Dead stock, dead cute

I was just planning to sew myself an apron, when I found these cute vintage ones!

I found it so hard to choose that I got all four of them. They are probably from the late 70's and in perfect vintage condition. Oh, I just love to find pretty dead stock items! I ironed them and managed to choose one. The other ones are now available in my Etsy shop.

Etsy listing

Etsy listing

Etsy listing

Brunch in Brussels

Mr. Merrily and me spent the weekend in Brussels. We booked a hotel that seemed nice and turned out to be incredible...

The Hotel, Brussels (room 1514, 15th floor!)

Of course we saw Manneken Pis, but we also did some shopping. I got this Olive (the one from Popeye!) inspired skirt by Who's That Girl, sweet heels by Di K Si and an amazing Taschen book about Mark Ryden.

 

Out and about

Photo by streetstijl.nl

The two of us went to Arnhem to check out a tattoo studio and do some shopping. We stopped by the lovely vintage shop Froufrou's and the girl working there wanted us to pose for her website streetstijl.nl.

What we found at the vintage shop? Juul bought tap shoes and a scarf, I bought a pendant with a blue faced girl, which I turned into a necklace.

 

Tiny bit of crafty x-mas shopping

Yesterday my mother took me on a surprise mini-shoppingtrip to Kempen (Germany). In spite of the rain and the little amount of time we had, I had the best afternoon ever: Kempen has a gorgeous historical city centre and such lovely stores, it's really cute!

In our quick tour of the inner city we found a craft store, yarn store, vintage/antiques shop, 2nd hand treasure store, cute fabric & gifts shop and no time left for the second fabric store. Not to mention the lovely bakery (lebkuchen!) and the gorgeous christmas decorations everywhere!

German people are great at christmas, I tell you ;)







And, in case you were wondering where the needles from that Lana Grossa package went... I'm knitting this.

3d art at its best

Some time ago, I passed by a gallery and discovered by accident something really amazing...
The detailed 3d printed art of Eric van Straaten. According to the gallery owner, it is printed in colour!

To view it all, check out http://www.ericvanstraaten.com. (Some adult content)

Work hard, spend harder!

I believe that there are two types of shoppers: The Classic Shopper may absolutely love shopping, but she needs shops to have clean concepts, with a well put together collection. She rarely shops by herself but when she does, she asks the help of a sales person. The Bargain Hunter goes the extra mile to find an item she loves. The shop can be chaotic, the item can be on the bottom of a pile... as long as it is what she loves and it is on sale she will buy it.

Apparently, I fall in the last category. I don't like stores that are really warm or crowded, but the chaos of a sales corner will often have my attention. So when I was completely exhausted after this week's work, I went on a bargain hunt. And it definitely was bargain season! I challenged myself to buy nothing at H&M for a change and came back with 4 dresses, 5 tops and 3 accessories (tights and bracelets) without breaking the bank.

Berlin, friends and dolls...

My boyfriend and me went to Berlin for a few days. We had never been there before and we love city trips... so Blythecon Europe (a Blythe doll collector's convention) was the perfect excuse to finally get our butts there :)

First let me show you some highlights of our trip that could be tips if you are planning a trip to Berlin...

Tryp hotel Mitte

Very comfortable and quite affordable modern hotel in the northern part of Mitte. You get 50% off the breakfast if you register for a MAS card while you are there. We loved everything about this hotel! Oh and the view you get while waiting for the elevators is pretty unique!

Art & Toys exhibition in Me collector's room.
Also has a shop and a food corner with good soups and burgers :)

The small Ramones museum is actually worth a visit because of the laid back bar and cool set up they have. A perfect place to chill if you like punk and rock 'n roll.

Restaurant Neu has A-MA-ZING food. 

Try the Tomato-Mozarellla dish. You will be quite surprised.

As for shopping addresses, here's a few:

I absolutely adored the selection of brands I saw in SOMA, a clothes shop with an alternative side. Actually I liked so many pieces in this shop that I ended up buying nothing.

Tukadu is an extraordinary shop that sells beads and other jewelry making supplies. Really very special, not the usual stuff.

Superficial is a shop that is awesomely stylish, with a retro fluo vibe.

What felt different from most large cities we have been to, is that there is a lot of space to breathe and relax in Berlin. It doesn't really feel like a huge city and I bet it would be too awesome to live in! 

And the doll convention... BCEU.. it was so awesome! A day filled with catching up with old friends, meeting new friends and seeing lots of dolls!

My friend's stand: Tiny Feet

Petra Reijrink necklace

I finally bought a necklace that was more expensive than 1,20 euro! ;) I wanted a subtle gold necklace with a cute little pendant, not larger than a fingernail, but I wanted one that would last... It's not so easy to find cuteness in a "real" material. This necklace is designed by Petra Reijrink, I found it at Magda in Eindhoven:

I might have gone a bit overboard...

Shopping... ASIAN STYLE :)

What I got on eBay last night:

1 mp3 cassette converter (not very cool I admit it..)
1 wallet with aqua and pink interior
1 ninja rabbit bag (hell yeah!)
7 necklaces (at around 1,20 euro each, who can resist...)
3 precision brushes
1 cute narrow belt

I got everything at 2 shops, and I spent only 20 euros for everything, including shipping. I feel like I just came back from Primark :P