mapping the way to gift giving

Tags

diy, gifts, maps, wrapping

… part of the pleasure of gift giving is the wrapping.

… when i was growing up maps were almost on par with books in terms of sacredness. They were bought, used and kept, even when roads were built, countries changed names and new maps were bought for return trips to a favourite place.

… I had carried this habit into adulthood. Many moves from country to country has made me more rational about the books I keep. If they weren’t written by a friend, or a book I know I will likely reread, they are passed on, donated, left in a public place for someone else to pick up. My box of maps wasn’t staying so streamlined.

… looking for inspiration recently for a number of gifts I wanted to wrap, I pulled out the map box. A map chosen of a country that we had visited both together and independently, cut into pieces and used as wrapping paper. The creases and wrinkles, marks and fadedness adding to the story behind the wrapping.

… One day I might run out of maps, as like so many people, I have adopted modern technology, and the gps won’t be much use as gift wrap!

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shopping – responsibly

Tags

etsy, holidays, responsibly, shopping

… looking for an excuse to shop? Wanting to shop responsibly?

…I don’t think I have ever hidden my love for etsy. My walls are adorned with art work discovered there; presents given are often chosen there; my wardrobe contains many items handmade by incredibly talented people from around the world found there; I have toiletries and accessories that I couldn’t resist there; even my favourite hot water bottle was bought there.

…but it is a labyrinth finding what you want there. I already mentioned the challenges of treasuries and followings, favourites and front pages… so a directory of (mainly etsy) sellers that have something in common with what you like – even if that something is a favourite blog – can only be a good thing.

… I don’t remember when I started following door sixteen, but it is one of the blogs I read regularly. Initially I loved it for the house renovation, which resonated with what I would love to achieve with a house if ever I owned one, but recently I have made recipes Anna has posted and even bought toiletries based on a D16 recommendation!

… I especially love Anna’s recent post on staying independent when doing your holiday shopping. But not only for the message which I fully endorse, but also for the invitation for independent business owners to list their shops in the comments… I have visited a few lot of them already – there are some really talented people out there, and a lot of beautiful things!

… I can only recommend wandering over and having a browse 🙂

rinse, repeat…

Tags

diy, fabric, painting, sewing, tea towels

… I was so pleased with how the tea towels I made last week turned out (even though they were a bit small), I decided to make another set. I had more linen, plenty of paint, a fresh carrot, another ikea pencil and a free evening.

… seams sewn, tea towels ironed, grid drawn, dots painted, carrot whittled, triangles painted, paint left to dry, pattern ironed (for exactly 5 minutes), tea towels washed and ironed and ready to use…

… soon in a kitchen near here!

 

a path traversed…

Tags

etsy, handmade, shopping, trading

… its a tangled web, etsy.

… like so many, I love making things, sometimes I get carried away, I end up with more things than I need, like the day I ended up making 10 wallets because I was on a roll, or the one I made 5 iphone cases because I was using up scraps.

… like so many I have adopted etsy as my market place. I squeeze in quietly, amidst so many talented people, people making stuff I dream of, people making things that look better than what you can find in the shops, people making such a variety of original and beautiful items. But like any market place, you need to get noticed, to draw people into your humble shack, to entice them with the things you have made, you have to be different, unique, competitive and dynamic.

… there are guidelines, recommendations, ways of getting noticed, that usually involve browsing everyone else’s shops, favouriting, creating treasuries (kind of wish lists). There are guidelines, recommendations, ways of getting your treasuries noticed, so you in turn get noticed. It takes a huge investment of time and energy.

… temptation! Such an investment wouldn’t be a problem if people weren’t listing so many gorgeous things. But a girl can only take a certain amount of monitor shopping before she cracks, slips discretely into a new found shop and makes a purchase. I have bought all kinds of things on etsy, from juggling balls to cardigans to hot water bottles and art work. It feels so good to support other artists and artisans, to help people who are launching amazing businesses, but…

… it doesn’t shift the numerous bags hanging off my radiator, the box full of wallets and pouches, the bag of scarves, the projects and creations I haven’t found a home for yet. And my idea to make a few euros to fund my crafting habits is completely lost as I spend far more than I earn!

… an etsy convo (that would be an email, a message, a conversation on any other social media!), someone launching a new initiative “do you want to trade some of your items?”. A list of people looking to raise their profile, pick up a few seasonal gifts, or treats for themselves, at the cost of an item from their own shop – seems like a win-win situation.

