Contemplations of a Kitty

New Year, new project!

2012-01-08T17:08:00.001+01:00

mail art 365 start, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Via Flickr:
I joined the mail art 365 group and hope to send out as many pieces of mail art this year. The pieces will be at random as well be the recipients. If you want to follow the progress of this project I will post the pieces on my tumblr blog

Mail Me Some Art

I'll also post them on my mail art 365 set on my flickr :)

Want to receive a surprise piece of mail from me sometime this year?

Do email/ message me your mailing address :)

Any of you doing a 365 or technically a 366 project this year? Do share :)

happy new year!!

2012-01-02T21:47:00.001+01:00

happy new year!!, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Thanks for all the support the past year!
I hope you all have a wonderful 2012!!

Our Christmas 'tree' :)

2011-12-19T13:39:00.001+01:00

our xmas 'tree', originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

This is our festive Christmastree for this year (And i think for many more years to come ;) It's made out of driftwood and has shelves to hold a part of our vinyl toy collection. The Tree is made by Street Wood Furniture, a small handmade business in Holland. They make furniture and accessories from waste and drift wood. I saw them on a crafty market a few weeks ago and immediately had this idea in my head for it. I'm so happy that it all worked out as I planned :) To see more pics of the tree, just click the picture and it will take you to my flickr account :)

Happy Holidays!!

Momiji Decorate Contest; Please Vote for us!

2011-12-17T17:20:00.001+01:00

Momiji Decorate Contest; Please Vote for us!, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Hi friends! I would really appreciate if you could go to the momiji contest page and vote for our momiji holiday bunting design :) please go here and vote beafore the 20th apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/176501/voteable_e... Thanks so much!!!!!

sneak peek of our xmas 'tree' :)

2011-12-14T15:05:00.001+01:00

sneak peek of our xmas 'tree' :), originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

I can't wait to finish decorating it :) more pics soon :)

a DIY countdown to christmas

2011-12-05T15:40:00.000+01:00

It's December already! Where did the time fly to? This past weekend I celebrated Sinterklaas with my inlaws up north and it was, like every year, a lot of fun :) Saint Nicholas thought I was a good girl this year, as I received many fun presents; season 1&2 of Tru Calling, season 6 of supernatural, DVD's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows 1&2 and the warmest and fuzziest Chococat house slippers :) The short days make for snuggling up on the couch and watch some movies and make something while watching it. I wanted to share with you some fun advent calenders on my fave internet

hang outs Swap Bot and Etsy.

(fyi; both advent calenders are mostly links to blogposts written in Dutch)

First up is the advent calender made by Etsy with contributions from European Etsians. They share a DIY tutorial or PDF print every day. So check back daily for fun goodies :) Discover some fun new shops this way as well :)

Advent Calender on Dutch Handmade Blog

Then this awesome group on swap bot, Dutch Swappers, which I am also a part of, a select few of the group made a wonderful andent calender this year too. with the linky tool 'blog hop' I can share the calender with you here. Every day around new a new DIY tutorial or give away will be posted :)

Have a lovely DIY countdown to Christmas

Black Friday - Cyber monday 2011 SALE

2011-11-25T15:00:00.001+01:00

getting ready for winter

2011-11-20T14:58:00.001+01:00

tako getting ready for winter, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Sorry for my lack of updates, once again. like little tako here, I'm getting ready for winter. which means that I'm cuddled up in blankets and almost at a hibernation state every evening after work feeling too exhausted to do anything except for watch movies and drink hot coco. oh and read books. chick-lit is my guilty pleasure :) I've bought a few books which I'm really looking forward to get into. If you want to know my reads for this winter, check out my good reads profile :)

What are your plans for this cozy winter?

Any good book and or movie recommendations?

a little update; etsy open & stamp carving workshop

2011-10-24T16:20:00.004+02:00

Sorry I've been a bit silent the past months. I wish the little bear could do all my social networking! Busy at my 9 to 5 job and I had a throat infection the last weeks of september which really sucked! Was sick for over 3 weeks :P but thankfully everything is all okay now. sometimes I still feel like I'm swallowing down sand paper, but I'm dealing ;)

A lot have happened the past months.

The Etsy Open store in Leiden has come and gone. It was so much fun to see a the work of 30+ Dutch designers/ etsy store owners in the shop! I also participated and I'm pleased that I sold a bunch of my Carved and Boxed Stamps and the few that weren't sold are going to be listed on my etsy. To have an impression on what the store looked like, here are a few pictures;

clothes and fun stuff

you can see my plushies and stamps on this lovely closet made of tables.

loved the roughness of the walls above the white we helped paint.

more pictures and stories on designers who participated on check out the blogs on Dutch Handmade

Next event for me is the 3rd stamp carving workshop at Shop Elle Aime! It's being held on November 13th at the ROTABS Style Center in Rotterdam. For more info and sign ups check out this blogpost (sorry dutch only) Because of the popularity of the workshop we maximized it for 15 people at a time.

To see what other attendants have made;

Edition 1 in may 2011

Edition 2 in september 2011

This is the last workshop of this year so if you don't want to miss out, go ahead and sign up now. And hopefully I'll see you on the 13th of november :)

Stamp Carving Workshop - part 2!

2011-09-24T15:16:00.000+02:00

stamp carving workshop at shop elle aime 11/9/11

A few weeks ago we had another fun sunday afternoon at Shop Elle Aime! On sunday september 11th we had our second installment of the stamp carving workshop at the fun little shop at ROTABS style Centre in Rotterdam. The first installment was this past May.

There were 14 participants this time, we moved out the tables to the hallway for more space and the carving festivities could begin :)

For more pictures of the fun day and to see the end results, see this link.

We're planning for another workshop this year, so if you're interested in participating, stay tuned for the date :)

Thanks to all participants for their hard work and lovely hostess Lisa Manuels for the fab location & yummy treats. Thank you all for making this yet again a wonderful and creative day :)

Art Nouveau Lady

2011-08-25T15:08:00.000+02:00

Work in progress art nouveau coloring

I love my new old pantone letraset Tria markers. And I love rubber stamps. This one is from the art nouveau collection from Lost Coast Designs. I absolutely love her and always wondered what she would looked like colored in. So I took my markers, sat down for an hour and this is the result.

Art nouveau fnished piece.

I love how the colores were really bright at first but after adding a layer of Tim Holtz clear crackle paint, it became somewhat 'older' looking and some of the colors blended together.

close up of the crackle paint effect

I really love that crackle effect. And I'm quite happy with the results of the over all look.

Work in Progress; Alice in Wonderland ATC's

2011-08-22T14:06:00.002+02:00

wip alice in wonderland atc's, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Making ATC's for an Alice in Wonderland ATC swap at swapbot. Rubber stamped used are from the octopde factory. Really love their illustrations! Great way to test my newly re-vamped letra set promarkers (got a whole set of them 2nd hand, newly filled by someone who fixes up the poor abandoned dried out markers. And really after she fixes them up, they work just as they were brand new!)

I also wanted to try out some (more) flocking. The mushroom tops are flocked with red and blue fuzzy stuff from studio g flocking materials. I used a small fine brush, uhu glue and a bit of water to adhere the glue on the places I wanted to have flocked. And it somewhat worked, but I couldn't get it to stick evenly :/ Oh well, that does gives it somewhat 'charm' to the ATC, right? ;)

Tim Holtz Inspired

2011-08-08T23:32:00.001+02:00

At the Movies - Tim Holtz Inspired Booklet, made with hand made film strip ribbon

I recently joined a wonderful group on swapbot, called the Tim Holtz addicts. Now prior to making my own stamps, I always have loved rubber stamping techniques, making ATC's etc. as my flickr photo page can attest I own drawers full of stamps (guilty pleasure ;). But I've never really dabbed in the TH zone - not until when I saw what the lovely ladies at the group on flickr were making!

