Looking for Christmas gifts?

The festive end of the year is coming closer.

Now is also the time to start looking for that unique special gift

 or indulge yourself ...

Just click below

 

 

 

Kristien

Sweet Christmas wishes.

May I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2014!...

 

 

....with this sweet John Lewis 2013 Christmas Advert

 

 

 

 

Enjoy...

Warm regards

Kristien

The Perfect Small budget friendly Christmas gift.

I am already thinking about Christmas; only two months away!
What I love most about it is the preparation and search for the perfect gifts.
But having to buy many presents with a tight budget can be quite a challenge.
That is why I wanted to show you some of my "Under 20 Euro" gifts in my Zest 4 colour shop.

1. First of all: something new! A Bag or Purse Hook.
I can no longer live without it.
It is the perfect, practical, yet elegant accessory for any woman.
Just unroll the hanger, hook it on the side of a table and hang your bag to keep it away from the ground.

For each hook I have carefully chosen and cut a small piece of Liberty Tana Lawn fabric, wellknown for its delicate and exquisite patterns.
The fabric is securely locked by a glass dome, which magnifies the pattern.
Some pictures:

 

 

 

There are many more to come in the shop.

 

2. My pencil cases; roomy with a practical unique zipper pull and easy to clean.

Some examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Small coin purses.

Here is the first of my smaller framed coin purses.

For the lining I used a cotton fabric instead of laminated cotton, which makes it less expensive.

 



 

 

 

Want to see more? Just go over to my zest4colour shop.

And of course I can Always make something specially for you.

Simply let me know what you would like at zest4colour@gmail.com

 

Have a lovely weekend.
Kristien



 

 

 

Back to school with a Zest4colour pencil case.

The schoolholidays are nearing their end.
Some children are dreading to go back to school; (one of my boys is).
Perhaps you could soften the moment with a new pencil case.
I have some beauties on offer, hard to find elsewhere.
You may have noticed that my pencil cases are more expensive than some others on Etsy.
Why ?

 

My pencil cases are double layered and interfaced.

I chose to use laminated cotton as lining fabric. This is stronger, durable and easier to clean than regular cotton, but unfortunately also more expensive.

As a finishing touch, every pencil case gets its own zipper pull.

 

 

Here are some new ones:

 



 

 

 

Here is the link to my Zest4colour pencil case shop section.

Let your children have a look at them.
I am interested to know if they like them.

Warm regards

Kristien

 

A new shop section! Sunglass / Eyeglass cases.

I just launched a new section in my Zest4colour shop!
Colourfull, delicious, funky, stylish cases for your sunglasses or eyeglasses or any other small object that gets lost in your purse.
And... just in time for Valentines day.
This could be the perfect gift (always hard to find) for men too!
To celebrate this launch you get a 10% discount with coupon code LAUNCH10 till February 14th.
Here are some examples of what is coming:

I hope you like them.
Warm regards
Kristien

A sunglass case Christmas gift.

As a Chrsitmas gift I made my husband this case to carry his sunglasses:

Without knowing it was for him, I asked him which fabric men would like for a sunglass case. He chose this lovely green fabric from the 'Magnolia Lane collection' by Laura Gunn.
This fabric comes in many different colourways.
For the lining I chose a cheeky fabric with mouses crawling all over, referring to his love for computers.
I hope he will be happy with it.
Have a look:

 

 



I reinforced this little case with Vilene S 520, to give it body and make it sturdy.

It closes with a magnetic snap.

As a finishing touch I added the top part of a pearl snap to the front.

Similar cases will soon be available in my zest4colour etsy shop.

Here is a sneeky preview:

  

What do you think?

Warm regards

Kristien

 

 

 

 

Warm gift ideas...

Here I have some more interesting gift ideas.
This is a lovely warm yellow - orange treasury on etsy.
Have a look:

To go there , here is the link.
Enjoy
Kristien

A craft fair experience.

In my last post I told you about the Handmade in Belgium event.
This fair is held twice a year.
It was the first time I attended this craft fair. Here you can see my booth all set and ready.

 

 

 

 

My sales weren't brilliant; I was a bit disappointed.

