Some pouches in shop

As I keep making pouches that I have no use for by now, I caved in and listed some in my shop...
Lots more to come as I now have even more zippers ;)
Find them here: DinaFragola on Storenvy

It's fun to make any crazy ideas I want as there's no pressure to sell...

New earrings in new shop

Some of the new earrings are now available on dinafragola.com
They are rose gold toned, with copper metallic accent. Simple but lovely.
Available in 4 colors.
I am not very happy with  the photos as for some reasons the lack of light makes it look like the black background is dusty :/  I'll have to re-shoot at some point.

My first pin!

My first pin is available in my Dina Fragola shop! 
It is just as cute as I'd hoped!

But the backing card is wrong. I wrote the company about that but 24 hours later I still got no answer.
I sure won't be recommanding that company LOL. They were not very comfortable to deal with even before that, you know  that weird gut feeling...It's too bad because the end products are really good quality.
I'll be trying  another company for my next patch and pin.

The silver lining of the wrong backing card is that I can promote the pin not only as a cat paw (the design is based on the paw of my cat Diego) but also as a dog and bunny paw (thanks, people for the idea...)
The pin is 8.50 Euro, max 2 euros shipping (depending on where you live), free shipping in Belgium and /or if shipped with another item. Get it here!

Back from the hospital

My cute Marie PJ's 

I finally had my appendix removed, 6 months after that major health scare.
As you can imagine, I was not looking forward to the experience. It was my first anesthesia, my first planned stay at the hospital.
I got there at 7 am...to find out my surgery was planned at 2 pm *cries* . Long day. I was hungry. Desperately wanted some coffee, got a Xanax. That's bitter too.
All went well. The only really unpleasant memory is waking up with the breathing tube still in place (which is normal, by the way) and me struggling to get it out.
I also remember checking if I could still move all my limbs (which is not something I thought about before the surgery...go figure how brains work...).
I was not in  any pain, other than a slight headache. Even now, it's more like having exercised too much.
I was in and out all night...I probably would have slept all through the night if not for a dramatically sick roommate.
I could leave on the following afternoon. I still walk a little bit funny and the stitches are itchy.  I sleep a lot and the compression tights are annoying but I am otherwise OK.
And I am so happy that it is over.

PS: Get your cute rainbow cat patch now!

My first embroidered patch!

My first patch is here! I am super stoked about how it turned out...even better than I expected! Now I am waiting for my first sale with bated breath ;)

Cute fluffy cat embroidered, high quality, patch in rainbow colors. 
Patch is 7cm (2.75") in diameter.It has an iron-on back (suitable for stronger and heat resistent fabrics like jeans) but it might be preferable to sew it on for durability.It is based on a doodle I made of my cat Pikachu when he passed away. So, to me it's a sweet way to remember him too.Suitable for clothes, backpacks, hats, camera bags, notebooks...Would make a cute stocking stuffer too.Free shipping if ordered with another item.

Available here.

Looks good on my jeans jacket

Looks cool on my backpack

Looks fun on a cap

Looks great on my camera bag

Mercutio the cat

Watcha up to? 

Mercutio the cat is the latest addition to the McBain family. He arrived on Christmas day, terrified by the evening fireworks...I saw the cat runnning like crazy in my alley way, I opened the bay window and he sprinted right inside.
10 minutes later he was napping on my stomach in front of TV.
I searched the web to see if there were a missing cat ad, looked around the neighbourhood. Nobody seemed to be missing Mercutio. He didnt seem very inclined to leave either. He wouldn't even go outside for over 2 weeks.
He is very sweet and cuddly (when it's not too hot, in which case he doesn't know you). His other names are Mothcat (because of the moth shaped spot on his nose) and Muffin.

Don't take photos!

You still there?

Humpfff

Leave me alone!!!

Patches and self doubt

OK. I have ordered my first custom patches. I am super nervous, full of self doubt. Let's face it, nothing I ever did met much success. I am on the point of giving up all together. It's too hot, I am too lonely and just generally very unhappy with my current life with next to zero social interaction.
Warning, going into very personal stuff now...you don't have to read if that makes you uncomfortable.(writing it mostly for myself)

My family has never been very supportive of anything I chose to do. The pressure was terribly (still is) overwhelming at time. I got stuck in a life I didn't want just out of sheer guilt...how could I dare to want things for myself...selfish girl! How did I dare to go out with friends (let alone boyfriends)? How did I dare to go away alone (L.A. seemed like about far enough to get away, it was not)? How did I dare to have a life?
Unfortunately guilt always brought me back, cut me out from friends...guilt is still holding me and most of those people have been dead for over 10 years...And now I cannot get out of this way of thinking that I actually don't deserve anything. I don't deserve friends, I don't deserve a job I like, I don't deserve a boyfriend, I don't deserve anything that makes me happy really because I am selfish.
And even though I now know the problem is not and never was me, my lizard brain doesn't want to know anything and keeps me in my old non-working unhappy ways.

I should get the patches in a month or so. They'll be sold in my DinaFragola shop.

An unusual visitor

My cousin and her family came for a visit...this is Bailey's the dog. She is an adorable basset hound.

Helping  with office work

Being cute in the garden

Playing with the plush hedgehog

Helping in the workroom

She pretty much inspected every single square centimeters of the house

 The cats were less than impressed :D
 You can see more photos of Baileys in this post

Secret Santa 2016

One of my Etsy teams organized a Secret Santa gift exchange. I was spoilt (again) this year.

I received all those nice things from Karin ( her shop is CreativeCrochetShop)
and that was a double surprise as I've known Karin for a long time and she is always helping me with German translations for my shops.

Two cute keyrings

A horsie soap...I almost bit into it thinking it was marzipan...

A chocolate Santa, Xmas spice cookies (there was a whole box...), Indian spice mix, and a cool tea advent calendar. There was also a lovely pesto style mix that had already been eaten by the time I took the photo..

Karin probably didn't know, but I looooove advent Calendars. And this one is  just gorgeous and so original, you get a different tea every day. I can't wait to get started. 

There's a little booklet with a story about every tea...and that will make me work on my German too! 

New simple kawaii necklaces. Perfect stocking filler!

Lots of fun and affordable kawaii necklaces! They're all 10 Euros a piece and they'd make perfect stocking fillers!

Available in the following shops

Available in all the shops
DAWANDA
DINA FRAGOLA ETSY
ALITTLEMARKET