Monday, 30 March 2009

Hair Day

Today Lucky and I went to the hairdresser...



We both left quite some hair behind...


For Lucky it is no improvement for his looks, it is just that his hair is like wool and not possible to brush so we have it trimmed twice a year. My hair hasn't been so short for 10 years, but wanted to have something different this time, it is a bit flat now because of all the brushing and drying, but after a shower it will be back to normal.

Friday, 27 March 2009

Little Sister, visiting the Stars

I'm so sorry for not been able to contact anyone for this weeks peeks. The New Project took alot of energy these past 2 weeks and I just couldn't come around with it.
To avoid an empty blogpost, I googled for some Star Homes, hmmmm maybe I should become a movie star...

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Ladies, forget about your big bum, apparently some flesh behind brings quite some bucks!
Jenny from the block sure came far with her acting, singing and dancing career and lives in this huge house. Wondering if they often loose track of the twins Jennifer and Marc have...




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After acting in 49 movies since 1962, Kurt Russel does deserve to have some quite time in a house jumped out of a fairytale.




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Renee Zellweger is one of the rare ladies that got famous by being overweight and smoking in front of the world in Bridget Jones's Dairy, she came pretty far that way...



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I'm not sure which one is better, George or his fab home, heck I'll take them both!



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Although pretty Julia has been one of the best paid actresses for ages, she keeps it pretty simple compared to others. Instead of a castle, she chooses a house on the beach, smart girl!



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The bigger the houses are the more I wonder what they do with such a huge space, it must cost a fortune to keep everything clean and they often stay more in hotels then at their house. Little Justin sure has enough room to start a Hotel himself!



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Desperate Housewife Eva, doesn't look so desperate anymore after seeing her home, I like the fact that she choose a different color than all the others.




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Being funny for money, not everyone makes that dream come true! After many successful movies I'm not surprised of Jim's huge palace!




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Drew must have known at a very young age that being friendly with an alien can get you far. Just like Kurt Russel she acted in 49 movies, although she is 24 years younger, and still has a while to go for retirement...



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Sean Connery lives in a home that suits him well, royal but not over the top and a perfect spot on the beach...



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10 years has past since 'Baby One More Time' and Britney grew from a girl to a women to a mother of two and divorced two times. She couldn't keep her husbands on her side but has a pretty house to enjoy when her boys are with her...



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Denzel Washington can be called King Denzel from now on, he has the biggest palace of all in a green, green valley...




Next week the real kind of peeks :)

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

A Day On the Beach Finds 2


Some more beach findings from the huge Etsy Sea:

Shell Photography- by SoZeSoZe
Sassy Sea Urchin Illustration- by Jessica Doyle
Sea Urchin Ring- from our shop
Driftwood Mirror Frame- by blackeyedsusan


Underwater
I'm underwater holding my breath, hoping I can stay like this forever.
Having no problems. Just the silence of the ocean.
If I go to the surface I will no longer have the same feeling I have underwater.
I love swimming through the smooth, cold water.
Watching beinings pass by. Having to go to the surface to get some air, but sometimes feeling like I don't need air, that I can survive without it.
Feeling I can Live underwater forever.

Different Masks

Monday, 23 March 2009

New Project Part 5


We have a hellish week behind us with different teams of technical workers finishing the technical installations in our new studio. Having workers in the house in never easy, but in our case this is aggravated by the fact that we have to keep fifteen dogs at bay that don't take kindly to unknown men drilling and moving things around.

We had lots of lights and sockets installed to have the full use of the 14mt long table.


When the electricians left, the airco guys arrived. We had two strong units installed, since this glass encased room will easily reach 60C in summer.



We had the ugly tubes connecting the inside units with the motors brough up through the wooden ceiling, across the room under the eaves and down again through the ceiling outside the house where the motors are hidden by the bamboo. It took a team of three men ten hours to achieve this, by they did an outstanding job.



And now is our turn to move tons of stuff from the small studio to the new one. It will take us a while...



