flowers in da house

I love the last flowers of the season...

functional vintage

Last week I came back from the 2nd hand store with some of the usual small bowls and retro mini vases and even an original Japanese kokeshi doll...but also with something Functional.
It's a ceramic pull string container! Even the men in my house - who prefer functional above beautiful - liked it.

toddler art

Inspired by the words of Picasso Ingrid from ING-THINGS mentioned in her weekend post: "Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up" I suddenly looked at the 'toddler art' collection of my two sons in a different way. They are 11 and 12 years old now, hope they will still make dangerous dragons (and great mice and cows) like this in ten years!

there was light...

And now for some uplifting news: Saw these great lamps in a magazine the other day. Designer is award winning Benjamin Hubert. Of all his designs I like his lighting the best: basic beauty, down-to-earth materials and a little hint of the seventies.

powder warning for those using a laser printer

My 10 months old huge colour laser printer was out of order already for some weeks. Quite annoying since I am rather dependent on my hardware as a designer.

A big white stripe on the right side of the page, loose powder everywhere.
After days of phoning with Epson, checking, cleaning and trying to print, Epson asked me whether I had used clone (fake, which means non-Epson) toner cartridges.
As a matter of fact: I did! It saves like 30% compared to the real Epson ones and everyone seems to be totally happy with the quality. I allways thought manufacturers only tried to 'threaten' us with those stories about bad quality, in order to earn even more money than they already do. Well, now I know they don't!

I checked the cartridges and yes.... the fake ones were all somehow broken and leaking toner all over the place, the Epson ones were ok.
And now I feel stupid (and dutch!): tried to save money buying the clones and I completely ruined my beautiful printer. The toner itself is great, it 's the cartridges that seem to be of inferior quality.
So please learn from my mistake: don't buy fake-toner cartridges for your laser printer!

DIY dad

The blog of this DIY dad (artist) makes my heart beat faster!
The simplicity, the love, the fun... Joel creates for and together with his children, who are by the way adorable and look very happy. Well, wouldn't you be with a dad like Joel?

we sing for ing

They were waiting for a Sunday like this, my little Ing-birds. I gave them a stem, as if they were flowers (like my own Blom). When I put them in my green glass vase they filled me with joy: Paper, patterns, colour, folded with love and attention, send to me by a very sweet kindred spirit... What more does Jurianne want?
I want to send a part of this joy back to Ingrid, the mother of these birds and the owner of one of the most inspirational, honest and pure blogs I came across last year. She folds birds, she crafts and crochetes, writes like a poet, goes treasure hunting on second hand markets and last but not least: she takes lovely pictures. A lot of the items on her blog are for sale. And every visit at her blog moves me in a way.
So Ingrid from INGTHINGS, today they sing for you!