Strange instects like me

I've been a little down for a while. I need to think about what to do with my life while living between two houses, none of them my home. So I feel stuck again, but I'm trying to enjoy my Christmas. As always, there's something positive and it's that I'm not spending that big amount of money in presents as I used to.

Trying to give myself a break and, as a little whim to my traveller soul, I'm going to spend 4 days in London. I'll meet my lovely friend S, who I met in Nottingham, and I'll recharge my happiness for a long time. I can't wait to go there again and listen to the people talking in English, gosh, believe me if I tell you I miss that language like crazy! It's been around 8 months without listening English more than 1 hour. I might die when I listen "fudge" or "tree" or "see ya". By the way, do you know "see ya" sounds like "silla"?? Silla means chair in Spanish and I tell you British say it exactly the same than Spanish. But the English "t" sounds great to me, I want to be boarding right now!!

Well, let's chill out and wait patiently. Do you remember my last strangest animals? Now it's time for insects. I found this orchid mantis in Colossal, it's really impressive. Every day I'm most captivated by nature, I've always been. Since long time ago I think the most perfect funeral for me would be that they leave my body in the forest so the animals, insects and soil could something useful with me.

You can find more other mantis like these if you search floral mantis. I really like them, it makes me think "How the fuck can the nature create the whole world!?!? I love you Mother Nature.

Some music

I've been listening the whole time to Simon & Garfunkel. I try to catch what they say and learn their songs by heart, and some times I do it. And other times I just understand what they do... with two minutes delay, but I'm happy anyway ^ o ^

I wanted to share with you my S&G love. I love them so much! People here just know "The sound of silence" but I think they have many other better songs. They're quite versatile, indeed. I found this song which reminded me another one by Ylvis. Enjoy your Sunday!

Japanese Books

I'm thinking of buying some Japanese books after Christmas if the Three Wise Man don't bring them for me. I found Pomadour24 shop in Etsy and she has thousands of beautiful books. I chose some of my favourite ones to show you. She has so many that you'll find any book you need.

I love to embroider but I'm a beginner, but I'd love to learn more with this book. I'd love to do my own embroided cushions and I love those trees. I think I love big trees thanks to a book from my childhood. I don't remember the title but it was about some monkeys living inside a baobab. What colour would you choose? I'm not sure about this dark red. 

all photos are from Pomadour's Etsy shop

If you like bending paper this is your book. I love that it's not just pretty figures but also useful things like boxes for your presents. Coincidentally I have some new pretty origami papers.

This is something that will help me with my future eraser carving with cutter. I'm really interested in these cut papers. I think there's something popular in Japan, the paper cutting, as I've seen it in some series and animes. I love it because it's easy to keep and it doesn't need much space. You can frame it and change the design every now and then. It looks pretty and fun to do.

That looks impossible to me. I like crocheting, but I'm a begginer again, well, I think I'm a begginer in everything but carving stamps. I love those earring and they must be really light! But it looks really difficult to do (plus it's in Japanese, so you have to guess how to do it by the diagrams).

You won't hear me saying this in Spanish never, but this is so so so damn cute! I'd have this book just for the photos, I don't mind if I'll be able to do that super cute felted animals. But, you, pen pals, will be so happy if I manage to do them, am I wrong? Ho, ho, ho.

Stationery Wish List

I know, my notebooks drawer is full and I don't allow myself to get more notebooks for me. But, let me tell you, little girl inside my head, that when I came back from Nottingham I had a gorgeous new notebook and I gave it to a little girl from the hospital where my mum works. And let me tell you one of my notebook inside that drawer is now flying to a new home. So now, I guess there's enough room for another gorgeous special one.

You got me, I'm trying to convince myself to buy one of these notebooks. But... but... I saw these notebooks in Nottingham, and they reminds me how happy and inspired I was there, how many good moment with friends, the first snow in my whole life, the woolen jumpers everyday and everywhere. Did I convince you?

Find it here

Find it here

And, what about this "To Do List"? It's perfect for me, I'm the master of the procrastination, so I'm sure I'll be using that do later check many times.

Find it here

And last but not least (I'm fond of this expression, it sounds much better in English than Spanish) these small notebooks with vinyl case -vinyl case!!!- are perfcect for my future selfgift. Yes I fimally bought the bag , it's the most useful right now.

Find them here and feel free to send me one as a present :)

Conclusion: you can give me anything from boygirlparty and I'll be as happy as the moon. Did you listen, Mr Glass??

Street cats

I always loved animals and I always will. I guess that's why I always feel worry for street animals. I know some cats can be happy outside and you see them having fun and all that. But three weeks ago I saw a cat outside and he didn't look happy, not at all.

