Saturday Fair Finds: a surprise!

Saturday's fair from last week was fun. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, a vintage bag, an apothecary bottle, a few tools for my book binding, a huge suitcase and... the highlight of the day, an old leather cover that cost only €1.5!! I was already so happy with it but much to my surprise, when I got home and looked better inside, I found a bunch of letters and telegrams from the '50s and a bank card from 1983! Unfortunately it's expired, but what a score :)

Giveaway: Celebrating 200 Sales!!!

UPDATE: Thank you so so much to all of you who participated in my giveaway. I wish I could give one little book to each of you.

There were 16 eligible participants (sorry sis, no relatives allowed :) and the winner is.... number 14, ELONWEIS! Congratulations!!!

I'll definitely celebrate in the same way my next 100 sales. So I'll do my best to see you again very soon!

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Today something nice happened: I've reached 200 Etsy sales. So I thought I'd celebrate this events with my blog readers and friends. Therefore a little book similar to the one pictured below is going to be yours, if you enter my giveaway by Tuesday, January 25. There are no requirements for participating - anyone can enter, just leave a comment to this post and don't forget to include your email so I can contact you. I'll pick the winner on 26th with an online random number generator.

 Good luck!!!

 

 

40 Pounds of Leather

After one month of vacation I'm back to work again. Feels really good, just that I spend half of my time searching for stuff I don't remember where I put. I'm still settling in my workshop. Yesterday I went to buy a pairing knife and I came home with 40 pounds of leather - that is 19 kilos! It's leather that's almost 50 years old (30 in storage and 18 in store) and very hard to find. As the guy who sold it to me said... "once this stock finishes there will be no more". And so I bought almost all, just to make sure no one else does and I feel sorry later. I'll need to treat it with softening products as it's really stiff from the age but otherwise I'm free to play with it as I want. It's 100% natural so I'm planning to experiment dyeing  techniques and even artificial aging. But for now I need to work, as there are many orders pending and I seem to take forever to get back on track. Indeed, my favorite procrastinating method is going shopping for supplies. It gets me right into the creative working mood I need :)

Baby it's cold outside

Our snowman, needing a bit of facial reconstruction...

 

I started the new year with lots of snow and temperatures below zero. But soon my vacations will be over and I'll be returning to the mild climate of Portugal. I actually look forward to it so I can start working again and reopen my Etsy shop by mid-January. So I'll see you then, and hopefully with a few new things to show!

  

My mum's tomatoes, doing wonderful in the balcony