Love...anyways

via

Rory Dobner

Whichever way fits you and your loved one best,

Just

Love!

A Monday Kalimera

"Kalimera"

As in "Goodmorning"

A new post will be up tonight,

but meanwhile,

let's travel somewhere nice

making nice thoughts

wild dreams

loving

and breathing

Let's just travel

to the next port

...

{ via }

 

Etsy Inspiration

Good morning dear friends,
Today I am posting some nspirational pictures from The Storque feature at Etsy.
This on-line editorial magazine is a great guide to Etsy sellers by style, while helping you achieve the look of your dreams.

With categories such as 

Peaceful Retreat, 

Lessons in Nature, 

Casual Coastal Living,

Modern Practicality 

and Southern Hospitality, 

you are bound to find the little something that will add flair to your home or office design.

Here are some of my favorite objects:

All photos and items via Etsy.

Vintage Thingie Thursday-Holly Hobbie 1977

Hello dear friends,
I have decided to join the Vintage Thingie Thursday at Colorado Lady. I have a growing appreciation for older objects in the past couple of years, so I thought I'd share my love for them with you. For the first post, I have picked an item that is not very old, but is of one of my favorite childhood characters. I have grown up with Holly Hobbie and Sarah Kay and those romantic images. I want to bring some of that to my life, from a time more romantic and innocent that my daughters have not experiences as much as I did. So here is one of my Holly Hobbie objets.

This vintage tea towell from 1977, a very nice year in my life, reads "Simple pleasures, life's treasures" which is my belief, too. Purchased from Retrolabs at Etsy.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope to join many, many more Vintage Thingie Thursdays and visit with all of you.

When shopping on Etsy

After years of trouble-free on-line shopping, last week was a certified un-success.
It was late and I was relaxing surfing on my computer, while listening to the news from the TV.
As it were, I was surfing Etsy. I love independent crafters and retailers. I appreciate the low prices of big super market chains, but I enjoy my shopping in smaller, family owned shops, especially for groceries and accessories, the two edges of my shopping agenda, as it were, as much as I can.
I know I should have put the items I liked in my favorites and not in my shopping cart, but as it were, but i decided I didn't want to search back and forth, so I  had a cart stacked with virtual goodies ready to materialise on my doorstep, when the unimaginable happened: I hit an OK too many, and I woke up with the screen bluring with "Pay"-"Pay"-"Pay".
Now, if I were in a supermarket or a large chain, all I'd have to do would be to empty my cart then and there, or abandon it, or put everything back on the shelves, or tell the cashier, "sorry, can't afford it; would you please cancel?".
That might cost me some looks from those behind me in the line, the cashier and her supperior, but it would be OK, no one would repremand me on my decision, and I would walk away a free person.


If on the other hand I were in a small shop, the shop owner would do his best to assist me, accomodate me with a better price so as not to lose a customer, and even if I had to leave, he'd say "Ok, maybe next time". And there would be a next time, because I'd know he or she would be nice and helpful time. Because if he were to give me the looks, I wouldn't go anywhere near his establishment next time I wanted to shop such stuff.

I experienced all this and more last week. The uggly and the nice, all in one, be it unwilling, transaction.
As soon as I realised what had happened, I began to "convo" as Etsy jargon has it, all the sellers, or as many as I could in one late night sitting.
As a sales person myself, I did not want to disappoint anyone who saw their transaction appear in their real-day time, and were pleased to sell their junk-my treasures.
So I went ahead and bought these transfer patterns (Fri-Sun missing!)

and these vintage somewhat yellow-ish pillowcases.

  

and some more. 

 A Holly Hobby pillowcase, because I am occasionally regressing into childhood and I felt like my 8 year old came across it.

 and a blanket that has certainly seen better days, but I saved in my cart because I liked the way the seller dispayed it.

Then the responses began piling up. Some people said "OK, I'll cancel. Thanks for lookign at my stuff". And that was great, because I will certainly look at their stuff if and when I shop Etsy again. 

One person wrote to me, "OK, I'll cancel, but what about my 20 pence for re-lisitng the item?"

Another lectured me on being more careful with my transactions.

One person said, "OK, no worries-thanks for letting me know",  then went ahead and marked all 7 items I had nearly bought from her with a minus, in Etsy jargon, she gave me negative feedback.
And another person marked her feedback: refused to pay.

Now, as I said, I am a sales person. And I know all about the ups and downs, and the frustration of a sale that does not go ahead as planned. Bur spare me please the lecture, and the negativity.
All these Etsy people are trading their stuff on Etsy, not just because they are independently  minded, in some no-war-in-'nam way, but also because they can't possibly afford to go all out and open a shop selling their grandma's unfinished cross-stitch, yellow-ish pillow cases, or torn books for 20 bucks, to give you just an example. And so, they find the Etsy umbrella quite convenient, which is a great opportunity and a great accomplishement of Etsy, which accounts for its success. Same goes for mums who sell their knitting efforts which amount to scarves for your coffee mug and key fobs from fabric remnants. And that is OK, too.

