An Post

My present is arrived!!!

I purchased a small item (actually, two, in the end…ehm…) for myself as a Easter present few days ago, and today is here! I received the small package this very morning and kept looking at my little treasure all along breakfast, as you can see in the picture above!

I have to thank Fiona Leontis, from PatchworkDelight (please visit her shop, you won’t regret it!) for the speed and the cuteness of the owlie bag, it’s gorgeous!

I wrote about it not because I wanted to show off, and I’m sure you’re not very interested in my personal shopping, but how about the feelings that come with it?

You wouldn’t say I’m a shopaholic, but there are times that require something new and happy in your life, isn’t it?

Well, since I was a child I always loved to receive mail: I remember there was a time when I had more than 10 pen-friends just for the pleasure to write and then receive a letter back.

Thank God I don’t have those urgent needs anymore (I really wouldn’t have the time to handle it!), but the pleasure to find something for me in the post is the same.

So what’s better than marrying the fun of shopping with the excitement of waiting for the mail???

That’s why I love Etsy: I get all of this along with the certainty of having something beautiful and unique, made with passion, and helping the spread of craftiness and creativity.

Do you have anything better? ;)

Because 24h is not enough!

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
Too many thing to dooooooo!!!!
New projects come to my mind too easily, while I'm still struggling to finish the ones I have in my hands!
One day is never enough, not even when you're at home and not at work!
Especially if you spend so much time at the computer...ehm...
Speaking of which...give a look at this: http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/
It's a place where different artists have drawn their own map of places they like!
It's really interesting and some of those are just brilliant!
Now I want to try and do something like that too! It's a curse! ;D

Ok, I'll be back to my work/pleasure/hobby/curse....I mean, drawing!

Kisses,
Chiara

Paper

Did I ever mentioned that I’m a paper addicted?

I feel great just being in a shop that sells paper, any kind.

I’d like to say that this is for a professional reason, because of the experimenting different media on different paper…but it’s only part of the truth.

The real thing is that I just enjoy the feeling of holding a new piece in my hand, caressing the texture, testing the backlit colours and the smell.

Ah the smell! I started with books (I still do it) and moved on the paper itself.

I could stay in a shop and sniff all day!

Does it makes me a maniac?

…

Perhaps! :)

For now I still searching for the perfect place here in Dublin, so if anyone know a shop with great paper furniture please PLEASE! Let me know!

Those days

Yesterday ws one of those days.

For me is always during springtime. When the air is fresh and the sun is warm.

There is something in the atmosphere all around me that whisper softly to my ears.

Those days I wish I didn’t have a job, so I could just leave and travel.

Have you ever had one of those days?

It doesn’t matter WHERE you want to go, just put on your comfy clothes and go out into the world, to meet new people, taste different foods, make new experiences.

You’d love to be in a food market in India, under the nocturne sky of the Sahara Desert, on the streets of New Orleans or watching the sea from a terrace in Naples.

(By the way, I’ve never been in one of these places…ehm…they are still dreams for me! :D )

 If you’re wondering if I am one of the people who travels a lot my answer is no.

But sometimes I wake up too and dream to be in far away countries!

Sometimes I realize this urgent need of mine. Sometimes I don’t.

For example, if everything goes smoothly, maybe in the next months, I’d like to travel around Ireland for a while.

Where would YOU like to go?  :)

Embarassing presenting myself

So this I my third post and I thought that maybe, MAYBE, would be a good idea to talk about some of my work, crafty/art work, that is.

And present myself a little too.

The first thing that is good for you to know is that I am a stalker. An Internet stalker of beauties.

If I find an artist, a shop, a seller or an idea I like in I can easily get lost for hours.

Especially since I had the chance to discover the fabulous world of Etsy I got to know some very interesting people. Their works, their lives, their ideas even the places they live everything can be a starting point for inspiration! (I know this sounds creepy but I actually just follow their blog and read what they write about themselves!!! I’m no strange guy in a trench coat spying people from behind a newspaper…)

Mainly that’s why I started a blog in the first place.

I’m not so pretentious to think that my written words could be a source of ideas for anyone, but on the contrary I’d love to be even more in contact with amazing people out there.

An active inspiration if you want, not a passive one anymore (of course I’ll keep stalking my old friends, don’t you fear…uhuhuh!).

Exchanging opinions, putting brains together to create something, this is what would I like the most, or just for the sake of fun comments at the end of a post!

So on my part this is an official promise to write at the best of my (poor) possibilities something interesting and entertaining as often as I can.

And to start (yeah, I know this is not the initial post, apologies for that, but I’m a messy one!) I could say something about me, what do you think?

(rhetorical question, I’m going to say something anyway! :P)

I’m an Italian old girl, currently living in Dublin after spending all my life in Italy, nice and cozy at home.

One day I took my cardboard suitcase and said: “farewell my beloved family! I’ll search my fortune in the Emerald Island!”

(Ok, that’s not exactly how it went, but leave me the romantic scene for a moment!)

 I work in a Children Museum and even if it’s the strangest work I could have ever dreamt about it makes me quite happy.

But in my spare time I draw.

I’d love to say I’m an artist (you know, the ideal image you have when you hear it), but I’m too lazy for that so let’s just say I draw. And I do it for fun.

Because it’s something I’ve always done, since I can remember, back in my Granma’s kitchen or on the tea table of our sitting room.

I studied in an art high school, the best 5 years in my life, but then I tried to be all mature&grown up and to search for something useful for a future job so I chose Japanese. Never tried to be mature at eighteen…

As a result I found myself unoccupied, as the almost totality of my colleagues of the university.

Although I kept drawing around between an exam and the other (and during…argh!) I didn’t produce anything very good. Too busy memorizing ideograms.

After a few years working in my old summer job (and travelled in Tokyo and being an Au-pair, but those are other stories) I decided to find a real one abroad, since the situation was/is so bad in Italy.

That was until 2010.

The last year was different for some sort.

I moved for an internship in Dublin, hypothetically for four months but I’m still here and I have to say very happy to be.

Not long ago, as I said before, I discovered this beautiful world that is Etsy, and after drooling on few stuff I found there I started thinking if were possible to open one shop myself.

So I did (not before I had gone mad about taxes, print services available, post fees and similar…) started with PDF file for valentines cards.

They got few hearts, which made me feel very satisfied…stop with the adult crap, who am I kidding…I was actually flying around my room! (which believe me it’s not that easy!), but no one felt in love enough to purchase them.

Selling unfortunately is not in my destiny.

Yet.

I’ve realized I didn’t talk about my art process at all…should I…no…maybe next time!

God...such a long post...

Featured!

Uuuhh!
I've been featured in Louise's blog as part of the Etsy UK&Ireland Seller Support Team!!!
So exciting!
Have a look, she has a very nice blog all the way!
http://luisafelice.blogspot.com/

Coconut bits

I’m still a novice toward the idea of cafe chains scattered throughout Dublin: we don’t have them in Italy, so I haven’t tried all of them yet.

Two days ago I went to “Butlers Chocolate Cafè” for the first time.

Dear Lord…their chocolate, truffles and praline are just amazing!

But the real tragedy is that I tasted the coconut macaroon.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about: it’s a ball made from a sweet egg dough and coconut, which I adore. Lots of coconut!

You take a bit and the taste spreads in your mouth filling every corner and then the coconut bits arrive and makes it all chewy chunky (I hope I can give you the idea….).

D E L I G H T F U L ! ! !

I am craving for another one ever since!

(No, I’m not being paid for the advertising)

Oh, and yes, I had coffee too! :)