My day is Friday

It's time for a visit to Ukraine, to say hi to Natalka. Her Etsy shop skrynka.etsy.com is full of beautiful embroidery, both to wear as for example jewelry and belts, and to decorate your walls. Be sure to take a look!

Enjoy and happy Midsummer!



My name is Natalya Pavlysh, but I like it when friends call me Natalka. I live in Ukraine, in the longest city, Kryvy Rih. It is 150 km long so some people from south of the city never meet those from its north.

As a child I loved making things with my hands. Whenever I saw interesting clothes, bags, scarves my first thought was "can I make it myself?". So I know how to crochet, sew, knit, bead... but when I started to embroider, it became my passion. I just can't stop since!

Now I am currently a stay at home mom and as I have got plenty of time I decided to use it wise, turning my passion into a little business so I opened my Etsy shop. Skrynka (Скринька) in Ukrainian means little box, usually used to keep treasures like jewelry or granny's legacy. I imagine that my shop can be a little box of embroidered treasures: jewelry, home decor, accessories.

As you will see I spend my days around my baby-son Oleg, husband Yaroslav and my etsy shop Skrynka.

We usually wake up around 7 o’clock. But we get up a little later. I’m a breastfeeding mother and the first thing my son wants, when he wakes up, is having his breakfast.
While my husband is at home I try to check my e-mails and the Etsy forums threads as they are important for me. Then he goes to work and I have my breakfast. One thing I love most of the summer is that I can take a mix of berries for breakfast, vegetable salad for lunch and ice cream with currant as a night snack.

Then I try to embroider just a bit. Usually I can’t because Oleg is a very curious child and he must take my embroidery hoop or needle or bother me another way.

Nearly 9 or 10 o’clock Oleg has his morning sleep and if there was a sale, I pack it. The packaging of each order is always a little different. It depends of my mood, color of embroidery, envelop. But it is always a handmade box or bag.

I’m almost done, and have no time left to sit at my computer. In the morning my son sleeps about 30 minutes, rarely an hour. Oh, there’s still time to make a treasury...

When there are no sales, I spend this time for some designing or for inspirational things. I draw my designs on paper with colored pencils. I don't like to use computer programs for that. The old pencil and eraser method is much more creative.

Between morning sleep and lunch we go to the post office to ship orders. It is not so far from our apartment, just a few minute’s walk. Here we are. :)

Usually we use a baby-carriage for our walks but if it is a short distance to the shop or the post office I use a baby-carrier. On the way back home I buy some flowers. I like it when even a small bouquet stands near my monitor. It makes me smile. :)

After lunch we play a couple of hours and my son goes to sleep again. It is my craft time at last!

I’m working on the balcony. It is a small place where Oleg cannot come because the way is blocked with a chair. Only here I can expand all my tiny craft supplies. And there is enough light to take photos. But I can only take good photos in the morning, when the sun is shining.

Of course I also review my ETSY shop, e-mail and chat a bit with my teammates.

When I need inspiration, I visit Ukrainian and Slavic ornaments photo galleries, I look at my photos got in folk art museums or local exhibitions. I'm truly inspired by Ukrainian folk cross-stitching embroidery. It is in my blood I think. I have a few festive towels from my granny. She has embroidered them when she was young and now they need to be restored but they are so beautiful with their meaningful ornaments, she used ancients symbols of water, earth and the Guardian - keeper of the family fire.

I understand that I can't convey all the folk embroidery significance, but this is not my goal. I try to make wearable ethnic things that can find their place into everyday life.

Time goes quickly and at 16 o’clock Oleg wakes up and my crafty time is over until night.

This evening my husband plays tennis and after a snack we go for a walk to the courts. It is not so far, only an hour of strolling. So I use the baby carrier again and even decide to go by bus. A couple of days ago it was rainy but now it is hot again, very hot. And it isn’t pleasant to walk this time of the day.

Courts are near a small pond, there is a walk-only zone around and we can walk and play while the game goes on.

But Oleg misses his dad and for a while I cannot take him away from the fence.

It was a month ago but I can’t resist showing you the first place’s prize which my husband won. Isn’t it cute? It fits right into Etsy’s style!

When the game is over we go home. The heat is gone and we decide to walk. Oleg even eats and falls asleep in his sling.

We live in an industrial city but even here you can make good photos sometimes. This picture was taken 2 years ago on the bridge while we were heading back home. Look, do you notice the shaft and smocking pipes on the horizon?

