Silly Little Sheep's Blog

Filling the "Friendship bracelets" section

2012-01-15T13:44:00.006+01:00

I am always very envious of those Etsy sellers who have lots of sales. I would love to wake up every morning and see that more money has come to my PayPal account, to pack my orders every night and make a trip to the post office twice a week, but right now, I can only wish for it.

However, I am aware of the fact that this is entirely my fault and therefore I decided to give myself a little job to do this weekend - to take photographs of those bracelets that I have made, but have not listed yet.

Well, what can be more wonderful than sitting at home all weekend, drinking hot green tea, leating lasagna, baking apple crumble pie and taking photos of friendship bracelets while listening to Anne of the Green Gables on TV?

I had a great time and the "Friendship bracelets" section is getting full nicely, which makes me feel very good :)

The stamping frenzy!

2012-01-08T18:53:00.004+01:00

One of my most recent activities is excessive stamping. None of this would have happened if I didnt get these awesome and silly sheep stamps for Christmas. In fact, they are so awesome that they have covered almost every single sheet of paper in my room now plus these stickers that will now come on every single Silly Little Sheep package that I send out.

Oh, I love being silly!!!

Have you met Edwin?

2012-01-06T12:17:00.012+01:00

Hello!! This is Edwin – the newest addition to my home collection of plants. We bought him in a glass house of the botanical garden belonging to the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University in Prague.

I am not sure where the habbit of naming plants came from, probably when I was about 15 years old and went to a succulent and cacti exhibition and bought my first Lithops that one of my friends named Agatha. Since then, I had a venus fly trap called Gertruda and many others.

Edwin is the first plantie of this year. His scientific name is Hydnophytum. In nature, Edwin's relatives live as epiphytes (onother plants) in sybiosis with ants, which find homes in their stems. The ants protect the plant from parasites and herbivores and fertilise it with their waste and leftovers in return. It is a very clever relationship. I hope Edwin will have a great time and a verygood life at my place. ;-)

Christmas present from silly little sheep to you! Free shipping on Christmas decorations!

2011-12-27T15:31:00.006+01:00

The silly little sheep is in her silliest mood right now and decided to give all her buyers a late Christmas treat!!

All beaded decorations from the "Christmas" section of sillylittlesheep's shop will be sent to you for free -worldwide!

2012 Calendars

2011-12-25T18:14:00.022+01:00

Making my own calendar for the following year is a thing that I do almost every year during the Christmas holidays to occupy myself while staying at my parents' place in Slovakia.

I do a lot of planning during the year, so apart from one huge daily planner book that I carry with me at all times, I also make a calendar to out on the wall. It's nothing incredibly difficult – just 5x6cm large boxes, seven in a row for Monday to Sunday with numbers as dates. It's a simple example of how reused big old cards of hard paper from my mother's work (they would be thrown away otherwise), a pair of scissors, an old ruler, a not-very-sharp pencil and a pen can be used to create something very handy for your everyday life. It only costs a bit of time and you can add as much colour and design as you want (I'll definitely do that later!).

However, if you didn't want to spend all the time on it yourself, there is a wide variety of the 2012 calendars on Etsy, so finding one that suits you best shouldn't be a problem. Here are some of my favourites:

A very simple 2012 Franklin Gothic typography calendar by theRasilisk. Not necessarily complicated and every month is a different colour.

Beautifuly simple animal calendar cards by missprintdesign - different animal for every month, can be hung on a wall or a string (great idea!) one by one or all at once and make a great addition to the room!

This wonderful calendar has hand-drawn illustrations in it and has been created by rethinkink. There are little drawings of everything in it - from flowers and buttons to dishes and sweaters.

Twelve months in one piece,decorated with prints of natural objects - a poster calendar by MichelleBrusegaard.

This is something for the marine life lovers - a calendar that features drawings of rocks, seaweed, seashells and sea urchins by camillebellet shows everything that you can find on the beach.

There is something for those who like vintage pictures too!This calendar contains twelve vintage carnival pictures. Made by TammieBowdenPhoto.

OceanSkye takes photographs of seaglass and has created this amazing calendar!

Even something as unusual as a calendar on a pillowcase can be found on Etsy! This beautiful item was created by lepapierstudio.

Now I slightly wish that I did not make my ugly own calendar, but bought some of these instead! Well, maybe next year!! ;-)

❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆Christmas is here!!❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆

2011-12-20T12:48:00.006+01:00

It is only four days until Christmas now and everybody seems to be rushing around to make the last preparations. Post offices are crowded with people sending or picking up their last-minute Christmas presents, people moaning on Facebook that they have not bought the presents yet and madness going on in the supermarkets as everybody tried to get SOMETHING!

I must admit, I could do better myself as well. Every year I have a resolution to do my shopping throughout the year, so that I pick the right present for everyone. Every year I have too little money to shop in December. I send my Christmas cards late. I am chaotic and I mess up a lot.

