~ listening to the radio?

love at first sight...

are you familiar with this concept?

am almost certain that you do...

personally, the more social platforms like Facebook encourage us to "like" things,

the more selective I'm drown to be...

resulting in a need to:

 ~> shop less, 

~> have less,

but at the same time the need to like as much as possible

anything and anyone in my life

from people who are in my immediate environment to

to each and every object in our home & household,

to the work I do,

to the work of others,

to how I spend my time

both in virtual & real life.

this being said, there is a tendency instead to rather fall in love 

here is how I define falling in love with someone's work:

"being positively stuck with it since the very first visual encounter,

while both the eyes, the soul and the mind are

experiencing a state of intense pleasure and calmness.

moreover, the object or work in any form 

are since then always remembered

and recognised when seen again"

so has been the case with {AM radio}

or else one of the most stylish and beautiful

vintage shops operating on etsy

what fascinates me is that Melissa,

the creative person behind AM radio company/shop,

 has actually turned her work into art

this fact is something that marks me forever...

I mean when I come through people,

whose love and passion for what they do

instantly tranforms their work into art.

selling can be a very commercial issue (if but anything else),

or perhaps a very artistic issue,

with a successful outcome, counting as commercialsm as well

whenever I think of sales & material things,

then examples like Chanel come in my mind.

would miss Coco ever go out in the streets* "shouting" about the quality 

of her work?

* in current societies it is the Internet

I sincerely doubt it,

as she would have no time to actually produce quality, would she?

now what do Coco Chanel and {Am radio} or for that matter any other 

similar shop have in common?

a dynamic trio if you ask me:

[via]

unique quality, originality, love & passion for what they do.

one of the reasons Am radio is shared with you here today

is that its success is mainly based on the

extreme beauty of the work,

may it be the vintage finds Melissa choses,

or the impeccable in every way styling and photography

of the objects

there is no blog connected to the shop, neither a FB page at the moment,

yet she was a {featured etsy seller this April}.

I admit to not being always informed about everything that is going on

on etsy {therefore I only read Melissa's  interview just today}

or even all the blogs that I follow,

 simply cause if I really did,

then there would simply be no time to actually live a life,

even more a creative life,

as everything that I would create would be nothing but a mere

combination of countless inspirational stimuli from here and there

allow me to say that this is not my idea of creativity.

as fine as it may be to reproduce a favourite DIY project that we saw in a magazine,

or a blog,

as fine it is not and it cannot be named as creativity

when we see something, like it and then set on our

"adventure" to recreate it or "cleverly" reproduce it

yes, I do believe in the freedom of ideas to flow and to even change hands,

but at some point, there is a source,

and for me the source of creativity can be nothing but our true selves

so to return to AM radio, 

going through the shop's items,

I'm left with no doubt in the world,

that the person who is doing all the creative work,

is actually in love with what she does,

from the time she sets off to discover new treasures,

to taking care of them by cleaning them,

to styling her "models" to photographing them

to finally communicating with customers

it is all there

the love

the passion

the care

the excitment

 I believe this to be and to forever remain the basic ingerdient of success

how many years they may pass, how much technology may evolve,

advertisment will always be a help in promoting one's work,

but in the first place, there should be work worth of mentioning,

in order to survive in time.

on another point of view, I'm extremely happy to be sharing these finds

with you here today,

as these beautiful porcelain letters below

are the first purchase I did for my future, little studio corner

in our soon to be new home

adoring white, natural materials like porcelain and typography in general,

these could have not been any better for 

putting together my creative corner

and even though I' m since a long time extremely careful with expenses

and shopping, I'm happy that new horizons are opening for me,

therefore allowing for such small spontaneous treats as these

ones below

[via]

aren't they just darling?

so you already know by now, which is the basic inspiration

my future studio corner's creation will be based on:

well, hello ideas!

[via]

saying that, I'm so thankful for the fact that through the renting process 

of our current living space,

so mamy doors are opening to me

the clouds' silver linings are slowly and steadily beginning to appear...

[via]

 these amazing milky white glasses

would have easily ended up in my shopping cart,

 had I not efficiently learned to "hold my horses"

they would indeed look marvelous 

all lined up with flowers inside, at our new dining area,

but I have to keep in mind that

there is a renovation awaiting ahead

and this is no time

 to be indulging in

every temptation

perhaps they'll still be there next time I visit the shop

or perhaps the'll end up in one of your

 beautiful houses

so my dears, 

I' ve really mentioned enough points in this post

and will just let you enjoy looking at some more

pictures...

