My trip to the Peloponnese (1)- the shadow puppet play

As I have told you I went on a ten day trip to Athens and the Peloponnese recently during the school holidays.
I'd like to share my lovely trip with you! Let's start the tour. I know at least few of you would like to hear all about it.
We started on a very rainy day on the 27th December to Athens. It was raining cats and dogs all the way (more than 500 km) but what upset me more was the many tolls on the way and their prices. We did it non-stop with eating our home made snacks in the car.
And we arrived at hubby's cousin's house in the afternoon.We had a short chat and then went to
Megaro Mousikis (Music Hall) to attend a shadow puppet performance by our friend  Elias Karellas, an excellent shadow pupetteer.

 Inside the building.

Elias Karellas was performing Captain Karaghiozis (O Karaghiozis Kapetanios) and he had created a whole ship on the stage.

  Along with him were the artists Areti Ketime and Burger Project who were amazing in their collaboration with the shadow puppets.

 Karaghiozis, his wife and children.

 My favourite photo. One of the performers along with the shadow puppet!

 All the performers on stage in the end of the play.

 We really enjoyed the play. Here I would like to thank Elias for allowing us to take pictures of the play.

 After the performance we went backstage to admire Elias shadow puppets and congratulate him on a great performance.

 Hubby could not resist taking one of the puppets in his hands.

Afterwards we returned to hubby's cousin for dinner and sharing of family stories.
This is Zen, the house pet! Isn't he adorable?

It was a  great first day!
(People believe that nowadays, in this financial crisis that Greece is in, to brag about one's trips is thoughtless. But I assure you I am not bragging and anyway if one plans every detail in advance one can save up for little treats in life. I am not one to buy clothes or do other things so my hobbies take up my saving money.)

This blogpost is linked to Our Beautiful World blog that has the subject of shadows this week.

Making things for Christmas....

I want to make things all the time, but I don't have much time.
Here are some things I made for this Christmas in between other things I made. Well those who follow and read me know that I made about 35 felt Christmas ornaments and donated them to the Parents' Association at my school and they were sold and all profits went to them to spend on good things for the school.
You can read all about it here.But I also made felt ornaments for friends as little gifts. Like this one!

I also made lots of felted stones to send as Christmas gifts and made some giveaways (I still owe a couple of those) and some for the shop. You can see some of them here.

And some more like these ones.This purple one was for a friend who asked for a purple one and I really loved making it!

Here are other things I made.
I painted lots of stones gold!What for? Well I just decorated them around the house. And I am planning to felt them for next Christmas!

I made wire tree felted stones, added some 2014 charms and gave them as gifts.
Here's my desk while creating. Well actually it is my son's desk and when he is not studying I use it.

 I painted some pinecones for decoration too.

I made some beaded wire pomegranate charms.

I made a toilet paper roll star following directions I learnt in this workshop. Thank you Anna!

I also made some jewelry for gifts or for the bazaars I took part.

 (Some of the jewelry is in the shop and some more will be added  soon.)
I was also asked to make felt brooches and I really loved creating them.

Finally here is the Christmas twig tree I tried to make this year!
Just a couple of twigs and you end up with a lovely tree behind your door! I had also added some little ornaments but Barca ate them up! I found the idea on the Internet here.

Oooops!

Secret Santa and Beachcomber exchanges!

Ever since I opened up and met egst (Etsy Greek Street Team) I have made new friends (all crafters), I have attended happy meetings and interesting workshops and in general have been having fun participating in lots of things.
One of them was the Secret Santa exchange at the egst where you had to send something handmade to one participant and would receive something from another! It was fun. This is what I received! Dear Emilie of Prosinemi sent me this lovely silver pendant and added a cross stitched bookmark. She read all my info in the Secret Santa list and knew exactly what to send. Thank you Emilie!

And this is what I sent. The person I had to send my gift to was Myrto at Journalshop. Of course I had to send one of my stones which I made in the colours that were Myrto's favourite ones according to her Secret Santa details.

 I also packaged her gift myself and added a handmade wire good luck charm pomegranate.

Another exchange was also sometime before the holidays with Cheryl of the great blog beachcomber.
She also has this lovely etsy shop.
So she sent me this beautiful bracelet.

And I sent her one of my stones. I made it especially for her.

 And added some Greek sea glass and sea tiles of course!

I love exchanges. More on giveaways, and online purchases as well as what the mail brought in future blogposts!

I got a Liebster Award

While I was away on my trip St. Apple Creations blog awarded me with a Liebster Award! Thank you very much Katerina!

What's a Liebster Award?
It is an award for lovely blogs with under 200 followers and is given by fellow bloggers.
The rules are :
-List 11 random facts about yourself.
-Answer the 11 questions provided by the blogger who nominated you.
-Nominate other bloggers for the award who have 200 followers or fewer.
-Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
-Notify the nominees of their nomination.

11 random facts
1. I love dealing with lots of different creative things! Maybe I get bored easily that's why!
2. I am a teacher of English and knew I wanted to be one ever since I started learning English at the age of 10.
3. I am an amateur actress at the Teachers' Association Drama Club. I have been there for 12 years.
4. I have a 19-year-old son.
5. Barca is my first ever dog. She is adorable.
6. Sea glass if my greatest pasttime. Most of the things I do have sea glass as their basis.
7. I love travelling and taking hundreds of photos during my trip!
8. I was born in Istanbul and live in Thessaloniki ever since I was three years old. So I was bilingual as a kid at Turkish and Greek.But I have forgotten the most of my Turkish knowledge when I moved to Greece.
9. Apart from Greek and English I also speak German.
10. Although I have  a driving licence, I don't drive.
11. I am scared of thunderstorms, especially lightnings.

My answers to Katerina!
1. If you were a superhero what powers would you have?
I would be able to read people's minds!
2. What type of holidays would you prefer?
The "exploring all little villages, museums, beaches etc" type.
3.If you could go back in time to change one thing what would that be?
I would spend more time with my son when he was a kid!(He grew up too fast!)
4. Sunrises or sunsets?
Definitely sunsets! I can stay up late after a lovely sunset and do lots of things.
5. Would you rather trade some intelligence for looks or looks for intelligence?
I would prefer to be more intelligent and especially more eloquent.
6. What would you ask your future self if you had the chance?
I am not sure how to answer this one.
7. Do you collect anything?
Yes, everything! Mostly sea glass, craft magazines, anything beautiful!
8.Are you craftsy?
Yes, right now I am in my felt and bead phase.
9. What historical period would you like to live in if you could go back in time?
The 60s.
10. Which fictional character do you wish was real?
Elisabeth Bennet
11. What is your family Christmases like?
Very quiet, food oriented small gatherings.

My questions to the nominnees now.
1. What is your favourite travelling destination if you have  a free weekend?
2.What's your favourite colour combination?(two or three colours)
3. What's the latest good book you read?
4.What's the latest good film you saw?
5. Have you ever looked for sea glass?
6. Have you ever been to Greece?
7. What's your favourite thing to do on Christmas Eve?
8. What's your New Year's Resolution?
9. How long have you been blogging?
10. Do you like housework?
11. What do you do for a living?

And my nominnees are:
aouts-pins, dimitrART , peskycatdesigns, fishesmakewishes, feelepoint.

I hope you will take part but feel free to pass if you are too busy!

(Photos taken at  Odeon cinemas in the city centre of my city during the holidays!)