Etsy Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday one and all! I hope your week is going well so far, time to start making those weekend plans!

Today we dive head first in to ancient Rome! The Romans, as we all know, were a polytheistic society and as a result had dozens of gods and goddesses. Some of them are very well known, such as Jupiter and Juno, and some were probably known only to people on area of Italy. Today I bring to you one of the lesser known goddesses, Meditrina. There was a small festival, the Meditrinalia, celebrated in October in honour of the new wine that had been created that year. At some point someone realised that they needed a deity to go with this festival, so they added Meditrina.

And now someone on Etsy has drawn her and put her on a card!



I think this picture is great! I love way she’s been drawn with 1920’s-flapper hair and the colourful decoration around the figure. It was done by EmilyBalivet, who has lots of other gods and goddesses from various cultures in her shop. You can either buy greeting card sets, prints, or the original artwork! Definitely go have a look at her shop, her “Eros and Psyche” painting is also awesome.

Zazzle Monday!

Merry Monday morning to y’all!

My blog posts may not be so regular at the end of the week because I'm starting a new job on Thursday and I won't be around so much DX

So we return, once again, to the world of ancient Egypt. I’m fairly sure that everyone assumes the ancient world was rather plain and stone coloured because all the statues and other things that have survived had no colourful decoration on them. But in reality it’s simply a case that the paint has worn off over the centuries, and the plain items we see were once covered in vibrant reds, blues and yellows.

So this week I’ve picked a fantastic mousemat that shows off the colour of ancient Egypt!

EYE OF HORUS Collection by PrintedGifts
Create a mousemat on zazzle

This mousemat has a picture of the Eye of Horus on it in blues, reds and greens, and I love the “torn papyrus” edging used as well. This is from the lovely shop PrintedGifts, and 25% of the money they get from sales is donated to Wildlife Direct so you get a nice product and you help charity!

Etsy Wednesday!

Good morning, good morning, to you, and you!

Because I don’t know if there is a song about Wednesdays, I don’t have the time to Google to find one, and because I’ve watched Shrek 3 recently and Donkey sang it XD

Okay, I sound like a certifiable nutter so let’s move along shall we? I’m hopping on to Etsy today to bring to you a gorgeous item relating to ancient Egypt. The Egyptians have a LOT of Gods, most of them taking on the appearances of the animals that surrounded the Egyptians. Anubis for example was the jackal-headed god, they believed that he protected the tombs of the dead, possibly because jackals were rather ferocious animals and if you’re going to be buried for all eternity it’s nice to think that you’re going to have an awesome guard dog protecting your burial goods.

And then there were scarabs, the Egyptians believed that a scarab beetle pushed the sun across the sky. Because when you have no idea about gravitational pull and all that jazz you just have to think up something to make the sun move. And now you can get a scarab beetle necklace!



A brass scarab on a chain! It looks quite large but it’s only 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches so not that big at all really. I love the level of detail on it. This was created by JuliaDent, she has lots of other bug and animal necklaces in her shop as well as beaded earrings and other bits and bobs, but for obvious reasons it’s the scarab that I like best!

Zazzle Monday!

Gooooood morning campers! I hope everyone had a fun weekend that was packed with...fun! This morning we are going back to ancient Rome.

I must admit, I’m finding it a little hard to find “funny” Roman things, maybe I’m just not searching hard enough. Or maybe the Romans aren’t as popular as the Greeks and the Egyptians. There could be a niche market there, if only I had the time to properly exploit it XD But who needs humour when one can find rather nice photography?

Imperial Roman women - statue by gothicarts
Make a post card at Zazzle

This pretty little postcard is from gothicarts, it’s simply titled “Imperial Roman Women” (I think they meant “woman”) and they have lots of photos of the ancient world on other products in their shop. Along Rome they’ve included ancient Greece, and Pompeii, and some Egyptian things as well!

Friday Feeling!

It's a Friday, the weekend is almost here! I was planning on going and getting some bread today so I can eat breakfast this weekend (my Mum is on a health-kick and the only bread we have is yucky wholemeal stuff DX) BUT my car won't start so I can't go anywhere. Before anyone tells me to "walk", the nearest town is 10 miles away and there are no pavements along the road once you leave the village O.o But it should be fine next week as I'm getting the battery replaced on Monday, and it's getting an MOT so I'm crossing my fingers it will pass without anything expensive needed!

So let's ignore my car problems and get down to business! I recently read a news item on rogueclassicism about a report recently published in the UK which stated that latin should be taught in state Primary schools. I was actually incredibly lucky to attend one of a handful of British state secondary schools that had a Classics department with two Classics teachers, very few British state schools have a Classics department (it's generally a subject that has only been retained by private schools) let alone one with two teachers.

I really do hope that the call to bring latin (and Classics in general, even if you struggle to get to grips with latin you can enjoy studying ancient history and classical civilisations) back to British state schools, especially primary schools, catches on. And to that end I spent yesterday creating a bunch of products that you can use to show your support!

Bring Back Latin bumper sticker by CreativeClassics
See other Roman Bumper Stickers

Bring Back Latin Sticker by CreativeClassics
Make a personalized sticker on zazzle.co.uk

I've got more in my new Bring Back Latin section of my Zazzle shop (once it updates itself DX).

And if you are in the UK, near London or Oxford, and you are interested in learning latin or ancient Greek then you should check out the fine work done by the Iris Project, especially their Classics in the Park events!

Etsy Wednesday!

