...

No end to sparkling pink!

2012-01-12T08:27:00.000+01:00

Okay.. that's not true! This ones will be the last ones for some time. At least the last pink earrings I made for the pink advent calendar! The ones from 2011... and what I'll make for the one in 2012... I just can show you after giving it away. So not for december 2012 or early 2013...

Puh.. that seems a little bit creepy! But what other time in the year than january to start thinking about christmas? ^^

Cardboard... with pink glitter! A lot of glue and pink glitter! And the glitter is really durable once the glue is cured :)

Inspirations: It was a rainy day (Leipzig)

2012-01-11T15:13:00.000+01:00

It was a rainy day. Lachafa was visiting me and we went to some shops (and also going for some food ^^). We found clooney's campaign... and you may already know the cute little metal dragon!

We also took some fotos with an old photo booth... and inside was this great stencil!

Guess the not so mysterious thing!

2012-01-05T21:20:00.000+01:00

This earrings were made for the pink advent calendar. Yes, I may say that the pink sparkling glitter in pink will already told you so :)

But also this one is for Mich L in LA and her "Guess the mystery thing".

I love her findings and what she makes for cool jewelery out of them. Just seeing the jewelery, most of the I am completly without clue what stuff she used for creating it. And I may add: If I think I have a clue... it is going in the complete wrong direction!

So this one is for her, not so difficult at all like her stuff but still I made earrings out of non-jewelery-related stuff and I really love the result! :)

Have a closer look! I think you all already know what I used, nai? Not that strange or difficult :)

Let it snow in polycolour!

2012-01-03T14:42:00.000+01:00

Earrings you may say... nothing but earrings...! But an earring is not only an earring! With all the stuff I find I am always thinking: Mh.... could I make an earring out of it? You may say that this is an easy way. I was just wondering why it makes so much more fun for me to create earrings than other stuff.

I realised that this may be because earrings are more than just a piece of normal accessoire. They build a frame for your face and even if you take a picture just of the head / face, you'll always catch the earrings. Earring more than any other jewelery creates a kind of look and an impression of how your image could be received by others.

Sometimes it is decent, more often earrings are the little pieces of rebellion worn with the everyday clothes. They allow everyone to step a little bit outside the line without completly crossing it.

Old adds... paper earrings

2012-01-02T12:53:00.000+01:00

Yes, more paper earrings! And guess what, there will be a lot more in th next time! But this pair was also for an advent calendar, so I can show it to you finally. Just some little items left to show and also some pictures from my visit in Münster where my sister Lachafa now lives and studies (now = over a year). She studies now... exceeds me about a head lenght (so much for being my little sister!)... and I am sometimes wondering myself, when did all this happen? ^^

Back to the earrings... the picture is an old advertising I just printed out :) Way too many possibilities for earrings out of paper!

Dream and think! And add some brains!

2012-01-01T14:51:00.000+01:00

I wish you all a happy and great and astonishing new year!

2012 is somehow a more balanced number than 2011. Yes, this is only from a graphic point of view ^^ But the last year was really a hard one. Not bad in all things, for all the bad stuff also a lot of good stuff happened, but it took its toll in energy. Changing things, especially oneself, because in the end this is the only parameter one really can change in life (it sound worse than I mean it :)), is often important. To keep oneself on the way, step for step, little ones because they are in the end the real changing ones.

Dream and think are two words which suits me very well. Often because I dream and think too much. Can you dream and think too much? Yes... if the dreaming is more of an escape and not just for the joy of it and if the thinking starts to turn in circles and rounds and starts eating yourself from the inside.

I learned in 2011 that life is easier than you may believe. Even in the hard times. That no matter how strange you are, there are people who catch you, stay on your side and hold you even if you are pushing them away. Strange that often this are not the people who you thought that they would be. Even stranger, sometimes they only stay in your life for the hard times...

Okay, this blog entry is going to be more sentimental than I wanted it to be. So I'll stop at this point! :)

Dream and think! And add some brains! My words for 2012 and it is okay if the extra brains are earrings!

They were made from an ad postcard I found during a trip to Berlin.

I put a lot of glitter, nightglowing paint on the brains!

Of course also a thick layer of 3D glue (this tim it was diamond glaze).

Yes, they glow! All brains glows, didn't you know that? We just don't see it (at least I want my intern brain to be glowing ^^).

You see the lovely structures of the brain?

Favorites in line

2011-12-31T04:13:00.000+01:00

From some scrapbooking paper... with some line of a glitter pen with nightglowing colour! Ha! Nothing light stuff which glows in the dark... and don't count me on my age, I work in the lab, I just have to love glowing and fluorescent stuff!

The black line on the edge is not perfect, but makes the difference...

...and of course some 3D laquer. This time it was even a known brand and not the no-name stuff I mostly use. It was diamond glaze (no, I am not a fan... it has it advantages, but also a lot of downsides. Would be okay, if it wouldn't be soooo expensive).

And yes, still on my to-do list: Show how the different 3D glues / lacquers work and what are the best combinations to work with them (at least in my hand :)).

Look!

Nightglowing!

Me = happy! :)

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle

2011-12-30T01:14:00.002+01:00

~~Blogger's~~ Saraccino's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle!

The task was to choose three solids and twelve other fabrics... So the tentacle you see: No, sorry, it is not on the list. But I didn't want to have a blank spot and also... hey... seeing the tentacle you'll always know instantly which fabric combination is from me ;)

The task / challange was set up by Quokka Quilts with the support of the fat quarter shop (the ones you'll go through in the search of fabrics and who'll send the winner his choice of fabric :)).

I like the task because I took (stole!) the time for looking through all the fabrics and started thinking about new project and ideas and what kind of colours I would like to work with. I really like this turqoise - blue - colour combination with little hints of green or even violett... It looks fresh without being boring (and a tentacles, black on white, would pop out great! ^^). And this colours are missing in my flat! Although I love them :)

For the collage I saved the fabric pictures from the fat quarter shop and used the picasa tool for creating a collage (it's freeware and you just have to click on the choosen pictures and then on the create-collage-button).

