shop update: a bunch of cat brooches

Meet Jeanne, Luna, Picasso, Loulou and Camille,
find them here in my shop.

What the postman brought me

A while ago, a little cute bird came to keep us company. Quite dangerous with all those cats around here.... well, I must say, my cats are very friendly for the tiny little bird, he was accepted at first sight!

It is always so fun to open up a package and find some nice unexpected goodies!

A Fortune cookie!
And colorfull candy for the kids


Thanks so much Artmind for this lovely surprise!
You can find these birdies in Artminds shop among lots of other gorgeous ceramics or make a beautiful terrarium for them.

Magical candy

Yesterday I had a shopping afternoon with my two eldest girls.
And of course we just had to drop by at one of their (and my) fav shops.
I could not resist these old fashioned 'old Dutch' sweets there!

Everything at Hema is always so beautiful packed and designed. I am not surprised that there are so much talented designers in the Netherlands, I guess it's in the genes over there! (or is there a possibility I can be affected with the Dutch Design virus too, when eating these magical sweets) :-))))

Le fabuleux destin... d'un cravate en soie...

Every time I pay a visit to the local thriftshop, the big plastic box with thrownaway ties is filled to the top.
oooh, how I like to grab in it and sort out the real silk ones and the fake.
I can sort them just by the touch, can't describe how , but well, I guess you all know the tremendous softness of silk.

I am not a tie fan, well I mean on men, maybe that is why I fel on a man who never wears them, only when he really really has to!
luckily he as a job where 'not wearing a tie' is common :-)

So what is it that makes me liking ties so much.
the colortones
the patterns
te soft touch
the knowledge that I can make a brand new necklace out of it.
Every thrownaway tie deserves the right on a second life!


While grabbing and touching, I keep asking myself why people throw them away......
are these ties 'altmodish'...
are the wearers bored by them...
is it their wifes, who are deciding to clear out the wardrobes...
did the wearers of them die...

I remember a week after my father died, my mother began to empty the wardrobes.
Gosh, I was really shocked by that.
Some people save and cherish all kind of things from deceased loved ones. Especially clothes...
well I respect my mother doing that, it was her way of accepting my fathers death.

But now I am so pity my mother threw away the ties of my father, maybe my brother inherited some of them, my husband certainly not, as he does not wear them...
I am sure I would have enjoyed giving the old ties of my father a new life :-)

rTo be continued.....

Say Hello!

Say Hello to my new Cat brooches!
soon in my shop!

hearts of stone

I could not post this on 14 feb as we were busy gathering stones on the beach.
It was definitely 'Valentine day' that sunday on the beach :-))

thrifting on the beach

Hello everyone!
We are back from a long weekend in Ambleteuse near Boulogne.

We had a great time there, it was cold, but sunny,

We enjoyed some beautiful walks in the dunes and on the beach.

It was so funny to find out that my four kids also have my fever of collecting shells and stones and thrifted things on the beach
(so what is nature, what is nurture??:-)))
The fresh air did so very good to the six of us! I really had the feeling that spring was in the air, although there was soms snow left over on the dunes and it was never warmer then 2 degrees.
The sun was there and that was al we needed :)