25.10.10

~ have a nice new week :)

...morning wishes... for a lovely start in the new week.
Where I come from, Greece, making this wish on a Monday morning is something typical and quite important.
It is not used here in Germany, so people are rather surprised when they hear this wish from me.
Still, I find it to be really lovely to spread positivism whenever possible and share a few wishes that come really from the heart and are not just pronounced typically.



So, to wish you all a happy Monday morning and a nice, energising start in this new week, I have a couple of pictures from our Sunday morning to share with you.
Nothing really special, or prearranged...
just some captures of sunshiny moments in this home of ours,
 that I still have no clue how I'll be able to say good bye for a new home that is wished to be bought in the future (could we not just buy this one?)


On another notice, A Sony A300 and a 50mm lens are my new equipment, not that I have abandoned my beloved Minolta Dimage A1.
I really, really like the effect of such a lens and am quite happy with the quality as these are almost SOOC pictures.

I love to photoshoot in natural light and eventhough I appreciate great post processing, there's nothing that attracts me more in pictures than capturing the beauty of light wether in interiors or exteriors.


This is our coffeetable, as it was yesterday morning after Saturday's visit to our closest Ikea (at Wallaw).
Lot's and lots of candle supplies (which have by now found their places in drawers), mostly teacandlelights and these favorite aromatic ones with a heavenly vanilla flavour which burn almost day & night in our place.
And cinnamon rolls from the food department, quite neccessary for a quick breakfast, on the lazy side of the spectrum....no preparations, just tea, relaxation and enjoying precious sunshine.


Those of you who "know" me and are familiar with what I do, are aware that I'll be soon flying to Greece in order to help with the renovations (actually a complete makeover) of a teenager's room, while I'll be also meeting with some dear friends and people.

I'd love to present this project here, as soon as we are ready, but will have to check with my clients, as there is understanding of course that not all people are willing to have pictures of their homes posted on the Internet. Quite respected.

Other than that, I 'm asking for your understanding concering some mails that might be arriving in the mailbox, that it might take some time for them to be replied. I'll try to fairly prioritise.

I'll be definetely finding time for being on line and will gladly be sharing some moments from life in Apartment 44, a place fully designed & decorated by me last summer, which has become the new, smaller residence of my parents and the place where my partner and I are hosted when in Greece.

The shop will be running, there even has to be the addition of the new cards made, still the delivery of orders will begin again after the 11th of November, whether they are made via the Etsy shop or individually & independently via contacting me.

So, am wishing you all a happy Monday and sincerely hope that you had nice times this weekend.
The sun is shining here, which will be a good chance for taking some pictures, should there be time.

As there's quite a lot to be taken care of, this post must come to an end...it has been great connecting with you here.

Sprinkling lots and lots of "magic", positive energy above our ways, able to disolve any negativism and provide us with solutions and opportunities, there where we would otherwise see obstacles.

May all goodness be with us & may we have ourselves open to receive it.

Love always,
Ivy ~ xx

21.10.10

~ come, let's go shopping!


Good afternoon on a super sunshiny Thursday afternoon!
I'm coming here today,
with two Etsy treausries I'd like to share with you,
as I really adore each and every one of the items featured in both of them.

Let's get started....come with me! :)

Below is (another) gorgeous collection curated by super talented Anne, owner of magalerie, who was hosted here a couple of weeks ago and which article I see to be one of your favorite ones. Great!
She really does deserve it.
She names this collection "Love is in the air III" as it belongs to a series.
The previous one was featured on the front page of Etsy and together with it, it took this print of the shop there.

This one is a front page worthy as well, both for its wonderful items
( Autumnal Love from our shop included ahem, ahem....)
& its gorgeous curation.
Wether it makes it there or not is not the case, still
good luck with it Anne!
You can visit it right here


I'd choose each and every item, much as I did with the ones pictured below, 
in the most recent collection I curated for this Etsy treasury:

Wood & wool in greige ~ ~ ~


Hop here to visit it live and enjoy some happy window or actual shoping times!
Let's see the items in detail

I'd love to throw this shawl on my shoulders,
hold this handknit woolen bag during the day


and that clutch for a sophisticated afternoon outing,



                                   while the only accessory - except from my wooden bangle - 








Yes, in our new home,
there shall be more space for an art wall and already three of the prints are chosen:

&

aren't they just marvelous together?