I'll wait for you at the end for a nice closure...

[via]

[via]

[via]

[via]

[via]

[via]

I suppose that after this visual bath,

it's time to share a picture of Melissa* with you....

*btw Melissa means bee in Greek, quite an appropirate name for a creative & productive person,

don't you think?

honestly, when you see such a person's eyes & face expression,

is there really any doublt in the world,

that above all, 

she's trully a kind person,

appreciating the life she has and all she does?

do hop {here} to read her whole interview...

I' ll just fininsh this post with some of her words that deeply touched me:

Where would you like to be in ten years?
Still seeking out vintage treasures, loving my husband more than I do now, watching my little girl grow into a lady, and possibly building a cottage tucked neatly away by the waters edge.

[via]

wishing you all a wonderful day ~

it has been such a pleasure putting this post together,

while at the same time mails were being exchanged with Melissa,

in her effort to assist me in every possible way she could.

till next time... 

take care and consider this:

Energy... comes from within... take care of your soul & psyche as much as your body & mind

........................

All pictures are originally styled and made by Melissa for AM radio.

The first collage, second diptych and the one before the last are put together by me for Domestic Stories 2011

[all rights reserved]

what's on your mind?

[via]

well my dears, 

 seeing your response in the {latest post}

has been again just so heart warming,

so thank's a lot!

I don't know about you, but I love handwriting

{thank's mum for teaching me calligraphy from the very early years}

and the whole aspect of forming letters in order to communicate

a certain point is kind of ingenious, isn't it?

however for granted 

we might be taking it

I mean, can you imagine life without written speech?

the impact it has in our lives?

do you sometimes wonder how life was before certain inventions?

oh but please, do not mention Internet,

as it has really become a cliche... 

and as far as I' m concerned,

life was still nice before internet, despite its numerous amazing indeed applications,

{writing a blog being one of them, ahem, ahem}

somehow I sometimes get the feeling that

not far are the days that people will be avoiding

being online, tired of being over connected,

overexposed themselves

&

over bombarded by advertisement and promotion techniques

yes, I know so far we call them social media,

but really who are we kidding?

how many "pages" can we really like and actually follow their updates,

still having quality time to ourselves

&

 still being able to experience true calmness, relaxation

and this wonderful feeling described in

the German language as " Wohl fühlen"?

{feeling complete}

how many acquaintances can fit in our FB account,

filed under friends?

sometimes being online starts feeling like watching a favorite film

on a rather bad national T.V channel,

interrupting every little while for advertisements,

honestly how much stimuli can fit our brain capacity

and then

how many hundreds of things can we actually like?

since FB was invented I believe the word LIKE

to have totally lost its original meaning.

we may hit the "like" button in fractions of a second,

which is rather too fast for any real connection

to be established in our minds

between what we actually saw and what we really like

personally I don't need any kind of reminder

 for the things I like,

and the same goes for the people I like

exactly because I like them,

parts of their personality and way of life influence my thinking

then "hell might freeze"

they will be still remembered, respected and in some cases also loved.

and to make this a little more personal,

if you forget about this blog, my work or me,

because I do not remind you a few times a day,

every day, 24/7,

then may it be that you forget about it!

it means that other things are more important for you

and that is quite all right.

I do though have the impression that quite a few of you here,

always remember these pages,

even perhaps have them in a pretty, little corner in the back of your heads, 

regardless of the exposure I try {or not} to bring

and then I feel very, very honored...

cause who saw a breathtakingly beautiful woman

 and forgot her after she disappeared?

 who met kindness and never recalled it again?

 who read magnificent poetry and forgot their favorite lines?

 who entered a magical place and forgot about it

 because they never returned or heard about it

again?

this blog might not be a breathtakingly beautiful woman,

or a poetry book,

it might be no palace either

but of anything that it might be, it is the truest expression of who I am

and developing into being each day

and I think this to be carrying a significance of its own

so, I hope that you come back and check new posts from time to time

as much as perhaps returning to reading some of your favorite previous posts

around here

...........................

and how about seeing together a couple of {my favorite prints} of meaningful quotations

styled by Lotta Agaton, the work of which I truly admire?

it'd be great if you shared which ones are your favorites

and why

I'll do the same in the comments section,

after yours though ; )

[via]

[via]

"It's the small things that make the big things happen"

[via]

I mean, really, even when we sometimes go through these self love periods

and we feel that somehow we might be a little bit fabulous in our ways,

so what?

there are just countless fabulous people out there...

