Life as a perfectionist

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I changed my banner. And again. And again.

I think I might be satisfied with the final result. But I might change my mind tomorrow. I looked at my banner at my laptop. And at the computer of a friend…it’s colors look different on every computer. So my feelings about this one change with the screens I see it on.

A thing that bothers me too is that my little Kokeshi girl doesn’t look into the camera. She does that on every picture I take of her. But in the end, she’s a cheeky little girl and that’s exactly what I like about her, so I decided to keep it this way. A huge thing for someone like me ;-)

Sometimes I wish I could be less of a perfectionist. It tires me that nothing less than perfect is good enough. Funny thing is, the only one I demand perfectness from is myself. I love things with a bit of a rough edge, isn’t that just crazy? I love people with cozy, untidy homes, where you can sit on the couch and drink tea without feeling like Hyacinth Bucket’s neighbour.

Maybe I’ll loosen up one day. When I’m old and wise. Can’t wait for that to happen. Lucky enough, I’m not a sociopath ;-)

(The cute elephantcard is made by Jessica Nielsen and was sent to me by dear Diana of HomeMadeHappiness)

Molly’s close encounter of the wet kind

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In the series “Enjoy small things in times of misery”, I want to share this little movie of little Molly with you. I don’t know if this is cat-like behavior, but Molly kind of freezes when it starts raining. So the last time it poured outside, she did not come inside, but tried to hide underneath a tree in the garden, which did not provide the shelter she needed…

By the way, please don’t pay any attention to my voice…like I said: my voice seems to hit the highest frequency when talking to my pets. Have a lovely Sunday!

P.S: I changed my banner! Love to hear what you think of it!

Planet Fur and a series of very unfortunate events

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I don’t want to spoil all the fun and start again about miserable things in my life, but last week was what you would call an emotional rollercoaster. The kind of week that makes you cancel your planned trip to France, to be precise. Instead of buying piles of smelly cheese and driving through wonderful landscapes, we spent our time worrying ourselves sick at someone’s hospital bed.

To be near but still have a little break, we travelled to Haarlem and Amsterdam for two days, just to try to relax and spent some time together. To stay positive (my Love learned me how to stay positive in situations that seem hopeless, it already helped me through loads of miserable periods): if we would have travelled to France, I would never have found the Swedish Hasbeens I have been searching for for ages. I feel so “Swinging Sixties Here I Come Baby!” when I wear them, they really make me smile. Furthermore, if you ever decide to pay Haarlem a visit, be sure to take a stroll through the Proveniershof (an almshouse, pictures left and below), at Lange Houtstraat 44. Haarlem is famous for her “hofjes”, I love their serene atmosphere once you’ve passed their gates. At Proveniershof we met the most grumpy, fat Persian cat we have ever seen. I tried to take some pictures of her beautiful flat face, but every time she saw my camera, she turned her big furry back at me. Eventually she ran into the bushes, hissing… That made me smile a little too :-) Be also sure you pay Sjakie’s a visit. You just can’t miss out on that one. (You can even have lunch there! What’s better than shopping and eating all in the same place?)

So..it was a strange week. Now let us wait and hope for better days to come…

It’s what (should) holds things together

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Glue…I’m not a big fan of it. Especially not after my lampshade-upholstery-adventure (I’m not even sure that’s an actual English sentence.)
I used spray adhesive to upholster a lampshade with the vintage needlework above, but ended up stitching the shade to the frame by hand, because the glue thought it necessary to stop holding things together after one night. Still, it was a fun project and I actually love the result! If you ever have plans to re-cover a lampshade, take a look at this tutorial. One important thing I disovered (hmm…this sounds like I’m a die-hard lamp-upholsterer, harhar): I used a Skimra lampshade from Ikea to glue (stitch) the landscape on. Problem is that their frames aren’t made of one piece, so you end up with two loose pieces of frame that don’t make your work much easier when adding the shade back to the frame again. It’s just a small thing to bear in mind…to keep you from bursting into tears and tear off your hair…like I almost did…;-D

Coming up next: a much easier Summerproject: painting a wooden apple. Easy as pie.

An apple a day…

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You’ve probably noticed my absence here. I figured I needed some time off from my shop and from taking pictures for my beloved blog, to get inspiration and creativeness floating again. Shortly, I’m just celebrating my Summer break, like every normal person would do ;-)

So..what do you do when time is on your hand? Thrifting! Our kitchensink is now stacked with crockery that needs a good clean-up, our living room is filled with new (old) sweet little chairs and lampshades that really needed a loving owner that recognized the beauty underneath their scruffy look. Did I mention we live in a temporary home, that’s four times smaller than our former home? And that we stored almost 80 boxes with interior-stuff until we move to our permanent home? Even these facts can’t surpress my enthusiasm.

Furthermore, two creative projects are waiting for me while writing this. The apple on the floor will get a nice new color and I’m also planning to upholster a lampshade with a cross-stitched Swiss country side…yes that’s exactly as tacky as it sounds…loving it already! See you soon!