Now I must have all the ideology line items, embossing folders (for my recently purchased cute little cuttlebug) and other cool knick knacks TH came up with (including the stamps, yes!)

But unfortunately some things are hard to find here (thank goodness for etsy right?) but sometimes seeing all this wonderful stuff, it really inspires to go out and make do with the things you have!

I totally love the film ribbon in a canister of TH's ideology line, and I remembered this long film strip stamp I bought from Lost Coast Designs in April at the Art Specially Stamp event and was like, why not try to make my own?! So I did :)

What you need; film strip stamp, staz on ink and transparency film (Recycled materials from the office supply bin at work) It's actually very simple; Just stamp the film strip onto the transparency film let it air dry (don't use heat tool it will warp your transparency! and cut out film strips et voila, you have your own film strip ribbon á la Tim Holtz!

I wanted to have a film reel so to speak so I twirled the ribbon twice and fastened it with a small black brad at the ends so it will stay the shape I wanted it to and added it to the booklet you see above. So much fun!I can't wait to see what the group will inspire me to do next :)

What's for dinner?

2011-07-25T17:24:00.003+02:00

Matryoshka measuring cups, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

A little while ago I found these lovely Matryoshka measuring cups by Fred! They are just SO handy, as they range in cups sizes! Which to me are super great for my UK& US cookbooks, so I don't have to convert cups to ML (which they use for sizing in NL) all the time now ;) The first simple meal we had using these cups was a good spicy macaroni dish (as you couldn't tell ;) and really doesn't cooking become so much more fun with these lovely kitchen tools?!

Also they go well with my 'bashpoonshka' measuring spoons ;)

Win these doctor who goodies!

2011-07-14T17:09:00.002+02:00

Win these doctor who goodies! and lots more...

originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

I'm sponsoring some goodies for the Doctor Who Blog Party which is happening over at the Paper Sparrow. You can win this package; a tardis magnet, a dalek magnet, a variety of hand stamped postcards and the little 11th doctor aka Matt Smit lookalike anime style hand carved stamp, which is stamped next to to tardis. And that's just from me! Check out what Andrea / The Papersparrow is giving away!

adipose plush, tardis necklace, earrings, stickers, embroidery hoops ..

a LOT of great doctor who goodies!

To enter go HERE
You can still enter until July 16th Midnight EST :)

And check out this round up post of the Doctor Who blog party with more awesome giveaways and tutorials!

Thanks so much Andrea for contacting me about it :)

So much fun! I'm glad to have been a part of it!

3 years on Etsy!

2011-07-13T14:13:00.000+02:00

WOOHOO! It's my 3 year anniversary on etsy and I'm having a grand sale this month to celebrate it with you all. The coupon code that's valid for the entire month of July. Everything in the shop is 30% off (ex. shipping) so if you are looking to get a fun item from my shop for a great price, this is the time :)

kawaii bottle cap magnets

hand carved stamps

earrings

Click on the link below to go to etsy saver and get the coupon code!

Kitty Darkness Designs - use coupon code: 3yearswoohoo

Thank you everyone for your continued support!!

Work In Progress

2011-06-30T22:28:00.001+02:00

Been hard at work for a while!

After 24 hours of drying, all these gems are being turned into

magnets, pendant, pinbacks or bobby pins.

Been working hard to have some new stuff for the AMS*DIY - the 2011 Urban Art & Craft Festival at the ABC Treehouse Which is this weekend, July 2nd and 3rd in Amsterdam.

And because of this event, the window display at the American Book Center at the Spui in Amsterdam had a little facelift for this weekend. Fun is that some of our stuff is being displayed at the center left window.

KDD stuff at the ABC window pane in Amsterdam

Was really fun to set up and such a great opportunity for my stuff to be seen by a wider audience :)

By the way, there are still some seats left for my stamp carving workshop on July 3rd (from 3-4:30 pm) So if you want to learn how to carve your own stamps, do make a reservation :) With this workshop you will receive a starter's kit so that after the workshop you can continue to work at home :)

For more info on the event, see the flyer

So I hope that, if you're in the aria, you'll

stop by and get your DIY on :)

Hi!

2011-06-22T22:24:00.002+02:00

HELLO recycled wooden sign by WilliamDohman

Sorry I have been MIA a bit! Been on a little break to a lovely city called Prague for a week after Pentecost holidays (in which I participated the Utrechtse Fabriek Market on both June 12th and 13th with lovely Sweedebie) and just got back. The weather was lovely, and we did the whole sight seeing and walked all over the city. We found some really cool stores in Prague with wonderful handmade stuff. Pictures and a full report on the trip will come hopefully soon ;) But here's a little Impression;

St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle

Really busy weeks have passed with all the markets in we have participated and a few more will come! With the AMSTERDAM ARTS and Crafts DIY event at the ABC Treehouse just one week and a half away, I still have a lot to prepare! We'll be there on both days of July 2nd and 3rd, creating stamps on the spot and there's also a workshop which you can attend on July 3rd. More on this event, see the links nd since I don't have time to blog much in these coming weeks, check out my facebook page to keep up to date :)

I'll also have some DIY stamp carving kits with me that weekend with a lot of other goodies, some plush and of course hand carved stamps so if you're there, would love it if you'd drop by and say hello back :)

Hip and handmade market!

2011-06-04T14:21:00.012+02:00

Been really busy preparing for some upcoming crafty markets I'll be attending :) I've made a good bunch of DIY Stamp Carving packages to bring with me to these craft fairs as you can see below!

Stamp Carving starter's package by Kitty Darkness Designs

A complete starters package with written tutorial by me (in Dutch) and all the tools you need to start making your own hand carved stamps!

If you're interested in one of these packages,

I'll be selling them at the markets ONLY starting this sunday!

Sunday 5th of June

Hip en Handgemaakte Markt

in Deventer

Scheepvaartstraat location Dok H2O

from 10-16 o clock

A wonderful market with over 50 stands of cool webshops selling their hip and handmade stuff.

If you're in the neighborhood stop by and say hello :)

(there are more markets I'll be attending this month and july, stay tuned for an update the coming week)

Stamp Carving Workshop at Shop Elle Aime

2011-05-30T22:46:00.001+02:00

Students hard at work :)

This past sunday my boyfriend and I gave a stamp carving workshop in a very inspiring surrounding, Lisa Manuel's shop Elle Aime :)

look how beautiful and inspiring this shop space is!

We taught about 12 people how to carve their own stamps. Yes a lot smaller than the etsy workshop with 60 people but definitely just as fun :) Everyone had a lovely creative afternoon and they all went home with a self made hand carved stamp (and maybe other cute goodies they bought at the really awesome shop!:)

After they were finished with their stamps I asked them to stamp it in a book for safe keeping and future reference :)

Here are some results;

made by mai

made by lisa

made by reina, petra and bep :)

See more pictures of the day on my flickr set here :)

Thanks to all participants and Lisa for being the host (and very yummy homemade brownies!) this day couldn't have been made possible without you all :) And because this was such a great success, more stamp carving workshops will be given in the near future!
Stay tuned for the dates!

Also see Lisa Manuels's Blog and Kim Welling's Blog about this day as well :)

A cloudy day

2011-05-26T10:47:00.002+02:00

a cloudy day, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

I made this mobile plush a while back, and it actually suits the weather today. Handmade with felt and ribbon, decorated with hand carved stamp. A true OOAK piece. The rain was difficult to co-ordinate but I think it worked out ok :)

cleaning up kawaii stuff

2011-05-22T16:07:00.002+02:00

cleaning up kawaii stuff, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

A lovely sunday afternoon in spring and well, time for some spring cleaning, right? I decided to let a bunch of kawaii stamp sets go. kamio, qlia, sanx, sanrio to name a few brands. most of them have never been used. it's a shame they are in a box and not ever being used :P so destashing it is on my etsy. A few are added and a few more will be added later today :) Some are rare and harder to find these days so grab your chance while you can ;)

ETSYNL front page

2011-05-16T20:47:00.002+02:00

ETSYNL front page, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Since a few months now, Etsy also offers to view the homepage in a few different languages. Besides English, German and French, I can set my etsy homepage to Dutch :) And it was a nice surprise to see one of my items being featured in the treasury on the Dutch homeplage :) My first FP feature, yay :D

Etsy Labs!

