On Holidays!

I’m away! See you again on May 9th! :)

By Renate on April 24th, 2010 | Posted in Diverses | 2 Comments »

Finally I bought a new camera.

For months now I pondered about what camera to buy. My old Sony DSC-W7 served me well for years, but then the colors became… strange.
I searched the web, I looked into forums, I asked everyone who couldn’t run away fast enough - only to get (of course), different answers each time.
DSRL came up. Well, I could maybe have squeezed out enough money to buy one of the “cheap” entry level ones. But when I started to read more about them, I realised that it would take me some time to learn how to use it. I’d need time AND money. Both things I don’t have laying around here unfortunately.

And then it finally made “bling” in my head. I realised that I’m not really a photographer. Not even a hobby-photographer. I need to make good photos of my books and I want to make the usual snapshots without having to carry around a large camera. Let’s face it, I’m the lazy “point and click” type! No need to spend lots of money for a camera I would not really utilize anway.

So I decided to give this Finepix F200 EXR a try. And guess what - it does all I want and need. It’s easy to handle and I got it, with second battery and two 4GB cards, for little over EUR 200.-

And this case for throwing it into my bag I just made myself. Used my thick acrylic felt so the camera is soft and safe. And I also built in a little extra pocket for the extra cards.  Yeah, can’t help it, I’m cheap :D

By Renate on April 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Diverses | 9 Comments »

My new, hopefully eco-friendly, packaging

You may know already, I’m not that fond of packing orders. It starts with putting all the details into a nifty database my hubby made for me. Need that for bookkeeping, and it also let’s me print the label and invoice with one click. Well, nifty, I told you! :)

I include a sample “page”, a certificate and a bookmark with each book. Until now, I only put it all together when packing. Wrote the certificate, wrapped the book in kraft paper (which I had to pre-cut beforehand),  put a ribbon and my little “thank you” note on it and -finally done.

But recently I had the superclever idea (yeah, finally!) to use re-closable ziplock bags to put all the things together as soon as I have a book finished. That way, I can store them in my cabinet all ready to take off.

And I had the even more superclever idea (unbelievable, right?) to use our newspaper. It’s the right size already and hey - eco friendly! To top it, I even use natural bast for the wrapping. Though I have to say, I’m not so happy with that, I will look for something more handy I think …

I can’t re-use envelopes, as I simply don’t get enough of them. (Maybe I should buy more stuff???) But overall, what do you think? Is that a good mix of eco-friendly and still nice to look at?

By Renate on April 16th, 2010 | Posted in Diverses | 17 Comments »

Monday Moodboard

By Renate on April 12th, 2010 | Posted in Diverses | 8 Comments »

I have a friend in Honolulu!

Yes! Once she was my customer. Well, she still is, but soon she became more and more a dear friend to me. Though, never would I have expect what happend today!  Postman brought me one of the lovely INTRES trees! I recognized the package right away as I’m already the proud owner of two of them!
Can you imagine how big my surprise was, as I did not order (yet) another one? Well, I read the sweet message that was included and thought “Yes I do know a girl with this first name, but this can’t be. She can’t send me this lovely blooming tree just so”. I thought it’s maybe an error? So my first action was to write Maria (the fine girl who makes this wonderful trees) and ask her wether I’m right with my assumption. And well, I was! Ha! I still can’t really believe it! It’s been a long time since I got such a wonderful surprise. I feel all happy and spoiled! WOHOOO!!!
Thank you so much my dear friend in Honolulu! You are a bit crazy to do something like that, but of course that’s something to love you even more! :)

By Renate on April 9th, 2010 | Posted in Diverses | 7 Comments »

Biggest Button Ever

This week Petronella gave us “The Button” as a challenge to create something.
As I often use  buttons on my books, I thought I’d need to make something more… buttonesque. At least, I wanted to make a button myself. Already made them from Polymer Clay, and the idea to cut some branches and make that into buttons did not work, as I would have had to let the wood dry first. Bah!
But as you can see, I found a way to make the Biggest Button Ever! Well, maybe there are bigger ones, but it’s at least the biggest I’ve ever seen.  12 cm (4 inch) is the buttons diameter.  Made from acrylic felt and my trusted cotton canvas.

By Renate on April 3rd, 2010 | Posted in Diverses | 8 Comments »