Inspiration

Hier, en quelques heures, j'ai pu mener à bien une très plaisante transaction avec une cliente qui voulait une de mes bagues fleur, mais avec son propre choix de couleur.

Il y avait longtemps que je n'avais pas pris autant de plaisir à travailler. Ça m'a rappelé à quel point j'adorais fourrager dans mes stocks et chercher l'association harmonieuse...

Yesterday, in just a few hours, I put together this ring for a very pleasant customer who wanted one of my flower rings, but with her own choice of colours.

It had been a long time since I last felt so much pleasure. It reminded me how much I like rummaging through my stuff and looking for just the right mix of pearls and findings.

Elle me plaît beaucoup !

I love it!

Final SALE update / BRADERIE : dernière promo

Bonjour tout le monde ! Hello Everyone.

C'est bientôt la fin de notre Grande Braderie et pour finir en beauté, je propose une double promotion, valable jusqu'au 24 novembre à minuit.
Our Great Sale is going to be over soon, and for a grand finish, I'd like to offer two different discounts (combinable!), both valid until November 24th, midnight.

Les ~☀~ frais d'envoi ~☀~ sont offert sur toute commande, vers le monde entier ET je vous offre ~☀~ 20 % de réduction sur toute commande de 60 euros et plus ~☀~. ATTENTION de bien me contacter AVANT de passer votre commande pour que je puisse créer une fiche article spéciale pour vous indiquant le prix réduit.

C'est ici.

~☀~ Free shipping, worldwide, on all orders ~☀~ AND you get ~☀~ a 20 % dicount on all orders of 60 euros and more ~☀~. ONLY do not fail to contact me BEFORE checkout, so I can put up a special listing for you with the new discounted prices...

Here is my shop.

Plein d'autre réduction dans d'autres boutiques de créateurs ici.

Loads of other great offers and discounts in fabulous shops, here.

Nouvelle Offre / New Discount Offer

Du 13 au 15 novembre inclus, de minuit à minuit : 20 % sur les articles de la catégorie Colliers dans ma boutique DaWanda .

Me contacter avant de passer la commande pour que je modifie le prix...

Dans le cadre de la Grande Braderie des Créateurs Uniques, sur le forum de DaWanda.

From November 13th to 15th inclusive, three days

from midnight to midnight: 20 % discount on all items in the Necklace category of my DaWanda shop.

You'll have to contact me before going through checkout so I can change the price for you.

As part of the OOAK Sellers' Great Sale on the French DaWanda Forum.

GRANDE BRADERIE sur / GREAT SALE on DAWANDA...

Faites Vite ce serait dommage de rater ça : c'est ici que ça se passe.

Do rush in— it would be foolish to miss that: this is where it's at.

Merry-go-round - Failure sucks but instructs.

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).

If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month's theme:

Failure sucks but instructs.

Looks like I didn't want to answer this one.

Fancy that...

I finally got down to writing up (and thinking up, at the same time) my answer— one day late.

And then the Big Bad Blog ate it all up.

OOOps.

This time round, I'm hitting the save button every other sentence.

'Nough said, right?

Now. Kidding apart, let me try to remember what it was I came up with the first time round.

As I remember, I started splitting things. Not hair, but the two sides of this my venture: the crafty side (that's me!) and the business side (not so much, no Sir!).

So I guess that my first, and most interesting—to me, at least— remark was that I completely agree with that sentence when it comes to crafting.

Failure is actually part and parcel of the crafting process. I don't believe you can really learn without trying and failing and undoing and doing all over again etc.

More important still. Well to me anyway. Well obviously... So I'll stop giving you that mock-humble gimmick.

Now, where? Oh yes: what I realized, thinking all this over for the merry-go-round, was that the trying-and-failing-etc. is not just useful in that it instructs— it actually gives me pleasure and a sense of freedom. Child-like freedom, if you see what I mean. Like messing around with anything from play-dough to Mum's make up (now there's an idea— I'm sure there's something in that...). You know...

Not so with the business side.

Of course, I like it when something sells, and I don't like it when all the rest doesn't. And it is a little bit about the money, of course.

But it is not really about success as such. It is about love.

What really makes my day is someone loving what I made— and telling me. Because what I hear when they do is— and of course, you crafters know what's coming: "I love you."