I saw him when I was on my way to get the train. It was quiet and nobody was around, he was half asleep and I thought maybe he was hanging out and then he'll come back home. When I came back, one week later, I saw him again. He looked scared and nervous and looking for some water inside a fountain. My first thought was: if he had a home he wouldn't be looking for water. So I put some milk in the fire and then went outside with the hot milk. He was really scared but I just left the milk and sat five metres away. He drank almost all the milk and then hide under a car. Then I bought some cat's food and treats and, during a week, I fed him. He meowed when he saw me and he got closer, but never too close.

Last Sunday it was a kind of festival and they arrange some firecrackers. As it was just one man with all the sand and stuff, the cat got closer to the sand, the man scared him because he didn't want the cat near the fire. But the cat got into a strange ventilation shaft. He was there until they set all on fire and all the firecrakers exploded just next to the cat's hideout. I hate firecrakers. It's like shots, I don't see the fun in small, but still dangerous, explosions.

It's been four days without see him.

Work in progess

I've been thinking about opening an Etsy shop for a while and last week, at last, I made some notebooks. But I'm not very sure about Etsy or Dawanda. In Dawanda you don't have to pay anything, and I don't know about the shipping costs with Etsy. Do you know about the details of Etsy shopping? I didn't buy anything yet, but I'll buy some books before Christmas.

These are the notebooks. I did my best with the photos... but I know they're not good enough by now. Any tip about how to arrange things?

I didn't want to sell them for too much, so I didn't make the notebooks, I just decorated them. I made just one for a pen pal but it's too much time for selling with a razonable price. This is my favourite, I love the result and I enjoyed SO MUCH painting it.

All the other are hand stamped with my hand carved stamps. I just made four and I'll look for other black notebooks in other sizes. I love how colours stand out with the black background.

All them are lined notebooks, but the lines are grey. I adore when they are not too dark, so you can also draw and it looks great. Well, I love notebooks, what else could I say? 

Books for falling in love

Did you know that I love comic books? Despite of it, I just have Demeter, Ghost World and all the Blacksad  volumes. I saw a Blacksad cartoon for the first time in my Spanish book in secondary school. I don't remember if it was the same year, but for the Book Day they did a kind of exhibition of book and comic books. And there it was, Blacksad. Since then, for almost 10 years, I've been re-reading every volume and waiting patiently for the next one. This year I'll have the 5th volume for the Three Wise Man day.

If you read me for a long you already know I'm in love with beautiful illustrations. I'm going to add this book on my letter for the Three Wise Man. Well, I also like this other. Don't you want to have a bookcase plenty of beatiful books? I'd drink my tea througout the year while reading and enjoying books like this.

I've been looking for a beautiful bird book, but they're so ugly and there's no magic emerging from them. I knew I wouldn't find something as pretty as Whitney's book (by the way, the film that she recommends is incredible, I enjoyed it so much. The reality is I couldn't find even one book about birds from my place. I saw they have great birding books in Waterstones, where I used to go when I was in UK. Conclusion: I have to move to other country.

After the fiasco  with my birding book, I found this. It's truly amazing how nature can create artwork pieces. Too expensive for me now, but maybe one day I'll be looking inside it with fear (remember my phobia about worms?) and admiration.

And the third book I'd add to my wish list is this one. I couldn't find it in English, the title is La pregunta del elefante (The Elephant's Question). Its question is "How can you know if you love someone?". So it's a beautiful book about love with beautiful illustrations. I always like books about different kinds of love and different ways to show it. 

This is getting long, so, the last one -for now- will be a children's book. I think I love children's books so much because my parents didn't get me good ones. I just remember two books from my childhood that I'm fond of. But my parents didn't keep any of them. One is Little Tiger, get well soon, I prefer the title in Spanish, it says "I'll take care of you, said the Little Bear". I always read it when I'm ill (and watch Ponyo) I'm trying to get all Janosch books, he's one of my favourite artists and his world is amazing. Sadly I don't remember the name of the other book. I tried to find it because I remember the story and the main character, but nothing.

I think it's enough for one day. What would you prefer for the next book wish list? I have craft books, Japanese craft books or more and more children's books. Oh, there's not novels because it could be eternal, but my ever favourite author is Gabriel García Márquez.

Dream-housing

I realized I have many dreams. My first one is Japan, my second is having a cozy home and my third have a cat (or a dog, or both).  I'll find my way for living in Japan some years, meanwhile, I'm compiling inspirational photos of houses I like. I'm fond of rustic houses and kitchens, but I'd love to have this one below (cat included, please).

