Finding happiness in really small things

/1 Reactie/in /door
I tend to look at the

world with eyes for detail. So when I go thrifting, everything that looks like it’s made with love and great craftmanship, goes home with me. Lucky for me, those things are mostly small, or can be folded, like embroideries, so I don’t need to hire a storagebox to keep them in. Which is, by the way, a very comforting thought for my Love who still is not quite sure if he married a hoarder or not.

I found these two little guys today and paid not more than 5 eurocents for ‘em (that’s $ 0.07). If you study them closely, you’ll see they’re made of wood and painted by somebody with a very steady hand (and a very small brush ;-)). Their tiny flippers are glued very precise to their tiny bodies…to be short, I really enjoy looking at these two guys. In fact, I love them so much, I think I’m gonna name them. Suggestions, anyone? ;-D

Hope you have a lovely weekend, and enjoy the good things in life, no matter how small!

Paperchase..and a very patient husband

/4 Reacties/in /door
The fabulous Chill Out! shop in the basement of “Bijenkorf” Arnhem is replaced by an even more fab shop called Paperchase. According to their website, “Paperchase is the UK’s undisputed leader in innovative, design-led stationery, cards and gift-wrap.” They should also note that Paperchase could lead to bankruptcy for people called Marlous. And the nice lady behind the counter shouldn’t have mentioned that Bijenkorf closes not earlier than 10 P.M. at Thursday nights.

The husband waited patiently for me to finish my rampage through the shop and even took me to a café for a huge chunk of devine applepie to cool off afterwards. I am an incredibly lucky girl to have him by my side. And that’s one of the many reasons why I love him so much.
So this one is for you, my Love. Not because it was Valentine’s day two days ago, but just because some things need to be said.

The logo stamp (yay!) is made by Moosmade, the cute magnet and card (and much more, but not one the picture!) come from a swap with sweet (and queen of swap ;-)) Lisette of Little-Z.

To sleep or not to sleep

/0 Reacties/in /door
Inspiration, turns out, is a very fickle thing. Sometimes my head bursts with ideas. So bad, I can’t sleep. During those periods, the world is one big playground where everything I see could end up in a creative project, big or small. What I don’t like is that I just can’t sleep during such periods. Ideas tumble around in my head and my brain just won’t get quiet. If I where a die-hard artist, I would be one of those people who’d sleep 3 hours per night. Problem is that I still need my good night’s rest, so I think I would turn into some kind of Bombie the Zombie, which, I reckon, couldn’t be a good thing.

But..after these wild brain periods, everything shuts down all of a sudden. I sleep like a baby at the moment. But inspiration or new ideas to work on…are hibernating somewhere in a corner of my head…and won’t come out ’till it’s Spring.

Even though I’m very thankful that I’m sleeping again, this fickleness can be frustrating at times. I just can’t be that creative person I want to be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (I did brought my imitation of a hibernating creature to perfection, that should be a good thing! ;-))

Yesterday, I attempted to get my inspiration back by visiting the Sieboldhouse in Leiden. The museum is all about the external relation between The Netherlands and Japan, 150 years ago. The museum’s collection of old Japanse objects was just beautiful, as was the Katsushika Hokusai exhibition. And because it’s a small museum, it wasn’t very crowded, for which my sleepy head was very thankful (I can’t stand much fuss either during my hibernating stage).
But the head..stayed quiet. So I think I’ll just let my inspiration issue rest until the sprung of Spring.

Of course I can still enjoy beautiful things: top picture: some very old Japanese prints, bottom: a beautiful butterfly hairpin made with tiny shelves and silk flowers.

Does this cat come with a manual?

/1 Reactie/in /door

It’s takes a while before you know your cat…or understand what she likes, to be precise.

When I knew Molly would come to live with us, I had dreams of her sleeping in a cute little basket, or on a carpet made of sheep’s wool.

Of course..she didn’t. In fact, every blanket I placed on the window-sill got a look of a mixture of disgust and fear. She completely ignored the cute baskets I placed on strategic places around the house.

Molly does prefer to sleep on high places. On the ironing board, in the white Ikea locker…and on something blankity like, but more something like…a tiny piece of felt I accidentally left on the floor of the studio, on the doormat,

or on my Love’s trousers that need a new seam.

The trousers are so hairy now, they look like they’ve been worn by a Wookie. But she looks so darn cute on her trouser look-out, I wouldn’t dare to mend those trousers and hang ‘em back into the closet.
Unless the husband wants to dress up like a Star Wars character, that is :-)

Twitter highlights

/2 Reacties/in /door

Yes, you can find me on Twitter since a couple of days (another virtue of my friend Diana). I actually kinda like it! In this post the highlights (if I may say so myself) I shared on Twitter last week.

Book: Mama weg by Chris Haughton (English title “Little owl lost”)
I bought this book actually, I’m a sucker for stories about sweet tiny creatures (it’s even possible I start to cry when I see the little owl lose his mama, lucky for me childrensbooks generally end happy).

Music: American recordings, Johnny Cash (perfect rythm to work on, the man’s voice is candy for the ears).

Webshop: Jojojanneke Cute cards, stickers, the little owl (again) is my absolute favourite.

Weblog: Imaginative Bloom Not only because Planet Fur is featured there, it’s a treasure chest filled with wonderful shops and websites.

Museum: Sieboldhuis The Dutch Japancentre, for those who devour every shred of information about Japanese culture.

Pictures, top to bottom:
The big wave by Katsushika Hokusai
Little owl lost by Chris Haughton