Salut mes amis!

Salut mes amis!

Hello my dear friends!

After needing a couple of weeks longer than I thought in order {to plant happiness},

nothing expresses better the sum of my recent experiences & feelings,

than this quote spoken by the wise lips of the {Little Prince}

{all the quotes here}

L'essentiel? mais oui, c'est invisible pour les yeux....

non?

On ne voit bien qu' avec le couer

if there is anything I learnt,

it is this:

    

                    *** the essential is invisible to the eye ***

                     *** we only see clearly with the Heart ***

or better... I should say felt deeply instead of learnt,

cause sometimes {learning} is associated with a simple

"follow the instructions & then do" attitude,

which.... well... is everything but the {essence}.

so dearests,

first of all, it's trully delightful to be writing again on these pages

and I can't thank you enough {mmmm, perhaps I got some ideas in my mind though ;)}

for your care, support & loving messages you left here and sent in my mailboxes while

I was away planting happiness...

I mean while I was moving us from home A to home B,

keeping my faith and patience when so many things went the wrong way...

had it not been for so many things having gone wrong though,

how could I be having the pleasure of sharing 

life stories with you?

see my point? ; )

will do so, step by step,

taking you with me sharing pictures, feelings, thoughts & endless inspiration.

Till then though, I share with you {the treasury curated a couple of days ago}

as I am slowly returning to my work.

A bunch of 16 choices I'd more than gladly incorporate in our new home,

which you will also most probably enjoy,

as we share similar taste for you to be reading these lines

{click on "via" below to be taken to the collection and then each item separately}

[via]

Enjoy and from me,

a warmhearted smile,

shot yesterday after a dancing/ exercising session which lifted my spirits up 

{apart from other parts of my body ; )}

... while listening to this fabulous lady's  tracks 

btw... you got to adore the sheep & the spider in this clip!

Je vous aime beaucoup!

A bientôt

bisus xxx

                       Ivy

32 + 1 reasons for a Friday to love ~

[via]

 Hello everyone!

   currently having only but little time to devote to posting here,

  I thought that wishing you all a happy Friday

  with {32 + 1 reasons to love}

  would a be a fine thing to do...

 &

  that it can actually make up for my usual extensively

  communicative posts ; )

  in the meantime:

  -> find the link to the above collection / treasury here

  -> find more of the treasuries / home decor inspiration curated by me

  here & there

 -> don't miss the fantastic give aways organized by the new

      Concept page of Vosges Paris 

  -> give a helping hand to this Cancer Fund Raiser action ending tonight

 -> find some of my current news shared here a while ago

 -> and indulge yourselves in one of the most amazing places ever,

 right here

I'll try to organise my days this way, so that there is a little time for posting

every short now & then, despite the current busyness!

see you around lovely all ~ 

♥

staying in ~ the new going out

[via]

 hello again everyone, on this since just a little while, rainy Tuesday afternoon...

  our fresh vegetable soup is being cooked and is almost ready,

  to be served right after this post is written

   hope you are all well

 &

 thanking you a lot {smiles!} for your warm response on yesterday's post.

 ... among designing our new home & sorting out things

  to be carefully packed for our upcoming movement,

 I took a little break today for only but a quick

 stroll on the inspiring, virtual corridors of etsy.

 I'm clearly flirting with grey since a long time now,

 {find here a relative post on "grey happiness"}

 especially after being infatuated with 

{this lady's}  fabulous use of it in her 

{amazing home in Amsterdam}

quite possibly, some doses will be found in our new living space,

but no firm decisions are made before a first,

shiny and bright as fresh snow, white coat has been 

"worn" on the walls.

about this time next week though,

some progress will have taken place

and then will be the time for final decisions.

in the meantime,  I wanted to share with you,

these recent finds gathered above,

{for details & prices click here}

while emphasizing

the very often heard & talked about view on new modern life,

that:

"staying in is the new going out"

here are few of my thoughts on the matter:

~ staying in can provide opportunities to learn more about ourselves,

as it is often the case that by going out,

we simply avoid coming into close contact with 

ourselves & our family

~ no no, there is nothing wrong in going out and enjoying

nature or the pleasures of a delicious cooked meal,

tasty coffee in cozy & inspiring environments.