Saw here

And talking about kitchens, this one fits perfectly with me. I think if I see the stuff for making a cake every day, I'd bake more cakes. On the other hand, it could be plenty of dust easily, which is quite bad for my allergy...

Saw here

And, one of the most important zones in my future house will be the living room. The reason is because I didn't have a cozy and warm living room. Never. Not even at my parents'. It's also really important because I'd like to have there all my books, my beloved books. And I will sew hundreds of thousands of cushions. And I will crochet a blanket. And I will hang up many illustrations. And I will...

Saw here

Planning a whole life

I feel a little overwhelmed lately. If you read my last post you already know I'm (al last!) getting ready for make real an old project of doing a carved stamp workshop. I don't have any pressure because it'll be when I'm ready and, if I don't do it I'll be the only affected. I'm working on it, but my feeling is that I'm not working enough.

I have this project and also my children's book is going on slowly. I know these things take time, but meanwhile I don't know what to do. I mean, I'm carving, drawing, sewing, crocheting and doing 1000 things but I don't feel confident enough with anything. My interior voice says to me that it's time to focus but I don't know how to do it. I know what I want to have: more confidence, much more drawing skills, a style and a work partner.

So, my goal for December -if I survive to all the Christmas crafts I want to do- is to join some drawing classes. But it must be not expensive and convenient. I think when I improve my skills I'll feel more confident and my own style will come with the process. About a partner, I'm thinking of one person who could be interested.

The other day, while I was crocheting, another children's book came up to my mind. I want to do the illustrations by myself this time, that's also why I want to get some classes. Mr Glass says I just need to draw more and more. But I think it'll be much better to attend some classes.

For relaxing myself and forget this "I-don't-have-any-future" and "everyone-around-me-is-better-than-me" thoughts I listen to the Fleet Foxes, close my eyes and imagine I'm in Japan working as a craftswoman in a little cozy shop with a sleepy cat.

Carving, carving, carving

If you follow my instagram you already know that something is going on. Well, I'm preparing an eraser carved stamp workshop! I still don't have any date or price or anything, but I'm getting all the materials and stuff I need so I hope I'll do it as soon as I've got all ready.

That's why I've been doodling, painting, drawing, carving and asking help to my dear cousin for creating a poster for getting the attention. I don't remember if I told you, but I tried to do so last summer and I was told that I needed a more popular blog if I wanted to do this project. As I write in English and most of you don't reside in Spain, I didn't think this was an option for me. So I tried another place and it looks like the porject will work.

My cousin learning how to carve her very own stamp

We couldn't tame the scanner so we took pics of my stamps for doing the poster. Here you can see some of my old stamps. Every time I look at them I remember how amazingly inspired I was in Nottingham, except for the camera stamp, I made every single one in our tiny studio back in UK. Nowadays I have more than 50 stamps and counting! I'm doing my best.

I couldn't resist to get this quick shoot of some of them, all together out of their pretty box. One day, when I finish my first workshop, I'll put them all together and take a proper photo. 

Pretty things to infinite... and beyond

I know, I know, this is not for buying now. It's just one of my lists of "wow" things. I'd like to have them all, of course, but I'm happy just looking at them from time to time. Maybe, if you're looking for a special gift it'll be useful for you, who knows. I'm thinking of doing a lovely carefully selected items series. Maybe just lovely items, and all you secretly know they're careful and specially selected for their art, quality and respectful with the environment. I think it could be a good idea now that Christmas is coming.

I had the brilliant idea of tidy up all the links from my wish list today. I wanted to separate the books from all the other stuff. And I found these lovely things that I have forgotten. Do you know Liekeland? I love the illustrations, but it's a shame they don't have all them printed at the moment. My fave are these foxes, but I can't afford them.  Anyway they do an incredible artwork in each piece. I'd love to have one of their mugs, but they're not making more at the moment. I'm happy they have a website where I can see all their illustrations. Oh, and this is a must see if you like watching artist working.

Maybe you don't know but I'm crazy about stationery. Really crazy. I know it's something I have to work on. I can't have so many pens and notebooks and stickers, I don't really need them. But, well, I'm not going to excuse myself. I have to work on it, that's all. But, it's nothing bad in having a notebook list or just looking for hours pretty notebooks, right? These notebooks are just perfect for birding!

You don't know how I miss UK. Here, pretty notebooks are so expensive. In UK they are not cheap but cheaper than in Spain. They do sales in stationery stuff, sales! When I came back to Spain my suitcase was plenty of craft supplies, pens, notebooks, stickers and more notebooks. Really, the first time I saw a stationery shop in Nottingham I called my mum and told her (she's also a stationery crazy lady). When it was really cold we went to the shopping center and walked around. Mr Glass went to the DVD's shops (much much cheaper than here) and I went to the stationery department. I could spend hours there just looking the huge selection of notebooks and sweet goodies. Man, in UK they do know how to do a present, they even had matching boxes, wrapping paper and ribbons. Come back Blanca, come back. Well, now I made my own wrapping paper with my self-made stamps, so it's ok.