I just love to choose items from sophisticated artists,
whose quality of work is reflected in all they do.
The art itself, the words they use to describe it,
their personalities and way of life
Everything....
cause when we choose an item, 
we also choose the history and energy that it carries
So I'm very careful with what comes in our home
as much as with what I suggest to you.

In these days when everyone wants to be called an artist, 
mainly with the mere purpose of making an easy profit,
our antennas should be alert into recognising the fake ones.
The happy occassion is,
 that there are far many more talented people!
Hooray!
Much like all those presented here.

Let's go back to where we were...

In our new home, there'll certainly be place for
which will merge happily with our beloved Ikea pieces

I'll be listening to music lying in our lounge, 
while my ears & head are covered in these fabulous

and my gloves & mittens will be resting stylishly on such a stand,
 when I return from a walk in the neighbouring woods,
tweeting hello!


I'll be strolling in the cities with a tea to go in hand,
matching my armband


and offer this to my mother as a small Christmas present.


I'll use this fabulous twine into making gift packages
and spent time with loved ones making our specially ordered puzzle.

But before all that, I'll have to be seriously well rewarded for the job that I do,
 as this shopping spree today has already cost some many hundreds of dollars.


Hope you had a good time coming shopping with me!
I certainly loved choosing these items both for you and for me/us here, 
still living in this adorable little Penthouse,
 while the search for our new home is getting warmer and warmer.

Hope you all are having wonderful days!
From me
lots of love & wishes for all things good.

Ivy ~ xx


20.10.10

~ bringing autumn inside ~


Good afternoon on a Wednesday :)
Hope you are all well!
This is just a short post to keep you up to date with the shop.

Autumnal Love ~ seen above and printed below is now available @ the shop.
You may find it here



                                                      So is ~ Circle of friends ~ beneath,
                                                            which you can find here




Autumn has come live in our home
And it can come in yours, too : )




Just bring home some of nature's presents from your weekend walks 
and /or visit our shop to find these prints.

How is that for a suggestion?

Best of wishes for a lovely evening!
Will be coming back soon with more shop updates and other suggestions I personally love, to share with you.

Keep warm & enjoy cocooning times!

Ivy ~ xx

19.10.10

Good morning : )






Good morning :)



 from our reading corner which is dressed up in autumn colours and mood.
Weather wise, "she" might as well be wearing winter colours (actually the white can be accounted as so), as snow in the surrounding mountains has already started!
Germany, Germany...the effort that is required for a Greek girl to get adjusted to your clima!
Na jaaa...better not comment on that.
I'm still gratefull for these golden October days we had.

...now that the ground is warmed with a little small talk and good morning wishes have been exchanged with a smile, let's take matters there where they were left about a week ago, when the centering process begun.

On  a first note, it is quite good & positive that it is taking place.
I have this wish & need as a person to always remain grounded, eventhough I like to fly.
In simple words, I like to keep in touch with who I am, avoiding getting confused with
online presence, which can rather easily be the case for those of us who have chosen to do so.

Especially when this is a means of expression, as  much as a means of communicating our work.

This centering process has brought the following results so far:
1~ taking care of my online places, in order for as much information about me, what I do and what I can be of use and availability to you are known
Therefore, on the left side of these pages, you can be finding links to the shop, Busy Bee - the first blog I authored for a year, twitter, bussiness mail and logo, which takes  you to more info about me displayed on the flickr profile.
Moreover you can now be quiclky linked to the favourite reads of yours, as decided by the blog's statistics.
And last but definetly not least, you can be linked to my blog posts @ Ikea Family Live site.
Stay tuned as there will be new series coming soon!

2~ taking care of my closet of emotions, which as expected uncovered a lot of fragile issues.
One of them being, realising that my upcoming trip to Greece, is on the one hand very much happily expected, as both work and seeing friends & family will be combined.
On the other hand, I detected a bunch of sad feelings arising from the fact that I'll actually now be faced with and really have to deal with our dog's loss.
She (Bianca) passed away this July, a few days after I had returned to Germany from my vacation there.
So it'll be the first time that after 18 years I enter a home without her, without a dog in Greece.
Despite the fact that I'll be quite busy, I know that I'll have to take some time to deal with her loss and the sadness that this brings.