We went home tired and Yaroslav with Oleg went to their beds immediately after bath. But I get my ice cream with currant and sit in front of the monitor.

There’s a lot of work to be done: e-mails, shop, treasuries and of course chat with my Etsy friends. :)

This week we will visit Colette in Hungary! I adore the wonderful colours and attention to detail you can see in her Etsy shop colettecolor.etsy.com, which has bags, pouches, jewelry and more. Enjoy her day!



My name is Nicolette Ludvig. I live in Győr, in Hungary, in the heart of Europe, halfway between Budapest and Vienna. It is 20 years now that I’ve been exploring the secrets of colours. I do sewing, knitting, crocheting... and I’m passionately interested in whatever is made of yarn and textile.

Thank you so much for the invitation to this blog. You know, I started my ETSY shop merely six months ago, and I highly appreciate every support.

Please come with me, as I’m presenting you how I spend my days.

I get up early in the morning, opening my eyes at about 5 or 6 o’clock. The house is all quiet yet, my dear husband and our three sons (16, 13 and 5) are all sound asleep.
I read my e-mail messages and the orders, I review my ETSY shop, and my blog.

By the time my loved ones begin to strech in their beds, I’ve already finished the administration.
While my husband goes to the bakery for some fresh rolls, I make tea and coffee. 8 o’clock – the house is quiet again. The older boys have gone to school, the little one to the nursery, my husband to his workplace.
I’m alone now with my rolls of textile...

Let the creation begin!

That is... wait a minute... some things are missing! I need some zippers, wooden beads, cotton yarn, etc. I must go to the town center! On the way home, I visit my painter friend, Hokata. She’s my partner in planning a summer camp for creative people who make wonderful crafts of all kind. ... I mean, whatever is made of textile! Sipping our tasty tea we chat about the details of our plans.
We are bound together by the joy of life and the love of colours. I’ve decided to recommend her ETSY shop deeply from my heart.
Visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/hokata.

I arrive home at noon. I usually leave out lunch… there’s nobody to prepare it I like eating fruits, so I gulp down an apple, or it’s the season of cherry now, and there’s plenty of it in our garden. If I need any substantial, I prepare a banana-shake.

I peep to my studio... Oh, my! Who on earth did this mess? (No question, that was me...) It would be proper to tidy everything in up, but there are too many orders, I haven’t got time to do that.

I often go to do sewing in the garden, ’cause I’m keen on my garden, plants and flowers around me. I love sunshine and twittering of the birds. My garden means excellent inspiration to me, the work is progressing better in an environment, like this!

Let’s see the orders for bags... well, there are lots of it! I will hardly finish sewing them within the deadlines. I would boldly say that my products are pretty popular in the Hungarian market-place of handicraft.

If only it were true with ETSY too! That’s my secret dream.
In addition to preparing bags, my other passion is making those colourful round purses. I use various techniques to make them: appliquéd trimming, embroidery, yarns, crocheting. Of course I find colours very important, too and my shop’s name also suggests it. COLETTECOLOR the shop’s name is, which expresses that me and the colours are inseparable companions.

Wow, it’s 3 p.m. now, I must go for my youngest son to the nursery school. On the way I drop into the post office to send the parcels. I’m going to make some tasteful pizzas for dinner so we buy the ingredients in the store. FRIDAY is PIZZA DAY in our family.

When we arrive home, the rest of the family have come from school, training or work. It’s family time!

I knead the dough for the pizza and prepare the other ingredients.
The boys’ favourite is pizza Hawaii with bacon and pineapple, my husband and me like it with slices of tomatoes and aubergine. At the dinner table we chat about the events of the day, while we, adults are sipping a glass of good Hungarian wine after the Italian flavours.

In the evening the older boys go to their own programs, the little one, his daddy and me ride our bicycles to the highest point of our neighbourhood. (165 meters :) The scenery is breathtaking.

photo by Zoltan Toth
http://www.panoramio.com/user/1140367

At home again... We collapse into our beds.

„Good night, sleep tight! Don’t let the bad bugs bite!” :)

It's time to go to Croatia and say hello to Anica! She creates wonderful wirewrapped jewelry with incredible detail - see for yourself at her Etsy shop anniejewelry.etsy.com. First though, enjoy her day!

(I'm doing a bit of travelling myself at the moment - this Friday I am celebrating my 30th birthday in Scotland. :)



Hello everybody!

I'm Anica, which is the Croatian equivalent of Annie. I wish you a warm welcome into my small world!

