Have A Wonderful Weekend!

I want to wish you all a wonderful first weekend of August!

I leave you with an inspiring picture of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), so you can feel relaxed too!


Enjoy these days and have fun! :)

The Artist Behind The Shop: Compilation

A couple of months ago, I started a project on my blog called "The Artist Behind The Shop".
The idea was to feature great artists and get to know them a little bit more.

I´ll be having a break from this section during August, I´m very busy preparing everything for the next craft fair in Maastricht (next 16th August, more info here: http://www.craftparking.nl/ ). But I´ll work again on these interviews on September!

Thank you so much to all of you who participated and commented!


And if you missed the previous interviews, here you can find them:





Inger Maaike

Ira Grant

Kerrin Forster

Minna Soininen

Stéphanie Kilgast

Are you an artist interested on being featured on my blog? Leave a comment here and I´ll contact you, or contact me through convo or message on Etsy and Artfire.

Thank You Facebook Fans!

Few days ago, I reached 200 fans on my Facebook page and I wanted to share my happiness with all of you, by offering a 25% discount on my website! http://www.leelabijou.com/

Just entering the following code during checkout: CJVVSU

The discount will be valid until 8/02.

Thank you all so much!

My Mosaic: Looking For Peaceful Moments

1. Peace, 2. Missing Peace, 3. The Peace Ribbon, 4. Peace on Earth

Sometimes, I´d like to find a calm place, without city noises. Just the echo of the nature...

That´s what inspired my mosaic this week.

Come and join the mosaic game on Mitsy´s blog HERE!

Inner Fire Necklace, My EST Weekly Challenge Entry

This necklace is made with silver plated wire, Swarovski crystal and red velvet choker. And it is my original design for the EST Weekly Challenge. This week the theme is "The Hidden Side" and the host is the wonderful Dawn from www.LaTouchables.etsy.com

You can see the rest of the entries HERE!

The Artist Behind The Shop: Stéphanie Kilgast

Such beautiful pieces can only be made by a big artist. Stéphanie Kilgast is the wonderful crafter behind PetitPlat. Her work is one of the most amazing miniatures I´ve ever seen and I truly admire every little piece from her shop.

I invite you to know a little bit more about Stéphanie

When did you start crafting? What was your motivation?

I've crafted since my early childhood. I drawed a lot when I was little, went on miniature food out of normal clay for my Barbies, then I did some jewelry out of glass beads, I started to paint when I was 16, I learnt to knit with 18 and I went back to miniature food in 2007.


Which one of your designs makes you feel prouder of yourself?

I'm always proud of my latest designs, as I always try to reinvent my 'art' and improve my skills. So right now, I'm proud of my raspberry macarons pendant:


What kind of things inspire you?

Cooking books, blogs and websites! Random jewelry found on flickr and other miniaturists.


Do you have any favorite book, movie, comic, etc? Which one and why is it your favorite?

It's a bit hard for me to choose, but I have several favorite books: Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, 1984 by Georges Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and (I must admit it) the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. All of these books are rather 'dark'. Some of them makes me think about how our world is, about politics and society. Some are more about the emotions a human can live through.

Besides that I'm very fond of comics as well! On the comic side I'm very different than my book side, I prefer fun comics and don't appreciate serious ones at all. My favorite has to be Asterix and Obelix, but I have a rather huge comic collection.


Do you have any mania or obsession?

Food! It's pathetic but I can't stand when a meal isn't good enough. It's all my mother's fault, she's a great cook!And well I do miniature food all day and I love to cook and eat :) I also really like to go to a restaurant (far more than going to a movie or a party, blah! I prefer eating!)And I think it's pretty great because you have to eat quite much in a life time, so it's better when you enjoy it :)

Would you like to share any advice with your fellow artists?

Take your time to find out how to make the miniature perfect. That often means trial an error. Don't just ask other miniaturists on how they did it, you can't improve like this. You need to think by yourself.

Where can people find you? (blog, twitter, flickr, facebook...)

blog: http://petitplatbysk.blogspot.com/

website: http://www.petitplat.fr/

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_sk/

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/PetitPlat/51250948671

dA: http://petitplat.deviantart.com/

Anything else you´d like to share?

I strongly believe that the difference between humans and animals is the creation. Human are meant to create, so get your glue, beads, paint, wood, metal, clay or fabric and create! It will make you feel alive!


Thank very much dear Stéphanie!

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Please, don´t forget to visit her fantastic shop!

Hollywood Actors: How Old Do You Think They Are? [Quiz]

I had a conversation the other day about how good and how bad people can be trying to guess someone´s age. I thought it would be fun to make a quiz related to few (randomly chosen) actors´ age. Do they look younger than they are, or are they older than you imagined?

