Inspiration: My studio: stuff I found again!

A lot of catching up to do! I've been busy finishing off my studio in case you wondered where I have been. Also busy times at work and a well needed little holiday time with the kids.
In between work, kids and a household, I managed to sort of finish decorating my studio. A lot of stuff came down from the attic where it had been hiding for almost 10 years! How much fun it was to rediscover my own treasures! Like this tin I once bought while I was first moving out of my parents home. A tin I have used during art school to keep my charcoal in (for drawing). I tried to clean it a little, but it's as clean as can be now. It looks better though in the picture than in real life, the colours come out better in the picture. I reckon it's really really old, like 100 years or so with a bit of imagination (I have lots of that), but in reality I think it's from the thirties or twenties or something as the design is a bit Art Deco.

I've found these toys at the thrift store some time ago and thought they were really funky and colourful. But they were hiding away in a bag somewhere waiting for the studio to be finished. This branch was at the attic. We found it in Italy a couple of years ago at a river, where we waded through while walking. My son found the branch to be exact and we sort of figured it would look good on the mantlepiece. But somehow we never did put it there in the end. Well, it travelled all the way from Italy to our home and is now residing in my studio. The garland was a Christmas present by the way.

I also found an old shopping basket in the attic in which I stored all my drawing supplies. And there it was! My inherited box of pastels! I got it when I was 15 or something when my great aunt died of cancer. She used to draw quite a lot and it was already an old box when I got it! And now almost 30 years later I have found it! (almost 30 years later, I'm not that old...) I'm always a bit scared to use it though, I have this voice inside me saying that it would be such a shame to use it. Maybe the pastels don't work anymore and fall apart when using it. But I still enjoy just looking at it once in a while.

I've found a whole box full of nibs for my dip pen! I knew I had these somewhere but I just couldn't remember where exactly. I'm so glad I have found these again! It was always such a please to draw with them, a long long time ago. Can't wait to start using them again some time soon. I even found a whole bottle of drawing ink.

And a stack of old books I once got from the dark alleys of the internet! They are postage stamps collectors books, most of them half empty, but some have really cool stamps inside.