Poll

I'm happy to report that the little kitten is doing pretty well. In fact, she's asleep right now next to me here on the couch. So sweet and innocent looking. Until she wakes again. Then, she's a lot less innocent!! LOL

I'm having trouble adjusting at home again, it's hay fever season for me. Being near the water last week was a lot better for me, that's for sure! I feel like my head is filled with cotton balls, my thinking isn't straight, my throat hurts like hell, and I'm coughing my lungs out. Especially laying down, so I'm not getting my necessary portion of sleep either.
Sooo, I thought I might as well try out something new on my blog, and I added a poll. There's a first for everything, and I've always wanted to do this... so now, there you are. Please please would you cast your vote?? It would be a great indicator for me when finishing off a few necklaces. Thanks so much!!

Hugs,
Wezz

This 'n' That

You may have noticed that I've been working on the link list on my blog. The list was just getting way too long and it needed splitting up a bit. So, I've now made new link categories, like "Sparkly Beads & Shiny Jewelry", "Digital Scrapbooking", "Oh! The Funny Pages!" and "Crafty Rubber Stamper Blogs". But how do you decide in which category the link should go?? Oh my head just hurts thinking I have to put some kind of label on a certain blog. Where would you put my blog link? Under Rubber Stampers? Jewelry? Or should it be the "Yarns, Fabrics & Patterns" section? Most people I know do more than just one crafty thing, so yeah, these decisions are very difficult for me. I keep plugging away at shortening the list in "My favorite web stops", but I just might need a few more categories. Like "Mixed Media", "Scrapbooking", etc. I fear that just "Papercrafts" or "Cardmaking" would be too general. But then, so was the original list... and it got out of hand. Real bad and real fast. LOL
For those who are just wondering if they should start a blog or not, why don't you check out the links under "Help & Info Sites" in the middle column. You might just find the push you need right there. heheh. And don't forget to tell me if you did start a blog!! Okay? Okay. :-))

To get you a little more confused on where to categorize MY blog, I have some scrapbook pages to show you. ;-))
Some friends of mine will be traveling to this region in the south of France, so I thought I'd give them something to look forward to. They might be interested to know there's an english pub in Valbonne too, not just the good restaurants. haha!! Enjoy the trip!!

Valbonne

 

Biot

 

St Paul de Vence

Mougins

 

I hope you all will let me know what they think of these!
Most materials used are from Club Scrap.

Don't forget, today is CYBER MONDAY! That means the sales aren't over yet! Check out my store, as I've added more items into the sale. :-))
And, I've not only been working on my blog, but also added some new items to the store.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these new pairs of earrings!

Hugs,
Wezz

Heartfelt Blog Award and a sneak peek

This is the Heartfelt Blog Award, and it was given to me by Mary Ann from Starlight Blog. Thanks so much!! It means a lot to me, coz this is a very special award given to blogs that give you a nice warm homey feel, full of heart. I'm so happy that my blog feels like a homey place on the web. That was the intent all along and I'm glad it all worked out that way. :-))

Many many thanks to Mary Ann for this wonderful award! It is truly an honor!

Mary Ann is a writer and loves to read, but has many interests beyond that. Check her post of Oct 31st and take a look at those pictures! For some reason I can't link directly to this post, but please scroll down, it's worth it. She's also a beader, and a member of the infamous eSmarts Team. (grin)

Now as for the people I'm going to pass this on to... Their blogs are all chock full of heart. You feel like they're old friends even if they write about something of little interest to you. You can feel their passion and the heart they pour into their blogs. Sometimes, they'll give you a peek into their real life, but even their online life is interesting. Give yourself a little gift today and go spend some time with them.

Here are the rules:

1. Display the logo.
2. Nominate up to 9 blogs that make you feel comfy or warm inside.

3. Link to your nominees.
4. Let them know they have been nominated by commenting.
5. Link to the person from whom you received the award.

