Saturday, April 25, 2009

May vacation starts now!


forget-me-nots in our garden. Do you speak the language of flowers? I do!

Hello friends!

Here in the Netherlands the 'May vacation' starts now. I won't be blogging for the next two weeks, nor will I be visiting your blogs, but I will be spending time with my family. This vacation ends May 10th, so I will be here about May 11th or a tad later to have my 100th post and a give away!



This package, the Marie Antoinette collage swap, is on it's way to Finland.
When I am back I can show you what is inside. I do hope you'll like it Heli.

I hope you are all enjoying Spring and you'll stay happy and healthy, best wishes, LiLi M.


Pink forget-me-nots in our garden

Beste allemaal,

Vanwege de meivakantie ben ik 2 weken afwezig. Quality time met de familie staat op het programma. 10 mei is voor ons de vakantie afgelopen en de week daarop ben ik weer hier met mijn 100ste post en natuurlijk een give away!

Het pakje voor de Marie Antoinette swap is gelukkig nog op tijd naar Finland gegaan.

Ik hoop dat jullie allemaal genieten van het mooie lenteweer of jullie nu ook vakantie hebben of niet, hopelijk blijft het nog even aan. Ik wens jullie een fijne Koninginnedag met veel 'vondsten' en tot slot; hoop ik dat jullie allemaal gelukkig en gezond blijven (mmm dat klinkt toch weer anders in het Engels, maar ik meen het niet minder!). Tot over ruim 2 weken! Groetjes LiLi M.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Reasons to be cheerful!

We are happy and healthy, that's one reason to be cheerful and


de tuin
we are having a wonderful spring! The garden is amazing. Remember when I showed you our Euphorbia and wasn't sure whether I should have cut it before or not?


Euphorbia
Well, here it is now! I am never going to cut it, I think!
One of my bff's Mrs. H. suggested that I would take a few inside, which was a very clever idea, but at this moment I have these inside already:


pioenrozen
The first peonies of the season (combined with roses and viburnum) for me, a generous gift by my sister in law Angelique, thank you. One of my other sisters in law gave me a bouquet of beautiful Lilies and they smell so good, thanks to you too Els!


Camelia
Back to the garden: here is our new Camellia that we bought last summer. Yes, she likes it up here!

There are more reasons to be cheerful:
Look what I have found in my mailbox:


give away van Natalea Kandefer
This is what Natalea Kandefer from Kandeland has sent me. She asked her foreign readers to speak up. Now you all know how I hate to give comments lol, but she had a give away amongst the foreign commenters, so that made me comment anyway. And I won! Look at all these goodies, from vintage wallpaper to millenery. Terrific, inspiring, thanks a lot Natalea!

The outside thrifting season has started, but unfortunately I didn't have time to go anywhere. But there was a reason to be cheerful; the lovely Mrs. H., who doesn't care about thrifting seasons, came around and brought me this:


Cadeautjes van Mrs. H.
a lot of embroidery patterns from the 1930ties in French.



And a lot of lovely goodies; clockwise from lower left:
a tin counter add, vintage ribbons still around their French original spool, a needle book and two push button cards, I have a collection of them, but these are the best from now. (as I understand now, push buttons is not the word for those little round chaps that can be pushed together to make a closure, they are called snaps, thank you Barbara!) In the middle a tiny box with Hansel and Gretel. Just click on the photos to see more details. Who doesn't want to be friends with Mrs. H.?

We went thrifting in the local good will store here and I found this prized at 2,50 (3,25 usd)


tent skelet aka wasrek met Lene Bjerre stoffen
The ultimate toy my grandmother used to have, a tent skeleton aka a dry rack. Boy, I think that my brother and I have made 10 million tents with this, staying at my grandmother. I have part of my collection of Lene Bjerre fabrics on the rack. Last year there was a vendor at the market who sold these fabrics for 1,75 euro (2,26 usd) a meter/yard. I couldn't resist him for weeks..., so now I can show them of on this rack. I don't sew anything else but pin cushions, so this stock will last a while.

