Buttons

Flamenco Fever
Last saturday i attended a flamenco performance ( Compañia Flamenca del Junco ) and i was swept away by the beauty of it! So much engery and passion accomplished by just two guitars, three singers and two very talented dancers, they made me forget Belgium and took me to the south of Spain - the Alhambra courtyards maybe -or the beautiful and mysterious barrios of Sevilla and Granada. Unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me and i can't find any info online about this flamenco group, but these Etsy finds bring you a taste of the flamenco atmosphere!

handpainted mug by houseofharriet

Flamenco earrings by trystbykerry

The Spanish Signora print by matouenpeluche

Black lace fan by SamanthaSultana

Interior Designing with MyDeco.com

I found this website a while ago and i just had to blog about it because it's so addictive and fun. mydeco.com let's you design your own rooms online with real existing furniture and accessories. You are basically the interior designer of your own house: you choose the measurements of the room, the doors and windows and from there on you can let your imagination take over! The best thing is that you don't have to download any software for this and it's quite quick in rendering the pictures and browsing through the catalogues. I think it is a UK based website because most of the shops featured can be found in the UK : John Lewis, Cole & Son , Designers Guild but also my favourite shop Maisons du Monde ( not yet in the UK ). Everything is rendered in 3D, but the catalogues show the actual pieces of furniture and tells you exactly how much it costs and the dimensions and colours of each piece available. As you know i will be moving to a flat soon and there will only be enough space for my fiancé, me and my huge collection of bags ,supplies and vintage junk i can't say goodbye to( ok, we haven't found a solution for that yet - i might have to get a shed and ask my in-laws if i can put it on their land,it's only 2min. away ). The flat isn't big and we don't have any furniture yet so mydeco.com is a gift from heaven : i had all the measurements of the rooms and started decorating! The downside is that most of the furniture is really above my budget ( £6,139.28 for the living room and £7,706.84 for the bedroom? I don't think so! ) But being the flea market and thriftstore addict that i am i think i'll find other ways to decorate for les money. Here are two pictures of the rooms i made and how i would like to have them decorated. I hope i can show you the real thing in a couple of months!

Personal Portfolio

I'm back again! After two weeks of furniture and deco hunting in the UK ( our flat is comming along nicely and i can't wait to move in! ) i'm back home in Belgium and i'm getting ready to move out, finally. Besides all the moving related things i have to do, i still found some time to work on my "business plan". Ok, it's not really a plan, but a dream...and dreaming is allowed, no? So, I got myself a personal portfolio! There are a few shops here in belgium - and i'm sure this system exists in other countries too - that print photo books for you at a very reasonable price. Shops like Fnac, Kruidvat, Blokker and Hema have free software that allow you to create your own book : you choose the lay out, the pictures, set up, basically everything is in your hands! My little book costed about 15 Euro, but it's worth the investement and the quality is excellent. I used to hate that " what do you do in life" question, because i'm not a big talker and saying that i design things sounds so silly sometimes, compared to people with "real" jobs and some of them have no idea what i'm talking about if they can't see it. This little book is the best way for me to show my work and i think it would be interesting to take it to some shops instead of taking my whole inventory with me at a first try-out. I have noticed that handing out a business card doesn't work that well because people forget about it or they are not bothered to go see online what it is about. If they see a portfolio they can atleast tell you if they are interested or not at first glance and it makes things easier for me. If you are serious about your designs i really recommend getting one made....or have it as a souvenir for later when i will be an old granny :)

Makeover over Makeover

Sometimes things don't happen the way i want them to happen. For example this bag : it's been sitting in my collection for months and it's the third one of my circus themed bag. The first one was about zebras , the second one about snakes, but this last one just didn't want to be captured. The circus theme is inspired by a picture and that picture decides type of animal print i will paint for the top section. It took me forever to find an interesting picture and a matching animal print. It's hard to paint elephant skin and i have no idea how to turn acrobatic dog fur into an attractive element...so leopard it was. The picture was printed, the animal pattern painted and the rhinestones glued into place. I've had it ready to put for sale for months, but something was missing and it was driving me crazy everytime i looked at it! I took of the prints, changed the colours and replaced the blue lace trimmings with this funky gold and black lace trim from Syria. I have finally fallen in love with this bag which means it is ready to go. It actually reminds me a bit of Cavalli's style,one of my favourite designer!

