Be right Back!

I'm off on my dream trip to Tokyo!
Not bringing a laptop and not sure if i'll have access to a computer and internet, so i'll be back here when i return to NY! Hope you all will be here to welcome me back and read about my Japanese Adventures.
Very excited!

Dream Coming True: Tokyo!

Part of an applique design that appeared in my book 100 applique motifs.

For years and years i've been wanting to travel to Japan. I have said many times to my husband, who is a musician, that if he ever had to go to Tokyo, i would go with him! He then just smiled and said yes dear. Since there was no indication that a trip like that was on the horizon.
Until a little while back. He started working with a Japanese producer, got released on a compilation EP, asked to do some more work, and now invited to come over to perform! Whoohoo! I knew it would happen some day!!
My dream is coming true, we are flying to Japan at the end of this month!
Since it's been my dream for so long, i already know about a lot of places that i want to visit, a lot of shops i want to go to, i even already know what trains to take! I'll be arriving prepared!

The flight from NY to Tokyo will be a whopping 14,5 hours so i'm definitely bringing something to craft on to pass the time. What is a better inflight craft? Crochet or embroidery? (can you even bring embroidery needles on a plane nowadays?) Any suggestions?

Oh my... 2010! Happy New Year!

I don't think i have ever been more ready to start a New Year. All though i am amazed that life brought us to the year 2010 already. Life gave me some tough times over the past year, but things seem to be turning around for me. Plus i will not, won't let the bad times overshadow the good. There were many good times in 2009. And i am planning to have many more in 2010!

I thank everyone for sharing in my adventures and let's make 20-10 one to never forget! Wishing all a loving and safe new years celebration! Watch out for the fireworks and be happy!

Happy Happy Happiness

Some of you might have already noticed it by a couple of hystericalhappy tweets, but i have received some great news!
I'm overjoyed. The official letter from the immigration service came in. And the first word said it all: "Congratulations!" Whoohoo! I will get my green card back and will be able to stay in NY with my Love!
No more worries. All ends well. I'm so happy, i don't know how to describe it. I am instantly more relaxed. I can start planning for 2010 again. (did anyone say Tokyo and Amsterdam?)
I have now read the letter multiple times. Just to be sure it is real. Plus i was looking if there was an apology anywhere for making me worry so much. Or something like "We were wrong, you were honest". But nah, nothing. I won't make a point of it. The congratulations will do just fine. lol

Now only get 100% physically better again and my life can really get back to normal. My hip is healing, but there is still daily pain. My MRI got postponed twice, but is now scheduled for next Monday. If the outcome is good i can start physical therapy to learn how to walk normally again. I still look somewhat like a slow penguin when i walk now. But i know this is temporary and will one day be a memory.
I'm definitely looking forward to the future again. And wishing all of you a lot of positivity and blessings too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the first year that i've been cooking a Thanksgiving meal. I didn't grow up with celebrating Thanksgiving, but i have been at 2 thanksgiving dinners before, plus what i've seen in movies and on Food Network, i whipped up a storm in the kitchen today!
Cranberry Sauce, Cornbread, Coleslaw (two batches!), Stuffing, Peach Cobbler (only thing that didn't came out right), Potato Salad, Sweet Potato Casserole (ala Boston Market with marshmallows!), Gravy, and Mac & Cheese. And since hubby doesn't eat Turkey, i made Fried Chicken.
Everything from scratch! Oh, i'm lying, the cornbread came from a package, had to add some ingredients though.
We will be eating for days!

All though we've been going through some hard times lately, today we are relaxing and giving thanks.
In between cooking i've been watching old Gene Kelly Fred Astaire movies. Oh i love today!

The Thank You card design with this post is the setup for a bunch of postcards i will have printed and send to all those who have helped us with convincing the immigration service that Love and I are really a loving couple. So many people came trough and wrote letters for us. I am very grateful.

I don't know what the future will bring, but i think i have had my share of bad luck for a while. Better times must be ahead!
Thank you. Everyone. Online and Offline. For all your love and support.