But these people who want to sell, and who are supposedly refusing mass consumerism, must also learn some rules that mass market trading has embraced, and thus reached the masses.

One of them is, "customer comes first". And if you  really want to make it, you must do better than repremand a customer who happened to hit the check out button by mistake and let you know as soon as they possibly could. 

And another rule to consider: In a global trading experience as Etsy is, you must be prepared to show some understanding when shipping comes to three times the cost of the item in question, and either accomodate the buyer, if the order is large enough to cover part of the cost. Most of the time, I ship to my clients paying the expenses myself. They trust me enough to place orders over the phone, and I always include a lavender sachet or a pair of slippers to show my appreciation. Trust me on this one: Learn to trust your customers as much as you can afford. They will come back for more!

A new week with pink elf booties

pink baby elf booties on Etsy

Saying "hello" to the new week with a pair of Elf Booties. Aren't they the cutest?

I hope you all enjoyed the weekend. We took part in the bi-annual company confrence, met with people from across the globe, tested the new products, and with God's grace we are rolling up our sleeves for a shop renovation by next Spring :-0 Very nice, pale colours and new shelves for our products. I was kind of getting tired of the bold colours myself. I was discussing with DH on the way home, that although time is quite subjective, fashions do chnge and we can tell when a car is an old model, or a colour combination is passe. Design is an expensive business, but it does add some salt and pepper to our everyday lives!

I couldn't think of life without interior design, even inside a cave, would you? 

Have a beautiful new week,

Weekend thoughts

Hello dear friends,

I fell madly in love with the work of Yvette Inufio on Etsy. 

She accompanies this photo with the words:

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Couldn't agree more! What do you think?
Also visit Yvette's blog here.

Happy weekend,

Fabulous Print Giveaway

 September already...

...and so, today it is slightly fresher than yesterday and we had our first rainfall.

Are we slowly walking into Autumn? Perhaps...

Has it rained yet where you live? I mean real, autumn rain, you fear it won't stop?

And yet..

 We are still so close to Summer!..And this print, very much reminds me of summer.

It may be the bunting...

the lantern...

and those little white flowers? They may be fragrant jasmins, I think, filling the night air with their perfume...

Last month I found Linea Non Grata on Etsy, and fell in love with this picture that now sits next to my bed. A sweet reminder of beautiful  Art's healing, loving touch to the human soul. 
There is so much more to discover if you head to Linea Non Grata's shop here .
And artist Julia Freund's blog is right here.  

I have one "nightwalk" print to give away, curtesy of Julia's talented soul and hands.
If you'd like to bring home this beautiful print, leave me a comment answering this question:

" What picture comes to mind, what image do you see when you hear:

LOVE 

CREATIVITY

NATURE "

Bonus points for a) posting about the giveaway on your blog, b) posting on facebook.  Leave me a comment, for an extra entry, if you do. Don't forget to leave a sweet word to Julia's blog. The giveaway is open Internationally. Winner will be announced on SEPTEMBER 22, 2010.

Happy September!

In the eyes of the beholder

Everyone of us sees a number of things we all see even if we live miles away. Every day we look at the same sun. The same sky vault. The same planet. Several similar kinds of plants and animals, and all kinds of different people. I find it fascinating that our points of view differ; that what an image whispers to our souls can be so different; and that different images trigger similar locked thoughts and feelings to come forth and surprise us.

I love taking pictures. As long as I remember I carry with me first, a Kodak pocket, then an Agfa, then a Ricoh, now a Sony. I remember them all with love and longing.

Anyway, enough said. I want to share with you some lovely photography I came across today. A little nostalgic, quite colorful, above all pictures that speak to me in a positive way, quite appropriately for the weekend and the coming two week long Easter school holiday.

This one comes from Still in Motion. It urges me to play more, to have more fun, to taste life. I believe in synchronicity.

This one is from Modern Classics. I love it. I can smell the grass, I can feel the sun, I can visualise myself lying on earth and watching the clouds pass...Perhaps a message in a photo...

So these two ladies from Etsy have joined forces for a giveaway that you may join if you are so inclined, for three photos of your choosing from Modern Classics.

Above all, walk through their galleries and enjoy the view. And if you are so inclined, I'd love to know what your eyeviews and theirs and mine met along the way that spoke to your heart.

I wish your weekend is sunny and very, very enjoyable.

An Alice in Wonderland Celebration

{Charmed Memory}

{Stephanie Fizer}




{Alice in Wonderland, 1903, via the beloved India Knight}

Have a fairytale, colourful, magical week ahead.

Dear Santa...

For Christmas
And the New Year
And my birthday
.
.
.
.

I want this bag...please?..It's corduroy and pink and green! Anyone hearing out there?

::The mystical world of Hidden Eloise::

The mystical, magical world of Hidden Eloise.

Shop here (Sale on)

Web home here.

N.B. Set aside some time to take in the beauty and whimsy.

Wooly

It's getting cold outside in my part of the world...Here, let me warm your hands...

{dadaya}

{two brunettes}

{ninon}

Happy Heart warming week