2011-05-10T20:20:00.007+02:00

Etsy Labs, Leiden, the netherlands

stamp carving work shop attendees ;)

Last night was really amazing! It was the night of the 3rd Etsy Labs in The Netherlands :) I'm proud to have been a co-host :) I taught stamp carving techniques and Caro from Honoriginal taught the attendees book binding! Together with Marta from Etsy set up a space which we had on loan from the Open Makers at the Aalmarkt in Leiden for our 60 attendees. The evening began early and it was busy!! There were people from all over the country, even as far from Breda and Arnhem :) Creativity was flowing and a lot of people went home happy with a hand carved stamp & a hand bound book.

Miss Minoes with her hand made goods

at the Etsy Labs in Leiden

I would like to thank everyone who attended for coming to this event and sharing your creativity with us! I really loved the creative energy that was overflowing there! all of you made this evening a great success!

Of course this evening wouldn't be possible without Etsy & the Open Makers Leiden so a heart felt thank you to them as well!

For more pictures of the evening see

My flickr set

Etsy NL facebook page

If you're in the Netherlands or Belgium and would like more info on the next Etsy Labs please visit the Nederlandse Etsy Community team on etsy :)

The umbrella girl

2011-05-06T10:09:00.003+02:00

umbrella girl - hand carved stamp, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

This stamp is designed & carved by my sweetie. The way he did the shadow parts and the frilly dress is just awesome! The tools he used for this one is mainly a tool used for woodcutting, it's a very fine and sharp tool that can create these fine lines. I still have to try to use it to make a stamp of my own, but I doubt it would come out this great as he made it ;) I should take a materials update picture soon!

He will also be there for the workshops about stamp carving, I talked about in my last post :) And I'm happy to announce that now the workshop on the 29th of may is completely booked as well :) Another one will be given in July, but I'll inform you about that later when it's 100% sure (now it's only like 95% sure ;)

One this is 100% a go I'll inform you and you can sign up for the stamp carving workshop then :) So stay tuned!

Stamp Carving Workshops in May!

2011-05-04T22:01:00.001+02:00

Been a very busy few months! Lots of fun new stuff I'm working on , some I can't reveal just yet.... but it's going to be really great :D For now I'm happy to announce that I'm going to give a few workshops about stamp carving in the month of may :) YAY!

Fist off on may 9th in co-operation with Etsy Labs in The Netherlands, I'll be co-hosting the 3rd ever etsy labs in here in NL together with a bookbinder and fellow etsian, Caro from Honoriginal. Caro is going to teach Japanese bookbinding and I am going to teach stamp carving. The Etsy labs is an open creative environment open for all, young and old, and I'm really happy these are also being held in my small country now :) For more information about the Labs see here Etsy Labs Bookbinding and Stamp Carving (this information is written in Dutch) The registry is now closed for the event on this coming Monday, with a whopping 68 people on the attendance list! I was really floored when I heard about the enthusiastic response :D Going to be a very busy but fun day :)

Some of my carved stamps and tools

Then in the same month I'll be giving a more detailed hand carved stamp workshop in a yet to be opened shop, Elle Aime which is run my the lovely Lisa Manuels (remember I made a fox stamp for her a while back?). She asked me if I could teach some stamp carving workshops in her shop and of course I said yes :) The first one is on the 29th of may and it's open for only 10 people! There are already 5 applicants, so if you want to join in the fun, hurry up and sign up! Here is all the info you need to sign up Stamp Carving Workshop By Kitty Darkness Designs at Shop Elle Aime. (This post is in Dutch too)

We also made a stamp of the shop logo of Elle Aime :)

So fun creative workshops are planned for this month!

I hope to see some of you in person soon:)

And the winner is...

2011-05-01T17:45:00.001+02:00

Thank you all for participating in the easter egg giveaway :)

Now it's time to select a winner!

To recap this was the prize; an egg hand carved stamp

and acrylic block;

The participants were;

Dina Fragola x2

Lisa x1

Blue Eyed Night Owl x2

Toupti x2

Natalie x2

Mieke x1

Jen O x3

Kate x9

Hoodwinked x3

beau x2

Noni x1

so in total 28 entries over 11 participants

The names were entered in the randomizer list and then juggled

with this being the result

CONGRATULATIONS KATE!!

The eggo stamp is yours :) It will be sent to you soon!

Thank you all again for participating in the giveaway!

Stay tuned for another giveaway on my blog in the summer!

And of course I hope you had fun with this as much as I did :)

My blue room

2011-04-27T10:45:00.002+02:00

my blue room, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

The paper desk side. For detailled pictures click on the picture and see the notes :) here is where all the creating happens ;)

Happy Easter Giveaway!

2011-04-22T13:23:00.002+02:00

HAPPY EASTER!!

To celebrate easter this year, I'm having a little fun giveaway for my blog followers:)

You can win the items that are shown on the picture above;

the broken egg hand carved stamp in the carved and boxed series

with ez mount cling on the back

esp. made for this easter giveaway :)

To use the stamp right away I'm also including a 2 inch square acrylic block!

What do you need to do to win this? It's very simple!

Go to my etsy store,

link back with an item you favorited

and tell me why you like it :)

That will earn you one point.

Additional points can be earned

if you tweet, blog, or share this giveaway on a social network in any way,

provided you link back in a separate comment.

NOTE: This contest is open to my blog followers only!

Comments can be made until Saturday April 30th 2011.

I'll announce the lucky winner on May 1st.

Good luck everyone :)

And to wish everyone a Happy Easter I'm offering

a 25% discount on my etsy store with the coupon code

EasterSale at checkout (valid until april 30th) :)

(NOTE: if you are a follower and buy and item during contest period,

link back the purchased item to earn 5 additional points!)

Have a wonderful fun filled easter weekend everyone!!

NB May 1st - Comments are now closed, the winner will be drawn today.
Thank you for participating everyone!!

new stamping goodies!

2011-04-21T15:19:00.002+02:00

new stamping goodies, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Yes mooore stamp stuff, like I need it, LOL! Bought this lot at the stamping event art specially in zeist on the weekend of 16-17 of april. A lot of fun new stuff to work with :) Brands by Tim Holtz, Crafty Individuals, Whif of Joy, The Octopode Factory (the creepy cute ones up front are the by awesome new stamp designer Lily Chilvers), copic sketch, martha steward, versa magic, lost coast designs, artemio and the greeting farm.
Can't wait to start using it all :) Will post some creations I used these on soon.

lovely presents :)

2011-04-20T12:25:00.002+02:00

birthday gift from Kate, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

a very late post, but my friend Kate sent me a wonderful package for my birthday in march :) She is an awesome stamp carver too & I just love the hansel&gretel stamp and looks at all the lovely fabrics! She also sent me a bunch of momiji stickers & have been turned into magnets and are on my fridge :)

bashpoonska's

2011-04-19T11:21:00.002+02:00

bashpoonska, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

my newest fun kitchen utensils, measurement nesting spoons :)

aren't they adorable? I found them at a store locally, so another lucky find :)

They are from FredFlare and they really have some awesome kitchen stuff!

Now I really want the measurement cups as well :)

Blue Morning

2011-04-13T14:56:00.002+02:00

disigual, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

I'm inlove with my new coat for the in between seasons. It's a disigual trenchcoat, in beuatiful turqouise colors and hand embroidered elements. I love the peacock on the shoulder the most.

