In summer mood....

Goodmorning to all who are living in the same hemisphere as where the little Penthouse is located, the living room of which is pictured above and from where I'm usually writing :)

And hello or good evening to those being in different time zones.

I 'm finally managing to come and make an appearance here to say hello and give a taste of this week's happenings (since previous Teusday's last post)  through some pictures. As you may well have guessed, I have indeed been a (very) buzy bee lately! Still, there has been some time to....

style a little tiny bit our veranda, by adding some hamam towels (bought at h&m Home on line)

on the chair and the bench and enjoying some sunbathing during the day or grilling during the evenings

make a collage displaying favorite moments happening around the house, such as 

getting dressed for an "at home" Friday dinner, styling around a bit for some pictures, crafting and making - one of a kind - combined art, collage & drawing cards such as this one,

bringing out Mr Squirrel to help me with providing some string ,as I was packing some gifts for dear friends and therefore making a click to capture the basket holding all of the "balls" of string as they looked so photogenic to me...

making the bed with fresh sheets (Ikea) mixing and matching the pillow cases (Ikea) from different sets with a light grey, duvet cover perfectly light for summer, also found at h&m home....all combined to acheive a minimal look in natural tones...

...also spending long, endless hours in front of the computer screen, processing pictures according to my personal feel and taste,  like the "House with hats" above, photographed by my loving partner (also madly into photography) in our neighbourhood some months ago and processed by me specially for the needs of our Etsy shop

....and the "Happy nuns" pictured above, which you are invited to open in flickr by just clicking on the link to find out why this is the title and which, together with the previous one, belong in the "Stories of times gone by" photography series and was inspired this weekend....

mostly by our visit to the Oltimers car's festival that took place in the park across our home (Verna Park), where I accidentally discovered myself in the reflection of a super polished back part of a 1930's car front light and therefore took a minute for a little - ahem! - posing....

and had plenty of time to fall in love with the cutest of the cars participating in the festival among Rolls Royce and Jaguars to Austin and Bentleys..to  Porches, to astonishing Cadillacs and totally rounded Ford vans... this little guy, an original VW beetle caring "his" vintage, leather suitcase on "his back", simply stole my heart like forever!....that's why he'll have a special place on the shelves of the Etsy shop, at your disposal when you wish to signify that you'll be away or to simply wish a friend:

"Bon Voyage!"....

...and as if all this has not been enough, there was some time to engage into a play with circles, remembering old days of school, when geometry class was one of my favorites(!) and so often run home to find the solutions of the assignments we would recieve, almost always absolutely correct to my teachers' surpise...."get a life you little teenage girl!", they must have thought and actually I do think the same, now.....I wonder what would they say if they saw what has been happening to all I've learned and how it is incorporated into my daily life....sigh....!


 Finally, to be bringing this rather happy Wednesday post to its end....

there has been some time to be feeling just like walking in the skies, when out in our veranda, as apart from the view of little roofs among gardens, one has an immediate connection to the sky, the little penthouse being situated on the 4rth floor. Oh Good heavens, dear all.....if it isn't about celebrating every little moment in life, then what is it about?....hard times will always come our ways as well and am thinking that maybe...just maybe...sucking the beauty of glorious little moments to the very depth of our souls when they occur, can be the antidote when these hard times appear.


All the love and blessings to all 
Friendly yours,
Ivy

Home stories to love

Hey people!

I know that it's rather hard to capture your attention when I post similar pictures over and over again during last days - the mosaics from my flickr favorites being the only exception - but I'm preparing the photography line of my Etsy shop step by step and I'm pretty happy about it...it is my little and beloved baby project :)

So eventhough, you will most possibly not comment about it , I sincerely hope that you are liking my Home Stories, Domestic Stories, Kitchen stories and so on...and that maybe.... when they shop reopens in the next few days you can pay me a visit....that would be really nice...

So, please do bare with me those days!...I promise that it's worth the patience. 


The best of regards and wishes to you all!

Zucchini Love

Zuchinni Love, originally uploaded by ivy style33.

...leaving you for the weekend with this heart made of zucchini slices, prints of which will be shortly available in the Etsy shop, as part of my "Photography... Through Ivy's eyes" series, under the label "Domestic charm", categorized as Kitchen Stories.

...aiming at bringing some Love in your kitchen and everyday life, in a minimal way, for many happy gatherings and delicious meals!