Edit: ...maybe the names of the fabrics would be useful, nai? ^^

1. Bella Solids Bright Sky (solid)

2. Marine Daylight Urchin Forest

3. Essential Dots Turquoise

4. Caterwauling Tales Teal Scroll

5. Stonehenge Turquoise and Green Stone Texture

- No fabric but a tentacle! -

6. Yo Gabba Gabba Ocean Bubble Dots

7. Bright Owl Blue Stripe

8. Bella Solids Turquoise (solid)

9. Caterwauling Tales Teal Pin Stripe

10. Timeless Treasures Aqua Marble Mania

11. Folk Heart Teal Teardrop Floral

12. Poison Ivy Batiks Aqua Diagonal Dots

13. Bella Solids Zen Grey (solid)

14. Folk Heart Blue Teardrop Floral

15. Summer House Bright Blue Georgia

To be honest... I saved a lot more fabric images... and... ehm... in case you would not already have thought of it... yes, I am thinking about printing some images to make earrings out of them ;)

Colours and dots!

2011-12-29T17:58:00.000+01:00

I hope you are still with me although the amount of paper earrings is rising and rising...! But I still just love them! This pair of earrings I made out of some scrapbooking paper, so it is a lot more sturdy than normal paper. Nearly like light card board. Perfect for earrings! Like free ad postcards ^^ )although they are even better! Really! Even if you are not making earrings but want to scrapbook, trust me, use free ad postcards!)

But the paper alone wasn't enough for me, there was something missing... and this something was not a single piece but a lot of dots! You never can go wrong with dots! ^^

Glueing the circles on recycled card board (you can use everything). Adding (you must be tired of reading / hearing this from me, bit it makes such a difference!) a black edge with an edding.

And a layer of 3D glue (laquer, diamond glaze, something like this... my stash is empty now although I had some of different companies *sniff*)

Hidden pink!

2011-12-29T13:51:00.000+01:00

More earrings using the hidden pink to be suitable for the pink advent calendar ^^

This time the dream of pink elefants!

For the little elefants I made a mold out of air-drying clay. I used an old necklace from my grandmother which consists of a lot of elefant beads (yes, from the time ivory was still used). The beads are very typical in their shape because a friend of me has a very similar necklace (also from her grandmother, necklace seems to be as old as mine).

The mold I used with fimo / polymer clay and after baking the little elefants were painted with golden / copper acrylic paint.

Oh, all the free postcards!

2011-12-29T09:43:00.000+01:00

Another one which was cut by me into little pieces...! Or better into small circles...! Just layered with 3D glue / laquer...

Oh, and I paint the borders in black because it is this little detail which makes the whole difference in the end! Which makes paper look less like paper ^^

Again: The hidden pink factor! All for the use by a pink advent calendar ;)

PS: "Moin, moin" is the north german variation of hello or hey :)

Sparkles - glitter - butterflies!

2011-12-28T11:09:00.000+01:00

Acryl? Yes! But acryl which has a mirror-like surface! Like perfect tiny butterfly mirrors... and even better: They are so light and I could drill holes in them... it made them perfect for (you would never have guessed, mh? ^^) earrings!

Do you see me with my camera? I found them in a store for cheap stuff where they sold them as stickers (for scrapbooking or so). To remove the little glue dot on the back was quite enervating!

So for the pink advent calendar (they went in the pink advent calendar as well as in Lachafas :) ) I glued a lot of sparkling pink glitter on the back! Another case of hidden pink?

Look how great their mirror-like effect is!

Small and big!

2011-12-27T19:44:00.000+01:00

This was an ad from a company for nucleic acids purification kits. I hope they'll forgive me for using their ad in this way ^^

Just paper glued on card board for stability... the edges were painted with a stamp ink pad... and then 3D glue and pink glitter was added!

Of course part of the pink advent calendar! :)

Some little visitor at work!

2011-12-27T17:03:00.000+01:00

While my brother was visiting me for a coffee break at work... he brought a little hidden passenger with him :)

More hand carved stamps!

2011-12-27T11:03:00.001+01:00

More hand carved stamps! Some of them were in the advent calendar for my little (not so little anymore, she is a head higher than me! ^^) sister Lachafa. Others are just some leftovers of the rubber I used for carving... with which I played a little bit :)

Leaves were included.... of course!

And a tag! Everyone needs a tag stamp, nai?

I really like how the lines of the rubber get a more interesting texture to the stamped image (for this one I used normal school erasers so therefor the surface is not perfect sometimes for printing, but I love the effect! :)).

You want your own tag stamp? Nothing is easier to carve than a tag stamp, really! Have a try!

All you need is:

some eraser / rubber
a sharp knife / paper knife / scalpell / linoleum carving tool or just a tapestry cutter (just the sharp blade is important)

And here are the little stamps I made out of leftovers... we are talking of 1 cm stamps or smaller ^^

Not much is needed for a house shape...!

Squares create great pattern, especially if they are NOT perfect :)

What about more squares, triangles or other shapes?

Just the idea of a pink - hairpin...

2011-12-26T22:23:00.000+01:00

This are two crochet yarns combined (one more a sand colour and the other more rose or a very light pink). So really more the idea of pink than a real pink colour ^^

I crochet a flower with the two yarns... and then put it around a hairpin with little glas stones :) A very fast and easy project! Of course part of the pink advent calender 2011....!

Find the pink!

2011-12-25T23:01:00.000+01:00

Some of the real clay earrings I made. Because I loved them and wanted to use them for the pink advent calender... but there wasn't any pink on them...

...I added some pink dots on the back!

This year it was all sparkling glitter pink... or hidden pink! ^^

Sparkling deers....!

2011-12-23T20:06:00.000+01:00

What shall I say? I wish you all a great christmas, if you are not into christmas I wish you relaxing days! I know I could need some but with all the family around it won't be for me (not saying that it isn't worth it ^^)

For the deers... I took some wooden cut out christmas decoration stuff (is there a short word for description?).

(I still feel a little bit weird about drilling little holes into the deers ^^).

They were dipped in glue and then just went into a box with pink glitter (the same one I used for the pink magnets). I added a silver bead and there we go!

