Wednesday 20 October 2010

WOYWW: Belgian Stash & a dose of La Grippe

It's been a little while, but it's good to be back to show my latest acquisitions as part of What's on Your Work desk Wednesday.  WOYWW is hosted by the lovely Ms Julia Dunnit over at Stamping Ground, and enables all us crafty voyeurs to snoop at other people's desks and projects.

First up, a look at my lovely Belgian stash...and yes, it is a bit different from British stash.  You can see some beautiful silk paper (which I had to unroll in the hotel lobby and fold, donating a lot of cardboard tubing to the hotel's recycling bin...), embossing and stencilling plates, card, pretty turquoise patterned tape, and some boxes of assorted bits that I just love.  In the bits boxes are reindeer, little snowballs, pretty polka dot butterflies, frogged closures, silk bags and all kinds of goodies.  All priced at three for two as well, so it would have been rude not to.  Can't wait to start playing with that lot.


I found some very Flemish papers, including this fabulous set of houses with gables aplenty.  



I also did my best for the Belgian economy by eating copious amounts of chocolate.  We had the misfortune to stumble across a place called the Chocoladehuis, where the OH and I sat by the kitchen watching the plates of chocolate goodness being put together.  There was a lot of heavy breathing at our table before we finally managed to order: sachertorte for the OH and a Chocoladehuis Koffee for me.  Don't be fooled into thinking it was just coffee; the house special has two pralines with it, and somehow I managed to acquire a further three chocolates (white, milk and a biscuit) on the same tray.  Swoon...

Very unusually for Belgium, it was sunny everyday, and we were wandering around in t shirts.  This is the beach at Knokke where we sat and watched people on pedalled conveyances of every conceivable variety (bikes for any number from two to ten, skateboards, unicorns, fish, go-karts) zooming past.


Since we arrived home, I've been suffering from a nasty bout of flu; I've been barking better than a Labrador, and my tissue consumption has been prodigious.  So looking forward to getting back to work now.

21 comments:

  1. goodies are always fun don't you think?

    Sheena #127

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  2. Cool looking stash! Hope your feeling better soon.
    Maria x

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  3. All those lovely Belgium goodies!

    Sorry you're not feeling too well - how about some more chocolates, bound to make you feel better!

    Sherry (103)

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  4. Oh wow! I love those stencils. They are gorgeous. And of course that tape caught my eye, too. The flu does NOT sound good. I hope you are better quite soon, since it is nothing to sneeze at (pun was NOT initially intended). Happy WOYWW from #12.

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  5. So you came to visit my country??? When I go to another country (mostly the UK), I always try to visit at least one crafting store, but I haven't noticed the difference between the types of stash that's sold. Hope you've enjoyed your stay! And hope you're feeling better soon! Thanks for visiting n° 82

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  6. Lovely stash - never thought it might be different in other countries. Hope you're feeling better now. Thanks for visiting my desk
    x Tricia (80)

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  7. Lovely stuff! Where did you find them? I visited Antwerpen last month - and made a daytrip to Bryssel - but I didn´t found any shop selling rubberstamps or othet stuff like that. What I found was a couple of shops selling artist´s suplies. I then bought a fistful of buttons :)
    Thanks for visiting my blog!
    Tuire from #85

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  8. What a loot!!! Sorry your not feeling well.. I hope it goes away fast and you can get back to creating!

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  9. Great that you're here. Funny to read about the stash - I am married to a Bruges boy! Want to check out the craft shops there too soon as will be at the in-laws...ooooh choccy - drooling already. Looked like a fab time!
    sasa 19

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  10. Belgium sounds heavenly and I'm sure they are so grateful that you've helped their economy, I think you've persuaded me to dash over there too. Great stuff and made me smile imagining you 'down-sizing' it all in the hotel lobby :-) Christine #14

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  11. Thanks for visiting - it's good to see you.

    Elizabeth - I don't know how you manage to get around to everybody so fast, but it's really appreciated (as are your rocking horses and the delightful Bleubeard).

    Turie and Aisling - the lovely silk papers (only 2 Euros a roll) are from Ava, where I also bought some boxes to decorate. There is a branch in Gent, so I guess there would be one in Antwerp/Brussels as well. It would be very easy to come home with loads of stash from that shop; I love it. The cheap 3 for 2 boxes, stencils, embossing and the Flemish gables paper come from Boeken Voordeel (I think it's the Belgian equivalent of The Works for us Brits). The pretty tape (plus pens, post its and a necessarily large stash of tissues named Nose) came from Hema. de Banier (recommended on www.Craftster.org) is meant to have rubber stamps, but I failed to make it there as I was laden with too many chocolates. I seem to remember that they have a blue Cow Parade cow outside the Gent branch. Veritas has lots of sewing craft stuff, but that's way outside my crafting comfort zone.

    Sherry - since I have been able to taste, I have been working on a chocolate cure ;-)

    Sasa - you are a very lucky woman. Belgium is so very under-rated, and we absolutely love it.

    Christine - It was a cheeky bit of downsizing, but I had nightmare visions of battling eight tubes of paper onto the Eurostar. Might have helped with the scrum getting onto the train...

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  12. Have fun creating Belgian style:) Love the house paper too! Happy WOYWW!

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  13. Now I am stuck over here in America craving Belgium chocolates. Ha Ha

    Love all of your goodies. My friend Susan thanks you for your good wishes for Expresso. He came home from the hospital today. When I told her what you said, she smiled from ear to ear!

    Linda C #86

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  14. Ooh what a fab stash. That box of assorted bits looks so much fun. Can't wait to see what you make with them.

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  15. I enjoy seeing stuff from different countries, and I'd love to have paper like that with the Flemish houses! Beautiful!

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  16. Love your stash....AND the houses are adorable. Thank you for sharing... Janetlynne (84)

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  17. Well aren't you having fun! It's always enjoyable to find all sorts of paper and other kinds of treasures! More so in another country! Patsy from
    HeARTworks

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  18. those little houses are super cute, no 78

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  19. love belgium chocolates, but now i think i am liking the stash even more. didnt think that was possible. caroline #36

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  20. Well you certainly have some lovely Flemish goodies to have a play with. I'm a newbie to the WOYWW so please be gentle with me!! Best wishes, Kym (No 42)

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  21. Oh it sounds like you had a lovely time and got some fab goodies! Hope you enjoy all your fab finds!
    have a great day
    hugs
    Michelle (35)
    x

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