And I love hearing that.

If I work too hard at "what sells", it will be more like me saying "I love money", or "I love it that so many people like to have exactly the same kind of stuff as their neighbours and I'm going to cater to that wish of theirs." And that is not me.

As every fairly well adjusted grown-up knows, we all have to rub off a lot of who and what we are; to adjust to society. I do a lot of that in my day job. Do it well too, and for good reasons.

But not in my craft-life. Because that has to be about me, first and foremost. However much I love the sharing. I guess that would have to change if my craft took over from my day-job.

But not now. What I want and need to focus on and be instructed in is the craft part. Forget the rest. At least when actually crafting.

Have fun, explore, enjoy. Live and Learn.

So there!

I guess you see I'm still thinking very much along the same lines as last month. Just with a little bit more conviction.

At the end of the day, writing up this blog post (twice!) has made me realize that I don't give a damn about being instructed in business— and so I've learnt something about myself. What matters to me is being instructed in my craft, or even crafts, if I like.

Let's see where that takes me...

Actually I think my vision of things is even clearer now than the first time I tried to write about this. But let's not make a habit of this.

To be continued.

New Business cards just in - J'ai reçu mes nouvelles cartes !

Except the colours are nothing like this... Sauf que les couleurs n'ont rien à voir...

A saisir— an opportunity not to be missed.

Jusqu'au 25, 15 % dans les boutiques DaWanda où vous n'avez pas encore fait d'achats !

Until the 25th, you'll get a 15 % discount in shops you have never bought in.

PRO-ACTIVE

Une révolution pacifique se prépare sur DaWanda...

Guettez ces logos, ils devraient apparaître début novembre.

Ne manquez pas de visiter la section "BIENVENUE" du forum.

Vous avez tout à y gagner...

Bonnes courses de fin d'année à tous !

We few, we happy few; a band of sister designers is planning a peaceful coup on DaWanda...

Watch out for these logos in early November.

Do visit the "BIENVENUE" section of the French forum.

You won't regret it.

Happy holiday shopping, Everyone!

A tiny step for me...

Well, at least, there is this one customer that values my work— myself!

I made these yesterday.

Yes, they look very simple, but yes, I was rummaging among my baskets of goods for quite some time before I could find just the right gems (2 different kinds of facetted garnets) and the right wire (thin, 18 k gold— courtesy that potential customer than never even wrote to say "Thanks but no thanks...").

And then they had to be shaped just right.

I wore them all day today— sorry no photo so far— and they felt perfect.

They're cute as studs, simple as can be— I just want to make more of them!

Merry-go-round - What's my next Chapter?

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).

If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month's theme:

What's your next chapter?

Well, precisely... I don't know.


I guess that I'm in a sort of rut.

It's easy for me to find excuses for not creating anything at the moment, what with all the work I have to do at the moment for my day-job.

And I'm happy to have all the excuses, because I'm still struggling with the "business" aspect of my creative activities.

Part of it is fun—getting a new look and the business cards that go with it. But as I have already "paid my dues" in another (interesting, by the way) job, I don't take too well to the "compromising" part of it.
Yet, it is sometimes tempting to "make what sells".
So, at the moment, my favourite technique, in order to resist this temptation, is not to make myself make anything unless I'm excited about it.

All the while, I'm never very far from that notebook in which I doodle ideas that need experimenting with. Probably why one of the things I've been working on is learning about handbinding techniques. Very much like crosstitching— while completely engrossing, it allows the mind to ramble on.

I also look around a lot, and keep collecting materials, as original and beautiful as possible.

I also fantasize that something I have made attracts fiery enthusiasm... In someone who is not my mother or my best friend, I mean.

I already know about drudgery, and I am no wannabe artist. I want to be, and stay, passionate about what I make.
So, even though everything seems a bit blurred right now, it feels more like a sort of holiday than an actual rut, after all. I need the time— I take it.

Help Sammy get well with Etsy sellers

Sammy the beloved Kitty of fellow Etsian twostraycats has sustained serious injuries inflicted by an unknown human abuser and must undergo expensive surgery. In an effort to help her out with these medical bills I am pledging to donate 50% of all sales (excluding shipping costs) of this shop until the end of September to help contribute to the Sammy fund. I hope you can find something you like for this good cause, in my shop or in any of the shops listed below.

Look up this thread on the Etsy forum for more info and updates on Sammy and on the shops with "Help Sammy" donations going on:

TwoStrayCats.etsy.com Sammy's family

MoLStationery.etsy.com 65% of all MoL book sales and 75% of all graphics sales. plus matching donations by 50%

chicadolly.etsy.com & faeriegood.etsy.com 25% of all sales profits this week

GenuineArticle.etsy.com & GenuineArt.etsy.com 50% of the proceeds from both of my Etsy shops

glasscircus.etsy.com 25% of my sales

aztek721.etsy.com 50% of any photo sales

Adornyourself.etsy.com 15% of all sales this coming weekend (Sept 18-22) excluding shipping charges

Dearange.etsy.com 100% of the purchase price of Fancy Wearables (as seen on Sammy and Koru)

LittleJumpingBeans.etsy.com 40% of all the sales from shoes this weekend

deersprite.etsy.com 10% of all sales (pre-shipping) until the end of September, off the REGULAR price. If you mention "Sammy" in the message to seller, I will also give you a 10% discount - but Sammy will still get the 10% of the original price.

TaraFlyPhotos.etsy.com profits from print sales of "The Letter" and "Mr. Darcy"

WindandHoney.etsy.com 15% of sales this month

laurart.etsy.com 15% for each sale. I'll donate an extra 5% if the customer mentions in the note how they've helped shed light on this animal in need, via Twitter or blogging.

meherio68.etsy.com 50 % of all sales from now on and until the end of September

Sybillinart.etsy.com 50% of the sales of any of my cat related items

ASecondTime.etsy.com 100% of the profits from the sale of these two items in September
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29349803
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29350384

LuminousDreamDesigns.etsy.com 100% of the profits from the sales of her print until next Friday: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30684781

thebeadedhound.etsy.com 10% of sales for the rest of the month

greytdogz.etsy.com the proceeds from the sale of Custom Pet Themed Digital Photo page. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25607442

rayneedeigh.etsy.com 40% of all sales before shipping will be donated to Sammy

Nouveau visage - New face

Alors, qu'est-ce que vous pensez de ma nouvelle bannière et de mon nouvel avatar ? Ils sont basés sur une gravure ancienne chinée au printemps dernier : des sirènes et une émeraude...

So— what do you think of my new banner and avatar? They were created out of an old print I unearthed at my favourite antiques fair last spring— a print showing mermaids and an emerald...

Merry-go-round -Summer

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).

If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month's theme:

SUMMER

Summer is my season.

Summer is when I can live during the day instead of of working in the day and living my own, real life at night.

Summer is when I enjoy life— things, moments and people.

Summer is a time for new skills and spectacular skies and plants. And fruits.

Summer is for seizing the day.

Summer is when I am alive. Really. Not just for show.

Follow up on Inspiration

Here's what one of my scribblings defacing the lovely Muscha notelets turned into.

Better than any of my drawings, I think. Especially as it is modelled by the lovely, fresh hand of my lovely, fresh niece, Hortense...

Once more, inspired by the Thursday Sweet Treat blog: my Moon River ring.

Suite du message précédent qui traitait de l'inspiration. Un de mes gribouillis portait sur un projet de bague utilisant certains des matériaux accumulés récemment.

Le résultat est beaucoup plus sobre, et je l'adore. En toute simplicité et juste entre nous, bien sûr; ;-)

D'autant plus ravissant que le mannequin qui présente la bague est ma délicieuse nièce, Hortense.

Inspiré par le thème de cette semaine du blog Thursday Sweet Treat, ma bague Moon River.

Merry-go-round - Inspiration...

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).

If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month's theme:

What inspires us: a peak into journals, pinboards, folders or wherever we keep our little snippets of inspiring stuff...

I wonder.

O.K. This is as much as I could find time to write yesterday.

Now for photos. They will tell you a bit more...

I look around a lot: streets, flea markets, magazines, antique shop, the world WIDE web... But I don't keep many traces of all this really. I don't keep a style notebook, as many designers and artists do. Maybe I should, but, on the other hand, I think it's part of 'my way' to just let it ripen in my mind. Some of it will stick and evolve into some idea, at some point. A lot will vanish.

