And now something totally different...

I've been watching these guys from the sideline for quite a while now and I like what they're doing.
This is their first official release.
More KNF resurrection here.

27 degrees - KNF featuring Niko Jane from creative men on Vimeo.

Curls for Summer...

It's just a fact of life, I guess. People with straight hair wanting curls at some point in their lives or the other way around.
I remember myself with poodle hair, back in the early eighties. Totally ridiculous - my brother still makes fun of it whenever he gets a chance. And at the end of the eighties or was it the early nineties, I did it again and tried a wavy hairstyle. That wasn't a big success either - the curls lasted exactly one day and after that my hair looked totally miserable. A short hairstyle (which I kept for years because I liked it) was the only solution. Lesson learned, however, no perms nor curls for me anymore - thank you very much!

Luckily, my girls are perfectly happy with their hair (for now).
Which doesn't mean they don't like to play around with wigs and curlers once in a while...
M. needed some dress-up stuff for summer camp and a wig it is! As to little H.: as soon as she realized it would take for ever for the curls to set and saw the other kids playing outside, she asked me to take the curlers out... So, no 'after' pictures for this one!

How about you? Any bad hairstyles you regret or have particularly fond memories of?

Herb garden

We're at it again. Maybe we shouldn't. I mentioned it here a couple of times already, neither one of us has a green thumb. Whichever plant we tried, it died.

And every Springtime we give it another try.
Right now we have lavender and Marguerites or white daisies on the balcony.
And herbs on the kitchen windowsill.

I changed watering strategies. Instead of giving them water a couple of times a week, I now soak every plant in a bucket of water once a week (for now) - until there are no more bubbles emerging from the pot, just as I was told by the seller at the plant store. And I'm feeding my plants coffee grinds, saved throughout the week in a plastic container, something I picked up from a lifestyle magazine on French TV.
So far, so good.

So, lately, we've been enjoying fresh mint on our cucumbers (with just a bit of coarse salt added - divine!), basil on our tomatoes. And I do like a touch of rosemary on a roast. I just try not to think of all the bad stuff in the air and the construction works around the corner in particular, when I'm savoring my insalata caprese.
 
We still have some space left on our windowsill - I might add cilantro, if I can find any, and maybe some parsley as well.
What's growing in your herb garden. Any tips or tricks?

Wishing you a...

// Happy Easter //
and lots of chocolates!

xo, P.

Bits and pieces

... scraps of a new project I'm currently working on.

All I can tell right now is that it involves leather, fabric and paint. I'm almost there - just need to add a couple of details.
In the mean time, while tidying up this afternoon I had a little fun with the scraps.



I'll be back next week with more and - it's been a while - a giveaway.

So, stay tuned and have a great weekend!

xo, P.

Still there

I can't believe I've been absent here for an entire month.
February flew by. We all got sick (and better again...) at the beginning of February - I even managed to be sick in bed on my birthday. And after that the girls had a two week break. One week was spent in the mountains which was really great. We were in good company, had great snow and the most lovely weather - what more could one wish for...

And now we're back to normal, impatient for Spring to come - which won't be this week as temperatures were announced to go down again and the sky looks sort of grey.
But that's ok as I have plenty of 'inside' jobs on my to do list still.
I'll (try to) keep you posted...

Spools and bobbins

Don't you just hate it when in the middle of sewing you run out of thread on the bobbin, or worse you run out of thread on the spool or can't seem to find the right color, preferably at 9:00 in the evening when all stores are closed. I find it so disruptive, having to wind a new bobbin while in the midst of a seam or having to run to the store when you were about to start on your freshly cut fabric. I try to anticipate, but it does not always work out that way.

Anyway, in an attempt to 'organize' my bobbin and spool collection, I use these plastic containers and boxes now. I'm not a big fan of plastic containers in general. I find them highly unattractive. But in this case there's something about them I like. The bobbin holder, for instance, I believe, is really cool. It's abstract art almost. The different colors arranged randomly in neat rows - pieces of thread sticking out stubbornly, capriciously, trying to reach out, to tangle up with the other ones. The box wins however, with every single one of the bobbins stuck in their very own spot.

And I moved my spools of thread to this plastic tub, which came with a new laundry detergent I tried. Before, I kept them in a tin can and little boxes and baskets here and there. It would take forever to find the right shade. With this tub, no longer. All it takes to see what's on display is a little shake. It's not as nice as these lovely wooden peg spool holders you put against the wall, but it works for me and it doesn't take up as much space. I have another one of these tubs almost empty, which I'll probably use to keep my bias tape and ribbon collection.

So, how about you? How do you keep your bobbins and spools organized?

