Watercolours, decoupage and pyrography!

After so many weekends of entertaining guests at home and going out a lot, last weekend I decided to relax, read a book and do some crafts.
On Friday I went to Ikea. I needed some frames to put in my triptych of jelly fish my friend Ian sent me from England.

I loved them on his blog and wanted one but he sent me all three as he is such a kind and generous person!

Look how beautiful they look in the frames which will decorate the beach house of course.

Another reason I went to Ikea for was because I had booked the Decoupage Workshop organized by Ikea and the ladies from Ftiaxto Elina and Valia.
I have done very little decoupage so far and really wanted to try.
Here is what we made under the instructions and supervision of Valia and Elina.

Ikea offered the items we decoupaged and the napkins.

All in all it was an interesting workshop. I plan to go to more in future if they organize some.

You can see how to make the clock here.

 And then on Saturday I decided to put in use a lovely tool we had bought in a very reasonable price from Lidl months ago. The pyrography tool was great and I loved what I made.
I used some leftovers pieces of wood from the new shadow puppet stage hubby made.
I sanded them a bit to have an even surface and then using the pyrography tool with all the different edges I burnt out the patterns.
I really loved the results and plan to make more.
I have always been inspired by Geninne's and Alisa Burke's pyrography beauties. So here are mine.
Empire State Building

 The little wooden huts in Turku Finland at the Craft Village.

The Dandelion

Greece in summer.

Feathers

The owl

If you don't feel like making any pyrography pieces I have a friend Dimitra who makes really beautiful ones on her Decorasylum etsy shop. Have a look!

(photo taken from Decorasylum etsy shop)
( I have in no way been compensated by the shops, firms, blogs mentioned in this blogpost.This is not an advertising blogpost.)

Calendars and diaries

Every year I choose to use a couple of calendars and diaries.
I love writing down what happens every day, things to do, lists and more lists!
That's how I am and I don't forget things in this way.
I have school work lists, reading lists (what I have read and what to read), stitching lists, mail lists (what I received and what must be written and sent),birthday lists, appointments lists,meetings lists,chores lists, bills lists etc etc
That's why I need lots of calendars and diaries!
For 2016
I put up the calendar Wonders of Hungary my friend Andrea brought me from her country this summer.

And that's the January page! I jot down important appointments and dates here.

I write my daily memoirs in the 2016 diary I was given as a gift from The Smile of the Child after our Luxembourg trip.

I keep notes and appointments in my Pygolampides  agenda in my bag. Local friends can find it for free in this link here. It has got lots of handicrafts and information inside.

This is the organiser I have at school. So very English.

I keep handicrafts notes (what I make every day) in this Mollie Makes craft calendar that was included in the December Mollie Makes issue that my friend Juliana sent me as a gift. It had lovely stickers with it and I use them in my diary.

And I also decided to print this free downloable Alisa Burke calendar and use it for more notes on my desk. I printed it on different colour for every month but it will also look lovely in white and you can colour the pages in.

Last but not least I am making a stitched calendar for 2016.
I joined in a SAL (=Stitch Along) and will be stitching this calendar every month along with hundreds of other stitchers around the world. It is free so if you like cross stitch join in!
You will find it on facebook but also on  this blog here. It is the Stitch Along The Joyful World by the Snowflower Diaries.

 I have already stained my white fabric and have already started stitching it. Barca always follows me while stitching!She seems to enjoy seeing me relaxing!

Are you keeping any kind of diaries or calendars?
Have a great 2016!

Bits and pieces.

I am so much behind with everything all the time. I am sure you are tired of hearing this.
So here I will just add random photos of things and events of ....November 2012. Yes they were taken back then but I forgot about them.
So in November....
I collected these from the sidewalk, thrown out from an old school.What am I going to do with them? Maybe something I saw in Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made Home online course.
I won't use the photo from the course as I am not supposed to. But when and if I make this into something beautiful you will see it again.

Inspired by Alisa Burke's Create Daily Holiday Edition online course I painted  some owls on sea glass and sea tiles.

 And I made a painting and collage which I gave as a little gift.

And some painted stones I custom ordered to a friend colleague of mine for my friends around the world. Aren't they gorgeous?I wish I could paint like this.

Finally something I found in the street again after a demonstration. Some poor little kid must have lost it. But it's a keeper!

Easter visiting and egg decorating.

Holy week is usually filled with visiting.
On Tuesday evening we visited my brother's family to give them some gifts from Istanbul and for Easter.I bought my niece a lovely pair of pink plastic shoes and a pink skirt for Easter. Unfortunately I forgot to take  a pic but those shoes were like candy!
Here is the baklava we brought them.It was delicious!I recommend Koska pastry shops absolutely

 Then yesterday we went to visit my Godson. It is the custom here for the Godmother to take a candle to her Godchild which he/she will light on the night of the Resurrection. And even more the custom is to buy him/her shoes or other gifts.I must say my Godson was really happy with his gifts.

 His shoes.

 Guess who chose to wear them first!His little brother!

 Some spins for the children.

 The Godmother also receives presents!A basket filled with dyed and chocolate eggs.

 Tsoureki (sweet bread).

Then today my cousin and his daughter were visiting the city so we met for some coffee at the mall.It was beautifully decorated with huge butterflies and cages filled with flowers.

 I love the black and white sea themed mosaics on the mall floor.

 And the fountain is beautiful too.

 Then I dyed my eggs.From white....

 ....they became red,blue and yellow. Unfortunately not very succesful dyeing this year!

 I decorated my big table with my mum's embroidered table cloth and arranged on top some of my Easter decorations.
I have an IKEA tree where I hang all of my bought painted eggs from Prague.

 Glass egg from Prague.

 Punched egg from Prague.

Painted eggs from Prague.

 Margie's Missing parts stone of Resurrection Fern and Paula's doily stones of Otchipotchi.

 Our candles for resurrection night.

 A wooden painted Russian egg I bought today at the mall.

 Two small glass eggs I bought at the cheap store.

Another wooden Russian egg I bought today.

 I blew this egg and painted it taking the idea from Alisa Burke's blog.

 I coloured this egg with watercolour crayons.

A basket filled with various handmade eggs.

 Open market finds.

My mum's vintage Easter embroidery.

 The zoo eggs my son and I made when he was 6 years old.

And with this last photo I wish you all the best for Easter. I won't blog for a couple of days.I hope you enjoy yourselves.