The bead is brushed silver (I love the effect) and yes, real silver beads because I think it balance the over-the-top glittery and shiny pink! So that while still being all sparkles it still may be wearable beside certain occasions (although one still has to be brave, you'll be seen for real! ^^).

I already used one of the silver beads for my leather flower and I am always fascinated how different the combination of the same element with new ones can look. Have a look here for the combination of the silver bead with leather :)

Inspirations: Russian orthodox church (Leipzig)

2011-12-22T17:27:00.000+01:00

It was late in the evening, already quite dark... while I was on my way back to the lab (on bike, of course :)). I just had to stop and try to catch the image of the church with my digi cam. Not the best choice for at-night / at-dark pictures... but I like the results (to be honest, I am a little bit surprised that they turned out so well ;)).

Whether you are religious or not (or even russian orthodox), all people are allowed to have a look inside between 10 am and 16 pm because they have a lot of art work inside. So have a look if you are curious :)

Find the deer....!

2011-12-21T13:42:00.000+01:00

Although not perfect (it also was -of course- an experiment so no need to be perfect) I really like this image and it is going to be used for some cards :)

I cut out a deer shape (not my own one but drawn from an deer shaped ornament), placed it on some plastic and started to draw all over the plastiv with a laquer pen. The idea was that the deer would come out due to the missing parts in the ornaments (aka strange pattern).

The original drawing didn't survive the next experiment: Bake the plastic (it was a polystyrene plastic sheet). The baking was perfect but during the baking / shrinking the plastic curled up too much and was baked in a wrinkled way. Yes, I had to laugh seeing this ^^

But I made pictures before because I already plannend on printing this image, so this is saved at least!

As you may have noticed: Yes I draw lines and dots where the second back leg should have been... But I think if one doesn't knows the original deer, one wouldn't notice ;)

Show off your work!

2011-12-20T18:49:00.000+01:00

As some of you may already know (or have quessed), I am a scientist, better to say a biologist. No, not the one that goes through nature but the one that works with all the cool mechanisms inside the cell :)

As it happens a friend of me (also working in molecular biology) showed me some images she made and wasn't quite happy about them. I wondered why, because they looked good!

So how do you say your friend that you like her work and that it is good? With words? We all know that we tend not to believe in words alone... and being a scientist I thought I should give an example for my view:

Your images look so good, you could wear them as earrings!

Therefor I printed one of her images (cell culture, the blue dots are stained cell nuclei and the green dots are stained protein which is only expressed in some of the cells), glued it on cardboard, put a lot layers of 3D glue on top... that was it!

And hey, she really showed off her work! She had put them on during the local research festival where she presented her work using also THIS image! :)

And if you now think we are all a little bit strange... trust me... we are worse, way worse! ^^

Stamp your backgrounds...

2011-12-19T01:52:00.000+01:00

I have to admit that I just love and adore cool background stamps. The ones with only rough lines or little spots, the ones that seems more like some wrinkled paper or old pattern.

But as much as I am into them... they are way to expensive. And hey, I buy too much too expensive material for crafting already! One of the reasons why I sell my stuff is to be able to get more material ^^ And if even I am asking why some little rubber, pressed or laser cut, whatever... is so expensive? And how could it be that people are buying this? I mean it is okay to sell them not too cheap because they design, production, everything costs much... but you can see how unbelievable some prices are for me because I can't stop rambling about that in this post ^^

Silke from "für große Mädchen" sends me cool packages full of random crafting stuff (from fabrics to paper to strange things) from time to time. In one were some scraps of old wallpaper with 3D structures ("Vliestapete" in german).

I also had some acrlyic felt... and double-side adhesive tape... and of course some stamping ink...

I never thought that I would love the results that much!

Some of my "stamps"...

Look at the structures!

My "reagents"...

...added together...

...and if I had also glued on some stable background (but I made just one this way)...

This (cheap!) ink pads work great with the wallpaper background stamps...

...but you could also use acrylic colours or lino print colour...

...and every single print will look different!

Dots and more dots and recycled dots!

2011-12-18T21:56:00.000+01:00

While I am sitting here and waiting for word and the PC in general to work with me (saving some files, printing some stuff... but the PC won't cooperate with word anymore. Hey, both systems I use are from the same company, please stop being so bitchy to each other!) I thought I could upload pictures from the stuff I made over the last weeks. At the moment my blog is not really up to date but this may change hopefully after christmas :)

So here we go: Some little tags I made.

I used some old gift wrapping paper, glued it on recycled cardboard (we all have enough of this kind of card board at home!) and cut out little circles.

Then I cut out little squares with some "spike-like" structures and painted them silver with a silver edding. And no need to be careful about the spikes (or whatever I should call them), just cut them freehand, they'll always look perfect! :)

I cut another square (without the funny spikes this time) out, so I cut glue both suqares together.

Between the card board squares I put my little circles and some yarn...

Finished.

Really fast, just a sweet little tag made :)

Going nuts!

2011-12-18T19:52:00.000+01:00

As soon as I saw this structures I knew I had to work with them! I found them at the department of floral decoration in a crafting store, hidden beneath a lot of other stuff. I was fascinated by the colours, the structure, the strangness as well as this feeling "I know this stuff". And of course you'll know too because these are just walnuts. Dried until they are hard as wood or even harder than a lot of sorts of wood I know.

I drilled some holes in them with my dremel (I am voting that every one needs a dremel! Just image the holes you can make into everything! Okay... that sounds a little bit... weird, nai? But the thought: "Oh, I could make a hole in it!" occurs very often in my brain).

I glued the metal wire into the holes... there you go!

And the first pair of earrings I made out of them went into the advent calendar of my sister Lachafa! :)

I am so happy that she loves them as I do...

One could see a family pattern in there... Love of strange stuff!

But hey... can you resist going nuts? ;)

Lines and shadows

2011-12-18T01:55:00.001+01:00

Some days are just not worth it. Not a moment of it... or so it seems at the first glance.