The lamps we used have been waiting in the attic several years to start their second life. They were old street lamps in the city of Kütahya. City workers were changing them for ugly new ones. We asked and got eight of them for free!
We stripped them of layers of paint and grime. Painted white and with new shades, they give the room a lovely fin-de-siecle winter garden atmosphere.


As we said, it will take some time to get all this organized, but eventually we will and show you the results.


To be continued...

Friday, 20 March 2009

Little Sister, Peeking through the window

Views from windows gives someone a good idea in what kind of place someone lives, I thought it would be nice to see the best views from peoples homes, and funny thing I got 4 views with water views (lucky girls!).



Petronella aka Kraplap who is usually called P8 (Peet) is the button queen of Etsy, you can't believe how much variations she has created with button art. She also makes bags, hats and clothing for plus sized ladies. And tells amazing button histories on her blog. She is originally from Holland but has lived in many other European countries through the years. She lives with her husband and their little doggie, Peggy. in Germany:

'We are living in the most northern part of Germany along the most southern fjord in northern Europe: the Schlei (in german) or the Slien (in danish). It stretches for approximately 20 miles from the Baltic Sea along the small cities of Kappeln and Arnis (the smallest city in Germany with about 300 inhabitants) to the city of Schleswig. We are living just after Arnis. I love to look at the Schlei with its colours always changing, with the many water birds living on it, with the clouds above, with the sails in the summer, with the sun shining on it, but also with the waves when it is storming. Every day it is different. The best view of the Schlei you can get from my house is from the window of the small room behind the kitchen and next to the living room. It's a large window and the outside vegetation is opening in front of it leaving the view of the Schlei free. I have put a very old and ugly sofa in front of it, hiding it with a batik cover, which has become not only my favourite place in the house but that of Peggy too. She has there two pillows, one on the sofa and one in the window-sill. She loves to lie on the one in the window-sill overlooking everything outside and inside, and baking in the morning sun. But when it becomes too warm there and she becomes very sleepy, she moves to the one on the sofa. It is a great life!'


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Ira Grant is the night seamstress on Etsy, in day time she is busy being mother for her little daughter and at night time she makes her beautiful bags. She originally came from West Sumatra, part of Sumatra Island in Indonesia and has lived for 5 years in London, England, before she moved, with her husband, to Switzerland, here is her story:

'I live with my kiwi hubby and our little daughter in the beautiful little city of Neuchatel in Switzerland. Six years ago, we almost gave up to find 'the one' before we found this apartment, and this one was the winner on the spot! After trying more than three months and at more than 25 houses or apartments, I have to admit that when the apartment itself is not bad, we choose this one because of the views that we saw once we step into the living room! Who can resist the views of the Beautiful Neuchatel Lake, The Alps and Mont Blanc from your living and dining room everyday, then The Vineyard view once you open your bedroom window in the morning. My favourite room is my work corner or the dining room. Two years ago instead of working in one of our three bedrooms, I picked this room because from here I can see my daughter playing, dancing, singing, watching TV or doing her own things in the living room when I do my work. She is happy too that she can see mummy all the time and help mummy make a mess of her fabrics sometimes! I guess we are both very pleased with this arrangement and my other half is not complaining either, he has to eat his dinner in front of the telly! Most of our friends already moved on to a second or even third house, we are still here and pretty much love this place like the first time we saw it.'


