Easter Styling The Seasons

Wishing all the readers of this blog a very lovely Easter holiday. It's a funny old holiday really, a nice long weekend which in the UK usually results in rain half the time, the clocks change by springing forward to British Summer time on Easter Sunday, March 27th this year.  This usually results in me being confused for at least a week, while half the clocks in the house are still on 'old time' as is my stomach clock. 

Also I don't have children which again makes it an awkward kind of festival, as we are all trying to give up sugar it seems inappropriate to give chocolate to other adults, and I'm praying that no-one gives me any as it's a hard struggle to say no.  

JORD WOOD WATCHES  http://www.woodwatches.com/#janiceissittlifestyle 

JORD WOOD WATCHES  http://www.woodwatches.com/#janiceissittlifestyle 

But despite the mixed weather, there are signs of spring, daffodils and grape hyacinths in the garden, and little green sprigs and blossom popping out daily. Growth, development and new life. 

While one minute its bright sunshine and the next pouring with rain, let's not forget that we don't get the new greenery without it, so let us embrace the weather with layers, my favourite way of dressing. And if sometimes being wrapped up seems a bit dull, then I find accessories play an essential way to brighten and style any outfit.  This year I'm having a love affair with linen.  My bedding was the first, the soft crumpled allure and feel got me hunting down t-shirts and tunics.  I also love a good scarf, large and wrap like, this is a great way to warm up and cover the bumpy bits you want to hide. 

 The zeitgeist for crystals and dreamcatchers has made a welcome return, the yearning for spiritual tones and vibrations in our lives. Natural fibres and stones, watches made from wood, jewellery that promotes healing, and old traditional hand sewn garments made from cotton and linen.  

So I've treated myself to some duck eggs instead of chocky ones and been knitting, crocheting and dress making.  I shall feature the dress making soon, I have a simple pattern and am just hunting down some fabric that will work as a transitional warmth between spring and summer. 

If you like my styling choices the stockists are as follows:

Steer Skull t-shirt by Van Asch, welsh wool cushion by Jane Beck, Linen tunic under the watch in picture 1 is by WindramDesign on Etsy, Linen bedding is mixture from : Soak and Sleep, West Elm, and Loaf. Cactus planter from Rose & Grey.

And here's my Easter present to you; $20 off any wood watch from Jord  if you click on this link :

https://www.woodwatches.com/g/janiceissittlifestyle 

A lovely new watch to help you remember the time change.  

Without words

Normally this time of the year is a time to leave the winter behind us and look ahead to the time when enjoying the spring weather, but after the terrible terrorist attacks  this week in our beautifull country, we will never recover from the impact on our lives .... this is forever etched in our memory.

 So enjoying life will have a whole new meaning as from now on...We will try to enjoy even more the simple things of life and be thankful for all the love we can give and receive ...

Me & my whole family would like to express our sincere condolences to the many victims of these terrible, cowardly acts & their family .

There are no words for sadness that they must process

We all have to take on our daily routine again together  and try to go on with our lives.

Therefore I would like to share with you some beauty in these gloomy days ... 

Have a nice Easter weekend...

XXX

Sabine

new sofa in Belgian linnen, artwork Jean- Marc Louis

Amsterdam (Part II ) for Urban Jungle Bloggers

Our theme this month for Urban Jungle Bloggers is 'botanical zoom' looking at the details in our house plants, and so, as I bought many new plants in Amsterdam, I thought I would continue to talk about shopping in that city and show you what I came home with.

Something I haven't talked about so far is my latest tattoo, I have waited for some time to be able to book with the legendary Angelique Houtkamp of Salon Serpent and finally I managed to see her.  I will be revealing the tattoo when it's healed over on Instagram, alongside my new wood watch.

Angelique sells her artwork, limited edition prints like this below of wolf girl.  I bought these two plants in Wildernis which is just along the road from Salon Serpent.  I find the spotted one really fascinating, it looks like someone has painted the spots on!