On the other hand, I was quite successful this year too! I managed to decorate my first Christmas tree, I made handmade cards for a few of my friends, I wrote a few nice emails and I wrapped my present beautifully. And in all that, I managed to make some really beautiful decorations, for which I did not need to go to a shopping centre, but enjoyed making them at my warm home while drinking tea and eating biscuits :)

I hope you all will be able to find a few moments for yourself, to relax and to rest while surrounded by the ones that you love and will not be the victims of stressful and materialistic Christmas time. Merry Christmas.

❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❇ ❈ ❅ ❄

Beads again!!!

2011-12-19T15:43:00.010+01:00

I made some FIMO polymer clay beads in the past, but never thought that I could actually be the person who makes jewellery or anything like that. That was not for me, I was making bracelets, I thought. Well, until now!!!

At the end of summer I got inspired by a friend who showed me her beaded Christmas decorations in shapes of snowflakes, stars and angels that she made for a Christmas fair that she's going to take part in. It did't look difficult, so I decided to try it too.

These are my Christmas stars (rather than snowflakes) made of glass Czech beads bought mostly at Starbeads and Rooya. If you happen to be in Prague and are bead-crazy, you should definitely visit these two shops! You are going to be pleasantly surprised.

I made little sets of these stars and listed them in the Christmas section of my shop. A few of them are sold now, but there are still some left. Everything that doesn't sell until Christmas will be available in the next year as well, so that you can keep shopping all year round.

Rocky backrounds

2011-07-30T22:14:00.005+02:00

This summer I decided to make some changes in the look of my etsy shop. Everybody speaks about how important it is to have good photos and some people even hire others to take nice pictures for them, so I thought that I might get some nice idea how to make the pictures of my items more appealing. Not that I thought they were bad, but a little change might give the shop more personality and freshen it up a bit.

Friendship bracelets are summer accessories and as such, I wanted the pictures to look as beachy, summery and carefree as possible. That is why I chose to use the rocks that I collected at beaches all over Ukraine as backround for my bracelets. I must admit I think it was a good choice.

And in addition to all of this, there is also a renewed banner, which matches the new photos!!

Summer trip to Ukraine

2011-07-08T20:39:00.007+02:00

I don't even know how the idea of visiting Ukraine, particulary Crimea, came into the mind of my friends, but when they asked me to go camping with them, I agreed.

As soon as I announced my plans at home, I met with a wave of disagreement from my parents, almost threatening and forbidding me to go. However, none of my friends were scared and so I just kept deleting my mother's e-mails containg the worst experiences of anonymous people from the Internet.

My first impressions of Ukraine were that it is huge and very very flat. Really it looked as if someone took eastern Slovakia (where I was born and where my family lives) and stretched it out, so that it was bigger and flatter. Yes, it does have mountains, of course, but to get down to the Black Sea, we had to go a long way through flatlands covered with fields and villages, sometimes with very bad roads. However, we did it and except the days when we had to drive a lot, it was amazing. We camped nearly everywhere, next to roads, on the beach, close to a vineyard... The Black Sea offered some wonderful views and I particularly enjoyed snorchelling with hundreds of unstinging jellyfish which seemed to be at every single beach we went to.

I am not going to pretend that I know something about history of the country or so. All the information I got was from the Lonely Planet guide about Ukraine that we followed. But even then, the impressions of some places were overwhelming. Some places did not look like Europe any more, because in the past it was controlled by many interesting nations, including Cimmerians, Greeks, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Byzantine Greeks, Ottoman Turks, Tatars and Mongols. The food in Crimea is also unique and delicious. Because it was quite cheap, we had one meal in a restaurant almost every day. We enjoyed traditional soup called borscht and many other meals, such as dumplings called manti, plov, which is made of rice and called differently in many languages and sarma, minced meat wrapped in a grape leaf.

It took us around three days to learn how to read Ukrainian writing (I had it easier, because I studied Russian for about two years at high school) and even though almost nobody could speak English, but we managed with Czech and Slovak, some basic Russian and phrases from Ukrainian conversation book. Yes, it got funny sometimes, but it is a trip that I will never forget :)

New Year's resolutions for 2011

2010-12-30T15:46:00.006+01:00

First of all, I will NOT buy things that I don't need and spend unnecessary amount of cash on eating out, going to pubs and cinemas or buying new books. Instead will make my lunch at home or use university canteen, make my tea and coffee at home and invite friends to our place and have some fun there. I will also focus on reading books from the library or those that I bought and haven't read yet.

I will try to eat in a healthy way - more muesli, oatmeal, corn flakes and yogurt for breakfast, pasta and salads for lunch and fruits for dinner.

I will learn to cook a few new meals, after all, the Internet is full of recipes.

I will try listing and renewing on Etsy more often and blog at least a few times a month.

I will go to work more often too. Teaching English is a good way to earn some extra money and part-time jobs in supermarkets are a pain, but I could manage to sacrifice one day a week.

I will spend more time with my friends. Now I live in a nice place, so they can visit me and sleep over and we can enjoy our time together without spending too much money.