For a complete look of the jacket, see this link

My new old typewriter!

2011-04-06T11:31:00.000+02:00

So the Sunday Market turned out to be a HUGE event this time around with over 200 stalls, it was very busy with lots to see and do! My little booth had a lot of visitors and a lot of lovely people whom I met before came by, but sadly not a lot of sales were made. However I did have a lot of fun there myself and that is what really matters in the end :) My niece came by in the afternoon and my lovely bf who always helps me with the markets said to ‘go look around and have fun!’ and that we did! There was really TOO much to see but we managed to find some really cool plushies, which we took back for my bf since he was so nice about giving us time away from the booth :) We got him a little sock monster and a fox plushie, but the names of the designers escape me sadly. Did I tell you it was really busy?! Haha!

Anyhow, during our stroll through the market we came across a really cool vintage stall that was selling an awesome brother deluxe typewriter in the color aqua. The original casing and user manual were also included, this for only 15Euro! It looked very well taken care of and I thought it was just perfect! The woman at the booth didn’t really know much about the typewriter, but I asked her if I could test it and I could. It typed really smoothly and everything worked really well except for the fact it needed new lint and the ‘pulley thing’ of the zipper from the casing was broken, but the lady offered a vintage keychain to add around the zipper part to work as a ‘pulley’. So basically I fell in love with the thing and wanted it right away, but had no more cash with me at the moment and went back to my booth.

I told my bf all about the typewriter and he must have seen the love struck look on my face, because he said ‘I’ll be back in a bit’ and when he came back he got the typewriter with him for me :)

the case has a label which says case and machine made in Nagoya, Japan'

Aren’t I a lucky duck to have such a considerate boyfriend and this awesome new vintage brother deluxe typewriter?!

I think I am :)

Sunday Market!

2011-04-01T18:06:00.001+02:00

Hand Stamped Goodie bags

Been very busy these past few days preparing for my first ever Sunday Market! I've been a bit stressed as I thought I didn't have enough stuff to bring with me, seeing my bigger plushies are being sold at the hobbyiaan in Schiedam.

So I've been making some completely new products for the market.

Want to know what they are?

Come by at the

Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam

on April 3rd from 12-18 o'clock

to do some funky easter shopping :)

And to celebrate the fact it's my first market there, I'm giving away fun goodie bags to the first 20 costumers that buy something at my stall!!

Fun filled goodie bags for the first 20 customers!!!

Don't the bags look cute? I esp. made the stamp to decorate the bags with :)

Hand Carved Stamp esp. made for the Sunday Market event!

Hope to see you this sunday :)

European Love on Etsy

2011-03-25T11:02:00.000+01:00

Heart map garland by Bookity on Etsy

From March 21st to 27th Etsy will shine a spotlight on european crafters whom sell their work through the site. Most of them are offering Sales and Free international shipping this week. I also have a coupon coude that is valid until march 27th which I wanted to share with you :)

Type in the coupon code EtsyEuro in at check out for a discount of
15% on your total order ex. shipping!

For more European Love check out these Treasuries and shop tags EtsyEuro and Euroweeksale

Also check out the new and improoved shop local feature here;

A birthday weekend away to Gent!

2011-03-20T14:23:00.001+01:00

It was my birthday on the 14th of march and like every year I like to have a little weekend away trip to celebrate it :) This year we went to Gent in Belgium. We were really lucky to have such wonderful weather, it was bright and sunny and the city was just beautiful!

the three cathedral towers, taken from a canal trip

I definitely love discovering lovely little treasures in cities I have not been in before, and one absolute treasure was Julie's cafe where I had my birthday pie, créme bruleé with red fruits :)

This slice was just heavenly and the little pie shop was just filled with lovely yummies like lemon pies, cupcakes and a whole lot more.

look at all the yummy pies!

And all the yummy cupcakes!

Of course Rilakkuma demanded one too!

Of course we also did some shopping! The thing I really loved about Gent is that it has fun little quaint shops where they sells handmade treasures!

I loved discovering shops like

Huis Zwaluw

packed full with lovely homes ware items

And the Fallen Angels

Stacked with vintage and retro goodies!!

Other shops I also recommend to visit; Zsa Zsa Rouge and petit Zsa Zsa for more retro vintage wears. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures at those stores but really you will marvel at what you see :)

And of course I couldn't resist buying a few treasures there :)

If you haven't visited Gent yet, I recommend that you do, it's definitely worth it!

It was a birthday weekend well spent :)

A sunny day off

2011-03-03T17:56:00.002+01:00

Woodland necklaces, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Today was a really beautiful day and I decided to re-take some product pictures and this is the end result. I have this huge polkadot cup which I thought would make a good prop. Re-took pictures of the woodland necklaces (which are on sale now :) and the blue Alice earrings which I recently listed.

alice in wonderland blue line earrings

I also made a lot of pictures of items I have yet to list! Slowly but surely they will be on my etsy! New necklaces, earrings and hand carved stamps are in the line to be listed! I just need to edit the 200+ pictures i took today, yeah it's a lot to shift through! But stay tuned for new goods and a possible giveaway for my birthday this month :)

Inspiration hides in little corners of your home

2011-02-19T18:14:00.002+01:00

organizing craft supplies, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

We've all been there, feeling lackluster and nothing creative flows out of your hands. I've been a little uninspired to make things lately. Something I love to do when I feel a tad bit uninspired to craft, I like to go through my craft supplies and organize them :) It's always fun seeing all the wonderful bold colors, discovering things you had which you forgot you actually had ;) It's a definite mood booster! And seeing all the supplies all neatly stacked and ordered, gives me a little push to go make it all a mess again ;)

What little things do you do, to get your creativity going again?

Valentine's Cards

2011-02-06T21:49:00.003+01:00

Valentines Cards, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

I've joined in on a few Valentine Cards swaps this year on the 'bot, since I had a really fun design for it in my head. This Nago stamp is definitely one of my fave that I have ever carved and I am glad i got to use it as much for the cards and tags Stamped on recycled card stock. complimented winered envelopes and hand cut it with scalloped edges. I hope these cards will be well received :)

I have a few for grabs on my etsy, and remember, you can tell someone you love them all year round, not just on Valentine's Day ;)

Inspired by Valentine's Day

2011-01-26T22:15:00.003+01:00

valentines tags, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

I've been making some really cute gift tags for swaps and gifts, inspired by Valentine's day coming around, using my own hand carved stamps. My desk always looks like the hugest mess while crafting ;) Here you can see some of my fave materials that I like using, on the run twin tip markers (a good substitute for copic markers, same quality only much better for your wallet as it's cheaper) and staz-on water proof inks.

Nago loves you - Paper Kraft Tags set of 3

i thought they would look really cute on gifts, so if you would like to make someone special smile with something unique added to your gift, I've added a set to my etsy shop! and remember, tell that someone you love them EVERY day, not just on Valentine's day ;)

Monday Moodboard

2011-01-25T11:21:00.002+01:00

magnet board update, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

I rearranged the pieces on the magnet board which i have on my desk. I really love adding bits and bobs from wonderful artists who either sell their work through etsy or swap them through the 'Bot. It inspires me a lot seeing all this wonderful colorful goodness :) To see which artists I have included on the board, click on the picture :)

Swapbot and ETSY unite: Kiwi's Etsy Love Swap #1

2011-01-18T14:21:00.002+01:00

Two things I love the most, swapping and browsing on etsy :) This Swap hosted by KiwiVandal on swapbot combines them both :) There are a lot of talented ladies on swapbot whom also have their own etsy shop and this is a fun way to get to know them a bit better. In this post I'll introduce you to 5 swaptastic ladies with their dazzling etsy shops!

