Secret bunny 2016

Dear Zina of Efzin creations blog and etsy shop organized one more successful Easter gift exchange called #secretbunny2016.
This year I received a gift from Athena of Mummy's Little Man 

Athena sent me a little porcelain bunny covered in paper,a tealightcandle holder, some chocolate and candies, a beautiful pen, and a handmade card. Thank you Athena.
I sent my parcel to Helen of Karydotsouflo.
As I wasn't sure what Helen liked I decided to visit her blog and loved the banner.
So I started thinking about walnut shells and hedgehogs and finally I came up with copying her banner and turning it into a pyrography scene.

 Then I also cross stitched a little hedgehog family from a pattern I found on pinterest and made it into a bookmark

I then looked around my house for previously loved things I could add to my parcel.I always do that as I believe that sometimes I have too many  things I don't really need but love (usually books and handmade items) and that those could suit another person better.
I had bought a book covered box to post my parcel in so I thought of adding a book into the box too. And I had the most appropriate one The elegance of the hedgehog by Myriel Barbery!Amazing, isn't it?
I also added a walnut shell pin cushion made by dear Sonia of Cozymemories and finally a bunny I bought at the Melissa Orphanage bazaar. I added some little details on the bunny too.Oh and a card of course.
Before closing the parcel I added some chocolate and jelly candy for Helen's kids.
I really loved making this parcel and I am glad my recipient loved it too!
Apart from making this parcel I also made a couple more for two other friends.
One was for Maro aka Akamatra who was visiteing Thessaloniki and we met for coffee at Koumbi cafe
I gave her a box with chocolate.

her blog logo made with pyrography,

 a needle booklet made with aida and felt and I stitched the Stitch for Syria pattern on it,

 and a bunny from the afore mentioned bazaar.

Maro made me a lovely pouch!Thanks Maro!

I also sent Zina a small gift, her blog logo made with pyrography

and a bunny too since she is the organizer of the secret bunny exchange!
I really enjoyed all this gift making,sending and receiving once again!

What the mail brought-online purchases

I am not an impulsive buyer in real life!Unless I find something extra special at the open antique market! Virtually though I buy things more easily!Anyway as things are tough now I have limited my purchases to the minimum.

Here is something I had bought a loooong time ago from Sonia of Cozy Memories. It was to be used with my mobile. In the end it is used for my spending money!Small as my money!

Then I also bought a little card holder. The coasters are generous gifts fromSonia.

And the last puchase from Sonia is this lovely pair of buckets.

Then I bought this brooch which is lovely and is depicting the sea world.

It is made by Diane Bashaw of Thornberry Studio.I am planning to frame this!

Later I bought something I always wanted to, a felted stone made by the person who inspired me to felt stones, Lisa of lilfishstudios.

And I also bought wool to felt from Lisa.I am looking forward to using it in my future stones.

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.

What the mail brought

In the end of November I received some lovely things.
 A box of chocolate from Xanthi brought to me by a colleague. He is from this town and when he said he was going there I asked him to bring me a box of carioces, a chocolate sweet from Papaparaskevas pastry shop.

 I received a lovely parcel from my life long pen friend  Maria Jose from the Acores (Azores in English) who included some beautiful sea glass for me

 My order from Lilla Jizo arrived. Petra paints beautifully on sea glass, sea pottery, stones, paper and wood. I snatched her collage painting for almost free.And there is a 22% sale till the end of the year.

 I loved the beautiful water lily stamps on her envelope.

 Another spontaneous order from Albertine Press shop that I found in Poppytalk. These coasters are lovely and will probably be a Xmas gift.

 Then my order from Cozy Memories from my dear Sonia arrived. Sonia makes such lovely sewn things and always accompanies them in beautiful wrapping like this gorgeous red bag.

Giveaways!

I realised today that I have 50 followers so I am going to have a giveaway. I am going to give away my first ever Prairie Schooler Christmas ornament as a little thank you; so whoever wants to take part in the giveaway please leave a comment only on this post.Rules? Should they be rules? Well,ok I will just do what others do. You have to be a follower (and hopefully a regular reader,LOL!) and you should add your e-mail so that I can find you. I will do the drawing on Sunday at midnight local time!(I hope I will be at home at that time,LOL!again!)
Here is  a photo of the ornament which I made for the Christmas Ornament Challenge 2011organised by Becky Bee. You can see lots of beautiful ornaments here.

And since we are talking about giveaways here are two more you can join.
First Sonia's who is also updating her shop today.
And secondly Tatiana's in Russia who makes amazing cross stitched things.You can read the blog translated in English.

Flowers........for Sonia.

Last Monday I bought a couple of flowers, chrysanthemums and pansies, to put in some empty pots I had in my balcony.
They soon started flurishing and opening new little flowers.
I dedicate these photos to Sonia of CozyHomemaking who is having a difficult time in her life now suffering the loss of her father.
I miss my father so much.Every time I hear of someone's father's death I remember mine. I feel I grew up after my dad died but I still miss his hugs and tenderness.
Dear Sonia,from every bud comes a flower,the cycle of life never stops.

Have a great weekend!

I had decided to do really as much work as I could for school today! And like some of my little students
I postponed working to ...a) have morning coffee and fried egg bread with hubbie and my girlfriends and
b) wash all curtains, dry them and hang them back!
But in the afternoon and evening I managed to a) prepare my homework for the week and
b) do some research on my Lesson Plan for my seminar essay!
I had an idea about the Lesson plan ( I will  present it after I have reported it to my tutor after the deadline, sorry!) based on an old book I had. I worked on the powerpoint presentation of it and on the exercises that will accompany it! And then I had a look on the Internet and found lots of other ideas about it but most of them are not for the level of students I want but anyway it was good to see that yet again I am not the first one in the world who chose to work on this theme!
By the way here are a couple of photos of a recent purchase.
My dear Sonia made new things on her shop so I got a little something too (as much as I can afford at the time).
Aren't these linen pillows beautiful? They are filled with lavender and have made my lingerie drawers smell wonderful! Of course Sonia added some great extras!Thanks! You can find the Cozy Homemaking blog and shop here.

Weekend nature photos!

Apart from meeting with John and Juliana the weekend was filled with admiring nature around me and collecting sea glass on my beach!
Anyone know what plant this is?

 The whole beach was filled on a line with this thing. I wonder what it is and how it came there.Hubbie says it is coffee beans.

 I was very lucky with the sea glass this weekend.
But what is this?

 Neighbour's plants.

 First time blue milk glass.

 Not well cooked still almost red!

 Is it maybe....

 ....a stopper?

 Three angles of the same piece!

 Fooled ya!

 If I had seen Sonia's blogpost earlier I would have collected these pods. But I will next time.

 Yes my best time,frappe(cold quick coffee-a Greek invention) and a good book and a view of the sea. For those who love the English classics Anne Bronte's The tenant of Wildfell Hall is excellent.

 The figs on the fig tree are small and hard. It is going to be a good summer!

 My cross stitch corner in the summer house.

 Sorry guys I did not want to interrupt.

 Oooops we need something to be done here.

 Snails on rusty iron fence.

 Buoys....

 and a visit by a beautiful princess.

 Ooops sorry I took you with me!

 A neighbour's vase!Beautiful simplicity.

 Those came home in town with me!