Vitamins for everyone!

Barbie doll likes to sit in the grass in the garden, enjoy the sun and she even has thought of bringing enough to eat as well. Now if only she had taken her knitting basket with her or a book!

  One thing is for sure, she won't be very hungry in the evening if she eats all this fruit - bananas, apples, a pear and an orange.

  Chris doll is waiting for her friends. It is warm outside and so she has prepared some fresh fruit for the playing breaks. She hopes she'll get to the apple first, so juicy and sweet!  

Both bowls are crocheted by me from coated copper wire and filled with handmade polymer clay fruit. They are available in my ArtFire studio. I hope this will just be the beginning as I have more ideas, even if not the time! ;-) Barbie und Chris are registered trademarks with Mattel. I am just a humble collector and not in any way affiliated with the company and do not express their opinions.

Milk and cookies

I'm a child at heart. I love milk (and it always makes me think of Timmy's Mom telling him to finish his milk before he followed Lassie). And I love cookies. And both together makes me sigh with delight.
I always use a special mug for dunking cookies. We have two of them that we got for Christmas from friends a few years ago. Somehow I feel this is the perfect mug. The opening has the right size, it's not too big, not too small and look at the little hearts and ladybirds!
I think the sleeping bear also had milk and cookies, he looks so content. I bet he had a drop of honey in his milk.

I had three cookies now. The child is happy.

Time management and cat fights

I'm back at my own computer, but I still haven't listed anything new. I have to work on my time management which is always more difficult during the week. When coming home from being away for at least 12 hours I have to feed the monsters first. Then I have to decide if I want to work on a piece or if I go and sit at the computer. I get absorbed easily in both and suddenly I find I haven't had time for taking photos and listing. Either the day needs more hours or I need to quit my day job ;-)

Today the cats were even crazier than usual when I came home. It's often like that on a Monday. It seems they have to get used to the thought of being left alone during the day again. And as they are great actors who are all nominated for the Academy Awards this year, they bring on a great act of course.

1. Greebo finds a glass bead on the floor. We play fetch for a while. This cat thinks he's a dog. He doesn't bark, though. He sounds more like a bird.

2. I hear strange sounds from the kitchen. After a while they stop and I don't pay attention. About half an hour later I hear them again. The tall guy goes into the kitchen and yells at me from there: "Smart move to leave the kibble box on the counter!" Uh-oh. Killed by merciless hunters it died a gruesome death. Remember the pictures of lions after a meal? Fat bellies hanging down? I feel Ponder has one like that now. The black ball next to him must be his sister.

3. Meffi is thirsty. Mylady doesn't drink from the bowl anymore. After many years she went back to drinking from the faucet and only there. Usually she waits by the sink and makes her funny little cat meows. Sometimes she sits in the sink. And if she is ignored for too long (at night for example) she'll come and wake you up. But now Ponder is up there, eating from the fresh cat grass. Never mind. Meff is thirsty NOW. So she jumps into the sink and I turn the faucet on. She gets out of the sink, bumping into Ponder. Have I mentioned those two don't get along too well? Often Meffi is the one leaving, but ... yes, she's thirsty. So she hits Ponder on the head twice and he is so confused he leaves.

4. Esme is mad because I wouldn't let her take the last kibble from Meffi. She runs upstairs and shows the box with my envelopes what she thinks about this unfair world.


Doesn't it look as if we have a tiger in our house marking his territory? The tiger is white and black and his name is Greebo. Now that he did the main work, the black fellows join in the fun. They probably expect a big treasure in the box ... Enough now. I know this was a very random post, but that's all my brain was good for today!

Cocoon set - fire and ice

Do you remember the wire teardrop with the lampwork beads from the last post? I think it started this.
I asked myself "Why not using beads with this?" At first I thought about an icycle, inspired by the weather outside, but suddenly blue wire and tiny beads turned into a sparkly cocoon.
Ice led to fire and here comes a sneak preview at a set of two pairs of cocoon earrings that will hopefully be listed in my shop soon!

Playing with money and glass

I haven't posted for a while.
My beloved computer has a virus. Nothing I did helped. I told him (yes, he's male and he even has a name, but I have forgotten it) to drink a lot, take two aspirin and see me again in the morning, I checked out special virus forums, conferred with my personal IT gurus and finally gave up wanting to try anything on my own. I lost all motivation and now I am waiting for IT guru #1 to come by and put him to sleep before he'll raise him out of the ashes again. That phoenix motif is really following me ...

Now I have to use the tall guy's computer. It's old and slow and is driving me nuts. To upload a picture takes forever because it's so hard to reach the USB slot where the card reader goes.
I had to install all kinds of new versions of programs that I use, but the tall guy never does.
I also never knew I actually use most of the bookmarks on my computer.

Nevertheless I'm here today to show you what I have been up to jewelry-wise in the last days.
It started with me rolling up small change. It's not like I need to collect "pfennige" to buy my bridal shoes from that anymore, it would be a little too late for it and thinking about it now I don't even know if that is also still done with the Euro cents. So it was rolling up and taking to the bank eventually.
Somewhere in this glass full of coins I found a rupee. What to do with a single coin like that? Crochet a bezel for it, of course!


Now didn't I have a "pfennig" somewhere? And a coin from the Scotland vacation? And good old Lincoln.


Here is the backside of the rupee, the others are made the same way. I had thought about leaving it open in the back, but it didn't feel safe to me. Which side to use for the front is an easy decision, I just throw a coin! So the only problem left is what wire color to use for the best contrast.
I use four to five different sizes of hooks on these, by the way!