Tuin van Villa Augustus waar je oa lekker koffie kunt drinken
After that we went for coffee and home made chocolate pie over here in Villa Augustus, a lovely spot I will blog about later.
And now you think you know all my reasons to be cheerful, but you don't:

I am a blessed person, not only do I have a few very nice bff's in real life, I happen to have a lot of really nice blogging friends too, consider yourself one of them. They spoil me too often too.
Elyse in her Cottage has made her own award and she gave it to me, I feel honored, thank you so much Elyse.


I received this special award from my dear brocante friend Manuela (Manuela & Co.)



I am very pleased with both awards, but I won't pass the Renee award on. The last time I did I had two sleepless nights as I felt sorry and guilty that I hadn't given them to person x and person y as well, to be short I cannot choose between you all, you are all so special!
Thanks for visiting me,
xoxo LiLi M.

Ik geniet met volle teugen van de mooie lente.
Het is prachtig in de tuin, onze nieuwe Camelia en de wolfsmelk die ik al eerder liet zien doen het geweldig. Binnen heb ik al mijn eerste pioenrozen van dit jaar. Bij Kandeland, de blog van Natalea Kandefer won ik een leuke prijs, allerlei spulletjes die ik wel heel goed kan gebruiken. En mijn vriendin Mrs. H. kwam langs met wat rommelmarkt vondsten speciaal voor mij. Helemaal geweldig al die franse borduurpatronen en die drukknopen en die andere leuke spulletjes. Met zijn tweeën gingen we hier naar de kringloop waar ik voor 2,50 deze ultieme tentenmaker aka wasrek vond. Mijn broer en ik hebben met dit handige speelgoed wel 10.000 tenten gemaakt terwijl we bij mijn oma logeerden. Nu heb ik er een deel van mijn Lene Bjerre stof op. Vorig jaar stond er iemand op de markt die deze stof voor 1,75 per meter verkocht en ik kon hem nooit weerstaan. Terwijl ik alleen maar speldenkussens en lampekapjes maak! Na de kringloop nog even naar Villa Augustus voor een kop koffie en een stukje zelf gemaakte chocolade taart. Alsof dat nog niet genoeg was heb ik nog 2 awards gekregen. Van Elyse kreeg ik haar zelf bedachte award en van mijn speciale brocante vriendin Manuela de zeer speciale Renée award. Ik geef die laatste niet door omdat ik de vorige keer dat ik dat deed 2 slapeloze nachten had, omdat ik vond dat veel meer mensen die awards verdienen. Jullie zijn allemaal zo speciaal voor mij.
Bedankt weer voor je bezoek, groetjes LiLi M.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Marie Antoinette collage swap mood board


Button designed by Gabriela Delworth

Welcome at the mood board party hosted by the lovely and talented Gabriela Delworth. I'll show you my mood board as it is this very moment.

The last minute I decided to join the Marie Antoinette collage swap hosted by Maria from the Junkk drawer. My partner is Heli from Finland. Heli, if you want the collage board to be a complete surprise, please leave this blog now, but you can stay if you like to see a sneak peek.

As you could know by now I don't have a real mood board I use my dress form LiLi M. as one.

Welkom op de blogparty georganiseerd door Gabriela Delworth met als thema het moodboard. Zoals jullie weten is mijn gepimpte paspop LiL M. mijn prikbord: Hier staat ze aangekleed mij te inspireren voor de Marie Antoinette collage swap, georganiseerd door Maria van de Junkk drawer.



Here she is totally dressed up for the Marie Antoinette collage swap.

This is how I work:


I choose a color first: in this case duck egg/light blue/creams.
Of course the movie Marie Antoinette by Sophia Coppola has been a great inspiration to me (and I bet I'm not the only one who has been inspired by that movie).



I use pictures of themes, some will be used 'as is' in the collage, as the crowns, or the playing cards, referring to the gambling at the court. Others like the cupcake image and the shoes are just reminders of a theme I might use.