To kick off we have a great friend of mine at swapbot Drachenfrau and she makes wonderful jewelry which you can find on her Etsy Shop Drachenfrau Treasuries. She also participated in my goodie bag which I handed out at markets last winter and the earrings she made for them were really very pretty! Look through her etsy and you'll find really beautiful earrings, but this one esp. caught my eye

Galadriel earrings

MMaybe it's the colors (blue tones) or the inspiration behind it (tolkien) but this one just really stands out. To stay up to date with drachenfrau's creations, check out her Blog and as cross promotion she's offering 10% discount on her etsy shop with coupon code KIWIETSYLOVE1 at check out. Ain't that a sweet deal?! :)

Next up is Renees and het etsy shop Bop and Rocksy for doggie delights :) For dog lovers her shop is amazing, she has some really cute dish cloths with cute dogs on them and even accessories for your furry four legged critter. Want some bling for your pet? check out the beaded collars and get them all prettyfied like this cutie below

crystal beaded dog necklace

There are a few things on sale in her shop already, but for cross promotion Renee is offering 10% discount with coupon code 'Swapbot' at checkout. Go on and give your furry ones a treat :)

Next up is Leecytx and her Etsy Shop A CraftyGecko Creation in which she sells jewelry, papercrafts and nature inspired items. First off I really love the shop name, a crafty gecko is creative indeed :) And I love that it's inspired by nature and she has some beautiful product pictures like this one

milkweed seeds monarch butterfly plant

to stay up to date with the crafty gecko check out her blog :)

Up next is Blythe addict Provadia with her etsy store Folksylove in which you can guess, she sells Blythe related items. Not clothings or accessories for your dolls, but art prints, journals, stationery, apparel etc. featuring a lovely blythe for yourself! Now wouldn't your mornings be a lot happier with a cute coffee mug like this?

sunset love- a blythe mug

I know mine would be :) As cross promotion Rossi is also offering 15% discount with the coupon code BLOGSNSWAPS at check out. Go spoil yourself :)

And last but definitely not least is the brilliant organizer of this swap KiwiVandal :)

Her etsy shop is called kiwivandal designs and at the moment she has a few cute valentine cards for sale like this one

a pocket valentine

let someone know how much you love them by sending one of theme cards to them :) To stay up to date with miss vandal check out her blog

And this concluded the swapbot-etsy round up from me. check out the swap link above because a lot of cross promotional activity is going on here, so if you're lucky you can snatch a coupon code off the blogposts and get some discounts on your orders :)

a special discount for my shoppers; use promocode 'kiwietsylove1' until feb 28th 2011 for a 10% discount at your total order :)

ETA: adding links to the blog feature about my etsy store.
Bandeau
Mad about Pink
Love, Maddy
Funky Lindsay
klow

thank you all for such lovely features, ladies!

Follow the Life of Rilakkuma

2011-01-06T20:13:00.003+01:00

I haz TOMBLOR!, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

My little bear has his own blog now too :)
http://thelifeofrilakkuma.tumblr.com/

Craft Books for inspirational felties

2011-01-04T14:18:00.002+01:00

Craft Books for inspirational felties, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Good intention for the new year, try to do something fun for myself or be creative/make something each day instead of hanging on the couch at night after dinner. these books would come in handy for this new year's resolution!

the little Michael Jackson Felt brooch I made last year is from the Zombie Felt book :)

New Year, New cute stuff!

2011-01-03T12:22:00.001+01:00

Tara mcpherson x hello kitty x kid robot, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

What do you get when Tara mcpherson x hello kitty x kid robot all work together? This kick ass vinyl collector's toy, that's what! I normally don't like Hello Kitty (odly strange coming from a kitty) but this one just rocks my socks! rainbows, lollipops and horses with swords on their heads! What more can a Kitty want?!

Best wishes for a Happy HANDMADE 2011

2010-12-31T20:12:00.001+01:00

Best wishes, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

Wishing you a wonderful NYE celebration and all the best for a wonderful filled with HANDMADE goodness new year!

xoxoxox

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-23T14:50:00.000+01:00

Wishing you all a happy festive season

and a wonderful new year!!!

My work in flow magazine

2010-12-22T12:37:00.001+01:00

my work in flow magazine, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

A wonderful surprise awaited me when I opened the mailbox yesterday! My work got featured in one of my fave Dutch magazines FLOW!!! :)

Click on the picture to know more about the story :)

Packing up the Kitties!

2010-12-09T16:12:00.002+01:00

craft market stock, originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat.

And all other stock I have in 1 suitcase! it's a real puzzle to fit it all in, but a great challenge ;) Will be standing together with the Dutch Handmade Team at the Zelfgemaakte markt in Utrecht this Saturday, 11th of december. Would be great fo you could stop by if you are in the neighborhood :)

For more info Zelfgemaakte markt

goodiebag contributions

2010-12-08T16:41:00.000+01:00

goodiebag contributions
Originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat

I just wanted to show you all what a great bunch of people contributed to the goodiebag! I've handed out a few at the market in november, but i have a lot left which are going to go with me to other markets in spring. thanks so much for participating you guys! it just looks awesome!click on the picture on the right so you can see the notes on who made what :)

on a side note, the bags I made myself by recycling old magazine pages and satin ribbons for handles. I used Swiedebie's tutorial to made the bags! a full dutch handmade team effort on this one :)

ETA: great news everyone! I'll be standing together with the Etsy DutchHandmade Team at the Zelfgemaakte Markt in Utrecht this saturday, december 11th, so the goodiebags will come along as well of course :) If you're in the neighborhood do stop by!

Become a Fan on Facebook :)

2010-11-11T16:47:00.002+01:00

I Finally made a facebook fanpage for KDD :) Also a great way to stay up to date with new item listings and Events :)

Please show your support and become a fan on

Kitty Darkness Designs on Facebook.

A Call for all crafters!

2010-11-03T19:50:00.018+01:00

I’ll be attending another hand made craft market on November 28th in Groningen the netherlands and I thought of something fun to promote your own handmade goods business. I’ll be making a little goodie bag to give to people at the craft market with their purchase. It’s a market esp. for Sinterklaas / Saint Nicholas (a very popular holiday in NL) and Christmas shoppers so it’s going to be crowded (well that is the expectation!!) I am planning on making about 25 goodie bags (with at least 10-15 different goodies in them) to hand out to people with a purchase. I’m calling out to all crafters world wide with their own little business to participate in this goodie bag!

What's in it for you?:

Hand made and DIY is taking over globally and it’s moving in a rapid pace. I’m noticing in here in The Netherlands, more people are shopping with a tighter budget but still want something unique and durable. Unique recycled and environment friendly made products are higher in demand by consumers now than in mass produced made goods. That means that more people shop locally and try to find goods made with a personal touch. So this would be a great opportunity to market your own small little business which you have on etsy, dawanda, artfire, or whatever small art supporting business you are selling on. By participating in this goodie bag you have the chance to reach out to customers whom esp. seek out to buy handmade goods aren’t familiar with your shop yet. Etsy for instance is getting really well known in NL and is being promoted by various lifestyle magazines like the FLOW and the Happinez. Etsy even had a few meetings with the Dutch handmade community in Holland which I am a part of. However people are most likely to shop at internet stores if they have seen a sample of a product for them selves. With participating in this goodie bag you’re also helping with raising awareness about wonderful home made and hand made items and how people can obtain them globally via the internet.

What do you have to do to be in this goodie bag:

Have an own little shop, weather it is on etsy, dawanda, artfire, ecrater, etc. doesn’t matter. Only things that matters is that you sell *handmade* mostly and it’s your OWN shop.
Make something small and easy but uniquely your own (like a 1 inch button, hairpin, brooch, cell charm, magnet, a print of an ACEO, postcard, stickers, mailing labels, etc. something that is easy to make multiples of and doesn’t cost you much to make but still is of good quality.)
You must be willing to send me at least 10-15 items minimum (it doesn’t have to be the same item 15x over, what you make and how many is up to you, but I need at least 10 goodies from you.)
Attach the goodie to your (business) card where your name and shop name is clearly written on.
Items have to be here in my home on nov 23rd at the latest.