I will spend my lonely evenings by studying and free work on my thesis on weekdays.

I will (actually I MUST) do something to find my inner balance - yoga, stretching, sports, good food and anything that makes me happy and makes me feel like I am having a good time, I am doing well and am a worthy person who has no reason to be depressed.

I will do my best to arrange a studying stay somewhere abroad to get more experience.

I will spend less time on Facebook. Instead of staring into the PC screen during my moments of boredom, I will always have a book to read or a bracelet to make at hand, so that I use my free time effectively.

Similarly, I will STOP spying on people on Facebook! I know that walls are public space, but I don't need to watch it all the time. In the meantime, I can have a life.

Oh wow, there are so many of them! I am already looking forward to 2011 and all those wonderful days that I am going to have!

Looking back at 2010

2010-12-30T14:55:00.009+01:00

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was sitting on my bed in my parents' flat and writing my New Year's resolutions blog post. One more year has passed, in which so many things have happened, many things changed and many remained the same. And once again I am sitting here, in the same room on the same bed (covered with blanket, sipping a hot mint tea and watching the snowflakes dance around my window) and thinking about my plans for the following year. Of course I have some more resolutions, but first let's see how I kept the old ones from the last year.

Next New Year will be celebrated at a party, preferably one where you have to be dressed in funny clothes, not in a sit-at-home-and-watch-TV style.

Done! I am still at my parents, but tonight I am leaving back to Prague to celebrate the new year with a couple of friends in a flat that we rent together. The fancy costumes have been rejected by most of people who agreed to come, but still - it's a great improvement compared to last year.

I will go to freediving trainings with a little bit less reluctance (even though it is cold outside and it takes me 50 minutes to get ther and then I return home at 10:30 with still wet hair and lots of wet stuff that needs to be hung somewhere, so I wake everyone up)

Well, there were no trainings in summer and I was ill most of the winter time. I also paid for a few trainings that I wasn't able to get to in the end, because of lectures or general tiredness. After being at the uni for eleven hours, spending three more hours away from home because of training feels stupid and unbearable too. So for the next year - plan things better. Als the wet stuff problem has been sorted when I moved away from the dorms and rented an apartment with a proper bathroom or enough space on the floor to let things air-dry.

Similarly, will put more enthusiasm into studying, going to work and shopping for clothes.

Partially done. Studying went fine after all, I finished a bachelor's degree and graduated this December. I also did quite a lot of work on my master's thesis already and am quite satisfied with myself. It could be better with work, money is always good. As for clothes, I can get myself everything except shoes and trousers, shopping for which I really hate - a thing that I might never overcome.

Will take up one of the following: swimming, yoga, aqua-aerobic, belly dancing.

Did go swimming and did yoga a few times. A friend of mine who does belly dancing made me whirl my hips for about three minutes - does that count???

Will NOT cut my hair.

I did, but only for maintenance. Still expecting it to grow into Indian princess/mermaid/forrest fairy length.

Will come to visit my parents and old friends more often.

I spent an unusual lot of time here in summer, not so much in the fall and almost nothing except one week during Christmas in winter. But I feel that its been enough.

Will save some more money, but also let myself enjoy what I earn in a sensible way (such as traveling to visit my parents and old friends)

I have not saved up much. At least nothing is left of what I had, but everything was spent on travelling during summer.(See my summer holidays post if you'd like to know more)

I will take greater care of my pets (snails, stick insects) and finally will take my tortoise to the vet after she wakes up in spring.

I am sorry to announce that those particular stick insects are no longer among us. However, a friend forced me to take care of about hundred newborn ones, so there are still some sticks running around my place. The snails have got a new 130 litred big plastic tank in which they live and thrive and have laid approximately 400 eggs this year.
Also the tortoise did not wake up in spring, I got to know just when I was getting everything ready to take her to Prague. She died after 20 years that we had her and she has a little grave in the garden at out cottage in eastern Slovakia. I was thinking about getting a new one immediately, but then changed my mind, because I know I wouldn't be able to take care of her with all the traveling that I am planning to do.

After all, the resolutions are more or less guidelines, not strict rules. They describe the things we wish we changed and writing them down gives us the opportunity to look back at what happened, what we have and haven't done and how our opinions have changed. I can see myself changing very fast and every year I learn something new about myself and the world that I live in and I believe it helps me lead a happier and more balanced life.

Christmas

2010-12-24T12:03:00.004+01:00

•.¸*•.¸♥¸.•*´¸.•*´*•.¸*•.¸♥¸.•*´¸.•*´*•.¸*•.¸♥¸.•*´¸.•

Dear Etsians, blog followers and others who happened to find this blog by chance: I wish you all a happy and joyful Christmas time spent with those who you love the most.

This is a picture from my parents' dining room in Košice, Slovakia, where I am spending Christmas every year. "Veselé Vianoce" means Merry Christmas in Slovak.

