Outgoing: to Jay

This is what I have sent to Jay in return for our paper swap. Some vintage envelopes full of vintage paper ephemera, postcards and some old photos of trams. I found a page of old canadian stamps that I included in an envelope and a collection of my drawings. Hope it gets a good purpose in Canada.

Inspiration: fleamarket

When summer arrives, also do the local fleamarkets. They are always somewhere on a small square in a small village, and benefits always go to the restoration fund of the local church. Amongst a lot of terrible and broken stuff, there are always some treasures to be found. Like these seventies plastic pots, or the porcelain dolls arms, doilies or cigarbands. Great stuff for small prizes!

Outgoing: to Alice

A while ago I received this beautiful vintage package from Alice. This is what I have sent her for my part of our vintage swap. I wrapped everything in small paper bags. I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to use some of my collection of sanitary towel bags. I love these bags, everytime I'm visiting a toilet I have a look at the sanitary towel bags. Call me crazy, and maybe I am a bit, me sitting on a toilet and admiring the sanitary towel bags, but these bags are made of a sort of sturdy vellum you can only find in a sanitary towel bag. Ehh, well, I'm drifting off the subject now.
I've made a collection of lace and ribbon with a blue feel to it. I've parted with part of my collection of cardboard bobbins (and that was a hard thing to do). The brassiere used to belong to my grandma, that's a true story! She gave it to me maybe about twenty years ago or something, I think it's from the sixties or seventies and still in perfect condition. It's just not my size though unfortunately. And it matches great with the sixties of seventies dressing gown I found on a thrifting hunt! My other grandma was definitely a grandma that was wearing that kind of synthetic stuff. Also included some vintage stationary and postcards (not on picture). I love vintage stationary, just can't get enough of that! I also included a set of porcelain dolls arms. And the first time I could use my waxseal! I'm really glad Alice liked it all, since I got a bit insecure with all her cool vintage stuff she finds at fleamarkets.

Outgoing: the senses

Thought I would try something else for a change. I've made a mail for Inge that is directed to our 5 senses: hearing, tasting, touching, seeing and smelling. Hope the saucer made it in one piece to Belgium.

Inspiration: thriftshopping

Sometimes when I have a day off without the kids around (that seldom happens), I love to do some thriftshopping. Every thriftshop is different. In the one you can find loads of books, in the other vintage sewing supplies. This sign is in one of my favourite thriftshops. I really love this sign, unfortunately it's not for sale, I might have bought it otherwise. It would be a great sign for our bathroom! Just imagine it hanging above our bath! (I keep on dreaming though).

Some random treasures I found at random thriftshops. I do love a good treasurehunt!

Inspiration: porcelain drawing

I came across this porcelain paint marker and I thought I would give that a go. My daughter wanted to have a try aswell. Unfortunately the marker is awfull to draw with, or I was unlucky with this one. Next time I might use real porcelain paint (if I ever come across it that is).

Inspiration: old drawings

While sorting out the studio, I came across a box full of my old drawings. I decided to go through them all and to get rid of my most horrid ones. Here is a selection of the ones I decided to keep. I'm no great master in the art of drawing, When I was in art school studying sculpture, drawing was always something that was done on the side, or for sketching or something. It's only later on, that I started to enjoy it really. My favourite drawing tools were a simple pen and ink. I think they still are my favourite to be honest.

Incoming: from Janien

From Janien I received these cool old indexcards she found at a castle she is working at currently. When a collection gets digitized, people tend to throw away the old indexcards. Luckily Janien saved some! She made a small collage on two of them and sent me some extra to use for a paper project. I really like this sort of stuff. The smell and feel, the dampspots, the handwriting. The picture on the collage is from Henry Moore, the godfather of modern sculpture.

Incoming: from Pedro the Penmaster

Pedro is a Mexican Penmaster in Copperplate and Spencarian style. Learning to write like that is something I would really like to learn, but probably far out of my reach. Since you need practice practice and practice. He wrote me this beautiful letter in this amazing handwriting. The detail on the envelope is gorgeous, even some gold dots on the letters. And sealed with a waxseal on the back (swoon!). The flourishing is really cool (the swirls and swings of the pen).  He also makes his own oblique penholders out of aluminium, how cool is that! I have to get my practice on now! In a serious kind of way!

Inspiration: Mail storage

When moving in my studio, I was looking for an easy way to store my incoming mail. While visiting IKEA, I came across this lid holder in the kitchen section. Perfect!

Incoming: from Alice

When Alice asked me if I would be interested in doing a vintage swap, I didn't have to think long! I love vintage! She collects vintage sewing supplies, vintage jewellery, sunglasses, postcards, ephemera, etc etc. She sells them at a fleamarket occasionally. That would be really hard for me, to part with all that beauty. She sent me this lovely package from Belgium. It was all smelling so lovely like fresh soap, it's a pity that you can't capture a scent on a photo. I love it when I can make little vignettes out of things, and this parcel she sent me was perfect for some arranging. So here is an impression.