Back to school

This picture has nothing to do with back to school, except, maybe, for the converses in them with the bright orange and black polka dotted shoe laces - our pre-teen's favorite footwear at the moment. M. started middle school on Monday and little H. - I should stop using the word little when I refer to her - started third grade. The changes for M. are drastic - her time table looks more like a piece of modern art. If it weren't for the green in it, Mondriaan would have been jealous [Mondriaan hated green apparently, we learned at Tate Modern, a couple of weeks ago]. We posted a copy on our front door and it will take us a while to get used to the different starting and ending times, and the week A and week B rythm. For little H., things have changed too - Wednesday mornings have been reintroduced and she ends at 3 in the afternoon instead of 4:15, which is really early if you ask me. But in general things look good. M. probably would have liked to be with more of her friends in class, but she seems overall happy and excited.  H. literally got everything she wished for - could that be the shamrock she found in London?

For me this week has been busy too, so no time for crafts unfortunately, unless you count covering books in. And I don't think anyone is interested in a 'How to cover books' tutorial, either. But I'm sure things will get better soon. Especially, when I get myself that new sewing machine I've set my mind upon...
To be continued...

PS: About the picture - it was taken at the Watou exhibit, in Belgium. 200 pairs of ceramic boots aligned in a room. (Natasja Lefevre: Hoop, 2010). We really loved this display. M.'s favorite Converses somehow ended up in the picture...

This is so N.E.E.T.!!

Not too long ago, I was contacted by Stephanie at N.E.E.T. magazine. If I would be interested in doing a tutorial for the June issue - preferably a recycling project, something for summer. Did I need to think about that? No, of course not!

So, here it is, the latest issue of N.E.E.T. magazine - with my recycled plastic bag pompom flip-flops among tons of other great stuff. Really, I feel so proud to have my project featured in a stunning and inspiring online magazine like N.E.E.T.! N.E.E.T. has great photography, styling, DIY projects, ... Go check it out!
And make sure to go take a look at page 148 through 151 for some really cool DIY flip-flops! There's even a downloadable PDF... Not to be missed!

Lotus seed pods

I bought these lotus seed pods earlier today as a reward for a day of hard working. It wasn't until I put them in a vase that I realized the incredibly photogenic nature of these pods. There wasn't time for an extensive photo shoot, but I do like my snap shots.

I hope I'll find a little bit more time though, this week, to take pictures of small projects I've been working on.
But first I need to make sure big girl M. has everything ready for her upcoming school trip...

Wishing you a great and productive week,

xo, P.

It starts feeling like home

Three weeks, that's how long we've been here, in the new apartment. With all the boxes unpacked (there are a few exceptions, still), it starts to feel like home. And the four of us have a general good feeling about the new place. We like how it is roomier. We love the abundance of light. We love having quiet neighbors. We love seeing people walk down the street. We love being closer to the shops.

A lot remains to be done still - but we prefer to take it slowly. We've got nothing on the walls for instance, because we like our clean bare walls for one thing and because we want to make the right decision before drilling that hole. Maybe, we'll drill a first hole next weekend to put up our kitchen shelves - we know now where we want the olive oil to be...

Little by little, it will become our place.
We prefer to take it slowly...

I'll be back soon!

As of tomorrow we'll be cut off from all internet and phone services until... we'll be reconnected - that's literally what the phone company has told me - which can take up to two weeks...
I hope to be back sooner, though.

See you all then?!

Science project show

"Today was our science electricity project show. I completely forgot to remind Mama & Papa (they had had the invitation a while ago) - so they didn't come but it still was fun. Some people's circuits broke down just that day... Lot's of people commented on mine!! I'M SO PROUD!!" 

                              ~ M., 10 years old

I still feel miserable that neither one of us made it to M.'s science project show - she so much deserved it for us being there. I forgot about the show when I made the appointment to go in to sign our new rental agreement and K. had meetings all day. When I realized I'd missed it, I felt like I could kill myself. 

I'm so proud of my little girl, of her project, of the grown-up way she dealt with the fact we didn't come to see her. Next week she has an art show and you bet I'll be there!!

A quick word about the cat: M. learned about parallel circuits in science class and got an assignment to build something around /in/with a shoebox, two or three light bulbs, two or three switches, electrical wire and a battery.  M. wanted to build a cat nightlight. We were lucky to find a cardboard papier mâché cat at the crafts store. The head had to be cut off in order to insert the eyes/ light bulbs and all off the wiring and then patched together again (once made sure everything worked correctly). The battery and switches went neatly under the box. It wasn't an easy project, but definitely a fun and interesting one - even K. and me learned a thing or two about parallel circuits...
We are so proud of our little girl...

New tool

I finally got myself a real leather punch and I'm pretty pleased with it as it looks good, I believe. Simple, sleek, just the way I like it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to put it through the test any time soon. We've decided to move - No panic! We stay in Paris! As a matter of fact we even stay on the same block - just a different apartment, slightly bigger. But this means a lot of work in the weeks to come (we'll be moving the second week of April, most likely).  No time for new tutorials, I'm afraid, but I intend to keep posting here. Pictures of things going on and - who knows - a little craft or so, whipped together in the wee hours, and a story or two...



