rubber stamps // new years eve.

i couldnt resist taking a look around etsy this morning. i found these little rubber stamps at norajane. i have been looking for an owl stamp for a while now and this is one of the best ive found so i scooped it up immediately. i couldnt resist the acorns as well since the prices are so reasonable. i am very much looking forward to adding them to my envelopes, packaging and letters to friends, family, and loves.

i also updated the shop (long time coming) with some recent drawings and collages envelope sets. take a peek here.

new years eve tonight. painted my nails red and playing dress up to figure out what to wear to the party. beers are chilling in the fridge. celebrations celebrations.

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forgotten photobooth.

revisited. some old photobooth images i found today.
laughing about peterborough and rubidge street and making coffees and thinking in the orange room upstairs with lindsey. we made the most sense in that room. uni books and notes everywhere and spray paint on the carpet. a window to crawl out on for cigarettes on the rooftop. the cat was there too sometimes.

my purple curtain in spain, always the tree shadow was dancing on it. casting lines and shapes.

a teapot from granada in spain. mint tea inside. its metal-ness makes it quite impractical for tea drinking unless one enjoys burnt skin on burning metal. but it is pretty to look at. antique hammered metal.

my bedroom at my parents that i lived in for the few months between school and budapest. picasso on my walls, jade plants soaking in the morning sun and my grandpa's old radio. plays like a new guitar. the dial is always set to jazz fm the premier jazz station for canada. i miss the green walls actually.

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les enveloppes.

cut and paste again on these little envelopes i found in a stationary shop on the corner. five forint each. a steal. acetate and fibre paper, some thread and mesh. i think they make lovely additions to any package or parcel.

set of three. 11 1/2 cm x 7 1/4 cm

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light // pencil drawings // camera

staying home from work today resulted some arting and some cooking, some photo taking and some dressing up. i received a package from home today from my mom. some ornaments for our tree and a canoe-shaped cribbage board. super lovely but now we need to find some playing cards.

laundry and some new fabric, little flower buds that used to be a nighty but i am working to turn into a light dress for summertime... a long way away it seems from now. im glad i brought the japanese dress book with me here. it will be useful now. working to set up the etsy shop again, it was pushed under the rug in the last couple months with moving and readjusting. im ready to open again though, so im back to weighing packages and photographing drawings and vintage nighties.

tomorrow is wednesday, already?

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hand-made ornaments.

two hand-made ornaments for a brother and a father of my hungarian family.
i hand-embroidered their names and simple holiday symbols on some natural unbleached muslin and backed them with some leftover holiday fabrics and filled them with natural cotton and some whole cloves for a holiday scent. easy and classic. the thread is italian and strong. i found it in granny's attic. i am tempted now to start making some for my canadian family. there is nothing wrong with a head start when i have the time and the fabric now, right?

i didnt give myself enough time so i was sewing on the train en route to the waiting holiday celebrations. i did manage to finish it and the train conductor did give me a few looks seeing a girl sewing on the train. im not sure that it happens often.

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back in budapest from the countryside. this time we drove in and saved money on the train. 

box of belgium truffles and gerbeau cakes. soups and canned peaches from granny. we have now a cupboard full of cookies and treats. i knitted knitted the last two days and need some more wool now. waiting for the shops to open after their holiday sleeps. 

new skirt forgotten in the attic from a long time ago. silk slip inside and flowers flowers. two nighties from an age past and gone but i will remodel them for some summer dresses when i get my hands on a sewing machine again. 

i am already anticipating the warmer weather to come even though it seems that winter has only just begun. a small bout of warm wind and thaw gave me a little hope that spring will be beautiful and the summer ever more beautiful. in the mean time soup for lunch and tea in the afternoon. wool socks on my feet and a scarf around my neck.

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sitting in the mood to knit now. the windows are fogged up from the heaters and the warmth inside. i am still waiting for mister frost's arrival on the panes but no signs yet. the evenings get dark early so i am crawling home from the metro after office work in the dark. i thought at one point it was getting lighter, but i think it was just my imagination. i am inspired by these knitted cowls that wrap around. i forgot my cowl in my closet at home, not really thinking about winter in october when i was packing. so it might be time to knit another one. waiting for the free days to do so, holidays are good for that, catching up on reading and all the sewing that has seemed to pile up on my desk. (how does that happen?)

c/o yarnovermovement

c/o wicksten made

in any case, ive got some new needles from granny in chakvar so theres nothing left to do except make a trip to the yarn store before heading back to fehervar in a few days and making sure there is enough to finish one. or two. or three. i have really left no time for making gifts this year, usually i have started this in october but somehow my lists and supplies got mixed up and lost and im scattering around looking for strings, fabric, glue and time. advent? wayyy behind.