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Isis aka PaperFlowerGirl makes romantic jewelry, and lovely drawings. She has a special kind of way to fotograph her creations and she even took pictures for the online magazine Viva la Moda. Beside her creative work she studies, here is her story:

'My favorite view is from my studio window. Where ever I sit in my studio I can always look outside. My desk with the computer where I sit everyday to edit photo's, list items, sort out administration, write my blog and work hard on my final thesis, is next to the window. My 'creative table' where I do sewing and creating jewelry is in the middle of the room. This is the room where I spend most of my time at home. It is next to my bedroom and it is the first room I drop by when I get up in the morning [the view from my bedroom is rather similar to the studio view, but my bedroom was really really messy, so I decided for now you'd only get to see the creative space]. Then I switch on the computer so that I can start work immediatly after I take a shower. I mostly eat breakfast in this room as well, while working. Trough the window you can see the houses on the other side of the street, that all date back to the late 19th century untill the 1930's. Behind those houses there is a lovely little park where I often go for a walk or a run whenever I feel like it. My house is in a calm street just outside the city center of Gent, a lovely town in Belgium. I moved here one year ago and have loved this place to bits ever since.'


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Liz from TwoLeftHands has a real Etsy family. You can find her mum's shop at OhRuthie, her daughter's shop at HumbleBea and her grandson's shop at DarkSideRules! She makes the sweetest Mossies, pillows and pincushions. She live in a little cottage on a little lake in Michigan, USA, with her husband and two adorable dogs, Muffie and Poker. They have three grown kids and nine beautiful grandkids, five boys and four girls. Here is her window story:

'When we bought our house over 25 years ago we had to replace all the windows, but this window we kept. I loved it's charm, even though it's a pain to clean. A few years ago I felt the need for some color and painted all of my trim torquoise. My family and friends thought I had gone quite mad! So here is the view from my charming old torquoise window.
In the winter time if I look out my window in the evening I can see the icefisherman's lanterns scattered across the lake, as they patiently wait to catch a fish. In a few weeks when the ice thaws the swans will be the first to make an appearance in my window, letting us know that summer is just around the corner. This window has given us a view of some powerful storms, the lake turns dark, with huge waves and the lightening strikes are spectacular. Sometimes at night I can see a sky full of stars through my window. In the late summer I look out my window and see the geese arrive by the hundreds it seems and we know that autumn is coming with all it's gorgeous color! Now you know why I like the view from my window! The little pooch is my sweet little Shitzu, Muffie.'


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Maria aka LeelaBijou lives in the main city of Gran Canaria with her boyfriend. She is finishing her degree in Economics and has been making jewelry for 4 years. Her shop is full of shiny jewelry made with real Swarovski elements. She also works as a mathematics and English teacher. She has a lovely blog too. Here is her story:

Every morning, I wake up and I enjoy a cup of coffee, watching the sun rising above the sea. It´s a very calming view, it gives me energy for the rest of the day. I have a lot of plants in my house, some of them are in the kitchen, as you can see in the second picture. I love taking care of them and seeing them grow.


Next peeks, next week!
Thank you P8, Ira, Isis, Liz and Maria for sharing your photographs and little bits of your lifes!

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

A Day on the Beach Finds


I guess we are all longing for Spring, lovely weather and the beach these days... Untill we can go to the beach ourselves, I want to show you some beautiful beach findings from Etsy.
Beach findings are from:

Sea Urchin Necklace- from our shop
Wall topo in Aqua- by Crafterall
Two stones and a starfish- by Knitalatte
Only the sea- by enchantedpond


The Beach

The beach is where I want to go,
To listen to the ocean voices ebb and flow.
Lather on the sun block,
And come near the shore and take a walk.
The athletes playing beach volleyball,
And listen to the seagulls call.
The seagulls chasing after bread,
Beach-goers ducking and covering thier heads.
The ocean breeze going through my hair.
Children throwing sand everywhere.
Playing in the cerulean tide,
Watching the sun behind the horizon, so wide.
People on thier stomachs to get brown and tan,
Getting thier bronzer all over thier hands.
Getting a whiff of the salty spray,
The beach is the place to get away.

Amber Odom

Sunday, 15 March 2009

Tagged and Awards

This week we recieved 3 blog awards, all are highly appreciated!

First PetitPlat gave us a fabulous award, thank you!

Then In Stitches honored us with an 'I Love your Blog' award, thank you!





And last, Karuski awarded us with the "Honest Weblog Prize", thank you too!
Here are the rules:

"When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog”. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!"