Slovakia has got many Christmas traditions that are different from the ones in the UK or the US. We have a Christmas tree, we make Christmas cakes etc., but the meal we eat for dinner on 24th December is different. We usually have a soup to start - it is made with sour cabbage, mushrooms and pieces of smoked sausage in it. The main course is a fish - traditionally carp - with potato salad or just potatoes.

According to another tradition, we shouldn't eat all day until dinner. It is said that if you keep this, you will see a golden pig in the evening. So ... it is nine minutes after noon and I am already struggling :)

Keeping a scale of a carp under the tablecloth should bring you money in the following year.

However, on of the best traditions of all is the one which says that presents are opened right after the dinner is finished! Which means I will get to see what I got tonight!! I can't wait!!!

•*(¸.•*´♥`*•.¸)`*••*(¸.•*´♥`*•.¸)`*••*(¸.•*´♥`*•.¸)`*•

Giving succulents a second chance

2010-12-04T20:32:00.003+01:00

We did a bit of a Christmas shopping for my Mum in IKEA today and almost right next to cash desk with the discounted items, there were many plants for really bargain prices with a sign „try to give them a chance for 5 CZK“. Most of them were Cyclamen, but I found two Crassula succulent plants for only 15 Crowns (something less than 1$), which I felt so sorry for that I decided to buy them. I have been growing succulents since I was fifteen, so I think I might succeed. Both of them look like they were either not watered for a very very long time or froze, maybe both. I am letting them soak up a bit of water right now and the soil will be replaced in the next few days. I think they will be getting along well with the little Christmas lemons when they start growing :-)

Christmas lemons

2010-12-04T20:28:00.003+01:00

While cutting lemons into drinks at last week’s pre-Christmas party in our apartment, I noticed that they are full of seeds and I just thought: ”Hey, it would be great to have our own little lemon trees!” I used to grow some citrus plants before, but none of them survived until presence, so maybe these ones will be more successful. I planted them in a nice red flower pot and I can’t wait to watch them as they sprout. If they start growing, I plan to write more posts about how they are doing. Maybe in a few years, we can pick the Christmas party lemons from our own tree.

Crochet ride!

2010-12-04T09:21:00.003+01:00

This is something I have to share! Me and my parents came across this wonderful actual-size crocheted car in a gallery yard in Prague when we walked by the river, actually it waz quite some time ago, but I only got to blogging about it now. It was crocheted and stretched on a metallic construction and soaked in something to keep the shape and I loved the details – the wheels, the mirrors, it had everything like a real car has :) It's amazing what some people can make!

Bath and Beauty / Kitchen items

2010-11-21T15:02:00.002+01:00

The first of my bathroom items is here! This is a crocheted washcloth made of 100% cotton yarn. It is great for washing body and face, remowing make-up with, cleaning the dishes of wiping surfaces. I have much more in stock, so I will be taking photos regularly and listing and listing. Little facial scrubbies are on their way too!

Recycled tags

2010-11-21T10:15:00.003+01:00

A few months ago, my mum brought a few very big envelopes from work and I decided to turn them into "100% cotton" tags for my bathroom cotton items that I am going to make for my Etsy shop. It was very easy - I cut them in halves and printed the text on them, then cut the rectangular tags out and punched a hole for the string to go through. Although it is not visible from the photos, there is a little fish-shaped hole punched on the further end of a tag.

These are the finished tags on my newest product - facial scrubbies or make-up removal pads. There will certainly be more of them in differnet colours accompanyied by crocheted washcloths.

The fall

2010-10-26T12:54:00.004+02:00

Usually when I think about the fall, I imagine the cold and dark mornings, unpleasant rain and wind and sleepy weather that makes you want to stay in bed all day,curled up in blankets with a cup of hot tea and some biscuits. Luckily, being a student and having quite a lot of things to read (which can be comfortably donw in bed) I can afford it, but I am also thankful to have some duties which I cannot miss out and which prevent me from turning into a complete sofa potato (in this case a bed potato). And on the other side, when the sky clears up a bit and the wind stops, fall turns out to be a very nice and colourful season. This picture was taken week during a walk along the Vltava riverbank.

Summer 2010 flashbacks

2010-10-24T17:10:00.008+02:00

In spite of promising myself that I will blog more, I have posted nothing about my summer holidays so far. However, now that the weather is dark and cold and everything is so lazy, sleepy and depressing, I think it’s the right time for a few flashbacks:)

To be honest, I think this has been one of the best summers of my life, probably because I have finished a university degree and could go and enjoy my summer with a clear head, for the first time after three years. After visiting my parents for almost three weeks, I went to an amazing boat trip around Sardinia and Corsica for a week. We had a great time on a sea, only partially disturbed by little vertigos and occassional sea-sickness, but the diving and snorchelling was perfect and being on a boat was more enjoyable that I have originally thought.

(Pictures from the boat trip around Sardinia and Corsica)

After I came back to Prague, I quickly unpacked, washed the clothes and repacked them for another trip, this time to Croatian island Brač, where I have already been twice on a marine biology field trip with my university supervisors. This was mostly boring, because it was incredibly hot and I didn’t have anything enjoyable to do. By the end of the trip a big storm came and brought cooler weather, but also cooled down the water in the sea, so I spent most of the time out of it.

(a few photos from Croatia)

All these wonderful things seem to be so far away now, the weather is dull and cold, the overall atmosphere is sad compared to what I just wrote about and I keep dreaming about the ocean and visiting new places... Well, I think it is time I started saving up for summer 2011!

The new evening reading tradition

2010-08-06T20:00:00.004+02:00

Having moved to a new place I realized that I have way too many books that I have bought, but never really got to reading them - from Penguin classics that I bought in the UK four years ago to new books which caught my attention in a bookstore and books that I planned to read for lectures, but I only started and didn't finish. So I thought it would be a good thing to set up a tradition of reading a book every night before I go to sleep. That gives me something to think of right before I fal asleep and also makes me feel like the money that I spent on books wasn't entirely wasted.

I also carry a book in my backpack wherever I go and read it while travelling by tram or the underground - I spend at least 20 minutes in public transport every day and by reading, the time is spent more effectively. So my transformation into well-educated superintelligent nerdy individual has begun! And when I read all of my books, I will go to my parents and bring another bunch of unread sad books that are waiting on a shelf!

Flea market in Prague

2010-08-01T12:14:00.005+02:00

This Saturday (31st July),there was a flea market in Naměstí míru in Prague. It is a square with church in the middle and from early morning the area in front of the church was covered with shops selling all sorts of different stuff – vintage, clothing, accessories, jewelry, kitchen supplies, toys, lavender sachets and second hand and handmade goods – and owned by all sorts of people.

Many of them only had things on the floor, but the collection of things was very wide. It was the first time that I came across an event like this in Prague (thanks to being a member of "Creative Prague" group on Facebook). If I had more items, I would seriously consider making my own display and joining in (well, maybe next year!).

Morning bracelet featured in a treasury

2010-07-31T14:28:00.004+02:00

A blue and white striped bracelet that I listed this morning has surprisingly made it to one of the treasuries on Etsy.com ! It was created by sunshineartdesign and its is called "Striped all day". Many other striped items are featured too. Thank you very much!

♥FREE♥SHIPPING♥

2010-07-24T21:13:00.006+02:00

Finally, it is here! From this hour on, sillylittlesheep is offering a free shipping to all destinations. No matter how many items you purchase and were in the world you live, the shipping fee is 0.00 in all currencies! ♥

What I learnt from custom order

2010-07-22T23:33:00.004+02:00

Some time ago, I received a convo on Etsy, asking me if I could make a bracelet with letters on it. The girl who wanted it was a U2 fan and wanted to have a bracelet with the name of the band on it. I was very busy with finishing my degree at that time, so I suggested some other sellers she might want to ask. However, to my great surprise, she came back a few weeks later asking me if I am not busy any more and if I could make it. Being on holiday and having nothing better to do, I started making a bracelet that she requested, realizing not only that knotting writings is not as difficult as I have originally thought but also that I really enoyed the process of making it. Moreover, she seemed very happy with it too, so I couldn't be more satisfied.

Now my head is overflowing with ideas for this new style of bracelets - letters, numbers and even pictures can be created using this technique of weaving and I can't wait to start making all of those. I even bought special squared notebook for drawing my ideas. This way a simple custom order made me learn something new, something that I would have never wanted to learn by myself. Thank you!

A weekend for taking pictures

2010-07-12T15:03:00.005+02:00

I spent this weekend at our family cottage in the east of Slovakia with my parents. Because the weather was hot and sunny, I took my bracelets and my old digital camera with me and made 146 pictures of new items, ready to be listed in my Etsy shop. Today, I am continuing by sorting out and editing (cutting, cropping) my pictures and I have already listed one new bracelet and plan to list twice a day this week, if it is possible.

( these bracelets are photographed and ready to be listed in SillyLittleSheep's Etsy shop during the following week )

The OIL SPILL - how we all can help

2010-07-08T11:24:00.008+02:00

Living in a flat without television means that I am often completely out of touch with the world causes. Now I am on holiday at my parents place and I have just watched CNNs Eco Solutions dedicated to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Immediately, just like Lisa Simpson in one of The Simpsons episode, I started imagining myself helping there, washing all those animals and helping the environment which really needs help right now. However, not only I cannot travel there, I also have no money of my own to donate. Luckily, I found out (through a link given at the end of Eco Solutions) that there are several ways how you can help even if you cannot get to the Gulf of Mexico in person.

Also, the NWF (national Wildlife Federation) has created several banners which you can embed into your blogs and websites to attract the attention of people who actually can donate, because they have money, but wouldn't be searching for the ways to do it themselves. These banners are eye-catching and redirect you right to the website, where you can choose how you want to help.

There is also a campaign going on to spread the word via social networks on the Internet - and that's something that EACH ONE OF US can do! On this site you can find the aforementioned banners.

The knotting therapy

2010-07-06T11:30:00.005+02:00

The last month of the academic year was sort of rough for me - a lot of stress about defending my thesis, passing exams and interview to be able to continue in my studies etc. And now, when everything is over, I cannot help it but feel depressed. I must admit that I really was going totally out of control in the past few weeks, which meant that not only I have suffered, but also the closest people around me who had to deal with me and tried to talk me out of it every single day.

Now I am at my parents place in Slovakia again, having a little break, being taken care of and cooked to and also knotting like crazy! Even during exams I discovered that making bracelets helps my mood - playing with colours, while I can clear the bad stuff from my mind and create something pretty. And not only that, but also the possibility of selling it one day to earn money, which makes me feel like I'm actually doing something. Also it is an easy thing to do, I was concentrating on the easier patterns, so it cannot happen that I would get it wrong and get even more sad about how useless I am. So making bracelets is now both useful and practical :-}

Lavender

2010-05-13T19:41:00.006+02:00

For the last two years, I have been going on holiday to a Croatian island called Brač. Living in a camp, with a sea and marine life only a few minutes walk away and beautiful white dusty paths on the other side of the camp, it has become a wonderful place for me to relax and explore. Although the landscape seems to be dry and inhospitable, there is a lot of life going on - insects, spiders and reptiles are the creatures you can come across most often and their colours and shapes are often very impressive. We found a little lavender meadow nearby, with rocky walls and olive trees growing around it, which inspired me to make this bracelet. The violet flowers of lavender look outstanding on the dry-looking green-greyish backround and I think that making my bracelets inspired by nature is a good way to show how much I actually adore it.

Here is the link to the etsy listing of this bracelet: http://www.etsy.com/listing/46834394/lavender-coloured-friendship-bracelet

My "new" table

2010-05-08T21:08:00.005+02:00

Studying far away from home brings some unique experiences, such as living in a students' home, with it. Sometimes, as you can see in the picture on the left, the furniture is quite old

and the students who lived here before us have not been really nice to it. This desk has lost the top layer of lacquer, so the wood it is made of was bare and any sort of dirt really got into it... So I told myself I could cover it with something. I had some really good paper from my mother, the sort that cannot get wet, or at least not easily, so I used some of it together with sellotape, spent a little time on it and made the table look more bearable. I know it's got fruits on it and it is a little bit too childish and not very durable, but better than nothing and it will last long enough until I move away (which may be as soon as in a few months' time). I also put som colourful pictures from home and holidays on the notice board together with my handmade calendar and now I have a nice and colourful place to work in :)

Letters . . .

2010-05-08T20:59:00.004+02:00

I don’t know how about other people, but I LOVE writing letters... I actually enjoy receiving them more, but to get some, you need to send some . . . so I like writing them as well. Because of writing my final thesis for bachelor’s degree, I haven’t had time or will to keep in touch with my old friends or family, but once it was finished and I had a dorm all for myself, I had a lovely evening of drinking tea, eating muffins and writing letters. I managed to write three, to three different countries and I was so happy about it! I know it’s old-fashioned and slow, but that’s why I like it so much! Now all I have to do is sit and do my own work and wait for the replies :)

Over 2000 visits!!!

2010-05-02T13:44:00.003+02:00

I looked at the counter today and I couldn't believe my eyes!!! Over 2000 visits! WOW! I know I have had this blog for a very long time, but still, it makes me feel like it must really be good when so many people have come to look at it (or maybe I only promote it too much in Etsy forums??). Thank you all for following this blog, I hope it was worth reading. x

Spring trip to Lausanne

2010-04-26T22:14:00.009+02:00

Last week, me and my friend have made a road trip from Prague (Czech republic) to Lausanne (Switzerland) to attend a freediving pool competition. Even though we did not achieve any great results (well, sometimes that happens too!), we had a great time and I am glad that we went there. Lausanne is a wonderful city and although we explored it without a guide or much information about it, we have seen a lot of nice things, taken some nice pictures and had a LOT of fun! :)

I admired almost everything - from architecture and little gardening details to the natural beauties such as Lac Léman and the Alps. The only problem was that most people spoke French rather than English, but in the end it did not really matter. (A little bit of knowledge of German helped us on the way back when we have taken a "tiny" 200km detour thanks to my navigation abilities and had to ask a random man working in a garage to show us the way)

Arachnophobia always hits one minute too late

2010-03-26T11:56:00.002+01:00

As I walked from the pub after the lecture last night, only at about 9.15 p.m.(and of course have not drank any alcohol!), I met an incredible spring wildlife collection of animals. Last few days have been very warm and seems like the little creatures noticed it even better than humans. As I walked around the hospital, I noticed a HUGE (5 cm) spider on the wall, which I must have photographed with my phone,of course, having the true scientific instincts, but as soon as I walked away I thought: "Ewwwww!!! Spider, yikes!!!" Well, arachnophobia always hits one minute too late.. Under it on the floor sat a little toad, watching me approach with very angry expression in its eyes, which turned even more angry when I tried to cuddle it a bit. The froggie bent its head down, which was probably to make its back look bigger and scarier (but still about the same size as the scary spider), so I let it be. Soon the "Albertov" stairs will be covered in toads, searching for the right partner on their way to one of the little lakes nearby. The next animals that I met were little black bugs walking across the pavement and the most suprising discovery was a SLUG on the inside of my window,which I discovered when I wanted to get a bit of fresh air into the room before I go to bed. I have no idea how it climbed to the 5th floor, but maybe we brought it in with some flowers that we have on the window (in which case I don't understand why it hasn't come out earlier). Seems to me that summer is approaching with incredible speed and I can't wait to see what other new creatures will move into our home :)

Orange "Christmas" bracelet online!!

2010-03-25T13:11:00.004+01:00

So... another very very slow day at work. I work as a photocopy service in the library. I did not have much to do today, so I tried to work on my coursework and also rediscovered "The Sims" on my PC, so now I am working on a house and career or an imaginary character as well as mine... I will have to stop soon, because it keeps distracting me too much :)

Yesterday, I listed another one of the bracelets that I started making during Christmas holiday. I finished it many days ago,but only got to photographing it last week. It is orange and bright, a perfect accessory for colourful summer clothes.

The listing is available at this address http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=43393341

Blanket-murderers anti-handmade rodents

2010-03-12T16:39:00.005+01:00

Something more than a month ago I adopted a lovely rat couple, both males, who were supposed to be used as a snake food after the series of behavioural experiments were finished on them at the Science Academy. Though lovely, always curious and very interesting, we have been through all possible problems with them - from the noise they make at night to their fights over who will be the dominant one.

Because the cage they live in is a bit small, I let them walk around the room every night to get some exercise. They only walk on the armchair, play with a pillow and make a nest in a blanket that covers the chair, walk on the radiator, then return to the cage and so on. BUT! Today I woke up and had a look at them and I was terified! The edge of blanket was pulled inside and holes were bitten into it at several places in such a way, that I cannot repair it now. Apparently, after their evening games with the blanket I left it too close to the cage so they could reach it with their teeth and tried to pull it in to continue playing with it.

Well, this is what happens when a handmade item meets with pets of anti-handmade persuasion. The best idea that I got was to wash it and - after it dries - try to get as much undamaged yarn from it as possible... I know it is their nature to bite things, but I crocheted the blanket during the last year of high-school and it has taken me several months and I was really happy when I finished it and loved it... And all of that was destroyed during one night.

Orange bracelet online

2010-01-09T08:23:00.003+01:00

The first of my creations from Christmas holiday is already at http://sillylittlesheep.etsy.com

In the next few days I would like to take photographs of other finished bracelets and list them as soon as possible.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-31T23:03:00.002+01:00

Only something more than 30 minutes remains of the old year and although I did not want to make any resolutions this year, I finally decided that there are some things I want to do in the next year and this list is only to summarize them.

Next New Year will be celebrated at a party, preferably one where you have to be dressed in funny clothes, not in a sit-at-home-and-watch-TV style.

I will go to freediving trainings with a little bit less reluctance (even though it is cold outside and it takes me 50 minutes to get there and then return home at 10.30 p.m. with still wet hair and lots of wet stuff that needs to be hung somewhere so I wake everyone up)

Similarly, will put more enthusiasm into studying, going to work and shopping for clothes (so that next time that I arrive at my parents', my Mum will not have the feeling that I look like a homeless who needs to be dressed anew from neck to toes and will not drag me to the shopping centres to undergo the torturous process of choosing the right outfit)

Will take up one of the following: swimming, yoga, aqua-aerobic, belly dancing

Will NOT cut my hair

Will come to visit parents and old friends more often

Will save some more money, but also let myself enjoy what I earn in a sensible way(such as traveling to visit parents and old friends)

I will take greater care of my pets (snails, stick insects) and will care more about their diet and will finally take my tortoise to the vet after she wakes up this spring

That seems to be everything, although the list will be changing, because some things will not work, obviously :o)

I hope you will all have a wonderful New Year. Have a great time.

Creative Christmas

2009-12-31T14:14:00.008+01:00

I decided that I will NOT do anything like special Halloween / Valentine's Day / Christmas bracelets. I don't think it helps to get more sales and to be honest, it's boring. If I ever make a bracelet with hearts, pumpkins or reindeer on it, it will be because I enjoy doing it and not because some sort of holiday is coming and I want to get sales.

Anyway, I thought it wouldn't be too bad to make some more items for my shop, so I bought lots of different embroidery threads, even the colours I don't usually use and I played with it for a while during the Christmas holiday. The results are shown in the picture below. Not all of them are finished, but I am working on them every single day :)

Some of these I might keep, but most of them will be listed on etsy.com after the New Year.

Merry Christmas to all!!