Only (business) cards with goodies attached to them will be added in the goodie bag. See this as providing a little sample of your work to possible new customers. So don’t send me your business cards alone, that is not a goodie after all. You are welcome to add discount codes for your store, but they don’t count as a ‘goodie’.

I hope that many of you readers will participate. My goal is to make 25 goodie bags each with 10-15 different goodies. So hopefully enough people will sign up for this. Please only sign up if you are committed to go though with this because I will depend on you to go through with this. You have as of now 20 days to make your goodies and send them on time to me. It might be tight but see it as a fun challenge ;) Please comment below with your email address and shop link if you are willing to participate. I’ll contact you with my mailing address to send the goodies to. EDIT: If you're outside EU then I think the last day for you to send out is November 13th so it gets to me on time.

Thanks for reading! And hopefully you’ll be inspired to participate :)

ETA 25/11/2020

Participators so far:

1) Drachenfrau's sweetie ;) - goodies received 12/11

2) Tanglecrafts - recieved 23/11

3) Rengawk - received 20/11

4) kimminita - goodies received 8/11

5) Colors of my world - received 20/11

6) Bobbeez - goodies received 9/11

7) lisa manuels - goodies received 5/11

8) Janis - received 20/11
9) Rianne - goodies received 9/11
10) Ozowiezo (via twitter) - goodies received 13/11
11) Craftgasm (via swapbot)
12) jojojanneka (via Twitter) - goodies received 10/11
13) ZSBcreations (via Twitter) - received 20/11
14) OrangeDelight (via Etsy Dutch team) - received 18/11

~~15) Agonysdecay~~ CANCELLED

16) Drachenfrau - goodies received 12/11
17) Evelyn - goodies received 11/11
18) buechertiger (via Etsy Euro Team) - received 17/11
19) Dutchhandmade team postcards - received 10/11
20) Iced Moments (Jennie) - received 23/11
21) KolibrieKado (via Etsy Dutch team) - received 23/11

thanks so much everyone for being so awesome and sending in on time! I made 23 bags each filled with 10-13 goodies :) Let's hope they will be all handed out on the craft fair on the 28th :)

Crafty Market Twiskepoort

2010-10-20T22:17:00.000+02:00

Something very unexpected happened last week and I can't believe I forgot to tell you all about it. There was a competition on Twitter by the organizer of the Crafty Market in Holland. The winner with the most fun tweet about the Crafty Market would win a free booth on the DIY weekend on oktober 23/24 at Twiskepoort. And guess what, I actually WON :D I'm so very happy!!!! I won together with another creative person whom I actually met at the previous market, Lisa Manuels. We stayed in touch after the market and we made custom work for each other recently, so it's really fun that we both won and are going to share the market booth together :) I'll also be doing a stamp making workshop there if all goes well, but that will depend on the weather and the arrangement of the workshop place.

so if you're in town this weekend, be sure to stop by at Twiskepoort to buy your KDD goodies in person :)

and the winner is...

2010-10-18T15:36:00.000+02:00

thanks everyone for participating in the earring giveaway! I've listed everyone in the randomizer in order of entrance and picked out a winner a few minutes ago. Just a reminder, to qualify to win you had to comment WITH a link to one of my etsy items, then blog and or tweet about the giveaway linking back in the comments. If you're name is listed more than once in the list the you did more than just comment with a link. If your name isn't listed, but you did comment, means you didn't do the 1st requirement of linking an etsy item. Sorry had to be strict and fair! and now for the winner... drumroll please...

There were 21 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1.m.czempiel

2.pastrylover from swapbot

3.blue eyed night owl

4.Mishel

5.Kaminenko

6.rengawk

7.8r1id - Bobbeez

8.tara & byron

9.Rianne31

10.Mishel

11.The Messy Crafter

12.m.czempiel

13.swap-bot: RBM3579

14.Estivalia

15.lindis

16.The bird Alert

17.the bird alert

18.danijela

19.blue eyed night owl

20.toupti (chantal)

21.4smartmonkeys

Timestamp: 2010-10-18 13:11:29 UTC

Congratulations Marisa!!!!!!!!!

(card by LizardPress on Etsy)

thank you everyone for participating!

Another Giveaway!

2010-10-13T12:34:00.002+02:00

We've been creating a lot of things recently and one of the newest items on my etsy will be listed this weekend; dangly earrings! Made with prints from our hand carved stamps, you could get them as post earrings already, but now you can also let these cuties dangle from your ear ;) Also a few new designs will be added that can be only available as danglies! Every single one is handmade seperately so each pair is very unique. And today I'm giving away One pair of those earrings (a surprise one!) to one of you lucky people :)

What do you need to do to win a pair of these cuties ? Very simple :)

Go to my etsy shop, pick an item you like, link it back here and tell me why you like it.
Blog about this giveaway and link your blog post in the comments.
Tweet about this giveaway with the retweet button and link it back in the comments.

You can chose to do just one or all 3 of them, but all of these actions you need to do in seperate comments. And of course if you do all three you'll higher chance of winning this prize :) Good Luck!!

~~This giveaway is open until Sunday October 17th! I'll pick a winner on Monday 18th of october.~~
Contest is closed!!

Cause this is Thrilla

2010-10-11T13:46:00.001+02:00

October has been here for almost 2 weeks and I've been busy making some items to place on my Etsy for Halloween :) There are some zombie kittie hand carved stamps and a little special OOAK feltie I made a few nights ago.

MJ in his thrilla outfit :)

The pattern is through Zombie Felties which is filled with creepy cute felt design! I change a few things here and there to make it unique :)

So fun for the halloween season! I'll be making more creepy cuties to add to my etsy soon!

When Twitter Fails...

2010-09-30T13:47:00.000+02:00

Isn't it incredibly frustrating when you are trying to tweet and suddenly, a big fat whale carried by teeny tiny birds appears on your screen? This happened to me more than I would like to care for and at one point I just saved the image because, well it was a cute and I'm a sucker for things that are cute. A few night ago I finally had the time to sit down and carve a stamp from the image. And this is the result:

Now something cute to make with this stamp. Suggestions?

A fun Day at the Crafty Markt!

2010-09-26T16:56:00.000+02:00

So yesterday was the day, my first ever appearance on a crafty market. in spite of the weather being really unpredictable, a lot of rain but still sunshine in between, it was a fairly okay day. there were people all through out the day from 1pm and onwards but we stayed until 8pm instead of 9pm because it was just a too long of a day. setting up the booth was a little more stressful than I thought, but I think we (my bf helped a lot) managed quite well :) I'm really happy with the over all look of the booth, we filled 2 meters up and I'm glad to report the sales pretty okay too :) Of course I squandered any profit we made by buying some awesome handmade goodies for myself there, but really when in Rome, buy handmade stuff from other dutch etsians/artists... right? ;)

Here are some pictures of the KDD booth

the banner from Vistaprint came right on time for the event :)

post earrings and necklaces

The other side of the booth with pouches and stamps

different rings with my hand made ring holders.

Now relaxing until the next market in november ;) Also I'll be listing some stuff that has not been sold to my etsy the next few weeks :)

Making stock!

2010-09-20T15:03:00.000+02:00

Been very busy since returning from vacation with making stock for the craft market I will be at next weekend. I'm also really nervous about not having enough stuff to fill my booth with (thank goodness it's only 2meters now instead of 4!!) I'm constantly making things, after work and during the weekends that I barely have enough time for anything else.

