~ about cards & books

Hello there lovely people, it's already Tuesday evening in this part of the world! I certainly hope that you 've spent a fabulous weekend. And of course that you had a nice beginning in the new week.

For those of you that are following this diary, I know that you are expecting the "Grey room project" as I have promised. Have forgotten not. Not at all. It shall take place in a different time frame, though.  It requires quite a lot of work to present it the way I wish to and as Christmas season is here, I'm already busy with card making. I wouldn't like to miss the joy of preparing it with ease and peace of mind and at the moment, stocking up the Etsy shop is a priority.

Therefore I'm not much around online. Crafting sessions for me don't go together with being... "everywhere", rather they are moments where I totally sink in.

So, today I had a long, long card making session and then a photoshooting session ( from which the picture above) only to be dissappointed with quite a few of the pictures.

I'm still learning the ways of the new camera and I'm often goofying around!

So here we go again tomorrow, new efforts!

On another point, have you noticed something new around here?

( Other than the fact that I'm attempting to add new "stand alone" pages on the top) 

Perhaps you have noticed, perhaps not...that there appears a new addition on the left of these lines and towards the end as you scroll down.

It's my newly set up Amazon shop "Shop with Ivy Style 33".

Despite it being hardly at all profit promising, as the only revenue is a 4% of  the sales,  I find it to be a nice way of making suggestions to you about things I love.

So far, there is one section and it couldn't be anything else than of course books about decoration, interior design and crafting!

Some of the books standing on the shelves of this online shop are not only my favorites, but they also live with us at our home. Countless beautiful hours have been spent in their company, reading and studying them, looking at their gorgeous images, getting inspired...developing a style that is influenced by many of those pages, still having the distinct touch that you can see in the spaces created by me.

Some others belong to my wish list. 

Lets' have a look...this is one of my ever favorites - I guess this comes as no surprise as my soft point for white is easily detectable...

this is among the first ones I purchased many, many years ago (mine has a different cover)

and this is one of the many on my wish list:

It looks quite promissing and in the case of decoration & interior design, quite often a book can judged by its cover....look at this one! I so adore open plan spaces!

I think I adore anything that has to do with openess!

Openess of spaces...

Openess of minds...

Openess of hearts...mostly...the ultimate life changer!

Do you already have some of them on your shelves? 

If yes, which ones? Do you still love holding a book in your hands and spending lovely tet-a-tet hours with them, despite the fact that there can be so incredibly much wonderful inspiration and images found on line, which is also for free?

Let me know what you think....I'd love to hear your opinions!

I'll be leaving you and these online pages of my diary for now and be back quite soon.

All the best of wishes,

Ivy  ~ xx

~ Happy Weekend!

Good morning Saturday ~

Good morning  friends ~

Good morning life ~

via

How wonderful would it be to begin our days taking our breakfast in such a wonderful setting as the one above? A breakfast in Paris....the city of light...

....or you may choose whichever other place you wish to be at.

This post is about dreaming, wishing and reality.

Most of us are quite simple people, living ordinary lives, striving for everyday and very often compensating ourselves by dreaming of places, spaces, people, situations far away from us and our realities.

It's not that someone should not dream, as it is such a nice and relaxing thing to do.

Neither that dreams cannot become true.

Off course they can.

Still there needs to be a condition fullfilled prior to beginning making them true.

Which one? 

Accepting our realities.

Taking one step at a time, day by day, examining how our lives are, which parts of it we wish to keep and which parts we wish to silghtly change, totally change or complete discharge from our lives.

And then take a deep breath and begin. Knowing that there will not be only happy moments through the way, that there'll come some discomfort as well, but also having faith that for every difficulty there's at least one reward waiting for us on our ways.

Changing must be one of the most difficult things ever I suspect and can also verify it personally.

Still, the feeling of freshness and hope, the energy that comes along with it are incomparable.

We people are not only strong but also weak, and sometimes try to steal from life a little bit.