Stepping back

I'm a bit disappointed. Life keeps testing me. Yesterday i went to see the Orthopedic Doctor for my hip and back. It's now 3 weeks after the accident and all though i see progress i still have pain. I was so happy last weekend that i could walk a bit better and even was able to go out without my walking cane! But then the doctor tells me he doesn't want me walking until i have a MRI scan done. I understand it, but i'm not happy about it. Crutches? Yes. But so not me.
Guess i don't have a choice here. I will be back resting again. And i will need a lot of physical therapy to learn to walk right again. But i expected that.
Thus not a lot of thrifting and flea market visits for me in the near future. I was so planning to stock up the shop with new vintage finds! I have a couple of items to list still and a box of vintage magazines and children's books.
Today i went out (yes doctor i know you told me not to) to get some new yarns and other craft supplies. What does a girl need when she is faced with more time inside? Craft goodies of course!
I'm planning to crochet a big round throw to put on our couch and there are some smaller Christmas craft projects that i want to do and write tutorials for.

Yesterday i also sent out all additional paperwork to the immigration services. Now it's out of my hands again. Praying that i will receive good news soon. I'm scared, but cannot let the thought in that it will end otherwise.
I'm staying strong, keeping my head up and staying focussed. Better times will come again.
Thanks for all the support so far. I really really appreciate all the messages and comments!
Special thanks to the sweet Maartje from Mamutopia for sending me the most adorable Hema Care Package! Love it!

You and Me against the world

I don't want this blog to become a depressing place to visit. I hope this new month will bring some more good news than bad. But i do want to give a quick update on what happened last week before i move on to more fun things (crafts and vintage adventures!)
About my sprained hip due to getting hit by a car, i am getting better. It has been a week ago today and i haven't been outside yet. Yes, i am a bit of a homebody, but this is crazy even for me. I am finally starting to "walk" again, even though it's still with a walking cane. I can definitely see and feel progress in recovery!
I am still feeling blessed that i came out of it like i did. Thank you for all your support!

And thank you for all the love and support in regards to our worries with the CIS. The worries are still there, but we are working on getting this straight. I still cannot truly believe they don't believe us. But no time for all that, i'm getting more paperwork together and we've already received some affidavit letters from friends testifying our love is true. And more letters are on their way. I cannot think of what a worse case scenario would entail. I just cannot let my thoughts go there. This must be solved. It must.

Just before the accident i found this adorable 1970 Fran Mar print. Isn't it fitting with what we're going through right now? I loved it before, and i love it even more now. It hangs on the wall next to my desk, and every time i look at it, i think, we can do this!

This is not my week: CIS doesn't believe us

I'm still recovering from the accident. I now can move around the apartment a bit with my cane, but no way i can get outside yet. Can sit up for like 15 minutes before my hip protests. Even though i am still hurting, at least i see there is progress. I will get better. Thank you all so much for the well wishes. My hubby read them all to me and they really gave me some needed support.

So what's happening now? Well if you have been following my blog for a while now you will know that me and my husband we're in a 7+ year long distance relationship before we got to the point of getting married and filing for my visa to be able to finally be together here in NY. It was a long road to travel, but being here now makes it worth it. The last i told you all about was that i had to apply for a renewal of my greencard since we hadn't been married for over 2 years before i moved here. Again that process asked a lot of us, sending in proof that we are actually a loving married couple living together. We sent in everything we had, utility bills, our apartment lease, photographs, affidavits of people that know us, joint health insurance, joint tax returns, everything. It's a humbling experience, but if that is what it takes, we'll do it. We know we're legit so what could happen right?

Well, wrong. Yesterday i got a letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The evidence submitted with your form is insufficient. ... The evidence you submitted with your petition does not establish that you and your spouse have entered into a legitimate marital relationship. ... may result in the termination of your conditional resident status and your possible removal from the United States.

This is not my week. I can still not believe it. It's one of those things. We try to do everything the right way. We work hard to make a living, we try not to bother anyone, we do everything the system asks of us, and they just tell us they don't believe us.

Again they have sent the list of documents they think would prove a loving marital relationship. We've been through that list and everything we had we have sent.
Sorry that we weren't lucky enough to have already conceived a baby together.
Sorry we are not rich enough to own a house and have a mortgage. Or own a car, vacation home or time share.
Sorry we don't have any debts and thus loan papers to show.

So what's next? After the sadness, frustration and anger its now on to more action. I have already printed out all the blogposts i have written throughout the years about our process, about our love. The interview my husband did for the Heart Handmade blog as part of the Other Half series. We will send them even more photographs of the two of us together. I will send them a copy of my book where there is a special note to thank my loving husband, we will ask everybody that know us for a affidavit letter testifying that they know us and know our love is real. How many people didn't tell us over the years that because of seeing us together they believe in true love again? Apparently the CIS doesn't feel that.
I will step over any pride i may have left and ask for help.
The US government doesn't believe us? We will have to make them believe. They have never met us, didn't come by on an unannounced visit, didn't do an interview, just went through our paperwork and decided they think we are not legitimate.