I am still happy to go into my bathtub now with some great bathing stuff smelling of wild roses and with a little bit of girly sparkles. I bought one but being at home it was not enough so I made some stuff by myself. It's a lot easier than most people think if you have the right ingredients at home. Some of them will be not really cheap but they'll last forever! And after the bath: Just go to bed! Cuddling with my cats, reading a little bit and then just falling asleep... and forget about the day.

On the good side there are the people who will be at your side at a day like this. Giving you some reassurance, helping out of the black hole, drink some champagne with you...

...or tell everyone that their earrings were made by me! ^^

But still... such days drains out every little bit of energy which I have.. and for which I had to fight for over the last days, weeks, months... just emotions but harder than any exercise... so the mind is sleepy but the body is wide awake. In some old evolutionary ways waiting for the attack to come which made the body so nervous.

In this "in between time" I crave to create things. A quote of me is that crafting or better creating keeps me sane. A lot of people smile or laughs when I say this and most of them never realize that I don't mean this in some figurative sense but just the way I said it.

It is like breathing very deep and hard, like getting this nervous energy of the body and the drained moments of the brain in a line. Both together are able to create and not only craft. Although the line between stuff and art is a very thin line and at least in my simple opinion also a very subjective line in a lot of aspects, if I am in a state like this I cross this line at least for myself.

I don't think about what I am making. It is more like looking at something which is already there and creates itself. Sounds strange? Try to image how it is to see and feel the creature which comes out of the broken and rough rubber-like material while you are carving.

They are just shadows, some lines, they are rough and cut within the quadrate... but they have life. They look at me, straight, quiet, watching, and in their own way they are a essential part of me.

I am not sure whether I like them. But I do love them.

Little cones...

2011-12-18T01:22:00.011+01:00

...with a touch of pink glitter added!

A little bit of glue added, thrown into a box with pink glitter... quite easy to make!

...and so perfect for the season :)

Leather flower...

2011-12-18T00:11:00.000+01:00

Made from some leather scraps...

I cut out circles, put a hole in them and put them in hot water to get some wrinkled shapes.

Afterwards I used my embossing tool to get them dry in a short time. After this process the wrinkles will be permanent!

I added a little pin on the back and a real silver bead at the center of the flower. Quite simple but with a great effect...

And of course... advent calendar stuff! ^^

Magnetic pink!

2011-12-18T00:06:00.000+01:00

Sparkles, lots of sparkles in pink!

This year the pink advent calender got some of these magnets. I used clear glas nuggets...

...added a lot of glue on them...

...to cover then the bottom with a lot of pink powder / sparkles!

And of course I added some magnetic tape...

(I always use add some extra glue because the tape is not the strongest one)

I love the effect!

Just a picture so you get an idea how it looks and sparkles (love that word ^^) in real!

Stamp your frames

2011-12-02T16:55:00.000+01:00

This is my newest stamp. Nothing new in the design because I already made several frame stamps. But this one is nevertheless something really special: I made it just for myself! ^^

Now the question came up what to do with a frame stamp. Most of the times I use little frames for post adress on snail mail envelopes.

Here I used some (rather cheap, you can see the colour spreading a little bit) red and violett ink pads on old cardboard... and cut out the inner part...

From the same old cardboard (you can see some glue dots and stuff like that on the surface, I just recycle good cardboard I get from packages and co :)) I cut several small and long pieces for the sides...

...just glued 4 pieces together... I wanted a little 3D effect in the end...

...glued the finished pieces on a different (also recycled) card board...

...you see the layers?

...and just added my stamped frame with the cut out on top.

The finished frame :)

More of the crocheted necklaces...

2011-11-27T21:12:00.001+01:00

Like the crochet necklace I made before (here), just with other kinds of yarn. The upper one is cotton thread for crocheting, the black one a cotton yarn for just everything and the light grey is polyacryl. Normally I prefer cotton but the polyacryl yarn was very cheap and available in a nice range of colours so I took some of it for playing and practicing :)

For the grey and the black one I used some satin ribbon for closure. I still don't know what I want to use for the small crochet threat, maybe just some silver hook? Although I love crochet stuff, it is easy to get way too fancy with it ^^

The black was really kind of hard to photograph... mh... and I need some kind of model for this stuff because these crochet necklaces looks so much greater if they are worn! Hopefully Lachafa will help me with this when she is back home over christmas :)

Finally some to show...

2011-11-27T14:04:00.000+01:00

I made the first round of butterfly earrings some time ago (have a look here). This one (as well as the other pair of earrings) I made for a friend. You can see how they evolve from the first time I made them to the next times. Now the butterflies are covered with a laquer-like surface. This time it consist of several layers of clear embossing powder.

I couldn't show you them before she got them :) The card is one of my transfers done with aceton (look here).

The other earrings are made out of air-drying clay which I stamped with some wooden fabric stamps.

More stuff I made with air-drying clay: click here ^^

And as every year around this time: There are a lot of other earrings in production which I can only show you in some time (first: They still have to be finished, and second: A lot of them will fill advent calendars)

Crochet necklace - something simple...

2011-11-20T02:01:00.000+01:00

...but I still really like it. I made some more already ;) Just with different yarn and little changes to the design (which I had for some time now as a handwritten copy from a friend). Most of the time I am trying a pattern at first and then starting to make my own variations. Lachafa is way more flexible than I am and just crochet freehand all the time! (Sweetheart, did you finish the pattern for me? ^^) But I am growing in my skills more and more and I love to realize how fast that can be!

To start with a big project like a afghan was perfect for me because my hands got back to the movement, the rhythm and flow taking stitch for stitch. Although the afghan changed into an UFO (at some point it was way too heavy to take with me all the time and most of my crochet am doing while talking with friends), it taught me a lot just by doing it.

To quote my sister (she said this yesterday ^^): Just start!

This is really the most important thing next to: Don't be afraid of wasting stuff! If it is gone, be it! No difference to lying in the stash :)

And yes, there will be beaded versions too :)

Whispers in my ear

2011-11-18T00:23:00.001+01:00

You can never have enough octopi.... or tentacles! This beauty is from Karen @graphics fairy (secretly I belive this one was just for me ^^).

