enjoy the little things

This week I've decided to slow down a bit in work and gave myself some free time everyday to just relax. This Friday I will close my Etsy shop for the first time since I opened it. I decided it is about time I do it so I can concentrate on the production of my new line of hand printed textiles that need to be ready at the beginning of October.
Also this weekend I'll be traveling to Tuscany for a wedding party and a little tour  of the hills with my husband. I'm really looking forward to this!

Lately I've been working really a lot thanks to incredible shops that believed in me and in my handmade line enough to order from me and also thanks to all the people that decided to buy something in my shop. I'm really so grateful for all this love. I can't believe that I'm able to do what I most love doing. Thank you!

Here a round up of little things I enjoyed lately. Those little things that made my days better. That made me smile and reminded me I am a lucky person.

This beautiful brooch arrived in the post yesterday. Its made by super talented Mary who has a lovely shop on Etsy called My Hideaway (go and check it out) and a blog full of beautiful pics and original content that I follow regularly. I love the colours in the brooch and the little beads details. I bought it thinking of autumn and I can't wait it gets cold enough to wear my favourite chunky cardigan and pin this on it!

This morning at a thrift market I bought this embroidered cotton piece. I think originally was a large table cloth cut down to a smaller piece. I couldn't resist to buy it thanks to my current obsession with hand stitching and blue. And at 50 cents was a steal!

A few days ago my husband made this little wooden horse for Anna, our friends' daughter. It reminds me of a Dala Horse, it's a little bit chubbier. Ed loves working with wood and build things, I wish we could have more space for him to make more stuff.

Tomatoes always make me happy! The tomatoes seasons is drawing to its end, so soon it will be time to make preserves with them. This little bowl in the pic is part of the traditional pottery from Puglia, a region in south Italy where we go on holidays and where we would love to move to.

I really enjoyed designing and making new hang tags for my cotton totes. On this note there will be some new entries in the coming months. I'm designing bigger totes made with screen printed linen using new patterns.

What are the little things that made you happy lately? I would love to know what makes you happy!

almost time to relax

A couple of days ago I decided that this week is going to be my last full week of work in the studio.
This weekend I have to clean and reorganise my space so that I can fit in it my new screen printing tools. Oh yes, I bought a super amazing screen printing kit last week and I can't wait to try it out!
Until now for those few screen printed items I make I used an open studio, but that won't do anymore.
I have big big plans for this winter season, so I went all the way and bought myself one! This means I need to be more organised with my space so I can fit everything in it and be comfy and productive.

So from next week until the end of August I will take it slowly. I'm sure this will involved a lot of food (both cooked and eaten), lots of books, a few movies, a lot of walking or should I say wondering around. Probably a bit of sketching and surely lots of time with our furry friends. I'm pretty sure I wont be able to stay away from the studio for all the time, especially with the new screen printing gear there, but I'll do everything at my own pace.

One thing I decided to do is to try to do things I've never done before. This is something I've been thinking for a while and I decided I want to start doing it during this holiday. So to start I've picked a crochet project. Bear with me I've never done any crochet in my life. No idea where to start, but we all need a challenge once in a while, right? I picked mine: I'll crochet a water bottle. To be more precise I'll try to crochet a cover for my hot water bottle :)

Why among all the things I've never done I decided to try crochet? Because I saw a beautiful post in one of my favourite blogs (You can check it out here.) and simply I said to myself why not.

Just started to sketch ideas for Christmas

I'm going to enjoy some time with these two :)

Make a little wreath using herbs

This morning a made a little cute wreath using some herbs from my balcony. I used oregano and thyme because it's that moment of the year when I need to start collecting them to dry them, so I can then use them through winter in my cooking.

What I made is really simple and definitely not perfect, but it's a sweet way to let your herbs dry.
You'll need just some wire and a few pieces of herbs. I used a quite thin wire I already had in the house and it makes it look light and airy.
Simply create a circle with a longer piece of wire, I made mine turning the wire 3 times so it was sturdy enough. Then put the circle on a table and arrange the pieces of herbs around it. It's important that when you cut your herbs you live a bit of branch on them so you don't end up using the wire on the leaves.
Using short pieces of wire simply block in place the your herbs, as you can see in the pic below.

Most of the oregano that I used is flowering and it makes the wreath even cuter. As you can see I didn't put too many pieces in it, so that I can do add more with time.

