Apr 19th, 2011 by Rikki
I decided to close down this blog as I have not enough time to properly maintain more than one blogs. All my posts about crafts, scrapbooking etc. can now be found at my other blog The Bookkeeper, which I have renamed to Rikki’s Teleidoscope to reflect the new variety of topics.
Apr 14th, 2011 by admin
A number of years ago those black purses were the rage among digital scrapbookers, unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember the name of those purses. Anyway, at the front and back they have that clear plastic cover where you can insert photos etc. and then close the plastic with two buttons.
I haven’t used mine in ages and only recently discovered it again in a big wicker basket. So I thought it might be nice to resurrect it again and create some inserts for it with various color schemes and themes for different occasions.
I finished a couple this week:
The first one is this spring themed one
Credits: Fonts: Papers and elements: Jen Wilson (Linen Closet), stitching: Syrin, stain: DaniB, Shishoni Brush, Andalus. Quote by Margaret Atwood.
Apr 5th, 2011 by admin
My wrap still hasn’t made much progress. So today I am showing you another one of my beginners’ sewing projects. As book lover I thought it might be a nice idea to have a look around for tutorials how to create a book cover – and found there are a LOT of them on the net.
Some of my book blog readers might be really surprised about me looking for book covers given the way I treat my books, but there you have it!
I decided to try out a tutorial for book covers by Mamas Kram, as it was in German and looked easy enough – even to me. In my usual fashion I messed it up somewhat and made the inside pockets to narrow, but it still works ok.
It worked so well that I created a cover for my e-reader from the same fabric. And to think I spent quite a bit of money on an e-reader cover on Etsy some time ago! Won’t happen again.
As far as creativity goes my week was unproductive otherwise. I had to go to the hospital three times within the last 8 days with the boys for one reason or other ( it always happens in the evenings or at night, doesn’t it), so my time to do anything else has been more than scarce.
Join us for Needlework Tuesday which is hosted by Heather from Books and Quilts. She has posted her progress on various projects and shows us the additional prizes for her fun Sushi sock contest.
Mar 30th, 2011 by admin
I’m afraid there is no big progress on my crocheted wrap, at least nothing worth showing. But I have finished another very small project, which is still quite a big thing for me.
I am a total sewing newbie, my sewing machine and I don’t particularly like each other and every time I want to sew something it is a fight. I thought I’d start with something really easy, rectangular and extremely uncomplicated. I made a couple of curtains for our balcony shelves. I have had those scraps of fabric from IKEA for ages and never did anything with them.
So, now I improved the looks of our balcony tremendously in about 30 minutes and I am rather pleased with myself. Matching tablecloth to come.
Join us for Needlework Tuesday which is hosted by Heather from Books and Quilts. She has made some progress on her mystery quilt. Marie at Daisy’s Book Journal is explaining about cross crochet, something I had never heard of before.
Mar 22nd, 2011 by admin
After my scarf I finally started my new project, a stole. The pattern is from DROPS Design. The yarn is another one from 100Farbspiele. It is called “Bauerngarten” (farmer’s garden). Unfortunately I haven’t got a picture of it, but there is an image of a finished stole on their blog (not the one I am making though).
The yarn is wonderfully hand dyed with a gradient, so the colors change and the best thing is you never have to start a new skein. I love it, since I am lazy and don’t like to sew up all those little threads. I don’t know whether you can see it in the next picture but the color already started to change a bit. It goes from very dark purple to slightly green now with one thread of dark green in it.
Join us for Needlework Tuesday which is hosted by Heather from Books and Quilts. She is doing some embroidery and working on a quilt which, I am sure, will turn out beautifully. Marie, on the other hand, has dug up two older projects she would like to revive again. Have a look!
Mar 21st, 2011 by Rikki
Happy Down Syndrome Day everybody!
Mar 11th, 2011 by admin
Some time ago I realized there were all sorts of organizers for handbags out there. A great idea, I never find things in my purse, possibly because I carry half my household around. There are organizers you just lift out and put in, like a bag in a bag, or organizers that are long and roll up, so you can adapt them to any bag size.
Instead of just buying one I asked my friend Lilach whether she would consider making me one and then even maybe offer them in her Etsy shop as well. So, to make a long story short, she agreed and created the most wonderful organizer for me. It is sturdy, has tons of small compartments for all sorts of items, comes with a key ring and just looks awesome all around.
I snagged this picture from Lilach since it shows the organizer so well.
And here it is in action in one of my handbags.
Thanks, Lilach, you did a great job! I love my new organizer.
Feb 28th, 2011 by admin
Finally I got this violet points scarf scarf done. I like the yarn that I bought at 100 Farbspiele very much and already started the next project with a different color combo, the “Bauerngarten”.
Jan 23rd, 2011 by Rikki
It’s Day three of Bloggiesta and I’m quite happy with my results so far.
More to do, I’ll be busy today again….
Jan 22nd, 2011 by Rikki
I only had very little time yesterday, but I still got a few things done.
Still some things to do…better get going.
Jan 21st, 2011 by Rikki
Bloggiesta is an event that helps you to learn about blogging, improve your own blog and meet other bloggers. This year is the second time I am participating and decided to use it to improve my Teleidoscope.
Most Bloggiesta blogs focus on books so quite a few of the suggestions are meant for book blogs but there are also tons of ideas that apply to ANY blog, like for example SEO, stats, organization, feeds etc….
Here is my to–do list for this weekend:
For all the news about Bloggiesta you can either
Jan 10th, 2011 by admin
At Big Picture there is a new free workshop available called “Embrace Imperfection”. The class will start on Feb 10 and will go over the course of two weeks. If you are somebody who never gets a layout done because you tweak it until eternity to get it just right this might be a workshop worth looking into.
Jan 1st, 2011 by admin
This one is called “A la beauté” because the writing in the background is from “Hymn à la beauté” by Charles Beaudelaire.
Size is 640px x 480px again. To download click here, then right click the large image to save to your HD.
And this is a an example of what your phone might look like using this…
Dec 31st, 2010 by Rikki
Lilach Oren, an old online friend back from my digital scrapbooking days (we know each other from Scrapbook-Bytes, it must be a number of years) not only sells digi scrapping supplies at Digitals, she also opened her own Etsy shop recently.
She is a wizard at sewing and creates the most beautiful things. If you have small kids, have a look at her kindergarten messenger bags or her crayon holders. I keep ogling them, but am still waiting for her to create a holder with a Transformer, Bakugan or Bey Blade design, 
. She also makes absolutely gorgeous make up bags and fabric covered rings.
I recently bought this adjustable ring and everybody, really everybody who sees it loves it. If you like beautiful fabric and high quality sewn items, check out her shop! Oh, and, btw, her postage fee is more than reasonable (registered) and her goodies are packed with great care. You can see she loves what she is doing and she also loves her customers.
Dec 30th, 2010 by WordPress
To go with the Winter Necklace I made this bracelet. Now, together with one of those caoutchouc rings where you can switch beads according to your taste and/or clothes I have a nice little set.
Dec 27th, 2010 by Rikki
You like inexpensive furniture but find them a bit too boring? In the new photojojo newsletter I came across Mykea. Mykea lets you either order pre-made designs for certain Ikea furniture or upload your own images. They will then be turned into decals that fit exactly your boring white coffee table or bookcase.
I’m almost inclined to buy a Billy, just to be able to do this, even though I am an IVAR girl.
Dec 26th, 2010 by Rikki
For some reason that I don’t understand Mobile9 doesn’t accept wallpapers other than with 320 x 480 px dimension. Strange, since the Android wallpaper should be wider than that to pan across all three homescreens.
So, since they won’t let me upload my Happy New Year 2011 wallpaper I thought I’d just post it here at the off chance that someone finds his/her way here and would like to snag it.
The dimensions are 640px x 480px. To get the original size, just click here until you see the large version and then “save as…” to your HD.
Dec 20th, 2010 by WordPress
Inspired by the icy winter weather I made this necklace yesterday.
And look at those cute little tags… I love them.
Matching bracelet and ring to follow…
Dec 19th, 2010 by Rikki
This year I finally pulled myself together again and created a calendar as a Christmas gift for a couple of people. Naturally, lazy as I am, I took the very easy way out and made one with a pre-made calendar available at the Shabby Shoppe.
Adding the photos was a piece of cake and within one hour I was done. I had the pages printed and bound in a shop and quite like the result.
Nov 30th, 2010 by Rikki
At 100 Farbspiele I found – among others – this wonderful plum – cream coloured yarn (just mine is inverted). Apart from the beautiful colors it has two advantages. Not only have you got a gradient that stretches over the whole yarn instead of being mottled, you also don’t have to continuously switch to a new skein and end up with tons of threads to sew up.
Now I am working on the Violet Points scarf that I found on Ravelry.
Not that I expect to be finished anytime soon. I am lucky if it is done by the time next autumn is here. But then, it is the creating process that counts, right?
Nov 27th, 2010 by Rikki
Basic Grey has gone digital quite some time ago, but now they are finally selling their designs at a general digiscrapping shop which means that I might actually go and buy some of their stuff. I was reluctant to register at yet another shop. Now that they are available at Scrapbookgraphics that last barrier has fallen. Not sure whether I should be grateful for that.
I have been in love with Sublime for ever, and some of the newer designs are lovely as well. I always said that if I did paper I’d be a Basic Grey girl, I suppose now is the time to become one.
Nov 25th, 2010 by Rikki
Since my calendars this year are far from stellar I am already thinking ahead for once. I had a look around for good advent calendar ideas so I can create some next year. Undoubtedly I will have to start in July to get done in time, but that’s ok.
What did I find?
An advent calendar made from take away coffee cups. Super cute, and very adaptable, depending on the paper you use. Great for individual gift packaging as well.
An advent calendar made from take away food containers. What I said above applies to this one, too. You will need rather large gifts for this one.
This advent calendar made with mismatched kids’ socks is a great recycling idea for all the lonely socks that turn up in the washing machine with their twin gone. I have plenty of those. Definitely worth considering.
An advent calendar for written gifts, poems, stories, gift vouchers etc. Depending on the paper you use you can create many different looks.
And here are some ideas for what to put INSIDE the calendars.
Nov 24th, 2010 by Rikki
I know, this is as uncreative as it can be…I bought an advent calendar pack for very little where I only had to assemble the 24 boxes and glue them together. Too easy, right? The boxes have various sizes and leave a lot of room for gifts.
The traditional calendar filling is chocolate, but no way is Corin going to eat that much chocolate. I suppose I will have to come up with other ideas. The money I saved on the calendar will be used to buy gifts for certain.
Our second calendar is a re-usable one that we already had last year.
Nov 22nd, 2010 by WordPress
At a beading class hosted by the Kreativzentrum Fürth I created this necklace. Actually you can see the necklace in the right sidebar there, it is called “Perlmuttphantasie”. Quite a lot of fiddling but it was well worth the effort. I chose to make mine not as colourful and love how it turned out. Very unique design!
Nov 21st, 2010 by Rikki
After about two years I finally finished the most simple scarf imaginable. Look at it! It’s not that I am that slow at crocheting, it’s just that I go through phases and stop working on a project only to pick it up again 15 months later. Oh, well, at least it got finished in time for winter…
Aug 23rd, 2010 by Rikki
Only three more days to stock up on your digital art from Polka Dot Potato. After the 25th of August the shop will be closed. So hurry on over there and buy everything at 60% off!
Aug 5th, 2010 by Rikki
Jun 18th, 2010 by Rikki
Enjoy the SUMMER CELEBRATION SALE at Polkadot Potato with 35% off our newest and featured Summer products. Also, look for $2.99 12" x 12" prints and $1.75 for 8" x 8" prints! Have a big order? Use coupon code BONUS8 (8"x8" prints) or BONUS12 (12"x12" prints) to receive 20% off orders of 100 or more prints.
May 13th, 2010 by Rikki
The other day I got this book about making little decorative items with a laminating machine. Sounded like fun, so I tried it out today. I used some scrapbooking paper that I got free with a magazine and a few eyelets. I think this will make a cute additional birthday goodie…
May 9th, 2010 by Rikki
Yesterday Corin was in desperate need of a new storage box for his ever growing stack of Pokemon cards. So he cajoled his dad into giving him the collector’s box of the Blind Dead collection which happens to have just the right size and shape (coffin!). Of course the box is way too boring as is, so Corin decided to embellish it with images of his favourite Pokemon cards. Cover it with a protective self-adhesive plastic film and there you go, the perfect Pokemon box for a six year old.