I woke up this morning thinking for a split second this whole week was a bad dream. Until i felt the burning pain in my hip and saw the blue letter laying on my desk.
We need to be strong now and get this done. We are for real. We are.
Now only to convince the system of that.

I was hit by a car

If you follow me on twitter, you might found out already. The title of this post is not cryptic nor meant to be funny. I was really hit by a car while crossing the street yesterday.

There was nothing i could do except yelling No No No NO until i was on the hood of the car and fell to the ground when the car came to a stop. Everything went real quick and i was very scared. Out of nowhere there were all these people around me i saw some making phonecalls (later i found out 911 got a LOT of calls for me, thank you unknown people for doing that!) There was this nice nurse that happened to see me and she kneeled down beside me and started talking to me, helped me call my husband and she stayed with me until more help arrived. I remember seeing the lady that drove the car, but she didnt speak to me. I don't know what happened to her. I don't know if she stayed until the cops came, i don't know what she told them what happened. I do know i heard sirens real quick, i was told it was a firetruck but i could see it. Then there were all these firefighters surrounding me, taking over. Putting me onto one of those hard boards, strapping my neck and taping my head to the board. They asked me a lot of questions. I don't even remember what exactly. I was so embarrassed being on the road like that. I do remember i kept saying it wasn't that bad, that i just wanted to get out of the street. But since i was pretty far away from the crossing they had to strap me like that. Than i felt someone cutting my pants open and i freaked. No i didn't care about the pants, but i was already so embarrassed. I didn't want to be there on the ground in the rain exposed like that. So i started yelling at the firefighters. Really. Freaking out. (i apologized later) My left hip was hurting like hell but i could still move my right leg, so i crossed my right leg tightly over the left so that man that was cutting couldn't proceed. Yes i understand, they need to do that. They need to check if i was bleeding. But i wasn't. I told them. I said have some compassion. If it was your mother or sister laying here, you wouldn't want her to be exposed like that. Please do it somewhere inside or when the ambulance gets here. Please. So the only thing they could do was strap my legs as they were, crossed. At that point the ambulance got there and those two men were really kind to me. But i was so scared being lift up and put in the ambulance. You know, you really have no say in what happens when you get in an accident. People just take over your life at that point. They took my heart rate which was crazy high. Someone else entered the ambulance at that point. With my head strapped to the board i couldn't see nothing that wasn't right above my face. I was told it was a cop for my statement. As good as i could i told him what happened. I really needed to calm down. I was so scared and felt very alone. Especially realizing all my family is living on the other side of the globe. Plus my parents happen to be on vacation in Portugal somewhere. I was relieved when we started driving, at the emergency room it wasn't long before my husband arrived. Oh how great it feels to see your Love at a time like that.
I wasn't so scared anymore.

So i went through the motions of checkups and got xrays taken and was told nothing was broken. It was an experience i wish i hadn't experienced, but i know i am very blessed to come out of it just heavily bruised up and with a sprained hip. The hospital gave me a cane, but i can't say it help a lot with walking. It hurts! So i'm on painkillers and need to lay down to let it heal.
It took me like almost 15 minutes to get from the bed to the computer, so i doubt i will be online a lot until i feel better.

I met a lot of caring people yesterday and i came across some very annoying people. Nevertheless i am so thankfull to be here. To be healing. It could have been way worse.

Glad to be back

Pfew... sometimes life just catches up to you. I took care of things and am ready to get back to work full steam ahead!
It's October already. Oh my. Time flies. 3 months left to this year. Only 84 days till Christmas. I think i will put up our tree early this year. I got such lovely vintage ornaments, can't wait!
Oh yes, i am sorry to say that due to my offline 'adventures', i missed my blogiversary! When i started i didn't know how long this would last, how long i would be able to keep it up, now it has already been four years!
Four fun years. Its so amazing how this blog made connections happen that otherwise would not have. It has been an outlet for me to show my crafts, my collections, my thoughts and feelings when i was moving from Amsterdam to NY.
I love all my visitors, the ones that only read my stories and the ones that leave me comments. I love the ones that have been with me from the beginning, and the ones that just recently found my little place on the net.
I don't think i would have lasted so long without all your feedback! Thank you so much.

