My challenge for 2012 - stop being my own worst enemy!

This is one part of my challenge. A challenge which takes part at my social life, at work, but especially regarding to creating stuff! It was and is easier for me to make things for other people. Somehow I need some kind of social pressure and deadlines. Otherwise sleep is sometimes more tempting or duties more demanding... 

But I want to make things for myself. That keeps me sane, that makes me smile and yes, there is something special to have and to use the things made by the own hands. I also love the things which were made for me! It is hard to describe because no, because one of parts why I love to create is that keeping the things in my hand I don't only see the present but every moment which went into its creation. Starting just from the idea in my head...

They don't need to be perfect. I love to challenge myself, to learn more and new things... There is nothing like the feeling of mastering new methods and techniques, nothing more cool than overcoming own fears (like how to use a electric jig saw!) and even more, nothing like the moment when you jump in your own abilities! Take crochet: Going from charts to freeform... Take polymer clay: From simple forms to creating deep textures... 

As I already wrote some time ago: I tried to set myself some limits for getting new stuff. I allowed myself only to take things if I have an idea what to make out of them at that moment. You know what? Nothing trains the brain and also the creativity more. No, didn't worked out for reducing or limiting my stash but did wonders to my own imagination!

This year I want to make a lot things for myself. All the things I already planned, already have the materials for, already dream to have... but always put to the side. 

One of the things I wanted to do was to enhance my stichting abilities. I am so into all kinds of garnish and decoration! 

Also... a big pile of small fabric pieces lying around helps...

So I take part in the crazy quilt journal project 2012. It works for me like a social deadline... Yes, I try to trick myself and even knowing it is a trick, hey, it works for me! ;)

Therefor I started sewing crazy patchwork blocks out of my stash... so I have already a good basic for starting to stich. 

The heart fabric was painted by my little sister Lachafa years ago.. when she really was still a little one! ^^ I never had a use for it but I kept it all the time. You see the single heart I stiched? :)

(and yes.. I'll make some better pics with better light. But still the dark season here...)

I played with dyeing some fabrics. This white fabric with roses was my test object. And now the pieces came into use...

A little fabric piece where I started to learn bubbles with fabric paints... also kept in my stash for years... 

The january block before...

...and after. Still having a lot of errors but every one helped me :)

And some of the blocks for the next months...

Some with stamped fabric like the violett pieces...

And no... all not ironed ^^

As you may see at the colours: All made late at night. Too late for ironing!

All the blocks are about 30 x 30 cm...

...this stripe of fabric pieces in the middle was a leftover from a quilt I made... five?... years ago ;)

The wrinkles are not so bad like they look on this pic!

And in the end the blocks will be joined :) 

That's why I won't use beads for the embroidery. 

As lovely as they are, cuddling with them is not the best idea...

In the circus

Maybe it is going to be boring... but again: My new favorites! It is really difficult to choose at the moment which ones to wear! 

Some stripes, a little bit of black smear and stripes in red and cream... create a lovely vintage effect. And hey, elefants! Who can resist elefants?! 

I used crafting paper I got from a friend, while searching through her trash and materials and tools (Oh, I love to go through other work stuff!) I found a little paper punch for these elefants. I punched two elefants in the paper, cut out the circles, glued them on cardboard...

...and used a ink pad for stamping to roll the circles in the ink... and paint the elefants... Don't be carfeul at this step! The result will always look great and the smear effect is (at least in my opinion) important to create the whole effect!

You see, I am going to be a little bit more sophisticated with my paper earrings: I am using now metal for the holes! 

And last but not least: A thin layer of 3D laquer (glue). You can still see how the punched elefants pop out!

Bits of this and that (or how looks my table)

I thought maybe you would like to see some of my thousand UFO which lay around or in big piles on my desk! No, I don't show overall pictures, the mess looks even worse as a foto! ^^

The star is made out of real clay and "stamped" with some lace. 

Below you see some new carved stamps. I am just carving a lot of more new stamps because the ones from my giveaway never arrived their destination... (yes, I was surprised how much it really hurts to know that the stuff one made is lost...). So the new batch is nearly finished... hope I can send it at the weekend.

*sniff*

But back again to... stuff! Some pendant I am using as a experiment to play with all my 3D laquers. And pieces of a big cone I drilled a hole into (with my dremel! ;)). I also added a thin layer of silver with acrylic paint. I think it brings the texture better to the eye... 

And a button. Of course.

A lot more of plant material! Kasuarines, don't know what the yellow are and also the long one was something my family found being on Mallorca... (and of course they thought of me!). Also with some silver colour added....

Wooden stars... Still without holes. They also need a thick layer of laquer... or maybe more colour. Although the colour seems bright it is almost a little bit dull in reality.

The cover of a fraunhofer magazine. I love the little pictures, perfect inspirations for stamps! They captured the essence of the silhouettes in a great graphic way!

Old christmas decoration... turned to earrings. The metallic colour is great, shining but not too extreme.