In fact , it is great!

Still, it is simply another thing to go out as a choice,

and another to go out in order to avoid

domestic life.

~ there is no doubt that a nurturing home adds to the quality of our life,

by adding to enjoying our sleep,

relaxing in the bathroom,

cooking homemade meals,

setting the table,

interacting with our loved ones,

reading our favorite books in our cozy corners,

listening to our favorite music,

to mention but a few

ways...

all can be experiences worthwhile,

when taking place

there where we can call home

what about you my dears?

how do you feel about staying in?

besides the obvious financial gains,

what other positive attributions can you make?

and most of all, does your current home inspire you for staying in?

looking forward to hearing form you!

the soup is ready...

time to set the table and light up some candles... 

enjoy your evenings!

... might be stealing away some time 

tomorrow for a little post & connecting with you ; )

~ sunshine on cloudy days...

hello everyone!

 how have you been?

since I wrote this morning about "living a slow life"

and the essence of it,

 the day has been grey and quite chilly,

easily reminding of first winter days already...

no rain, but these heavy clouds,

taking over the whole sky,

allowing for no sign of blue to appear...

persistenly blocking every sunray, too

sounds depressing?

well, I have to tell you that it needs a lot of effort to stay on top of such occassions,

but after some time in Germany,

some tricks automatically take place

to make such days brigther ; )

how?

first of all, candles...

all over!...during the whole day...

much like the ones seen here

&

my favorite {vanilla one}

for a pleasant sweet aroma... 

then, nice music...

and working on {the table} placed in front of the big window

to be exposed to as much light as possible...

 using hands to create, rather than working on the PC or laptop screen...

and off course making use of this bright, white, cold light

{much like here} 

that I have really come to very much love,

especially when {products are to be photographed}

I really find it extremely charming...

the notebooks seen above are made with the same concept that these ones below were made

this polka dot cutie above was actually part of {this amazing lady's order}

 everything started a few weeks ago when I needed a new notebook for myself

and came up with this one,

which you can read about more detailed {here}

if there is supposed to be a trial period when one produces something new,

until the product is ready to reach the wide audience,

then these ones have successfully passed it!

 laminated, consisting of wonderful quality paper,

all handcut, they are handstiched using

extra strong, waxed threads in

beautiful colours,

found during supply expeditions while visiting Athens

I actually love the fact that everything is thought of and produced from scratch,

while using materials brought from my home country, too

it makes this whole creative process more meaningful, don't you think?

 {this} little notebook found last year during {my mother's visit in Germany}

has been the source of inspiration for creating

something that was going to be apart from pretty,

just a little bit more practical too.

the laminated cover gives you the freedom to wipe it with a wet cleenex when 

something has stained it

& so long as it doesn't take an actual bath,

it can stay with you for quite a long preriod!

still the little detail that I absolutely love and am proud to have thought off,

is the extended {from the notebook's spine}

thread which actually

ends in a lovely bow, to keep your little or bigger journal

securly closed

while off course looking irresistebly cute.

maker's bias?

perhaps!

what about you? what do you think of these little journals?

....................................

as soon as there is a decent stock created,

they'll be available on the {online shop} in the next days

till then, you may either pre order them and pick them up yourselves

or have them sent to you

in both cases just drop me a mail, stating which patterned design of all you prefer

and which of the two sizes:

small ~> 12,5 x 9cm

big ~> 17 x 12 cm

time to say good bye...

it is great that I found some time in peace to come and post here

about everyday life's simple happenings

& 

have been missing connecting with you, 

the readers of this journal!

just before I go, a little bit of something {more} for inspiration:

 the new collection of 16 favorite items 

from the corridors of etsy,

making up the new treasury put together this morning:

[via]

"Three {and more} keys to living a happy, successful life"

quite intriguing title, or?

what are your thoughts on the subject?

here is what came to my mind

~ dream big... {but then also} prepare to live small ~

~ connect to your true feelings ~

~ count your blessings ~

 ~ accept your natural rythms ~

 ~ invest in discovering who you trully are ~

.............

well, I hope that there is input for you to think about,

 enjoy watching, get inspired from

& 

perhaps do some shopping

until the next post!

as for us, legal procedures involving the purchase of the new place seem to be moving smooth as 

butter, so soon a pleasant, relaxing period can be enjoyed 

so looking forward to that!

