On the fourth Sunday of december, the last giveaway

This is the last of the fourth give-aways of december, three gifts for a lucky winner:

*A classic enamel teapot (new) in cream with grey rim from my e-shop

*One of the famous potholders made by Renilde De Peuter of At swim-Two-Birds

*Three cute fridge magnets by Ana Maraz of Talking to Volcano

To enter the draw, you just need to leave a comment below.

A winner will be announced on Sunday 6th of January.

Good Luck and enjoy the Christmas preparatives to those who celebrate it. 

Remember this paper sculpture? The artist who made it somehow found my post!

To visit his website go here

I wish you a Magic Christmas and  a Peaceful New Year to you all!

I'll take a pause.

My e-shop stays open, orders will be processed from the 7th of January

On shifting and the winner of the third give-away

Today is the end of the 13th baktun in the Mayan calendar and the beginning of a new cycle. As usual there were many speculations about it, some really bonkers in my opinion. But the one I like the best is the theory that from today there will be a shift in consciousness. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I like to think that is what will happen to me, so I'm ready to shift a bit more.

This shift in consciousness urges me to say something about president Obama.

It struck me that crying after something so predictable that happened in Connecticut, is useless. Why the sale of guns in supermarkets   malls is allowed? Why guns are sold anyway? It's a question US citizen should pose to him and to themselves too. President Obama, you cried for the death of the Connecticut victims but what about the 70.000 estimated deaths of innocent children during the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine? Whose missiles are those? and who give orders? using drones doesn't make you more human. Who will cry for those children?

While keep shifting, I took the decision to end my Instagram account. I really didn't like the change on the privacy policy announced few weeks ago, I found it arrogant and greedy. I understand they can't give free services but to say that the users cannot own the rights of their own content and might see their images sold by Instagram to whoever pay them for whatever purpose, well, I think they pushed too far. I know they are changing those policies (after many people left the app) but the intention remains and that's what counts for me. I don't want to feed them, their greediness, that's all.
Sorry to those who followed my Instagram and to those I won't follow any more there.

Anway, there are options out there. I'm just waiting for Flickr to launch the the app for Android phones, by the way, the app for Iphone is already available.

I uploaded part of my Instagram snaps here (it takes a bit of time to upload all) and blimey, the quality outside the little screen is awful!

There are so many other things I don't like and I'm fed up with, so let's hope that collective consciousness shift it's for real. You choose.

Now, it's time to announce the winner of the third give-away:

★  number 11, congratulations Matilda! 

Thank you all for playing along.

Thank you to the new readers and followers too.

*Image from Tumbler, lost credits, copyrights the author.

 

 

Still and quiet

Less than a week to Christmas, this year seems such a big deal, it's Anita enthusiasm that is contagious.

She's been looking forward to it since August! 

It's not about the presents she received, she's quite humble about it, it's more the time we spend together with her and the sweets and cakes we eat, I guess.

I always been reluctant to celebrate Christmas, especially after my mum died of cancer 14 years ago, the 31 of December. 
The last Christmas we had together was terrible. I stopped celebrating it altogether until Anita was born, never really done much until this year, she's more conscious of all I think.

I'm re-discovering Christmas through the eyes of a child, and it's mainly a DIY Christmas, with no frenzy, no stress, no worries. It's a bit magical too!

★ 

ps: do not forget to play the give-away still on until this Friday.

 

On the third Sunday ☁ giveaway

Hello, hope you are having a fine weekend.

Today, another generous give-away offered to you by: Hermine van Dijck, MiAvril and Fontable.

 The gifts to win are :

☁ a set of “the little things that make me happy” postcards by Hermine Van Dijck

☁ a "clouds" garland by Mi Avril    

☁ a "cloud" to hang on the wall by Fontable

To play enter a comment on this post, good luck! you have time to play until next Friday.

You can read more about these talented people here, here and here.

Thank you! 

Yesterday afternoon

I caught a ray of sunshine for you too.

★ The winner of the second give-away is number 18, Pomme!

Thanks to those who played along, there'll be another give-away this Sunday.

 

Learning from Kids★Advent Calendar

I've been invited to contribute to "Learning from Kids Advent Calendar" on Trula's blog.

