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I’ve managed to take a lot of photos of Tricks this summer, and some of my favourites is from the weekend when she visited my parent s and me at the summer cabin. We had a lot of sunshine and spent some time relaxing down by the water, talking about life and love and plans. As she tried out the water I took a few shots, this is one of them.
The spot where she’s standing was my favourite spot when I was little, because it’s full of soft, green, luscious sea grass, and it isn’t too deep, so you can just stand there and let it tickle your toes. Somewhere deep in my stash I found this old patterned paper from Basic Grey, which I think originally is a Christmas paper, and from one of their retired collections (Figgy Pudding). It’s been one of those papers I’ve loved so much that I haven’t used it. But I just thought it fitted well as sea grass and sea weed.
This is what the journalling says:
“I remember how wonderful it felt when I first got the opportunity to invite my best friend to the summer cabin for the first time, and get to show her the place I think is the best on earth, to show her the place that filled my childhood with so many adventures. It became an instant tradition, and now it’s not even a proper summer if Sara doesn’t visit.”
I’m really glad I took the time to scrapbook this photo. I have so many great ones from all the years we’ve been friends, it’s really time to make them more accessible.
The composition of the layout was inspired by this sketch,
which is originally from a sketch challenge at the Swedish scrapbook shop Scraphuset.se.
So, after the long and cold winter we had, me and Tricks took a week off and went to Crete, third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. We didn’t really know exactly where we were going until one day before departure, and even then we knew very little of the town we were going to: Hersonissos. The whole trip took us a little by surprise; neither of us had ever just gone on a sun trip before. Though relaxing by the pool at the resort was pleasant, we of course got a bit antsy after a while, and went exploring.
The town itself, considered to be one of the most highly developed tourist resorts of Crete, has a harbour mainly filled with restaurants and bars, and seems ideal for people who prefer to party a lot, I suppose (i.e. not me and Tricks, who just wanted to take it easy). There are also a couple of streets with tourist shops, selling all sorts of cheap trinkets, but for some reason there were a lot of shops selling silver- and gold jewellery, at unreasonably high prices. Maybe not a town we would have chosen. But if you look for it, you’ll always find something interesting, wherever you go.
We took the bus down there almost every day; after all, you can only lie on your butt by the pool for so long. We found a quiet restaurant run by a sweet Greek family, and we went there for iced coffee every time we went to the harbour. They always had free tables in the shade, overlooking the sea, always pleasantly cool and windy.
Passing all the tourist shops on the main street we one day saw a sign telling us we could “make our own necklaces with our names on them!”. Typical trinket store, we thought, but we stopped and tried to shade our eyes from the sun and see what was in there, this tiny shop that was no more than a hole in the wall. It was a bit dark in there, but we took a brave step in, prepared to be bombarded by sales people, trying to show you everything and explain what good prices they had.
It was a bead shop. In there sat a quiet lady, making a necklace. The walls were covered in displayed hand-made jewellery, inventive and different and beautiful. Along the walls were tables with beads and pearls and gems, in glass, metal, clay (hand painted clay pearls!), stuff we would not ever find at home. It was like finding a treasure in a cove somewhere.
We came back three days in a row. Everyday staying there for the better part of an hour, bent over the tables, studying everything, looking for more things to pick out. And every day the lady very patiently counted every bead we’d picked out (this took some time). She shyly asked if we had the bits to put it all together, and smiled. On the last day she gave us each a Mati, a glass charm, to protect us from The Evil Eye. Tricks got her address on a little hand written note, hopefully we can keep in touch.
 Mati, a traditional Greek "Evil Eye", to protect you from envy and evil by capturing it. So we came home from our vacation with treasures. And they will last a long time, when we sit and craft and drink tea next winter.
For Tricks birthday last year (one of the big ones) I did a bit of planning for once, figuring out b-day gifts and packaging and cards ahead of time. Which was lucky, because the b-day card took me almost an entire day to make, since I wanted it just right. Tricks had sent me a picture of a very nifty yellow Totoro hand bag a few weeks before, and I couldn’t get hold of that, but I used it as inspiration for the card.
I wanted to make something in greens and yellows/orange, something blingy and festive and in any layers. This was the result! I am very pleased with the tree-like figures, the mix of colours, and the tiny festive lights:
   
I’ve been wanting to try this out for a couple of years now, but just haven’t gotten around to it. I remember as a kid when my dad used to show me how to solder (he’s an electrician, so he had a lot of skill). I remember when I started pre-school and my mum got her first job after her maternity leave, soldering circuit boards and mother boards for computers. She also had a lot of skill! So when I saw a video about soldering charms a few years back I thought: “Hey, THAT I can do!”. Well, some skills are just not inherited, and some does definitely not come naturally to me.
Getting the supplies has been kind of a challenge, actually. I have ventured into many hardware stores asking questions about soldering and flux gel and copper tape, and since they are generally not artsy and craftsy they have been giving me very strange looks. I actually got a “Little missus, you should visit your local craft store instead” today.
Well, my boo helped me get a soldering station on a bargain and I just couldn’t keep putting it off any more. I finally found a place that sold some thin glass pieces (why are THOSE so hard to find? I’ll have to go into glass fusing next) and I was found standing in my little kitchen today, windows open, smoke from the soldering up my nose, giving this charm making a first try. I failed on so many accounts, and it’s crude so say the least, but here it is:
 First try. Paper from Graphics 45 It was only my first try after all. I’ll try again. Preferably with a kitchen fan close by, ’cause I’m feeling a bit woozy. But it was FUN. Tools, you gotta love to have tools.I’ll do better next time!
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