Friday 28 March 2014

Special Feature Friday: French Soul Knittery

Edition 22

When Ashley from French Soul Knittery lost her grandmother, she decided to take up knitting. The goal was to be closer to her grandmother, who always used to knit. When Ashley learned more and more knitting she also found the passion for the hobby. Now she is running her Etsy shop, filled with lovely knitted items.

The thing I noticed the most when entering the shop where the knitted necklaces. Never before did I think of this technique to create necklaces. The look of these necklaces is really quite special!





Besides these necklaces other knitwear can be found in Ashley's shop. Ear warmers, purses, baby hats, cowls and infinity scarves. All hand knitted. Ashley likes to work with funky colors that stand out. 






Ashley has been so sweet to provide a discount code for the readers of the blog: Spring2014
This code will give you a 20% discount on the items you buy from her shop. (shipping not included)
The discount code is valid until the 30th of April 2014.

Besides her Etsy shop you can also visit the other websites affiliated with her shop, like her website, facebook and twitter account

Wednesday 26 March 2014

A day in the Calanques

Just outside of Marseille there is a nature park called the Calanques. A Calanque is a steep sided valley that goes down into the sea. The nature park between Marseille and Cassis consist of multiple Calanques. The ground consists mostly of rock, hardly any soil can be found. this makes the vegetation in the Calanques rather particular. A lot of lovely smelling herbs can be found along the paths, including rosemary and thyme, as well as juniper, sage and myrtle. Different animals can be found in the Calanques, like foxes, rabbits and wild boars. In all honesty I have never seen these animals, but I am sure they are there, and you can find them if you head out very early in the day.

The rocky hills rise high above sea level, and you can either rise or descend. Both ways are gorgeous, and to truly discover the Calanques I would suggest anyone to take at least two days to walk around. 




When you decide to descend you will find little beaches and rocky shores, it is possible to swim, but the beaches consist of small rocks. I would suggest you take some shoes that you can use for swimming, because the water is cold and that does not feel nice on the feet in combination with the rocks. Especially in the summer this is a great place to go. I like to go early in the morning, when it is not yet hot, and rest the day on the coast, when the day gets colder again it is time to go home.



For the most beautiful views it is a better idea to rise,  the sea and the hills will give the feeling of greatness and always make me feel humble. There is so much to see, from the small people walking down the hills to the ships in the distance. The Mediterranean is always beautiful, and the rough hills make for an interesting sight. Along the paths you can find signs to follow the right paths, but in stores in Marseille you can also find maps with walking routes. 

We usually take the bus to the Calanques, after that it is another 20 minutes walk to get to the center point.
You can take bus 21 from Castellane or Point du Prado to Luminy. Make sure to bring enough water, and wear a hat in the summer. Sun protective cream is also very important! Keep the environment in mind and do not leave any trash in the park. The paths can be difficult and rocky, so it is best to wear proper shoes.

Friday 21 March 2014

Special Feature Friday: Little Ram Studio

Edition 21

Gary and Heather from Little Ram Studio have years of experience in creative world. They work with a printing technique called Lino cut. A image is cut out of a piece of lino. After finding the best color of paint and applying to the lino it can be transferred on paper with a press. This technique gives a great unique look, even though you can use the same lino plate multiple times, it will never turn out exactly the same. In the process it is possible to work with one color or with multiple colors. It is more complicated to use multiple colors in the process, so any item with multiple colors sold in the shop are limited editions!



The prints remind me of old books, especially the ones about nature. They are timeless yet modern. Gary and Heather have a shop filled with mostly animal prints. Dog and cat portraits can be found, but also a great range of other animals, like wood creatures and birds and animals from the farm.



I love crows, so this particular print is very appealing to me! even though it only uses black and white it gives a great sense of depth! I admire the craftsmanship that went into all these pieces.



These original lino cut art prints can be shipped world wide, and will certainly make for a great contemporary piece in your living room!


Friday 14 March 2014

Special Feature Friday: Jen's Closet

Edition 20

Jen's Closet is a vintage shop on Etsy with a big range of vintage items to offer. When entering the shop the first thing I noticed is the great diversity in home decor, accessories china and glass-work.
This shop has over 1500 items and this makes it a lovely shop to brows through, I took my time to look around and found many wonderful things I would love to see on my own shelves.

Don't we all have memories of our childhood, of our grand parents and all the little things in their house. We only have to see a picture of that old biscuit tin and we are taken right back to the table, where we got tea and a biscuit when visiting. It is a wonderful thing to browse trough a shop or market and just be taken back instantly to wonderful memories.

Here are some items from Jen's shop that I like in particular.



These little forks remind me of a set of forks that my grandmother used to have, it is a long time ago since I last saw them but I do remember the handle with the pattern on it. I can almost see them on the table, when everyone gathered for a birthday.