However lovely some of the stuff I see, it is crucial to me that I do not plagiarize it, consciously or otherwise. So my "designs" (if you can call them that— still shy about the grandd-sounding names here), must be triggered by my ideas and desires. Or made to order. I love custom work.

What I have learnt to keep a trace of is those ideas— if only because I usually get them at the most inconvenient time, like in the middle of a meeting or at two in the morning.

So, at home, I have a beautiful litte notebook on my bedside table— full of ugly, clumsy drawings and notes. Some of these are turned into something right away, others have to way for six months or so and others still are still waiting...

Here, it's the stack of Muscha notelets that you can see on the photos.

When I'm in a meeting, it's my beloved Mulberry organizer. Makes me look very serious, I'm sure, when I start scribbling furiously. Provided no one is looking over my shoulder, I'm fine.

Now, what I'm afraid I really do hoard is materials. They make me tick. I just did a workshop learning mosaics, a skill which I definitely mean to adapt and use 'my way'. When I came across those lovely pieces of wood, glass and clay, my head began to be filled with spectacular pieces of jewellery! Nearly drooling I was.

And that is just the latest...
In my tiny second bedroom, "the room formerly known as a study", I have, well just about everything: fibers, fabrics, paper. AND it's creeping into corridor and living-room.

My cat doesn't mind. Provided she still gets all the seats. And the carpets.

Ceux-là sont pour moi ! These are for me!

Aujourd'hui, je n'écris que pour me vanter ! Non seulement j'ai des amis, des amis fidèles et qui me soutiennent dans mon absurde entreprise créative, mais en plus ils ont du goût... C'est dire si leur amitié et leur soutien me sont flatteurs et précieux.

Pour preuve, ces somptueuses perles vénitiennes que je viens de recevoir. J'ai eu le coup de foudre pour ces triangles. Il n'y a vraiment que les Italiens pour créer des objets aussi simples et somptueux à la fois...

Voici donc un collier-bracelet que m'ont inspiré ces perles, des perles que j'ai trouvées aussi appétissantes, voire plus, que des berlingots quand je les ai reçues... Et il est pour MOI, parce que c'est bientôt mon anniversaire ! (^.^)

Et puis ces deux adorables pendentifs millefiori m'ont inspiré de longues variations en mauve pour les oreilles. Pour MES oreilles. Re-(^.^)

MERCI Muriel !!!

Today, I am only writing to brag and show off! Not only do I have loyal friends who have supported me in my crazy, adventurous, creative venture, but they have great taste... So you can guess how flattering and precious indeed their friendship and support are to me.

As evidence, I wanted to show you these gorgeous, Venitian beads that I have just gotten. I love these triangles. I'm always amazed at how the Italian can create objects so simple and superb.

And so, here is the bracelet/necklace that these triangular beads inspired me. They look very much like sweets and they did make me drool when I received them... And this piece is for ME, because it is my birthday soon! (^.^)

I also made these long mauve earrings inspired by the lovely millefiori pendants. For MY ears. (^.^) again.

THANK YOU Muriel!!!

Nouvelle Lune / New moon

Juste pour dire que, oui, je travaille. Un peu. Et les résulat est en vente sur DaWanda et Etsy...

Votre avis m'intéresse !

J'ai des tas de projets de variations sur ce thème : anneaux simples à accumuler en constellation, lune rousse (en cuivre), etc.

Just to say that, yes, I am working on my skills and experimenting. A little. And the result is listed on DaWanda and Etsy.

I would love to have your thoughts.

I am considering a lot of variations on these : stacking rings, copper, etc.

Pourquoi acheter des Créations Uniques

Quelques réponses de DaWandiennes, dont moi ! (^.^), sur le blog de Mademoiselle Anastasia qui fabrique aussi d'irrésistibles fanfreluches...

C'est ici.

Merry-go-round - Favourite Reference

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).

If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month's theme:

What is your favorite publication(s)? Is there a book, books, magazine, or website that has become the bible of your art/craft?

There is actually a book that I keep going back to all the time : Sara Withers's Perles : Toutes les techniques, actually translated from The Encyclopedia of Beading Techniques. You can find it in French on amazon.fr, or in English on amazon.co.uk.

