A little over a month ago I spotted the most awesome fox brooch ever seen over at Plutomeisje. I very kindly asked here if she wanted to do a little swap with me. And she said yes! So I put together a little snail mail package for her.
// Iets meer dan een maand geleden spotte ik deze 'oooooout of control' vosjesbroche bij Plutomeisje. Zo eentje wilde ik ook wel graag in mijn bezit, dus ik vroeg haar of ze het zag zitten om een swapke te doen. En ja, dat wou ze zeker! Ik stak dus een envelop vol snail mail en stuurde het fijns op.




picture by Plutomeisje















In exchange, I got this cute foxy brooch she made. Still have to figure out a name for her (yes, it's definitely a she!) though. I think I'm in love.
// In ruil kreeg ik deze vosjesbroche door haar gemaakt. Moet wel nog steeds een naam verzinnen voor haar (jaja, het is een vrouwtje, ik ben er zeker van!). Zó schoon.





❤ ❤ ❤

Thank you so much Eline! She's such a cutie pie and I'll wear her with pride :)

Some of you requested a little tutorial since I dedicated a blogpost to the stamps I made. So here it is, round of applause for me please :)

Things you'll need:

» eraser
» lino-cutting-tools (can be found at your local craft shop)
» pencil
» piece of paper (preferably tracing paper)

Let's get started!


1. Gather the materials you'll need. As you can tell from the pictures, the lino-cutting-tool comes in different shapes. For small stamps (like the one I'll be making for this tutorial) I usually use the two smallest tips.


2. Draw the design for your stamp. I decided a cat would do. Once you're happy with it, trace it onto your eraser. (Just put the eraser on your desk, the drawing on top and rub over your design with the back of a pencil)


3. Use the smallest tip from your cutting tool and begin carving out/tracing around the outside edge of your design. A little tip: the harder you press, the deeper your cuts are going to be! So it's best to start out by treating your eraser really gently by not pushing too hard.


4. Carefully carve out the inside of your design.


5. Get inky and try out your freshly made stamp on a scrap piece of paper. As you can see here I still had to fix some parts.


6. All done, miauw! How do you like my new cat stamp?

The final (and probably best) tip I'll give you is: practice, practice, practice!

If you still encounter problems when it comes to carving, go check out this blog post. (I consider the woman behind the blog, Ishtar Olivera, thé stamp carving GODDESS)

Some bits and pieces from two weeks ago (still wanted to share though).

» How cool is this picture/movie? It's called Cinemagram (click here to see some amazing cinemagrams other people made), and it's mine and the boyfriend's latest addiction!



» An owl stamp! Such a great find, I'm going to keep this one forever!



» The letter I sent to Marlou (do visit her blog, it is lovely). I'm really getting into the snail mail more and more lately, it's so much fun making and creating these little fun packages for other people that you barely/don't know.


I included this heart bookmark, isn't that cute?



» The typewriter my sister found in our local thrift shop. Such a lovely color ♥



Well, that was a whole lotta happiness in one post, hope you enjoyed it as much as I do. Now I'm off studying some more. Exams are almost here.

I bought a little earcuff. Yay!

Every month we take a picture in a photobooth, a real one or the digital version. The idea behind it is to keep track of the most ordinary events or changes in life - as the months turn into years. You can find all participants here.
// Bij de Fotokabien maken we elke maand een foto - online of in een echt hokje. Meer info of meedoen? Nieuwsgierig wie er allemaal elke maand in een hokje kruipt? Kijk hier.

For my New Years' resolutions this year I really wanted to do something about my shopping addiction. Last year I bought a lot of stuff that I barely wear.

I allow myself to buy 1 NEW item every month, and second-hand shopping, swapping with friends and thrifting is still permitted.
Click here if you want to see what I bought in January & February.

March:

I bought these handmade lace appliques from Carol (CountryCottageFriend on Etsy) and made them into earrings & a necklace. Carol is the sweetest, she is so patient and she even accepts custom requests. I will definitely be buying more stuff from her!
Loving the peacocks by the way, they are suuuper big & fun to wear!







April:

These lovely shoes. I bought them at H&M for €10. Ideal for summer!



These months I also didn't buy anything from thriftstores, and I'm really proud of myself for NOT doing so. I still have soooo many clothing items lying in my closet and getting dusty. On to the next months!

Of course I found this dress at the thriftstore for a mere euro. I really liked the pattern on the front and back, although it kinda reminds me of costumes for folk dancing. (haha)
// Dus, ik vond weer een uiterst goedkope jurk in den T2. Ik kon niet anders dan het meegrissen, hoewel het mij op een of andere manier ook wel wat deed denken aan volksdansen (Grieks in 't bijzonder, vraag me niet waarom).

