Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you!! 

Wishing you a lovely 2013 full of happiness, love, laughter, specials moments and all that in good health.

This was my year, our year, of me and hubby, buying a house together and renovating it. Before we did that we went on a trip to Finland in search of the Northern Lights. Which we did not see, but all the more reason to return as it was a great trip anyway.

A big, big thanks to all my fans out there. I created a little less and attended less fairs, but online sales are up,  more and more people all over the world enjoy my work. So with a new year and a new atelier and most of all lots of ideas, 2013 is looking bright.

Have a great party tonight! We hope to have a sofa and a tv in our living room after half a year without, that will be our party :)

Treasure Trove

Last week I bought all these goodies from a treasure trove. Someone inherited the items from a haberdashery her great aunt had run. There were lots lots of buttons, ribbons, lace, tread, and other odd bits.

I bought lots of buttons, from different decades of the last century. 

The black lace  I'll use it as a table runner.

Got ribbons, tread, buttons to for cuff links, beads (complete necklaces which I'll recycle), black tread for mending socks. I just liked the fine ball shape so much, I got 2 of those. 

There was also some trim made with fake pearls in green and gold tones, I'm turning this into a choker and bracelet/cuff to wear for Christmas. Is was just long enough :)

Recycling

The person who lived in this house before must have been  bit of a hoarder. We found a cupboard full of old boxes for sending encyclopedia and books. Since he kept the boxes so long, I kept them too knowing they would come in handy when sending my creations into the world.

Story Bowl: the Charioteer

Some weeks ago I was asked to make a story bowl with a charioteer, a female one, dressed in a long garment. The horses did not need to be there. It meant to go with a poem the client had written. She allowed me to publish it here. It's in Dutch, I will not attempt to translate, so apologies to any non Dutch readers.

De Wagenmenner ment

het paard Paniek, de Tomeloze,

de hengsten Haast en Plicht,

de merries die met gebogen hoofden

door de oude voren hun hoeven voeren.

Voetstoot niet. De Wagenmenner maant.

Volg de ronding. Omarm de bocht.

Galoppeer. Draaf. Win de race.

En draaf. Ken ook de avond.

Weet het hooi. De nacht. Het stilstaan.

’s Avonds tel ik of jullie hoofden kloppen.

The bowl is about 18cm in diameter. 

To get an idea of size, here's the chariot and driver while I was working on it: