Three days in České Budějovice

Based on a recommendation of our friends, me and my flatmate Z.M. decided to go on a three-day course to České Budějovice .

We went to lectures,lived in a dorm (and had to witness and listen to a nearly all night long post-exam celebrational balcony barbecue with guitairs and singing) walked around the little streets and lanes of the city centre, ate breakfasts in a buffet, lunches in a canteen and dinners in local restaurants, drank beer and coffee and had a good time. The time seemed to slow down for a while and even though it was three days of work and studying, it felt like a little holiday.

A few photos from the town:

I was surprised by the amount of crafty shops in the city centre. There was one of them in particular called "Tvořivá ovečka" (meaning Creative Sheep !!! ), which sold yarns of all kinds and was really tiny and in spite of the opening hours saying it had been closed for more than hour, there was a very nice lady in it, who invited us in.  The visit got even more interesting when I spotted a spinning wheel in the corner and the lady offered me to try it. I was actually too scared to have a proper go, because I was worried I might actually do something wrong to the thread, but I stepped on the pedal and watched her spin the wool with her fingers. A few seconds later I decided I need to learn how to do it! Well well, one more thing to give me if you run out of ideas for birthday presents :DD

First thing made of felt...

My very first thing from felt was made in England, under a careful supervision of my friend G.F. who showed me how to sew stuffed hearts from felt. This is exactly the one, so far the only felted heart that I made which went as a present to my Mum on the Mother's Day (which, in case you are wondering, we in Slovakia and Czech republic celebrate on the second Sunday of May, along with Bahamas, Croatia, Malaysia, Malta, Switzerland and many other European and non-European countries - see the full list of dates here).

I made a very simple card for it, only punched a hole to pull the ribbon of the heart through and stamped lots of flowers on the front side (with the stamps that I got fot my birthday from A.H. and which I think are awesome) in two different shades of blue and wrote something (I'm afraid too simple and silly) inside. Then posted it to Mum along with a birthday card for my brother (not handmade, as I do not possess the level of "handmade intelligence" necessary to make cards for males yet).

A few days later a message came that said: "All were nice, but mine was the prettiest. Mum" Successssss... :)

A home-grown present

I have been growing succulents since I bought a little Lithops at a succulent exhibition when I was fifteen years old. However, with constant moving and living in different dorms and flats during my uni studies and with a threat of moving again, and to a smaller place, I decided to get rid of a bit of clutter and also some plants. 

A perfect opportunity has come in form of a friend who has just moved into a new flat. So I repotted, decorated, made a card - and she loved it! :)

Now my planties are in good hands and I will make sure that they are well looked after during my regular visits :)

Christmas madness in summer - again!

Yes, again! Last summer in August, I couldn't stop myself from making the simple Christmas decorations using transparent glass beads and this year I discovered some colours as well!! :)

A few weeks ago a friend in the UK showed me a star like these that she made some time ago and I was lucky enough to be able to use it as a template for my own stars (and even luckier not to forget it by the time I got back to Prague).

Most interest in crafty things comes when I have LOTS of other things to do - e.g. three final uni exams and a thesis to write. And all my head thinks is "You could go out right now and buy some new beads!" Is this normal? However, in the times when I am working on something that only gets done slowly, it is still nice to sit down with beads for a while and have something small, cute and pretty finished with half an hour and be happy about it.

They are all 4.5-5 cm in diameter and I will list them as soon as I stop renewing the more summer-themed things.

Rhubarb and Chocolate

My favourite cake, it is very simple and one of the first cakes that I learnt how to make. It is one of those "cup" cakes, so no measuring and weighting ingredients, which is really great and useful when you live in a dorm without a proper kitchen :))

Recipe:

3 cups of flour (all-purpose)

1 and half cup of sugar (either caster sugar or powdered sugar)

1 cup of vegetable oil

3 eggs (with really small cups you could use two) 

baking powder (here they come in packs of 12g - I tried to make one in the UK with one little spoon of the UK baking powder and it was an absolute fail, so if you are in the UK, definitely use more)

some milk to make it runny enough to pour into the baking tray

and finally - whatever you want to put on the top! This time I found som rhubarb leftovers at the supermarket and mixed them with chocolate, but peaches, strawberries and plums are my favourites as well.

Pour it into a deep baking tray and bake on 180°C until the top is golden-brown.

You can also mix cocoa into the mixture or its part to make a two-coloured cake. I also tried to use little cups for cupcakes with this mixture, in which case maybe use more baking powder, but they are great. Go experimenting, it is great fun (and yummy!!)

Rockpooling in Weymouth

A few photos of our rockpool adventure in Weymouth, during which we nearly fell into the sea, got swept away by the waves, created a mermaid out of shells and watched shark babies move inside their eggs at the Weymouth Sea Life Adventure Park.

Oh yes, and I also had my first cream tea and the best scampi and chips ever.

 

Farmers‘ markets season starting again in Prague

Farmers‘ markets are getting increasingly popular in Prague recently and this year‘s season has just started last Saturday - a really hot and sunny day.
I love these markets and in fact me and my friend help to sell marinated cheeses and pickled sausages made by people with mental impairments. It‘s a job where you get to be outside, meet random people with their kids and dogs and friends, earn some little money, support a good project and local producers – and maybe the best of it – eat and drink really good things in a relaxed atmosphere! If you are planning to visit Prague this summer, make sure to check the nearest square during the weekend to get some really good breakfast or lunch!

Spring, spring, spring...

This year's spring has come very suddenly and as if out of nowhere. Lots of tiny flowers covered the lawns in my favourite botanical garden in Prague and I am really happy to say that I have enjoyed their short-lived beauty very much, walking around, taking photos to share here with you or sitting on a wooden bench reading a book or discussing some life-important matter with my friend in there. This is a place where I made my first year university timetable, went for dates, had lunches or read literature for my thesis, went for walks when I felt blue, even gave a few English lessons and it is very close to my heart.

I think it is sad that there are days when we are too consumed by work or worries that we do not have the time spend a few moments somewhere nice to look around with open eyes and appreciate the beautiful little living things around us, the grassiness of the landscape, the variety of shapes and colours and the smell of fresh air, when it can improve our mood so much.

Even though there already is so much nice to see, some parts of the garden are still asleep, resting and taking their time to amaze us in summer.

Spring is here!

At least indoors.
I am spending this weekend at my parents' place in Slovakia, which is approximately 9 hours by bus away from my "home" in Prague. The weather turned sunny and even though it is still a bit cold outside, the bulb plants inside are already alive and in bloom.

I watched this particular Hyacinth plant open its flowers, one after another, all day yesterday and it filled my room with its strong scent.

We live in a quiet part of the town and what could be nicer than writing something or reading a book with open window, listening to a few birds singing outside, while the wind occasionally brings the flowery scent into your nose?

Happy Birthday, Silly Sheep !

So, on 20th February it was my 24th birthday. Nothing is changed, except that I have finally realized that I am too old for Bravo magazine (nothing that I would not already know, but now I have it confirmed :-b ).

This year I did not throw a party or expect presents, however, lots of people wished me a happy birthday, I got some sweets and some cards and a really cute moment came up when my old friend from school came for a visit. We agreed to bake some cupcakes together and just before we started, she took the tiny little brithday candles out of her bag. Obviously we needed 24, but there were only 12 candle holders. My friend commented on that "They probably didn't expected that such an old goat would want candles on her cake" - thanks, thanks for that!! :DD In the end we used some old airplane candle holders from another cake and just used the rest without holders. Wax was everywhere anyway, but at least it was fun. And of course I cannot say what I wished for, but it was something very very important ; -)

Filling the "Friendship bracelets" section

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, eating 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!

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?

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 is here!!❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆

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!!!

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

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

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 :)