Friday is my day: La Marquise des Anges

Today we will head to sunny and beautiful France and meet beautiful Sabine from lamarquisedesanges.etsy.com
She has a lovely little French boutique full of pretty things; embellished T-shirts, jewellery,accessories and house decorations. Enjoy your day!

CHAMPAGNE embellished women tee shirt size S, M, L , XL or XXL

by: lamarquisedesanges

around 7 am . the day is starting and I wake up calmly in my beloved bedroom . Not alarm clock for me. The moment my eyes are open and my feet are on the floor I am totally awake and ready for the day to come. I first open the fences and I grab my soft long cardigan , and my slippers, right in front of my bed. I go straight to the living room to say hello to my furry companions, to open the fences and to put some wood in the fireplace. I then kiss my sweet husband goodbye.

around 7.30 Then it is time to go to the bathroom. It is one of my very favorite place in the house. We moved in our "nest" more than one year ago and we have been working pretty hard to arrange. There is still a,lot to do . We have totally redone the bathroom from the floor to the ceiling. We made everything by ourself and we are very happy with the result . we wanted something peaceful...quiet.

After a shower , some make up , here what I look like :

Around 8.15 am . back to the kitchen-living-room - dining room (it is an open space). I already start cleaning and to tidy things around me while the water (for my tea) is boiling, and the bread is in the toaster (I LOVE toasted bread smell) . This is what my typical breakfast is : very hot tea, toasted bread or brioche with butter from Normandie and jam. I eat while watching the news.I have to resist from the temptation to swithc on the laptop but I make a pioint of honor to enjoy my breakfast to be in a good shape to start up the day.

now it is time to check emails, orders, messages more attentively. I just deal with the urgence and set up a priority list (in my head). time for some housecleaning. If things are not arrange and clean around me I can't really feel comfortable doing anything else. now it is time to spend some time on my emails, on twitter on the forums...

I finish packing the orders that have to be send today and get ready to go to the post office .

Then I drove to my suppliers to get the materials I need for the completed transaction I have had and to work on the new design I have in my head.

Friday is also the day I visit one of my favorite vintage place . here what I got today .

11.50 am I am taking HIRO my beloved border collie for his daily dogwalk. sometimes we just walk in the neighborhood but as I can't unleash him, I really prefer going in lovely places in the countryside. the good point is I don't have to go very far. as this lovely little village : we walk and play a little and we practise exercises too. This moment is very important and is a perfect way to make a break to a non stop day.

back home in time to check my mailbox : one of my favorite moment .

lunch time with a slice of quiche and some salad from my Father in law 's garden and a piece of cake . I baked them yesterday's evening as we had guests at home.

I always try to make all the things that took me out during the morning; so that I don't have to move again and I am more productive. I will now be sewing and working , working working.... from now on to 7 pm.

the ligh was pretty today I had some time to make a little photo shoot session for the upcoming euro week

around 5 pm. I just take little snack break : fruit. today it will be an apple.

I start fixing dinner around 7 pm while taking care of the internet aspect of my shop. Once my beloved JP is home we share a little one to one moment drinking a glass of rosé in front of the fireplace, chating about the day . After dinner, we finish preparing together we watch TV on the sofa, with the 3 four legged companions. I most of the time sew several hours, or work on blog post , advertising campaigns ...

around midnight to 1.00 am then I love reading a little bit before sleeping, as I need to calm down with the energy and passion I feel in my veins ....reading is a hobby since I am a little girl and it always manage to calm me down... I feel so well in my lovely bedroom, my husband reading by my side too.

good night ...

Friday is my day: Maari

I hope you are wearing enough warm clothes because today we will travel up above the Artic Circle, to beautiful and peaceful Northern Finland and meet Maari from maari.etsy.com
She is a ceramic artist who loves nature and raku.
Please visit and ♥ her lovely shop after the trip!

Wholesale Lot - Set of 10 OOAK Koivu Raku Birch Eggs - Assorted Colors - Shipping Included to USA, Canada and Europe
by: Maari