I love lampwork beads, but I never quite knew how to incorporate them into my designs. Now I got a few to play with, focals and spacers and this is my first finished attempt. Another one is still on the wire for me to have a second look at.

I took a quick picture, please excuse my hand looking slightly dirty. I pushed some of my new prop stoness away and part of the "dust" came off. I only saw it when cropping the picture and as it was already uploaded (you remember the USB slot?), I didn't want to take another one.


Healing thoughts for my computer are appreciated! ;-)

One step closer to a million giraffes

You remember this post not so long ago?

Well, my giraffe has just been finished. And you can be sure, it will be my first and my last. That guy took up a lot of time and work! I think all in all that would be like 10 to 12 hours. Yes, you read right. Just attaching his legs has taken me forever.
I couldn't give up, though, could I?

So please welcome him (shhhh, and don't make fun about the very irregular pattern of his spots, I told him that he is an artistic giraffe and that they do come this way)!
Oh, and another thing - he does have ears, but they don't really show in these pictures. It's late and we did only a short photo session as he was still tired from his "birth" ;-)



Oh, and he is already uploaded to Ola's site and is only waiting for his approval.

Show us your mugs and cups

Sometimes ideas come to you around two corners, two blog corners in this case.
I read this on Susanne's blog and I liked the idea that she got from here.

Do you have a cup or a mug with a story to it? Tell it to the world and link it back to Boutonacre's blog!
Funny about this is that in my SJA forum we just had a daily thread about our mugs a while ago.
For that thread I posted this picture with all my cat mugs (of which most were presents, by the way, and the picture is not even showing all of them because I got two new ones for Christmas!).
These mugs don't have a special story coming with them, though.



This one does.
It's over 30 years old and I never really liked it much. I have to admit I am not a fan of Miss Piggy. So why have I kept this mug for so long?
I think I was about 12, maybe younger, when I got it. Actually all of us three sisters got one. There was the choice of Kermit, Animal and Miss Piggy. Me being the youngest I didn't have first choice, of course (no hard feelings, sisters, but hey! :-P). My oldest sister took Kermit, the second one Animal and I was left with Piggy. Oh, believe me, I made my frustration about that very clear. I was not the girl to quietly take on her fate (I grew up to be a person that is still not good at that ...), but it didn't help me. I was stuck with her.


And with time I grew fond of this mug. May it be because it was a part of my childhood, may it be because there was this connection to my sisters (who still have theirs, by the way), I don't know. It doesn't matter really.

When we remodeled the downstairs kitchen, the tall guy went through the old mugs to throw some away. You know, the ones with commercials on them or the ones with chips or without a handle that you hang on to for too long. He also sorted out Miss Piggy and that almost got him a good kick from me. It was a good thing for him he only sorted out at that time and didn't throw away. He doesn't dare to touch her anymore now. Granted, she has retired mostly and is just standing there in the cabinet, but I know she's there batting her eyelashes at me ;-)

Why do I have green on my mind?

Snow has turned into rain, there are last remnants of slush on the ground, but does it make me happier?
Don't bother to answer, I'll tell you. It doesn't. Although I usually don't mind rain at all, I am still grumpy. It's a shame because I really had a good laugh on the phone with my Mom earlier.

Is it a wonder that I was drawn to the color green when I stumbled upon an opening T-West?
Green is supposed to soothe your soul.


Check it out here - Restful and Soothing.

One million giraffes!

Thanks, dear Susanne, on your blog I found this.

I played "guess the age" a little and I started thinking what kind of giraffe I could make. Sounds like a project for me tomorrow, maybe it will take my mind off my grumpy, sneezy, dopey, sleepy self (I begin to sound like Snow White's dwarfs ...).

Come on, people, how about helping out and making your own giraffe? I'd love to see what you will come up with!
And of course I will post mine as well once I decide what I will do :-D

The picture doesn't count of course because I didn't make the giraffes myself, but only the photo (read the rules), in London in 2008.

Words with S

Hmmmm, let's start with the word sniffle. Because that's what I do. My head feels like a water-filled balloon, my throat hurts and my nose is trying to run the marathon.
My sneeze is already a winner. I have to be honest, I don't sneeze like a lady. I sneeze like an exploding elephant and whenever I do it today, cats jump in all directions. I have the feeling, though, that they are very slowly getting used to it.

My second choice would be one of the reasons for the very unladylike sniffling. Snow. Yes, it started again and it hasn't stopped today. There are big, fluffy flakes coming down. You will forgive me for not jumping out there now, taking pictures. Instead I took some from two different windows.


If I ever feel better (I like to whine when I have a cold, so don't take this melancholic statement too seriously ;-)), I will go out there and build a snowman voodoo doll. If I then destroy it, that means the snow will be gone, too. Right? Right? Don't disappoint a dying woman! (Yes, that is slightly overreacting to a simple cold, but check again what I wrote before ... whine ... melancholic ... blabla.)


Number 3 lifted my spirits a little. I got a parcel today and in it were my brandnew flannel Snoopy pyjamas. My first two were light pink and Woodstock was on them, too, but this was the only one I could find fast enough to satisfy my Snoopy cravings, after the first ones finally ripped. It's light blue and it says "You're my sweetest" (another word with S, yay!).



Last, but hopefully not least is the only accomplishment from today. Slimy the Snail has been "running" (snails don't run, in case you didn't know that) around naked in my project bag for a while, but today he finally got his shell.


And if you wonder now what the meaning behind the S-words is, there is none. If you wonder what drugs I am on for my cold, there are none, either. Sometimes I'm just being .....

........ silly! ;-)