on the fourth Sunday of december, last giveaway

This is the last of the fourth give-aways of december, three gifts for a lucky winner:

*A classic enamel teapot (new) in cream with grey rim from my e-shop

*One of the famous potholders made by Renilde De Peuter of At swim-Two-Birds

*Three cute fridge magnets by Ana Maraz of Talking to Volcano

To enter the draw, you just need to leave a comment below.

A winner will be announced on Sunday 6th of January.

Good Luck and enjoy the Christmas preparatives to those who celebrate it. 

Remember this paper sculpture? The artist who made it somehow found my post!

To visit his website go here

I wish you a Magic Christmas and  a Peaceful New Year to you all!

I'll take a pause.

My e-shop stays open, orders will be processed from the 7th of January

on shifting and the winner of the third give-away

Today is the end of the 13th baktun in the Mayan calendar 
and the beginning of a new cycle. As usual there were many 
speculations about it, some really bonkers in my opinion. 
But the one I like the best is the theory that from today there 
will be a shift in consciousness. I don't know about the rest of
 the world, but I like to think that is what will happen to me, 
so I'm ready to shift a bit more.

This shift in consciousness urges me to say something about president Obama.

It struck me that crying after something so predictable that happened 
in Connecticut, is too little too late. Why the sale of guns in supermarkets   malls is allowed? 
Why guns are sold anyway? It's a question US citizen should pose 
to him and to themselves too. President Obama, you cried for the 
death of the Connecticut victims but what about the 70.000 estimated 
deaths of innocent children during the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine? 
Whose missiles are those? and who give orders? 
using drones doesn't make you more human. Who will cry for those children?

While keep shifting, I took the decision to end my Instagram account. 
I really didn't like the change on the privacy policy announced few weeks ago. 
Sorry to those who followed my Instagram and to those I won't follow any more there.

Anway, there are options out there. I'm just waiting for Flickr to launch the 
the app for Android phones, by the way, the app for Iphone is already available.

I uploaded part of my Instagram snaps here (it takes a bit of time to upload all) 
and blimey, the quality outside the little screen is awful.

There are so many other things I don't like and I'm fed up with, 
so let's hope that collective consciousness shift it's for real. 

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the winner of the third give-away:

Matilda, congrats :) 

Thank you all for playing along.

Thank you to the new readers and followers too.

*Image from Tumbler, lost credits, copyrights the author.

 

 

still and quiet

Less than a week to Christmas, this year seems such a big deal, 

it's A enthusiasm that is contagious.

She's been looking forward to it since August. 

It's not about the presents she received, she's reasonable, her requests to Santa are modest.
it's more about the time we spend together with her and the sweets and cakes we eat.
And the expectations to open the presents of course.

I always been reluctant to celebrate Christmas, 
especially after my mum died of cancer 14 years ago, the 31 of December. 
The last Christmas we had together was terrible. 
I stopped celebrating it altogether until A was born, 
never really done much until this year, she's more conscious of it I think.

I'm re-discovering Christmas through the eyes of a child.
 Ours it's mainly a DIY Christmas,  no frenzy, no stress, no worries.

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ps: do not forget to play the give-away still on until this Friday.

 

on the third sunday ☁ giveaway

Hello, hope you are having a fine weekend.

Today, another generous give-away offered to you by: 
Hermine van Dijck, 
MiAvril 
Fontable.

 to win :

a set of “the little things that make me happy” postcards by Hermine Van Dijck
a "clouds" garland by Mi Avril    

a "cloud" to hang on the wall by Fontable

To play enter a comment on this post, good luck! you have time to play until next Friday.

You can read more about these talented people here, here and here.

Thank you! 

in the afternoon

I caught a ray of sunshine.

The winner of the second give-away
Pomme, congrats!

Thanks to those who played along,
another give-away this Sunday.

 

learning from kids★advent calendar

I've been invited to contribute to
"Learning from Kids Advent Calendar" on Trula's blog.

Kids don't need to talk much to teach us something, 
they just do things.

Thank you Anke!

tree

It was nice to decorate the tree today.

I'm trying to teach her to be patient, although she proves my patience a lot. 
I don't know who of the two really learnt something. 
But today she (might) understood that less is more (decoration wise) 
and I understood that definitely more is less (more talking, less understanding).

Sometimes you just need to be the example.

The second give-away is on until this Friday.

on the second sunday of december (give-away)

Hello there, 
hope your weekend is going nicely. 

The second give-away is offered to you by:

fen and ned,
Paper Covers Rock 
Krisztina Vona.

The winner will get:

A pair of sterling silver square bar earrings by Enni from fen and ned.

Sterling silver square bar earrings - approx L 25mm x W 1mm - handmade in the UK

 A set of Christmas cards, by Rachel Caunt. 
These special Christmas cards were designed for Folklore, 
an independent London design shop. The original designs 
were delicate paper collages. They were then transformed 
into printed cards by East London's Aldgate Press.