We can't talk about plants without talking about planters and pots, this for me is all part of the fun, finding the right pot for the plant, allowing enough space for it to grow and allowing it fit with the decor.  This year's story for plant pots is natural baskets, seagrass, wicker and woven.  The above two came from a man on a street market (Lindengracht on saturdays).    

this is the orange tree blossom from a mini tree I have in my house, the smell is absolutely amazing

Jeska Hearne who blogs at Lobster & Swan has recently got hold of a lovely and delicate plant called sophora prostrata.  I was lucky enough to find some sitting outside a wonderful florist shop called Fleur Monde on Haarlemerdijk, an enormous shop full to the brim of wonderful specimens. That was the first time I had ever seen one other than in Jeska's photos, it had quite a journey home in my hand luggage, Im still hoping it can get established nicely.

The good people at Urban Jungle Bloggers have also found some great colouring illustrations for us this month, I only had a small set of coloured pencils which came out of a Christmas cracker, so my palette was somewhat limited!  Still it was pretty relaxing to do even so. Also in the photo above you can see one of the little mother of pearl spoons I bought in Zenza. 

These two hands came from de Weldaad which I featured in the last post.  The victorian tile is actually English, I intended to buy some antique Delft Tiles, even beaten or battered ones just as a souvenir, but boy were they expensive!!  The tile above came from a man specialising in tiles, mostly Delft, on Noordmarkt and his prices were much better than in any shops.  It seems that the cheapest you can find old Delft tiles for is around 20 Euros, but frequently they are up to 60 Euros and more, so you would need to be a pretty serious collector to buy these.  I stuck with the English one because it has the same colour tones as those set into my new cupboard.

This is the old Indigo scarf with tassles I bought on Noordmarkt from Stern Africa. It feels like a light denim and the tassles are a status symbol for men in certain parts of Africa. Birgit really knows her stuff and can give you so much information about the things you buy from her. This type of cloth is from the Mossi people of Berkina Fasso, it is thin strips of fabric sewn together to form a whole cloth and then Indigo dyed. The prices from Birgit are about a third of what you will pay elsewhere, so well worth finding her.

My yoga teacher was talking to us this week about being 'present' in all things you do, she had been away and while everyone was madly dashing down the Ski slopes she was stopping and appreciating the weather and nature.  I can honestly say that this approach of slow living, is well worth practising.  I have visited Amsterdam many times, but all too frequently when on business dashing from one place to another. This time I took it slow, appreciated the details, walked instead of dashing and enjoyed the city so much more for it. 

Have a lovely week everyone while we are getting ready for some time off over Easter. J x

Cool Amsterdam for Interior Design lovers

I have just returned from the most amazing time in Amsterdam and it didn't involve any alcohol or funny cigarettes, quite the opposite, I decided to walk it and hunt down the healthiest food and the most beautiful shops.  So get yourself a nice cup of tea and sit down with me now to walk around one of Europes most beautiful and stylish cities.

I was super blessed with the weather, although I came prepared as the wind can be biting here.  Don't even think about wearing heels, get your most comfortable trainers or boots and prepare to be impressed.  The architecture is totally unique, the classic tall thin houses set alongside the canals, and bicycles everywhere due to the fact that public transport can only get you near the destination but not outside the door.  First thing to conquer as well is the trams, find a tram map and buy a card which you use like an oyster card, touch in and out. The stops are clearly announced and indicated on the tram itself so you won't have to worry about not recognising when to get off. 

I started my treck on day one with the Nine Streets area, this is easy to see on maps if you google.  Here are the most stylish shops in my opinion, the one off boutiques and cool cafes.  I tried two cafes on Reestraat, Ree 7 and Pluk, both serving very healthy clean food in simply and sleek surroundings.  Also on Reestraat at Number 1 is the boutique small shop of what was to be my most favourite discovery of all - de Weldaad.  The shop on Reestraat on the corner, is full of more small decorative home and gift items, to describe it I would say take a mix of Victorian weirdy, Scandi chic and natural history museum, then perhaps you would be somewhere near to imagining. Fossils, shells and bones, under glass domes, beautiful containers and vases, feathers, mercury glass, wooden birds, and so on.  It's larger mother store is up in Noordermarkt and that has all this and much larger pieces, leaning more towards the architectural salvage. Here's some photos of the larger shop..

old painted tin ceiling tiles can be found here, my current latest crush.

