~ dusty blues & silver greys ~

Hello dear friends

from our ~ wishes corner ~ and part of our home which serves as the shop's vitrine!

The collage below is made mainly from pictures taken these last days,

 and pictures of prints which have been recently listed.

Today has been a quite relaxing day @ home, 

with lots of time for dealing with prints and shop issues.

I adore days like these...

the sun has also made an appearance,

a very welcome change to the last, grey and rainy days.

A day of printing, cutting and placing the new prints in the frames,

 in order for them to be photographed

and eventually stand happily on the shelves of our pretty shop.

 I'm absolutely pleased as we have tried three new, 

different qualities of thicker paper, 

and all are really good.

We'll have to decide on which is the best of the best and  proceed with a bigger order.

This time a more glossy surface was tried

~ instead of the semi glossy one been used so far ~

which I find to work just perfectly 

with the prints.

So today, being inspired by the new mugs that have come to live with us, 

I put together the collage above, with the chromatic theme of 

~ dusty blues & silver greys ~

Three of the prints portrayed were already available:

~ The time travellers

~ Silver diamond doors

&

~ Hear your soul

and three new ones just got listed and joined the others on the shop's shelves:

~ All for one and one for all ~

~ Always look through the eyes of love ~

                                     and  ~ Attached ~

...now I'm off to the kitchen to prepare the first vegetable soup of the season,

 as it has gotten quite chilly at night...

so a warm soup seems like a perfect dinner

 to be sipped under candle light...

...before I go, do have a look at this amazingly curated treasury, 

which featured

the Time Travellers print today 

and was actually responsilbe for the day's

colour scheme inspiration.

Trully beautufl finds.

I could order many of them...

And if you'd like to win one of our shop's prints,

do pass by Gathering Spriggs and state your wish.

You might be the lucky one!

Have the best of afternoons, enjoying autumn,

 those of you living in the same part of the world as we do

See you soon dear all,

Love

Ivy ~  xx

The chosen three: 1 ~> magalerie

...see this book opened above?

Let's imagine it is a fabulous one (and I'm sure it actually is one), like those you cannot put aside and just want to go on reading,

 in order to be finding yourelf more and more into its magic world....

well, this is how I felt when I got familiar with Anne's shop ~ magalerie ~

I'm ever so thankful for the fact that my own Etsy shop attracts a lot of fellow Etsy sellers chosing to feature my work, which gives me the opportunity to get in touch with lots of wonderful, talented people, often owning shops I adore to bits.

This is the case with lovely, low profiled Anne from France, who has recently set up an Etsy shop to definetly rock our worlds.

I discovered her gorgeous world of photography and impeccable taste, as much as her stylish design touch, thank's to her having contacted me about featuring my shop's items in her beautifully curated treasuries.

That was it!

Love at first sight.

I immediately suggested to have the honour of presenting her work in my online journal, considering each and every one of her pictures to be a jewel of its own.

A small parenthesis here:

As these lines are very personal to me, despite the fact that they are published, I wish for every picture hosted and every person doing me the honours of coming here, to share a similar sense of aesthetics, style and life philosophy.

....back to where we were:

Anne is a very humble and down to earth person, characteristics I really admire.

 She then had but a few  - gorgeous - items listed and kinldy asked me to wait until she had her shop stocked the way she wanted to.

As patience is a virtue to always be rewarded, so was I when I recently visited her fully equipped shop!

In the meantime, three of the four Etsy Treasuries curated by me so far, were featuring  some of her products.

 They are marked with 1,2 & 3 below, rather not so well seen though.

So, let me link you directly to the Tresuries, in case you wish to have a more detailed look:

1~  Calm ~ cozy ~ autumn LoVe

2~  It's all about pure LoVe

3~  Girls' secret desires

And here is my choice and purchase from Anne's shop:

a usuful reminder in wonderful, crispy, milky white

~ Keep calm & carry on ~

Looking forward to having it framed!

And I'm sure you are looking forward to seeing more of Anne's pictures, while I keep quiet.

so here we go...

Lots of soul & eye candy!

...having trouble to choose? I know how you feel!

See how wonderful they group together?

This is exaclty what Anne wished to be mentioned, that when she makes pictures and eventually places them on the shelves of her shop, she has groups in mind and visualises them framed and hung togehter on a wall of art.

Combined with each other as much with other different art in various sizes. 

Still always in a colour scheme.

And this very point is where her shop philosophy and mine meet, as we both do not only photograph for the mere pleasure of capturing and making a beautiful picture, but also visualise a finished outcome, which includes a space's overall design, incorporating wall art.

With these three magical beach cabins, this sequence of the "chosen three" posts

has come to an end.

You may find and all of Anne's wonderful pictures at your disposal right here.

I hope you have enjoyed all posts and shops as much as I have!

Wishing you the nicest of Tuesday afternoons and see you quite, quite soon.

