Pretty hairs on the bay

I just finished a thermal saran reroot! I decided to put it on eBay this time (instead of only on Blythe Kingdom, as I usually do). It's my first time selling something on the bay, so let's see how that'll work out... A selling fee of 9% seems quite a lot to me, but maybe it's worth it?

Anyways, here are some pictures to show you my latest dolly hairs :)

The reroot was done using the lock-loop method, and has a middle thatch. I used a coolcat scalp for it... The beautiful thermal saran turns from purple to hot pink when it gets warm!

If you're interested: quickly head over to the listing... Thanks for looking!

Indonesia: day 3 & day 4

My first night in Indonesia was good. Soothed by the airconditioning I fell asleep immediately, tired of the long trip to the other side of the world. I woke up full of expectations of what this beautiful island would bring me.

Before heading to day 3 though, I realised I forgot a little something in my previous travel blog: a meet with two snakes! Don't worry, we didn't stumbled upon them in the wild, they were carried by two people of some kind of snake shelter home. You could hold the snakes around your neck (or even on top of your head) for a photograph. At first I was a bit scared (they're still snakes, you know...they looked quite poisonous in their yellow and green colours!), but oh well, just went for it. I was flabbergasted by how tame, lazy and slow they were, I actually wonder if they were drugged for this purpose. Anyway, it was funny to feel them creeping over my shoulders, the sluggish movements of a snake really have something hypnotizing. After taking some pics we provided the required donation for the shelter home and said goodbye to our new lisping friends.

Day 3 - Tuesday: Let's surf!

The Gemini Star Hotel had no breakfast included, so we decided to eat something in one of the many little restaurants again, some of them offer breakfast too (and by that I mean the European version of breakfast... I like rice, but rice for breakfast is a bit too much for me. Besides, I already had eaten enough rice in the plane for a couple of days!). Mark had noticed Kopi Pot a few days earlier. Kopi is Indonesian for coffee, so it sounded promising for us coffee lovers.

On the first floor terrace I ordered Indonesian pancakes (the first of many), with a fresh fruit salad and iced coffee. Yummy! Mark had sandwiches and coffee...both meals were delicious and gave the energy boost we just needed (regarding we slept quite long... :P). A lot of Indonesians eat pancakes for breakfast, which are pretty much the same as the European ones we know. The fresh fruit (in salads or juices) can be found on every menu for very little money. The coffee is quite tasty too! Indonesians have a different way of making it: they put the ground coffee in a cup and then pour hot water over it. The grounds sink to the bottom, leaving a little layer of 'mud'. This means you have to be careful not to drink your full cuppa, or you will have your mouth full of grounds with the last sip!

Our plan was to arrange a surf lesson for the afternoon, both eager to learn how to master the waves. Kuta beach is a perfect place for beginner surfers, with a constant flow of relatively small waves. Mark, who had been to the beach a couple of times before, had made friends with a local woman selling Bintangs (Indonesian beer) and other drinks. Not knowing the name of this sweet little woman, he called her Bintang-lady. There are loads and loads of these locals on the beach, offering you a selection of cooled refreshments, a seat on some old plastic chairs and a bit of shadow under a parasol. A lot of the locals know each other as well (later we found out that many work for one 'boss', who gets most of the money), and they will stay with you when you sit down...but not in an awkward way. It's actually quite cosy, the locals are often interested in where you're from (to subsequently let you hear their best 'Dutch') and where you're planning to go during your holiday. Bintang-lady made us settle down as soon as she spotted Mark, and called in someone who could help us with the surf lessons. We were introduced to Mr. Long-Long (who was - guess what - even smaller than Bintang-lady), a guy who rented surfboards. Mr. Long-Long found himself quite funny, the silly man couldn't stop making jokes and urging Mark to please bring back a mermaid from the sea. Duh.. :P Anyway, after the neccessary negotiating, we arranged a one hour surf lesson for both of us, followed by one hour of practice by ourselves. Armoured with our huge (the bigger the steadier!) surfboards we headed towards the sea!

