The Summer Months…

… seem to be so busy for everyone in blogland! I myself have been swamped with work and have not really been able to make any blog posts for almost a month and a half, as is evident by the date of the last post.

My head has been swarmed with ideas of all kinds, from crafting projects to design concepts that I have put down in a sketch-book. I am hoping that in another two weeks I can start putting those concepts and ideas to work.

To recap what’s been happening to me in the last month and a half, I can say that I had a tooth pulled out, went on a nice little vacation to the seaside, determined my Etsy policies and completed a few items. One of which sold before it was up on Etsy, even!

Among some of the projects are the two birdhouses I’ve been working on. Each one is embellished with shells from the Black Sea and nautical hand-crafted clay ornaments. Both will be sold separately.

And the pair of wooden picture frames, painted white and embellished using the serviette technique. They sold for 50 Euro.

And, of course, some vacation photos:

Hope you’ve all enjoyed your summer months! I know I did.

A Trip to the Mountains

We had a great time this Saturday!

Last week I got to remembering the many endless summers I spent with my grandma and grandpa at their gorgeous little house high up in the mountains. But when Gran passed away in 1997, the house was left to my aunt, who doesn’t have time to take care of it, and so in 12 years no soul has gone there. Consequently, the yard is now so overgrown with grass and shrubbery that you can’t even see the house from the street.

I thought that maybe it would be a great little adventure if I and Mr. G&C took the train and hiked all the way up there to go visit – not that I would be able to enter, but I just wanted to ‘scratch’ my emotional itch.

So, we took off and got on the train at 7 a.m. for an hour-long ride. Needless to say, I had forgotten how gorgeous the place is:

View of the mountains as you get off the train

The river

It isn’t very clear from the picture above, but there’s a large monument at the top of the cliffs, dedicated to all who died in the September Uprising. Here’s a close-up as viewed from the bottom:

We decided to walk along the road up the mountain to the village, about 6 miles from the train station. Thankfully, it was still early in the morning and the sun wasn’t too hot, but by the time we hiked up there it had gotten very very ‘warm’. Took us about 2 hours, and a lot of panting, but the scenery was gorgeous:

And the very sweaty own selves!

Once we finally made it to the village, I was overwhelmed by an emotional wave. Familiar sights and places brought memories of my dear Gran and all the months we spent there, tending the vegetable garden all summer long. Then we walked to the house, and this is all you can see:

It’s so overgrown that even peeking through the gate I couldn’t see anything but greens. The house that I so miss was barred from my sight.

A very old house in the center of the village

We had lunch and headed back down. This time however, we took the hiking trail.

After about an hour and a half hike down, we came out on the top of the cliffs. Remember where the monument was? That’s the view as you’re looking down this time:

The town and the train station, looked from the top of the cliffs.

After another 2 hour hike down. we made it to the bottom again. We sat and had a late lunch at the restaurant near the waterfall and then headed to the train station. We were so tired by that time that I actually took a 45-minute nap while waiting for the train.

When we got home at 6 p.m. we spent a couple of hours relaxing and went to bed at 8. Yes, that’s right, at 8! I know I slept like a rock, but it felt so good. I am very happy we went, and we might do it again next Saturday.

Fabulous Friday!

Lovely Seleta has been hosting a cute event every Friday in order to make people end their work week with something nice on their minds. This is the first time I participate, and I feel excited!

My fabulous thing? Easter.

Strangely enough, our Easter (Orthodox church) is this weekend, a week after pretty much the rest of the world’s Easter. The church follows a different calendar and so some holidays are a bit off.

But I am really looking forward to finishing work today, then coming home and relaxing, because tomorrow we get to paint eggs!

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The custom is to wake up before dawn and paint the eggs. The first egg has to be red and before it’s dry you dab some color on your forehead and cheeks (don’t ask why, because I don’t know!). Then we leave it out and name it for the house. The rest of the eggs you can do whatever you want to!

However, we don’t do much before midnight, when we go to the church. And when midnight comes, we celebrate Easter.

We have “egg fights” instead of egg hunts! We hold the eggs, pointed sides up, and smash the eggs together. Whoever’s egg stays whole is the winner.

But, the best part about Bulgarian Easter is the kozunak.

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Kozunak is a sweet bread with dried fruits and nuts, sometimes stuffed with jam. We only make it for Easter, but people crave it all-year-round.

This is my Fabulous Friday snippet!

I will make sure to take come pictures over the weekend and post them here.

Have a great day!

Martenitsi!

Their time of the year is quickly drawing near!

In Bulgaria, 1st of March is a holiday. We give each other little bracelets or brooches weaved from red and white thread, called Martenitsi. This is the most unique Bulgarian tradition and represents health, fertility and spring. The story and the legend are quite interesting, though really different. A more contemporary information is found on Wikipedia.


Naturally, this presents a great opportunity for those who like to create things! I decided to give out hand-made Martenitsi to my family and friends this year, so I spent a few hours working on my first set, like the ones above. The good news is that I am going to look for a camera tomorrow, so I may be able to post a step-by-step tutorial on making these little guys.

I'm also adding a "My Projects" tab to keep track of them. Oh my, looking at the list I have compiled, I'll be slaving away tomorrow and the day after!

(Image taken from here.)