Of course you see what kind of materials I will be using: lots and lots of (vintage) wallpapers, and vintage lace and ribbons, vintage scraps, rhinestones...



a page of my Larousse de Poche, a French dictionary, of course with Marie Antoinette.
Somehow there will be a key and/or a keyhole involved probably referring to 'le petit Trianon'. Perhaps a page with sheet music and of course a piano playing (or is it harpsichord or another fancy instrument?) Marie Antoinette. Something elaborate hairdo too?
And besides faux diamonds there will be (faux) pearls as well:



With a mood board like this the making of the collage is a piece of cake.
Here a sneak peek of one of the 12 squares. You see the shoe, the pearls, the blues.
I am too busy at this moment but I guess the collage board (already done!) and some little treasures will travel to Finland next Monday.

Thanks for visiting, have fun at all other participants blogs check here at Gabriela Delworths!
Enjoy!
xoxo LiLi M.

Achtereen volgens kun je goed zien welke kleuren en materialen ik gebruik en uit welke thema's ik kon kiezen. Zoals altijd heb ik inspiratie genoeg voor een collage ter grootte van een voetbalveld, maar ik heb maar 12 kleine vierkantjes de ruimte. Op de laatste foto zie je één vierkantje van de collage, die al af is en maandag (druk, druk, druk) aan zijn reis naar Finland gaat beginnen.
Bedankt voor je bezoek en vergeet niet bij
Gabriela te kijken wie er nog meer meedoen aan deze blogparty.

xoxo LiLi M.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!



Happy Easter!

=

Vrolijk Pasen!




To you and your family










Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Spending 1.50 euro and having a perfect time!

Last Saturday I went here:
afgelopen zaterdag was ik hier: klik op de foto!


That enormous 18th century house along the canal once belonged to banker Simon van Gijn (1836-1922), who was a collector all of his life and decided that all his collections should stay together here in his house after his death. It now is 'Museum aan huis', that means something like museum in ones' house, like shopkeepers used to have shops in their houses.

This museum has bought the house next to it too. Here is the entrance and also a tearoom and a museumshop. So the house is kept like it was. When I was touring Dordrecht to see the behangsels, we went here too and I happened to see this showcase in the entrance:



To announce this exhibition:
Om deze tentoonstelling te zien:


Vergeet me niet = Forget me not= Don't forget me
an exhibition about mourning and remembrance.
So last weekend was the last chance to visit this exhibition. I went there, this happened to be museum weekend when you don't have to pay to get in. :-)
I love these kind of surprises.

The rooms in the house are still decorated the same way as Simon van Gijn has decorated them, but now there were additional items. A lot of rooms were filled with all kind of objects that were related to death, to mourning and to remembrance. Like mourning costumes, mourning letters and so on.
Of course it was not allowed to take photos in the museum.

But your reporter is a clever girl (a little more modesty would suit me fine...):
I cut out some images of the brochure and of the poster, kindly given to me by two doorkeepers and they gave me permission to take a photo of the showcase as well, as it's not in the museum but in the entrance, so in the house next door!

Ik mocht natuurlijk geen foto's maken, maar dat heeft uw reporter als volgt opgelost: ik heb wat uit de folder en de poster geknipt en dat opgeplakt:
rouwtrouwjurk of trouwrouwjurk:


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis

There were mourning costumes on dress forms as well as photos of mourning costumes.
Like this bride and groom in mourning, second half 19th century.


Collection Jans Brands rouwservies

There were special mourning tea sets and coffee sets. All black of course, I didn't know that something like these existed. This particular tea set was not in the museum, I found this on the internet in the collection of Jans Brands.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis rouwbroche

There was a lot of jewelry, like this brooch, with the typical symbolism of death; the grave, a willow, the skull. Too bad I couldn't take a photo of the lead collar. People in mourning used to wear this, to symbolize or perhaps better said to materialize the heavy burden that was resting on their shoulders.
Of course there was a time table in mourning too. The lead collar was changed for a lighter one as time passed.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis
moderne armband 'In Memoriam I' Constanze Schreiber (2006)

There was modern jewelry too;
This silver electroformed bracelet 'In memoriam I' made by Constanze Schreiber in 2006.

and this one:


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis
pinkring, vermoedelijk samengesteld uit verschillende geërfde sieraden. Zo kun je van meerdere dingen die je niet mooi vindt één ding laten maken dat je wel mooi vindt (vermoed ik). Trude Verdegaal 1995 zt.

