time to go home

time to go home, originally uploaded by *andee*.

The last day before I left Sylt I went for a final stroll at the beach, keeping a weary eye on the sky because I was afraid I'd get into a thunderstorm. I managed to get back to our appartment just in time. Impressive clouds, huh? :)

first sight of the ocean

And this is why I have been quiet the past week - vacation time! :) Spent a week on my favourite island in the North Sea - Sylt. A truly beautiful spot to be, even tho at this time of the year it's a bit of a gamble as far as the weather is concerned. I was lucky, there was some rain but it didn't interfere with my beach strolls. It was VERY windy, tho, and quite cool.



More to come as time allows! :)

favourite time of the year

Spring is by far my favourite season. I love the fresh greens, the first blossoms, the mild breeze - but most of all I love baby ducks. So yesterday I went for a stroll in one of our parks, eager to see ducklings. Sadly I only found one duck mom, but at least she had no less than 14 of the cuties.
I only brought my toy camera which wasn't really up for the task of zooming in onto fluffy fast featherballs...



(In case you're counting - they're not all on the photo, some of them were dragging behind.)

wow

I just came across this treasury - completely devoted to yours truly, curated by Carrie from DoBeadDo. I don't know how Carrie manages to put any items in her Etsy shop as pretty much everything she makes sells right off her neck/arm, but nevertheless she keeps her shop well stocked - for example with this lovely summery necklace. :)



Thank you SO much, Carrie! :)

happy easter! :)

happy easter! :), originally uploaded by *andee*.

I spent the last two evenings in the pleasant company of Capt. Jack Sparrow, and that helped with the blah-mood I'm in. Today's a grey, overcast and going-to-rain day, but I don't mind as I will spend it in my jammies again doing nothing whatsoever. Except taking photos of the latest work. And editing them. And doing some laundry. And organising my jewellery. And, errm, okay, the doing nothing clearly is not going to happen... :)=)

I wish you all a lovely Easter full of joy!

remnant

remnant, originally uploaded by *andee*.

I made jewellery today - yay! A couple of necklaces, a pair of earrings and a bracelet - so far. I'm in no mood to take and edit pics of the lot today, tho, so that'll have to wait another while. It's gorgeous weather outside and I'm spending the day inside in my PJs, but creating is so important for me that I don't mind. :)

sign of life

heart on stone, originally uploaded by *andee*.

I'm sorry for being MIA such a lot lately - I'm just not in the best of moods currently. I want to thank Barrie and Saskia for awarding my blog - I didn't get around to adding the awards to my blog and spreading the love yet, but I thank you nonetheless for thinking of me! :)

the empress

Until a couple of years ago I used to lay the Tarot cards for myself every New Year's Eve, to see what the next year would bring. It got too depressing after I lost my job, so I stopped doing it, but when I saw "What Tarot Card are you?" on Pam's and Maggie's blogs, I had to give it a try:

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents, beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You? Take the Test to Find Out.

a sky full of drama

a sky full of drama, originally uploaded by *andee*.

I was at work for maybe half an hour this morning when I went to an office on the other side of my floor - and look what an incredible sight the sky was!

Alas - that was the best part of the day. It was followed by crap. And more crap. So glad there's only one more day to go before the weekend!

new toy

I went and bought myself a new camera today. Because, hey, I totally needed one. I mean, it's not as if it brings the number of digital cameras I own up to 5....

However - I wanted one for every day use.

Even tho until 2005 I really hated to take photos I was possibly one of the first people to buy a digital camera, back in oh I don't know, some time during the last millennium. Its little drive could hold a total of 12 photos, and the batteries were good for, erm, 3 photos max. Ah, those were the days... So, number 1 clearly isn't up for the task anymore. Number 2, while not bad, doesn't have that much comfort. Number 3 was the first with interchangeable lenses, it has cool features and stuff, but it's also a bit bulky. Number 4, oh, I love love love number 4, my sweet Nikon D70, it will always be my first choice if I want to take "real" photos, but it's WAY too large for every day. So here's number 5, a small Fuji Finepix which nonetheless has manual mode and aperture priority and seems to be a cool little thing. It'll go in my purse and will go whereever I go. :)

PS - photo of number 5 was taken with number 3, and yes, the pic is horrible, and yes, number 3 can do better, but it's dark and late and prrrt! :)=)

got an award! :)

Swiedebie from the European Street Team awarded my blog with the Proximidade-Award - thank you, Swee! :)

Proximidade is described as follows:
'This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!'

The rules are: This blog award should be sent to your favorite eight bloggers and they, in turn should forward to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade (above) in your announcement blog.

So, now I've got to pass this award to 8 wonderful people, and I choose:

Pam
Maggie
Barrie
Rita
Cheryl
Gwen
Shirley
Steph

:)

happy sunday!

purpleicious, originally uploaded by *andee*.

I'm trying to fight my usual Sunday blahs - I'll stay in my flannel PJs all day long, laying on the sofa watching Dharma & Greg and munching yummy double chocolate chip cookies. Maybe I can squeeze in some creating in this extremely busy schedule - we'll see. ;)

Hope you will have an enjoyable Sunday, too! :)

the lunchbox

One of my must-do-in-2009's is to try and really make proper lunch breaks on my work days. As we are currently having a spell of icy snowy cold I don't feel like going out, so today I took a lunchbox to work:

:)=)

I had the design figured out ahead and cut the chain in handy pieces yesterday eve, so all I had to do was some let-your-thoughts-wander-wirewrapping while listening to Freddy Mercury, Genesis and Alan Parson's Project...






... and this is the result. Voilà, lunchbox-necklace! :)


Best lunch break in months!

sundays...

