Treasures of Paris #6. Les Marionnettes du Marais

For this new issue of my special places to visit in Paris, it is a great pleasure to introduce Les Marionnettes du Marais! A couple of days ago, I received this amazing finger puppet (pic above) as a gift, and since then I've fallen in love with this funny monkey; it is as little as it could be held in my pocket! This cute puppet comes from Roxana Pecquet's shop, a little pearl of hand-knitted creations in the heart of the Marais district in Paris, just beyond the Musée Carnavalet... Les Marionnettes du Marais!

The handmade activity of Roxana is really amazing. Her boutique is unbelievably fulfilled with hundreds of colorful puppets: princes and princess, wolves and red ridding hoods, witches and fairies, Roxana proposes a wide range of characters since 17 years ago, when she started her activity here in Paris. From the characters of classic tales to almost all the animal existing in nature, these cuties stimulate your imagination and let you perform great theatrical shows, able to satisfy even the most exigent child simply thanks to the waving your fingers!!

Therefore, I find that these fingers puppets are not only very cute; they has also a big advantage. Their reduced size makes them suitable for typical small parisian apartments: in few square meters, by their help it will be possible to organise real theatrical "colossal", with dozens of characters and walker-ons; the only limit, this time, will be the number of hands you will dispose!

Roxana and her assistant Olivia welcome customers from all corners of the world, which are looking for a unique and dreamy gift, at Les Marionnettes du Marais, in Paris, 15 rue Elzevir, 75003, contact marionnettes.du.marais@gmail.com • tel 01.48.87.52.73

Special buttons giveaway!

Here in Paris one of my favourite hobbies is to spend my spare time "mining" little treasures in haberdasheries disseminated in this town. Indeed, there's such as magnificent shops of this kind where to spent whole afternoons discovering amazing little stuffs! These magical places are simply extraordinary... sometimes, I feel like an archaeologist in a scavenger hunt: while I'm pushing my way through colourful ribbons and vintage fabrics, it is always a surprise and a great pleasure to discover coffers completely fulfilled with precious buttons...

And this love that I feel for buttons and haberdasheries inspired me to carve special hand carved rubber stamps the shape of buttons: they are for sale on my etsy, in 4 different sets... check them out, I hope you like'em all!
Last but not least, in this post I propose also a special giveaway of a set of 8 authentic "buttons in buttons" in fabric, made with my buttons stamps (pic below there): for winning this set, you have to write a comment, explaining where do you like to spent your spare time before Sunday the 6th November. To each comment I will assign a progressive number... then, randomiser will chose the fortunate number!!

NOTE: this is the set to win! write a comment on this post to participate to the giveaway!!

A stamp for every occasion!

For every occasion it exists a stamp able to make you happy or to accompany your daily life! Indeed, during last period, it was glad for me to hand carved a certain amount of custom rubber stamps: an ex-libris for a cute friend of mine, business logos for two great website (Meias Marias and Curious & Cute), an emplacement for mail address for an adorable Belgian family, a phrase hand written by her son for lovely Virginia, a little logo for a nice Australian girl... these are few samples of committed rubber stamps; I hope you like them, if you'd like to have you too your personalised rubber stamp, write me an email and either send me a draw or explain me in detail what you'd like, I will be happy to satisfy your request!

Therefore, as Christmas is starting to approach, and the first stuff are starting to appear on almost all websites, I've remake my special Xmas stamps collection... you can find a wide range of cute little stamps on my etsy with which to can start to organise your Xmas and mind how to decorate your greetings cards, your wrappings, everything you want!

Shaggy, autumnal little friends

I do not why, but during these first days of cold weather I associate often this period to a couple of my favorite characters of ever: Monchichi and Cheburashka! This would be due maybe to the fact that they are both bounded in a fluffy, brown fur, which makes them so snuggly and similar to chestnuts, but the point is that by now they are both for me almost a symbol of fall!!

I took decision to propose again some stuffs inspired to these cute shaggy, brown, autumnal friends: a set of felt brooches shaped with Cheburashka and his friends, and some hand carved rubber stamps figuring both Cheburashka and Monchichi. You can find them on my etsy shop, I hope you like them!! Before leaving, I post here below a cute video, able to melt my heart each time I see it, of Cheburashka and his best friend, Gena the Croccodile, while they are singing a cute russian song... good listening!! For knowing a little more about Cheburashka, read this former post of mine here...

Le festival d'automne of hand carved rubber stamps!

Here in Paris the Autumn is not only the season that accompany my life from september until late december, against which I swear each time I came out without my umbrella. Autumn is a mixture of melancholy for the summer that is gone and of a mild resting before cold winter, a time of sly reflection and artistic inspiration. To such extend that, in spite of the platitude that associates autumn to the decline, Paris each year dedicates an art festival to this season, le festival de l'Automne! This festival, born in 1972, was conceived to show artistic avant-gardes of theatre, cinema, plastic arts, music and dance, to oppose to the static art perpetually shown in the main museums.

For what concerns my artistic inspirations, I took decision to create something special for this season and for its special feelings. Autumn was for me also in the past rich of meanings: I had fun in producing stuff inspired to the rain and to the clouds (and by this way to my usual swearing against the end of sunny season...). But this time is different: for endearing myself to the fall, I've produced a wide range of cute characters that evokes in me the idea of this season and its crafty melancholia: acorns, hedgehogs, and chestnuts... which with decorate what you want, and which amuse yourself decorating your life during these rainy days. You can find them on my etsy! I hope you like them...

Treasures of Paris #5. Merci

For this new issue of my posts dedicated to special places to discover in Paris, I'd like to change a little from my habits. This time, indeed, instead to feature a little and picturesque shops, I'm going to present you a huge store. I've recently discovered "merci", 1500 m2 of design and creative and inspiring things in the core of Paris.

This choice is motivated by two main aspects: the "store" and the "concept" that lie beyond this "concept store". Concerning the first motivation, the store is accommodated in a wonderful and dreaming place, under this aspect is really unique: it is an ancient Parisian building nearby one of my favourite borough - le Marais. You accede to the store passing through a wonderful internal court that cut out the noises of the town. This building, which during XIX century was a textile works, was recently completely restored in the respect of the old architectural structure: a mix of antiquity and modernity in the same delightful place.

The second motivation is the concept beyond "merci". The original idea of the owners, who became rich during last 30 years thank to their chic children cloths "Bon Point", was to open a shop in which all things for sale are given for gift by designers, artist, stylists, writers; Indeed, here you can find both new and used things, from books to pencils, from industrial tables to mini-skirts, from dishcloth to handmade soaps and perfumes. Price are not always really cheap, but earnings are devolved to charity actions. Furthermore, this shop resumes a kind of French taste in matter of design and creativity, and a walk in it is sufficient to have you breathe the typical bohemienne atmosphere. In the shop, there's also a caffé, in which you can read books during your shopping pause.

If you are not in Paris now, nor you are planning to visit soon this town, I want to suggest you to start to breathe the Parisian style visiting a cute e-shop, fulfilled with amazing Frenchy things for children, frenchblossom!