Some Indonesian guy whose name I don't remember (not Mr. Long-Long) explained to us how to get up on the surfboard. After practicing a bit on the beach first (pretending you're paddling while laying on the sand feels pretty awkward by the way) we were ready to try it for real. Shortly said it's al about waiting for a good wave, paddling like crazy and trying to stand up. Our teacher helped us by giving our surfboard a good push when a nice wave arrived. That way you don't have to paddle like your life depends on it, so you can focus on getting on your feet. We were both suprised by how quickly we succeeded to stand up (and stay that way for more than just three seconds). Later, when we were practicing by ourselves, we found out that it's a bit more difficult when you have to paddle al by yourself (we also found out that surfing is quite exhausting when nobody's pushing you :P), but still we managed to master some waves. Yay!

Tired, abraded (I had a real surf accident, another newbie surfed just right into my head!) and with no feeling left in our arms we sank down in our plastic chairs again, while Bintang-lady served us some fresh and well deserved Bintangs. Aaah...we felt so proud of newly acquired surfing skills! I would LOVE to become better at it and practice way more. As soon as I got back home from my holiday I checked the Internet to find out if golf surfing is at all possible in the Netherlands. Seems it actually is at a few places, though only with specific weather conditions. Plus it's quite a bit colder than in Indonesia, and also more expensive. Hmm...well, who knows! 

That evening we hooked up with an Australian friend of Mark and his Balinese girlfriend. We agreed to meet at a Mexican restaurant at one of the Poppies, where we had a delicious dinner together. It was nice for Mark to catch up with his old Aussie co-worker William, while his beautiful girl Lou gave us some useful tips and told a bit more about the Balinese daily life. We were planning to rent scooters the next day, though we were still a bit afraid of the chaotic traffic. Lou told us she was driving the scooter since she was about five (?!), her brother just got a motorbike for his birthday (those are even more dangerous :P). I think a lot of residents of Kuta (and many other Balinese places) never own a car in their life. The islands aren't that big, you can get pretty far on a scooter. You can even transport your whole family on it. Seriously: the smallest child precedes, than comes the father (who drives), another child is being pushed between it's parents, and at last comes the mother, who sits on the very end of the saddle. Works perfectly :P Anyway, after some more Bintangs and cocktails with said goodbye to Lou and William, and headed back to Gemini's. We were held up at the Green Box (the tiniest cocktailbar you've ever seen, completely in green) for more drinks and a talk with two crazy Canadians, but finally we reached our bed for another night of air-conditioned sleep.

Day 4 - Uluwatu

So...we wanted to hire scooters the next day. You can practically hire those vehicles at every corner of the street, while I can't think of a place in my hometown where they would be available for rent! We decided to hire only one scooter so Mark could drive, since I tend to be a bit clumsy every now and then (to put it mildly :P). With the Balinese traffic in mind, jumping on the back might be a better idea for me. Our destination was Uluwatu, a temple at the south end of the island, also called the Bukit Peninsula. It took us about 1-1,5 hours to get there...and we arrived safe and sound! Mark has been driving the scooter before, to deliver pizza's during his time in Australia, so that experience came in handy. It's funny how quickly you get used to traffic with no rules. Before you realize it, you're taking precedence like everyone else, overhauling other scooters going slower than you (because they have their complete family aboard :P) and honking the klaxon to let nearby road users know you're approaching. Did I also mention people drive on the left side of the road in Indonesia? Just like in Australia, so again, good thing Mark was driving. 