Started scanning / taking pics of beautiful wrapping paper (small used leftovers). Oh, I would love to have fabric like this!

As soon as you put something new on the floor... (I want to paint or wrap the wood)

...the black shadows arrive!

Tape! I bought for christmas a lot for family and friends :) And one set for myself...

Some clay stuff... 

Just an example how the advent calendars looked like...

Still don't now what to make out of this tiny crochet flower. But love the beads!

There is more... lot more... but maybe I'll repeat this kind of impressions :)

Inspirations: All the things... (Leipzig)

"This is dedicated to all the things you really believed in!"

I don't know who put this big vinyl poster on the wall of the house. But I had to take a picture as an impression! Especially because behind the fence there were these old toys.

The poor little ones... 

Somehow this is a really sad picture for me. But combined with the sentence above... it appeals to something in me. Like a memory...

No end to sparkling pink!

Okay.. that's not true! This ones will be the last ones for some time. At least the last pink earrings I made for the pink advent calendar! The ones from 2011... and what I'll make for the one in 2012... I just can show you after giving it away. So not for december 2012 or early 2013...

Puh.. that seems a little bit creepy! But what other time in the year than january to start thinking about christmas? ^^

Cardboard... with pink glitter! A lot of glue and pink glitter! And the glitter is really durable once the glue is cured :)

Inspirations: It was a rainy day (Leipzig)

It was a rainy day. Lachafa was visiting me and we went to some shops (and also going for some food ^^). We found clooney's campaign... and you may already know the cute little metal dragon!

We also took some fotos with an old photo booth... and inside was this great stencil!

Guess the *not so mysterious* thing!

This earrings were made for the pink advent calendar. Yes, I may say that the pink sparkling glitter in pink will already told you so :)

But also this one is for Mich L in LA and her "Guess the mystery thing". 

I love her findings and what she makes for cool jewelery out of them. Just seeing the jewelery, most of the I am completly without clue what stuff she used for creating it. And I may add: If I think I have a clue... it is going in the complete wrong direction! 

So this one is for her, not so difficult at all like her stuff but still I made earrings out of non-jewelery-related stuff and I really love the result! :) 

Have a closer look! I think you all already know what I used, nai? Not that strange or difficult :)

Let it snow in polycolour!

Earrings you may say... nothing but earrings...! But an earring is not only an earring! With all the stuff I find I am always thinking: Mh.... could I make an earring out of it? You may say that this is an easy way. I was just wondering why it makes so much more fun for me to create earrings than other stuff. 

I realised that this may be because earrings are more than just a piece of normal accessoire. They build a frame for your face and even if you take a picture just of the head / face, you'll always catch the earrings. Earring more than any other jewelery creates a kind of look and an impression of how your image could be received by others. 

Sometimes it is decent, more often earrings are the little pieces of rebellion worn with the everyday clothes. They allow everyone to step a little bit outside the line without completly crossing it. 

Old adds... paper earrings

Yes, more paper earrings! And guess what, there will be a lot more in th next time! But this pair was also for an advent calendar, so I can show it to you finally. Just some little items left to show and also some pictures from my visit in Münster where my sister Lachafa now lives and studies (now = over a year). She studies now... exceeds me about a head lenght (so much for being my little sister!)... and I am sometimes wondering myself, when did all this happen? ^^ 

Back to the earrings... the picture is an old advertising I just printed out :) Way too many possibilities for earrings out of paper! 

Dream and think! And add some brains!

I wish you all a happy and great and astonishing new year! 

2012 is somehow a more balanced number than 2011. Yes, this is only from a graphic point of view ^^ But the last year was really a hard one. Not bad in all things, for all the bad stuff also a lot of good stuff happened, but it took its toll in energy. Changing things, especially oneself, because in the end this is the only parameter one really can change in life (it sound worse than I mean it :)), is often important. To keep oneself on the way, step for step, little ones because they are in the end the real changing ones. 

Dream and think are two words which suits me very well. Often because I dream and think too much. Can you dream and think too much? Yes... if the dreaming is more of an escape and not just for the joy of it and if the thinking starts to turn in circles and rounds and starts eating yourself from the inside. 

I learned in 2011 that life is easier than you may believe. Even in the hard times. That no matter how strange you are, there are people who catch you, stay on your side and hold you even if you are pushing them away. Strange that often this are not the people who you thought that they would be. Even stranger, sometimes they only stay in your life for the hard times...

Okay, this blog entry is going to be more sentimental than I wanted it to be. So I'll stop at this point! :)

Dream and think! And add some brains! My words for 2012 and it is okay if the extra brains are earrings! 

They were made from an ad postcard I found during a trip to Berlin.

I put a lot of glitter, nightglowing paint on the brains!

Of course also a thick layer of 3D glue (this tim it was diamond glaze).

Yes, they glow! All brains glows, didn't you know that? We just don't see it (at least I want my intern brain to be glowing ^^).

You see the lovely structures of the brain?