…a browse through a few shops that catch my eye, a scarf in Scotland, lip balm in Ireland, a bowl in Latvia, a bag in Cyprus. Messages sent, responses come in… the scarf gets exchanged for a trivet, the lip balm for a wallet… what a fabulous way to end the day!

carrots and sticks

Tags

diy, fabric, painting, sewing, tea towels

… or maybe a pencil instead of a stick. There are so many fabulous ideas for crafty wonderful things you can do and make, some days I wonder if I will ever have time to work again, even now I keep running out of time, not able to do all the things I want, to make all the things I imagine, to use up all the supplies I keep buying…

… I have always loved material, fabric, cloth. I spent hours craving one piece or another from my mother’s stash as a child – I was finally given a particularly special piece in my early 20’s, I hold onto the dress I made with it, I am not sure I could get into it any more even if I did still wear dresses! I can spend hours in fabric shops, running my hand over the rolls of fabric, dreaming up projects as I drift onto the next roll and the next…

… the internet opens up a whole new world, new temptations, new ideas, places where you can get your own designs printed on material, and people painting and screen printing all sorts of incredibleness…

… I decided I wanted to be part of this. A length of linen bought, washed, ironed, cut and sewn into tea towels. A word of warning – some people out there are selling you tiny tea towels! For some lazy reason I decided to use measurements from some of my favourite listings on etsy, rather than walk all the way to the kitchen to measure my own towels. They ended up smaller than I expected!

… two blank canvases, three bottles of paint, a million ideas, a grid drawn onto the linen in chalk, and now for a repeating pattern… first the dots, something small, round, disposable… what else but the ikea pencil. Then the triangles, triangles are all the fashion, but I wanted them to be small… I remembered this amazing blog post, where a wall was painted with a potato… a look in the fridge, no potatoes, but carrots – perfect. I whittled my best triangle from half a carrot and was all set.

Repeating rows, fading into nothingness, different heights, vaguely inspired by this painting. The finishing touch… a random dot with the triangles and a triangle in the dots. Left to dry overnight, then ironed and ironed and ironed to set the paint. Another spin in the washer to check they were colour-fast and to wash away the chalk, and now they are wrapped and ready to go, a present for someone special.

black soap for black sheep

Tags

cleaning products, detergent, diy, natural

… under the sink there used to be an army of bottles and containers, so many colours, each containing a different cleaning product, each with its own special function: one for the floor, one for the walls, one for the sink, one for the taps, another for worktops on greasy days, or sticky days… The aisles in the supermarket led me to believe this was the only way to keep my house clean. I suspect advertising on TV and in magazines would have reinforced that message, but I don’t watch TV or read magazines.

… somewhere along the line someone introduced me to vinegar, then to baking soda. I haven’t replaced any of those coloured bottles under the sink when they have run out. Not only are baking soda and vinegar cheap, they clean well and are also good for the environment. Seems like win win.

… occasionally I still need something a bit more specialised for a specific job, like cleaning the windows (alcohol and corn flour with vinegar seem to be the secret) or laundry detergent (I have already talked about that), and then I need to find “exotic” ingredients for my magic potions 🙂

… this search has led me to new outlets, Aladdin’s caves I probably wouldn’t have found if I wasn’t hunting for the ever elusive borax, baking soda by the kilo, glycerine. The good old fashioned “droguerie”. I am not even sure if this translates to drugstore, as I seem to remember from American books I have read and films I have seen that people used to go to drugstores to drink soda in the 50’s?

… men in white coats, powders in bins and bottles, scales and ladles, hand written labels, skull and cross bone stickers on small white paper bags. The droguerie is a disappearing institution, I hope people realise what they risk losing and change their shopping habits before it is too late and they are all gone.

… a recent trip to stock up on “powders”, my attention was drawn to a window display of old fashioned white bottles with striking blue labels “the authentic black soap made from olive oil“. I was curious, I picked up a leaflet – this stuff can be used to clean everything from indoor floors to house roofs, from your silverware to your boat’s hull, from rose bushes to washing your dog, the list seems endless. It is natural and biodegradable. How could I not pick up a bottle?

… even if it makes me even more of a black sheep, the lone family member who veers away from the products made by the company my father worked for all his career!

green dogs and quick cowls

Tags

cowl, fabric, sewing, shopping

… a warehouse of temptation! Today I discovered a new fabric shop. I had heard about it long ago, a friend travelled there from Luxembourg to buy the material for her living room when she moved into her new place – about 10 years ago. Other people had mentioned it to me over the years, but I had never gotten round to visiting it. Somehow I thought it was off the beaten path, difficult to get to, hard to find. It was across a bridge from a busy square I often pass through!

… two floors that go on, and on, and on, a labyrinth of rooms and sections, departments and classifications, Japanese cottons to classic wools, heavy duty canvas to fake fur, every colour under the rainbow, and a million textures to run your hands over.
… luckily we had already been to Berger, the cheap and well stocked, if chaotic, shop first. I had already been tempted by some fun material for bags and a cowl, polka dots to line a wallet. My friend had found the grey wool mix for her next project, a Japanese dress, that I will help her make next week. It made it easier to resist – a bit.

… half a meter of pretty knitted turquoise fluff for another cowl for me and some checked cotton for the long requested pyjama bottoms for her Mr. We left relatively unscathed!

… home as the rain started, it was no longer weather to take the dog for a walk in the forest – sorry rafeiro. Instead, I whipped up the olive green jersey cowl and the fluffy turquoise knitted one in less than an hour. I haven’t taken the fluffy one off since.