Lyra's World

I'm a bit late, but here are the "latest" great news from "blogoland":
Malčice kasnim, ali evo "najnovijih" vesti iz "blogolenda":
Medena is organizing the Sweet Summer Swap and there is still plenty of time to apply and join this swap. It will be the first swap I've ever participated so I'm over the moon from excitement! I'm still musing about what to make for the swap, but I must say that the ideas are pouring into my head and I'll do my best to make it nice and pretty for whoever my swap partner's gonna be.
Medena je organizovala Sweet Summer Swap i još uvek imate dovoljno vremena da se prijavite i pridružite na swap-u. Meni će to biti prvi swap na kojem učestvujem pa sam presretna i uzbuđena! Još uvek smišljam šta ću da pravim, ali moram reći i da ideja imam na pretek i da ću se potruditi da napravim nešto slatko i lepo za mog swap partnera, kogod to bio.
Vila Loredana, her sweetness, is organizing a Fairy Giveaway. I'm enchanted! I must participate! ;)
Vila Loredana, njeno "slatkičanstvo" (bolje zvuči na engleskom, zar ne?), organizuje Fairy Giveaway. Omađijana sam! Moram da učestvujem! ;)
Greetings to Andrea (she'll know why). ;)
Enjoy your blogging! I know I am!
Pozdrav za Andreu (ona zna zašto). ;)
Uživajte u blogovanju, kao što uživam i ja!

This year is wedding after wedding after wedding...! Oh, well, that just means that a lot of the people I love and care about are happy and are having the time of their lives, and that makes me happy too! That also makes me create some nice things for them...
There was a wedding last Saturday - a very special wedding to me because I was the one who brought these two great people together. One of the things I've done for this occasion was baking a wine (bermet) bun cake. The recipe is from Karlovački kuglof blog (as usual). It tastes great, a little bit like honey cake because of the cinnamon it contains.
Decoration was very important to me this time. I wanted it to be nice for the occasion. I don't know how to make flowers and decorations - I bought them. Honestly, it came out a lot better than I could have ever hoped!
And if someone is in the neighbourhood, there is a bun cake festival in Sremski Karlovci this weekend. It is a perfect opportunity to try some fantastic sweets and to see this perfect little town.

Oh, this is my favourite time of the year! It is so beautiful to be in my dear Novi Sad when the limewood is in bloom. The air is thick with its enchanting smell which fills your head with dreams and romantic thoughts of love. Somehow I feel like I'm in another world and everything seems beautiful, good and harmonious. It means that the summer is near and endless days at Danube shores. Some people say that the Danube is our sea. And although it is not as great as the real deal, I love it just the same!
I wrote in my last post that the photo shooting for the love box took place at a special location. Here are some pictures taken there. It was so good to get few days of vacation and relax and enjoy my favourite place at my favourite time of the year. I wish that this season would never pass!

I wonder how long do other people work on a single cardboard decoupage box? Certainly not as long as I have been working on this one. This is not a case of leaving your work, forgetting about it and then later finishing it. I mean, really working continuously on a single box?
Well, for this one it took me 3 weeks. Why? I always have gazillion things to do. I it just me? How do other people manage? Beats me!
This is my first cardboard box made from scratch I did in napkin decoupage. Before this I only did wooden objects. This is also my first "creation" where I've used crackle technique. To be honest, I did crackle once as a test, but it is hardly worth writing about. This is how one semi-decent part looked like.
For this box I have used: one not assembled craft cardboard box, acrylic paint (carmine red, matte white and metallic copper), universal glue (for assembling the box), crackling agent (Krakelierlak medium by Rayher), glue for napkin decoupage (Art Potch lacquer and glue in one), a napkin, white glue for wood (Drvofix in this case), thin brown ribbon, and 3D metallic gel pen (reddish).
Imperfections are there, believe me! I see them all over. But I choose to look at them as a learning experience. Things that I have learned form this box would be:

1. Be very careful when gluing and constructing the box - one side of the lid on my box is slightly off and goes "into" so it is very difficult to put the lid on the box AND, which bothers me the most, the lid tends to scratch the surface of the bottom part resulting in a scratch on the bottom and red colour stain on the inside of the lid. I have repaired this once by coloring and lacquering these parts again and by thinning the lid's side form the inside with a craft knife and repairing the damage thus caused. But that was obviously not enough and I have a scratch again that I need to repair. Oh, how to fix this for good?
2. Don't use too much glue for the ribbon (white glue in this case - Drvofix) because it doesn't look nice when you have a thick layer of semi transparent glue beneath a transparent ribbon.
3. Metallic acrylic colour is not the perfect top coat for crackle effect because it does not crack very well.
4. Practice crackle more before doing a serious project - it is not very easy (at least not for me) to paint a surface in nice even brush strokes and that is very important to get a good looking crackle, unlike the white on the lid of my box.
5. When laying napkin on a darker colour, be careful to colour the entire shape where napkin will come in white or else the napkin you lay on it might not be visible entirely and you won't get the look you intended - just like the hearts on the side of the box.
   

I hope that this all makes sense. I might be wrong, I'm semi-beginner here. :) I wonder what those more experienced have to say about this...

It seems to me lately that I write more about happenings in our creative blog-o-sphere than about stuff that I've been working on. This is yet another such post, but don't worry I wasn't lazy at all so there will be some new pics of my work here very soon.
I think it is very important to be a part of this great community and to share news, experiences and positive energy.
Here I'm sharing my joy at what my mailman brought to me from craftzeeFactory giveaway. It made my day. Lovely thingies! Thank you Marina for all of this, it will be used to a good purpose!
And this is how I'm spending some of my little vacation. I'm not traveling anywhere this time, just enjoying these lovely summer days and thinking creatively.
I have also received an award for my blog form Suzana. Thank you so much for this!
I give this award to all of you who read my blog. Please don't hesitate to take it and enjoy it!
And for the end of this post, I'm sharing info about two fantastic giveaways:
Good luck to everyone!
Enjoy the summer!

I've heard that when buying gemstones you need to get the one which attracts you. I've been looking to buy a clear quartz piece for a while now. I've seen so many of them, all very pretty, but I've never bought one. I was searching for the one that will attract my attention, but could not find it - until now.
The funny thing is, I didn't find it myself. As a matter of fact, it found me!
My friend Kristina recently returned from a trip to London and she brought a handful of gemstones for each of our friends. She spread them on the table and told us to pick whichever stone we liked. There were two pieces of rose quartz (very pretty ones), then some leopardskin jasper (which look truly amazing), a stone full of miniature shells (which, I've just learned, is agatized turritella fossil) and a piece of natural clear quartz. When I saw it, I knew it was the one for me. Perhaps I was a bit childish insisting to choose first... but I'm sure no one will hold a grudge.
I did a special photo shooting session just for it. Pretty little thingy, isn't it?

Bolg lifting by Medena is in progress, and I'm not as good at applying the new design as I have expected. So please don't judge harshly the current look! :) It'll be better soon!

I'm so happy, happy, happy!
This is the day when my blog got its first award AND its second award AND a mini makeover. Can it be any better? Million kisses to Medena (Kreativka) and Nena!I'm happy to present the award from Medena for creative blog:I'm happy to forward this award to some of my favourite blogs, blogs that I enjoy reading and that offer plenty of beauty, useful information, advice and that spread positive energy. These are just few of those that come first to my mind (and didn't get this reward from Medena together with me):
All you need to do is:1. write a post about this award including the picture of the award2. nominate and forward this reward to your favourite creative blogs (12 max.)Easy! Enjoy and make many more bloggers happy!The second award came from Nena - the Sunshine Award

Isn't it great when your work gets acknowledged and appreciated? Well, I want to say "thank you" to my dear friend and beautiful bride for this cutest, goofiest photo!
How adorable is this? :))) Kisses, my dear!