Today is Saturday and I'm going to spend it at home, in my beautiful town of Samobor, Croatia. This is really not a typical day because I spend most of my days in a nearby Croatian capital, Zagreb, where I work full time in an insurance company. The job is stressful so I can't wait for the weekends to have more time for the people and things I love.

I'm an early bird and I got up even earlier than usual. My hubby and daughter are still asleep but there's another family member to welcome me with great joy – our Maltese dog, Masha. We cuddle and I make her a ponytail so she could see me better :) Then I take some time to groom myself :)

We have a house with a garden and some strawberries among other fruits and vegetables – perfect for a healthy day-starter. I go and get some – my mother in law is doing the gardening and she loves it but she's away at the moment so there has to be someone to replace her. With the smoothie at my side I check Etsy, FB and some portals for news.

My daughter wakes up, I make her a breakfast and take her to her cheerleading class. Taking a stroll through Samobor is always a good idea – today I am admiring the beautiful roses. Then I buy newspapers and have a coffee in my favorite bar.

My husband is now awake so I pick him up and we both go to pick up our daughter and take Masha for a walk. We have beautiful parks, lawns, even woods and hills practically in the center of Samobor.

We come back home and the hubby cooks another coffee, much better than the first one :)

Then we're off to Zagreb to choose some ceramic tiles. We are renovating our attic and this is important for me because I'll finally have a studio in my current kitchen!!! Looking forward to it! It's very complicated to work on a dining table, always having to pull out and put back all supplies and tools or tolerate the creative mess :)

After getting back everyone's hungry and I make a soup, a quiche and a salad – perfect! Taking a nap in the afternoon is a must, at least for some of us :)

My hubby's watching tennis, the daughter's friends are at our place and, as for me, now it's time for my crafting activities! I'm choosing the balcony, it's almost summer. Although I adore silver and love working with it, I've been playing with bronze lately. It's much cheeper nowdays that the prices of silver have risen enormously and those warm tones go very well with the turquoise, shells, corals – all summer delights :)

I choose a coral bead, bronze sheet and wire. After finishing the pendant I oxidize it – I can't resist doing that, perhaps I have some kind of a disease?!

Later, I take out the newly acquired supplies. I'm thinking about opening another shop (I already opened a profile, doKIDyourself). This one would be something completely different than the jewelry I sell as anniejewelry. Take a peek at these beads I made several years ago - the other shop should feature something similar to this. I adore children's illustration and all the cute stuff for kids. What's stopping me from working on it and opening the new shop is the lack of time, of course... Let's hope I will find some soon :)

The evening is reserved for the family, TV, new listings, renewals... just the usual stuff! One great day behind me! Good night everyone!

This week we're travelling to Hungary, to visit Eva of diohej.etsy.com! Her shop is full of absolutely delightful purses and bags. Be sure to take a look, but first enjoy her day!



My name is Eva. I live in Hungary, Tatabánya in a family house with my husband, my son and my daughter.



I am an accountant. My office is in my house. My passion is sewing, and I am glad to sew handbags, accessories, purses for Etsy.

I get up at 6.30 in the morning, I drink a coffee, and have a breakfast with my family. Then follows the preparations, and when the others goes to work and school I go into my office (workshop).

7.30
My first job is to look at my e-mails and letters written by my clients, and then I make a plan of my daily tasks. Depending on how much work I have, and if there is a deadline for my work, I am working with accountancy, or seam, while the radio is on.

Today I have a lot of work, so this morning is dedicated for my work.

It's exhausting to sit and work daylong at the computer.

Meanwhile, my attention is on the Etsy, on the treasuries, and sometimes I get up and go out into the garden to our dog and the cat, and to the plants of course.

12:00
It is time for a break, I am cooking a divine frothy coffee , I am reading patchwork blogs, then I am unpacking the materials and I get inspiration by what I could sew.


I am drawing, I am planning my lino-works. I like to make lino-engravings, and to print them on textile.



Then I go to shopping in a supermarket that is in my neighbourhood, at two minutes to walk, while my daughter gets home from school.

17:00
It’s time for Cooking. The family is getting home, I am washing dishes, I stay together with my family, and then I'm coming downstairs to my workshop, and I am preocuppied only with sewing.



20:00
There are waiting for me a lot of clothes in this evening, which must be ironed out. This week I haven't time enough to do it because of my important work.
21:00
In the evening I am watching TV, we have a dinner, then follows the bathing and going to bed with a reading book.