Chantilly on Top

Sunday, April 21, 2013

La cage aux dolls

A little something to nibble on while I'm working real hard on a new diorama. This sweet doll is caged, waiting for a new owner to take her home. But she doesn't look quite happy about it...

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Don't get me wrong, I love the internet. I can get lost for hours, being marvelled by all the information I can reach and gaze at beautiful work from artists from all over the world. But in the secret kingdom in my head, things as important as carefully selected words, merged into a message with a meaning, constructed for just one person, mail is being transported by snails.

So, to give you an idea of how such a snail would deliver a letter, I made you a diorama. The first glimpse into a world far and away...

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

What to do Tuesday!

With the days getting longer, the market season is slowly starting again. Getting freezed to the bone while scavenging doesn't sound very appealing, so most vendors were hibernating. The people from Begijnenvest 92 weren't sleeping at all. They've been preparing for a terrific vintage garage sale this month! Gorgeous furniture anybody?

Eindhoven

Eindhoven

1st till 10th of March at Klokgebouw

STRP Festival

info: www.klokgebouw.nl

17th of March at Klokgebouw

Sunday Swing

info: www.brandendzandfestival.nl

24th of March at PopEi

Plaatwerk

info: www.popei.nl

Netherlands

The rest of the Netherlands

3rd of March in Rotterdam

Cinema Culinair

info: www.bird-rotterdam.nl

9th of March in Rotterdam

Rotterdamse Museumnacht

info: www.rotterdamsemuseumnacht.nl

15th of March in Utrecht

Het Nachtspoor

info: www.hetnachtspoor.nl

24th of March in Amsterdam

De Pure Markt

info: www.puremarkt.nl

World

The rest of the world (well, Europe in this case)

2nd of March in Antwerp

Vintage One Day Garagesale

info: www.begijnenvest92.be

9th and 10th of March in Gent

DesignMarkt Spring edition

info: www.designmarkt.be

24th of March in Berlin-Kreuzberg

Handmade Supermarket Osteredition

info: www.handmade-supermarket.de

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Thrifting

One more month and springtime's here, woohoo! To make winter a little brighter we decided we need an extra lamp. Okay, we also need it because it's almost pitch dark when you sit at our dining table. Except for the big halo coming from the lamp Eddy puts on while working there, there is no cozy light that adds something to an intimate "friends & family" atmosphere. But where to look? New lamps are often really boring or terribly expensive. So, we went thrifting for an old lamp!

our "trophy"

In the city where my parents live, there's a thrift shop I used to go while being a student, so I knew they've got the occasional gems. It was really busy so I felt if I saw something of our liking, I had to act fast. After a few minutes, we entered the electricity section and there it was; the lamp! With a fierce motion I yanked it of the shelve. Up close it was even more perfect, score! I saw (or imagined I saw) everybody looking sour for not spotting this treasure a bit earlier. Holding it very firmly, I paraded through the shop. We also found three little cabinets for the diorama's I'm working on, so our hunt was brought to a very successful conclusion!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Waiting...

Do you know that feeling, where you think you have to wait for something or someone before you can start or finish with something, but you actually don't have to wait at all? Maybe it sounds confusing to you, but Eddy and I get that feeling all the time. For example, when we are leaving for an appointment with friends or family, I always wait till Eddy is totally ready before putting on my lipstick. So I don't have to wait. Right... Meanwhile, he's waiting till I'm ready so he can put on his shoes.

Cruella looks like she's also waiting

This also happened when we wanted to hang our different paintings. Waiting until the other person thought we had enough, waiting until the other person knew where he would want to hang them, waiting until the other person wanted to start, all excuses for not starting at all. Cause it only needs one of us saying; let's do it! And we finally did :) So at last, cute fellow Mortimer from Scott C. is looking at me when I walk up the stairs and there are some other beautiful reproductions I will show you soon.

Mortimer in his Living Room

We also have one original work. I gave it to Eddy last Christmas and we are very happy with it! It's made by Lins, the artist who also does "Veggie Tafel". The title is "De kracht van kwetsbaarheid" meaning "The power of vulnerability". It's a photo with embroidery on it. Very delicate and beautiful. It's #2 out of an edition of ten, and we got a real certificate with it too! We placed it under our skylight so it gets all the attention it deserves. Makes me long for warm summernights!

De kracht van kwetsbaarheid

Sunday, January 6, 2013

I made it!

I can hardly believe it, but the year is over! Woohoo, I made it! A whole year of not buying mass-produced stuff, nailed it, yeah! We were celebrating New Year's eve at friends and it suddenly hit me, so when I blabbered; "I did it...", my friends made me feel real proud.

my "score" of the year

One of the rules I set for myself was, I couldn't buy new mass-produced things, but I could buy vintage and handmade items. But the whole not-buying-stuff attitude took over and I hardly bought anything. A vintage bag in Amsterdam, a vintage dress in San Francisco, a handmade shirt from Synergy Sisters (well, she gave it to me, but I wanted to buy it) and two cute buttons from Het Paradijs. That was it.

Another rule was not buying any make-up unless I had to replace an empty eyeliner or shadow that I use daily. So, my three main shadows were replaced and I had to get a new eyeliner and a new mascara. Nothing more. Not even a new lipstick, and I love new lipsticks!

let's spice it up a bit!

Of course, during this year my leggings started to get as transparent as my stockings, while my stockings got beyond wearable. My panties and bras have become a bit too baggy and I took my high heels to the repair shop twice. But further, everything still looks very nice. I did start to long for some color in my wardrobe, since 85% of every item I own is black or grey.

The thing I learned from this experiment is that we Western women really have enough stuff to get around with. Also, that quality really is better then quantity. So, I'm not going to burst and spend all the money I saved on new stuff. Just a few items to add color and replace the things that are worn-out. If you would like to see other women handling this challenge, 6 days ago Jeanine and Vera started the Fashion Reset. They are blogging to each other about it (in Dutch) and it's fun and full of irony. Love it!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

What to do... well, next month!

Our Christmases are usually spent indoors with our families. Being together, chatting, drinking, eating, just having a good time. In the Netherlands we've got 2nd Christmas Day instead of Boxing Day. It's an extra free day and perfect to divide the visits you pay to your parents and your in-laws between these two Christmas Days. This year we did it all in one day, so we had one spare day of relaxing at my parents house. That was so nice!

New Year's Eve is coming and we will spend that night with some of our closest friends. And again, a lot of eating and drinking will be involved, yay! After these festive days it's easy to get unbearably bored, not knowing how to entertain yourself anymore. Well, fear not, here's some cool stuff coming up in January!