What else to do than to print it, cut it, glue it and put a thick layer of 3D laquer on top?!

And what else to make out of it than earrings?!

You see how the octopus helps to get all his tentacles on the paper circle? ^^

If you are quiet you may hear what he whispers in my ear :)

Changing favorites - earrings

2011-11-17T02:26:00.002+01:00

Most of the time I have one favorite pair of earrings which I wear really, really often. This one I made from some free advertising cards (I'll show you some... ehm... a lot more... over the next time ^^). Advertising and / or free postcards are made from sturdy paper or cardboard which is perfect for crafting. I glue some recycling card board on the back (or sometimes also some old plastics) to get more stability. I also like to crate a nice back site (but not with this ones).

On the top I put either 3D laquer or diamond glaze... but I have to say I am not that impressed by diamond glaze. The only real advantage: it dries in 2 to 3 hours instead of 12 to 24 hours (with the 3D laquer). Also it likes winter more than my 3d laquer... somehow it dries not too nice anymore since the temperatures dropped... but I can completly understand that attitude: I don't like the cold either! ^^

Some litte edit:

The glittering stuff I put next to the woman's face is glowing in the dark! ^^

I'll test some more stuff in the future... because I really love the glas like surface over the paper :)

If you have any ideas for me: I would love to hear and try them! :) (I'll try some resin casting for example but therefor I want to make a lot of stuff before because for just one or two pieces it is too much effort).

Oh... and this is just an ongoing project (or rather process? ^^) of crocheting strange stuff. Yes, someday they should be something like sea anemones or corals pillow case for cuddling... and until then... it is just strange crochet stuff which teaches me more freestyle crochet and just looks funny on my computer... oh... and my cats are in love with the stuff as well! They think it is perfect to play and drag away ^^

Homunculus

2011-11-13T19:07:00.000+01:00

I forgot to put something in the pictures so you get an impression of the actual size: The little key or the foot of the homunculus are about 1 cm (ca. 0,4 inch).

I made this one (and his book ^^) already some time ago as a birthday present for a friend. It is my first homunculus (or better to say: my first human-like work with polymer clay).

Yes, the six fingers and finger nails on the hand are on purpose! You see his little earring?

And his little tail...

...all the scars and stiching lines (hey, he is an homunculus!)...

...a little skirt for modesty...

...and a big potato like nose!

I even like the effect of my finger prints on the surface...

The eyeballs are made with 3D laquer...

And I used a tiny wee bit of my own hair for him.

I just cut in the cured polymer clay with a sharp knife and afterwards used acrylic water paint which went into the lines. Otherwise they would have been invisible :)

And yes, I need a lot more of practice but for my first piece I like the result. :)

The little book is useable! I printed some tiny sheets with a strange language and some pictures which suits into the homunculus theme and glued and sewed them together. A little bit of acrylic water paint, some cardboard and silver leather for the book cover.. that was it!

Everything changes to an earring in my hands!

2011-11-11T01:11:00.000+01:00

I found this little cones in the art supply store at the main station. The lighter one are the bleached variations of the dark ones. I had them in my hand and their size and structure is so simple and yet beautiful in the complicated pattern of the surface...

I cut the upper end and drilled a little hole in it. All with my dremel! I couldn't do without it anymore ^^ The silver wire is glued into the cone.

The little earing holder is just a piece of a toilet paper role glued on recycled cardboard and I used my new carved arrow stamps (just in case you didn't notice ;) ).

One of my friends suggested silver colour on one of the cones and I tried it. I like the result although the next time I will use another paint (acrylic paint, Reeves) or maybe just add some retarder... we'll see :)

PS: I am sorry for the long breaks between every entry at the moment but there are some issues in my family and also with friends which just needs more attention than my blog. First things first... but hopefully everything will get better with the time and then I'll take my time to make pics of all the stuff I got done. Although I slowed done my craftings I didn't stop them (otherwise I would have gone insane up until now!) so there is still a lot I can show you :)

PPS: I just can say thanks here to an anonym comment who helped me with some little errors I made. Would love to write it to you on a more direct way but also hope this may be sufficient :)

I never showed you this stamps!

2011-11-04T14:42:00.000+01:00

As you see this are really basic stamps. I made them all from the rubber of normal school erasers )the really cheap ones ^^). I like the random background / muster stamps and I think there is always a need for a lot of arrow stamps! Don't you think so? And tags... no one should ever forget tag stamps!

And a little castle... and a tiny house... and just a square. But sometimes you need a square! And don't forget I am just using a black ink pad to test and show the stamps. I think a lot of them would be quite cool in a lighter colour to create some kind of background texture.

I am really sorry I forgot to take pictures how I carved the stamps. I wanted to because especially a tag or an arrow is quite easy to do even for your first own handcarved stamp :)

New music from tophino....!

2011-10-31T20:08:00.002+01:00

realität by phono!

As a first one: Listen to "Realität" - psylocibin :)

But just look through his other sets also...! He has a lot of music on soundcloud (and very often new tracks which remove the older ones!).

Inspirations: Colours (Botanical garden, Leipzig)

2011-10-31T00:18:00.000+01:00

The last colours...

Purple, green and some kind of blue :)

All the colours - Image transfer on fabric

2011-10-23T15:09:00.000+02:00

You need: Pics made with a laser printer, tight woven natural fabrics, acrylic stuff, too much patience and "a" Silke from "für große Mädchen" to experiment long days and nights ^^

I still have to work on my method to get rid of all the little paper leftovers and to be more careful with the edges... Silke said I could wash it at 30 °C even. Like all prints you should be careful to wash it on the left side!

Still: With the fabric I have to do a little bit more experiments to get the surface really "sealed". But already love it!

If you ask me how to make textile prints I would really suggest to try out everything! Because of the different brands, printers, etc there doesn't seem to be one solution for all and everything.

You can also do the aceton transfers I made on fabric instead paper! (have a look here) Try out every glue you have as well as acrylic stuff, solvents like aceton or just the stuff you use for cleaning brushes covered with oil paint, sometimes (like beautiful autumn leaves!) just adding water and heat may give some kind of transfer...