At the time I didn't really know what to do with it so I just left it hanging over my mannequin for quite some time.
// Maar ik wist niet echt wat ik ermee kon aanvangen, dus liet het een aantal weken verstoffen op ons Odette.

Finally I remade it into this ... thing - well I'm not really sure whát to call it.
// Toen kwam de inspiratie - ahum - en ik maakte er dit ding van - ben niet helemaal zeker hoe ik het mag/moet noemen.



Here's a before picture. I simply chopped off the sleeves, made armholes (that are too big) (oh yeah, that's my bra sticking out) and shortened it. Not really sure what to think of it.
// Een voor fotootje. Ik knipte de mouwen af, naaide armsgaten (goh ja, een klein beetje te groot) (en ja, da's mijn beha die daar boven het kleedje komt piepen) en verkortte het.


So what do you think, is it wearable enough or do I look like a milkmaid/greek folk dancer?
// Dus wat denkt ge, is dat draagbaar of doet het u iets teveel denken aan een melkmeisje/tirolerjung/Grieks volksdanser?

These are the crafty things that make me happy. Making your own paper snowflakes really is thát easy. Here's a step by step tutorial, especially for all you snail mail lovers out there :)



Things you'll need:
» square piece of paper (mine is 8cm by 8cm), but you can make it bigger/smaller if you want!
» scissors
» your folding skills

Let's get started!


Lay down your square paper with the good/nice side up.


Fold horizontally.


Fold the rectangle into thirds (as seen above). (This doesn't really have to be precise.)


Fold the left flap over the other.


Fold it over again.


Cut off the top.


Cut out bits and pieces. (little rectangles, weird shapes, circles, triangles, anything is possible) When you think you're done, unfold it and voilà, you just made a paper snowflake!



I got the idea via her.

Hiya there!

In case you haven't noticed, I added a few more things to the toolbar on the right. You can now find me on Facebook (clickkk), where I'll post bits and pieces of my life, updates when there's a new post up, and lotsa lotsa more.



I also have a Pinterest account (clickkk), and that is so handy. You can sort all your 'pins' into categories, in that way it stays suuuuper organized. (If you don't have an account yet and want one, send me your e-mail and I'll send you an invite!)



Yay for social media! And please let me know in the comments if you have a Pinterest, so I can go check it out!

One day I decided to make a few stamps. Here are my stamps so far. It's been so much fun making them.
// Op een dag besloot ik me ook eens te wagen aan de kunst van de stempelmakerij. Van mijn tante kreeg ik een lino gutssetje en ik kon aan de slag. Zo gezegd, zo gedaan. Hoewel (soms) een priegelwerkje, is het erg fijn om te doen!

My first masterpiece - cough cough -, a little smiley // Mijn eerste meesterwerk, een lachebekje:


Owl stamp! Ah yeah! // Een (scheve) uilenstempel:


A rose // Een blommeke:


A (literal) snail mail stamp (of which I'm proud, looks pretty cute right?) // Een ieniemienie (letterlijk) snail mail stempeltje: (en daar ben ik best trots op!)


A tiny heart // Een klein hartje:

As promised, the second (and last) part of the trip mr. boyfriend and I made to Doel.

A little bit background information might be needed, after I posted this: "On 1 september 2009 it was declared forbidden to be keep on living in the town.".

"Beyond 2012, Doel, Belgium will only exist in pictures and memories. The tiny village is scheduled to be completely destroyed to make room for an expanding harbor, and even protest and the incredible street art in the abandoned town cannot stop the inevitable destruction.

For 700 years, Doel stood near Antwerp along the Scheldt River in Belgium. As Antwerp expanded in the 20th century, its port needed more space, and Doel quickly became a target for demolition. Trying to force residents out, the government scheduled demolitions multiple times, but were beaten by popular protests from the 1970s through the 1990s.

But despite the will of the people, Doel could not be saved and in 1999, the town was officially scheduled for complete demolition. On the 23rd of March 2007, the government decided that the village would be demolished by 2009 and in June 2008, residents received a letter informing them that they were to vacate their homes by the 1st of September 2009.
Since that time, residents have trickled out, but artists have made their way in. As more of the town became abandoned, street artists from across Europe came and began to debut their works around Doel.

Today, there are fewer than 200 inhabitants (even less, I think, about 20 - 50 people) left and they are scheduled to leave as soon as possible. The government plans to continue with demolition as soon as residents evacuate. Along with the homes of residents who were forced out, the living street art gallery of Doel will be lost forever."

source: atlasobscura & demotix

all pictures taken by Joeri Vandenberghe