Blessings....

How does someone respond to human " smallness", to put it kindly and mildly in to words?
...to envy?
...to unfairness?
...to superiority feelings?
...to those who always must & need to be the best in order to feel ok with
themselves?
...to those who only pretend to accept critisism but are critical themselves?
...to those who cannot see with the eyes of the heart?
...to those who hate?
...to....to...to.... to all that is negative in a way - thoughts, energy, actions?

Well, I 'd say let's respond with b l e s s i n g s, for them and us, wishing that all negativity spreads away in the universe, having caused absolutely no harm...

I 'd say :
* All you need is Love *
* Love is where the heart lives *
* Adore your life - it's the only one you get *
* Enjoy the value of anything homemade *
* Eat a biscuit and*
* Remember to sometimes send a real mail * - in the era of everything on line!

This is my small, recently aquired stamp collection from lovely Etsy sellers:
www.etsy.com/shop/3point5dollars
www.etsy.com/shop/suppliesbysusan

Happy December!

....celebrating the first of the Christmasy month with a new creation and addition to the shop! Enjoy and have a lovely month you all!
 

Vintage Wallpaper Creations & Happy Thanksgiving!

Tired of pictures of my wallpaper creations already?

Not?
That's nice to hear!

coz.....

a girl's got to do, what she's got to do, to promote her shop!

                                           
                                              There'a new addition to the shop: " Love"

May we all be lucky and brave enough to experience it in our lives!

Happy Thanksgiving for tomorrow to all!

Remember to thank the ones you love and ....yourselves for being who you are and trying to be even better, happier and more complete.

Nature's treasures...

                      ....to wish you all a Happy Monday and a nice start in the new week.
Aren't sometimes the simplest things in life also the prettiest, loveliest and the most precious?

How much tranquility, clearness and happiness lies in taking a walk in the woods or in a park, paying attention to all the colours, the smells, the sounds and the feelings that are evoked?

How nice is it to return home having found treasures in nature, using them in our home decor, without necessarily having to visit a shop and spend money, to satisfy our need for something new?

Well, to me it is very rewarding and it can coexist very peacefully with my spending needs.     Actually, I find relaxation in it. And balance. The one I need when I'm going through busy periods, such as now, when making things, preparing things for the Etsy shop, giving Art&Crafts in

English lessons, looking for and applying for jobs all coexist in my everyday life.

Wallpaper crazy!

By now I can declare myself as....wallpaper addicted! Ever since these vintage, wallpaper rolls came my way....the notion of the word has a whole new meaning to me. Not that I wasn't fond of wallpaper before used in decoration, as much as in creative crafty ways, but I simply started appreciating the whole concept a bit more.  

Any way, to make a long story short....these vintage rolls I 'm talking about are original, stamped and handsigned pieces of 1965 Albert Van Luit wallpaper, an American company that seemed to have a glorious name back in the good old times. I also checked their current stock, but to my disappointment  found nothing similar to these glorious pieces. ( Thank God for brands like Ferm Living!)


They hold names such as India, Renaissance, Borgese Damask and all of them have golden accents in their designs. Originallly I would consider something like that to be too glamorous for my kind of minimal, low and neutral toned style,  but I was surprised to see how well they work together with natural materials such as here or creating a more modern contemporary look like here. Both pictures are from The Penthouse.


Another reason that they fancinate me is the story that lies behind their discovery....in the dusty attic of an old wallpaper shop, in the very center of Athens....forgotten.... I really have no rememberance of how I ended up up there. I have the impression that I 'm driven by a special force when it comes to discovering and revealing similar things.

I have been returning to the same store now and then during my visits in Athens, but must admit that the prices were higher up, due to the fact, as the owner said, that there is currently a lot of demand as stylists, decorators and  theater people have been finding their supplies there. Oh well, the man is still kind enough to give me a reduction, since I never leave with less than three rolls in my shopping bag!

Some of these were meant to be sold under the vintage category in my Etsy shop, but it was too hard for me to let them go. So, I decided to get crafty and play with them a little, while producing things handmade for my shop. This is how I came up with the " Christmas - and not only! - ornaments", currently listed and availiable in newivystyle's shop. Don't be confused by the name, it is my shop, ivy style33's shop! 

Hope the following pictures will serve as much as an eye candy to you, as they do to me! 

Wishes for a great weekend : )