And yes, there is a lot of ready made stuff out there from the companies, but please always have a look what is inside because a lot of times not the stuff itself but just the product packages are changed ^^

Real clay - next round

2011-10-22T18:45:00.000+02:00

My second round of experimenting with clay and glaze! This time I just covered all the stuff really thick with the glaze!

I love little bowls... I hope there are some other people also loving them because I want to make a lot more of them ^^ Small ones like this with a very thin edge but maybe bigger ones for corn flakes and so with a broader edge... have to try it :)

You see how beautiful the glaze catches the light and how bright and shiny the reflections are!

It sparkles in the sun...!

Oh, can't wan to try more. I already made some more pieces waiting to be fired so I can start glazing them... and of course I have to make some more bowls, small ones as well as bigger ones... but then I'll have to wait again for the first firing and then the next one for the glaze.... mrrr.... at least it teaches me a little bit about patience... or not? Hope so ^^

The hidden wood...

2011-10-22T18:32:00.000+02:00

Just take a look around you. They are coming back! One day the trees will win the fight ^^

Now the trees not only grow on walls but start growing on the houses too...!

The little ones are big now!

2011-10-21T21:44:00.000+02:00

I just walked through the botanical garden in leipzig and there one of the little foxes born this spring was next to me. I just posted every one of the pics so you can follow me like I followed him. And I know that he is one of the younger ones because his black patch on his muzzle ^^ And yes, he is on every picture even the last one! :)

Spider shadow stencil

2011-10-17T22:55:00.000+02:00

Look who is here!

This spider was really tiny! Just a few mm! Not more... You see how big the leaf is in the back... but due to the sun and the dark shadow I saw her! I just had to take a picture.

The silhouette of this tiny one was so cool! I just enlarged the picture... and made a black and white image with it. As a program I used gimp, it's freeware! For the editing process I used the smart sharpen tool of gimp. You see how good it is working because it was able to get all the little hairs visible!

But I also wanted just a clear stencil / silhouette. So I used inkscape (also freeware) to vectorize and smooth the outlines.

I hope you like her as much as I do :) Her and all of her tiny spider clones! ^^

Inspirations: On the streets (Leipzig XII)

2011-10-16T19:11:00.000+02:00

Crime seems to grow!

But beware! He is watching you!

Some more stamps...

2011-10-13T20:15:00.000+02:00

...for "für große Mädchen" :)

And there will be more on their way soon but to other destinations ^^

Real clay...

2011-10-12T22:15:00.003+02:00

Did you ever had a moment like "Why took it me so long to try it?"? I had one! We have a culture project (or better a "fabric of culture"!) called "Werk II". There is a concert hall, music, readings, a little cafe, some community clubs, etc... and there is a workroom for clay! You only pay a few euros, you get the clay and the colours and the working space... and the help of the master craftsman of pottery who runs the whole workshop. It is open at monday, tuesday and wednesday in the week. Your stuff can dry there and he'll fire it for you. I knew that there was this workshop for some time... but it took me until now to go there! Don't ask me why. I couldn't give you an answer which would also satisfy me ^^

These little things are my first trials. Not perfect with the colour because I took not enough. But still I like it! Just look at the blue! I made tiny bowls... just for a pair of earrings or so...

You can see the clay coming through the glaze.

This was a kind of transparent glaze which is used to enhance structures. Here was some lace pressed into the wet clay.

You may remember this one! I made some molds for it and already used them for air-drying clay as well as polymer clay! Works also great with (real?) clay :) I just can't used it too often without drying times in between because I made most of my mold with air-drying clay which can react with the wet clay. Maybe I should make one with clay and fire it?

Also this shape I used quite often in the past. As you see the edges are not even because the clay moved during the drying process. Also I should have used a lot more glaze. But my first try, won't make this mistake again.

And just some discs to get the full effect of the glaze!

And I think it won't surprise any of you if I tell you that I am going to make some earrings out of them ^^

Metal and stones

2011-10-12T19:37:00.001+02:00

There is something about this combination which fascinates me. I have to touch the surface all the time, the rough touch of the stone against the smoothness of the metal. The lines of the metal are following the edges and the form of the stone even if not everything is visible for the eye. But the fingers are feeling it and the metal wire gets it's position and hold only from the stone underneath.

Although the materials seem so different, the stone breaks the light while the metal, silver and even black as it is, reflects all the light falling upon it, they come together as one.

The stone keeps and the metal holds. There can't be a wrong line or a way the metal wire is folding around the stone which creates not beauty. Just because the metal adapts to the stone while your fingers are folding it.

Nothing but the own fingertips are creating the union. There is no pressure and no force needed, nor even wanted, for the metal wire might easily break.

But what about the stone which is too smooth to hold anything anymore? Which went to the water, thrown through the waves, again and again until no edge remains. The little rough parts, all the imperfections, the breaks on the surface, may they be seen or only to be feeled if you are getting close, they allow to create a binding.

Smoothness may be a kind of perfection but what is left of you if nobody can touch you anymore?

If the time and the changes, subtle like water and crushing like storm, eradiates all edges, all flaws, all what made you different. Unique. Round and smooth, so perfect, so like many others.

No connection, no hold, falling, rolling with every wave, helpless by being formed. But the single strands of metal can go together, weave into a pattern which will surround all of the smoothness. The metal holds now the stone, keeps it tight and secure.

All the stones and also the pieces of shells are from Fuerteventure (no, not Formentera this time ;) ). I got them from "für große Mädchen" after her holiday there. Yes, I love to get stones, shells, plants, sea-sanded glas, strange undefined things... from other people from everywhere :) And I`ll try to make other pics as soon as I have time during the short period of daylight... and whether there is light at all... weather is going dark and grey... :(

Just another small teaser...

2011-10-11T22:46:00.000+02:00

...as a kind of a life sign. This one belongs to some stamps which shall fly over the ocean soon :)

Not so lazy sunday morning...

2011-10-09T12:00:00.012+02:00

Hello there, I'm lachafa, saraccinos baby sister.

