Belated Merry-Go-Round: On Holidays from your Art?

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 all posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month:

Do you take a holiday from art / craft?

Oh Wow!

More like on holidays from my brain it seems... This was due last Friday. I did remember, and mull it over— until I completely forgot to write my post up!

My answer would be: No.

Obviously, my routine is gone down the drain and I tend to forget what day of the week or month this is when I don't have to "go to work", and t

he summer holidays in particular are a time of renewal and exploration, but I never really completely stop making and planning, just as I never stop reading all sorts of stuff, all year round.

Last week-end, I took a workshop on digital photography and ghow to make the best of my camera. The man who gave it was this very unpleasant, supercilious kind of "pro" (there— I had to say it— he really was a prat) and his "workshop" was shockingly poor value for money, but it did make me explore the possibilities of my camera for 4 hours and discover a couple of useful things, both for artistic purposes (considering transforming and maybe even selling my photos more within the next year) and utilitarian ones (as in taking better photos of my jewellery).

I've also started knitting arm-warmers from some lovely yarn I just bought. A good opportunity to hae a go at a pattern I hoarded ages ago— and to realize how very bad I am at knitting with double-pointed needles... not sure you'll be seing photos of that any time soon...

I also made the two necklaces in my Wednesday posts (and they're now on sale in my DaWanda shop, where they are getting precious little attention— the weather must have been nice somewhere...).

The fact other people are on holidays and not shopping on the net so much means that I spend more time preparing for my next move than actually making or even doing anything much. But then, and we've discussed this already in former Merry post, I've always worked like that— mulling for a while and working in a spree, and then mulling for a while, and so on and so forth

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Merry-Go-Round - Visual Inspiration 2 - Sand in my shoes...

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 all posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month:

Create something inspired by the photo published by another merry-goer.

A lucky accident has me working on Samantha's unorthodox post last month— holiday photos.

Sand, beach fun, more sand.

I cannot imagine anything more fitting for me, generally, and this year in particular, when I particularly long to enjoy the beaches of the Atlantic and a bit of farniente this summer.

So, here goes!

I'm calling it Remembrances of Beaches Past.

;)

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!

Time flies...

You can't! They fly too fast.

Une petite plaisanterie pour signaler qu'en ce moment, je suis surchargée de travail et que mon "atelier" fonctionnne, mais au ralenti, et que j'ai l'intention de mettre mes deux boutiques (sur DaWanda et sur Etsy) en vacances pendant 10 ou 15 jours à la fin du mois. J'aurai des nouveautés à mettre en vente à la réouverture en janvier... J'espère aussi pouvoir blogger plus à partir de cette période.

Just to say I have been really overworked this term and will close both my DaWanda and Etsy shops for 10 to 15 days at the end of the month. I hope to catch up on some blogging but mostly to go away, get a rest and give some reality to a few projects that have been begging for my attention!

Holidaying in the Sun - Vacances au Soleil

As I was saying yesterday, I just had my birthday, a fairly ‘important’ birthday. Here’s a clue: there were fourty roses in that bunch...
Now, my friends know that for some time, I have been moaning about how drab and boring and routine etc. my life has been and how some sort of a positive sign from Karma would be nice. Well— I got that positive “little something”. Not from Karma though— from my mother and brother. Their birthday present to me is going to be money for a holiday, an exotic one. I’m saying this calmly, but I was really in shock— it’s such a great present and exactly what I needed!

So, now I’ve recovered from shock, I’m exploring possibilities. It’s so exciting! Of course, I’ve hit the net for all sorts of ideas and information and opportunities. All I have to do is pick and choose and organize. I love organizing— but I have to be picky.
I’m going to take that trip on my own, because I live on my own, being long term single. When travelling, it means I have to chose location and accomodation very carefully. Not so much because I’m worried about my safety, but because it is really a spoiler finding myself outnumbered by honeymooners or families with braying kids, taken care of by commiserating hotel staff... not to mention the unsubtle advances of more or less single men.

