Things I have made!

Hello everyone!

I know I have not been a very good blogger lately but unfortunately there is too much to be done and the end of May and June are the worst as far as work is concerned.

Today, June the 3rd, I must say that many of my school work obligations are over. I handed in my grades, I handed in my self-evaluation school unit reports, I have also finished the University Students Practice and their evaluation. So now there are only a couple of days left teaching till the 15th and it is fun especially with the younger pupils who are now learning everything in the summer holidays and the sea themes.And we teachers will be going to school till the 21st!For the last time!Because from next year we will be going to school till the 30th June!!!!But that's another story!

On the other hand we are still having the anxiety of my son's Entrance University exams which are till the 21st and some more last minute Drama Club performances on the 15th, 18th and 19th.

And of course the preparation for our dream trip this July is in its final steps. So you can imagine how busy I am.

Still the last couple of months I have made a couple of handmade things so I thought of showing them to you.

First a stone that my dear friend Dawn in the States wanted.Here's the stone along with some olive oil soap and some Greek beach finds for her!

Then two purple stones. I made one for my friend Stella of StellaCreations who wanted one.And the other was the one won at a giveaway by Evdokia of have a ko(o)kie blog.

Then a red one for Mary, my Drama Club friend.

Then I made this sea glass pendant for Nopi.

I also made this red bead and wooden pendant for my friend Evi.

I have also been making masks for the roleplay of my 3rd Graders.The cricket and the ant is this pair and I have made lots more!

This blue sea glass felted stone of mine was won by a lady on Mykonos island who didn't even bother to thank me for winning it. She hasn't even told me that she received it. I posted it registered.She won it in another blog whose blogger asked me to cooperate and make a gift for her readers to win and that would be advertising for me! I obliged. I sent the gift but no news!Disappointing!

These too are other little gifts I made. The lego cross stitch brooch was for Julocka in Denmark. She blogs on moments of perfect clarity and I really like her blog.It was a thank you gift for her generosity to send me a lovely lego mermaid some time ago!The pattern was free on the net.

Then I made this birthday gift for my friend Christina of the egst. She loves anything Japanese and so I made this keyring, again from a free cross stitch pattern on the net.Christina has a lovely shop on etsy celdeconail.

I also made this felted stone as a gift for my friend Dora who lives in Mytilene.

And this as a gift for my handicraft teacher Maria, at the handicraft course at the local library last year.

And this last one as a goodbye gift for my colleague Yioula who is retiring! Of course Barca wanted to see it.

I also made these two bead pendants for the two University students who did their practice with me to have something to remember me with.

I have also been cross stitching like crazy for gifts for my trip meetings but those won't be shown till after the trip!

The mail

So here is what the mail had brought last week and Barca was so happy about it.
Two envelopes from the States from my dear Marabeth with all kinds of cross stitch kits she finds at thrift stores for me.The upper left corner is a stitched sampler someone had given to the thrift store. You will soon see what I did with it.

Marabeth's sweet card brought tears to my eyes. I so much hope that we will meet one day.

This is the parcel I received from Anastasia  Made-by-Kokorote, I won her giveaway and she was so kind to send me all these beautiful things!You can find her beautiful creations on etsy too here.

These are two parcels I received from Evdokia. Lovely pins I bought from her shop haveakookie and some added beauties.

In January I also received this lovely parcel from my dear friend Cathy in England.

 Don't you love those stamps?

 Cathy sent me some candy for my pupils and they were all crazy about it when I brought it to school.

 A bag she made herself.And a Christmas ornament made from lace.

 Gorgeous!

A book about the English countryside and cards.

 We also received some gifts from my cousin who is also my son's Godfather and he brought us souvenirs from his travelling.

 These are from Sicily and Portugal.

 Dear Ian from England sent me his Christmas wishes along with a watercolour painting of his!

 Cards from: Karen, my sea glass friend in the States,Marabeth,(along with some muffin cups which are very handy), Andrea from Trinidad,Ian's watercolours, Sophie's family Christmas photo and dear Dawn's card too.

  Some delicate papercut butterflies I bought from ShoestringCottage on etsy.

 There is more mail I received back in December which I will be showing you soon too.
Hope you did not get tired of all these photos!

What the mail brought!

First of all thank you everyone for your comments on my blog and facebook on Barca's arrival to our home!
Also welcome to new followers and readers.
I had some trouble with my computer and as hubby was so generous and fixed it I am hoping that I will manage to surf the Net and blog more easily and faster from now on.
On the Barca front we are very happy to announce that from the 4th night she kept quiet and did not cry.
So for those who say that teaching a puppy is difficult I am telling them it is not if you follow the rules. So about a whining puppy the rule is ignore it and it will stop crying.
Barca cried for half an hour the first night every three minutes.Then the second night she cried for twenty minutes every five minutes. Then on the third night she cried only four times in ten minutes and stopped. And then the next two nights she didn't cry at all.
We tell her good night, turn off all the lights one by one and close each door one by one. It is a ritual but it is a routine she got used to already.
Routine is absolutely necessary for a puppy so we try to feed her on her usual times. She started going to her napkin to poo but is not successful on that field every time yet. I am so patient with her and she is adorable!
On the fifth morning of her living with us she conquered her armchair. And I say "her" because that's an armchair we never sit on and I have my favourite childhood doll there and the to-be-ironed pile!So there she goes and sits there and she sleeps at night underneath that armchair too! So I let her!She is a member of the family afterall!The pile goes into the bedroom and should be ironed immediately!LOL!
And yesterday morning I realised why so many bloggers have photos with their pets in when they want to show something else. It is quite tricky and risky to take pics with a pet in the house!
The mailman has brought lots of mail during the holidays and I will devote a blogpost on them but I want to show you what happened when I tried to take pics of yesterday's mail!
I love it on this armchair!And the doll next to me is a ... doll!

 Ooops!What's this? I have to go down!

 Yes, let's jump.

 Wow!Envelopes!What's inside?

 Nothing interesting!Oh this one has something in it for me!I know!Give it here!

 To my nest!

 It's mine I tell you!

 Let's open it!

 A hedgehog pin for you and a bell for me!

 Put it on, put it on!

 Oh it is lovely! I am so happy! Thank you Evdokia!

The pin is by Evdokia in haveakookie!
The rest of this blogpost about items that the mail brought tomorrow!

Calendars and diaries for the New Year!

I love keeping a diary. A handwritten one. And even my blog is like a diary to me! And I love looking at the calendar everyday.Not a virtual one but a real one on  my wall next to my desk. I am so lucky to have good friends who sent me two this year.
Here they are.
From dear Kim in England, a long time pen pal I met years ago in Kent.Thanks Kim!

From my sea glass friend Andria, a seaglass inspirational calendar too. You can find one in her shop.Thanks Andria.

My diary this year is this little book which is a pupil's diary with literature texts. I bought it cheaply at the book bazaar some months ago. It does not have dates so you can write in it whenever you feel like and you can also read interesting literature texts in it every time you write.

Last weekend hubby and I offered a free shadow puppet performance at a community project in a village outside Thessaloniki to benefit poor people. There was a giveaway bazaar there too.I got some things for free among them this vintage book which I also had as a kid. It shows the seasons and months. I loved finding it again.

Winter

January(because Santa comes on New Year's Eve in Greece!)

Anyway those of you who prefer vistual calendars I will show you two lovely ones.
This one is on my computer since yesterday by Geninne Zlatkis.

Or if you prefer this one by Evdokia in Haveakookie.

Enjoy the new year once again!