Till then, be and do the best you can,

Love, Ivy xx

The chosen three 2: ~> eat pray create

.....here we are with the second chosen of the three shops for today.

Here comes Minna's simply adorable shop, of such supplies as cotton twine, tiny cloth pegs and wonderfully handcarved stamps among other beautiful products

Welcome to:

~ eat ~ pray ~ create ~

Being a customer myself, I find each and every one of the products to be absolutely lovely, made with lots of care, attention and passion.

I love a person who is passionate about what he/she does.

I love a person who actually lives to create, cause this flows from deep within.

It is remarkable that the more passionate and talented a person is, the more of a tranquil feeling and outcome characterizes his/her work.

However stunning, gorgeous or impressive their work might be, there is always a feeling of coherence, continuity and great balance.

The work flows....effortlessly...like a stream of water running down a pretty hill...

Look how wonderful they all are for themselves and how beautifully they are combined with each other....

Stamps:

Tiniest & cutest of wooden cloth pegs:

celbration flags:

ecologically dyed cotton twine in wonderful pastels:

and more one of kind, handcarved stamps:

On a last notice but definetly not the least important one,

I adore the packaging Minna does.

Having received the parcel of my order in my hands, I felt the time, effort and love she devotes in what she does.

 She loves her work, she loves her shop and she respects her customers,

 while carrying a lot to please them and offer them a unique shopping experience that is characteristic of who she is as a person. A carrying, sunshiny person.

Visit Minna's shop right here 

if  you are a flickr lover, find her pictures also here

and do visit her wonderful blog

Fianlly, one on my motos being 

1 picture = 1000 words,

see for yourselves what (and how') I received:

....as lovely and caring as it gets!

and with this I'm leaving you for.....like another few seconds and jumping over to the last and biggest feature for today.....which you 'll adore as much as these two last ones and quite possibly even more!

See you at a shop I'd be proud to own, had I not been having my own shop....

Ivy, xx

The chosen three: 3 ~> monkey puzzle

Hello on a Tuesday afternoon...a typical, cloudy, rainy, chilly afternoon, which I 'm very happy it's finding me at home, with a hot cup of tea in hand (in our new favorite mugs)

Perfect time for writing and bringing thoughts and news on the pages of this online diary.

The news today is that a new column is incorporated here, under the name

~ The chosen three ~

I'll be sharing with you preferably on a Teusday ( please mark not every Teusday) three shops of fellow Etsy sellers, that I particularly like and have either had a personal experience as a customer, or I feel to be sharing lots in common concerning styling and shop philosophy on many levels.

I chose three, as this number is quite symbolic to me.

and spekaing of symbolism,

I also chose to put such a post together on a Tuesday,

 cause the word for this day in Greek language is"Triti" meaning " the third" .

wonderful...so we have an assemblamce of threes:

1 one ~> ivy style33

2 two ~> sharing 3 chosen Etsy shops

3three ~> on a Tuesday or else the 3rd day of the week according to Greek culture.

And now that you have become familiar with what is and will be, let's start backwards from number three today.

In number three, there will be a shop, I haven't made a personal contact with, still have somehow accidentally discovered it and  loved it.

This is the case with Monkey Puzzle.

I love this shop for the wonderful banners it sells, being myself both a garland lover and maker.

Recycling philosophy,

stylish pictures with a designer's eye

and one of a kind, inspired, handmade creations in wonderfully chosen and combined materials.

Definetely a place to visit!

Here is a glimpse to the shop, which you may find here

I hope you have been inspired as much as I have when finding this little corner of calm beauty and handmade treasures in the vast world of Etsy!

....now moving to the second one of the chosen three....in a next post, attemping to keep things organised and easy to find around these pages.

See you in just about a second ...still till then,

much love and take care of your precious shelves

Ivy, xx

The happiness of small things

....about the happiness of small things...that are able to bring great pleasure....this is how this post begins today.

 Small things, like a pair of ceramic mugs - one for him & one for me - accindentally discovered while doing some small shopping at the neighbourhood, right after an order was personally delivered at the post office on Saturday morning....probably the last one of my bicycle rides for the season, as the weather has become quite chilly....especially while being on a bicycle!

...small things, like enjoying a hot cup of tea at home, in favorite, hanamde mugs, which had cost just €1,99 each....how much happiness can  €3.98  buy alltogether ?

...am sure you agree happiness cannot be bought at all, still consuming individuals as we all are in the societies where we live in, finding pretty items for small amounts of money, simple feels good.

...small things like dealing with fragments of my life, captured in pictures, which have now become the  

subject of the little shop my partner and I have set.

Pictures to be framed, to be incorporated in stationary, or to be used as details in the packing of orders.

...small things like simply enjoying living in the present, unlike the paper boats seen above, which are actually Time travellers, wandering between past and future, then and now.