A ring designed and made by Trude Verdegaal in 1995.
This one specially appealed to me. I once met a gold smith who made special objects of all sorts of jewelry pieces together. Sometimes you inherit a piece that just isn't you.
It would be nice to make something that is you and still has something of the original piece.
I presume that this is a piece like that.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis
Krans van haarwerk. Zo waren er nogal wat snoeren gemaakt van haar, zeer kunstig, maar ook wat bizar, hoewel je de mogelijkheid tegenwoordig om as in een sieraad te laten doen net zo bizar zou kunnen noemen.

And there was a lot of jewelry made out of hair. There were ropes made out of hair that were meant to be used as a watch chain, which seem to be odd, but perhaps not much more peculiar than the possibility of putting the ashes of a beloved one in a charm.


photo courtesy Simon van Gijn museum aan huis foto van overleden kind.

My blogging pal Stacey of Flotsam and Jetsam has a very interesting post about cemeteries. And she mentions this too. This is a photo of a mother with her deceased child. Tragic of course, but I think I would like to have one photo of my deceased child too. Zur Erinnerung is German for 'in remembrance'.

No, I don't have a special preoccupation with death and mourning, on the contrary. Though unfortunately it is part of life. This is the object that was in the showcase that made want to visit the exhibition:


Dit was de reden voor mijn komst; een rouwboeket gemaakt van visite kaartjes van condoleance bezoek.
Dit inspireert mij.

(click for more details)
This is a mourning bouquet. It is partly made of the calling cards of those people who came by to pay their respect. I love it! These are the things that inspire me. I want to make something like this out of ephemera. There was a wreath like this inside the museum too.

If you ever visit Dordrecht do visit this museum.
Just click on the first photo to visit the website and to see the address.
I will make another post of the museum in due time.


Na het museum bezoek, dat gratis bleek te zijn tijdens het museumweekend, toch natuurlijk nog even bij Pandora binnen en ik kocht dit geweldige boek uit de jaren '70 voor 1,50!
Biking back to my home, I popped in at Pandora's where I found this book:
Nederlands Familiealbum = Dutch Family Album.
It dates from the nostalgic wave in the 1970ties, when I caught the bug.

170 pages filled with these:

170 pagina's met dit soort foto's. Ik was helemaal gelukkig!
I paid 1,50, that even makes it better!
I think I'll post some photos from this book in due time too.
So stay tuned!
Thanks for giving so many nice compliments in the previous post, unfortunately the studio doesn't stay that way :-(.
Thanks for visiting me,

xoxo LiLi M.

Bedankt voor je bezoek en de complimenten voor LiLi's ateliertje, het blijft niet lang zo hoor dames. Een bezoek aan het museum Simon van Gijn, museum aan huis is een absolute aanrader. Waarom? Ik zal daar nog eens een post aan wijden. Ook zal ik nog eens wat foto's uit dat boek plaatsen. Mmm voor de Pip kamer zal gewoon geen tijd meer zijn. ;-)
Tot ziens, xoxo LiLi M.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Studio tour!

Hello everybody, Hoi allemaal!

I hope you are all enjoying spring, we are having some marvelous days over here. If you are inside your house already you probably want to join me on a little studio tour.

This is where the spring cleaning has been done already. I forgot to take 'before photos', which isn't too bad, as I still had my 'before' photos of last year.
Come on let's start:

Iedereen klaar voor een kleine rondleiding na de voorjaarsschoonmaak in mijn kleine atelier?



Het begon zo, voordat ik aan een uitdaging meedeed ergens in mei 2008, bleef het gewoon nooit opgeruimd.

This is my little studio BEFORE anything happened. The problem was that how hard I tried it was never tidy. Main problem; too much stuff , secondary problem I couldn't find anything because things just didn't have a place of their own. So I joined a challenge. Reorganizing your study in a couple of weeks, last year.