I had a lot of positive comments: fantastic, beautiful, great work ... but it shouldn't cost money.
Now my motto is: "Quality comes at a price".

I use high quality materials, take a lot of time to create a product and set high standards.

So I am not going to ask a low price to have a sale.

But what shocked me most is how rude and unfriendly some visitors were. They took and inspected my items without even looking at me or saying hello. Within minutes, my booth was a mess.
Of course there were also very friendly people who were genuinely interested.
What is your experience with craft fairs?
Kristien

One & Only pop up store!

What is a pop up store?
Pop up stores have a tendency to pop up unannounced, stay for a short time, and then disappear or morph into something else, adding to retail a fresh feel, exclusivity and surprise.
Some examples:
Hermes opened up a temporary silk bar in Causeway Bay.

Kate Spade opened up an inviting igloo for three weeks in New York City's Bryant Park. It handed out free hot chocolate to keep shoppers warm.

Godiva opened a pop-up boutique for Valentine's Day this year on 5th Avenue in New York City.

I have the honour to take part in an upcoming pop up store

(23-26 th of August) , I am thrilled!

I have to tell you, it is not in New York, but in the beautiful old Belgian city Antwerp.

Here is the link to the Facebook Page.

Location: Zand 5 - 2000 Antwerp

This is the website of the lovely lady who organises everything: www.ellenaernouts.be

I know, most of you don't live in Belgium to come to the store, but all my items are of course still available online at Zest4colour

Warm regards

Kristien

Mothers Day Gift Guide - 5

Looking for a stylish, black and white gift? Here are some ideas.

Here is the link to the treasury.
Enjoy

Kristien

Mothers Day Gift Guide - 4

Have a look at this delicious treasury!
Who doesn't love afternoon tea?

Here is the link to the treasury.

Enjoy.
Kristien

Mothers Day Gift Guide - 3

A spring bird collection - sooo sweet.

Here is the link to the treasury.

Enjoy.

Kristien

Mothers Day gift guide - 2

Some more gift ideas to spoil your mother: pastel choices.



Here is the link to the treasury.
Enjoy your weekend.
Kristien

Mothers Day gift guide - 1

Some gorgeous pastel gift ideas!

Here is the link.
Enjoy
Kristien

Pencil cases with a twist

I added a new line to my zest4colour shop: pencil cases in bright colours and lively patterns.These pencil cases have proved to be a hit at my childrens school!
You could also use these cases as a cosmetic pouch or to carry your sewing essentials .

For the lining I used laminated cotton or oilcloth, which is stronger and easier to clean than cotton fabric.
As a finishing touch I added a gorgeous zipper pull.

Here are some examples:

Want to see more?

Just go to www.zest4colour.etsy.com.

The ongoing sale also applies to these new cases.

Enjoy.

Kristien

A finished baby quilt.

Here it is, the finished baby quilt I told you about in this post.
It took me far longer than I had expected to finish it.
And of course - just in case my family was reading this blog - I couldn't show you the final result before I presented the quilt to my niece.
About the finishing touches:
I found inspiration in this book:

I used the pattern of this little bird, I just reduced the size:

Here is my bird:

I machine embroidered all around the body and wing and hand -embroidered the eye, beak and legs.

As another detail, I took a bird image from "Wing study in pastille" from the Botanika collection from Paula Prass.

Here you can see this fabric collection.

I hand-embroidered around it and got this result:

The biggest work was the quilting.

I decided to use freehand quilting for the off-white cotton around the blocks. My Bernina machine was very happy to do all the stitching for me using the BSR foot. I just had to guide her? all the way. 
This quilting made the coloured blocks come forward.
Have a look:

This freehand quilting also gave a gorgeous pattern on the back.
Look:

I added a Zest4colour label

and finished  the quilt by hand-quilting the binding to the back of the quilt, this way:



I used a lovely DMC pearl cotton tapestry thread to do this.
Here are some final pictures:

I can humbly say that this quilt was a big success at our family gathering for Christmas.

I was a bit sad to have to let it go.

Have a lovely end-of-year weekend.
Kristien