Here are some things I have made so far:

Kawaii magnets made from beer bottle caps

Hand Carved stamps mounted on wood

Packaging for earrings

On the 25th of September, if you're in Amsterdam stop by at the Oosterpark from 1pm until 9 pm to see what else I've made :)

new earring designs

2010-09-13T17:00:00.002+02:00

new earrings
Originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat

I made these new batch of earrings for the upcoming craft fair I'm participating in. They are made with my hand carved stamps, so every pair is unique! I'm in the process of making dangly earrings too. since I'm such a perfectionist everything I make takes quite a long time as i'm keen on the details. Good but exhausting at times! I still have so much more items I want to make for the Crafty Market on september 25th in Amsterdam, but I only have 2 weeks left to create! Doing my best to at least get a few things done in the evenings. More new stuff to come soon...

a bear in the forest

2010-09-10T12:38:00.001+02:00

a bear in the forest
Originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat

Well, we're back from Sweden. It was an awesome trip and we had the chance to really relax in beautiful surroundings. we stayed at my bf's parent's vacation house, like we always do, for the 3rd year in a row now. It's an awesome holiday spot. I'm going to upload a few pictures of the trip over the weekend, but I wanted to share the high and lowlights of the trip here.

Lowlights (because you bring the bad news first):
* I became sick with the flue almost straight away upon arrival and it lasted almost the whole first week :(
* Because we stayed in a rural aria and traveled off season a lot of things were closed :(
* The time just flew by and before we knew it the 12 days we spent there were gone :(

Highlights:
* It rained only two days and was pretty sunny and sometimes even warm the rest of the time
* the house is located in the middle of the forest ad has amazing views and calming effect
* Completed some craft work for the craft fair
* Learned how to do wet and dry felting at the local Ullbutik (woolshop)
* Found some amazing craft supplies at second hand stores
* Won some fantastic embroidered swedish craft/hand work in auctions (it's a thing in Sweden, there are like auctions for all kinds of stuff and if you are lucky you can get cool stuff for very cheap!)
* Finished two books 'twenties girl' by Sophie Kinsella and 'the sugar queen' by Sarah Addison Allen. Enjoyed and recommend them both!
* Went biking on a special bike railtrack From Üdenholm to Hagfors to and back from the train museum

There were a lot of highlights this trip that totally outweighed the fact that I was sick in my vacation. I'm glad I was able to enjoy it all just fine inspite of that :) I'll share the picture of the things I made and the crafty stuff I bought and completed soon. I found some AMAZING hand embroidered stuff at the auctions and some embroidery patterens all from the 60s-70s :) Very inspirational stuff!

Now it's back to work again, sigh...

see you in a bit!

2010-08-27T18:09:00.001+02:00

rilakkuma and smulan
Originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat

This picture was taken in Sweden last year, it's rilakkuma and his swedish sheep friend smulan whom we adopted. let's hope it will be sunny again this year.

Packing up things for the holiday. we're leaving for Sweden tomorrow morning and we'll be back in 2 weeks. see you then.

and the winner is...

2010-08-26T10:47:00.001+02:00

and the winner is...
Originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat

Congrats shopcuteness for winning the twitter quick giveaway! hope you will enjoy the rilakkuma stamp :)

thank you everyone for playing! I'll be hosting another giveaway next month, and it will be on this blog. it will run a bit longer and have more Kitty Darkness Designs items :) So Stay tuned!!

GIVEAWAY!! Win this rilakkuma hand carved stamp!!

2010-08-25T16:25:00.002+02:00

GIVEAWAY!! Win this rilakkuma hand carved stamp!!
Originally uploaded by Miss Thundercat

A random QUICK giveaway for this wednesday! How to win: Go to my Twitter , Follow me, then retweet this message! I will Pick a winner at Random under my followers at Twitter who retweeted me! I will pick a winner TOMORROW MORNING!!! AKA Thursday August 26th 2010 at 10am CET, so be quick :D

A Darker shade of cute - Creeplings

2010-08-25T11:47:00.001+02:00

I'm a big fan of handmade plushies and especially the unique kind and bit on the weird side but whom are still very lovable :) My boyfriend found an amazing etsy shop called Creeplings last year and we bought two very adorable plushies from her. I wanted to share these with you.

This is Kali. We adopted her this summer.

And her sister Dusa (medusa) whom we adopted last year.

They are very happy to be together :)

Creeplings makes a lot more different plushies and she also remakes on request. Want your own darker shade of cute plush, head on over to her etsy shop :)

Giveaway from Paper! Ink! Color!

2010-08-24T22:54:00.005+02:00

yes, you can win all of that! this giveaway is being hosted by Chrissy L. of Paper! Ink! Color! and all you have to do is go over to her blogpost here and follow the instructions! If you're an avid rubberstamp fanatic you don't want to miss this one!

A Knitted Rilakkuma Hat

2010-08-23T13:04:00.008+02:00

A friend of mine commented that I should blog more as it's fun :) I'm trying to get into swing of the blogging thing again, So I'll try to blog more frequently with things I'd like to share with you all :) Also a warm welcome to my new followers via Swap-Bot. Glad you all could make it over here and I hope you'll enjoy your stay :)

This cute Rilakkuma Hat was made for me by my friend Lily, aka Little Emma K on flickr. She got inspired my the travels of the Little bear, as we went to NYC this past June, and made this hat for me :) What a wonderful gesture from someone I just met online :) Her knitted wares are just adorable definitely check out her shop. I'm so inlove with this hat! It's definitely going to be handy in our next travels to Sweden where it be undoubtedly rainy! And it's a good camouflage to hide in the forest, not?

For this kind Rak (=random act of kindness) of hers I've made a little RAK for her in return, this rilakkuma stamp with him wearing the hat :) And I'm glad that it was well received :)

Stamp Carving - a Greater Challenge

2010-08-22T13:13:00.007+02:00

I was struggling with a decision about a stamp I really wanted to carve, but was too intimidated by the design to give it a try. Well a while back I just sat down and just went for it and I wanted to share the result with you here.

First it took me a while to get it started, with sizing the design and tracing with tracing paper and pencil then transferring the image on to the carving block, as you can see on the picture here

The swirls were complicated but I managed to get through them, with a lot more patience than I thought I had ;) After 3 hours the result is this

and I'm pretty happy with the result :) I've decided to stamp her on items I'll be selling on my etsy.

I was looking for a phone slip for my Samsung Galaxy S and the sleeves for Iphone are just a little too small so I made one for myself and offer one up at my etsy and will make more in different colors soon. I love how the print looks on the faux leather fabric :)

An update!

2010-08-02T16:21:00.019+02:00

Hello everyone!

Wow, it's august already! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far! Time just flies when you're hard at work! But at the end of august I'm looking forward to some relaxation time myself. Taking a little summer break in the Scandinavian forest just to relax and feel at peace in the woods :)

My regular day job has been keeping me really busy, but I've managed to make some more new items for my etsy shop. I've been updating a little more this july and I wanted to share the creations with you all here too :)
I've added some new hand carved stamps to the shop and I'm also taking some custom orders for these now! I've been making them together with my boyfriend and we're enjoying this relaxing hobby together :)

An example we made this Hello Kitty Address Stamp for a friend of mine in Germany.

it's mounted on an acrylic block with EZ mount cling on the back.

We made this stamp for someone who wanted one of their characters made as a stamp
The character's name is meanie and designed by Caroline Oaks. This stamp is mounted on wood.

We really enjoy making stamps, so if you have a special request for them feel free to contact me about any idea's you might want a stamp out of!

I've also made some new items for the shop using the prints of my own carved stamps to make cute earrings!

These are all available on my etsy as well as some rings and cell charms of the same designs :)

I hope you all enjoy these new products and in honor of my 100th sale and being on etsy for 2 years I'll be doing a give away really soon this august! so stay tuned!

Get ready for a giveaway!!