Here are 10 honest facts about us:

1. We love dogs, which is not a suprise,I guess, as we have 15, but we are both allergic to cats so don't have any contact with them.













2. We both hate housework, but we hate a dirty house and love throwing out garbage. And we love watching Desperate Housewives!

3. Mum hates to cook, but loves to eat, I cook but I don't like to eat.

4. I can't watch anything vaguely sentimental on TV without crying buckets of tears, but I love sentimental movies. Mum can't watch horrors out of fear but loves to read thrillers (with lots of dead, blood and killers).













5. Mum moved from Spain to Holland when she was 17, after 24 years living in Holland we moved together to Turkey (when I was 14). Although she can speak 6 languages none are perfect anymore and no one understands her very well except me. We speak a mixture of Dutch-Turkish-English at home and I can't speak Spanish.

6. We hardly watch the news or read newspapers, they are so depressive and sad, we do find out the big important news through cyber space.

7. We eat pretty healthy with lots of veggies but very little meat. Unfortunatly we never made a habbit to eat fruit. And we do love chips and chocolate.

8. When I drive I can only find very tiny parking spots, luckely I can park very well, however mum can't park at all but she always finds huge parking spots!










9. We use terms like ‘fat worm’ or ‘green disgusting being’ as terms of endearment for each other.

10. We can complete each others projects effortlessly or understand where a project is leading too without any explanation.

I'm tagging the following blogs:


Friday, 13 March 2009

Little Sister, Checking the Time


As you might already know, clocks are one of those things I can't get enough of, if you didn't know that you'll understand, when you see our Steampunk jewelry. Like almost of everything we have a small collection of old clocks too. The one on the left is made before the Turkish Republic was established (1932), when there still was an arabic alphabet. The one next too that a friend in Kütahya gave it to me during my last visit for a wedding (blogged about that here), the third one I can't remember, proberly a score of mum in a antique store or flee market. The one on the right is only the 'house' of a clock, I found it in a rubbish/antique shop in Kütahya when I was about 12 years old, and looked very sweet to the seller and got it for free. I cleaned it for hours, then varnished it and bought glass for it which I attached to it. After all the hard work mum adopted it... well I still enjoy it daily.
Now I was curious to see what kind of clocks others have, funny thing is now a days alot of people do not own any clocks, it was really a task to find people with clocks as alot of people only use their PC, TV and mobile clocks.


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First, we are going to Portugal, to see the lovely clock of Kerrin, owner of Sigmosaics, she makes beautiful mosaics but also magnets, perfect little gifts. You can read more in her lovely blog.

Here is her story:
''This Pukeko clock is the most special clock I own. A friend actually brought it as a wedding present for myself and my now, ex-husband .. the clock has lasted, the marriage didn't! It travelled with me from New Zealand to Portugal, 7 years ago and it will travel back with me when the time comes to return there.
The clock is ceramic and is made by New Zealand artist Lynda Harris. It features four hand painted Pukeko's milling around a swamp near some green grassy hills in New Zealand. If you click on the word Pukeko you can read more about what type of bird this is. They are a dime a dozen in NZ and I remember in particular one area of Auckland where you always had to be careful driving along as these birds would insist on crossing the road during peak hour traffic! They are potentially not the cleverest of birds, but I think one of the prettiest.

The clock sits in my 'workroom' on the windowsill so when i'm feeling wistful and dreamy I can take a peep and remember home and gaze out into my garden, which it blends rather nicely into. Usually the clock is surrounded by enormous bits and pieces of work drying up on the windowsill but I thought it better to try to tidy (just a little) so there's not too many gasps of horror at the mess in here.''


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Greet aka Fleurfatale, is mother of four, wife, always busy never enough time, it is really a miracle how she manages her family life with her successful jewelry bussines and she blogs often.