OK...Here are the 9 new nominees:

1. Catherine from StampFrancisco, a rubber stamp company, is one of my dearest friends that I've come to know in the past 8 years or so. Generally, we see each other 2 weekends a year when I help her out at shows here in Europe. Her blog shows her love for animals, and for France. She takes wonderful pictures too and doesn't hesitate to share them with all of us!
2. Vanessa from Scrapness is an accomplished scrapbooker, and especially since she turned to digital scrapbooking. I hope to learn lots from her! Her blog gives you a peek into her life with pictures of her family. She loves to create, so anything that will grab her fancy will be tried. Like crochet. Did you see her pear?? I'm also gonna take a closer look at her dare list... Maybe that will be my next blog post... :-))
3. Godelieve from StampingMathilda doesn't need much introduction in the rubber stamping world. She's belgian, and she's famous. She shows a lot of her artistic work, but always with a witty sense of humor. She also has a section of blog help on her site, she knows what she's doing!
4. Mandy called her blog "The Diaries of a craftaholic and demented housewife". Now I ask you, that name alone calls for investigation, no?? She's funny, and I love what she makes and the stories she shares with us.
5. Anna Lee from Ga'hoolTree Designs is passionate about making jewelry (check it out!) but also shares her travel stories and how she feels about our world today. Always interesting to read.
6. Lois from A Beaded Affair also doesn't hesitate to share her feelings about today's world on her blog now and then. She does great wire work, it's just amazing what she does with copper. Both Lois and Anna Lee are a few of the driving forces behind the eSmarts Team which I also belong to. I'm thankful to be a part of that, and that I know these ladies through the internet. I love technology, even though I sometimes fight with it. LOL
7. Jennifer from Life Is Not A Cereal shares a lot about her life, sometimes with blog posts that make you ponder and think about things you never thought about before. She makes you stop and think about your next step. I love her digiscrap stuff too of course, whether it's her layouts or her freebies that she put up for grabs.
8. I love people who have more than one hobby, just like me. And that are not afraid to admit it, and share a lot with the outside world about their life. So I really want to give this award to Joan from the Stamping-Cooking-Knitting-My Life blog too. When I read her blog, she makes me feel like I'm right there with her. That in itself is an art.
9. Elly from My Everyday Things takes you on a tour through her life, her house and her creations. Just by looking at the blog, this is a place that feels like home. The pictures are wonderful to look at and give plenty of inspiration.

Thank you all for making the world wide web a place that feels like an online home! Don't know what I would do without you all.

Have you read this far?? Or just skipped til you reached the part about a sneak peek???? huh??? Tsk tsk, you should visit all the above mentioned blogs. Really, they're worth it.
But without further ado, here it is. The teaser for today. (grin)


Soooo, you were thinking I wasn't beading anymore???? No way!! I love it too much! And as you can see I have been working on something in winter colors. Snow white. Come back soon to see more teasers!! Bwahahahaaa!! ;-))

Hugs,
Wezz

WOW!!

I just realized something. The World of Wezz. In short, that's "the WOW"! haha!
I can't believe I never noticed this before!
"Welcome to the WOW."
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Wezz from the WOW."
"Did you get that from the WOW etsy store?"
"WOW!"
Ooooh, I just know I'm gonna have so much fun with this!! LOL ;-))

Yesterday I was hopping from blog to blog and found this link on several of them... and this quote got my attention the most...
"Because they are probably not going to inscribe your stat, link and comment numbers on your tombstone."
Okay, I have a weird sense of humor, but to me, this is funny! I will never feel guilty about not blogging again! Maybe I should say sorry for blogging so much lately, huh? Well, blame it on my back. LOL

That's it for today. Oh yeah. Coz I gotta think about that "WOW!" thingie some more. heheh....

Hugs,
Wezz

More challenges

Besides trying to use up some scraps, I have an extra challenge. Due to a bad fall from the stairs on holiday (on day 2 believe it or not) we had to cut our trip short. Radiology shows shifted disks and a fractured vertabrae. I can't lift anything, I can't bend to pick something up, there's a whole range of movements I just can't do right now. Rest is all that can help me to recover from this. Sooo, that means I can't go through the house looking for special items to put on my cards, or that special ribbon that I know is in the box on the top shelf of the closet. No, I'm limiting myself to what's on the kitchen table. Okay, I do have a choice there as one of the things I have there is my travel stamp box which includes small ink pads of different types in different colors, scissors, brads, ribbons, double sided tape, glue, atc card blanks, waterbrush, gold foil pen, several stamps, acrylic block and lots more. Thank goodness I mostly work with unmounted stamps! I can fit lots of them in there. LOL
Of course all the ordered stuff that comes through the mail now stays on the kitchen table too at this time so I can play with that too if or when I'm feeling up to it. Heheh. I can't work on cards for long though coz I also hurt my tail bone. Bad. Working with sketches and knowing I'm using up some scraps does help to make nice cards when I need to take my mind of all the pain.

This week I worked with sketch number 3 from the DWYTter blog. Here are some of my cards. As usual, some are adapted to suit other sized cards.


For the first cards I stuck pretty much to the original design, except that I didn't make square cards. It was just a minor change really. And hey, look at that! My first Christmas cards for this year!! Woohoo!!

Now I know the intent was to use up scraps, so why on earth did I even feel compelled to use the inside of an envelope that came with yesterday's mail?? Yep, the purple layers under the flower squares are from that envelope. Like I don't have enough paper to use!! Geesh!

This card is a bigger change as I wanted an upright card. So I played around with the different elements until I got a design I liked. I think this is my favorite of this set. :-))


Smaller cards, so less squares. Still pretty though. And if you hadn't noticed yet, I love inking the edges of my papers, especially if they are structured papers. :-))
Stamps used are all from Stampin' Up! (and yes I know, not unmounteds! LOL)
Let me know what you think of my new set of cards!

Hugs,
Wezz

Just One Sheet

How many cards can you make with just one sheet of patterned paper?
Well, here's my try on my personal challenge to use some of my stash! (again, for the umpteenth time, but that's besides the point... LOL)
For the layouts of the cards I used the first sketch of the new dutch blog "Don't Waste Your Thursdays" or, as we like to call it, the DWYTter blog. It's about using up your scraps while making stamped cards and participating in the sketch challenge at the same time. For now, I still like it and think it's fun. Don't know how long I will keep this up though! They're already on sketch 3 and I'm still stuck on the first! LOL
We'll see.
But, here are my cards with the pattern paper. Using just one sheet. Enjoy. :-))


The sketch was for a square card, but those cost double in postage to mail here in Belgium, so I adapted the sketch to regular sized cards.


Hey, my sheet of patterned paper took me through 4 cards!! Four! Wow, I love this! I may do this more often.
***edit 21 Oct.: actually this one sheet took me through 6 cards and an ATC, but the "others" didn't make the grade to be put on the blog.... Still happy with the results though!***

I did make another square card following sketch number 1, but using another patterned paper.


Stamps used are all from Stampin' Up!
Let me know what you think, okay? I'm always interested to hear your opinions! :-))

Hugs,
Wezz

Finally, I'm back!

hmm, reading my last post, it said the new year was off to a good start. Well, not so as it turned out. Shortly after I wrote that, we got the news that my mother in law was very sick and likely not to recover from her breast cancer returning. The past 8 months have been very rough on the whole family, several times the doctors thought she wouldn't make it til morning but somehow she always pulled through. While in the hospital she also got pneumonia, but even that she was able to conquer. Except her cancer. She passed away peacefully on August 14th. On Jan's birthday, his mom died. I can't even begin to imagine how that must feel. All I can do is be there for him and listen to him if he wants to talk about it. Which is not all that often as you would expect from a man. I wish he'd open up a little more, but maybe that will come at a later stage. My mom is taking this hard too, as they were good friends and even traveled together. It will take time to heal and then we'll celebrate all the good times we had together. One thing I'll always remember is how she loved it when I agreed to go to flower arranging classes with her. Her sister, Jan's godmother, was the teacher. As if I didn't have enough crafty hobbies she introduced me to flower arranging! I loved it, and did this for about 5 years. :-))
I'll definitely miss her. Here's to you, mom of Jan!

When I finally was ready to pick up my blog and everything else I let slide for the past months, I discovered I couldn't log in to blogger anymore. It took weeks to get it sorted out again. I wish they would make it easier to get help from them. I got a screen message that said they had sent an e-mail with instructions to my gmail account. Duh, my blog and gmail are from the same account so the login is the same. And since the login didn't work, I couldn't access my gmail account either. I don't know where they get it that this would be logical to send it to my gmail if I can't access it. They should know, right?
Oh well, it's sorted out, and I'm happy to be back!
Talk to you all soon again! :-))

Hugs,
Wezz

Hello 2009!

The new year is well on its merry way, it's already 1 week old! Time just flies by, doesn't it?
Did you make any New Year's resulotions? I gotta admit, I used to do that every year, and every year come February, there was nothing left of my resolutions. I had given up. So, the last few years, I haven't made New Year's resolutions. Instead, I try to do as my grandmother used to tell me. "What you do at the beginning of the New Year, you will be doing for the rest of the year."
Well I certainly hope that's true! At the stroke of midnight, I wished my significant other a Happy New Year and cuddled and kissed him. Yeah yeah, I know, mushy and romantic, but hey, that's me! We spent New Year's Eve with friends so I wished them a Happy New Year too, and I sent some text messages with my cell phone to those who were celebrating somewhere else. We talked til late that evening. New Year's Day we went to see the family on both sides, had a good meal, drank champagne and cheered the New Year on. I beaded. Yup yup, I did! I touched my stamps, some cardstock and some ink pads. I didn't actually stamp, but thumbed through a stamping magazine with the intention to do some stamping/cardmaking soon. I flicked through a beading magazine so I will have plenty of inspiration throughout the year. I also spent some time online to send my well wishes to my cyberfriends on the various groups I belong to. I added a new Ruffles necklace to my etsy store. I've also added some earrings to the ESmarts Team Shop. My new tumbler is still tumbling, with stones in one barrel, and jewelry to clean in the other barrel. I've already taken a beading class last Saturday too! It's snowy and cold, for the first time in years we finally have a real winter here again. Let's hope the freezing temperature will keep the sick bugs away this year. They predicted another week of this cold weather. As long as it doesn't rain, I'm happy. Oh and it didn't rain on New Year's Day! I tweeted on Twitter to wish them all a Happy New Year as well! I blogged about our little kitten who just loves playing in the snow and I'm blogging here now.
I'd say the New Year is off to a good start! :-))
How 'bout you? Did you make any resolutions? Tell me, I wanna know!

Hugs,
Wezz

Introducing....

....a new blog!
Oh I hear you!! What, another blog? You're not even keeping up with this one! But I wanted to give our new little kitten her own blog where she can tell you all about her life in our household. So relax, it's a very different blog from this one. And it still needs a lot of work, but once the basics are done mainly little stories and pictures will be shared there. Hope you like it!
Here's the link, from The World of Wezz to The World of A Cat!

Santa brought me a Lortone tumbler! I'm so excited about that!! It came with a starter kit for tumbling rocks, but I have loads of stones from the beaches on Crete that I wanna make shiny! I just *know* I found some pretties there and I can't wait to see the end result! Think of what pretty pendants they will make! Since these are already pretty round and slick from tumbling in sand and sea for years I skipped the first few steps and put it in with the last type of sanding grit. After that, I can do the polishing cycle. Finally! ooh I can't wait, this is nerve wrecking for me, I want to open up that barrel every 5 minutes to see what it's doing and to check on the results. But... but that has to tumble for 5-7 days!! Per cycle! Ack!! I can't wait that long! I peeked yesterday... hey the instruction manual told me to check after 24 hours of tumbling, so being a good girl as usual, I checked. Of course there was nothing to see yet, not much anyway. Guess I'll have to practice on my patience again! Oy!!!

In the mean time, let me show you the latest Cretan Stone Pendants I have put in the store. These are finished with a single or double crown in Swarovski crystals. Soooo pretty!! :-))



ooooh I'm soooo curious so see how my pendants will look with the tumbled stones! I think that similar stones will not look better but will look different. At least, I hope so!! Otherwise, it's a long process compared to what I do now to treat the stones! LOL

Happy New Year everyone!!!
Party like never before! :-)))

Hugs,
Wezz

Hope. Dream. Live.

Today, while blog hopping (again, instead of doing something really useful, ahum) I came across this quote and it immediately hit home with me. I need to stop trying to do good for everyone else, trying to be as perfect as possible. It's time to be me. Just me.
Here's the quote I found, and I hope you like it as much as I do!

I wanted to be you.
Better.
More.
Until I learned that I am not done.
Each of us is a Masterpiece.
Be Yourself.
Aspire.
Dream.
Create.
Be.

I leave you with these thoughts for now. Comments welcome of course!

Hugs,
Wezz

Featured!