It really acts as my bible as it deals with all the basics in beading and even gets you started in wire-wrapping and bead-weaving.

Since acquiring it and exploring several techniques very easily and confidently thanks to it, I have also discovered beautiful books on off-loom weaving by Carol Wilcox Wells.

I have also been lucky enough to read the great French tutorials on wire-wrapping that our fellow merry-go-rounder Fabs, of Easterya, has been offering on DaWanda.

Books are really my first, most spontaneous ressource, but as French translations and shops are always slow to catch up, the internet is a close second, so I keep hoarding books and web bookmarks, whenever I want to explore a new technique.

I also find that an introductory kit is very often good value for money, as they are a way to take a first step fairly safely. Such a starters' kit allowed me to make my first silver clay piece (mentioned here a couple months ago) and therefore helped me build up confidence. The visuel help is very important to me, so a step-by-step, on paper or on DVD, is always welcome.

Mon Article préféré sur daWanda - My DaWanda Favourite

Blogueurs (qui sait...), blogueuses (plus sûrement) : une occasion à ne pas rater !

DaWanda organise un concours et c'est pour vous l'occasion de gagner votre article préféré sur DaWanda. La grosse difficulté, c'est de choisir...

J'ai eu du mal, mais j'ai décidé de procéder méthodiquement.

J'ai commencé par éliminer toute la concurence : hors de question de choisir un bijou, même si ce n'est pas ça qui manque sur DaWanda. Mais bon. Il faut être un peu sérieux. Quand même. Non ?

Du coup, un petit coup d'oeil sur ma garde-robe et là, la honte m'a saisie et j'ai courageusement décidé de renoncer à désigner une de ces nombreuses tenues originales que je stocke soigneusement dnas mes favoris depuis des mois.

Pour être vraiment sérieuse, j'ai cherché ce qui pouvait manquer dans ma maison. Je passe sur tout ce qui est jouet et vêtement pour enfants : sans enfant, ce ne serait vraiment pas sérieux...

Alors, je suis allée dans la catégorie Vivre et Habiter et j'ai trouvé : je n'ai pas de couverts à salade ! Heureusement j'ai trouvé celui qu'il me faut : le service à salade parfait.

On est obligé de choisir, sinon, j'aurais bien demandé aussi le service à asperges assorti...

Bloggers of Europe, Bloggers of the world, this DaWanda contest is for you! The only difficulty is you have to choose your favourite item on DaWanda— and then you might win it!

I was some time picking mine. It also took method.

So first, I eliminated competition. Sounds radical, but of course I was not going to choose a jewel.

Next, I looked I considered clothes and those wonderful pieces of fabric and imagination I have been hoarding on my pinboards, but I also looked at my wardrobe and then looked away. Skip all the colourful baby stuff— no justification for those, fortunately.

So I looked around my flat some more, wondering what it was I might actually want. Got it! I have no salad servers! And guess what— I found the salad servers in the Home and Living category— they're just perfect.

Unfortunately, I had to choose one item and one item only. Otherwise I might have asked for the matching asparagus tongs.

Quel Avenir pour l'Université française ? Idée...

Depuis quelques semaines, je passe devant cette devanture, que j'ai fini par photographier. Elle me paraît refléter ironiquement les projets de "gestion" utilitariste qui menacent les Facs, de Lettres en particulier.

Et je ne parle même pas de l'orthographe ridicule du nom des lieux...

I don't suppose these words need translating— they seemed like an ironical reflection on the sad fate that seems to be cooking for French faculties, especially Arts faculties.

Don't let get me started on the ludicrous punctuation mistake in the Frenglish name of the place—

Hommage

à l'auteur de mon blog préféré, Le Blogue de la Grosse Feignasse, blog dont la lecture ne me cause que la fatigue de quelques soubresauts, dûs à mes ricanements, même si j'essaie, dans la mesure du possible, de me contenter de sourire mollement : 

ces quelques photos de ma maîtresse à penser, qui est aussi mon modèle préféré, grâce à sa grande capacité à ne pas bouger, fût-ce d'un poil...

Ah... Une vie de chat...

Nota bene: this post is only in French because it links to a French blog and if you cannot read my French you cannot read it either...