Here is her story:
''As time flies by....The main clock in our house is a simple Ikea clock. It is 15 years old now, as we bought it when we moved in here!
We don't have many clocks in the house, some digital in the bedrooms and of course one in the doll house too! That's all, too many clocks would make me nervous, I think... I need that clock in the living room to know when I have to bring and get the kids, and of course for being in time at the doctor, the dentist, the therapy,...you bet I spend a lot of time in waiting rooms (having 4 little kids). And that clock is also very handy to show the kids when it's bedtime :-)But I don't need one to be in time on my workplace as my workplace is here at home and I am my own boss :-) (4 years ago I quit work, after the birth of my youngest son)... For 15 years I had my own business as a graphic designer, I enjoyed it a lot, but now I am happy I entered another phase in my life. I do miss the creative work, but not the deadlines! and now I have time for doing all the things that I dreamed of when I was at work, like making jewelry !

The clock is now in the dinner room, but it has travelled a lot in our house. Hubby and I like to change the interior from time to time, not with new stuff, but rearranging the furniture. As we have a house with only one big place, no rooms or doors on the first floor, it's easy to move things from one wall to another. We rearrange it when the kids are in bed, and the morning after they are so happily surprised with the 'new house'. I think you can sort the style of our interior in the 'bazaar style' as the furniture and decoration are a miss mash that mostly comes from thrift stores and flea markets.

And no better way then to end this post about 'clocks' with my most favorite quote about 'time', from Andy Warhol "They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself! So, go ahead!'' ''



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Mum and I are both fans of Jessica Doyle's work, she designed our shop banners and bussines cards, a great experience. Jessica makes her magical illustrations in Canada, she also blogs.

Her clock has quite a history:
''This New Haven Co. Mantle Clock has been in my family since the early 19th century. It's been passed down generation to generation on my father's side. Ever since I can remember it's been sitting in the front hallway leading up the stairs for the last 35 years. The clock itself was built by the New Haven clock Co. in New Haven, Connecticut (USA) and made its way to Canada via my Great Great Great Grandfather. There could be another Great in there... Haha!

It's a beautiful clock that winds up and functions perfectly. The brass pendulum chimes on the hour and tick tock tick tocks every minute. It has beautiful wood carving scroll detail, gold glass painting and black ornate numbering. I just happen to catch my cat walking down the stairs while taking pictures of the clock. Her name is Missy Two Shoes.''


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Malene lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is a clinical psychologist and part time jewelry artist. She works in a treatment center, where they treat traumatized refugees. She started creating jewelry 8 years ago and has a very diverse taste therefor she has two shops, one features very modern, simple metal and gemstone designs at mkaae. The other shop has vintage style jewelry, elvesgarden. You can read more in her blog.

The story:
''This alarm clock was a gift I bought for my boyfriend about 5 years ago. I was away on a meditation retreat in the south of France and spend a few days afterwards in Montpellier. Apart from a very pleasant and sensual visit to a french hairdresser, I went shopping for a gift. I was happy to find a toy/collector shop where they had this fun clock. It's a "Road Runner clock"...you know "Mic - mic....hrrrnnn" I love that cartoon. The poor coyote allways gets into trouble and hurts himself trying to catch the road runner.

My boyfriend loved the clock. He is a big time collector. Mostly he collects vintage Disney items and Donald Duck cartoons but he absolutely does not limit himself to that ;-) About one year ago we moved to a bigger apartment here in Copenhagen. It's a beautiful old apartment with lot's of great details, but it needs serious renovating. We hope to be finished with the renovating around Christmas. My boyfriend does most of this work, as he is extremely thorough and patient! All our furniture is cramped into two rooms while the rest of the apartment is being renovated. The clock sits on my boyfriends desk, but it was just too messy to show :-) So I moved it to my own desk...if you look closely you can see the 3 cute Star Wars Mice I got from TheHouseOfMouse.''


Next peeks, next week!
Thank you Kerrin, Greet, Jessica and Malene for sharing your photographs and little bits of your lifes!