I hear ya, I hear ya! "When are you gonna write more about the trip?" I will, I will! Promise! Just not today, coz I have other news!!...
I'm one of the featured artists on the eSmarts Team Blog today!! Woohoo!! I'm just tickled pink that they chose on of my etsy items to show on the blog! The Blue Ruffles bracelet! Okay, I'm doing the happy dance here, along with all the others that are featured today I imagine! Group dance!! LOL
I'm working on the matching necklace which will show up soon in my etsy store. ;-))
The eSmarts Team is really getting it all "out there" and I love being a part of such a great group, where everyone helps the others out. It's an amazing community, and I'm proud to be a member.
Now, back to the happy dance...... LOL

Hugs,
Wezz

New things in the World of Wezz

It's about time I tried something new.... well, besides my crafty endeavors that is. I mean something online, something with the computer, and let me tell you up front I'm no computer wizz-kid, so this is all a test, a dip-your-toe-in-the-water-to-see-how-cold-it-really-is kinda thing...
I've already managed to upgrade my blog and didn't wreck it completely in the process, so that's a success! Yay! Ready to move on to something newer than that.... I have more handmade items than I will ever use or wear in my lifetime, especially greeting cards, mini albums, and jewelry, and I always find something new I want to try, something else I love to make, it just never stops when you have a creative mind (that does come across a "block" occasionally, you are not alone in that!).
So maybe I should try selling online? Yeah, that's it! That's a good idea! With the money I make from that, I can buy new crafty stuff, right?? heheh...
Okay, so I wanna sell online. But how? What's a good site? Ebay? Nah. Not for handmade or artisan items I think, to me it seems that's more a place people will check out to get a great bargain. Setting up my own website with a store? hmm, nice idea, but I don't have a clue how to go about that. I would have to ask DH and he's busy remodeling the attic. No, it has to be something easy that I can do all by myself, and maintain it too! Setting it up is not enough, you have to maintain it and add new items on a regular basis. Now what? Then, oooh, I came across this eSMarts yahoogroup, it's all about helping each other setting up an Etsy store and getting traffic to your blog, website and store. hmm, maybe I should sign up, huh? I signed up. I got confused with all the etsy lingo, and even more confused when they started talking about squidoo and lenses and more of that! Maybe I'm in the wrong place after all. oh, but wait a minute! There are other etsy newbies on this group! Maybe we can help each other out and get the expertise knowledge from those that have been on etsy for a while? Hmm. Let's hang around for a while longer and see how it goes. After all, I got my blog going again after a loooooooong hiatus. The next step is to set up an etsy store. Let's see.... Hey, that's not difficult at all! I just need to think and re-think the intro and the policies and such. And presto, I now have my very own etsy store!! Granted, I know nothing about all the other options that etsy offers, but I'll learn it as we grow with the eSmarts group I guess. And of course, just like any website or blog, it's a work in progress. A status quo is the worst thing you can do on the internet I think, so we gotta work on our sites. All of us, and on all of them. Including the group blog. Yep, we have an eSmarts group blog too, with various members contributing to it! It's quite interesting so go check it out, and it has of course all the links to the members' websites and stores. This is gonna be a fun ride!! Can't wait to see what's next!! :-))

Hugs,
Wezz

New blog style!

I've always been wondering how other people got such nice looking blogs, with lists of links to their favorite sites included in a column either left or right of their main posts. Then there's the little banner ads, the blinkies, the links with pictures to their stores or websites, even video. Well, I found it. Apparently, all I had to do was upgrade to the newer version of Blogger!! Who knew?? LOL
Now I can easily add links, play around with the layout, fiddle with the settings and have a blog that's more than just my stories! Hope you all enjoy the newly added features too! :-))
I'm still learning, but I'm learning new stuff every day! So check back often!

Hugs,
Wezz

Starting a blog?

Okay, so now I've created my own blog. Wow. This is daunting, a totally new experience for me!! But I'm sure I'll learn the ropes pretty quickly and hope I can keep up with journaling. I type faster than I write, so I know I won't do it the old fashioned way, except for making a few notes that will be worked in my blog somehow. Hopefully. I don't know how long I can make this happen, but for sure I will share our experiences as a couple of Euros on a road trip through the States. The good, the bad and the ugly.
See ya!