She's been trying to get me to contribute to her blog for ages, but for several reasons unsuccesfully, one of the biggest being that I don't own a good camera.
This is still true, but today I decided not to care and just go with it.

I hope i can figure this out :D

I assume some of you know this feeling: Today I woke up and just NEEDED to do something crafty.
So I trawled my room for a bit and found this:

A piece of expensive looking fabric I've been dying to work with, a green zipper and some of saraccinos adorable buttons.

Of course I started off by sewing the zipper on with the wrong side up, but that's what you get for being to quik on a sunday morning. :(
I started over and kept going and in the end I'm quite happy with the result:

It's a little box pouche. I will use it to carry around my knitting stuff when I'm on the go!

Once again THANK YOU, saraccino, for the buttons. I love to add them to my stuff, they really make the expression "cute as a buttton" work. :D

Beloved owls...

2011-09-26T22:55:00.000+02:00

This is an image made with my new owl stamp. Not a small one this time because I would love to use it also on fabric.

You have to know that this image comes from the fabric of the bed linen I had as a child and which were also used by my sibling.

I nearly forgot it but my sister gave me some of the cut bed linen (don't worry, there is another one with different colours in the memory collection of my parents :) ). Strange how something which was so ordinary now changes to something so special! I just had to smile and I'll make a cuddle pillow just for myself with the fabric!

I just made a foto with my digi and printed the image in black and white. From this print I cut out on of the owls. I went over the back with a pen to create a kind of copy paper for image transfer.

If you put this side over the rubber and trace the lines of the image they'll go over the rubber. Perfect for carving! But be careful, never ever use too much pressure or you may scratch the rubber. And of course I also made a stamp for the bigger star!

I found the design for the bed linen in a brown and white combination at smafolk (a danish design, they have also beautiful kids clothes!). But not with other colours (the one stored is green :) )... It must be purchased at the early eighties... or even earlier? So if any of you find one of the other coloured owl fabrics and / or bed linen... please, please, please.... send me a piece!

The owl would be sweet for cards and tag... but also for fabric! (Okay, my fabric stamp pad is nearly empty...)

I love it!

Just the stuff lying aroung...

2011-09-16T23:46:00.000+02:00

Another picture (collage) I made (also while being on formentera).

As the title of this blog entry says: I made this with stuff I had at hand at that moment. I liked the picture which I used as the basic. From a spanish (or english? don't really remember) magazine which all family members already read or just looked through... I cut out some leafs also from a magazine and a butterfly... some text...

Okay, you see it. Or maybe you can see it if you look at the picture in more detail (just click on it, this time I used a higher resolution for uploading than usually!). Because I painted over all the stuff so often that it is not always to see where I glued one piece over another one ^^

The text is a kind of wordplay in german... but not really to translate. You could read it as "to know science" or more "knowledge creates knowledge"... (and for the german readers, yes, it is not perfect, in one case a f is missing... but still, I like what you can read in this :) ).

Wissenschaft - Science
Wissen - knowledge
schaffen (schafft) - to create
wissen - to know

And also, yes, everything in this picture has a reason, even the number ;)

Some strange fish...

2011-09-16T23:36:00.000+02:00

As I said there is still some stuff I made while being on formentera. Like this little fish! Just a fast sketch with coloured pencils and a black fine liner... but I like him :)

A little teaser...

2011-09-13T21:53:00.000+02:00

...because at the moment there are millions of small projects (next to the real relevant work stuff ^^) and non of it seems to get finished in some time although I love them all!

But this one should be the next to be finished, therefore a little pic :)

And also as a little life sign from me ^^

Trees growing on walls!

2011-09-12T20:51:00.000+02:00

It was already dark outside... but I just had to take a picture! This wall is a direct neighbor to the house I am living in... but I never really looked up the wall before!

Inspirations: Critter (Formentera II)

2011-09-11T19:42:00.000+02:00

Look at the beauties!

I am so proud of some of the pictures I was able to snap this summer.

Little dragons, little jewels, sparkling in the sun.

In blue and green and turqoise...

I have a lot more pictures... some of them below because I love how you can see the scales, how they looked at me and the camera (I was maybe 20 cm away from them, lying on the ground ^^), how cute their long tongue is... and how the try to lift their legs, especially the back ones, because it was so hot!

I just love them!

The pityuse lizards are a species (with a lot of subspecies) special to Ibiza and Formentera (Podarcis pityusensis).

Look in the eyes!

2011-09-06T00:50:00.002+02:00

A little card with an octopus image...

Just black and white... but with a little special: Look in the eyes!

Maybe you should click on the picture to get a better view :)

With tiny drops of a 3D glue I created the lenses of the eyes.

Hu... all the possibilities!

Mh... I wrote this blog entry some time ago... some months ago.. seems I forgot to post it ^^

Inspirations: Critter (Formentera)

2011-08-26T02:07:00.000+02:00

Fly.

Always a cat picture!

Fluffy ones.

Bed occupiers.

High reaching snails.

Giant ants.

At first I thought this young one (a gull in its first year / winter feathers) was a herring gull (in german - Silbermöwe, this would be translated as silver gull, much more beautiful than herring ^^).

But no, the wrong place for living... and as well a changed knowledge about the heritage of the different gull families. The mediterranean or yellow-legged or western yellow-legged gull (Mittelmeermöwe) was thought to be a subspecies of the herring gull until some recent genetic studies reveals otherwise...

You see how sad the little one looks down?

*sniff*

But hey...! Now you are a full species with your own name!

Larus michahellis!

And it is a really big bird! Between 52 and 58 cm high...

.oO(Okay... enough fan fotos... can I go now?)

(And yes... before you may ask... I am already sitting to long at this computer today... ^^)

Raindrop cards

2011-08-22T22:02:00.000+02:00

From a little leftover rubber I carved a raindrop stamp.

I cut out some clouds from white and blue paper I had

in my stash and glued them onto recycled cardboard.

The I let the raindrops fall...

Simple.