~ the essence of living slow...

[via]

 waking up should always feel this way, don't you agree with me?

soft, tender, allowing for the body and mind to wake up from their relaxed state

while in sleep motion...

this is a collection of home decor items picked up by Anne, whom you met {last week}

{and she'll be here again with you & me next week!}

the reasons it is brought here to you are a quite a few:

1. it represents a style of life I support myself

2, it consists of home accessories I would happily incorporate in our home environment

3. it features {our shop's one of a kind} paper garland made from two different kinds of paper:

recycled fashion catalogues using thick, matt paper 

&

luxurious wallpaper samples from the collection that my clients are presented with.

4. it was featured on etsy's FP in France this morning

5. it has a lovely symbolic meaning about the soft, tender & pure kind of life,

so important to me and quite possibly you,

 amongst modern life's & society's insane rythms, 

often leading to unhealthy styles of life

& 

eventually physical and/or mental diseases...

~ ~ ~

 speaking of fast rythms, I am recently engaged in quite a few projects,

and eventhough I could squeeze my time to come and post here,

it is a very clear & mindful decision, 

that posts here are taking place 

under a sense of calm, time to generously devote,

allowing inspiration to flow.

this way, the quality of the posts in not only determined by the outcome,

but also by the atmosphere prevailing while they come to life

and well, one has to support his/her views with actions...

one cannot be talking about cherishing a life of quality,

slow rythms & awareness 

and then

acting in a rush, right?

so despite me already missing tremendously more frequent posts these days,

and actually connecting with you,

with our upcoming movement to be planned 

&

me designing the new space to be soon turning into our new home,

while evaluating costs & seeing what can momentarily be afforded

and what will take place step by step in the upcoming weeks & months,

I must say that there is quite a lot on my mind

and many projects taking up lots of time!

I hope you are all doing well & I know that it is just a matter of time and patience

until more posts here become more frequent again...

see you soon my dear all,

know that your presence here means a lot to me...

P.S: throughout your days, I hope you to find some time to enjoy flipping through the first issue

of Birch & Little, the Australian online lifestlyle magazine I'm a contributing author to.

You can see its cover right on your left.

~ home decor stories with... Anne! ~ {guest post}

hello my dears,

well, with lots of things going on my mind, 

 connected with the upcoming movement

 out of the current place we are staying

 {which I suppose by now you all know how much

 I' ve  grown to love living in!}

one thing I must certainly do 

is to keep {such} useful & positive reminders in my mind & heart:

{above} follow your bliss

dream big

keep calm and carry on

 the print shown above,

does actually live in our home

{look here !}

&

I think that it should be the first one to 

put on the walls of the new home!

some of you might have already recognised whose work this is,

as she is already and only after a year of presence

with her etsy shop,

very, very beloved 

& 

quite popular I might say.

... in order to not turn this into an advertinement of her talents though,

just hop over {here} to read more about herself & her work !

so as you have probably just found out,

{Anne} is French & is currently living in magical Paris.

no wonder she is so inspired in creating

such amazing photographs!

{check out these!}

but the reason that she and I connected

goes beyond appreciating each others

photography work.

As she curates {dozins of beautiful treasuries on etsy},

we soon after found out

that we also share a common sense of aesthetics

&

an approach to home styling and decor.

We recently agreed that some selected of the treasuries she creates,

will be getting posted here a few times a month,

and she will also be letting you into her thinking behind

the creation of each one of them.

I find this absolutely great,

cause Anne is also a freelance writer

and particularly enjoy the way she expresses herself,

eventhough writing in English is a demanding process for her.

so my dear all, please welcome with a big warm hug,

Anne!

~ ~ ~

hello everyone,

this Anne writing here now, the person behind the photography Etsy shop

called {magalerie}.

