Flowers & Polka dots

In my garden I love to use color. Not only outside, but inside my little garden house as well. Bright pinks, reds & blues are my favourite. My cupboards are filled with linnen, earthenware and china with little roses or polka dots on it. I love to buy old things at fleamarkets, but now and then I also buy something new. Last week I came upon this colorful teapot and cookie jar at a Dutch store called Xenos. I simply could not resist it. There is a whole range of products, from plates, mugs, an etagere to napkins.  

It's perfect to combine with my PIP mugs. I spotted the PIP mug you can see in the picture, at a sort of garage sale recently. I have three mugs with different patterns now, but am still trying to find the other ones. 

I also wanted to share this floral pillow case with you. It's a cross stich pillow case you can find at the same store as I mentioned before. The price is really good. Needles, thread and a clear description are included. I can really recommend it to you! I plan to start on it this weekend, but I can already visualise it on my wicker chair inside our garden house this summer.

I wish you all a happy weekend!

Lieve groet from a sunny Holland, Madelief

Spring into life!

Slowly the garden is waking up. Little sprigs of blue grape hyacinth's, daffodils and crocuses appear above ground. The Rhodondendrons are full of fat buds and the first perennials, like Sedum, are showing their tiny leaves. The branches of my Hazel tree are adorned with catkins. The pollen is making me sneeze a lot! I was amazed to see the flowers of the white Helleborus, lighting up a dark corner of our garden. We also have a red variety, but we have to wait until March for it's flowers to appear.

It gives so much energy working in the garden this time of year. Wrapped up in my warmest winter coat, a thick woollen scarf and my thermo socks, it makes the low temperatures and the sometimes icy wind a bit more bearable. We have been clearing up the garden, getting rid of most of the leaves and pruning several trees. We brought barrowful after barrowful to our compost heap and cleaned the birdhouses. I also spread some organic manure over the garden and smelled like a cow afterwards! I should have watched the direction of the wind when I spread the manure ;-).

At a nearby garden centre I bought some left over spring flowering bulbs at a bargain price. They had to be planted before December, but I will just give it a try. I put the bulbs in some teracotta pots, covered them with straw and now keep my thumbs up!

As always I bought far too many seeds. It will be difficult to decide what's going in the garden.  At the moment I have a slight tendency toward more flowers and less vegetables, but I am not sure yet. Have you done any work in your garden? Is there anything in bloom yet?

Enjoy your wednesday!

Lieve groet, Madelief

A misty morning

When I woke up this morning the town was covered in a thick layer of mist. Now and then a few rays of sunlight tried to break through the clouds, but until now they did not succeed. It is still a small world. As the light is beautiful, I captured three mocca cups on camera. They were given to me by Ada, a dear friend from the choir, who reads my blog. They really are a bit kitsch, but that's what I like about them. They will look perfect in our garden kitchen, in between the florals and polka dots!

The macarons are a sweet surprise. I found them in the freezer at our local Aldi before Christmas. They not only look beautiful, but taste simply amazing!!! I can recommend them to you. I hardly had time to capture them on camera!!! There were two girls standing behind me, who all wanted to have one. As they are not only tasty, but small as well, a second one was absolutely necessary :-)!

Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Bottles & Clothes

 
While visiting the Ikea recently, I came upon a beautiful glass dressing table set. I fell in love with it immediately! I simply had to show you. It's made of blue, pink and brownish glass and looks like it was made at the beginning of the last century. At a time when woman had bottles like these on their dressing table, filled with the most exquisite perfumes.

I show you part of my collection of bottles & trinket boxes. The brown bottles were once my grandmothers. They have a special place on my dressing table. The pink and white toiletry set was made by Laura Ashley in the 80s and given as a wedding present. I found the blue & white trinket box on a fleamarket in Rye years ago. It is made by Mason's and decorated with a light blue rose.

I found the light green tunic and soft pink cardigan in the sale recently. I love the romantic look of it.

I wish you all a Happy weekend. Hopefully we will get some sun in Holland. It's been grey and wet for days!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Cecil Beaton

It has been a while since I did a post on photography. Some of my old followers may know that I love black and white fashion photographs. Especially from the 1920s and 1930s, but I enjoy photo's from later periods as well. When I am in a bookshop or fleamarket I am always on the lookout for photo books. I love the atmosphere, the stylish clothes, and the beautiful men and women.

Cecil Beaton, an English fashion and portrait photographer, is one of my favourites. He was born in 1904 and passed away in 1980. He started for Vogue in 1927. Through the years he captured several celebrities on camera, like Audrey Hepburn, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo & Marilyn Monroe. In his hands beauty was transformed into elegance and charm. He followed fashion on foot, with the result that he was one of the most wanted fashion photographers during a period of fifty years.

Enjoy his photo's! Lieve groet, Madelief