Each card is A6 size and comes with a C5 ribbed kraft envelope.
The cards are printed on 100% recycled paper.

2013 calendar
designed by Paris based illustrator Krisztina Vona. 

Krisztina has been drawing calendars for five years as a 
Christmas gift for her family and friends. Since she
 received a good feedback and many compliments, 
she decided to go further and decided to print 500 offset copies.  
She loves nature and she's always inspired by it. 
The calendar feature different animals, one for every month of the year. 
The original drawings  are done with her favourite ballpoint 
pen and her Japanese watercolor. 

To enter you need to leave a comment on this post and then like:

fen and ned facebook page

paper covers rock facebook page 

A big thank you to the ladies who are kindly offering this special giveaway.

Anyone welcome, you don't need a blog to play, the draw closes next friday
good luck!

with paper

Sorry for the late post, I've been out and about all day.
This is a picture I took today with my mobile
(some of you already saw it on Instagram).
I don't know the author of the sculpture book,
 beautiful work isn't it?

The winner of this first give-away is number 14 :  
congratulations to Patrice A.!
Please send me an email with your address.

Thank you all for playing along, don't forget there will be more give-aways,
next one will be this Sunday, 3 prizes for one winner.

red is sneaking around the house

Yesterday a friend came to visit with her daughters, they brought us roses. 

All my friends are so busy that sometimes months go by before we see 
each other again.

Last Saturday I went to London and had a nice walk in Marylebone, 
I like that area because although is high street, it doesn't feel much like it .  
Another reason why I like that area is because  I'm a Sherlock Holmes' fan 
and so I had a stroll around Baker Street, trying to imagine how it looked 
at the time of the famous detective; even if he's a fiction character, I like
 the books so much that to me almost existed in real life. 
That's the power of words and books.

I went  browsing at Margaret Howell, the only thing I could afford there 
was a book I bought for Anita! they wrapped it nicely for me. 
The book was first published in the fifties and it's about the importance of words. 
That will go under the Christmas tree, along with other books.

I then went to Liberty and to the Cloth house and bought few fabrics.

Now, about the snow in my blog: yes, I know I have snow! I put it there 
;^)

Do you like it? would you like to add it in your blog too? here you go! (just look for the post in my page).

PS: you still have time to enter the giveaway until this Friday.

 

end of november

Last week I had to go up North to see a specialist dentist.

I've been in pain for three months now and finally I can see a 
bit of light at (hopefully) the end of this tunnel.

I brought with me my camera but it was easy (being sedate 
and in pain and very tired) to snap few pics with my mobile.

The highlight of my short trip was that I went to visit a dear 
friend after I haven't seen her for almost five years. I lived in 
York, which is a very nice town, but being a new mum and 
with not much family around I had a bit of a rough time then. 
I felt quite alone but, I was lucky enough to meet this friend
 which I always regarded as a fine example of mother: 
she's has the courage to be against the grain, 
she's quite unconventional and not conformist but wise indeed, 
a bit crazy too, her daughters are the most clever and 
interesting teenagers I know. In the end my dental problems
 turned on a positive note.

I will have an Advent Calendar GiveAway for each Sunday until Christmas,
 I'm also taking part of  a couple more AC in other blogs.
I'll tell you more when the time comes.

First GiveAway here this Sunday 1 of December

Have a nice weekend!

All images on Instagram (first collage M. home, second collage out and about).

making her advent calendar

I put everything into small paper bags, add some tags then
 all the 24 little parcels will go in a basket.

I like to keep things simple.

A mouse shaped soap, a puppy paw' stamp, silver ink, 
a pencil sharpener,  silver chocolate coins, a star box, 
a pencil with the tables, washi tape, English roses candies,
 a red heart, a little house, a silver A, a flying pink pig, 
ceramic letters for her name, a case with stars, 
three sugar mice, an old ruler.

shop (little) update

Few items added in my web-shop.

peacock cushion from At Swim-Two- Birds
cloud hook from Fontable
winter socks from Knots 

my socks at MAV? 

on my path today

seven stars

Olive and Lottie

My crochet dolls are back in the shop.

These two are called Olive and Lottie,
 they went to college in Cambridge (hence the little satchels) 
and they are very well mannered.

Hopefully they will find new homes soon.

  

See more of my dolls here.

Also available made to order.

I really don't know clouds at all

The clouds are back in my webshop, 
here

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Kids Room, a lovely Danish blog

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A song 

little people socks

A peep on a collection of socks for kids.
Super soft and in sweet colours.

preparatives

Few of  the little things that will go on her advent calendar
sweet little parcels from Nouschine and Sons.

Enjoy the weekend.

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