How?....by ignoring, by being arrogant, by regarding ourselves more than we actually are, by being preoccupied with what others do, not because we are bad or anything, but simply just too weak to face ourselves and our realities.

and here comes the magic world of Internet. What a delightful world of beauty!

Magnificent pictures here and there, gorgeous spaces all over!

And we look at them, and we bookmark them....and we pin them, like I myself just started to do just  a couple of days ago.

How easy is it to get lost in this non pragmatic beauty?

and forget about all the things that we wish to change?

Quite easy I might say.

It's so easy to identify ourselves with something that is not ours, just because we like it, pinned it, or

  - the current trend - blog about it.

Now why am I bothering you with all these morning philosophies and not be pulling the plug, going on to take care of our living space, slowly beginning with Christmas decorations & crafting?

Well, I'm about to do so actually, but before I  wished to share here with you and my online diary thoughts that I believe might not be only mine, thoughts and considerations that might be crossing your minds as well.

So, if you wish to follow my imaginative trip in styling, interiors, photography and everything I find inspirational you may follow the boards I curate in Pinterest.

Right here

From time to time I'll be sharing here some of my very favorites.

But before I start sharing with you awesomenss found in the web,

I'll share with you the recent renovation & redecoration project I undertook, the main reason I recently flew to Greece.

While I'll be presenting this project, I'll also be explaining to you what it is exactly that I do when I cooperate with someone as a decorator, having also studied psychology and how I can help you change your every day realities into something better, without you needing to.....win the lottery!

You may expect this presentation in a few parts starting next week.

Please keep in mind that you'll see a lot of unstyled and not fabulous pictures, especially at the beginning, as I wish you to watch the process and not only the outcome.

So to give you a hint:

We love grey!

I'm wishing you all a wonderful weekend, doing things you love, finding out what you might possibly not like and then taking a little step into changing that.

I'll be around, on and off line, doing exactly the same things I advise you to do.

Till next time,

Much love to you all,

Ivy ~ xx

~ looking for the golden balance

It's Friday...and may it be a lovely Friday for us all!...it has found me in a rather quiet mood, 

 beginning the day with thoughts such as how can we find the golden balance between being part of this commercial and competitive societies,

still having a rather eastern approach in our everyday lives.

In this little morning quest

I ended up playing with gravity and balancing kitchen porcelain stuff, placing them on top of another.

It might have not saved the world, but it brought my rushing mind thoughts in ease.

So here is a smile for that :)

Speaking about easing our minds, how totally soul soothing is this?

A collage (all links to the photogrpahers can be found here) I created yesterday morning while strolling into this magical photography world of flickr!

All inspiration credits go to wonderful Miss Vivi, a female Labrador that has been stealing my heart since months. With her incredible deep concentration and focusing abilities, she has definetely brought a huge smile on my face and has acted as a day's reminder for taking a little time to stop and think about balance in my life.

I do am aware that I'm on the right track since quite some time now, still there are times it feels that I've lost the way. When we've seen the light at least once though, then we know that it exists and sooner or later we'll back on the path we've chosen, fullfilling our lives unique potentials, 

being the best people we can be, first for ourselves and then for others.

Finding peace inside and joy in our every day realities.

Now how about a little more of photography inspiration?

....and a dose of elegant humour?

....among winter places, lines and muted colours?

The fabulous little girl on the bottom left of the mosaic is Doreen's daugther, 

a photographer I admire so much words cannot describe.

A person with tremendous potential and a bright carrier in film industry, 

should she had only wished for that.

But I recon she prefers to live a quiter life.

So that she can enjoy unique moments with her family, sometimes capturing them, 

through the lens of her camera, but moslty with her heart and splendid mind.

Much like she did with this

"Manolo moment"

Now let's leave gently this magic world and return smoothly to realitly, 

as I need to inform you for a couple of things.

While I was away, there was a wonderful post I took part in,

playing the role of a muse for just a little while,

talking about Love as an expression of art, 

over at Mortal Muses blog, invited by Tammy Lee Brandley.