Uluwatu was definitely worth the visit. This temple was build in the 11th century, on a steep cliff 70 meters above the Indian Ocean. How's that for a nice location? The temple is an important Hindu place for the Balinese people, but also quite popular with tourists, who often come to see the sun sink in the sea at this beautiful and peaceful place. We arrived early in the afternoon though, which meant it wasn't too busy, and we had al space and time to discover the 'pura' (Indonesian for temple). A lot of 'wild' monkeys inhabit the temple site, prying at camera's, sunglasses and other small glimmering items. As long as you look closely after your possessions, the little animals are pretty funny. There are some big old ones, too lazy to even move a feet, while little baby monkeys run around, play pranks and pick fleas at each other, concurrently following the passing tourists with a curious eye.

We wanted to relax at one of the beaches on the west coast of the Bukit Peninsula after our visit to Uluwatu. There were quite a few of them according to the Lonely Planet, some of them still pure and free from tourists (except for surfers), although a lot of building (both commercial and touristic) is going on at the Peninsula. We ended up at a place called Uluwatu beach or Suluban beach, which we found more or less by accident. It has just one small entrance road, only passable by feet, leading you to a sweet little surfer's village on the cliffs. A lot of tiny shops with surf gear, clothes and souvenirs are shattered over the rocks here, varied with cafes and small restaurants to get the necessary refreshments while you can enjoy the amazing view on the sea. An old stair leads down to the beach, set in a sort of cave. I actually felt like entering a Pirates of the Caribbean movie or something! The surf is quite far away from the shore and only do-able for experienced surfers (though amazing to marvel at for us wannabe surfers). The tide in the entrance of the sea was quite strong, so we had a pretty wild swim there, heheh. A lot of little Indonesian boys were playing in the tide with their body boards, I loved watching them laughing out loud every time a wave threw them back towards the shore!

After having lunch at one of the restaurants on the cliffs (with watermelon juice again, of course!) it was time for us to get back to Kuta, if we wanted to avoid driving in the dark. When you hire a scooter  in Indonesia, you shouldn't automatically count on working headlights (or brakes, or a full tank, or good profile on your tires). So off we went, heading back north and blending into the busy traffic again. We saw someone with a bunch (a HUGE bunch) of balloons on their scooter, like those ones you can buy in hospitals. It was a miracle the thing could still drive (instead of rising up into the air). It was just one of the countless things I observed whilst sitting on the backseat. Tired of the day full of new impressions, with my arms around Mark, I watched the Balinese scenery passing by in silence, hypnotized by the sweet scent of Hindu offers, gazed and sometimes waved at by Indonesian children. These late afternoon moments I felt so completely satisfied and happy... The sun slowly sank to the horizon, and we arrived at Kutah just in time to see it submerge into the sea.

Another day passed by at Bali. A bit tired of the liveliness and chaos, we decided it was time for us to move on to the Gili's for some relaxing. We booked a transition by fastboat (these boats are still pretty new between Bali, Lombok and the Gili's...they're more expensive than the usual slow ones, but well, wáy faster), and arranged to be picked up early the next morning at our hotel. Organizing these kind of things goes so easily with the Indonesians...you just enter one of the many little transport offices, sign a paper and set a time for pick up. You leave with only a small scrap of paper (representing a 'receipt'?), wondering if you will really be taken up the next morning. But somehow it al works out! I must say...I wouldn't have any problem getting used to this more relaxed way of living and working, compared to the Dutch urging lifestyle, compelling you to plan things months ahead. Maybe it's time to emigrate? :P

Kitteh Galore!

My boyfriends parents got two kittens a week ago, both 6 week old females. They're just beyond adorable (it's almost more cuteness than I can bear!), so I couldn't keep myself from doing a little photoshoot with them last weekend. Watch and drool :)

This is Pino. She's not to be trifled with, and looks the snappiest of both kittens (did I mention they're from different nests?). Her cutting (but beautiful!) looks can be misleading though, she's definitely sweet...though a bit less huggable than her 'sister'.

And here's the other one: Pablo.  She has a completely different face, way softer and chubbier. She loves to hug and cuddle, though it's a brave little kitty too. She well-matches Pino in their playful fights!

Both kitties spend their time playing, provoking each other into little fights...