[via]

and how true is this... rephrased to:

"the world is but a mirror of ourselves"

[via]

and then,

familiarizing ourselves with fear 

can perhaps be the most liberating 

experience of our lives... 

at least when I stopped ignoring my fears

and starting facing them,

they immediately begun loosing all of their glory....

have your tried showing your teeth to Mr Fear?

ha!... then you'll see who's scared....

just like an elephant scared of a tiny mouse, 

 only to realize that the poor little "thing" 

cannot actually do much harm to him

and after all that, in the end of the day...

 what is more heartwarming,

 soul soothing & mind relaxing 

than saying 

 to this one special to you person:

i love you...

[via]

have a lovely evening my dears

till next post!

all images of prints by Therese Sennerholt, styling by interior stylist Lotta Agaton

............................................................

P.S: in case some might be offended by the seemingly unkind messages of some sentences, my apologies, please do not take it personally. This is just a general post.

Woody Allen & other famous people illustrations

[via]

 hello everyone on this Saturday afternoon!

 thank you so much for showing up and sharing nice comments

 about the days spent in our current home

 &

 around Frankfurt with {this} lovely lady.

 ... developing friendships is so precious nowadays...

in case you are you perhaps wondering how come you are seeing me here

three days in a row during a busy period,

well... I was rather not supposed to be having time to

be on line today, at least not until later,

but a slight change of plans is 

resulting in me "stealing" some time

as I'm collecting inspiration lately

together with planning our future home to be,

I randomly stumble upon

quite a few things and people,

whose work drows my attention & feel it's quite suitable to bring 

to our rather selective pages

there are already a couple of people whose

work has touched me beyond words can describe

and am looking forward to sharing here,

but such posts require no time limits,

as I may be writing... forever!

this post will be kept relatively short,

and in all its spontaneity,

I'll proceed with sharing

a choice of prints

from the ingenious and quite recognized work

of illustrator {Judy Kaufman},

since yesterday I'm also becoming familiar with it...

I really like the famous people illustrations,

my favorite ones being these of 

Woody Alen & Charles Chaplin

{the 1st & last pictures here}

there is actually a collection of  9 of them

where you can choose a set of three from.

hop {here} and there you are!

I guess my 3rd choice would be {Frida Carlo}...

what about you?

does this kind of art attract you?

yes? which would you choices be?

personally, I'm also attracted to such prints like the ones below:

[via]

..................................... this neighborhood ...................................

[via]

........................... this tree in black & white .................................

................................ with its cleverly "hidden" birds ...............................

{can you actually count how many?}

 

[via]

........................... this urban city and cars.....................................

which attracts my eye with all these graphic lines,

 simplicity & soft grey tones...

[via]

&

....................................... Charles Chaplin .................................

................... last, but certainly not least as it is my favorite ...........

......................

so my dears, clock is ticking,

break from "real life" is over, 

and running right back to it,

 as the weather

today is a wonderful gift,

especially for us living in the middle & northern parts of Europe

I'll have to wish you already a wonderful weekend ahead,

and renew our date here quite soon,

 this time sharing more pictures from

 the {recent photo shooting around our home},

the special handmade gift I received,

while also sharing inspiration,

lovely artists I have been having the pleasure of personally 

getting in contact with thanks to this blog

&

if all angels of the earth and universe bless me with the gift of

time,

a little taste of the ever on going creativity sessions taking place here

&

perhaps some shop updates to share

take care ~

enjoy your weekends!

~ 3 x 3 ...