Kids don't need to talk much to teach us something, they just do things.

Thank you Anke!

the tree is up...more or less.

It was nice to decorate the tree today.

I'm trying to teach her to be patient, although she proves my patience a lot. I don't know who of the two really learnt something. But today she (might) understood that less is more ( decoration wise) and I understood that definitely more is less ( more talking, less understanding...).

Sometimes you just need to give an example.

The second give-away is on until this Friday.

On the second Sunday of december (give-away)

Hello there, hope your weekend is going nicely. 

The second give-away is offered to you by fen and ned, Paper Covers Rock and Krisztina Vona.

The lucky winner of this giveaway will get:

★ A pair of sterling silver square bar earrings by Enni from fen and ned.

Sterling silver square bar earrings - approx L 25mm x W 1mm - handmade in the UK

★ A set of Christmas cards, by Rachel Caunt. These special Christmas cards were designed for Folklore, an independent London design shop. The original designs were delicate paper collages. They were then transformed into printed cards by East London's Aldgate Press.

Each card is A6 size and comes with a C5 ribbed kraft envelope.
The cards are printed on 100% recycled paper.

★ 2013 calendar designed by Paris based illustrator Krisztina Vona. 

Krisztina has been drawing calendars for five years as a Christmas gift for her family and friends. Since she received a good feedback and many compliments, she decided to go further and decided to print 500 offset copies.  She loves nature and she's always inspired by it. The calendar feature different animals, one for every month of the year. The original drawings  are done with her favourite ballpoint pen and her Japanese watercolor. 

To enter you need to leave a comment on this post and then like:

fen and ned facebook page

paper covers rock facebook page 

A big thank you to the ladies who are kindly offering this special giveaway.

Anyone welcome, you don't need a blog to play, the draw closes next Friday....good luck!!!

sculptural book and the winner of the Tictoctac giveaway

Sorry for the late post, I've been out and about all day.
This is a picture I took today with my mobile (some of you already saw it on Instagram).
I don't know the author of the sculpture book, beautiful work isn't it?

The winner of this first give-away is number 14 :  congratulations to Patrice A.!
Please send me an email with your address.

Thank you all for playing along, don't forget there will be more give-aways, next one will be this Sunday, 3 prizes for one winner.

Have a nice weekend
★

Red is sneaking around the house

Yesterday my friend L. came to visit with her daughters, they brought us roses. 

All my friends are so busy that sometimes months go by before we see each other again.

Last Saturday I went to London and had a nice walk in Marylebone, I like that area because although is high street, it doesn't feel much like it ( the shops are  very nice).  Another reason why I like that area is because  I'm a Sherlock Holmes' fan and so I had a stroll around Baker Street, trying to imagine how it looked at the time of the famous detective; even if he's a fiction character, I like the books so much that to me almost existed in real life. That's the power of words and books.

I went  browsing at Margaret Howell, the only thing I could afford there was a book I bought for Anita! they wrapped it nicely for me. The book was first published in the fifties and it's about the importance of words. That will go under the Christmas tree, along with other books.

I then went to Liberty and to the Cloth house and bought few fabrics.

Now, about the snow in my blog: yes, I know I have snow! I put it there ( husband helped me because I had few problems with the html).

Do you like it? would you like to add it in your blog too? here you go! (just look for the post in my page).

PS: you still have time to enter the giveaway until this Friday.

 

Give away ****Tictoctac

The first of the four give-aways is by TicTocTac poetic illustrations.
A set of four hand printed cards by illustrator Cinzia Ruggieri.
Each of Cinzia illustrations begin with a  story:

"Suddenly snow begins to fall, silent.
Look carefully and you will see what is hidden in the white.
You will find your words to tell a winter tale".

Set of 4 greetings cards,high quality digital print on Hanemhule fine art paper 320 gr.
Size 11,5x11,5 fold, white inside.
Comes with matching envelopes.

To play you just need to post a comment below ( you don't need a blog to play, just leave your name) then go to Cinzia's blog or facebook page to say thank you to her! 

A winner will be announced on Friday 7, good luck!★