As internet Gods were not cooperating at all at that given point and mail pigeons were possibly on a strike, it took us a while to finally contact the lucky winner of the give away that also took place.

Finally, Holly from soupatraveler can happily be expecting her Cupcake Love print to arrive to her, 

giving her kitchen wall a note she is very much looking forward to!

Since I'm summing up a few online issues here today, let me also thank Torie from wonderful 

Torie Jane blog for the mention of my beloved Mrs Deer 

in her mostly beautiful Neutral deer mosaic

Wishing  you to be having a marvelous Friday, 

whether you already have the balance you wish for in your  lives,

whether you are working on it,

or even if you just have realised that:

"Hey!....where am I heading to?...I' ve completely no clue were I started from, 

where I'm going to and what is my quest in life"

In the last case, just a little, tiny bit of advice:

hurry not to get yourselves out of this indeed unpleasant situation,

as it is through the passage of time and deep sincerity with ourselves,

 that we'll reach there where we eventually wish for.

Also remember, the only destination is the trip itself.

So make it a worthy one.

Every step is useful and there's no such thing as:

"when I have more I'll be happier"

"when I earn more, I' ll be giving to charity"

"when I'm better looking, I'll be loved"

LIFE IS HAPPENING NOW

..and as Christmas and a new year are on the way, besides exercising our consuming habits,

we might as well do a little soul searching.

Love you all!

Till next time,

Ivy ~ xx

Chosen three ~ Cottage Light Studio

Sigh....life by a lake in an beautiful home...

family life....

calm rythms....

sailing...

does it sound like a dream to many or some of you?

Well, for the lady behind this fresh and also freshly opened Etsy shop

~ the Light Cottage Studio ~

this is an everyday reality.

No wonder she's inspired in making such gorgeous pictures!

Cindy is a super elegant and beautiful lady, who loves photography and has become

quite interested in it since some time.

She is inspired by her family, friends and talent shared on flickr,

where we also met.

She loves taking pictures but also studying them or imagining her next photographic challenge.

She like images that reveal the art in people, places, or things,

but most of all she loves a photo that begins a story...

I couldn't agree more with her!

Her photography is descriptive, narrative and strongly emotion provoking.

With a soft spot for nature and scenes of her everyday life by the lake,

her pictures are an oasis of beautiful colours & light!

You 'll find a lot of the pictures presented here both in print form and attached to cards.

Lovely ideas for your home decoration,

presents for yourself  or the ones you love.

Come, take a look....

or even better....hop just here to look closer and more detailed

at what is available on the shelves of her pretty Etsy shop for you to take home.

Have you decided yet?

...one of my ever favorite pictures is this flower shot...

I love it since the very first time I saw it uploaded on flickr....and I still do!

...and this is a sight I always like to carry with me,

especially when I wish to relax and ease my mind's rushing thoughts.

Perhaps one day I'll be sitting there,

enjoying a wonderful talk with her,

a walk by the lake,

as we have been liking much our contact through flickr

This seems like a nice way to end this post...

and the series of the Chosen Three for this week,

...wishing you to find some time for yourself,

to relax, sit back and enjoy whatever it is you love the most,

from family's company, to reading, to simply doing nothing for a short while, 

just to recharge your batteries, 

in order to be more prepared for this wonderful ....play called life!

Take care and see you here again quite  quite soon.

Ivy ~ xx

~ Chosen three: Thea's eyes

Good evening on this Wednesday my dear friends. As unusual as it might be to be actually writing a post at this hour, it so felt right for today.  As previously mentioned, this blog here is an online journal where I record pieces of my life as they occur or at least as I prefer to share them.

This week after a long time, I'm sharing again presentations of favorite Etsy shops.  The Chosen Three series...shops that belong to people with whom we share an online friendship, or shops I've personally experienced as a buyer. Yesterday it was, the imaginative illustrator behind Cup of snowflakes, my sweet Italian friend Irene. You may read the post here.

