In Love

my brother gave me a ukulele for my birthday and I'm in love with it. it's such a nice little instrument! and it's so much fun to look up your favourite songs and play ukulele versions of them...hihihi ^__^

winter is close, let's make rainbows

I am soon moving and trying to use some materials...and I'm so in love with colored glitters that I cannot stop making rainbow broches!!! here they are together with a new few creations. I'm having fun like a child in a candyshop :)

OplaMinishop

So, my project for this summer will be to run my own shop. I always wanted to try something like this, as craft and handmade are my second biggest passion after art... But I never had a chance. Temporary stores are perfect in this sense because they allow you to try the experience withouth the big deal of investing lots of money or a "real" shop. So at the moment I am busy selecting the last designer, deciding prices together, setting up an email and a blog... I decided to call it Oplà because it's italian but it can be easily pronounced by foreigners as well. Oplà reminds me of childhood and playfulness. it's going to be a nice adventure. can't wait!

Roller Derby Love

I recently started practicing roller derby here in Rotterdam. I fell in love with this sport ever since I saw a movie about it, titled "Whip It" directed by one of my favourite women ever: Drew Barrymore. So, when I discovered I could participate in a so-called "fresh meat day" I took the chance immediately! it is a tough sport, especially since I was not used to sports, and I did not know how to properly skate. But I am LOVING it and putting a lot of effort to improve as fast as I can. So, I offered to support the team by making resin brooches with their logo on it, to sell as merchandise. I madethe first one and the girls loved it. :) can't wait to try more combinations !!

going crazy with resin!

my friend simona asked me to make some resin brooches with the logo of her association... (which, by the way, I found lovely, perfect union of romantic and rockabilly! and so italian :) ) These brooches will be a trial version of a possible bigger production. They will be sold at one event next sunday, and if they turn out to be popular, then I will need to make a BIG amount of them. I enjoyed having a limited amount of freedom... i could play with colours and shapes but of course they had to match the logo. so.. just a few samples for now...

More cozies !

Crochet is just addicting, I am more and more sure of it! I am making a coloured draft stopper for my bedroom and between one color and the other I like to create something else...and here's yesterday night's result! I watched a movie and in the meantime made two news phone/iPhone/mp3 cozies... white and mint cream... of course with the cherry on top!! enjoy!

In the Vintage Mood...

first of all, happy new year everyone!
I hope you had a great start of 2012. I surely did, I started the year with a wonderful trip to the South of Italy to visit some friends I haven't seen in years. It's been great: breathtaking landscapes, lots of nice foods and endless talks.
And now that I'm back, I feel really energetic and active.
So I started my new production with some vintage inspired resin jewels. At the moment these are the items I enjoy most: finding the little figurines is a lot of fun, as well as matching glitter and images for the background.
I hope you enjoy these new necklaces and brooches!

working space - work in progress

in the last few days I decided to stop complaining that my house was always a mess and decided to do something about it. so, I finally did what I kept procrastinating since a few months for no real reason: I organised my working space. I finally have my own table(s) to work on, and a space that I can leave messy or tidy or however I feel like, because it's my little creative piece of heaven.

here you have a couple of pics of the space (still a bit messy, lots of stuff on the floor which needs to go...)

I have a small table which I can use for the "dirty" or messy part of my creative process, such as pouring resin or using glitter. the big table can be used to put the jewelry together, prepare packages and so on. the boxes contain supplies or finished items ready to pack, and I put a small plastic piece where I seat so I can work with fimo without touching the table directly. to make the place more colorful and inspiring I added a cork board that I can use for images and tiny things, and wires to hang my ATCs collection. on the far left of the image you can also see that I also have my small oven close by, to cook the jewelry, and bits of bubblewrap to pack them.

more pics of the finished space will follow...for now, I can't wait to start using it! I am so glad I invested some time and a bit of money to do this...definetly worth the efforts!

♥ 9 random facts about me ♥

I saw this Tag on a couple of blogs and could not resist...I think it's so funny and I LOVE reading other people's random facts! So if any of you wants to do it, it would be great !
But let's start with mine....

♥ I have 3 piercings and one tattoo, but they are pretty well hidden (especially the tattoo! that's completely hidden) so people don't really think about me as a "tattoo" or "piercing person".

♥ I always grew up with a dog by my side since I was born. That's the thing I miss most in my life since I moved abroad. But unfortunately my lifestye does not allow me to get one, at least for the moment

♥ There are three things I was good at, that I regret giving up: bellydancing, playing bass guitar (ok ok I was not SO good at this!) and juggling. I gave them up for one reason or the other and I wish I hadn't. (especially the bellydancing! I loved it!)

