Rain!

It has been raining heavily all day today spoiling the long weekend!
We spent the day with my brother and sister sipping coffee and drinking tsipouro following the Greek saying "Poverty needs fun!" (in an interpretation by me!)
The photos are from our sea front but sometime in January!
Unfortunately things haven't changed much weatherwise!
Today I am linked to Our Beautiful World with the theme "Rain".

 Umbrellas by Zongolopoulos.

 One of my sea glass felted stones and a crochet covered stone by Margie of
Resurrection Fern together at the umbrellas.

 The White Tower.

Shop update and a giveaway!

For a time now I was trying to figure out what to make for my little etsy shop that is not jewelry (as that does not sell at all!) and to be something different from all the things I have seen so far that use sea glass!I was trying to form my creativity that has been bugging me into something new!
So I took some things!

...and came up with this idea!

How do you like it?
It is a stone I collected from my beach!
First I covered it with wet felted wool, a technique I learnt from this tutorial and I admit Lisa's stones have been an inspiration for some time now!
Then I glued some sea glass and broken shells smoothed by sea waves and then stitched one by one tiny seed beads or bigger glass beads to make a flowing pattern of water coming on the sand and leaving behind some sea treasures.
That was the idea!
I was over enthusiastic with it and started making some more stones!

Of course Barca had to inspect them and give her consent on my making some more!

The first to give me feedback was Frieda, my friend from Skiathos and my dear Marabeth from the States.

I gave Frieda this stone which she liked very much.

So I made some more stones.

Each stone is totally different from the other. Some have the same base colour felted wool, some have similar shells or the same beads but as each one is made and stitched piece by piece they are all totally different!

And they look gorgeous all together!
I have always had something with stones. I always loved collecting them and I always admired people who painted them or covered them in all kinds of ways.
I love Margie's crocheted stones which have inspired lots more people afterwards, and I am so happy I am the proud owner of one of her bigger pieces too!
And I always admired Paula's beautiful porcelain stones which of course I cannot make.
And I love all the beautiful painted stones that so many artists make, like Geninne, and have been so inspired by Lisa's wet felted embroidered stones maybe because I do cross stitch and use threads. Lisa is an expert in wet felting and needle felting and only recently did I manage to buy one of her stones which I will show you when it arrives.
Being inspired by Lisa of lilfishstudios I showed her first my stones and explained what I am doing so that to tell her that she was my inspiration and she was so sweet to let me know that she liked that.
Thank you goes to all inspiring ladies I mentioned so far!
So here are the stones you will find on my thalasseaglass which I have neglected so much!

If they sell well I will continue making them.If they don't then I guess etsy shop is not for me!LOL!But I will continue making them for myself as they look gorgeous on my table and desk!
I will be adding one stone to the shop everyday for a few days!
And of course to start this new enterprise in a beautiful way I am giving away one of my stones to a lucky follower!
This one that so reminds me of a sea anemone!

So to win, please be a follower and leave a comment on this blogpost only leaving an e-mail so that I can find you if you win. Please like my thalasseaglass on etsy and/or facebook and please feel free to share the giveaway!
I will choose a winner on Wednesday June 5th  World Environment Day at 5 in the afternoon local time (Greece).
Please keep your fingers crossed with this!

Showing friends' work

I have lots of friends around the world who are very creative. They make various things which I consider art.
At times and when my financial situation allows it I buy their work.
Here is a post about those people and their work.
So when Paula of otchipotchi introduced her new line of Christmas porcelain ornaments I bought a set. They are lovely and very affordable. I will also show a pic when I put them on my tree. You can buy them here.

 Also Sonia from Cozymemories introduced a new line of cardholders, lovely for little gifts and stocking fillers.You can find them here.

 Another person I really admire Margie from Resurrection Fern blog makes these lovely crocheted stones and takes photos of them. Here is my wall paper for December. Yes I know it is a bit summery but I prefer it that way.It reminds me of the sun and the sea and that's good for my mood and for the very rainy and cold weather we are having now.