On this note, my loving hubby has just started a blog, taking his first steps. He is a great songwriter and maybe that makes it only logical that he is a great story writer too. He does this daily talk thing, sharing poetry, sharing his thoughts on music, life and new york. I have put a statcounter on his site and now he has discovered that he can check how many visitors he got every day. Not that many yet since he just started out. So do me a favor, click on this link and check out his blog, it would make him very happy. And seeing his happy face makes me happy. Oh, hope you don't mind a little slang, he writes as he talks.

I'm out for now, prepping a lot of new exciting things.
Lets make the end of this year count!

Missing in Action

Just a quick note to let you all know i will be Missing In Action for a little bit. Got to take care of some urgent things in my offline life that require time and attention. Don't worry, i'm handling things. I will keep my shop going allthough i doubt that new items will be listed over the next couple of days. I will try to answer emails as soon as i can, but maybe not as soon as i normally do. My apologies.

I hope to be back in full force real soon (hopefully a couple of days, maybe a week or so), i miss you all allready.

ps husband says hi too and thanks you for all the lovelylovely (and watching the youtube ismoyo song!)

I'm a foodie! Summer spring rolls

I don't think i really posted about food before. It's not that i don't like food, i do! A lot! And i love to cook too.
I appreciate those who can take pictures of food and accomplish to make the food look good in the photo. What is it that it often looks worse on screen than in real life?

Anyway, since summers in NY are so hot i don't like to stand at the stove too long, i like to make salads and wraps (oh you should taste my chicken fajitas!) but last night i kept dreaming about summer spring rolls. Really. In my sleep i actually spent 7 hours thinking about summer spring rolls. I dreamt about eating them, about making them, all these different variations, i dreamt about sharing them with friends, and more eating them. They were all over my dreams.

So early this morning i went into the kitchen and started preparing.
I must admit, i had never made them myself before. (but i ate many so i kinda figured out how to make them)Rolling them must be done tight and careful. You don't want to tear the rice paper. There were a few that didn't come out right, but that's no problem, i just ate them while rolling the next! ;)

They are also perfect to put in a box and give to your husband for lunch! Isn't he lucky?

Because i love cards

Look what i found in the mail yesterday? Lovely little surprise. My mom sent me this adorable card, just because i love cards. (yes she wrote inside: a card for no special reason besides that you like cards) The matryoshka? A sweet iron on applique! I love! Thank you mom!

Sunday Owls

I love Sundays as you might know

The entire week feels like I've got no time to loose, everything is in a rush and then when Sunday arrives i wake up with such a calm feeling. This is my day. I can take a walk with no specific destination or hang on the couch the whole day. Or, if i happen to choose so, i can even do some work. But in a very relaxed way. It feels like everything i do get done on a Sunday is a bonus.

This last week was a busy one. Did you notice the lack in postings on my blog? Not that i had nothing to show or tell, just didn't set time apart to write. oh oh. I have been working on some new illustrations, but nothing finished yet. Trying to set up some new ideas for the future. Did a lot of thrift shopping and found some wonderful goodies that are either already up in my shop, or will be very soon. I did list a lot of new items in the shop, mainly vintage finds and a couple of Japanese craft books (oh, thank you Shibooya for your sweet post about the books you bought!)

What's up with the owls? I don't know really. But there's always time/room for cute owls in my book! Especially when they come in pretty blindboxes like Nathan Jurevicius' Peleda wind up toys! Or when they are dark dark brown candles found in my local thriftshop!

Dutch Treats

When my parents came to visit they came with gifts. A lot! Some where things that were already mine, but didn't came with me before when i moved to NY, but a lot were real surprises. LIke these pretty tins filled with Dutch Treats!

Double 3 = Hooray to me!

Not much to say, except turning 33 on the 3rd. Who? Me!
Happy Birthday to me! ;)
No pictures of presents (yet), looking forward to spending birthday budget this Saturday at the Renegade Craft Fair! Whoohoo!
Anyone else is going to be there? I'll be the one walking around with a birthday hat on.
Image from one of the vintage postcards in my collection

10 Days in Tokyo

Oh how i wish! No i haven't been to Tokyo, nor is there a trip scheduled. I often dream about it though. And maybe one day it will actually happen.. and if it will, i am sure i will bring these booklets that Marceline from Asking for Trouble sent to me! Ten days in Tokyo and the Tokyo Shopping Guide. Two wonderful zines that describe her 10 day trip to Tokyo (oh how jealous was i) and one guide pointing you to all the shops she visited (cute and crafty).

More cuteness Marceline sent me.
And i must say sorry for my lack of posting this last week. If you follow me on Twitter you might have read i have been sick for a couple of days, i am feeling a bit better now, thank you. And we got a Wii, so that is vastly becoming a new addiction. We got Wii fit too, so watch out, i will be fit soon. Or i hope so. :) Guess what i'll be doing the rest of the day?

Some good things that happened this week (besides the goodies and the arrival of the wii):
Two online surprises, Rowan over at Kitchensink awarded me the Lemonade Award. Not sure why it's called the Lemonade award, but i do appreciate it. Thank you Rowan! And then on Tuesday, i was doing my blog rounds, of course stopping by one of my old time favorite blogs, Cruststation (where people fill up on inspiration), and what do i see? A post titled 'ismoyo'! Hey, that's me!

I got some new supplies, so new ideas for crafts can finally take shape.
And i discovered that when you have a cold, and you can't concentrate on anything, needlefelting is a good option. I made two needlefelted coasters, embellished with a little embroidery. Will show soon. And if i get some good feedback i might even write up a tutorial for them. I have to make two more anyway. I don't know what that is, a coaster set has to be of four right?

Have a happy weekend everyone, i'll be back tomorrow with new pages from my collage journal!

My new Throne

How could i have forgotten to show my new chair? I'm in love with it. My previous 'chair' was more stool like and VERY bad for my back. So a shopping trip to Ikea was VERY justified. I love the look of this chair and it is comfy too!

ps i feel a bit better today. thanks for the well wishes.

days off

I'm feeling a bit under the weather, nothing to be worried about, but i'm taking a couple of days off. Taking it slow. I'll be back after the weekend.
Take care, and take your vitamins!

Planting seeds to achieve

Dreaming big and planting seeds to achieve those dreams really does work.
I have been planting seeds for so long now and it feels like its time to start seeing those dreams flourish. I'm bursting to tell about something that happened to me, but i don't want to jinx it.

There are times you try to achieve something, work hard for it, you are planting a seed. Even if it doesn't work out, then that seed is still out there and without you being aware, it does grow and one day you get a phonecall, or in my case, an email.

Sometimes you dream about something and maybe the dream is really big, maybe too big for now, but still possible in the future, doesn't mean the seed planted by that dream is lost, it will bring you what is right for now.

Sometimes you're goal is far ahead and you know there are steps that can lead you there but those steps are not clear yet, only your main focus is. But being focused is also planting seeds. The universe works for you. You shouldn't get discouraged if things take a long time. It's all preparation, by yourself and the world around you has to be prepped too. And then out of nowhere it comes across your path and you know this was one of those unclear next steps you had to take.

I know, all very cryptic. Last week i wrote "Adventures and new projects will find you when you are walking in the right direction." It was very profound when two days after that a new adventure happened. I do hope to be able to make more sense very soon. As soon as the Jinx-risk is over!

Autumn Organizing

Autumn Organizing is like spring cleaning but in fall. For me, yearly autumn organizing is something that involves digging through my craft stash, finding unfinished work in progress, and organizing my dreams for the upcoming year.

Cleaning out my work in progress drawers feels so refreshing. I toss out projects that don't feel right, that i know i will never finish or be happy about anyway, and i rediscover projects that do deserve to be finished.

This year went by so quick, can hardly believe tomorrow is already November! Blink a couple of times and it's 2009! Starting the new year fresh and organized is always a big thing for me. I like to start out with no unfinished business. No mile long to-do list. The only list i like to have on January first is my dream list.
During my Autumn Organizing i sit down with (preferably) a new notebook and write down all my dreams for the next year. I believe in dreaming big. No censoring yourself. Even though some dreams might sound impossible, i write them down. Ink on paper make things more real. Maybe even achievable. Taking a moment to focus on longer term goals. Day to day busyness can make you loose sight of where you want to go.

I believe that when you are focused and know what direction you want to take yourself and your business in, the universe will work with you. Making sure possibilities arise. Adventures and new projects will find you when you are walking in the right direction.

So probably over the next couple of weeks, until the end of the year, i'll be showing crafty works in progress being finished and sharing new dreams.
Do you have any special preparations to get ready for the new year?

Prayers needed

Please send some prayers this way. More specific towards the island of Ibiza. My brother who is the MC of the Partysquad was on the last part of their European summer tour when one of their cars got into an accident. My brother was in another car, but his DJ, dj Jerry was badly hurt and went through major surgery yesterday and is currently in intensive care.
It's a personal tragedy, but today it came out in the Dutch press, papers, radio and tv. I'm not talking about more details, i'm not the one to feed the press even more, but i know the strenght of prayers. So if you can, burn a candle. Thank you.
I'll be back to regular postings tomorrow.

Still here!

I'm not really missing in action. Like i said before, i was trying to get all things currently listed on my todo list done. I'm almost there. Feels good. So i'm still here. There is lots to blog about and i have a lot of nice things to show. Will try not to neglect my blog this week so much! New creative projects are (hopefully) on the horizon too.

i like features

My little shop got some nice write ups. *grateful* Like the one on in the 'one to bookmark'-series on the fabulous heart handmade blog!

And this was another nice surprise to find, Mia put up an announcement on her One Hour Craft blog. Don't tell me you don't know her blog yet. It's terrific. Go pay her a visit. And heart handmade too for that matter!

I'm really looking forward to this week. I made myself the promise to get rid of my entire to-do list. No, i'm not tossing it in the bin, i will actually get things done. This is my get things done week. *doing a cheer*

Let's get a cup of coffee first.

Getting Nervous

I'm happy and life is treating me very well lately. But i am getting nervous. Not because it's already July (where does this year go?), but for a couple of other reasons.

Yesterday the courier came and dropped of my final proof of my upcoming craft book! The first time i see my work and all the pages in print. It's all there. All the hard work, all the excitement, all the joy and tears, all the "can i do this" and "i can do this" all there on the pages. One final time to go through it all before it goes for final print and out into the world.
Now that all the work is done i am getting Nervous. With a capital N. Maybe all in capitals. NERVOUS. What if nobody likes it. Worse if everyone hates it. Or if nobody would acknowledge its existence even? There are so many wonderful craft books out there. In not too much time my book will be out there too. I will go into the bookstore and look for it. See it up on the shelf. I will glow. (and sneak a picture from my book of course) Okay, so i'm nervous and very much Excited. With a capital E.

Another thing that is making me nervous is my Ismoyo shop. I've been planning it for so long now, been building the internet pages, been making inventory to start out with. And it's nearing completion. And again similar questions as i have with my book. What if nobody likes? What if. What if.

I must say this is all typical me. Typical Ismoyo Nervousness. A good friend once said to me, "You are always scared of everything, but you do it all. And you do it good". So i take a deep breath and proceed with all my creative endeavours. No matter how scary they are to me.

On another note, a week after i promised to do so, i actually went to the postoffice to send the packages of the giveaway i had not to long ago. They're on their way!

Happy Birthday to Me.

Is it me or does time go by too fast? It's my birthday today. Not sure how i feel about it. I turned 32. I do like life better after 30, but it does feels like time passes faster after 30 too. Days like this make me miss my friends and family in the Netherlands, but the sun is shining in New York, so i'm out to have a good day.

Happy Mama Day!

Happy Mothers Day! This is my all time favorite photo of my mom. She featured on my blog before, in her modelling days and helping me clean my room when i was still a little girl.
One of my all time first illustrations was made based on this photograph of my mom. Now that i'm looking for that image on my blog, i realize i never showed it here.
Why? Don't know. Maybe i will one day.
Mom, Love you. Miss you. Was great talking to you earlier today!

Ohoh...

More new hardware needed. Just when you think you have everything up and running with a new desktop computer, of course there's something else. My camera broke down. Ohoh. I knew it was going to happen, i have it for a long time already and noticed it sometimes just made up strange color combinations. Now it just makes up colorful photos by itself. It has something creative, but i do also need it to take pictures of what i want to capture.
Got to say goodbye and get a new camera. It's time.
I do have some other things already photographed and never shown on my blog before, so there's still posts coming with pictures, but there are also new felted friends that need to be shot to be able to appear on the blog.
Ok, tomorrow i'll go camera shopping.

New Hardware

My laptop screen was not feeling well!
It was sooo time for me to get a new computer. It arrived yesterday. Sleek, shiny and full of power. I love it. Got a wonderful working screen too.

What i really don't love is Vista. C'mon Microsoft. I didn't ask for a new windows version, that was your decision. Why not make it somewhat more compatible with XP? You know everyone has to make that switch.
Anyways, the last two days i have been working on getting my files from my old laptop onto my new comp, re-installing programs and so on. I am not a huge whizzkid, but i do know quite a lot about how to work with computers, but still i had some struggles getting all my email files from Outlook Express into the new Windows mail (OE doesn't run on Vista) and installing all my fontfiles was a total disaster. After hours of frustration i now found a crazy time consuming workaround, but at least i will be able to have my beloved fonts again. But during that struggle i accidentally deleted some standard windows fonts too and they seem to be really gone now. Oops. Got to find something to fix that. Fixed! Happy again.
Well, besides that it seems that i'm getting a good start, email is back and up and running, favorites are where they belong, photoshop and illustrator are working, most of my files are transferred.
Just a couple more files and then cleaning up my laptop. Yeah, the screen is not how it's supposed to be, but the machine itself still works (a bit slow, esp now that i have this new supadupa fast huge harddrive computer to compair!). The laptop will be used by my Love for his music in his studio. Recycling baby!

Something Orange

Happy Queensday to all Dutchies out there!
This is the first time in my 31 years that i won't be there to celebrate. Besides this post i'm gonna try not to even think about it.
So in honor of Queensday this is my orange post. A blittle bit sad. My all time favorite bowl did not make it in one piece from storage in Amsterdam to my new home in New York. And i was so looking forward having it here.
Hooray for superglue. I got it all back together. Not completely smooth, so i won't be eating my noodles from it anymore. Now it's just a decorative bowl i guess.
Happy Q-day!

Having patience

Planted seeds the day i got back from my trip.
After love, sun, water and patience, flowers are actually starting to grow.

A bit more patience and we'll see if they will bloom.

It's in the genes

It's obvious where i got my love for decorating from.
During my stay in the Netherlands i stayed with my parents and made some photos of my mom's decorating in the living room. I remember growing up never knowing how the home would look like after any day of school. Often she would have re-arranged the entire house while we were gone!

There is always something to discover. Here, a small feathered owl is stuck next to a candle in a flower centerpiece.
Or find these two little birds on the edge of a vase, looking at a silver face of a Buddha.

More birds in a flower centerpiece with a large decorative silver ball in the middle.

A beautiful Buddha statue surrounded by a glass lotus flower, a clear vase filled with beads and lots of flowers. My mom created a whole corner around the Buddha (see first picture of this post).

Another (smaller) Buddha statue on a cabinet. Placed on a round mirror with cones of incense and little beads and knick knacks in front. Surrounded by old photographs of friends and family.

Issey is back!

Hello....?
Anybody still there?
Ismoyo is back from her journey to London and Amsterdam! Slept off my jetlag and back to work again. But first, the story:
London was great. I had three days there. The first day i've met with Tess, who was wonderful, kind and generous. The next two days were spent in the studio with the creative director of my book and a photographer. We shot a lot of step by step tutorial pictures. All went well and quick, so the first day there was time to go out and have original English beers (i'm not a beer drinker perse, but when in Rome...) and a lovely dinner. The last day we ended early and i went to the publishers' office to meet everyone there. They were very kind, very busy too, one week before the London Book Fair, but still they made time to meet and talk to me.
The following morning i was picked up at 4am to get to the airport to catch my flight to Amsterdam. Yep, the new terminal 5 at Heathrow. No fun, i recommend to try to avoid this terminal for the near future if you can. I was lucky enough to fly out even though everything took forever!

Being back in the Netherlands was amazing. It had been almost a year since i left. I had a busy schedule but in the end i had met up with almost all my friends and family members! Everyday i woke up knowing it would be another joyful day meeting up with the ones i had to miss when in NY.
Time just flew by and before i knew it, it was already time to get back to the big apple.

Got lots more to show and tell, so pics and stories will come over the next days ok?

Travel Ready (almost)

I'm almost off to London and Amsterdam! Whoohoo!!!

Not yet today though, I'll be leaving Monday, but still have a busy weekend ahead of me and i'm not sure if there will be time to blog before i leave...

First i'll have one free day in London. It's been too long since i've last been there. Hope to be able to meet up with Tess and see a little bit of the city. Sounds wonderful, but that one day is also my revive from jetlag day. I'm hoping i can get some sleep on the plane. Then there are two days shooting photos in a studio. No, i'm not a model. Well, a handmodel. Haha. Making the step-by-step photos for my book. The next day i will wake before the sun is up to catch my flight to Amsterdam. Very very much looking forward to visiting my old home town and seeing all my family and friends again. My schedule is crazy hectic. I have one day where no plans are made yet at the end of my stay. Wonder how long that will stay like that...

When i get back to NY, i will do revisions on my book and then i'll finally have some time again to work on other crafty projects. During the last months almost all my time was spent on the book and all other ideas were scribbled down in my notebook. I'll also have some more time to spend on my blog again. I'll revamp the found display stand, want to do some revamping on our bathroom too. Will finally start making pictures of the collages in my journal.
Oh, and of course, obviously, i will show off pictures of London and Amsterdam!! Much to look forward to.

Other big news: I am approaching my 500th blog post. REALLY. 500. I won't let that go by without a celebration. I'll give it some more thought about what to do exactly, but you know it will involve a giveaway! Stay tuned.

Note that I won't bring my laptop with me (withdrawal!) so i doubt if i will be blogging while i'm gone. Too busy doing other fun things anyway. I will get online to check my emails from time to time, but replying can take a bit longer.

Hope to find you all here when i get back! April 15th is my return date!
Stay cute, stay crafty, stay creative!

Easter Breakfast

Wishing everyone a very happy and cute Easter!
We started the day with a sunny breakfast with warm bread, cupcakes, Dutch cheese (Vrolijk Pasen to all my Dutchies!) and colored eggs.
It was lovely.

But ohoh, we turned around and the easter bunny had eaten everything!

Resolutions

Yes, got to loose a few pounds. Moving to a new country obviously (!) means having to try out all the new unknown candies and cakes and other sweet treats. Mmmm my belly likes!
But i'm not too worried about my weight. There are more important things in life.

Things like, don't take on too much at once. Finish projects sooner. Daily Blogging. Stay on top of my administration. Get better at everything i do.

So i'm starting all this today. But first i need to clean. I don't know what happens to me on January first, but i always have to clean and organize.

HAPPY 2008 EVERYBODY! All the best for the new year!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

To all my sweet sweet visitors, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas!

I am so grateful for all of you, for all your comments and emails, feedback and questions, you are too kind.

Hope you will have a blessed holiday with lots of fun, love, food, and all that goodness.

I will be back after Christmas with my (daily) posts!

(image is from my vintage postcard collection. it has been sent once long ago, but i can't read the postal mark since it's been faded too much. it's from the MUVA postcard company and was printed for the missionary home Saint Willibrord in the Netherlands)

Deer Decoration

I see so many pretty handmade decorations on a lot of blogs, i almost feel bad for not having the time to make some myself this year. I must admit there are hardly any decorations in here this year. So not me. But there is a Merry Christmas sign in the living room with this adorable deer underneath. I wish i could leave her up on the wall all year round!

I'm rethinking my blog usage. Not thinking about quiting. On the contrary. I should be able to post daily. Or at least 6 days out of every week. Something. Maybe it will be just a picture with not too many words if nobody minds. I have so many returning visitors and i know not everybody uses feeds to get updates, i don't want people to be so sweet to keep checking my blog but not seeing any new posts. And i really got enough to share. Not a day goes by without something cute, decorative, thrifty or creative in my life.

Maybe blogging daily should be my new new years resolution?

Just in time

We got a tv and cable hooked up in the new apartment, just in time for the new season of Project Runway!

Woohoo. And today the tv was on Bravo all day. Since i missed the last season due to my overseas move. That season had already aired in the US but didn't air in Amsterdam until after i left. And today Bravo had the season's marathon. Back to back episodes.

Decorating the apartment and glancing at the screen every now and then. Lucky me.

If life gives you sweets

Jump up and dance!

Happy to report good things are happening again. Must say my first months officially living in NY were really tough. Really really tough. Had to pay my dues i guess. There were some moments i didn't know why i was here anymore. And when things were bad, they got worse. And worse.

I haven't gotten into my ordeals here on my blog, didn't want to get my readers all down and depressed, but it was apparent i didn't post as much as i usually did. This will change. I am getting back into things.

Must take the time out to thank my wonderful blog readers for their kind words of encouragement on my blog and in my email. I really found strength from it. Thank you so so much.

My Love and I found a lovely apartment this weekend and are moving in this week. I will be very busy, but in a positive way. It feels like a new start.

Thanks for hanging in there with me, there will be a lot of creative posts again. It might take a little bit still since i don't know how fast i can get an Internet connection set up. But as soon as i do, it's on!

If life gives you lemons

... DO NOT take a blog break.

I posted another version of this post yesterday, if life gives you lemons... take a blog break. But regretted it straight away. Took it down. My blog gives me joy. Keeps me focussed. But got to take care of some things. life is a bit sour right now. i'm working hard to get it sweet again.

I am still trying to keep being creative. Just have to prioritize and spending time on my blog seems to keep falling of the list. I'm sorry. I'm still here.