My day Monday

A rainy day

Clockwise from top left: RustedLeaves, meltemsem, chichiboulie, atelierpompadour

Salmon and olive tapenade

Than is how jewellery maker TopazTurtle called her yummy treasury that includes my Pupa shouler bag among many lovely items. Some of the featured shops are already my favourites and others I have yet to discover.

Thank you!

Flashback Friday - a day at the Louvre

After I met my husband in spring of 2004, I spent quite some time in France the following summer. Arno lived close to Besançon at than time and once we decided to take a drive to Paris and spend a long weekend visiting museums (something one rarely does when one lives too close to tourist attractions...).

We slept in a not too expensive Ibis hotel at the edge of the city from where we could still catch a fast metro connection to the centre. The first day we decided to go to Louvre - a priceless, but very exhausting experience. Eight hours of wondering around the endless galleries, stretching over four levels, an ant hill of people - and we still managed to visit only half of the exhibitions...

The next day we decided to take it easy and went only to Georges Pompidou Centre - it started raining heavily soon after we entered and I could make some interesting pictures of empty outside staircases with Paris stretching below. The upstairs restaurant on the terrace, busy with lunch crowd, was quickly deserted after it was clear the rain wouldn't stop.

An all-day visit to a museum is a distant memory now, not only that we couldn't afford it with two small children with an attention span of 12 minutes but I'm not sure we still have the strenght for an eight-hour marathon...

If you have a flashback of your own, link it over to Christopher and Tia's blog.

My day Monday

My day Monday is back - I hope you enjoy it!

Summer accessories in black & white

clockwise from top left: ThongbaiTatong, lightkeeping, krize, SoleDeVita

Thank you

My Etsy shop was closed for quite some time due to our move so it was a great surprise to find Loddelina in two delicious treasuries, one of them even less than a day after reopening.

I love the new 4x4 format of Treasury East, allowing members to curate as many shop windows as they like and their viewing time is unlimited.

The first treasury is a collection of minty fresh items, made by Agnieszka from bialakura, a place to go to for unique childrens' clothing and accessories.

And the second treasury, featuring deeper greens and browns, was put together by distinque, a shop of beautiful nature inspired jewellery.

Thank you for clicking and giving some love to the treasuries!

Craft Fair

A few weeks ago I visited a nearby craft fair ment to promote local handmade creativity. We came late in the afternoon when most of the sellers were ready to pack it in after a cold and rainy day - but the place was still crowded with visitors who admired not just the handmade goodies but also the way they were presented on hand decorated stands.

The umbrellas at the entrance corresponded with the weather but the atmosphere was very agreable. Sellers from all around came to present their work, from pottery and jewellery to handbags, paintings and furniture.

I was immediately drawn to a stand of three girls who call themselves 3 p'tits toits. I admired the charming house motifs, printed on different paper and fabric designs, little zippered pouches and a colourful row of frilly handbag decorations. I chose one for my chocolate peskycatdesigns messenger bag and the blue hues go perfectly with jeans that I wear most of the time (the beads and trims also keep my daughter busy while we wait in line at the supermarket...)

The next stand was filled with hand embroidered totes and small decorative items - it gave me many ideas on how to decorate the new children's room...

And what do you think of these antique commodes, decorated with paper prints?

At the end I stopped at the pottery stand and bought these four little tiles, measuring 4.5 x 4.5 cm (1.7 x 1.7 "). They are ment to protect the table from hot pots and pans by placing the tiles in the right shape for each pan.

Free shipping!

Internationally,

on all items,

until the end of May 2010!

Need I say more?

Welcome back!

Phew, after weeks and weeks of internet blackout I'm back online - and my Etsy shop is opened for business (thank you for looking!).

And here are some pictures of Pontarlier, my new hometown in the East of France - that mailbox makes me smile every time I pass the house with the blue shutters...

The sewing machine hasn't been unpacked yet, there are many other priorities, but my sketchbook has some new ideas I am waiting to try out as soon as I set up my working space.

I met some very interesting people a few weeks ago at the local craft market - I couldn't resist buying a few items (could anyone?) and I will have some pictures for you in my next post. Stay tooned!

Slowly settling in...

I have missed blogging this past week and my regular posts will have to wait for another week or so until our internet gets connected...

...but in the meantime, while I enjoy a paper cup of coffee at the local wifi equipped fast food restaurant, here is a glimpse into our ever-moving-international-multi-language household:

While dissembling our furniture (which is mostly Ikea) my husband packed the screws, belonging to each piece of furniture, separately. This box contains the screws for our bed (le lit in french), Arno marked it screws because we mostly speak english to each other and to know which bed they are for, he put the word parents ("Eltern" in german).
As long as we all understand what's in the box...

Having Ikea furniture is very practical for a family on the move. We never know how much furniture we'll be able to put into a new appartment so assembling only two thirds of a large warderobe or fixing one cupboard on top of another for more space is a very welcome option. Also, when some pieces get damaged in transport, we don't stress too much - it was time to replace them anyway (not to mention the children wear&tear factor...)

I hope my next post will not take long,

have a great week!