PS: Cindy has a dog - I have a bird, don't you think?! It makes me think a bit of Mo Willems' pigeon. And talking about pigeons - I had a very bad encounter with a pigeon yesterday, or worse, with its droppings... I'll spare you the gross details, as gross it was...   That too is Paris...

A waste of time

I feel so frustrated - my hotmail account has been hacked apparently and I'm completely stuck.
Windows Live Support isn't very supportive, you see... I guess, I'll have to be patient.
Luckily, I was able to recover my contacts list as I just installed Outlook on my new laptop, the other day (I'm not to crazy about Outlook - but at least it was helpful in retrieving my contacts). So now, I can start ticking off the list and letting people know to contact me via an alternative e-mail address - a good moment for a much needed Spring cleaning in my contacts folder...
And all this while we have the most gorgeous weather - I'd rather be outside right now...

SOS Japan Sale - Hurry up!

Oatmeal colored linen, a leather rising sun, and a very nice tomato red and white narrow chalk line cotton make this a very stylish shopping bag - the perfect accessory for summer. It's now available in my Etsy shop.

100% of this sale will go to the Red Cross Japanese Disaster Relief Fund.
Shipping is free.

Dimensions:
H: 31cm without handles - 59cm with handles included
W: 43cm

Small pocket on the inside.

Hurry up - there's only one available!  Update: the bag has found a new owner! Thank you for your generosity, Lauren!

PS: I considered the option of keeping an auction as suggested by some of you in the comments on my previous post - an idea I liked a lot - however, there were quite a few practical issues which made me decide to just go ahead and sell through Etsy. But, many thanks for the suggestions made!

Three happy girls...

Last Friday when we came home from running errands we found the cutest presents in our mail box, sent to us by Michelle, from blue moss.
A bracelet for me, so precious! And oh! did you see that little snap!
And the cutest bobby pins ever for the girls.
Everything wrapped so beautifully (that old pattern paper on the box...so pretty!).

So, thank you, Michelle! Thank you so, so much!
This bracelet will be my Spring time, Summer time, anytime favorite!

You can find more from the wonderful blue moss here and here...

Wishing you all a happy, generous weekend!

xo, P.

Time for a short break

It's been a crazy two weeks - I feel totally drained. Tired.

The girls are off from school now, until the end of the month, and I decided I needed a short break as well...

I wish you a - a bit early, I know - Happy Valentine's Day!
I didn't come up with much for Valentine's Day this year, but feel free to check out last year's and the year before's Valentine's Day themed posts!

I'll be back soon!

xo, P.

Thank you

To my mom for posting the message on Good Housekeeping's Facebook fan page last week which led to an answer from the editor within half an hour...
To Good Housekeeping for adding credits and a link...
To all of you for the many comments, the e-mails sent out to GH, your suggestions and support, and for convincing me I'm not an idiot...

THANK YOU!

xo, Pascale

Eames

I'm sure most of you know these - at the moment immensely popular - Eames fiber glass shell chairs. I particularly like the ones with a wooden dowel base. They show up everywhere lately - online as well as in magazines, even in TV shows. The first time I saw one of these chairs, I fell in love - it took me a little while to figure out they were Eames, that the real vintage ones are quite pricey and that you can find replica's quite easily in different price ranges depending on the materials used (just Google Eames DAW - the list is long). For a while I considered buying a replica, but I decided to wait, not convinced the poly-i-don't-know-what material would look the way I wanted, and next, I completely forgot about it.

That was until a couple of weeks ago, when little H. and I went to a 'brocante' market a couple of blocks away from where we live. Little H. had already found a new addition to her little animal statues collection (a tiny porcelain penguin) and we were about to return back home when I suddenly spotted this chair. It looked suspiciously like an Eames, but I wasn't sure if it really was since the base didn't look familiar to me. I asked the seller - which is stupid, he could have told me anything and I probably would have believed him, since I'm by no means a Eames DAW expert. It was an Eames, he showed me the signature stamp on the bottom, and gave his price. Even with one screw missing, it was really cheap compared to the prices I'd seen online. Was it too cheap to be real? I decided to risk it, after little H. had tested it and assured me it sat really well and so, off we went, with an Eames under my arm! Back home I searched online for almost the entire afternoon - I couldn't find the base anywhere, and I started doubting about my purchase. Turns out this base is rare and that's why I couldn't find it at first. It's actually an original Herman Miller La Fonda base as shown here!
Initially, I was thinking of maybe keeping the shell but replacing the base with a wooden dowel base, which is what a lot of people do, check out Ebay or even Etsy, but now I think I will stick to my very rare but beautiful Herman Miller La Fonda chrome base!
I really got to like the sleek lines and the minimalistic look of this base and I think it combines beautifully with the black slightly weathered fiber glass. I did find the fiber glass shell a bit cold to sit on, however, so I made a linen with leather squares pillow for it and I figured that's probably why almost always you find these fiber glass chairs depicted with a sheep skin, a throw or pillows on them - but no one of course would ever admit...

Oh, I feel so totally smitten with my Eames Fiber glass Herman Miller rare La Fonda base chair.