The answers are at the bottom of this post, but I invite you to play and let me know what you think, are you a good at guessing ages? ;)

Here we go:



a) 47
b) 39
c) 43



a) 60
b) 68
c) 65

a) 48

b) 56

c) 60

a) 57

b) 62

c) 52

a) 30

b) 36

c) 34

a) 43

b) 46

c) 40

a) 52

b) 56

c) 60

a) 40

b) 42

c) 44

a) 41

b) 36

c) 34

a) 60

b) 55

c) 63

a) 37

b) 44

c) 40

a) 38

b) 35

c) 42

a) 45

b) 48

c) 50

a) 50

b) 48

c) 54

SOLUTIONS:

Tom Cruise a) 47, Robert De Niro c) 65, Pierce Brosnan b) 56, Liam Neeson a) 57, Leonardo DiCaprio c) 34, Johnny Deep b) 46, Jean Reno c) 60, Javier Bardem a) 40, Jamie Foxx a) 41, Jackie Chan b) 55, Hugh Jackman c) 40, Christian Bale b) 35, Brad Pitt a) 45, Denzel Whashington c) 54

My Entry For This Week´s Challenge

This is my entry for this week´s EST Challenge: Star Dust Necklace, made with sterling silver and Swarovski crystal.

This week the theme is "THE COLOURS WHICH MAKE YOU HAPPY" and the host is the wonderful Ira Grant. You can see the rest of the entries HERE.

Some Days I feel Like This...

Some days, I just feel like this, specially when I´ve been working a lot of hours, without almost any rest the previous day...

I´ve been making some custom orders lately and also making new designs for my shops, photoshooting the new pieces and preparing myself for the upcoming Euro Craft Fair, this August in Maastricht.

I feel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining...

Creepy movie, by the way. I loved it, I really recommend you to watch it!

Thanks for reading!

Oh Ice Cream!

1. ice- cream anyone ?, 2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yusheng/12121217/, 3. Cinnamon Ice Cream & Raspberry Sorbet, 4. Smores Ice Cream

What else can be so delicious on these hot Summer days?
These really yummy looking ice creams make me feel hungry!
If you´d like to cook your own ice cream, I posted a recipe while ago. Find it HERE.

Come and join the mosaic game on Mitsy´s blog HERE!

My Entry With Dots For This Week´s Challenge

This is my entry for this past week EST Challenge: Golden Bits, made with crystal beads and silver plated pieces.

The host is the wonderful Star of the East. This week the theme is "Dots" and you can see the rest of the lovely entries HERE.

The Artist Behind The Shop: Minna Soininen

Soft, beautiful, tender, elegant... I think these adjectives fit perfectly Minna´s work behind Karuski, her shop. Her delicate and pretty style is a very clear distinctive of her art.

Today, I invite you to know a bit more of the lovely Minna:


When did you start crafting? What was your motivation?

It must have started at the age of 6 when my parents put me into kids art school. I took painting, drawing and pottery lessons there on weekly basis for until I turned 12. Later on I attended a fine art school for oil painting but I realized this wasn't the right medium for me any longer. After many turns I ended up into a university of applied arts and chose textile design as my major. I think I couldn't do anything else than craft & design after all (I have tried office job as well!).


Which one of your designs makes you feel prouder of yourself?

When I have discovered something new in terms of design, material combination or technique it usually makes me feel satisfied on the result. So it's not about any specific item or design but a successful process, I think.


What kind of things inspire you?

Nature, soft light, vintage items and photos, old school typography to name a few things.


Do you have any favorite book, movie, comic, etc? Which one and why is it your favorite?

Pippi Longstocking and Moomin stories are among my very favorites. I adore Pippi's fearless attitude towards everything and Moomin stories have a great, joyful life philosophy. Their creators Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson were so clever women!

Do you have any mania or obsession?

Sometimes when I start making a series of items I cannot stop before it is finished. It can mean that I will be sewing until 4 am for instance. I prefer working night time though!

Is there a place you´ve visited that left a big impression in you? If so, why?

Japan definitely. It is a country of great contrasts and never ceases amazing me.

Would you like to share any advice with your fellow artists?

Work hard and always try to show off work you are totally happy with. Think about the big picture but don't forget that details often make a difference.

Where can people find you? (blog, twitter, flickr, facebook...)

karuski.com

twitter.com/karuski

flickr.com/minna_at_karuski

facebook.com/minnatuulia.soininen

I also contribute to EuropeanStreetTeam's blog ( http://europeanst.blogspot.com/ ) on monthly basis by editing the series The Favorite Places. Come to say hi!

Anything else you´d like to share?

Enjoy the summertime, take a rest! Thanks for inviting me to your blog Maria!

Thank you very much dear Minna! It has been a pleasure!
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Please, don´t forget to visit her wonderful shop!

Aren´t These Shoe Designs Amazing?

Yesterday, I found an interesting article about the weirdest shoes designs in the world and some of them were really shocking!

Here I show you a few of them, but I really recommend to read the whole article HERE or clicking in the pictures.

Would you wear any of these?

UPDATED:

The lovely Ioulia has shared this amazing design:

And the nice Inger Maaike has found some impressive shoes too!:

Feel free to leave a comment with a link to any interesting design you´d like to share and I´ll add it! Thanks!