Sandra from Pepperberry & Co. is launching her shop on Etsy today. Her snap wallets are gorgeous and the close up photos allow you to see all the hard work that went into them. I'm hoping she will also list some of her notebook covers as well.

Please stop by and check her shop out.

The weather may have reverted to type in Amsterdam after all those weeks of gorgeous sunshine but I have a huge bunch of sunny yellow tulips on my desk, I am about to leave and go and see No. 75 for the first time since we signed the paperwork (eep!) and I won my first blog prize.

The lovely Sandra from Pepperberry & Co picked my name for a Pay it Forward giveaway. I would love to play along but I don't actually know if I have three readers of this little blog of mine to send gifts to. So, if there are three readers out there who would like a little handmade something so I can fulfil my part of paying it forward then please leave me a comment.

I am going to be time crunched with our holiday in the US coming up so I am going to leave this open until I return in the middle of May and send out gifts in early June. I would hate to rush handmade gifts out that weren't up to my usually high standards. If I don't have enough readers to pay it forward then I will commit to completeing by mid June, the great wardrobe clear out I have been putting off for months and donate clothing to the Salvation Army here in Amsterdam.

I'm really enjoying the Bright Side Project. Aside from the fact that you can win very cool stuff, I think the concept is quite simply brilliant. I love indie artists, and the BSP showcases them beautifully. In addition the questions for each item are incredibly thought provoking and force me to really think before answering.

After years of being told to "be nice" by my Mother and years of being laughed at for being nice (kids are mean), I really like the idea that someone is promoting nice-ness. Melissa started Operation Nice to promote and recognise nice behaviour. Who can argue with spreading a little nice? Its free and it makes everyone's day better.