Next pretty things will be about books, and get ready because I have over 20 books in my wish list!!

Self-gift choice

I know it's soon for talking about Christmas, but I have a good reason. It's the second year that I don't have a regular incoming. Now I'm trying to save as much as I can, and I spend just in learning or art/crafts tools, as I'm thinking of selling some handmade things. That's the reason why I'm already thinking of Christmas presents. I think I'll save money if I do a list of the possible presents for each one and the budget. Other reason is that I might be making some handmade presents as they're cheaper and many times more successful than bought ones, so I'll need time. The hard decision would be for my self-gift. I think I'll share my books wish list with my love, my mum and my brother, they'll be kind enough for buying me a couple of them. But I still want something handmade. I hope some of you can give me your opinion about the following items so it'll be easier to choose one. I'm afraid if I take too much time, as all them are handmade items, they'll be sold out.

First option: this bag. I'm fond of these bags, 100% handmade, with high quality materials and made by an incredible artist (I also love her blog, pics and writing). It's a perfect sized bag for me, as you can see in her shop, a book fits perfectly and you still have room for a journal, pens, purse, tissues... Plus I love the colour. All my bags are dark and Mr Glass can't stand black colour for bags "You looks like a granny with that bag" he says.

Caterina Pérez

Second option: earrings. I'm not a jewellery person, but since I found JooJoo blog and I saw her etsy shop I want some of her art. I'd like to buy these rain earrings, but they're out of my budget. So, if I want some earrings I'd have to choose between these, these or these. I'm thinking of buying ones for my mum, her gift is always the most difficult to find. I will ask her advice for knowing which ones she likes the most, muahahaha.

Afsaneh Tajvidi

Third option: art. Here's one thing, I have MANY artworks I really love like crazy. I though maybe if I start collecting them now I'll have enough for my future future home. Problem: I'm afraid they'll be broken or damaged while they're in one of my brown moving boxes. So I don't know if this one is a good idea, I think it'll be in a dark dry place with my Ghost World comic book and many others... I shouldn't feel sorry for them, they're just things. But they're someone's piece of soul things. It's not like clothes or shoes or pens. Anyway... which one!? I like this one because it's relaxing and it'll look good in my future future studio or library or reading corner. I like this because is from my beloved Geninne and it'll be perfect for every single room of my f.f. house, it's inspiring and cheerful and it steals me a smile every time I see it. I also like this other from Geninne, I think it's very elegant and it makes me feel confident. I love this one because it has a narwhal on it (one of my fave animals ever), it makes me remember we have to respect and take care of our planet.

Geninne D. Zlatkis

I know I could just save that money, after all I'll have presents. But, I mainly buy a self-gift because I love those people job and I want to support them. I've been enjoying for free they art thanks to their blogs, now it's time to show them how much I love and appreciate what they do. What do you think? Which one would you choose?

London

I've just realized I didn't talk about London. I went a couple of times and spent just 3 or 4 days there. But I loved it so much. It's an incredible city and I'd like to go again, hopefully we'll spend a weekend soon if I can manage for keeping our low budget.

It was last January when I first saw London, it was not too cold, it didn't rain and I had my camera with me all the time. I was so impressed that I couldn't stop taking pics of everything. I love the details on the buildings and street lights. It's a cliché that "London is expensive", but I didn't expend much. You can just see the free buildings and walking around, eating sandwich and soup and walk everywhere and that's all, ha ha!

Did I ever tell you I have a doors collection? When I see a door I like I take a pic and I have many of them classified by places and dates. In London though, I didn't find many doors for my collection.

I was thinking of paying the 8 pounds for the tickets to visit Sherlock Holmes museum. But, when I saw the HUGE queue outdoors, I changed my mind. We came into the shop, which is also very cute, and I bought a couple of souvenirs and a pen (of course). It was a really comfortable place and I took many many photos.

We went to Minamoto Kitchoan and I bought some delicious Japanese desserts. Gosh, I want to eat them all again. The shop was like a little Japan spot in the city center of London. Quite expensive, but worth it. 

I'll better write some more posts about London, because this one could be enormous! I have so many photos and places I want to share with you. Anyway, the best thing for me and Mr Glass was walking along the Thames. We saw a nicely decorated boat-restaurant called Hispaniola with all the coloured lights on with the London Eye in the background. There were also some lovely benches for you to take a breath watching the beautiful Thames.