Bird of love

I love visiting my grandmother. For all the obvious reasons off course but also because she helps me with my various collections. Mostly by asking all her friends - my nan is very socially active - if they have nothing lying around that I collect.

This means that she finds me a lot of ugly stuff that I don't like, and that I throw away the moment I come home, but once and a while she finds me a real gem. Like for instance this tin by Beyers coffee.



The bird illustration is wonderfull. But best off all I already have two other Beyers Coffee tins in. So now I have a collection in my collection, how pro is that!





Being a bit of a coffee fobe myself I don't know if Beyers make great coffee but they surely made beautiful tins...

Christmas roundup

How was your Christmas? Mine was very lazy, so I hereby apoligize for the lack of updates.

But let's get straight to the interesting part: presents! Unfortunately there are only two presents I get to unpack on christmas. I get one from the boyfriend and one from my sister. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles have the tradition of giving me money. To be honest I don't mind that much, this way I don't have to return well ment but ugly presents...

Back to the interesting part, I won't bore you with the boyfriends present since this one was cd and dvd related - but appreciated never the less - so I'll skip to my sisters present.



This came from one of my wishlists so off course I'm very chuffed about it! It's the flower lamp from Poll's Potten. In real life it's even more gorgeous then on picture, this will get a lovely place in our home.

My sister - who's just moved in with her boyfriend - also got an interior related gift. I made her a memo board. I painted an MDF board with school board paint from levis. Then I added little canvases covered with fabric so she can pin stuff to it, I got this idea from 101 woonideen.

She was really happy with it and I can't wait untill she puts it up in her new house!

Happy Christmas!

Prezzies!

Christmas is upon us! I'm preparing for an over the top – food wise – Christmas dinner at my parents and off course there will be a lot of presents too!



I decided to make a little more effort this year on my gift wrapping. I actually went out and bought Chrismas themed wrapping paper, instead of just using whatever I had lying around, and made gift tags out of paper coasters.



I'm actually going to be a little sad when they are unwrapped...

Christmas in the blogosphere

I guess by now you must be getting bored of my Christmas decorations. So let's share the Holiday spirit with some of my fellow bloggers and see what they are doing, decoration wise, this Christmas?

Here are some of their trees:



Nicole from Making it Lovely put up a silver tree. I love the personal touch by adding the initials. And we both have a bird as tree topper!



White trees are popular this season, Here's the one in the perfectbound studio.



I'm glad to see that J from A Merry Mishap agrees that there's nothing like the real thing!



Although after seeing Jennifer's tree on Madebygirl, I have to admit that white trees look pretty fabulous too...



Jane from All the Luck in the World isn't officially a blogger, but I'm not going to let a little technicality like that stop me from sharing one of the most original trees I've seen in a long time!

What a bright time!

I already showed off my Christmas tree but that's not the only decoration going on in our apartment for the moment.

I made this little sculpture with the remaining ornaments, lights and a vase I once got as a present but which is actually too huge to put any flowers in.



The blue mirror ball baubles are my favorite Christmas thrift store find of 2008!



Then there's my PVC deer pop up. You need a little bit of Rudolph to get you through the season!



And last but not least, I hung these gigantic Christmas baubles from the ceiling beams. I rescued these a few years back from the garbage bin of a local shop, they were old store decorations.

Design that makes me smile: FUNkey stool

Like most people in this day and age, I spend most of my working life behind the computer. At the end of the day, I'm always thankful to get away from it all, and I try to avoid computers at home. (Doesn't really work if you have a blog...)



But now computers are invading our interior too! All thanks to these these great FUNkey stools from Mixco. After a rough day at work you can just come home, sit on the 'del' stool and forget all about it...

Wishlist: Etsy art

The one place where you can buy affordable art (prints) is off course Etsy. There are so many great artists on there that it's hard to make a holiday selection, but I did my best!

So without further ado, here's my selection.

Number Numbers by Pearl & Marmelade – $18
Nothing like a bit of letterpress to get my blood running. This limited edition print is so cute that you just can't resist...



Charlie Bird by Matte Stephens – $35
I really should just buy this print as a gift for myself, it's been on my wishlist for way too long.



California by Dutch Door Press – $15
Letterpress and vintage inspired illustrations, it doesn't get any better than this!