My Day Is Friday
I usually wake up at 6 A.M. I eat my breakfast and enjoy my coffee in a leisurely way while reading the paper. After reading the paper, I get on the computer and check my e-mails, etc. I leave for work around 8:30 A.M.
My transportation to work!
Just kidding!
I wanted to show you one unusual mode of transportation we use here in Lapland; the kicksled! It is an ecological way to get around without pollution or noise and a great exercise. It is made out of Finnish birch, of course! I do use mine occasionally, but not often enough. Today, I actually drove, because it was quite cold and crispy outside. The temperature was -22 Celsius (about -7.5 Fahrenheit). I live in Sodankylä, Finland, which is located in the region of Lapland 130 km (80 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. The house in the background is my home and the trees in the yard are my "home birches" that are an endless source of inspiration for my raku art.
Kicksled up close.
Closer shot of the wintry birch trees in my yard.
I pass the Kitinen River on my way to work. The frozen river is a shortcut for many pedestrians. School children have their cross-country skiing gym classes on the river this time of year. There are several snowmobile paths there as well. I have even seen cars drive on the frozen river!
If I’m kicksledding, bicycling or walking I pass the Old Church on my way to work. It is a wooden church built in 1689.
If I’m driving I pass the New Church, built in 1859. Both churches are very close to my workshop, which is located in the "Church Park" area.
My workshop is located in the old fire station of Sodankylä. Hence, the big tower. The building will soon be demolished and I will need to find a new location for my workshop.
The front door of my workshop.
Inside my workshop where I have my workspace and a little shop.
Today, I’m glazing raku eggs that are part of my Koivu Collection inspired by birch trees, which we have everywhere in Finland. The eggs have already been ceramic fired and are getting their "Koivu" glaze now. "Koivu" means birch in Finnish.
Tiles, vases, owls and bells ready to be glazed and raku fired. I do my raku firing outside in my yard at home. I have a raku firing day just about every two weeks. It is always a very LONG and tiring day, because I have to make sure that everything that I have ceramic fired and glazed up to that point gets raku fired. I love the raku technique, because you can’t control the outcome of the final product.
Raku is multi-stage and laborious, where ceramics are fired outside in flames and the smoke of the kiln gives a captivating finish. After quickly reaching a temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius (1800 Fahrenheit) the item is then placed in a tin container filled with wood chips, pine twigs or sawdust that catch on fire. The thermal shock causes cracklings that become black with the smoke. The item is then dipped in cool water or snow (we have a lot of that on hand in Lapland!), which sets the final design for the network of cracklings characteristic to raku, making each item a one of a kind piece. My favorite part of raku is the surprise at the end!
My Raku tile depicting the "Old Church" of Sodankylä.
Koivu Vases ready to ship. After the raku firing I sand any rough parts of the piece so it is smooth to the touch. The Koivu vase is my best seller. It is an especially popular wedding gift.
Today I'm getting a shipment of clay. That just about wraps it up for the work today. I need to go home and get ready for a trip to the cabin, which is about 40 km (25 miles) away in the middle of the woods with no accessible roads so we need to go there with the snowmobile.
On a snowmobile ready to go to the cabin for some rest and relaxation.
I took this picture on my previous trip to the cabin, but wanted to show you what it looks like in daylight. It is a one-room cabin with a loft sleeping area and a sauna. It has no electricity or running water and an outhouse for a bathroom. My husband built the cabin with his brothers. This is where we like to go to get away from it all to unwind. No need for a lot of room inside the cabin, because the nature that surrounds it is the only "living room" we need.
My "TV watching" for the night. Perfect way to end a long week. Thanks for coming for a visit to Lapland. Please come again!

Friday is my day: Marie fly fly

Take your winter jacket because today we will jump up to Norway and meet Marie from marieflyfly.etsy.com
She makes so pretty jewelleries and I love how she photographs them! So yummy! Have a good Friday and visit the shop :)

akvarell silver, ebony and lucite necklace

by: marieflyfly

My day

 

This is the view from my bedroom window this morning in March. 

My town, Stavanger, is on the West coast of Norway, 

and we don’t normally get much snow here, 

but this year we’ve had snow since Christmas.  

All the houses on our street look the same. 

We built the foundation walls ourselves, 

in teams with our neighbours a few years ago. 

It’s my most cherished handmade project ever!



I live here with Sjur, and our daughter Nene, aged 6 

We got up at 6.30 this morning. 

I’m not a morning person, 

so my only tasks in the morning are coffee drinking 

and getting myself ready for work. 

Sjur makes the coffee, breakfast for everyone, 

gets Nene ready for school 

and walks her and her little friends to their school, 

2 kilometers away, while I have my coffee. 

I eat my bowl of oatmeal and spend a half hour on the computer 

checking my etsy shop, stats, answer convos, renew a couple of items, 

check out the treasuries and all that 

At 7.45 I'm ready to leave for work

and I bring  with me some etsy orders to drop off 

at the post office on my way to work

My day job is at the tax office near the town center 

I'm a lawyer, and my work is in the field of international tax law  

I've been doing this for 10 years, 

and I can't imagine doing anything else. 

I can't access etsy from work (too many firewalls), 

but etsy is nevertheless all around me. 

My office is decorated with art bought on etsy 

-prints from madelaine.etsy.com -and on the other wall 

prints from a calendar by labokoff.etsy.com 

and a print from Badbird.etsy.com.  

That bird print was the first thing 

I bought on etsy when I joined!

 

My first task this morning is to welcome 

a new employee. 

I was made a manager a few weeks ago, 

and this new employee is the first person I have interviewed 

and hired myself, so it's a special day for me. 

I did bring my camera to work today, 

for this blog post, 

but decide to leave it in my bag after all. 

I'm pretty sure the new girl would think I was  mad 

if I pulled out  my camera at lunch and photographed my soup. 

The rest of the day is spent in meetings, 

but I get a few minutes to sit down with a cup of tea 

in the afternoon 

I leave work at 4, which is a bit early, 

but I want to squeeze in a bit of exercise before I go home. 

I go to a nearby lake, and try to run around it. 

The conditions are less than ideal with all the snow, 

but it's a glorious sunny day and I feel full of energy when I'm finished.  

As I get in the car to go home I get an sms from Sjur which reads

“your kid is cranky”. 

I get home around five and we have dinner  

and Nene is indeed cranky and I hear myself mutter something stupid 

about jello for dessert for people who aren't cranky. 

At this point the doorbell rings, 

and her little friends come to visit ,and all is well and she forgets 

everything about dessert and I get a hug 

At 7.30 when she has finished her supper and brushed her teeth 

and is ready for bed, she suddenly remembers the dessert she didn't get. 

The fridge is empty, but a promise is a promise, 

so I get to go dessert shopping  She's in bed at 8 and we read and sing for an half hour 

Sjur goes to the fitness center, and I spend an hour doing housework. 

I try to do a little bit every day. 

At 9.30 I sit down with my knitting and a cup of tea 

I need this quiet time in the evening,  all by myself. 

I keep knitting and relaxing for a couple of hours, 

and go a bit to and from the computer to check etsy 

and twitter and all the blogs I follow, 

before I go to bed around midnight.