TIME for CHANGE

When the temperature outside is rising...

When the birds start singing...

When spring flowers start to bloom...

When the sun is shining...

When I feel that spring is in the air...

Then something starts to tickle inside of me as well. 

I get fresh energy and it's time for another change too.

In other words: REVAMPING parts of my website.

Some of you may have noticed, because I made a few changes last week and the new pages 

are online for a few days.

As usual it was quite a lot of work.

Afer muchos copy & past work and about at least a thousand adjustments later...

Tadaaa.......here is the final result:

this is my fresh revamped new main MENU page...

...the new CONTACT page...

...and the new MAILING LIST page:

What about the other pages...???...well they will be revamped too...
I'm not rushing or speeding things up.
Sometimes I feel already like an early bird, midnight owl, busy bee, multiped, industrious ant etc.

I simply cannot do everything at once!!!

BEARCAUSE:
 
I'm also HUMAN...!!!

 So first things first:

right now I'm back in my studio and I'm working on my new piece which is almost in the final phase and I would like to finish this bouncing bunny.
Yup...they are still jumpin' around.

... JUMP ..•°*”˜˜”*°•.. JUMP.. •°*”˜˜”*°•.. JUMP…

Brrrbbb it’s still COLD outside but… in my studio…ahhhh…
 

 ..jump.. •°*”˜˜”*°•..jump..

 Little bunnies are hoppin’ around in my studio.

Sometimes it is soooo frustrating to see them as they won't sit still!!

Despite my efforts to keep ‘em calm, all they do is:

 ..jump.. •°*”˜˜”*°•..jump.. •°*”˜˜”*°•..jump…

I suppose they are suffering from:  

V B E D D = a Very Busy Every Day Disease

Oh you naughty lil’ bunnies!!!

I need to concentrate on my knittings.

Otherwise I will never finish this jumper. “Per favore”: SIT STILL…!!!!! 

 ...jump ..•°*”˜˜”*°•..jump.. •°*”˜˜”*°•..jump.. •°*”˜˜”*°•..jump…

Now look what happened…… MISTAKES, MISTAKES, MISTAKES!!!

*$&%*#)@#(*)(*@#)$*&%*^&%*&@(#(@#$*%&#@*

Ok take a deep breath Thea…just ignore them. Look away and pretend that they are not there,

and finish this jumper: C’MON - YES YOU CAN!!!

♪ ♫ ♪ patience dust, patience dust, all I need is patience dust ♪ ♫ ♪

YESSSSSS “hey PRESTO” I did. Phew, what a relief.

The jumper is ready, yippie!

Ahhh now you want to know who’s wearing it?
 

Well...uuuuhhmmm…that’s a secret that will reveal itself. 

And all you gotta do is to -►

♥ ♥ ♥ LOVE IS IN THE AIR ♥ ♥ ♥

LOVE

can be expressed in many ways.

One way I know is to send it across the distance

to my blog followers and visitors who are reading this.

I love you for thousands reasons.

Distance doesn't seem to matter to bring me smiles and laughter send by your comments.

And if I had a flower for every time you made me smile and laugh,

I'd have a garden to walk in 

FOREVER

 So I thank you for sharing a bit of yourself with me.

I wish you all a:

At last I did it: I designed my own DIGI-STAMPS

It was on my wishlist for quite a while:

DIGI-STAMPS

My new plush design reached the final state: I FINISHED it and I’m very pleased with the result. 

No no wait....it's not COMPLETED yet. Just the new furry friend has come to life. 

And she is sooo  ♥ adorable ♥.

With her finished I felt it was time to do something else.

As usual it is easier said than done and I should have known: it was a time-consuming project.

BUT: 

I managed to create my own digi-stamps.

They are printable in any size I want and in any color I want and in any text I want.
Whoops and if it is not enough: in any font I want.

Just be: “ Silly and Creative ” and the possibilities are endless....

E.g. YIN & YANG

 

This allows me to make my own label/hang-tags too:

It’s so nice to design and make them yourself.

Easy too: you can print/cut as many as you want, no waitinglist!!!

Straight available (unless you want THAT particular paper that is NOT in your stock).

 
And above all: sometimes you simply need to do something else than making bears.

It freshes up your own hard disk a little bit ☺

Although…on second thoughts…mmmmm…this may also lead to other things…

…to be even MORE creative in my work…

Something is “tickling” in my brain...ahhhh…this is gonna kill me.

 Creative minds never rest, believe me!!!

At least I cannot stop mine from working, anyone with ideas: feel free to share your tips.

I would love to know, they are more than welcome. 

Have a nice weekend!

I for sure will set my mind to something else. Maybe this will cool off my brain a little bit…☺

♥ A ♥ sweet-heart ♥ for ♥ Valentine's Day ♥

Well I bet you were you sittin' on your pins & needles waiting for my new piece.

I won't keep you waiting any longer then:

  She is a new design and I am soo thrilled at how wonderfull she turned out.

