Merry-Go-Round - Networking

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 do you do to network? In what ways does it work or not work?

These days, I have even less time for networking than for crafting.

Over the past few years, I have tried the usual (myspace, blogging, among others) and the less usual (this Merry-Go-Round, the Thursday Sweet Treat...). I don't believe the networking sites, such as myspace and facebook (which I keep personal) are any good for me.

The only forum I still visit on a daily basis is the DaWanda forum. If only because I find it much more congenial than the Etsy forum where you get a measure of support but also a lot of gratuitous aggression. I have no time for this... Still, the Etsy forum is where I found the Thusrday Sweet Treat, which was a really inspiring 'place', (when I still had time to be part of it...) and it is much faster than the DaWanda one, especially in English, which is a shame.

As I have never done this full time,
I really have no idea what concrete results it has brought about, or what it could have. What I do know, though, is that it has allowed me to learn a lot from fellow crafters. It has also inspired me in a way I couldn't have been if I had only been focusing on making and selling.

It has kept me curious and — relatively— ambitious.

In short, though it sometimes felt like the networking time was stolen from crafting, I suspect I wouldn't be crafting at all anymore, if it wasn't for the virtual ties that have kept me going.

Using my blog address as a signature at the bottom of all my mails has brought me at least two clients among aquaintances who didn't know of that part of my life. I also keep giving away my business cards, though I still don't know what effect it may have had. Who knows...

Merry-Go-Round - Merry-Swap-Around

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:

A Merry Gift from a fellow Merry-Go-Rounder: mine came all the way from the Netherlands, sent by Kim, of Vilt à la Kim!

I love this!

Look what I got: gorgeous packaging for starters.

Inside: a wonderful Magical (I say) Roving Eye Ring with a Seafaring Cuff Bracelet. All of Turquoise and Blue. I love the colours, and I love the detailing in that soft, wavy foam-like line! Just when I'm beginning to yearn for the sea and a great big gulp of sea air...

Also, I'm told this is all merino and silk—some of my favourite materials...

THANK YOU KIM!

My hand-made gift went to Alison, if you'd like to check it out...

On the Road Again... Part 2— the Return of the Revenge

Moi, je suis une grande Enquiquineuse toute simple : une petite Jaguar, ou un bon vieux Black Cab, c'est tout ce que je demande. Et puis si je deviens vraiment riche ou entretenue, j'aurai aussi une hybride avec des freins.

Mais figurez-vous qu'il y en a qui exigent une 2CV ou une Coccinelle ! Quand je pense que certains me disent difficile...

Attendez-vous à croiser plus d'Etranges Enquiquineuses Trop Chères : les idées me viennent avec une facilité effrayante !

Merci à Mariana et Mitsi pour m'avoir inspiré ces deux... décapotables.

I am just your basic High-Maintenance gal— a mere Jaguar, or possibly a good old Black Cab is all I'm asking for (my other fantasy car is a hybrid that does brake).

Well, you ought to know that some women will only have a 2CV and others a Beetle.

And I'm supposed to be a snob!

More Strange, Difficult, High-Maintenance Women to come, I'm afraid— I keep getting new ideas!

Thanks to Mariana and Mitsi for inspiring me with these two convertibles ( _‹(•¿•)›_).

On the Road Again...

L'aventure automobile du Bar du Vent se poursuit, dans la bonne humeur et le confort.
Que des anglaises.
D'abord, la Police de l'Elégance, ensuite, la seule version tolérable du camping...





More in the same mood with two English jobs— the Fashion Police and an elegant camping trip. Literally hours of work here... OOAK

Merry-Go-Round - Inspirational Photo Challenge

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:

Inspirational Photo Challenge: take a photo of something that inspires you and show what you make from this as your inspiration.

What's that? I hear you wonder...

Well, over the months, you will have seen many photos of nature and the countryside on this blog, so I thought that, this time, I should show something you don't know of. Something crucially inspirationnal to me indeed.


What this photo shows is a minature Jag (the famous E-Type). This one is actually a gift from my lovely mother who first told me about this amazing job.
I guess it is a car for girls then.
I wish!...

Anyway, it is my car, you know...



Not only has this glorious piece of British designing genius inspired me to finally pass my driving licence (not a small feat, I can assure you) which was my own Christmas Miracle of 2009, but it has inspired a new line in my jewellery.

Wait, not one but three!

You might remember that over the past few Merry-go-Rounds, I was doing a lot of mulling. Well this Belle Anglais sort of pulled me through.


Starting from this seemingly absurd choice of car (no I don't have one yet, well, apart from this miniature one, but one day— just you wait!) it brought me to accept the fact I am genrally a fairly high-maintenance creature. Or rather, I would be if I was not doing all the maintening myself...



The result of this simple reflexion is a carload of ideas to make up the High-Maintenance line.
The blue Jag Ring is the first piece in this line— had to be— but there will be plenty more...

Following this whim, I also came up with loads of ideas for Difficult Women (I love them!), beginning with this Thelma & Louise ring (OK, it's a black Mercedes, but whenever I see an angular convertible like this one, I think T & L...).

Finally, obviously there will be the (Self-)Love is Blind line, Beginning with this I am a Goddess ring. OK, this really works much better in French because this car is a Citrën DS (DS sound exactly like "déesse", the French word for goddess...), but who doesn't want to be a French goddess, right? (she flashes a shameless arrogant grin).

Lifestyle Crafts letterpress combo kit

I would like to know whether someone here has ordered and actually received a Lifestyle Crafts letterpress combo kit from their site ( http://lifestylecrafts.com ) and actually received it.
I'd love to hear even if you simply know someone who has...

Merry-Go-Round - Looking Forward

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 are you planning for the year ahead?

So. First off— I am really, really sorry I am so late posting this.

Got carried away with how short February is and how much there was I wanted / had to cram into it...

The bad news: no photo.

The good news: I am actually looking forward to this year and gradually making out what it is I am going to make of it, craftwise.

Late December-Early January was a difficult time but it was also liberating and brought me peace and clarity of mind the like of which I had not experienced in a long, long time.

The past year was spent, not uselessly but sometimes seeminglingly pointlessly, dabbling around new stuff.

I do intend to go on experimenting (sounds better, does it not?) with textile and metal, and learning, but things are slowly beginning to fall into place and I am beginning to see more clearly how to combine, or not, this and that craft; how this is going to be just for my own pleasure, whereas that is going to be "marketable" in some way.

Recently, I have been going through my stacks in a violent session of pre-Spring cleaning. Order! Order! Yeah, right... Anyway. The mix of contemplation and exertion (panting and resting vs. putting shelves together and up against the wall) allowed me to think and fantasize freely.

A thematic project has been slowly growing and coming together.

So— watch this spot for some statement jewelery— that's all I'm going to say for now!