... curiously exploring everything that's happening around them...

...and trying to catch tiny toys and balls.

When they're finally exhausted from playing, they fall asleep to dream kitty dreams...

...comfortably cuddled up together...

...or on someone's lap!

Enough cuteness for now, time to get some tissues to wipe the drool of your keyboard ;)

Maybe I'll do another little shoot when they're a bit bigger! I hope their owners are happy with this collection of shots, a nice memory of their fast growing kitteh's. 

Indonesia: day 1 & day 2

Hello dear readers... Last week I returned home from an amazing and quite unexpected visit to Indonesia. I had an incredibly beautiful time there, visiting my boyfriend Mark and traveling around some stunning Indonesian islands. Words won't do justice to the experience, but I'll at least try to let you share a bit in my joy (and save my own memories) by writing down a travel journal here. Anyone who's interested: feel free to read, comment and ask questions if you have any! I'll write the journal in parts, so the stories won't become too long...wouldn't dare to bore you ;) Enjoy!

Day 1 - Sunday: Bye bye Holland

After a week of hectic preparations it's finally sunday: I'm going to Indonesia! My dad kindly volunteered to bring me to the airport, so I decided to sleep at my parents house. After waking up early and having my last Dutch breakfast, I gave my mom a big hug ('Yes, I'll be carefull!') and drove off to Schiphol with my father (who, as a decent dad, of course had a lot of good advices for his traveling daughter as well).

At Schiphol the check-in procedure went pretty smoothly, enough time left for a cup of coffee. Together with my friend Bernadette, Mark's parents and sister and my own dad of course. A complete goodbye-committee! Thanks all, for being there... I really appreciated that! I felt so happy and proud, going through customs, being waved at by 5 smiling people, on my way to Indonesia. Whoot!

During the online check-in I managed to get the last seat next to the window at the plane (a Boeing 777-200, for anyone who's interested). I was flying with Malaysia Airlines, which means the air hostesses were al wearing colourful sarong-like dresses. I installed myself with my hand luggage at reach, and figured out how to get the personal tv started. At that point I was still excited about my 12-hour flight (so many nice movies to watch! I won't even have time to finish my book and crochet some coasters!), heheh...

I was pretty content with my seat next to the window. Flying at midday with clear and sunny weather meant I had an amazing view while flying over my home country. Soon we were gaining more height though, stabbing the clouds and cruising on over a blanket of white, puffy pillows. Still a pretty sight! My neighbour, some guy who was also traveling alone, wasn't very talkative (I still don't even know if he was Dutch or not...), but oh well. I amused myself with watching The Vow, The Art of Getting By and Never Let Me Go (liked al three of them, good movies!), crocheting some coasters (the air-hostesses thought they were nice :)) and reading my books. Sleeping didn't really work, I was probably way too enthusiastic.

The enthusiasm got the biggest part of me for a long time, but after about 8 hours I was getting quite tired of sitting in the same chair al the time, and finding yet another comfortable position became pretty much impossible. I got some physical exercise by climbing over my sleeping neighbour to visit the toilet, and tried to prepare my visit by studying some books about Bali and Lombok. Let's say I just couldn't wait to dump the books and visit the places for réal.

Day 2 - Monday: Hello Bali!

After the long 12 hours we landed at Kuala Lumpur Airport. I had a six hour wait there, a good reason to make myself comfortable somewhere. The KL Airport is incredibly neat, spacious and shiny, and at six in the morning it was also relatively quiet. After contacting my parents at home (where it was midnight at that moment and my parents were still up, sitting in bed with the iPad ready to hear from me...how sweet!) I found a comfy leather couch completely for myself. Aah...so nice to be able to lay down after sitting up for 12 hours. Finally some sleep! A few hours later the alarm on my phone woke me up and I managed to get out of my snuggly sleeping position. Time to find my gate and check in for my next flight, which would bring me to Bali in another 3 hours.