Another sea glass friend Bev, just made a sea glass book. I haven't bought it yet but many sea glass friends have and they say it is very good. So you can find it here.

Photo by Bev Jacquemet.
I recently bought something from etsy from a seller I didn't know but they were very good so here is what I bought at a very good price from The Realm Collectibles.

Well and because as the Greek saying has it..."If you don't praise your house, it will fall on you!" I have to say a little bit about my etsy shop thalasseaglass. I am having a 20% discount on all items till December 21st.
Use coupon code XMAS2012.

I am hoping to add more items during the holidays.

Where is spring?

I am trying to see spring around me but I cannot. March is here already and I cannot believe how time flies.Apart from the first couple of days of the month that were cold but sunny rain has returned and it indeed has put me down. I am not in the mood for anything and not in the mood to blog either.
To keep my mind away from dark thoughts like bills to be paid or arguments on financial matters or all the awful news we hear every day about the situation in Greece I started spring cleaning and decluttering. I will show photos of that later.
For the time being I will show you my new desktop by Geninne who is so marvellous to make one every month and share with her readers  and I really love it.

You can find it here.
I also rearranged my favourite porcelain mushrooms on my coffee table.

They are in this bigger glass plate with green sand, two of Margie's crochet stones, three porcelain leaves by Otchipotchi and two naughty ladybug magnets sent to me by my friend Cathy in England.
Thanks for keeping reading me!And welcome to the latest new followers.

My Xmas cards

I sent various types of Xmas cards this year.
I try to use up all the cards I have already before start making or buying new ones.
Some of my cards were handmade, others cross stitched and some had added sea glass on them for my sea glass friends.
Here are some of the cards already received.
To Marabeth a trashstories postcard where I added sand, sea glass, shells and sea pottery!

 To some of my sea glass friends this IKEA card with added sea glass gifts.

 To other sea glass friends this card from the anti-rheumatism children's charity. My mum assisted that charity years ago and she had bought hundreds of their cards to help them out. I have been sending them for years, giving them to students and I still have a lot!!!!!!!

 To blog friends and pen pals I added beads on their cards. One of them had an added bonus. The way I added the beads ended up with another design on the back. It wasn't intentional but I loved the end result. That one went to Margie of Resurrection Fern.

Believe it or not I forgot to photograph most of the cards I sent!!!!!!!


Blogpost edited: Unfortunately all the photos on this blogpost were deleted due to Picasa problems.

Walnut candles and a secret eagle.

I went to my framer's a couple of days ago to frame some of the lovely things I have purchased or received recently. Imagine my surprise when I found on the back of Geninne's Umbrellas this eagle. Now I am trying to find a way to frame it so that both sides can be see. Any ideas?

A couple of days ago I made my own walnut candle decorations which I saw on Margie's blog. They took a very short time and I used up leftover candles I had kept for ages.

When December came...

...my first concern was the Major Teachers' Training Programme. It was the last part where for three days we would focus on microteaching. The seminar took place on two days after all and I presented my microteaching "The Owl and the Pussy cat"  which went very well. I also enjoyed attending the rest of the participants.
And tried to take some pics as usual.

 I used Marabeth's gift to carry my things and it attracted lots of attention from the English teachers who loved to have one  too!!!!!

Then I started decorating for Christmas....
added some fairy lights on my sea glass...

 ...and on my big table...I laid the woven fabric I saved from the school crearance, I put the Italian candy cane vase horizontally because the cloth I covered the table with is not even and I was afraid it might fall...

 ...I put the IKEA  red lantern with more fairy lights, the blue pomegranate that cut my finger, some painted pine cones and Margie's crocheted stones in a plate that was a gift of students years ago...

 ...I added lights to the fantastic driftwood boat that my friend's boyfriend made for me...

 ...and of course the red typewriter and the pots of plants are there too...