Well, just today I came across this amazing Key West resort, Pearl’s Rainbow, a hotel for women. Obviously, the name of the place was what attracted me at first. You know me— say “pearl” and I’m on it! :-)

Anyway, it turns out this place was conceived to offer Lesbian Vacation Packages, and a haven for lesbian couples, allowing them to just be themselves and behave as the couples they are.
But here is how they describe themselves on the site, "the perfect escape for lesbians and gay-friendly women", and I can see how for the single travelling girl too, it could be the solution to spend time in a great location and stay in a place that is obviously very friendly, without feeling all the time that she looked weird or pathetic... Except when she talks about herself in the third person, of course ;-)

Even if you are not staying there, they also have a bar, Pearl’s Patio, a bar for "all women — lesbian, gay-friendly, single, hitched, young (well, at least 21) and more experienced" which must be a great place for an evening with the girls, feeling free to let your hair down, having fun. Just fun if that’s all you want...

There is even a shop on the site, where they sell handmade, rainbow bead bracelets and necklaces! Among other things...


I had heard before that Florida was the place for women and I’m really curious and considering taking that trip!


Comme je le disais hier, je viens de fêter mon anniversaire. Un anniversaire important. Indice : il y avait quarante roses dans ce bouquet...
Mes amis proches savent à quel point depuis quelque temps, je me plains tout le temps de ce que ma vie est barbante, monotone, sinistre... et que ce serait chouette que le destin me fasse un petit cadeau. Eh bien, je l’ai eu, mon “petit signe”. Mais pas du destin : de ma mère et mon frère. Ils m’offrent l’argent pour un voyage, un voyage au soleil. Je dis ça calmement, mais j’étais sciée : c’est un cadeau tellement extraordinaire… et c'est  aussi exactement ce qu’il me fallait!

Alors maintenant, j’étudie les possibilités. C’est tellement excitant ! Bien sûr, c’est sur le net que je cherche des idées, des infos, et des occasions. Tout ce que j’ai à faire c’est choisir et m’organiser. J’aime beaucoup ça, mais je suis obligée de bien réfléchir à mes choix.
Ce voyage, je vais le faire seule, parce que je vis seule et que je suis célibataire depuis longtemps. Quand je voyage, ça veut dire que je dois choisir destination et logement avec le plus grand soin. Non pas tant parce que je m’inquiète pour ma sécurité, mais parce que franchement, ça me gâche tout le plaisir quand je me retrouve encerclée par des jeunes mariés ou des familles de mômes hurleurs, entourée de soins par des hôtelier apitoyés... sans parler des avances pas forcément subtiles d’hommes plus ou moins célibataires.

Aujourd’hui, je suis tombée sur cette étonnante résidence à KeyWest, au sud de la Floride, le Pearl’s Rainbow, un hôtel pour femmes. Evidemment, avec “pearl” dans le nom, j’ai foncé sur leur site :-)

Toujours est-il que l’hôtel a été créé comme un lieu de vacances pour couples lesbiens , un havre de paix leur permettant d’être simplement elles-mêmes et de se comporter comme des couples normaux.
Mais elles se décrivent comme, je cite en traduisant, "le parfait refuge pour les lesbiennes et leurs amies femmes", et j’imagine très bien comment, pour la voyageuse célibataire, ça peut être la solution pour faire un séjour dans un site aussi extraordinaire que l'extrême sud de la Floride en logeant dans un endroit manifestement très chaleureux , sans se demander tout le temps à quel point elle a l’air bizarre et pitoyable... Sauf quand elle se met à parler d’elle-même à la troisième personne, bien sûr ;-)

Même si vous n’y logez pas, il y a aussi un bar réservé aux femmes, le Pearl’s Patio, un bar pour "toutes les femmes — lesbiennes, amies, célibataires, en couples, jeunes (enfin, pas moins de 21 ans) et plus expérimentées" qui a l’air d’un un endroit très chouette pour une soirée entre filles, une soirée de détente où on peut se lâcher et s’amuser sans crainte...

Il y a même une boutique sur le site, et ils vendent des bracelets et colliers arc-enciel faits main! Entre autres...

Je commence vraiment à croire que c’est vrai que la Floride est un endroit où les femmes sont reines !

INTERLUDE

Bientôt un nouveau Profil de Créateur, mais pour l'instant, je fais un stage intensif de sommeil + lecture + photo : vacances de printemps obligent...

There will be a new Designer Feature soon, but right now, I'm having a crash course in sleeping + reading + photographing springtime...