2010-06-01T19:51:00.003+02:00

A quick hello!

2010-04-02T11:50:00.009+02:00

To let you all know that I'm still around! I just received a comment on the 'great little blog I have here' (thanks Hence72) so I really should update this thing more! I shall try, I shall try!!

The past few month have been quite hectic, we've moved house, I turned 30 and the day job is still quite busy. Never the less I'm still crafting, which I'm really happy about! Also added a few new items to the etsy store, like

moleskine books

'Little Red Lost in the Forest' (this one sold :D)

hand carved stamps

'Kawaii Smile Alice in Wonderland'
This stamp is carved by my sweetheart :) I'm glad that he shares my crafting endeavors :)

And postcards

'Rilakkuma and his little friends'
postcards made of pictures of Rilakkuma while traveling :)

So while it has been a bit quiet on the blog front, it hasn't been quiet at the crafting and etsy front :)

Well since it is my day off today I'm going to some more crafting :)
Thank you all for still following this blog and your support at my etsy shop! It does mean a lot to me!

Free World Wide Shipping!

2009-11-26T23:36:00.006+01:00

Black Firday - Cyber Monday Promotion!
Free Shipping on all HANDMADE GOODS!!!

The shipping on products in my store have already been changed for your convenience. If you buy supplies and handmade goods in one order, you only have to pay shipping for the supplies. Come on and take a look at my etsy, see if there's something you might like or buy a gift for friends/loved ones for the holidays! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

It's been a while... but I'm still here :)

2009-08-31T13:40:00.008+02:00

WOW! It's been so long since I last blogged! So much for my New Year's resolution, eh? Well, it's time I really get back into this! So I'm here with my coffee and listening to The Killer's CD, It's a good way to start the afternoon!

Let me tell you what's been going on with me the past month actually! I've started a new job in March, after being unemployed for months. Yeah the economy really sucks big time! I'm glad I at least got a a decent job not to far from where I live, with decent pay. And best thing is, I work 4 days a week so I can dedicate that other day in the week to my Etsy shop and make cute things! Though that's wonderful, it's not always gone as I'd like to. Haven't sewn in a while really because i couldn't find any inspiration. My muse really let me down for a few months :( So there weren't any real updates at Kitty Darkness Designs.
But when my shop turned 1 year old!! this past July I had a Anniversary Sale going on for nearly a month before I went on holiday in August. And it was a great success! Thanks to everyone for their support! I felt like it was appreciated what I made and sold on Etsy as I really contemplated on closing the shop (I had already closed my DaWanda Shop earlier this year)! But it seems like I got my muse back now since I have a lot of new idea's to put into finalization! A few of them being the new items that are available at my shop now like these woodland scrabbletile pendants!

Aren't they cute?? :) The deer was a gift from a friend of mine and she poses so well with the cute pendants :) Check out my etsy for more info!

I have a few more ideas to put into work, and you will see them soon here and in my shop! To help get back my muse, this cute shop I found in Amsterdam really helped! It's called "De Sprookjes Kamer" or "the Fairytale Shop" (Or "the Polkadot Shop"as they have a lot of cute polkadotty goodies!) This is the front of the shop

It looks small but it's packed with goodies inside like these

lots of polkadotty goodies everywhere! I really could spend hours (and have!!) being lost in there! They have a lot of great goodies imported from japan! Very fun kawaii stuff like these Otogicco Little Red Riding Hood items

cute organizer

these adorable figurines (my boyfriend actually gave me these :)
and

this gorgeous ID case or you can also use it as a suitcase label, but I would be too afraid of loosing in in the process of traveling!

They also have great unique fabrics imported from japan at the shop, like these

beautiful foxes, mushrooms and deer fabric and ribbon!

So if all the pretties here doesn't inspire me, I don't know what will ;) Keep a lookout for new items at my Etsy. I've also decided I'll be letting go some of my kawaii collection there, like memopads and decotapes and sticker sacks, etc. When that happens, I'll definitely inform you all here about it too :)

Here's to a happy 2009!

2009-01-10T17:07:00.006+01:00

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged but I'm back! Hope you all had a great Holiday season and a great celebration rining in the New Year. For me, things weren't all that good, as I have lost my job (damn economic depression!) so I begin 2009 un employed and looking for a new job. It's not all that bad! As they say, one door closes and a new one opens! So keep your fingers crossed that I'll find a great job this year :)

One more positive thing is that I finally have more time to regularly update my shop and (hopefully) blog some more again! I've added so many more things to the shop, like new Bottle Cap Magnets, Zippy's, and destashing some of my kawaii items and supplies. I'm also in the process in completing an order to send to participate in the Get Eurofied Sampler Box that will go on sale of Feb 1st! I'll tell you all more about that soon!

For now i'll leave you with a little tease, a bunch of new magnets I made :)

In need of a Zippy?

2008-09-18T22:24:00.008+02:00

I have recently bought a new sewing machine, a wonderful Janome, and I have decided to also make some zippered pouches to sell on my shop. I am making them in various sizes and most of them are made from imported Japanese fabrics. I also will make things out of some cool fabrics in retro style. There's a store I frequently visit called Kitch Kitchen and they have the most wonderful vinyl printed fabric in kitch and retro design! Yes I will be making stuff with that too :D So my shop is no longer only kawaii based, but broadening out just a little bit :) I am making new kawaii felties still, I have a few good ones I still need to realize, but when they are up you'll be notified here :) But for now, if you are in need of a Zippy, go check out my listings! I will add more tomorrow :)

New! Bottle Cap Magnets!

2008-09-02T19:30:00.007+02:00

New at my etsy store, Bottle cap magnets! I really enjoyed making these! I have uploaded a bunch at once (14), they are $3 each and for a limited time you can buy 2 for $5, 4 for $10 etc. A free exclusive Kitty Darkness Designs Bottlecap Magnet will be added with every order. It's one that is not for sale and only available when you buy something at my store. So go ahead and take a look, hopefully you'll find something you'll like :)

My products on DaWanda!!

2008-08-18T22:18:00.007+02:00

I opened a DaWanda shop! For people in Europe esp. this would be an easier way to buy things from me as prices are listed in Euros and here I also accept bank transfers. I'm listing things on this shop daily, for now the things I have listed on my Etsy are making it's way over. Take a look!

Anyone want some sushi?

2008-08-16T22:32:00.003+02:00

This adorable little guy was listed on my Etsy shop yesterday. It's Onigri Chan in a keychain form. I've been also putting some buttons on my creations lately! I think it gives them a cute accent :) If you want to give him a loving home, click the link above and there you will also find more info on him :)

My First Treasury

2008-08-14T13:01:00.005+02:00

No, sadly I was not included in one... yet (well as far as I know of ;) but I finally managed to snag my first Treasury list on etsy! As some of you might now, it's a very popular list to get on! I decided to go with the theme and make an ode to my fellow black kitties out there!

Here's a screenshot (the list will expire on Sunday so the link won't work after that)

Go on and take a look while you can! Give the kitties some love :)

Fresh new blog!

2008-08-14T09:27:00.009+02:00

Well this is my first post on my fresh new blog. I'm not used to blogger format so I'm figuring things out as I go along. I'm used to Livejournal format for my ATC's and Swapbot activities mostly, but I also haven't blogged there in ages! I hope to get better at it and hopefully this fresh new start will give me more incentive :)

This blog will be used mainly to update the developement of my etsy shop. This also includes new characters and items developments and of course I will post here when I have listed new items in the shop! So stay tuned!! I'm also planning to have a monthly or bi-monthly contest where you can win something I created and offer special promo offers to my blog subscribers :) So all the more reason for you to watch this space!!!

For now I will leave you with a picture of my current stock at my Etsy Shop (I have added a few more items since this picture was taken). Most of them are still in stock, so if you see something you like, come on over :)