Yay, yay, yay! Happy Bags are now offered with free worldwide shipping!

What a happy day! All Happy Bags are now shipped free of charge! It doesn't matter if you life next door from me or on the other side of world - shipping is free!

Follow this link to find the SmileMolecules Happy Bags: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SmileMolecules?section_id=7154099

I even listed a new Happy Bag.

Say hello to "Happy Bag Stripes 'n' Dots"! So mature outside, but party inside!

How We Met Our "Inner Pig Dog"

Hello, hello and welcome to this belated blog post! This was is overdue for about six days. Shame on me! I wanted to write about our fun time at flea markets and craft markets last weekend. Last monday I started a first try to write this entry but somehow the "writing bug" didn't bite me at all so I postponed writing to the next day and then again to the day after and so on.

So no beating the cat around the bush (love this saying) and lets get down to business!

Yes, yes what a lovely day. Expected temperatures: well over 98°F (36°C). Late morning Birgit, our friend Jules and me got prepared to hit the most exciting flea market / craft market / district festival the city of Leipzig has to offer: Westpaket!

About Westpaket I could write a whole entry but I'll try to make it short and sweet. Originally, a "Westpaket" (west parcel) used to be a parcel sent from people of Western Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) to their friends and relatives in Eastern Germany (German Democratic Republic). These parcels usually contained clothes, chocolate, coffee and toys. Moreover, the parcels were a way to communicate as phone calls between both parts of Germany were restricted and only few people in Eastern German had access to phones (and almost all phone calls were intercepted anyways). Overall a "Westpaket" can be seen as a way of exchange and communication, but also friendship, cooperativeness and solidarity.

The "Westpaket" market is just that. People meet, exchange what they collected or made and just have a good time together. I only took a very few photos as I as so busy looking at things.

At one of the stalls they sold big sticks of chalk and also had some sticks of chalk to try out immediately. No need to ask Birgit twice. She drew our SmileMolecules logo an Etsy shop address on the pavement: 

As nice as it looks.... can't be compared to this guy though (true soccer fan, drawing shows the excitement before the soccer match Germany/Argentina):

My favorite photo motif though is the "inner pig dog". I believe this saying is only known in the German language. So what is an "inner pig dog"?! To explain I'll try to translate some points of the German Wikipedia about the "Innerer Schweinehund". The term "inner pig dog" is an allegory of lack of will power (and/or motivation), which inhibits a person to pursue an unpleased job/activity/task. Usually the saying is "you gotta overcome your inner pig dog". Does that make sense to you? 

So how did we meet the inner pig dog and what does it look like? At the Westpaket it looked like this:

First I thought it's a scary and creepy chicken. When I took the photo the guy who sat next it asked what I'd think it is. I instantly and without thinking answered "It's an inner pig dog!" and I was right! For guessing correctly we got jelly babies. Only when I looked at the photos at home I realized the body does not have wings and the legs don't have chicken claws. The longer I thought about it the more it made sense. The inner pig dog sat on the step of Theater Bus. Now, what does this mean? I believe you got to overcome your inner pig dog to engage yourself with theater. At least this is my interpretation. What do you think?

Recap And Weekend Outlook

What a day! Today our printable To-Do list got featured in the printable roundup on OnePrettyThing! How exciting! I'm so happy I can share my list with so many people!

In the early afternoon I listed a crochet circle brooch on Etsy which I just finished this morning.

I like the brooch a lot as the circles are tightly sewn together and stay in shape nicely. The choice of colors was rather random. Usually I just grab into my yarn box and let destiny decide. Sometimes I grab one color randomly and match the other colors. Lately I also started to collect pictures which nice colors. I put them in a folder on my computer screen use them for inspiration.

Some minutes ago I listed my first bag. The type of bag I named "Happy Bag".  I know, it's a pretty stupid name but it makes me so happy to make them! The listed bag is ready-to-ship and it needs all my strength not to use it myself. I felt I had to point out in the product description that I could not sell anything I wouldn't use myself. It is true! I still use the first prototype of the "Happy Bag". I'm still amazed how much can be put into the bag... and how nice it looks on my arm!

Now it is almost bedtime but one last thing I gotta say: I'm so excited for the weekend! Two lovely markets will take place in Leipzig and I just can't wait to visit them. The bigger and little bit more exciting one will take place on saturday and is called "Westpaket". I hope to write more about it next week. I'm planning to take my camera (and my prototype bag) with me. On sunday I'll be quite busy. In the late morning I'll visit the "Daschendiescher" market with is a small but very well selected craft market. In the afternoon I'll have to split myself in half as I got two BBQ invitations. I hope I'll make it to both! 

Challenging Shots – Dog and Toddler Taking Over The Set

Long time no post! What happened? Well, weather is nice and work spirits are high (not so high for Birgit as she preparing for exams). I've been a busy bee though. During the last week I made some of my favorite bags (oh, how much I love to make them!). I can make one bag a day. If my dog would require my attention I could make two. No way to blame him though. He is just too cute and lovely. I mean, could you mad at a doggie which is interested in dog magazines:

But back to bags! After I made some last week Birgit and me went to our parents' place for the weekend. My parents have a lovely garden and I hoped for nice weather so I could take photos oft the bags in their garden. Friday and saturday sucked. The weather wasn't really bad but no proper sunshine.  I prefer sunshine because the light and atmosphere are a lot more relaxing. Sunday compensated though. For lunch our aunt and cousin with his girlfriend and baby son were invited for lunch. We had a lovely BBQ and went from lunch to coffee and spent all afternoon in the garden. 

After lunch I wanted to take the photos. Some years ago our dad built a little bridge over the "trench" in our garden. Why we have a trench in our garden? Don't ask! Endless story! Anyways, we have a cute little bridge surrounded by trees. The trees filter the light and create a lovely atmosphere. I wanted Birgit to sit on the bridge and just put the bag next to her. So far, so good. Somehow my dog Edmund like the scene and decided to join Birgit.

Well, first I didn't mind since it looked funny and my bags are meant to be fun so a cute couldn't hurt. I took some shots to adjust the settings ..... 

.....then Edmund really seemed to relax ......... and joyfully licked (a chewed!) his "private parts"

Our giggling on the bridge caught the interest of my cousin's one-year old son. He just learned to walk came over to the bridge and kept Birgit busy....

... and apparently liked my bag so much that he tried to steal it:

I gave in to the fun and we played together. The photo session was postponed to later that afternoon. I'm quite happy with the result and hope to start listing the bags some time during this week. 

We ♥ To-Do Lists - Download The SmileMolecules To-Do-List

Yes, we love To-Do lists!

I write one every day and I can't understand why not everybody has one. To me, To-Do lists are fun – not because I see the many tasks I need to accomplish, but to feel good about the things I've already done. On my To-Do lists, I even put tiny tasks or things I do on a regular basis (like walking the dog). No matter how tiny the task is, it still needs to be done so it is just fair to have them on the list.
Some people argue that they cannot have a To-Do list as they forget where they put it and then forget about the list and its tasks at all. When I'm at home, my list is on my desk, usually near the keyboard.

Some time ago, I discovered I have even more fun to work with a To-Do list when I have a nice looking list. So I sat down and made one. Now I think it is time to share!


This is what it looks like (click the link below to download):

Click here to automatically download the SmileMolecules To-Do list (an empty window will pop up, just check your downloads folder)