Hello there!
Do you still send (yes in paper and through real mail) Christmas or New Year’s cards?
For years, I have been making my own Christmas cards–usually a combination of photos of the children and Photoshop. It is fun to do, but it would be too much to share all of them here, and I don’t want to spread too many private pictures ;-).
Do you like throwing a party?
I certainly do! I always love to organize, plan ahead and of course: decorate!
No, I won’t go into the details unless you ask, but I just want to give you ideas if you are thinking of giving a party. Let me know if you want more info or just need a hand with the decorations. I love to do this.
It all starts with the invitation! I always make invitations (and X-mas cards – more on this by the end of the year) myself in Photoshop. If you use your own pictures, it becomes so much more personal. Nothing wrong with sending an email, but I adore real cards. Since it has become quite exceptional to receive one, it is so much more appreciated.
I think it is important that you decide upfront what you want to do yourself: what you like to do, what you are good at and what doesn’t give you too much stress. I wanted someone else to do the music. A friend from a friend was DJ and he got half of the guests on the dance floor till 3:30 am, so no need to say we were satisfied.
I was also very happy to have found a good photographer. Asking a family member or a guest to take photos is not a good idea, because they want to party! It is such a shame if you don’t have good quality pictures, they are such precious memories. And ask your photographer to come a little earlier, so you can have some nice family pictures, while everyone is there and dressed up. I am so happy we now have some recent photos from all of us together.
Do you have a favorite flower?
Flowers can really brighten my day. You can usually find a vase with fresh flowers somewhere in our house. Years ago I preferred tulips. I used to buy a big bunch at the local market and put them in a big vase.
In June I buy peonies. There are a bunch of different types, but I prefer the Paeonia Lactiflora ‘Sarah Bernard’. I am always sad, at the end of June, when they are no longer available.
For my family party, which will be in our yard, I tried mixing a few wild flowers, in pink and white shades.
This is the dianthus. I don’t like the big version (fortunately that is the only one!) , but the little ones are so cute, and they go so well in a bouquet of wild flowers.
This is the Saponaria, also called summer gypsum.
And the well-known Matricaria, or daisy.
I also added a bigger flower, but they are very strong and really last ten days or more: the Eustoma Lisianthus. In white and pink.
What do you think?
And I still stay in the tropical theme, with my cactus vases, some green pineapples and – so cute! – small candles in the shape of a cactus. All birthday gifts from very dear friends.
I am starting to prepare for a family party! Summer will be starting then, and I want to create those summer vibes.
My dear friend Leen is very creative. So we made it a pleasant work-together and talk-together afternoon, on our garden table with only the noise of chattering birds on the background.
What do you need?
Leen had done this before, so she had the routine already. The first holders didn’t look too great, but after a few I got the hang of it. Best to put the glue on first, then carefully stick the paper to it. The bottom of the holder you can totally cover with paper – cut or fold it first and put enough glue on it. On the top you cut a few millimeters from the edge, and then you gently fold the paper over the rim.
Good luck!
We all know Sophia, right? La vera Sophia, the real Sophia? Sophia Loren indeed!
Even before we bought Casa Vita last year, my head was spinning with decorating ideas for it. The house came with furniture, but of course I wanted to make it more personal and more cozy. The living room was refurbished with some antique closets from home, a few self-made cushions, and the two big sofas upholstered with dark green velvet by Teresa.
The kitchen renovation had to wait until spring, so I could take my time. And that definitely worked out for the best.
In the two trulli, we couldn’t change much, they are authentic and unique with their big brick walls, but fortunately not much change was needed. I love the little niches in the wall where I could put the Madonna that I had saved from the attic of my parents home. I also put two pineapple lights in a niche in each trullo.
But in the newer, “normal” rooms, I had a blank slate. My first plan was to put a large wall poster on one wall of each room. I would make the poster myself in Photoshop, and I had many scenes of old Italian movies in mind. Preferably in black and white. But Francesca gently pointed out to me, that wallpaper wouldn’t be a good idea, because of the humidity in Puglia. So disappointing! I had to come up with a new idea, and I wanted to stick to something typical Italian. So I thought of the pretty Italian actresses from the sixties: Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale. I spent a long time looking for pretty pictures with decent resolution of Sophia. To be honest, I don’t find Sophia always that pretty, but these photos I found were atypical for her. Her hair is shorter than normal, and her eyes have cool, even cold, way of looking into the lens. I put a filter on the pictures in Photoshop and added a shade of pink on top of them. I had them printed on Forex (a very light, sort of pressed plastic, material) by a company – Uw fotocadeau – here in Belgium. You can see the result on top.
Once the frames hung on the wall, the room was baptized “the Sophia Loren room.” It is a small cozy room with twin beds and a private bath. The rack, the bedside tables, and metal beds were all dark. When we were in Puglia in April, I painted everything white. It looks so much brighter and nicer now, don’t you think?
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