What a wonderful piece for ♥ Valentine's Day ♥

And when Valentine's is over, you still have a magnificant set to display all year long.

Exactly as the text on the box indicates:

" TO HAVE & TO HOLD - FOREVER & ALWAYS "

Scarlett weares and aged hand knitted barret that I have designed for her.

It was my first barret ever and it turned out wonderful ♥

  Scarlett is sitting on a very special box that I created for her.

I made a cross stitched ribbon around the box with lovely berries and leaves 

in very old colors and then aged.

  

The box is handpainted and then aged for definition to look like a very old box
which could be found in grandnanny's attic. 

 

The text speaks for itself and therefore is well suited as a special keepsake box for the  

TO HAVE & TO HOLD - FOREVER & ALWAYS

treasures.

And what is even more appropriate as a background....
I found this music sheet by Ludwig von Beethoven called:  

♥ Ich liebe dich - I love thee - Je t'aime ♥
♥ Ik hou van jou -  Я кахаю цябе ♥
(...found in a music book which was one of my flea market treasures last summer...)
And I love thee too...I can't help it but I'm in love with my own piece.

Voilà:
♥ The Tree of Love ♥ 
 from my previous post.

It's made of woolfelt, trimmed with a piece of cotton lace, a vintage heart pendant

that dangles from a rusty ring and the letter S of course!

The heart is trimmed with an aged vintage ribbon.

 

Scarlett wears a handknitted pullover with "poof" short sleeves 

and a navy collar with vintage bow.

A handmade cotton skirt with pleaters and hand dyed red ribbon trim.
Then I distressed and aged the entire outfit for definition.

 

Go to my website for much more full sized pictures and all the other details:

► CLICK HERE  ◄

In other words: Scarlett found a new home!

Weather Update :

Mr. Winter is blowing super cool air over Holland. The temperature dropped to -14.3 degrees last night...rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It is as if you are stepping in a large freezer when you go outside. 

Like the Fisherman's Friends: IT FEELS SUPER FRESH!!!

And today, as if it is not enough, and on top of all this: SNOW....Yeah! 

How I love King Winter in it's full glory.

 As beeing a skinny person I need at least 7 layers of extra jumpers, pants, thights 

and 10 pair of socks to keep me warm. 

He he he...So I'm feelin' a bit like the Michelin (wo-)Man right now.

 The ice rink in our village is open since yesterday. 

They are skating on the big pond behind our house too.....

Mmmm....I think I'm honouring our attic with my visit: where are those skates of mine....

But before I go up I have to unwrap myself of some extra layers, 

otherwise I can't move one bit...he he he.

Extra last update: YUP....it's snowing right now!!!

Coming soon: NEW PIECE ( sneak-peek available if you can't wait)

Well do you feel it....I know I do:  
♥ LOVE IS IN THE AIR ♥
And if there is love in the air, I get butterflies in my belly.
It's a "tickling" feeling that I have since I created the new piece which is coming soon.

It will be a piece:

 

And....tadaaaaa....here is your sneak-peek.

It's a piece that I:

The only thing you need right now before you can view the entire set is: patience dust.
Mailing List Members First!

Off the record news:
The weather in Holland is very very very cold...brrrrrrrbbbb....
It's like living in a freezer when you go outside.
But these temperatures are good for a massive-madness-hype amongst the Dutch.
As there can only be one reason:  
We smell ice !!!
And when we smell ice: BINGO ► we are completely freaking out, we are going nuts!!!
All together, we suffer from massively ICE FEVER!!!


Almost anyone can skate.
It doesn't matter what age your are, when there is ice, you just go for it.

Very famous and beautiful to watch is our traditional way of folk skating.

 It's a very special style, often done by older people who still dominate this style of skating.

But the thing we are all waiting for is the famous:
Elf Stedentocht > The 11 Cities Race
It has only been held 15 times since the first official event in 1909.
It's a 200 km - 120-mile speedskating marathon over frozen rivers and canals linking 11 towns in the nothern part of Holland: a province called Friesland.
The long term outlook is good. But we need 16 cm - 6 inches of ice.
And Friesland is preparing itself.
Hundreds of thousands of people are watching the marathon skaters and other participants who are skating this race non-stop. In other words: it's a kind of national holiday.
We'll see if Mr. Winter continues to send very cold air to Holland....
The last race was held on the 4th of January 1997, my birthday.
Many skaters are now waiting for the 11 city president who will speak these famous words
that are soooo well known:

And if you want my honest opinion: well I love to skate. As a young girl I used to do it a lot.
And I love to watch the 11 city race as well.
But that's just it. Now that I've become an older (& hopefully a wiser) Dutch girl:  I hate cold weather.
The only advantage I see is that the sun is shining ☼
(but maybe if the ice conditions are good....I cannot resist to "get the skates out of its fat" !!!)

Meanwhile I have to bear in mind that: