Fortune in a cookie

One Sunday morning in beginning of August I found by chance sewn fortune cookies in the internet. I loved the idea and had to try out immediately! They are done in no time and I put two of them on the cushions of our guest beds for welcoming my parents at their latest visit.

Apparently I am the last person who found that idea. At the blog where I found the tutorial, there is a link to explanations on an other blog and it is mentioned that there are plenty of instructions in the web. Following that link I found a tutorial that again is linked to an other source and mentioned that there are plenty of instructions in the web. 

- Okay! - 

My first sight of fortune cookies has been here, but you can find plenty of other instructions in the web :-)

I only added one step to the instructions and closed part of the finished cookie, so the message can not fall out as easily. Of course it is also more fiddly to put the message in. I marked on the picture where I added a seam.

Cute idea, perfect for using up scraps, perfect last minute gift! The longest it took me to write a message!

Bonne chance et a bientôt,
Jane 

six simple bags

For her birthday in spring I gave one of these little bags filled with some goodies to my grandma. 

I have been told, that she is taking it every day with her for the most necessary things, when she meets with her friends. Apparently in the retirement complex where she is living there are lots of other ladies who did like this bag - my grandma passed the orders. 

She could not tell me much about the color wishes, so I produced 6 bags in different colors and slightly different sizes. I always vary the sizes depending on the piece of fabric I have left. Especially the oil-cloth is too expensive to waist it.

I will now send the bags with our latest house guests back to Germany and hope that my grandma will find new homes for them. I should probably pay her commissions when she really manage to sell all of them :-)

A bientôt,
Jane 

Pencil cases - Trousse fourre-tout

Last week I added a hand full of leather pencil cases to my shop. I made them already last December for a Christmas market. Back then the beauty cases I made with the same technique sold better, but now just before school restart in beginning of September I hope to sell some of the left over pencil cases. 

They are full leather and decorated with different motif ribbon.

They are not lined and from inside you can see the small leather seam allowances at the bottom. As the ribbon is hiding the zipper edges, you can only see the end of the zipper inside on one end of the case when it is fully opened.

I don't have any photos of the "making-of", but I will soon make some more beauty cases and then I will explain the super easy way to make them.

Will now put some other products online.

See you soon!

A bientôt,
Jane 

Logo Jane

Little things always takes a lot of time! I just spend several days to develop a logo for my shop!

Those who know me for a while, know that I love snails. Not those ugly ones without house that are eating my nicest flowers, but the cute little ones with colorful houses on their back! I think it is mainly the spiral that is fascinating me...

Anyway, for a long time I wanted to connect somehow my name with a snail/spiral motive. And suddenly it came out of my pen, when scribbling a bit. Where has this idea been for so long?

I also made a new banner for the shop. I think now it is looking really like me!

A bientôt,
Jane 

(tres content)

Summer houses

I didn't jet showed you my summerly decorated houses on the living room wall, mainly because I didn't finished it until yesterday :-). Somehow there haven't been any inspirations. You can have a look at the former decorations here and here. 

House one is hosting lavender and a snail. For putting the lavender twigs upright I drilled small holes in a piece of leftover wood. It is tending to tip over, but I fixed it with a piece of patafix.

 The second house didn't changed at all, I just dusted it.

House number three has a maritime touch. In a box with treasures from my childhood I found this wooden boat and added a post-card with a fish and waves (hardly visible).

You have already seen the flower zen-tangle I made last month. It has it's place now in the fourth house and three other snails for company. They are not allowed to eat those flowers! It is still looking a little empty, isn't it?

In the last house is a happy worm and his offspring living, who would love to eat the flowers and grass I put in using the same method as for the lavender.

In fact I it has been so easy and I liked the effect of the wooden-pieces spiked with green, that I quickly made a table decoration out of a branch of floating wood. Some little holes, some herbs (my oregano is flowering and it looks still nice, when it is dry), weeds and seed capsules (poppy and montbretia) and I have a new decoration for my dining table. As the branch isn't straight it is perfectly stable. 

A bientôt,
Jane (qui est bien occupee de perfectionner sa boutique)

Ouverture boutique!

Yeah!!

Finally, finally I opened a shop for selling my creations online! 

Have a look here or click on the image below.

I am happy I did the first step, but there is still a lot to do to improve the layout and feed in all the products I have still on stock. So the first look you will have on my boutique will be a little rough.

"A little market" is a french platform for only non-professional designers to sell their goods. I decided against more international platforms as this is more familiar, clearly arranged and I didn't see much products that are produced in masses. 

For the moment I have chosen only the possibilities of delivery to France or Switzerland, but if you are interested to got a product shipped to an other country, contact me per e-mail, and we will figure something out. 

One of the difficult things is to make good photos of the products. There are always shadows or parts that are not well exposed. Maybe my next post will be about building a photo box :-)

The french language is an other problem. Okay, I took my time to understand the conditions and the handling of the platform, but there is still the problem, that I need to make product descriptions. For now I make them as best as I can and then some very kind friends correct them and even find better words and sentences. Thank you so much girls!!

For now there are only some bags available, but I have still about an other 10 bags and lots of other things. They will be inserted whenever I have the time. As it is still school vacation time and summer there are of course a lot of things distracting me - today it has been a dental treatment :-(

I will be very happy if you explore my shop and if you find something false or incomprehensible or improvable please let me know (I need the help).

A bientôt,
Jane