Monday Mood Board: It's snowing !

Finally a bit of winter feeling after this very very long autumn weather, because we have a bit of snow ! Some snowy items from four of our European Street Team sellers on Etsy.

For more monday mood boards see Estella and Esther's blog.

1. LaNiqueHOME
2. ShinyJane
3. sunshineartdesign
4. MistyAurora

Tidbits : Icy

This was a very icy Xmas here in Germany, and it's still very very cold ....

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. IJSKOUD // ICY-COLD, 2. Iceland In Kinghorn, 3. PICT0072, 4. Icy Rain

Tidbits : Skirt, Balance and Swap

OK, this was again not my best week.... After the flu from last week I got terrible balance problems. In the hospital they found out that I have Morbus Ménière and Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Got some medicines and I have to perform some special head maneuvers during the day. Very sad about all this, and I have not registered any improvement yet.
Last Sunday I managed to finish the skirt for my friend Anne, just before the balance problems started. Hubby took some lovely pics of her yesterday.


And the end of this week was a bit happier too because of the secret winter swap from the European Street Team on Etsy. I received it yesterday and was so happy with it. The nauli sisters were my swap partners, and they sent me a lovely book and some gorgeous buttons. Thanks Eva-Dewi and Johanna ! I decided I am going to use the book as a portfolio for my button art, when my balance is right again.....

Tidbits : Flowers

OK, this was not my best week.... I was ill, had the flu, pretty heavy, and felt awful. Pretty sad about it, because I had great plans; sewing two skirts and new bags for the Xmas market. Nothing of all this. Hope next week will be better :)
But in between my bed and the toilet, I made some flowers for the Xmas market, I thought it would be a nice decoration of my stand, winter white flowers. And maybe I sell them too. Made them from old trevira fabric (a heritage from my mother), some wire and real tree branches. Looked from some beautiful worn ones in our wood stove burning wood stack. The flowers themselves can be changed in form, because of the wire sewn into them.



I only think that they will not be very suitable for Etsy, because the branches cannot be very long (German Post: 60x15x15 box is maximum) and although they weigh not much, it's still 6 Euro to send them abroad. I could cut the branches at about 45 cm, and I could see how much flowers I could get into the German Post norm, but where do I get cartons from that size ????

Etsy : socks, slippers & Euro week

Only a short blog post to show you how I got through the winter, with dark purple hand felted woollen slippers from ingermaaike and purple Norwegian thick cotton socks from Legyviel. That's how great it is to shop on etsy, especially with the European Street Team. Thank you both !

So have a look at all these great European creators, crafters and artists; this week is Euro week on Etsy, with lots of sales and surprises !!!!

Tidbits : Still Winter

It's still winter here in the north of Germany; we have still lots of snow and it's pretty cold. Above a picture of my back garden.
It's also winter for the birds; last days it was difficult to buy feed for them. All shops were sold out ! But we improvised a lot and the birds were happy. Here a jackdaw, a blue tit, a chaffinch and a blackbird.

Tidbits : Frozen Fjord

Finally the Schlei fjord is frozen; it's so gorgeous. It's white, silent and cold. I would love to go skating, but I have not seen a single skater on the fjord yet so I am afraid it is not safe enough. And I am not a young brave girl anymore that goes as the first one on the ice. I have to remember myself every time that this is actually salt water.....
But it looks nice, don't you think ?

Tidbits : Peggy in the snow

Peggy loves the snow ! Although the snow is pretty high, she somehow manages with her short legs to jump-run in it. The snow is cluttering on her legs, but that does not diminish the fun. I am always astouned how long she can do this. It tires me faster than her.... The pics are from this afternoon in the fields behind our house.

Tidbits : for Susi !

Cold outside, so little Peggy loves to cuddle with us at the fire. She has found the perfect spot; just long enough to stretch her body and just warm enough to drowse away. Both are wearing scarves for not catching a cold.

Tidbits : Snow & Weihnachtsmarkt

Finally it looks like winter here ! We got a lot of snow yesterday and it's still very dark in the air, so I expect more snow today. It looks gorgeous !

And it's freezing, so maybe when it keeps on freezing, I'll have a chance to see the fjord frozen ????? They all tell me here how they were skating on the fjord when they were kids....

And we had last weekend a Xmas fair or Weihnachtsmarkt in Kappeln; quite cozy and I sold some items too !

Challenge : Spring

The challenge of the European Street Team for this week is from palepink and is called "Spring".

Here where I live, the winter aconite is number two every February: snowdrops poke their little heads through the snow a week earlier. But with their intense yellow optimism, the winter aconites make the picture complete; they are the true forbodes of spring. I really love that bright yellow and green flower !

(pictures taken from Flickr: Claude@Munich and Buspass)
Inspired by this lovely flower, I made a brooch of one large vintage green button in the middle with lots of small yellow buttons sewn around it (with yellow embroidery floss). Everything is topped off with one lime green shank button and a green synthetic velvety fabric leaf.

Tidbits : The Schlei / Slien

The Schlei (in german) or Slien (in danish) is the most southern fjord in northern Europe; it stretches for approximately 20 miles from the Baltic Sea along the small cities of Kappeln (the featuring city in the german TV series of "der Landarzt") and Arnis (the smallest city in Germany with about 300 inhabitants) to the city of Schleswig in northern Germany. An important viking settlement, called Hedeby, was located at the head of the fjord, but was later abandoned in favor of the city of Schleswig. There is now a beautiful museum at Hedeby (danish) or Haithabu (german) showing how this viking settlement was built; with rebuild viking houses, real found relicts, lots of information, and the yearly viking days. Two years ago they found an abandoned viking ship in the Schlei just in front of us when the water was very low; archaeologists took it piece for piece away and rebuild it in the museum.

We are living along the Schlei just after Arnis. Although it's not the best time of the year for pictures of the Schlei, I took some because the weather was so bright this morning.