60 Years Ago... I was looking through my collection of vintage magazines and found an article about April's fashion trends for 1948. Exactly 60 years ago! Here's what fashionistas would have ran to the stores for back then :

The latest fashion trends for April 1948, presented by Vrouw en Huis ( Woman and Home ), a Belgian lifestyle magazine:

"Small waiste, large hips and long skirts are essential if you want to dress in style in 1948. Seen in every Parisian Fashion Maison is the Kimino sleeve, a must have for this season" :

"The collars are high and elaborated, but ladies please don't wear these things to work. The office is a place for business not for fashion shows! They are appropriate for Sundays, holidays and special occasions such as birthday parties or an evening out".

And a real lady doesn't go out without her hat!

Another thriftstore find

Here i am again with another great thriftstore find. I know i haven't been posting much else than my vintage finds lately but it's all i have time for right now. This is the sewing kit i found on my last trip to the thriftstore and i love it! I was lucky to get it in mint condition with all the original items still inside, because usually all boxes, cupboards and photo albums in these thriftstores are emptied before sale. Inside i found vintage buttons, ribbons, needles, thread and a vintage and slightly rusted pillbox with "aiguilles" (needles) written on it in a beautiful oldfashioned handwriting. Some of the black foil wrappings for the needles haven't even been opened and the most of the button cards were still complete. I 'm not good at sewing even though my grandma has tried to explain the basics many times and even gave me her sewing machine and loads of vogue patterns from the fifties and sixties. Maybe this box is a sign that i should atleast give it a try and take sewing classes next year.

New ring design

I have many of these sea shells, but never really knew what to do with them. I wanted to make pendants, but somehow that didn't look right, just silly. I had already drilled a hole for a pendant so i just made another one of the other side, patiently glued on the rhinestones one by one and turned it into a ring. When i make something for the first time i always have to test it to see if if doesn't fall apart after half an hour, so i've kept this one for myself and have been wearing it for a week. Sofar it has been comfortable to wear, hasn't cracked or fallen apart and i'm getting a lot of interested and positive reactions! Maybe it's time to make some more?

Crazy Retro Shopping Day

At last Saturday 8th March arrived. I had been waiting weeks for my Crazy Retro Shopping Day. Every year my favourite thriftstore and many others in the country organize a Retro Market and it is becoming a really big thing, last edition was great but this year me and my mum went crazy. I told her to be up and ready by 8.30 so we would be in time for the opening at 10. I thought we could take our time looking at everything and commenting of fun pieces. But forget that, when we arrived at 10.10 the shop was already full and everyone was just grabbing whatever they could find! Being the thriftstore addict that i am, i already went on exploration Thursday to check if they had displayed any retro items...and came home with 5 beautiful bags! I picked up another 5 bags from my favourite thriftstore that Saturday. And after visiting 4 Retro Markets in and around Antwerp that day it added up to a total of ...15 I don't want to sounds like some crazy bag lady, but these bags are hard to find lately. Everyone is into vintage and i see more fashion people visiting these shops whereas before it was junk collector addicts like myself.

Things didn't end here. In Antwerp i found a beautiful yellow sixties coat that i just couldn't resist. I love the buttons, i love the A-line, the yellow is still fresh and popping and what really made me buy it was the tag inside. This coat came from a well-known couture shop in Antwerp, the kind of shops my mum's godmother - a true sixties style icon for my mum and her sisters - would buy her outfits from. It just makes me dream and wonder about the owner of this coat...was she beautiful? Stylish? Did she have a bee hive hairdo and matching yellow shoes? Was she 16 or married? Ahh somethime i think i should open a musuem for all my vintage finds, i could go on forever!