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trees sold on street corners. deak ter is the stage for buying trees i guess. david and i looked at 2 different corners and decided to hold off until we went for the third corner and found a guy, cold to the bones, selling smaller trees with their roots and dirt in a bucket. so that after the holidays we can plant it and hope it doesnt catch future holiday tree shoppers eyes. we will plant it in the countryside. its a great idea and we carried it home and decorated it right away. 

tinfoil is wonderful. 100 forint garland from the grocery shop, tesco lights, purple ribbon from david's mom's sewing basket, and fabric stockings we made together. candies too! we put in the charlie brown christmas soundtrack and away we went. so cool

we are trying to make this hungarian christmas as canadian as possible. so i started the sewing of stockings. i found a small fabric store near kalvin ter and 1/2 meter holiday swatches are one sale there. just enough for one stocking. one down, a few more to go i think. they dont have stockings here, im not sure why and how we have them in north america and they didnt come from or make it to eastern europe. but i will take it upon myself to introduce them into some special hungarian's holiday traditions from now on. 

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a snowy afternoon with granny. not mine, david's.

barrels needed cleaning and wine needed filtering so i spent the afternoon drinking coffee and ballentine's with david's gran. she shared some stories from fifty-two years ago and we went through some old suitcases of fabric, drapes, yarn, and toys to find some treasures for me to bring back to budapest with me.

new curtains for our little apartment. i think the white / green will be a little brighter than the dark dark blues ones up now. two little stuffed mice from a long-ago childhood. now finding a new home on our shelf. long lost nighties and summer dresses waiting for remolding, 3 balls of cashmere yarn, and a few pairs of old knitting needles. she was happy to clear away some dust collecting things and i was happy to take some hungarian vintage finds away with me.

while the pea soup was cooking i had a chance to make some drawings too of her lovely old suitcases and her bed-side chair. her house is old and lovely, with loads of retro chairs and sofas, unfinished needle-points, and black and white photographs. simple and beautiful. i wish i had my camera to capture the snow resting on the ivy leaves on her brick wall out front. it was a cold day and i hoped the chicken's legs were getting too cold.

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c/o for me for you

c/o rennes le chateau

i need to start putting on my thinking cap for christmas, i am pressed for time to get my parcels to the mailbox if there is any hope of them actually arriving in time for the holidays. im also on a tight budget since moving here and am looking for little projects i can make this weekend in the village. i am inspired by these two ladies' necklace making efforts. super beautiful and simple. i love it. rennes le chateau here and for me for you here. i will look for some second-hand chains and i might be able to find a craft store around this city too. home-made cards are already underway and so is the ginger man eating...

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a slight mist and the mulled wine merchants open their carts. bright lights and ceramic mugs. borg borg/wine wine. twinkle lights. closed signs turn on their strings. open they read. alas. finally. once a year and the time is here. the christmas market is open. advent windows will be revealed every day on the gerbeau cafe and cake house. santa makes his round in the crowd, gifting children's faces with a smile and a pocket-ful of hope for the holiday season. all i want is to sip hot cocoa with a peppermint stick and watch reindeer films and dancing snowmen on the screen. tinny tunes blaring from laptop speakers and recycled red and green paper from last year's gift giving, twine for ribbon. to see trees alight in winter windows, walking by on the sidewalk through a neighbourhood. i dont think is possible here but reminds me of canada. 

trinkets and toys, handmade crafts and artisans trying to keep warm by space-heaters behind their small collections of goods. i want to support each and every one of them only for being here everyday of december. 

  

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market day today. tesco day today. pizza in the oven. finally found some spinach at the market and homemade dough from yesterday means pizza on saturday afternoon with mozzarella, pesto, and deer sausage on david's half. mmm. almost ready. we got also speakers which makes music in our apartment more pleasant than when its desperately trying to blare unsuccessfully from the laptop speakers. 

we are the happy recipients of free depeche mode tickets when they come in january here to budapest. super cool. knowing people that know people is cool and completely unexpected. 

sketchbook working today and some reading. here is the latest. // weaving and collage.

also drinking tea and eating little cookies from a bakery in the market. the first time i tried the almond ones i immediately knew what christmas tasted like. so sweet and a little soft. brings me to a craving for turron. i am almost pulled into a trip to spain with the only goal of obtaining a box of these beloved cookies. i really do judge a country's culture on the tastiness of their cookies and cakes. hungary is doing really well so far. layered cakes with poppy seed and walnut filling are coming into season and i cannot wait for holiday baking with david's grannies in the village. 

happy saturday.

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advent is here. happy first of december. 

one chocolate down, twenty four more to go. 

hanna has an idea that i would like to steal, its a drawing advent, one drawing a day until christmas. so cool. see her joulukalenteri here. seems however that i am already a day behind, maybe next year? or i start to create really quick, only 18 more minutes of december first on my watch now..

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in the seagull again, a larger coffee and no more soda water. "j'etais un fleur," she says, hardly audible, maybe not even french at all. she is muttering with an empty coffee cup in front of her. the jazz sings in the background, a mellow touch to the keys and a clarinet hums. smoke in the air, doesnt bother me. lamp art on the wall. i think the muttering lady speaks also german. bike still in the hallway and there is still rain outside. old news--papers in hungarian and an adult comic magazine clutter the shelf in the corner. all i can think of are the unread articles, is it possible that any published articles go unread?

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