February Photo a Day

I love prompts. Art journal prompts, journal prompts, photography prompt, anything really. Prompts make you think outside the box. They keep your creativity flowing. Well, at least they do for me. So I happily joined the #febphotoaday on Instagram and it is fun. And since February is half today, here are my first 14 prompts of February Photo a Day:

Day 1: View. My son's cars perfectly lined up at the dinner table.

Day 2: Words. Live your dreams. Or at least make an effort.

Day 3: Hands. Mine and my daughter's.

Day 4: A stranger. Danbo chasing Treeson. My Japanese collectible toys.

Day 5: 10 a.m. On a lzay Sunday morning, straight from the shower.

Day 6: Dinner. Soup before dance class.

Day 7: Button. My stash of buttons.

Day 8: Sun. On my way from work.

Day 9: Front Door. London's Anthropology's front door taken from an article in my favourite craft magazine MollieMakes. Anthropology was just a few yards from our hotel in London when we stayed there last Fall.

Day 10: Self Portrait. Just got out of bed less than an hour before this photo...

Day 11: Makes you happy. I've recently learned how to spin yarn. Seeing the yarn on my spindle makes me happy! How nerdy is that?!!

Day 12: Inside your closet. My stash of craft books.

Day 13: Blue. My favourite blue scarf.

Day 14: Heart.

Have a happy Valentine's day! Thanks for the visit!

Break...

Hello again! As you might have noticed I took a little break from blogging. It was nice getting requests when I'd start blogging again. Winter and the Holidays kept me in hiding for a while and I had other things to keep me busy, but now that things have settled down a bit, and Spring is getting near, I think it's time to pick up where I left off.

The last time I blogged was almost two months ago and this is what I've been up to these past weeks:

We payed Amsterdam a visit. Lovely city! It had been a while since I went to Amsterdam, so it was nice to spend some time there again. The weather was okay, not too cold, perfect for strolling the streets. And of course I couldn't walk past Starbucks without getting a hot drink(or two...)!

I've been taking lots of photos and while browsing through all my pics, it struck me how often I capture details instead of the whole picture. Funny, because I wasn't aware that I'm developing a certain 'style' in my photography. I'm planning to use my DSLR more often, but first I have to take it in for a good clean.

Hot cocoa and coffee intakes have increased over the last few weeks in an attempt to stay warm. To no avail, I must add, but that didn't spoil the fun! I think I might feel an addiction coming, but who cares?! About a year ago I hardly ever drank coffee and now I don't go a day without...(!)

And thrift stores were visited frequently. I love browsing through the store looking for vintage cups and saucers. It feels like treasure hunting! My collection has expanded greatly over te past few weeks and I'm now looking for a nice vintage style cupboard to store all my stuff. Another good reason to keep visiting thrift stores!

Other things I did:
* went to this movie,
* and this one too,
* almost finished reading Wuthering Heights,
* started knitting a pair of socks,
* danced to this song,
* didn't sleep in as much as I wanted to,
* cross stitched a quarter of a pillow,
* started dance lessons,
* ....

It's good to be back. Thanks for paying me a visit again!

*Farewell* November

Farewell November. Farewell grey skies and foggy days. Farwell long nights and a welcome to even longer ones. Farewell Fall and going outside without a scarf. Farewell November Rain. Farwell first month at the age of 34. Farewell Fall storms. Farewell scented candles. Farewell November 2011. Thanks for being nicer than your usual self.










And thank you, Kara, for posting this beautiful wisdom:
“I would like to beg, dear sir, as well as I can to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a foreign language. Don’t look for the answers which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing, live your way into the answer.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

London Blythecon 2011

Last October my best friend and I went to BlytheconUK, a Blythe doll convention in London. I realised I never blogged about that trip, but better late than never! Here's a photo impression of three wonderful days filled with dolls, culture, sunshine and girl stuff:

Blythecon was held at the Baden Powell House.

Vainilla Dolly custom dolls...*swoon*...

This was my favourite.

London Underground.

Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino and a cinnamon roll to satisfy my cravings. You can wake me up for this any time!

A few hours were spent browsing at this wonderful bookstore.

Beautiful staircase at the Natural History Museum.

Poupee Mecanique for the restoration of Kenner dolls from the seventies.

Need I say more? n_n



And of course I brought one of my 20 dolls to the convention.

The Natural History Museum.

Entrance Hall.

...or left.

London by night. View from the airplane.


My favourite candy: french macarons in different colours and tastes!


Well, that sure gave us some stares from tube travelers!


Superdelicious icecream in Kensington.

Inside the museum. The light was magical.



Harrods!

Group shot. My gosh, look at all those dolls together!


Hola Gominola: you can tell she works as an illustrator!

Funny custom doll. She's the same one as the doll I brought to the convention, but a totally different custom!


The guy with the headphones was about to start dancing!


Breakfast at our pretty hotel The London Lodge. Toast and marmelade.

I can honestly say I had a great time in London. The city was beautiful, we had fun at the convention and the weather was great. I'm sure I'll pay a visit to London again in the future!