♥ Pearl Jam are my favourite band ever and I saw them live quite a few time and in several different cities including Milan, Torino, Rotterdam and Berlin.

♥ I lived for three months in NYC a few years ago and left a big chunk of my heart there. I loved it.

♥ Almost every pixar movie made me cry

♥ I am a bit of a makeup junkie and have a HUUUGE makeup collection (only low cost luckily). It's a really recent passion though, for almost 15 years I sported only a panda-eyes look or no makeup at all. Now I love choosing colour combinations and change look every day.

♥ I don't like driving the car but I LOVED driving my scooter when I was in italy... I drove scooters for 10 years there, from high school days til the day I move to the Netherlands. I absolutely love it.

♥ I am also a crafty junkie. Eevery now and then I discover new materials and techniques I ABSOLUTELY have to try and I get obsessive about it, then I quit because they're not that interesting to me... and go back to my beloved resin and fimo clay :)

That's it! My 9 random facts! Would love to read yours!

Thinking about Winter...

For some reason, although I love summer, my favourite seasons are autumn and winter...I love the cozy feeling of working at home with a hot cup of tea, watching the rain or the show falling outiside... ok, enough for now...

Anyway, I always forgot to put online the pics of my first scarf realised with Twinkie Chan's book! This is what brought me again in the crochet-madness after so many years! I had a lot of fun and it gave me lots of ideas to start developing my own patterns, as soon as I will feel confident enough to begin. 

This scarf is definetly going to put a smile on people's face during a grey winter day. 

a bit late but...

good monday my readers! this is my monthly post about my favourite things...this time in the month of april! I am late but I promise I'll do much better in the future...and it's almost already time for the may ones! 

♥ Favourite Book of the month: a really nice book I found in an english bookshop in Berlin, named "Speaking with the Angel". it's a mix of short stories by several writers, compiled and edited by Nick Hornby. there are some small gems in that book which totally deserve to be read!
♥ Favourite Movie of the month: I absolutely LOVED the movie Soul Kitchen by Fatih Akin. it's funny, clever and even romantic, in every possible sense.  
♥ Favourite Place of the month: I had a great time in Italy...so this time the favourite place of the month is HOME!
♥ Favourite Purchase of the month: a really nice italian book about graffiti and street art by a very young italian lady!
♥ Favourite Food of the month: it has to be pizza, sorry, not very original! 
♥ Favourite Music of the month: I discovered Agnes Obel, which is truly inspiring and dreamy. I love her music! 

♥ Beejoux items sold in april: 3 (ok it's still not a lot... but I am doing much better this month I swear!!!)

Spring is in the Air!

new pretty items on my webshop, in the mood for this time of the year...

catching up!

keeping up my good resolutions and trying to photograph all the items that were left behind... not easy at all :)

new start - february/march 2011!

Once again I have been neglecting this blog and my crafty activity in general...guess I need to learn how to use my energies better!
But now, it's time for a new start...hopefully a good one! So I will begin with talking about the month that just finished, and then it's time for good resolutions for the month that just begun!

February 2011

♥ Favourite Book of the month: definetly Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby which I finished in about 5 days when I was in Berlin. the sweetest, nicest book I read in a really long time...I loved it! It made me stay up late to finish reading it...a feeling I really love :)
♥ Favourite Movie of the month: a movie from some years ago that I saw now for the first time: A Love Song for Bobby Long.
♥ Favourite Place of the month: this HAS to be Berlin! I love it more and more every time I visit it...guess who's thinking about moving there?
♥ Favourite Purchase of the month: a beautiful book of photographs taken by Felix Gonzales-Torres. simply amazing and really moving.
♥ Favourite Food of the month: sushi!!!
♥ Favourite Music of the month: Iron and Wine, that I saw performing live in Paradiso, Amsterdam. amazing evening! and then I kept listening to his music all the time...

Items sold in February: 3 (I know, this sounds a bit ridiculous but considering I did not put any effort in my crafty activity it's a miracle! and it gave me the energy to start putting some effort in it again...)

Good resolutions for March (or let's call them goals...):
- spend more time on my crafty blog/website/twitter
- save some money (ouch, I spent SO much money in Berlin...)
- be in a better mood (january and february have been sort of grey months for me...)
- think about some new beejoux items!!!