Descending quickly over the beautiful blue ocean, our plane reached Bali just 20 minutes later then expected. Mark was already waiting at the airport, while I had to get off the plane, go through customs, get my luggage and buy a visa. The Balinese airport is just small and not very efficiently, so long rows were ahead of me, existing out of Indonesian families and blonde Australian surf dudes. I have no idea how long poor Mark had to wait for me, because I was back in my enthusiastic rush. Finally at Bali!

Once done with the airport procedures, I went ahead to the exit, out into the warm Balinese air. 30 degrees Celsius, yes please! In front of the exit was a huge crowd of people, most of them taxi drivers trying to lure you into their car and chaotic families waiting for their loved ones. This made stepping out of the airport a bit of a shock (oh dear...how to find Mark?!) but luckily he already spotted me. Being a tall Dutch guy among those tiny Indonesians also helped. So good to see and hug him again :)

Mark arranged a taxi for us back to his hotel, and soon we were sitting in the airconditioned backseat, driving through Denpasar (capital city of Bali) and Kuta, which actually just lies directly besides Denpasar. Mark got to the airport by some main road, but our taxi driver must have noticed I was a Bali-newbie, 'cause he decided to take a touristic shortcut to our hotel by al kinds of narrow 'streets'. It was a straightforward encounter with the Balinese chaos called traffic: an incredible amount of scooters together with some cars, both constantly (and you can take this litterally) honking for dubious reasons, no speed limits or traffic lights, and countless crossing pedestrians taking the right of precedence.

My first memories of Bali are closely connected to the typical scent, spread by al the little Hindu offerings. Most of Bali's residents are Hindu, the women traditionally make small baskets out of leafs, with some flowers, rice (and sometimes even candies!) and a tiny incense stick in them, spreading a sweet oppressive scent. The baskets are typically placed at the entrance of houses and other buildings, junctions, at the beach and at temples. Those temples can be found everywhere, even the tiniest houses seemed to have their own home-temple or at least some kind of stone altar. The Hinduïsm on Bali is very apparent, you can see, smell and even hear it al over the place.

The taxi driver managed to get us safely to our hotel (despite the chaos, the only accident I've seen during my holiday was caused by myself... the traffic seems to work just fine for the Indonesians). Mark stayed at the Gemini Star Hotel on Jalan Poppies II, one of the two main roads in the centre of Kuta (guess how the other one is called :P). It looked nice, cozy and clean! A little oasis of rest in the midst of the Kuta mess. Our room had air-conditioning, and an amazing 'balcony' (imagine a promising balcony-door, opening to a rectangle space...surrounded by four high walls! Never seen such a useless space before, heheh...). I couldn't wait to change my jeans and vest for a bikini. On to the beach!

On our way to the beach I had my first encounter with the Balinese 'shop personnel'. The streets are literally stacked with shops, which are stacked themselves with clothes, jewelry, souvenirs and food. The sellers start talking to you as soon as you get in a 10 meter reach, offering you the most amazing 'special prices'. During our walk to the beach Mark and I have been offered at least three 'honeymoon sales' (and we're not even married :P), countless 'sunset prices' and a bunch of other so-called special offers. They will find a reason for a 'special price', believe me! I had to get used to these crazy selling techniques a bit...but after a few days I learned that the Indonesian people don't mean bad. You can refuse offers with a joke, and they will laugh with you. They probably don't annoy you on purpose...after al, tourism is the main source of income on Bali, so who can blame them?

Kuta beach is beautiful, I enjoyed every moment we spent there. We took a rejuvenating dive and stayed in the water until sunset. Since Bali is localized near the equator, the sun rises and sets at 6 every morning and evening. I just got used to the longer evenings in Holland, where sunset took place around 8.30 p.m. at the moment! But the night setting in early has something special too, it gives the small streets a cosy, sultry and kind of mysterious atmosphere. We had dinner in one of the countless little restaurants at the Poppies streets, where I ate a snapper and drank watermelon juice for the first time in my life. Beyond delicious, and so cheap! Not suffering from a jet lag at al, I fell into sleep with a smile on my face that night. Hello Bali, it's a pleasure to meet you :)

Little update tomorrow!