This must be the most fancy cup I have ever seen! it has legs! And the way the handle is turned makes this cup unique. I adore the decoration on it, as I am a big fan of this kind flower decor.


Another item that reminds me of my grandmother, I am sure she would have loved this brooch!

I would like to show more, but there are so many great items to be found in Jen's shop, I suggest you go and have a look for yourself!

Jen is very kind to us, and offers a 10% discount code, the code has no expiration date:

SUNDAY2011






Sunday 9 March 2014

A sunny weekend

The weather has been great this weekend! The smell of fresh grass, sea and sunscreen are in the air wherever we go. Today we got up early, or what one would call early for a Sunday morning. We hired some bikes from the bike rentals that are everywhere in town. Marseille has this great system, with a special pass you can hire a bicycle for only 1 euro per week. So we got up and went down to the supermarket, over there we bought ourselves some lunch and installed ourselves in park Borély.

This is a parc is built around a chateau, it was created in the 17th century by a ship owner and merchant called Joseph Borely. Next to the parc you can find a botanical garden, with a nice collection of plants from different parts of the world, there is a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden and even a little bit of desert. A fee has to be payed to get into this garden, but is is affordable and a lovely thing to do on a pretty day, if you are into this kind of thing of course!



Today we only stayed into the public area of the park, where there is a lot of activity. Special carts can be hired to bike around as a family, people are roller skating and biking. Very often people come together to give parties for their child's birthday, they bring a pick-nick and games. It is a great day out for the children!

After the park we went to the beach and talked about opportunities for the future, things we want to do, places we can go. It seemed the perfect day for a discussion of this sort. This week I have seen a lot of people swimming, so I had to quickly feel the water, in my opinion it is still a bit too cold for a swim, but it is warming up, so it will get better soon. It was time to head back, so we got on our bikes again and got home within 15 minutes. I am very glad I finally tried this biking rent system. I was always a bit scared about biking in Marseille, but it is doable, people in cars take distance if they see you. The traffic is still hectic but that is a matter of paying attention. The photo below was taken close to our house, I do not think I could ever get used to how beautiful the sea is here! This picture shows a view on chateau d'if, where the famous book of the Count of Monte Cristo was based on. further in the back you can see îles du Frioul. We have not yet visited îles du frioul but I hope to do so soon!



Friday 7 March 2014

Special Feature Friday: Forest Candle Studio

Edition 19

This week I would like to put the spotlights on a shop called Forest Candle Studio.
In this shop we can find wonderful handmade candles, in designs that are beautiful and special.
These candles breath an atmosphere of luxury, romance and tenderness. 

The handcrafted candles are made from beeswax by the shop owner, Marcie. Judging by the pictures we can see that a lot of time goes into crafting these candles, they are made with a lot of care and detail. The candles are decorated with whole roses, rose petals and leaves, organic spices, lavender, paints, glitters, ribbons and so forth. Some of the candles are made with a special stone base that comes with the candle, making it even more easy to get the rustic look from the pictures right into your own home!



These candles can be used for the wedding ceremony as a unity candle set, the details on the candles like the ribbons can be personalized to fit with your wedding theme and colors. The wax of the candles can also be adapted to fit to your wishes. The candles will make for a unique and romantic addition to your ceremony. Because these are handmade there are never 2 candles that will look exactly the same. Which is of course the reason why handmade items are so attractive. 


These candles will make great engagement gifts or will look lovely in your home during holidays or religious festivals. But in all honesty I must say, do we really need a special holiday or festival to have one of these candles in our home? I think they will look gorgeous at any time of the year. Whether they are lighted or not, they remain a beautiful piece of art!



Marcy has been so kind  to offer the readers of this blog a 10% Etsy discount code, the code is valid until the 21st of March 2014: ISHJEBLOG2014 

To stay up to date about this shops newest items you can also like their page on Facebook.



Wednesday 5 March 2014

It has been a while

At the end of January I started to feel a little overwhelmed with everything going on in my life.
There are 3 things that need a lot of time and attention: learning French, looking for a job and the Etsy shop. At a certain point I felt like I could not do any of them properly.

It took a little time, but I decided I would have to put one of these on hold. Naturally that had to become the Etsy shop, as the other 2 where way to important to put on hold, and also, finding a job would solve any problem immediately.

So, in February I did nothing for she shop, it gave me a lot of time to focus on the other 2 things, and even though I did not yet find a job, I do feel I am close to doing so. Also the French language has really progressed, I took a test last Monday at school and I can go to the next stage.

By ignoring the shop, I also had to put blogger aside, and therefore there have not been any posts in February. Now it is March, and I have decided to spend some more time on the shop again.
Still not as much as before, but I can take some hours a week to make new items and promote my shop and other shops.

Before I go, I would like to show this little elephant. It is a hand-carved Bali bead, made of bone.
He sits on a ketylo hair stick and I think he is absolutely adorable. There is also a version available with a rabbit and a frog!