Thistle by Yellena – $20
I love the unique intricate pattern on this print.

Vintage Chic Christmas

There are a lot of vintage ornaments in my tree this year, but when I saw the following eye candy on Flickr, I got a bit jealous.


Clare Nicholson


sicook52


Gigi & Big Red

Haute Coiffure

Had my hair cut, still getting a bit used to my asymmetrical bangs but overall I'm quite pleased with the result.



I'm not really fond of going to the hairdresser. I'm not into small talk, so I always end up feeling a bit uncomfortable. Luckily my hairdresser has got a great vintage inspired interior so I always have something to look at!


Pictures from their Facebook

Wishlist: Necklaces

Nothing like a bit of jewelery for under the Christmas tree! I only wear two types of jewelery: earrings and necklaces. Since I love making earrings myself, that leaves necklaces to wish for!

Here are my favourites from Etsy.

Ball and Chain by Chainchainchained – $32
A necklace that is both robust and delicate. Soothes my every mood...



Golden Lilypads by Luxedeluxe – $29
Adrienne from Luxedeluxe always makes the most beautiful jewelery.



Waterlily by Trystbykerry – $ 30
Say it with flowers. Love the double strand...

Mathilde

I love the interior design in this townhouse. Old and new work harmoniously together.









Great job by Belgian design firm NU

All pictures from their site

O Christmas Tree!

I tought I share my tree with you, I'm very proud of it, even if we had a rather difficult start.



My colour scheme this year is white and gold with just a few touches of silver (I ran out of gold ornaments).





Most of my baubles are thrift store finds. I just love everything vintage plus they are very budget proof. I tend to get a bit shopping mad during the Holidays...



There's one 'new' bauble this year, a retro Mickey that I got in Disneyland Paris.



I made my own garlands using hard cotton balls from the craft store and wooden beads that I painted gold.



And some feather boa's to add a touch of glamour.



Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make myself a hot cup of chocolate and stare at my tree for an hour or two...

Design that makes me smile: Cardboard duvet

In these post I always show a design piece that isn't just beautiful but funny too. But the next item is also linked with a very serious subject.



This Cardboard duvet features a photo of a cardboard box. The idea is that you 'sleep under a cardboard box so a homeless young person doesn’t have to'.

Erik van Loo and Peggy van Neer, who started Le-Clochard, give most of the proceeds on the sale of the duvet to SZN, a foundation for homeless youngsters in the Netherlands. The income is used to fund housing projects which prioritise supporting young people in finding work or continuing their education.



At this time of the year, I sometimes have trouble getting warm indoors, I can't imagine what it must be like sleeping outdoors! This is a lovely way of giving to charity...

Wishlist: lamps

So, here's the second part of my wishlist. Since Christmas is the Celebration of Light what better present to receive than a nice lamp.

Here are my favourites:

Garland light – Tord Boontje for Habitat – 25€
I love Boontje's work, it always makes me feel like a princess in a fairy tale...



So make someone feel special with this wonderful lamp for Habitat.

Owl lamp – coe & waito – $ 750
Talking about fairy tales, this lovely owl lamp reminds me of a kids programe I used to watch: "De Fabeltjeskrant". Ah, the memories!



Flower lamp – Poll's Potten – 30€
I love the flower pattern this lamp casts when turned on. Ideal for long winter nights!

Back to business

Hello everybody, sorry for the lack of updates this week but I've been flat on my back resting since Saturday morning.* The culprit? My Christmas tree. I helped the boyfriend drag it up to our apartment, mode a bad move, got a nerve stuck between my spinal discs, et voilà, an instant recipe for pain. But thanks to a lot of rest and some heavy drugs I'm already feeling a lot better.

Unfortunately, I missed being Blog of The Day on Saturday! Hereby I just want to thank Bill Austin again for giving me the honour!



*Luckely I had some posts scheduled for the weekend. Long live postponing on Blogger!

Let's get organized!

With the new year just around the corner, it's time for a new calendar. You don't want to forget your mothers birthday don't you? I did this once, not recommended...

Here's my favourite calendar selection from Etsy:

• Birds in a Tree Calendar by Yeehaw



• Dandelion Calendar by Hello Handmade



• Folky Wall Calendar by Dutchdoor



• 2009 Calendar by Orange Beautiful