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope that the title has not... scared you by thinking that today 

there is going to be a maths lessons contacted through

these pages & lines!

just a simple way to share with you

9 favorite things,

one of which is also featuring a favorite number of mine:

3, as my birth month is March,

the third of the year.

a little note in between ~>

in case you are a regular reader and are following these posts

one by one, my apologies for still not having proceeded

with the revelations mentioned in {this post}

everything in their time, as it is often said,

it will be done :)

till then, some recent finds from etsy that I have recently stumpled upon and {loved},

as they put me smoothly into an autumn mood...

unless you live in places like Australia for example,

you are quite possibly in the same mood, right?

these choices today are not part of a {larger collection of 16} as it is usually the case,

but just a little company of 9 items,

which would stand nicely

next to one anther,

adding charming details to a relatively minimal room,

with few, selected objets, clean cut lines,

bringing an introduction 

to the change of the season.

to visit each item individually,

starting from top to bottom & left to right,

line by line,

click on the numbers respectively:

1. rustic number three card ~ 

2. vintage garden shears ~ 

3. fine art flower photography ~

4. rustic farm tool ~ 

5. mountain love print ~ 

6. forest glen wall cape ~

7. vintage camera Bella ~

8. concrete drop ~

9. pair of Forest baskets ~

hope you are inspired to start redecorating for autumn!

see you soon everyone! 

~ take care 

      xx

~ ~ ~

P.S: Collage made by me for Domestic Stories with Ivy 2011 [all rights reserved] using the respective linked pictures of the shops

~ happy bubbling :)

dears oh dears...

the days turn out busier than expected,

making posting here happenning in a pace slower & less frequent than my wish is...

still, I always think of you, the expected posts & all the new ones to be coming...

 to temporarily break the silence until the next decent post finds its way, here,

I had to share this eco-friendly soap powder with you:

[via]

 if these "happy nyc bubbles"

won't manage to make laundry routines

happier & more pleasant for you,

then I don't know what will ; )

happy Tuesday 

among everything else!

..........................

and happy remiders:

~> enter our {give away & celebrate with us our 1 year  blogiversary}!

~> check out what's {new on our shelves}

~>  if you are in the mood for showing some {more} love, 

you can do so by liking 

{of course, only and if you really do so;)}

{this dyptich} of our wishes corner, 

submitted to {Christina Greeve's wonderful contest}!

Sacred ~ Life ~

Sacred ~ the title of {the photo} above....

 it inspired my whole morning, which found me in a rather quiet mood....

 are you this way sometimes, too?

after {the excitment and fun of the weekend}, meeting & spending time with new people, strolling around Amsterdam {for the 4rth or 5th time in 3 years},

its canals, streets, cafes & parks...

all I want to do is be quiet,

engage in creativity sessions,

preferably away from the screen,

take care of our living space which has been rather a little neglected,

do household jobs

&

redecorate or simply just refresh our home...

this will be the case after this post is prepared, posted & communicated on line...

a mix of doing jobs, relaxing with {my new favorite book}, creativity & coming in touch with my self ...

in this mood, I prepared a new collection of 16 items for your home,

all found on the shelves of Etsy

{here} you may visit each of the shop directly...

spontaneous as I like to come here and write,

I'm leaving pictures of my weekend in Amsterdam for later...

and instead am sharing here a few thougths, accompaning the etsy treasury above:

some things just are sacred ~

no questions asked ~
not many words said ~
artists at work must be experiencing sacred moments, too ~
so long as the driving force into creating is Love, 

there'll always be sacred moments involved ~

what are your thoughts? would you like to share some? you are so welcome to do so!...

and then as I was checking the updates of my {FB page},

I stumpled up on these marvelous {port-manteaux}, 

only to fall in love with them

& 

start visualising them in my new future home...

I'd actually like to make them on my own,

both for economy reasons and for the fun & creative satisfaction of it...

Before I go, I've chosen a print from the collecction above that I really adore,

as it represents beautiful memories of a very {dear friend} of mine,

who loves Italy & its architecture as much as I do...

[via]

 and then I thought how wonderful these two pictures above and below would look together framed on a wall:
{ancient love} from my friend's shop & {frozen music} from my own shop

[via]

"Frozen music" has been photographed on the top of Milan's cathedral,

visited during Christmas vacations with my parther, 

who actually took the photo

this print can be also found in a collection of four pictures,

all in calm shades of {beige & naturals}, 

which are currently on SALE

I hope you to pay a visit to all the shops linked here

& 

as a decoration tip for today, I'd suggest you to combine these last two pictures for your walls,

they'd look marvelous together!

want to add them in your entrance and fix these wooden {port-manteaux underneath}?

you are going miles in style ahead ~

last but not least at all, are you perhaps speaking French?

then jump on {this marvelous blog} from Marie Claire maison circle

and indulge yourselves in great images...

even if French is not your language,

the pictures are enough to keep you great company and inspire you!

wishing you a wonderful Tuesday ahead

c u soon dear all!