Hello all! It’s a lovely...cloudy June Wednesday here in my little corner of England, but I hope there’s a bit of sun shining on you guys :)

Today I am bringing to you another Greek-ispired Etsy item. This one literally had me squeaking with joy when I saw it. I love the concept, and the pun, and the drawing, overall I just REALLY love this whole thing so I hope you do too...



IT’S HELLAS KITTY!!! How freaking awesome is that!? It’s a little pocket mirror there but you can also get a fridge magnet or a card with the same design on. I just had to feature it on this blog when I saw it because I love it! Hellas Kitty, a pun and a cute drawing at the same time! It’s in the shop of AtomKid, which is a little thin on the ground at the moment but hopefully they’ll be fully up and running soon, and there will be more Hellas Kitty as well ;)

Zazzle Monday!

Here we are again, back on Monday, and you should by now all realise that that means a Zazzle feature for the day!

And we are back to my personal favourites, the ancient Greeks! We’ve already done Athens and Sparta and while I did searches for Argos and Corinth I couldn’t really find anything that jumped out at me (most of the Corinth stuff was about the USA, I guess there’s a city over there called Corinth as well) so I decided to go with a bit of mythology instead.

I love ancient Greek myths, the gods were always arguing with each other, and tended to have major double-standards when it came to the behaviour of mortals. And they had some very interested monsters, such as Medusa....

Medusa Greeting Card by ThaliaTook
More Thalia took Cards

I love the way this Medusa picture has been done so that it fits the rectangle, too much white space can distract from the picture, plus it makes it look like there are a LOT of snakes on her head (which where probably were). This card was in the shop of ThaliaTook and she has got a whole load of designs based on myths from around the world!

Friday Feeling!

It's Friday, and it's the start of the world cup! Tomorrow night is going to feature me and the TV, with the England vs USA match. COME ON ENGLAND!!

No new sales to report this week but we can't have everything. Instead I've been adding more products to my Zazzle store! I decided to court minor controversy by creating some thing about the Elgin Marbles, so people can now declare what side they're on in this heated debate.

Keep the Elgin Marbles badge by CreativeClassics
Shop for other buttons on zazzle

Return the Elgin Marbles badge by CreativeClassics
See other Greece Buttons

I've also got stickers and bumper stickers with the same words on, and I'll be adding t-shirts and mugs soon as well :D Oh, and I'll be doing similar with the Rosetta Stone for Egyptologists.

Right, I need more tea!

Etsy Wednesday!

What is today? It’s Wednesday of course! And that means that today we are diving in to the world of Etsy. Home of the handmade, and with plenty of ancient history inspired items to make one smile.

History can inspire anyone to create anything. We’ve already seen Greek letter blocks, a shower curtain, and a cross-stitch design among other things. It really is amazing how many people can use the ancient world to come up with a new idea or product or design, even after two thousand years!

And today I am bringing you a pair of Roman-inspired shoes! Yes, I said shoes, believe or not the Romans didn’t spend all their time running around in flip-flops despite the hot weather. Sometimes boots were needed, depending on your job, such as...being a gladiator.



These are red suede “gladiator boots” by TantrikaTribe, a shop filled with handmade shoes! They come in other colours and in leather as well as suede so you won’t be short of choices. I don’t know how comfortable they are, or how realistic they are, but they look pretty damn cool!

Zazzle Monday!

It’s just another manic Monday. I wish I could do the rest of this blog entry with song lyric references but I can’t, not without sounding a bit weird. Maybe I’ll try in the future XD

So on this lovely Monday, the first Monday in June, I am bringing to you something relating to ancient Egypt. As is probably evident from my previous blog posts, I love it when people use the ancient world to make a joke, or make at joke at the expense of the ancient world. Basically I just like laughing.

This week we have got a cartoon on a t-shirt!

Funny Egyptian Mummy T-shirt by mayc00p
View more Egypt T-Shirts

Yes, I laughed, and I know you did as well! While the Egyptians were excellent builders and they came up with some really good mathematical stuff, you have to wonder if they made the occasional mistake while building some of their awesome monuments. I found this t-shirt in the shop of mayc00p, she’s got some great cartoons in her shop, and the same one in that shirt can also be found on a mug (in case you don’t want it on a t-shirt but still find it funny!).

Friday Feeling!

Hello everyone!

It's Friday! I had some very good news at the start of the week, I had two sales on Zazzle!

Clearly someone likes the hero Prince Hector of Troy because they bought a badge about him!

Team Hector Badge by CreativeClassics
See other Greece Buttons

And then two days later I sold this postcard! I don't know if they agreed with the quote or if they just like Juvenal but either way, I hope they like it!

Reasons For Living by CreativeClassics
Post cards made online at zazzle.co.uk

And I finished changing my Zazzle shop! It's now got sections and subsections and everything else! Very hard work but it looks a lot better and it's easier to navigate now.

I hope you all have good weekends!

Etsy Wednesday!

We-We-Wednesday! The middle of the week! Only two days to go until the weekend! Keep on plugging away at the work because soon you can have two days off!

This morning I bring to you the hot, sandy world of ancient Egypt. One of the really cool things about ancient Egypt is hieroglyphs, a pictoral form of communication. Took a long time for people to work out what those little drawings meant but, thanks to the Rosetta Stone, we got here eventually. And now instead of painting them on walls we can...sew them!



This image is actually for a PDF file. StitchesByKryss is a shop filled with gorgeous cross-stitch patterns that are emailed straight to you, and they include this beautiful Tutankhamun cartouche pattern, you print off the instructions and set about with your owl little sewing project. She includes an explanation of each hieroglyph, and I love the choice of colours she has used. Her other Egyptian inspired patterns include a winged goddess, a lotus design, and the Eye of Horus, and are definitely worth checking out.