2009-12-24T20:30:00.003+01:00

So, my dear friends, it's Christmas once again. And Christmas always makes me realize, what a great and comfortable home we have. I hope all of you had a great time with your families and the people that you love. I have arrived to Slovakia on December 19th, managed to send out a few Christmas cards to old friends, meet my high-school friends and tonight I had our traditional dinner with my family and we opened our presents. In Slovakia we eat cabbage soup and fish for dinner and open our presents right after we finish eating. Also, I have given myself to a Christian habbit of fasting through the day in order to fully appreciate my mother's wonderfull cooking skills. And the result? Ended up with an overfilled belly sticking out in a preagnancy-like manner because I was too greedy (actually, I was the last one still eating, while my brother was giving me the "GRRrrrr, hurry up 'cos I wanna open my presents already" looks over the table). I will have to work on that during next few years. Also, I'm thinking of improving my eating habbits, but that is a matter of New Year's resolutions and does not belong into this short blog entry. So - Merry Christmas once again, I hope it met your expectations.

Beadmaking process photo guide

2009-11-02T11:38:00.007+01:00

As I already mentioned, I made some FIMO polymer clay beads last week. Now I'd like to share an easy technique for beadmaking with some pictured that I have taken last Wednesday. I found it on the Internet myself, but I think it is so great, that I want to spread it further :)

First I had to make a cane, so I mixed different colours of FIMO to create different shades of green, the lightest colour in the middle, but you can use any colours you choose.

Then I rolled the cane and created differently thin cuts that I put together like in the picture above...

... and rolled them again to make them join together. After that, all you need to do is slice the cane and stick the little slices on a ball of FIMO (this can be a differently coloured waste material from some of your previous beadmaking) and roll it again to make it join together.

Then punch a hole and let them bake in the oven for half an hour and the beads are finished!

Bead Holiday!!!

2009-10-30T10:15:00.003+01:00

October 28th is a bank holiday here in Czech Republic, so I decided to use my day off for some crafting and beadmaking. I have bought a few new packs of FIMO polymer clay and spent a great afternoon having fun with it, although I must admit that I didn't make many beads, but I think that I might have learnt something new - and there is still a long long way to go to improve my technique - but the first listing is already on Etsy and many more should come before Christmas :0)

Striped bracelets from Silly :)

2009-10-27T11:22:00.004+01:00

I have recently added a few new bracelets which I made during my university exam period. The pattern is very easy to learn, all you need is some embroidery thread- a few threads that go under and the one which will go on the top-and this needs to be very long (I use 8m long thread and it seems to be sufficient for a 10 threads wide bracelet).Then all you do is make knots with the long thread and when you come to the end of the bracelet, you simply turn it over and start a new row as usually. Because of its simplicity, I used to knot these while studying - you don't need to concentrate on the pattern too much. Its very simple and the pattern created will be the same on both sides. I used vriegated threads, which created the lovely stripes.

Washcloths featured on byhand.me !

2009-09-10T08:36:00.004+02:00

I received a convo this morning, saying that Etsy user wintergarden has featured me in their blog! Its quite surprising, because it didnt seem like many people are interested in this listing,which has been there for ages with not many views, so its very nice to realize that somebody actuelly does like it :)

Here is the link to the blog :

http://www.byhand.me/component/option,com_content/Itemid,70/id,13826/task,view/

And a link to my washcloths :

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17348537

Summer bracelet with a bead

2009-08-31T15:35:00.003+02:00

Every time I promise myself that I will start making and listing new bracelets more often, I end up very very busy with something else. This summer I have done a lot of travelling, so this bracelet is my all-holiday work - I started making it in Croatia during marine biology field trip but finished it only yesterday in Prague. The bead comes from one reptile exhibition in Lednice, city in Moravia, Czech republic and to be honest, I do not quite know what it is made of. Here's the link to etsy listing: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30158767

Another set of beads on Etsy !

2009-07-20T16:37:00.005+02:00

I have listed another set of beads this afternoon. I called them simply "Pink and orange beads" and here is a link to them: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28078659

My first FIMO beads on etsy.com !

2009-07-19T13:21:00.004+02:00

Today I finally listed the first set of my handmade beads in my etsy shop. It is a 10-piece set that I made from my own handmade cane. I really like these and hopefully I will be able to list more beads during the next week.
You can have a look at them at : http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28030228

Birthday presents!

2009-07-18T23:21:00.007+02:00

It was only a few days ago that my friend Dušana celebrated her birthday and I decided that instead of buying some present for her, I'll make her a bracelet from my newly made FIMO polymer clay beads - I tied it on a piece of card paper with a ribbon and painted the paper with my new watercolour pencils. Obviously, I'm not good at it,because I only bought them a few days ago, but the result didn't look bad at all. Luckily, she loved it, so I'm giving one to my mother for her birthday tomorrow as well :)))

Silly Little Sheep is back!

2009-07-13T17:35:00.004+02:00

Dear friends! After a long long time of being too busy (and lazy - I admit), Silly Little Sheep is back on Etsy.com bringing another friendship bracelets and new FIMO beads. I renewed two items so far and from next week on, there should be a new set of beads coming every day. I hope you'll enjoy them and I'll try to keep updating this blog as often as possible.