Undealt emotions can turn into huge monsters and this I do not want for me.
It is part of the choice to live a life of awareness.
...quite hard in a world which always rushes to show (and show off) big smiles, "successes"
....and everything "positive"

You'll find thousands of advice on how to get over your "negative" emotions, such as sorrow, sadness, feelings of inferiority and so on and so on, but so very few about how to actually recognise them, accept them, realise that they have a reason for existence and finally move on, leaving them behind you step by step.

We live in the era of  "fast & effective","two in one", "three in one", tin laughs, "Omgs", "lol" and the rest....what a poor quality of life indeed.
Always being caught in the middle of a race of some kind...
Most will say that this is the system....well, we create the system and we make a concious choice to be part of it.

There are of course marvelous things about being part of a system, but we should not forget that if we become sheep (not that I have anything against these cute, lovable animals) then we cannot really have too high of expectations, neither can much be achieved.

Finally, this centering process has led to reorganising our space,
and welcoming new cabinets ( Thank you Ikea!) in our reading corner, where now most of the things related to the shop are held there.  In a next post I'll show you how everything is miraculously organised inside.
Please, take  a look:


 I love adjusting furniture on a low level to the wall.
The low hight creates a sense of calm, while it is also quite functional.
On the eye level the space is left free, therefore a sensation/illusion of  more space is created.
Finally, by leaving the floor free. this same sensation is emphasized.
On the practical point of view, extra room for storage is provided.
Such as here where the two baskets are resting.
The one on the right is left empty so as to be holding the current orders of the week.
The left one holds the German Architectural Digest issues, which I try to read in my attempt to also practise the language. Not very easy as my eye is caught by the breathtaking images!
New issue arrived in the mailbox yesterday and I plan to make time for reading it this week.




I'm sure you'd also like to know what do we thank Ikea for in this corner of our home:
~ the Besta cabinet with its shiny, white doors, much like those used in the guest room of Apartment 44 in Greece, where I'll be staying in a while
~ Lunna chair
~ Ram frames, painted white
~base lamp, dating back to 2003
~ combined with a more recent chestnut brown velvet lampshade
~ and a low basket (on the left)

On a last notice before I go, I'd like once more to thank wonderful Christina, from awesome Divas & Dreams blog, for hosting me over and having a great time while talking with her about Interior Design and Photography.
You can read our little inerview here.

Wishing you all wonderful days!
I'll be back soon with pictures revealing the cabinets inside and new cards made for the shop.


Till then, take care, enjoy and stay true ;-)

Love

Ivy ~ xx

13.10.10

~ centering


Where are you going girl?
I ask myself

Whenever I feel that my center and I have lost contact, I pose myself this question.
It is a declaration of need for reorganisation.


Symbolically, it's time to go through the closet of emotions and see what is useful, what is useless, what is something that served our needs and purposes once but not any more - therefore time to give it up.
It's time to see what more we might be in need of, something new to us perhaps.

I pretty much guess that I will actually spend some days reorganising my wardrobe among other things, much as I advise my clients to do, when they want the redecoration and renovation of their homes to reach a little bit deeper and bring an actual change in their every day realities, other than beautifing them.

So I guess I'll be hiring myself, cause I'm in need of some help before I engage into the next renovation project offering my services to wonderful others.

What good is giving advice about how can others take care of their own gardens, when we fail to take care of our own ones?

So, cause I love taking care of my and our garden here


as much as  I love helping others into taking care of theirs, 
I'll be devoting myself to that these days and be coming here to post spontaneously (not that this is much of a change)
Before this posts ends, there are two places (among others) in this vast online world, which speak right into my heart, speak of quality, genuinity, creativity and are put together by two people whose personalities cannot fit in any words.
Theresa and Doreen. Simply fabulous.
See them. Read them. Feel them. Get inspired to find your true selves through their outstanding work and presence.




 Fabulous portraits. Fabulous stills. Outstanding photography by Doreen Kilfeather.
       Doreen Kilfeather's website: http://www.dkilfeatherphotography.com/





If anybody can talk about style it is definetely Theresa.
I read hardly any blogs yesterday. I was happy to have spent some quality time reading this post on Style ~ 
Theresa aka T does wool's blogspot: http://tdoeswool.blogspot.com/

Enjoy my friends

Love always ~
Ivy ~