De Weldaad is beautifully laid out and curated, grouping objects in colour sections and mixing old and new seamlessly.

Also to be found in Nine Streets which I thought was quite unique is a bedhouin and tribal jewellery shop called Parwan on Herengracht. 
For interesting smells and quality bath products have a sniff around Marie Stella Maris, their liquid hand soap is something quite different to your usual supermarket brand, leaving your hands feeling soft and smooth instead of dried out, I chose the Cedre Intime as it has Patchouli notes, but they even have a smell like the falling autumn leaves in Amsterdam!

All the plant and florists shops are outstanding and I managed to get hold of some great plants which are hard to find in the UK. There are two plant shops on Bilderdijkstraat quite close to each other, one of which is Wildernis.  But wherever you go you will pass a lovely florist and spot some great house plants.

We popped up to Noordermarkt on Saturday when the market is on. On the outside of the market square is de Weldaad's larger store and on the market itself the most wonderful lady who imports from Africa. This stall has a wonderful selection of Shibori and indigo dyed fabrics and scarves, some new and some old, plus lovely tribal jewellery. Birgit's company name is SternAfrica and she personally travels and chooses very good pieces. Food wise, we ate at Finch on the corner and it was excellent, I had a great avocado on toast that Nigella would be jealous of.

From Noordermarkt we walked to Haarlemmerdijk, further North.  Here you will find a bathroom shop full of antique baths and all things bath related.  The Shop is called Affaire D'eau at number 148-150. The collection of antique reclamation is superb.

We walked there via a street market on Lindengracht and there I found a man selling African baskets at very reasonable prices, you will see these a lot in the shops this year particularly when used for plants. I will feature these in some future posts.

If you are restoring a period bathroom you will find the perfect authentic pieces here in Affaire D'Eau.  It might be worth considering driving over to the Netherlands so that you can bring the larger items back home.

Further down the road, as if you are heading back towards Grand Central station, Haarlemmerdijk turns into Haarlemmerstraat, and here you can find one of the Zenza stores.  This store to me, sums up perfectly one of the looks that I personally champion, the fusion between ethnic design and craftsmanship with the colour tones of Scandinavian chic.  Zenza have primarily a large stock of lighting, which is made in their own factory in Egypt.  Both the silver and copper light shades are stunning but there is so much more to this store as well, lovely carved side tables in a pale coloured wood, plant hangers and unusual accessories, I bought some spoons made from shells with silver stems. 

To visit the Nine Streets area I got off the tram at Spui and walked through the floating flower market, for Noordmarkt we started at the Dam Square stop and took the back streets heading North.  There was a marked difference between the weekday and weekend for numbers of people, and the weekend tourists can make it very busy, so if you can try and go out on a wednesday or thursday so that you can mooch for several days with the streets to yourself.  Mind out for those cyclists too, they are ruthless!  There are defined cycle lanes and they are strictly not for walking on unless you want to get mown down.  I bought a number of plants and to bring them back in my luggage I took them out of the plastic pots, removed some of the dirt and put them in shoe boxes with some tissue paper.  One of them is looking a bit sad but the others seem to have survived ok.  I will be featuring these in both my Urban Jungle Bloggers posts and for Lobster and Swans new hashtag #botanicalpickmeup

I don't have any photos but there's a really good antique furniture shop on Prinsengracht at 579, set in a lovely old building vof Prinsheerlijk Antiek has very traditional grand old pieces, do have a look if you are passing.

In all my years of visiting this city, since the 1980's, I have never been to the red light district once, so my advice is to see the city like a local would and not like a tourist, it will be so much more rewarding and I hope this blog helps you to do that. Happy Days. J x