Ik wilde opruimen maar:
geen plastic kratten in het zicht

Apart from reorganizing, I had my own goals:

* I didn't want to use any plastic containers (visible).
* I didn't want to buy anything new.
As there were more than enough high potentials living in the basement, waiting for a second life.

*This room is small but rather high, so I wanted to use that space:

en ook wilde ik niets nieuws kopen en
van de hoogte gebruik gaan maken.



The cupboard above the desk is a former mail divider from the post office in Vlaardingen, bought just before the challenge, with the intention to hang it up here.



desktop before...I only need a couple of square inches to work...



The sewing machine is next to the desk now, in front of the ladder, which I thought I was going to need in this room because of its height.



After a year the ladder has evolved into a display. I'm standing on my desk to reach the top shelf.
De ladder was eigenlijk bedoeld om ook bij de hoge planken te kunnen komen, maar na een jaar blijkt hij meer dienst te doen als bijzet tafel en ga ik gewoon op mijn bureau staan als ik de hoogte in moet.

ladder voordat...
I originally had only a couple of weeks to reorganize, so I decided not to paint everything, though some items couldn't escape a make over.



Like this too.






I wanted little knick knacks that inspire me in sight and not in boxes or cupboards.



Of course little LiLi M. the dress form doubles as a mood board.



Another of my main goals was to be able to find everything back again.
So I did quite a lot of labeling.
Omdat ik nooit wist waar ik nou precies iets gelaten had heb ik heel veel gelabeld.
Dan hoef je niet iedere keer al die koffers uit te pakken.



Now we are turning to the left. Here the 'before' left!



This corner was already a project done some months earlier, so tidying up would do over here.
But the gathering of buttons just goes on;



I am having much more filled jars than last June.



Now we are turning to the other side BEFORE.
The same mess over here.



I did a lot of labeling over here too. Hubby spray painted the office document cupboard white.


Deze dozen beplakte ik in 1985-1986 met behangpapier van de Hema. Grappig dat ze nu met vintage behang beplakt zijn!
I made these boxes around 1985-86, and used wallpaper bought at the Hema back then in the good old days, when they used to sell a lot of knitting wool and patterns over there too. I still like them a lot! Of course I had to change the labels.



Naturally I had to use the height at this side too. The rack above the cupboard started its life as a shelf, but I put all different kind of hooks on it, to hang things, but to be honest it is still too high to change often. The poodle was made by my daughter and me for a contest of the 'Bijenkorf', our most prestigious department store.



The shelf before, without the hooks.


Het enige dat ik vond waarvan ik niet meer wist dat ik het had!
Oude kinderbehangborders uit Duitsland.

One of the questions in the challenge was: did you find anything again?
Well, the problem with me is not that I don't know exactly what I have, the problem is where to find it. But I completely forgot these; 1920 children's wallpaper borders from Germany, still in the envelope, so I knew that I bought them on Ebay in 2004.



I have a revamped letter tray on this side. When the challenge ended officially (but the host wasn't ready and everything was postponed, postponed again and somehow I never heard from her again) this letter tray was still standing as I needed hubby to assist me to hang it to the wall.
Almost a year later, I filled the tray, but it is still standing. Without a challenge I don't feel any pressure.



As this one, still standing on the cupboard.



The corner when I just finished the room summer 2008.



The same corner after spring cleaning 2009.

My fabrics are kept in the basement in plastic containers, as well as the paints and the brushes.
This room has the potential of staying tidy, but I would need a little more space to keep projects that I am working on. We have a very large basement but I'd rather work here next to the television and computer room. Even when it is way smaller, it's more convenient to me to stay close with my family. Popping in and out of the family room while I'm working, I just love that.

Are you still there? I do hope you did enjoy this little tour. You thought it was to distract you from the Pip room, that probably isn't finished yet? Yes of course you are right!
Talk to you later!

xoxo LiLi M.

Ben je er nog? Wat dacht je: dit is zeker om ons af te leiden van die Pipkamer?
Ja natuurlijk! hahaha, tot de volgende keer, kus LiLi M.