Through the Viewfinder
I have a new addiction. It's called TtV. TtV stands for "Through the Viewfinder" and is a photographic technique that gives your photos a very old, vintage style look. I always thought i was an effect created with photoshop or with those really antique cameras, but i recently discovered how to do it. You take a digital camera and take a picture through the viewfinder of a vintage or antique camera, in my case a Kodak Cresta III. My original plan was to take pictures with the Cresta, but it's too complicated for an amateur like me (don't know where to get the right film, can't develop the photo's myself etc). And if i would take real pictures with that camera they probably won't have that nice TtV effect anyway, and that's what i was interested in, in the first place. Here are my first TtV's, but have a look a the the Flickr Group for the best TtV's from other photographers.

I love kitchen ware!

Noooo i haven't lost my mind, i'm not going crazy over spoons and forks but my latest addiction is the hunt for perfect mold...in the kitchen wares section of my favourite thriftstore! I'm not too fond of the traditional resin molds that are for sale on e-bay or other shops that specialize in resin supplies, they seem too generic or just plain boring most of the time. The kitchen ware section of my thrift store is another story because here i find my treasures : egg holders for the fridge, old fashioned ice cube trays, other trays for i-don't-know-what-goes-where for the kitchen, the shapes and possiblities are endless. More than once i've been greeted with a frown when i walk to the till with an arm full of used ice cube trays, happy about my new thrift store treasures. Seriously, i must be the only person buying these things because some of the trays ( the ones i really don't like) have been sitting there for months. My latest mold is the best i found sofar: an ice cube tray for diamond shaped, faceted ice cubes. I think it is just perfect for making ring charms and i've been trying out some new designs:

Matryoshka in Space

Floating Flowers:

Frozen Diamond:

My Moo cards are here! I was so excited to find my Moo cards in the mail today! I had seen DecadentDiamond's beautiful Moo cards on her blog and i instantly loved them! I had heard about the cards before, but i didn't know they were entirely customizable and the unusual shape is a nice feature. They look more artistic than regular business cards, so i just had to try this out! I've been printing and cutting my own cards for over two years and to be honest, i've had enough of that...for some reason my colours are off when i print them or i don't cut straight, i don't know why but i'm just not that good at it. But I don't think i'm just going to hand out my Moo's to anyone, (ok i had to give one to my sister because she modelled my trashion jacket and i made a moo card of her picture), but i will include them in orders. I wanted to use the photos i made of my designs because i thought it would be fun if someone bought a bag or a pair of earrings and received the matching moo card! Well, atleast i know i would like that :)

Here's the whole collection:

And two of my favourites:

Custom orders...and all that jazz!

I've worked on all kinds of custom orders in the past, from digital art jackets over postage stamp shoes to photo handbags and more. But the request i received from Spanish artist Mtuent left me speechless for a few minutes. She requested...a pen. Yes, at first i thought it was a mistake or i missunderstood,but it really was a pen. For the presentation of her new book she wanted to use a pen that was inspired by the subject of her writing : jazz music and Billie Holiday. She had seen my designs on Etsy and was interested in the way i use art and photography in many of my creations. This is why i like Etsy so much : there is room to work across the borders of your own "field" and exchange ideas with other artists on a creative level. Honestly, i would never ever had thought when i woke up that morning " hey i'm going to make a pen today instead of earrings!"...it was just something that was outside my box, so to say.

So, the idea was in my head...but how to execute my design?! I didn't even know what most pens are made of and how i should get my design onto it. The next step was to create something that i could call my canvas, on the surface of the pen. After much thinking i found something that could work for me : i have this clay that isn't 100% organic, but it isn't polymer either. When it's dried it feels a bit like terracotta but much lighter, maybe it is simular to that what doctors or hospitals use when you break your arm or leg. Anyway, it was just perfect for my plan. I used a thin black ballpoint pen and formed another shield around it with this clay. The rest was easy : some hints of silver gold and bronze paint, music notes, parts of old jazz club ads, a trumpet player and the pretty face of Billie Holiday in different colours decoupaged onto my first handmade pen!