Speaking about time, I'm ofen asked what my plans are...and it's then that a kind of blockade comes...something feels unnatural about this inquiry.

We people need plans to feel secure,

to fight the fear of the unknown,

to not risk surrendering in simply being daily the best people we can ever be

and taking life as it comes.

When we plan our life, life is actually happening, 

and quite often we are missing it, 

being occupied with planning it

planning our next steps most probably...

how to achieve more,

how to earn more,

how to move to a bigger house,

how to travel more,

how to be more beautiful,

more successful,

more....

more...

more...

if only we could stop and simply be grateful for all that we have and are at this very moment, 

so much conflict,

so much stress,

so much sadness,

so many diseases would be avoided

Let me tell you about some plans...

Last time I really planned a change, I returned to the very same American University, where I had graduated from Psychology, this time having enroled myself in Interior Design courses.

It was 2007, and I was already partly working as a decorator during weekends and mornings, when I was free from teaching classes of English and holding Art§Crafts seminars (they were taking place in the afternoon).

My plan was to gradually turn my passion and hobby into my daily job, step by step.

My plan was to go on with the courses....

Only that during the first semester, I had already met my current life partner

and my life came upside down in the most delightful of ways, as I wasn't only expreriencing mutual love  in a way I had always wished for, but I was also relocating from Greece to Germany.

So, from being a university student in one of the nicest  private colleges in Athens, I soon found myself being a student in a simple school learning a fourth language, while being 33...

When I was knocking on the doors of opportunity....other ones were opening for me

...and had I not been able to trust myself and my instinct,

persisting in completing my original plan,

 I would have never been where I am now,

I would have probably entered some golden doors,

while actually I would have missed the Silver Diamond ones,

 that were bright open and waiting for me.

If Home is where the Heart is,

then never had I been more at home than in this little Penthouse apartment,

 with this heaven sent partner 

while step by step also building a business of Interior Design,

 while setting up our online/home based shop

step by step, slowly slowly, day by day.

About plans, I remember us expecting our flight to Paris this Spring, looking so much forward to returning there after our last visit to enjoy more of this magical city....

Still, a volcano happened to erupt that very same day and all flights were cancelled, including ours,

all central and northern European airports were closed, 

leaving us with no other alternative, than to take a road trip.

And we did.

We drove to France's Strasbourg, just 2 1/2 hours from home and we were delighted by this new city we were visiting for the first time....

There's always a hidden blessing as a dear friend of mine says

And to bring all this plan talking slowly to an end, I guess my partner's mother was planning to live long enough to enjoy her wonderful son, having his beloved wife/companion at his side, also probably meeting and enjoying her grandchilden...when life had unfortunately other plans for her....the ones we never think of ...the ones we never wish for...such as when cancer knocks on the door...and life comes to a fast end within four months.....I've only known her through pictures and her husband's narations, but I can reasure you she was a beautiful woman and a wonderful, kind, patient, giving soul, a person I'd love to be spending time with.

This is why my dear friends I prefer to actually make no fixed plans, still though I do hold my wishes and try to live in a way to support them....

So, my wishes are to be given the gift of life, being blessed with living it together with my current partner, so long as we are meant to be around this world....being blessed with the gift of seeing him smile when wrinkles will be all over his face....being blessed with having the ability to wipe his tears away when they arise...being able to contribute into making our dreams come true, while at the same time achieving this in a meaninghful way...leaving a positive impact on the world throughout this unimportant passage of ours from this life....

...speaking of wishes and dreams coming true, I wish us to have a home in Mallorca's Valldemossa, a place where I feel deeply connected to and where some of the shop's recently listed pictures were taken. 

Like the ~ happy letters ~ above.

Seen below are a couple of more newly listed items at the shop, such are

~ writing letters ~ photogrpahed in the old city of Limburg

and

~ knowkedge ~ represented by a collection of our favorite vintage books

I'm leaving you with a favorite shot taken this summer on a Saturday afternnoon, 

on our way back home from a visit to our closest Ikea store...

Hope to meet you all, there where the light shines....

and hope that we all find the places inside our souls,

 where the light constanlty shines

Have the most wonderful week ahead!

Love, Ivy xx

A day in pictures

~ making cards

~ uploading some of this week's pictures on flickr

~ an organised chaos on our dining table, temporarily transformed into my working surface

~ two of the prints printed and framed, photographed this week before they were adjusted to the wall

~ a new order packed and shipped to a new destination and home

~ our living room corner as it currently is, with the addition of the five, square Ikea frames (Ribba) holding newly made prints, some already available at the shop and some available to be shortly.

~ may we all wake up in a  lovely Sunday,

Love, Ivy xx

P.S: to those lovely friends who threw a letter in my mail box, thank you for them.

I read them all with joy. Tomorrow will be a "writing mails" day, along with visits to family and probably more card making/ photographing them ready made.