Today you are invited to see the world through the eyes of a mostly attractive, stylish, beautiful, talented, dynamic and at the same time romantic and so very sensitive woman, a graphic & web designer and self taught(!) photographer.

Thea, as is the name she uses in her online gallery, which at the moment is flickr.

Come along with me and see the world through her eyes...

you'll be fancinated....

as it really is a soul experience

 

Care for a hot cup of tea while strolling thourgh her magical world?

Below is one of my favorite pictures, found in her freshly opened shop, 

which she hardly has any time to run,

within her busy working hours in her mostly stylish office.

Portayed below are all she loves:

~ her son

~ her cat

~ heavely light

~ a meaningful life

all as seen through her gorgeous, blue, wide open to life eyes.

This is a collection of her favorite still photographs, 

ones I'm looking forward to seeing listed in her shop, 

cause they are definetely impeccably beautiful and god knows I adore white!

And here is something we share in common 

~ a love for turquoise

...among so many other things we have in common

...from very similar taste in interior design

...to fashion

...to views on life, human relationships

....people themselves

...philosophy

.....and a love for tiny, cute cars, like this little heart stealer,

which you can find also smiling at you on the shelves of her shop.

Isn't this a lovely way to say goodbye to you until the next post, 

bringing you the third of this week's chosen three shops?

I certainly hope so.

Until then, visit Thea's online gallery here, orienting yourself by choosing sets

and decide which items of her shop to bring home...

a decision that is hard, as I'm in the same process.

Finally, if you are in a shopping mood,

 here are some more suggestions following the same colour mood,

an Etsy treasury I curated this past Sunday.

you'll find the direct links to the respective shops right here.

From Thea and me, wishes to be seeing the world through the most wonderful of eyes,

these undoubtfully being the eyes of Love.

See you here tomorrow dear all,

Take care,

Ivy ~ xx

~ Chosen three: Cup of snowflakes

Hello on this middle November Teusday....hope this finds you all very well!

It's revelation day concerning who the lovely friend, who welcomed me with the nicest of suprises back home, is.

You might as well have already guessed from the title that is has something to do with a cup of snowflakes and an Etsy shop, which is one the chosen three for these days.

But before, how about a Love Story between two hedgehogs to begin (or proceed)

with your day?...or maybe just to take a break from every day's fast rythms, jobs and responsibilities?

Make yourself a cup of tea and perhaps indulge yourself to some cookies....I'm doing just the same right now.

Mrs and Mr Hedgehog met in a tulip field in March,  

got to know each other over drinking cups of tea,

quickly fell in love

& got married in June!

More of the story is revealed in the next pages - months of this sweet & imaginative

calendar which you may find here.

The creative illustrator & talented graphic designer behind these super lovely images is Irene, the heart, hand & mind behind Cup of snowflakes.

I' ve had the happiness of finding such a calendar in the mailbox waiting for me,

 right after I returned from Greece the other day!

Below is only a temporary display of it in our home, yet looking at it everyday has made me be looking forward to 2011, so that these two lovely hedgehogs can be officially keeping me company each day!

 On another notice, since soup season has already begun, I never have to worry about my soup boiling out again, as this super simple and awesomly beautiful wooden leaf, keeps the lid of my pot exactly in the right position :)

I can reassure you it does its job perfectly, other than looking cute, as it has already been used during the many soup sessions of the weekend!

A thoughtful present found in Sweeden while Irene was there visiting.

Irene, an Italian pretty lady in her thirties, has been designing for various customers being a freelancher, and she has already fabulous work to show!

From posters to children's books, 

to business cards, 

to even web layout.

You may visit her

~ graphic design page here

~ illustration page here

~ etsy shop here &

~ dawanda shop here

Above is one of my favorites of her graphic design work

I love the simplicity and the soft, pastel tones.

...and by sitting under such a  tree dressed in autumn mood, I'll be leaving you for now.

I'll be coming back soon with a few more Etsy shops to share.

Take care,

Ivy ~ xx