A year ago, I started to make treasuries

and this is how I discoved Ivy's beautiful pictures...

we started an online correspondance between

France, {sometimes Greece} and Germany!

our connection was sealed soon with happy feelings,

as one of my first treasuries

including an item from Ivy's shop

was featured on Etsy Front page

last summer.

see?

[via]

{Ivy's item is the card with her "handwrittern love" print on the bottom left corner}

I don't have a blog at the moment and I'm really grateful that Ivy

invites me to present some of my treasuries here.

For me, they are more than just a selection of 16 items.

They are a way to create an atmosphere, exercise myself 

in gathering objects to create a cohesive result.

I imagine them as...

 home decor stories!

Most of the time, 

I fall in love with an object

{photography, print, drawing, vitnage item...}

and I try to imagine a whole room inspired by my first favorite.

As if I had a client who asks me to realise a room make over

based on one of their favorite objects.

For this frst post,

I' d like to present you {this} beautiful photo from 

Natalie's etsy shop,

aka as the {Shabby Photographer}

I really fell for the colors in this photo!

lots of words came to my mind when I looked at it:

wood ~ earthy tones ~ tea ~ loneliness ~

serenity ~ calmness  ~ vacation

creativity ~ burlap

vintage paper...

...it inspires a collection mixed of vintnage finds &

photography prints.

can you imagine those objects in a wooden beach house like I do?

have a look at he result and please do let me know what you think!

till next time,

Anne

.................

well everyone, I hope you have enjoyed this post,

as I much as Anne had while putting it together

&

I did writing it!

I totally reasonate with Anne's thinking, way of seeing things

and absolutely adore both seeing her treasuries

and learning more about what lies behind them!

wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead,

&

 promise to not take too long to return with more posts and news ; )

♥

organic creative processes ->

[via]

 well hello everyone...

 as I posted late in the evening last night,

 I was wondering if you had a chance 

 to read about making a {live moodboard} step by step

 and the organic process of creating?

 and then, have you visited 

 the latest curated collection of 16

 pretty items, all carefully handmade & produced from

 etsy sellers, artists & crafters?

 it carries a name quite symbolic to me ~>

Wake up - this is your Life call °

you may visit the items and on line stores individually {here}

...........................................

... and then have I shared with you that I might be having the pleasure

of creating the styling concept & photo portfolio 

for such sugar treasures like these ones?

this is a sample of the work submitted & eventhough 

there is no formal agreement yet,

I' m thrilled with the possibility of being involved in such a project

I hope to have the pleasure of being chosen to do this job

&

then sharing it with you here!

........................

on another notice, I don't know about you {still I 'd love to find out!}

but I woke up to feeling

that

I cannot expect for things to change,

unless I change myself.

this whole house issue has really been shaking my waters,

{I know it sounds silly in English, as in fact it is a Greek expression}

which means that it has been bringing lots of upsetness,

much like when there is a storm and the sea is rough.

days of peacefulness are hard to acheive,

due to the many factors that need to be considered

&

the obvious change of life,

as there'll not only be a new apartment,

but a totally new neighbourhood, too.

and new life conditions

when I mentioned in this post

that it is rather wise to:

"see opportunity there where difficulty lies"

perhaps I had not also realised,

 that this is the only way of actually moving forward in life.

so I'm making the decision to take my life seriously,

a "package" which brings together taking

my wishes,

 my dreams,

my wants,

my needs,

seriously.

... ironically, this involves sometimes not taking myself so seriously

in this mood I redesigned the blog's banner this morning

&

eventhough I'm not certain that this is a final design,

I find it to stand nicely for this transitional period I have enterred...

it stands for seeing the light side of life,

for embracing challenges

& eventually

living a succesfull, creative, fullfilling life

I hope you are not missing the previous banner too much,

in any case do let me know your toughts & preference!

just thought that it is a nice symbolic action to alter the logo of my online home,

since I'll be soon also living in a new home

♥

                                 
a little one, but oh so important NOTE before I go! ~> my {dear friend} and amazingly capable person in putting together absolutely delightful + stylish interiors, has changed {the decoration of her living room} & as she has incorporated two* of our shop's fine art prints in her decor, I couldn't but be super happy for the fact that she has done such a fabulous job! She successfully shows how more affordable art can be combined with more expensive one. It also shows how easily our shop' s designs are embraced in a home's decor, making a very clear but at the same time discrete, elegant impact. Nadine, thank you for the honour!