Love it. :)

Alone - with pink fabric and a request

2011-08-21T14:00:00.000+02:00

A friend asked me whether I could make some kind of hair accessory with a special fabric. His girl friend made a "Schultüte" which she covered with this fabric. The "Schultüte" was for his niece because she is starting school now and the official celebration with the school is today.

"Schultüte" is again a little bit of difficulty to translate. Not because of the words but the meaning. It is (says leo dict) a large cornet of cardboard. It is filled with sweets and little gifts. In germany children gets them at their first day of school. Mostly one big one from the parents and from family and friends little ones... or everyone stuffs little presents in the big one from the parents :)

The request was just to make something for his niece hair. They didn't want to add more sweets ^^ So as you know me: I played.

I'll show you my way of creating the hair clips because it is really easy. For this one I just cut out circles from the pink fabric and smaller circles of cord for the support of the fabric.

The hairpin already had the sparkling stones. I cut a little hole in one cord piece and put it in between the metal clips and the a larger cut (so the stones cut come through) to the other cord piece to put it on the top of the clip. I glued both pieces together. Then I cut the three pink fabric pieces (a long cut for the stones to go through). I just put them on top and added a little bit of glue between the single pieces.

For the little rose I folded the fabric and sewed a large and narrow triangle with the wide side open. The fabric was turned and just rolled together to form a little rose. Some stitches and a lot of glue hold it together ^^

More glue hold the ribbon on the hair clip and the rose on top... That was all :)

For the last one just have a look here (or here for another one) :)

This little heart I got from a granny swap as a little gift. I added some crochet strings and I hope it will make a little wristband for the girl.

By the way: If you like my hand carved stamps, have a look here to get some ^^

Dream - a lot of new stamps... and all for you!

2011-08-20T18:12:00.001+02:00

You know, I take part in several linking parties (I think most of you know, that's how many of you stumbled over my blog... or I over yours! :) ). In the beginning of july Katie from Sew Woodsy (aka Mrs. Sew Woodsy) featured my hand carved stamps I made for Silke from "für große Mädchen".

Katie asked me whether I could think of having a giveaway together.

Hey, of course I said yes!

There are a lot of good reasons for...

I just love to carve stamps!
How can I say no to her while she loves my stamps? :)
I am taking part in her linking party nearly every week
She asked me at the right moment. Just a short time ago my blog reached the 100th follower... and I didn't even celebrate it somehow. I thought about a candy already for some time (Lachafa could tell you ^^) but let alone the decision about what... mh...

So I failed to make one. Not so much because of the lack of ideas but more to the real lack of time and energy. I didn't have (and still don't have) the time because my computer time is mostly dedicated to make the last corrections for my thesis. I even cancelled an great event this weekend which dear friends hold around this time for some years now. It is a kind of summer ball and I am sniffing not to go and also feel bad to disappoint my friends (although they are understanding!).

Therefore the moment was more than perfect because all I had to do was to ask Katie what she thinks about this or that... and she managed all the work! She also has every week a linking party (which I think is so much work I never can believe someone is hosting one voluntary!). And she gave me weeks... months... to carve the stamps in my own time :)

So go over to her to have a closer view of the stamps (if you like them but I hope you do! :) ) and maybe let them be yours?

And if you go over to Katie... have also a look here! Because this is her working area which I am sooooo jealous of! :) I already asked whether she and her man could make some shelves for me! Hey... just across the ocean! ^^

Before I forget it... Did I already mention how much I love to carve stamps? ^^

And before you ask: Yes, if the mail delivery reaches you, I'll send it to you! Just don't forget that I am sending from germany so it may take some time until the mail reaches you :)

Giveaway will remain open until 11:59 pm EST on Thursday, August 25, 2011.
Which would be 05.59 am CEST on Friday, August 26, 2011 (for all the ones with central european summer time like germany) :)

Inspirations: On the streets (Formentera)

2011-08-18T08:57:00.002+02:00

Sant Francesc - Formentera - Balearic Islands - Spain

saraccino

Photo of the Day: Best Pictures of December 2011, Gallery - National Geographic

For a boy... for a girl... and one for a friend...

How to transfer pictures for stamp carving...

Good night projects: Mittens!

Visiting Lachafa in Münster

Inspirations: Now he changed to green! (Leipzig)

Lost ones... new ones...!

My challenge for 2012 - stop being my own worst enemy!

In the circus

Bits of this and that (or how looks my table)

Inspirations: All the things... (Leipzig)

No end to sparkling pink!

Inspirations: It was a rainy day (Leipzig)

Guess the *not so mysterious* thing!

Let it snow in polycolour!

Old adds... paper earrings

Dream and think! And add some brains!

Favorites in line

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle

Colours and dots!

Hidden pink!

Oh, all the free postcards!

Sparkles - glitter - butterflies!

Small and big!

Some little visitor at work!

More hand carved stamps!

Just the idea of a pink - hairpin...

Find the pink!

Sparkling deers....!

Inspirations: Russian orthodox church (Leipzig)

Find the deer....!

Show off your work!

Stamp your backgrounds...

Dots and more dots and recycled dots!

Going nuts!

Lines and shadows

Little cones...

Leather flower...

Magnetic pink!

Stamp your frames

More of the crocheted necklaces...

Finally some to show...

Crochet necklace - something simple...

Whispers in my ear

Changing favorites - earrings

Homunculus

Everything changes to an earring in my hands!

I never showed you this stamps!

New music from tophino....!

Inspirations: Colours (Botanical garden, Leipzig)

All the colours - Image transfer on fabric

Real clay - next round

The hidden wood...

The little ones are big now!

Spider shadow stencil

Inspirations: On the streets (Leipzig XII)

Some more stamps...

Real clay...

Metal and stones

Just another small teaser...

Not so lazy sunday morning...

Beloved owls...

Just the stuff lying aroung...

Some strange fish...

A little teaser...

Trees growing on walls!

Inspirations: Critter (Formentera II)

Look in the eyes!

Inspirations: Critter (Formentera)

Raindrop cards

Alone - with pink fabric and a request

Dream - a lot of new stamps... and all for you!

Inspirations: On the streets (Formentera)

Guess the not so mysterious thing!