This was a great challenge and really fun to work on. In fact, Mtuent's custom order made me think of other designs for pens...i can't wait to try out them out!

Image transfer continued...

Here's another example of the transfer technique i was talking about a few days ago. I made an illustration of a handbag, digitalized it and touched it up in Illustrator and then printed it out on paper. It was transferred onto a cotton applique and embellished with some glitter, silver paint and a lace trim with sequins. I purposely give it an antique look, which you can achieve by leaving the iron a little bit too long on the transfer when you are setting it. For this applique i needed a matching bag, so i got one of my vintage inspired bags, a black one, painted it silver and added lots of glitter. As a finishing touch i added parts of an old necklace and a bow made of vintage lace. The fun part is that the colour of this bag changes according to the light. It's a very sparkling and bright bag when it's sunny, but when the weather is dark the bag becomes black again and has a more gothic and mysterious look.

Be fashionable in each and every circumstance

Yes ladies, even when you are driving your convertible!
Scanned from :Fémina, 1906

Image Transfer Tutorial

If like to try out an alternative for those expensive iron-on, then maybe you should have a look at this! I love this transfer technique, it's cheap, easy and fun because you can achieve different "looks": from distressed to crisp images...it's worth a try!

What do you need:

soap shavings

turpentine

a piece of fabric and a fresh inkjet print

and : a well ventilated workspace!

Get a cup and fill it 1/4 with hot water, add two tabelspoons of soap shavings and stir. Then add a table spoon of turpentine and keep stirring until it looks like this:

Now we're ready to print! get your piece of paper and apply the soap and turpentine mix to the front of your print:

Then put it face down on your piece of fabric. Press it down firmly and apply the mix to the back. The paper will become slightly transparant. The mix can be applied quite thick, as long as you are careful not to rip up the paper. I like to use my hands to rub down the print, but a spoon is very handy too, it depends of the effect you desire:

Now peel back carefully ...and there it is!

How to "set" the print

Of course you don't want your image to fade after the first wash, but please note that that transfer technique is experimental : depending on the mix and amount of soap and turpentine you will get a stronger or weaker print. There are a few tricks for settings the transfer though:

Let your transfer dry for 24 hours. Get a spraying can ( you know, for spraying or watering your plants) and fill it with 50% water and 50% white vinegar. Spray it on the transfer and let it dry. After that you have to iron your transfer on high temperature or use a heat press. Repeat the last two steps( (spraying can and ironing) a few times, but don't rinse in between. When you have done this 3 or 4 times you can take an additional step and use some varnish on the transfer The fabric will become a bit stiffer, but if you do it carfully with thin layers you can obtain a nice result. This last step is recommened for transferring on t-shirts, but if you are just making appliques or transfers that don't need to be washed frequently, you can skip this step.

Ok, that's it! Feel free to post your comments and questions here, i'll try my best to answer them!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall - Valentine's Edition

I finally found a use for the brass wire hearts that i bought on my last trip to Syria! I love how an idea can just pop up while cleaning up the crafting boxes and stumbling upon my forgotten treasures. I found these hearts in a little shop right outside the Souk of Aleppo. It wasn't even a craft or supply shop, they were selling bolts and hammers and then i saw these beauties in a box in the corner. I think the shop owner didn't even know why he had them there...they looked like they had been in that corner for the past 100 years. A good reason for me to buy most of his brass shapes inventory! Right in time for Valentine's :)

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions because i just can't keep up with them. Every year it's the same story and every year i simply fail at most of the things i promised myself to do better next year. Maybe i should keep things easy and not stress myself...live day-by-day and don't stress about nothing and everything. Don't they say "good things come to those who wait"? To be honest, i have really neglected my promo-plan since i've been travelling up and down from Belgium to the UK, but yesterday i was contacted by the newspaper for an interview about Etsy and handmade creations. Everything happened really quick so i didn't get time to think about what i was going to say and how everything should look...but also : no time to stress about it! :)

Many thanks and congrats to Karlita, who got the whole thing started and ArtMind, my fellow belgian etsians and EST team girls!