It's Sunday. I HATE Sundays. Always have, always will. And what's worse - it's the last day of my 3 weeks holidays. Tomorrow I'll have to go back to unbearable workloads, ever ringing telephones and impregnable amounts of emails. Oh yes, there's still that New Year's resolution, and I WILL try to stay calm and not break out in tears every time a new task lands on my desk, but just the thought of having to get up tomorrow at 5:30 and leave my warm and comfy home for a brisk walk and subsequent long waiting on platforms in subzero temperatures followed by said Himalaya Of Work does not exactly make me all happy and dancing here.

And, like I said - it's Sunday.

Sigh.

Off to do the weekly faves now...

resolutions

I stopped making New Year's resolutions years ago, because I never keep up with them anyway. How often did I promise myself to start exercising, to eat healthier, to DO things - only to conveniently "forget" these promises a couple of weeks into the new year.

A couple of difficult years are laying behind - five years, to be precise, although the 3 years prior weren't all that great either. In 2003 I lost my job of 20 years and was unemployed for 3 years, followed by temp jobs for another 2 years. It seemed impossible to find a new job. I've had a good education and training, I studied business in the evenings while being on a full-time-job, I worked for 20 years in a well paid job for a well-known company, and I was 38 years old. Too old, overqualified, too well paid in the past for finding a new job. The temp agency, however, was more than happy to take me and suck me dry. They earned I don't know how much for my labour, and I just got a tiny amount, not really much more than unemployment money.

Since July 1 I'm in a permanent job again - the same I was doing as temp since January last year. It took half a year to get the perm settled, and if I were the type to gnaw my fingernails I would've gnawed away until reaching my elbows. The job is well enough paid, but the commute is a bummer, and the job - oh, the job... Exhausting and so, so nerve-wrecking. I don't know how many times I sat at my desk, crying, because I just couldn't keep up with the workload. There is so much to do, and the deadlines sometimes are just plain crazy. I'm not that thick-skinned anymore after 5 years of constantly wondering if I'm really worth nothing, so this last year on the job had rubbed my nerves raw. I got up at 5:30, commuted for 1 1/4 hour or longer, was at the job for 8 hours, hardly ever managed to take a lunch break, commuted back for 1 1/4 hours, and when I got home all I could do is grab something to eat, veg out in front of the telly for an hour or so and then go to bed.

What kind of life is that?

So, my resolution for 2009, no, what I desperately NEED for 2009, is staying calm at work, a bit of happyness, a lot of relaxing, being more active, some fun, and definitely some balance and order. Once there is balance I hope there will be creating, too, and some success in selling would be desirable, too.

To represent these resolutions I made this bracelet - something to keep close to remind me of them:

2009 - chrysoprase, amethyst, carnelian, silver

happy new year! :)

Wishing you all the best for 2009 - peace, love, health, happiness, fun (and lots of sales, should you desire so)! :)

secret santa

What a surprise was waiting for me when I went to get my mail today! My Secret Santa gift from Cheryl from the Wearable Arts forum at WetCanvas! I was told the gift would be a little late, so I didn't expect to receive it this year, but there it was!

The larger of the two packages contained yummy chocolate. So tasty! :)










And then there was the small package, and it turned out to hold real treasure - my mouth fell open when I saw what's inside, and I think my heart skipped a beat:

An adorable buttercup pendant plus necklace in silver and brass - I have always wanted one of Cheryl's buttercup-pieces, and now I've got one, I'm so happy!

But that wasn't all - there was also an absolutely wonderful pair of earrings, silver and gold.



I feel so spoiled - what a wonderful gift!

I am of course wearing them all now, and I'm not going to take them off any time soon, that's for sure!

Thank you so much, Cheryl! :)

Cheryl's work is available in her Etsy shop, LavenderCottage. She is such a talented artist and makes gorgeous pieces of wearable art!

new hearts and fp

My shop for photography was featured on frontpage last night - alas, I have no idea with what item, as I was only an alternate in the treasury by Anakim. The Featsy stats tool doesn't recognise andeesignsPhoto, so there's just happiness without knowledge, so to speak! ;)

Altogether these last couple of days were awesome as far as exposure is concerned. Here's hoping this will keep up in the new year, and I'll finally get some more sales.

In other news - I have not left my appartment in the last 5 days except for going downstairs to check my mail, so today will be grocery shopping. Hope all that fresh air won't knock me out! ;)

I had a little creative spurt yesterday - will need to take photos later.

Have a great day! :)

good morning!

Not sure what the day will bring (although I'm pretty sure it will include me sitting at the computer. A lot.), but it started with another treasury I could grab - aqualicious.

Have a wonderful Sunday, everybody! :)

today's labour...

Since I'm not all that inspired I thought I could at least prepare some stuff - like dying bone beads (with black tea) or flame-age some ultra-shiny brass chain. The latter took a couple of minutes. And then it took an hour to disentangle several meters of chain. And then another while to disentangle said chain again, because I made the mistake of putting it down for a second before winding it over a piece of cardboard...

Also I managed to grab a christmassy treasury and a wintery one on Etsy - check them out while they last! :) If you like these xmas colours, you could also check out this bracelet or these photos.

Last but not least I did sit down and created a few things:

lotus - the first lampwork bead I ever bought, metal, crystal, brass (yup, that's some of the flame-aged chain mentioned above)
















words of wisdom - copper (etched by yours truly), turquoise, carnelian

















the world's chunkiest necklace - I rather think this is a piece of UNwearable art. The focal stone is 4 cm wide, just to give you an idea of the dimensions. Coral, plastic, wood, horn, metal, jasper, tiger eye, agate, and two beads by Steph.