* {this} & {that}

Wake up - it's your Life call °

[via]

 Happy Monday everyone!

 a "little" post just to share a new collection of favourite items from etsy...

 felt brooches beautifully handcrafted,

 little pieces of art in the form of jewelry,

  soft cotton crocheted pot holders,

 simple white dresses appropriate for a marriage, too

 numbers, typography, photography,

 paper goods, vintage pieces, 

pillows & supplies,

all to dress your home & you in warm grey tones,

paired with whites, off whites & naturals,

   for a natural feel & a slow return back inside,

  with September being right at our doors!

I hope you weekends were lovely 

& this new week to carry

all things good, positive 

& 

the power of love & creativity with it!

on another notice, 

thank you so very much for your concern about my feelings 

for our upcoming movement, 

 it has been really heart warming reading your comments

& 

especially these thoughtful, private mails

I'm already doing better : )

so, I'll stay a little longer and share a few more pictures 

of my grey moodboard and the process of making it,

since it falls nicely into the colour mood set by the collection above.

It all started by photographing my vintage Beirette camera,

after I removed it from its brown leather case,

in order to observe its details...

 as we had just returned from a short vacation on a Greek island,

some of the natural souvenirs brought were laying around...

I noticed the nice combination of the dark grey pebble,

with the piece of driftwood

&

the metal body of the camera...

as I love perspective,

I instictively arranged them as you see below...

 and starting clicking...

liking the outcome, I decided to make a print and

add some words connected to the image...

"wood  stone  metal   nature's elements"

after the print was made,

a picture of the printed .... print needed to be made... 

so I had it framed in a simple white wooden frame

& 

started playing with the styling a bit...

photographing it close to wood, 

adding a metal heart,

trying to repeat the elements found in the picture...

another styling effort ended up like this,

looking as if the driftwood & pebble have jumped out of the picture...

 now that I see it I think this is my favorite print,

yet not available for sale, 

at the moment at least...

What do you think?

which one do you prefer?

the 1st one with the 3 elements,

the 2nd one shown above

or 

the 3rd one below with the addition of the metal heart

popping into the picture?

Here you can see the 1st and 3rd ones,

close to one another so that a comparison can be easily made...

my opinion?

 the 1st one would look really nice blown up on a big sized canvas,

while the square one is cuter is smaller sizes....

this is how it looks, as part of our "wishes corner"

....................................

and below is the process of making a "live"

grey moodboard,

starting with a few basic objects,

representing materials & colours

white plastic ~> netbook

metal ~> vintage camera + handmade heart of wire

natural wood ~> a. box with crayons from Habitat

b. driftwood from the sea

&

c. grey wooden heart,

handpainted with silver marker

paper ~> photographs of some of the items pictured

from a different angle...

and then having added some more everyday objects,

like the metal pencil case,

Faber Castell sharpener

&

grey/ silver book with thoughts + quotes about happiness

{relative post here}

and this is the final result which I showed you {here}

working with colours,

materials & making harmonious combinations among them

is a crucial part of any design work.

I find making live moodboards to be a creative exercise

while having fun & off course enjoying photographing the whole thing!

these are my current favorite prints,

which are grouped together,

in case you wish to create a style similar to ours,

much like the group of prints now decorating our living room corner.

It is also offered in our shop for a very attractive price all year long

; )

they represent some of my great passsions like

~ architecture

~ nature 

&

 ~ photography

I hope you to like them as much

&

 to visualise them somewhere in your living spaces,

or offer them as a present to your

dear friends!

there's still lots of posting work to catch up with,

and there are new features to be coming here as well!

One of which is a new absolutely lovely person,

that will be taking over the... keyboard here

&

a few times in a month,

she'll be coming here to share with you lovely finds from etsy, 

as seen through her very creative & artistic eyes.

Revelation soon 

&

her first post  launching this Thursday September the 1st !

Till then though, I 'll be continuing my efforts in posting as much as possible 

corresponfing to the month of August.

c u soon dear all  ~