When the herbs are dry you can simply snipped them off without taking the structure apart.
This is what it looks like on our kitchen's wall.

It feels like a roller coaster

This morning I wake up to this amazing weather! So I felt full of energy and positivity. The weather really can make the difference, right?

Usually in this period of the year I slow down a lot, but this time is very different. I have so many new exciting projects coming in that need my full attention and so many ideas I want to try out that I feel a bit on a roller coaster. It's very nice to be full of projects and new ideas, but also a bit draining. I concentrate so much on work that yesterday I forgot to have lunch! And this to me is exceptional, I love food and I love cooking.

So at the moment I'm working on a new limited series of clutches. I found a lovely cotton a while back and when I saw it I knew I had to make small bags out of it. This is what they look like now.

I'll add a detachable strap so they can be used as cross-body bags too and I'm going to block print two of them and paint the other two. One of them is going to have a pineapple on it thanks to a special request from one of my clients who saw this pic on my Instagram (are you on Instagram?) and went for it. 

On a different note I'm not sure if you remember my little experiment with the avocado pit. Well he's doing great, look at this! It's so incredible to grow something from seeds, isn't it? It amaze me all the times. As a city dweller with only a balcony and terrace as outside space i do my best to grow as much as I can. We have many herbs and a potted lemon tree. Last year we had tomatoes and salad. Not much really, but the satisfaction is always huge! Do you grow any food? What's the best thing you ever grew yourself? 

Enjoy the little things: myrtle branches, a traditional Italian little bowl and more.

This morning coming to the studio I passed by a florist kiosk and saw the guy trowing away some myrtle branches. Not sure what was wrong with them, I picked them up and now they look beautiful in my studio.

My studio is starting to look like a garden and I love it! Among the plants there is also this tiny spiky cactus.

One of the walls is starting to look like a tiny art gallery, I'm collecting different kind of handmade pieces made by some friends. This beautiful wooden disc (Nature is the best artist) is by NuggetSays and I love it so much!

A few days ago I bought some handmade paper, I'm planning to draw on this using some black ink, isn't gorgeous? It's an Himalayan Lokta Tissue. Amazing colour!

In our weekly thrifts hunt last weekend, my friend Giulia and I came across this lovely traditional tiny bowl from South Italy. It's going to be in StoriesTellers shop really soon.

what I love today

Hello!
A post about just some random things I love today. Simple and straightforward :)

amazing work by Susanna Bauer

succulents waking up after winter

Milan

inspiration bits from my terrace

a personal kind of post

hello!

This is a kind of personal post. Never wrote one before, I don't find it easy to talk about serious stuff, so please bear with me.

I can be described as an emotional kind of person. I laugh and cry a lot, usually for small things and many times out of the blue.

When I see an adult crying, my heart breaks.

Yesterday walking to the studio from home I saw a woman crying herself out sitting on a bench in a little garden. I stopped, wondering if I could help her, maybe somebody stole her bag? 

A man approached her and asked before I had the opportunity to do it. I got close to see if I could help. She said she was crying because she didn't know who she was. She couldn't remember.

At that moment my heart broke. The man wanted to call the police, I suggested to see if she had an ID with her or a phone. We got in contact with a woman she called many times and she came to pick her up: it was her daughter.

I spent the day thinking about this and after feeling really bad for a while I then felt happy. Happy because I felt lucky. Happy in a strange kind of way, happy with contrasting emotions. 

I meant to write a post about last week holidays, but I felt like I had to write about this instead. Not sure why.

some little things to be happy for

enjoy the little things

Hello!
Second post of this new series, you can find the first one here, in case you missed it.
This morning going to the studio I stopped at the food market which is one of those little things I love, I got a few bits and pieces and chatted with some stall holders about this newish movement over here in Italy that is bringing back old kind of foods (especially vegetables). Funny how things work.

dandelion, best sauté with wild garlic and hot peppers in a bit of olive oil

I simply love strawberries

a little park I pass by every morning

minimalist necklace I made for myself with bits I found traveling 

enjoy the little things

Hello!
Third appointment with "enjoy the little things" series, find the last ones here and here.
Among the things I've enjoyed recently: iced coffee during hot days, early morning time spent on the terrace with my furry friends and receiving lovely things from friends.

pink flowers from succulents

drinking iced coffee during heat wave

receive lovely things from a friend (BlueEggsandTea)

spending time with furry friends (she's Maggie)

eating aniseed ice pop and feel like a kid again