Friday, January 18, 2008

Walkabout in the internet land

I was surfing Etsy and looking at Elsita's very nice prints... A4 size for $20... very affordable too, I think... She prints them in her home... I have always thought professional printers are WAY TOO expensive and advanced for "commoners", but I checked it out, and it's actually possible.

Now, my husband is an artist, and I'm naturally very proud of him. It would mean a lot to him to be able to print his digital art and get a "hard copy" of it.

I also visited Elsita's blog and she told about a lovely shop called "Purl", which has a net shop - shipping internationally! Oh, the fabrics! Oh, the yarns! Oh, oh, OH!!! Unfortunately, it's just another place just to drool behind the window, they accept only credit cards...
Their blog/journal is interesting and quite available even for me :-D

I think I'm going to make some Calla coasters, just for the fun of it... Could be a nice idea for Christmas presents... ;-)
Purl-critters are very nice too :-)

From Purl Bee I found 2nd floor and there another Christmas idea... not only for Christmas though... would work as bag for dog's leashes and things, Henric's kippahs, recycle bottles and cans and... imagine this: as a shopping bag! LOL "No more plastic bag, thank you"
(and from there I went to Lula Louise (nice tutorials and patterns... Nice blog otherwise as well) and she has also an entry on market bags... and from there I went back to Purl Bee and Elisa Nest Tote LOL
Merry go round the mulberry bush, huh?)

Nevertheless, from 2nd Floor I found my way to iHanna's blog ('Ihana' is lovely in Finnish... I wonder if Hanna knows this when she chose her blogging name... Could be... she's Swedish.)
You see, 2nd Floor had got from iHanna a link to a site where you can write things with biscuit letters...
Just my luck, the site is currently down... perhaps for all eternity :-( I wanted to add that link to my scrapbooking blog, because the biscuit letters are really cute :-)

Anyway, I found something else though... Hanna's blog is very nice in all, but she gave a link to Michelle Ward's Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusades... and n:o 16 is "Journal Your Blog"...
Now, a "street team" is apparently blogging designers working at same projects (called crusades) and sharing the results. The crusades are "prompts to challenge you to make cool stuff" as Michelle puts it, and indeed the stuff is cool :-)

Don't forget to visit the participating blogs. I noticed that most of the people who joined Green Pepper Press Street Team are interesting people with interesting and inspiring blogs. :-)

There was Ma Vie En Rose and she in turn gives me this... absolutely... fabulous woman. Suzi Blu... Is she for real? I mean... I thought *I* was excentric! (She reminds me of one of my friends, Mirjam...) Really worth watching all those videos. She's really something extra :-) And think about it... she isn't perfect, she isn't even especially good... but she is burning and she is creating and she is amazing!
If she can do it, why not you?
If Christy Brown could do it, why not you?
If Helen Keller could do it, why not you?
(Not that Suzi Blu is in any way as extreme example as Christy or Helen)

We use so much time in saying things like "I can't draw", "I can't draw well enough", "I don't have time", "I don't have materials", "I can't do anything special and beautiful and perfect", I can't, I don't, I shouldn't...
There's a Swedish word "idas" - it translates to "won't be bothered", "not to feel like", "don't care to do"...
There's a Finnish word "kehdata" - it translates to "dare", "venture", "have the nerve", "not be ashamed", "not be embarrassed", "feel like doing", "be able to bring oneself to do"
So there's a lot of things we don't do because we don't "ids" or we don't "kehti"... we feel ashamed of doing a lot of things we would like to do, won't take the time and energy needed to actually accomplish something, don't think it's worth doing. And it's such a shame! How much beauty and ideas we have lost because of "idas" and "kehdata"!

The important thing is this; To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become
- Charles Dubois

There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
- C.S.Lewis

If peace be in the heart the wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty.
~ C.F. Richardson ~

Greatness is measured by your gifts, not your possessions.

Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.
-- Roy Goodman

The things that count the most cannot be counted.

Now, go and create!

3 comments:

michelle ward said...

Hello Ketutar. I got a "google alert" for Green Pepper Press which directed me here. I just have to say how cool it is to read the nice things you wrote about the people who participate in our crusades. I hope you'll consider joining us. It's a great way to network and meet kindred spirits. We even have a girl from Finland on our team. Think about it! Thanks again, (Kiitos)

Ketutar said...

Thank you for the invitation :-)
Not this time, but perhaps in February :-)

Anonymous said...

I didn't know that but somebody told me a couple of years after I'd started writing in my blog! I love that it means something in finish! :-)