Hi folks!

It's been a while...I'm still alive, busy with a lot of things other than blogging/crafting. I hope I can get back on track soon, I miss being creative!
I finally moved into my own apartment, it's really starting to feel like home now. I still have quite some stuff (books, craft supplies) at my parents house though, which makes it difficult to get crafty. Besides that, I'm busy with a pretty intense assignment for my studies at the moment...and I still don't have an internet connection at my place! Excuses enough for not being around so much? :P

Anyways, living on your own isn't cheap, I really need some funds. So I decided to do a little update in my Etsy shop, I still had some finished clothing items lying around. The items will be up tomorrow, on 17.00 (5pm) Amsterdam time. A lot of people have shown interest in my clothes the last months (thanks girls, I feel honored!), I promised them to at least pronounce an update...so here it is!

Make sure you'll be around at the Lovalizious shop tomorrow at 5, see you there!

Pillow Cases

Made some super low-budget pillow cases this weekend, for in my new home. The couch has to be comfy and cosy, right?

I bought the inner pillows at the thrift store, for 1,50 euro's each. The fabrics I used for the covers all have been lying around for over a year or so, now I finally found a good purpose for them.

I've also been crocheting a little doily lately. I attached it to an embroidery hoop (yup, also thrifted) with linen fabric as a soft contrasting background, to make a nice decoration piece for the wall.

I feel so budget friendly, heheh! You don't need much money for decorating, that's for sure. Sewing the pillowcases was fun, maybe I should make some more for in the shop, if anyone would be interested... I have a lot more fabrics without any purpose!

One more pic, and then it's time to go to bed for me. Stupid brain concussion's making me tired ;) Luckily it didn't spoil my joy in crafting!

Brain concussion, mustache mugs & a new home!

Hi folks, it's been a little while since I wrote something here. My Mug Cozy Tutorial made it to Craftgawker by the way, yay!

Anyway, the reason it took me some time to post a new blog, is because I had a brain concussion. I fell during the last day of my snowboarding holiday, and even though I did wear my helmet, I seemingly hit my head pretty hard on the snow. I can't remember a thing of it, which was quite a weird experience on itself. It's three weeks later now though, and it seems like most things are back to normal, luckily :) No puffy head anymore, and no more dizziness or concentration problems. Only a stupid tiredness that drives me to bed early, still need more sleep than normal. Oh well!

I had an amazing week, I should definitely write a post about it later. I made hundreds of pics, including the most incredible sunsets, majestic mountains and cool action shots. It was a week I will never forget, that's for sure!

As soon as I felt like being crafty again (which took a little while), I decided to paint some mugs. I still had those two off-white (boring!) thrifted mugs laying around, they could definitely use some customizing. I bought porcelain paint at a house ware store nearby (Xenos, for the Dutchies around here...less than 5 euro's!). I drew half a mustache on a folded piece of paper, cut it out and - tadah! - had a perfect mustache template! Easy peasy, everyone can do it :)

Now I have some other news to share... I can actually use these mugs pretty soon, in my own apartment! Yup, I found a place of my own. Officially I will start living there on April the 1st (no kidding ;)), but I'll get the key already later this week. Right now I still live at my parents... I did stay at a students home some years ago, but this will be the first time I'll be completely on my own. Quite exciting and a bit scary! But also a great opportunity to let my creativity flow, I want the place to become completely 'me', I can't wait to start decorating, painting, renovating and designing!

Here are some little pics I took earlier. The furniture you see is from the previous owner, but it'll give an impression at least. I'm especially fond of the bedroom, doesn't it look cosy?!

I'll try to keep you guys updated on the progressions!