Special XMAS giveaway!

As you may know, more than to make my own rubber stamps, I am also a compulsive collector of them! And, in my personal collection, one of my best favorite stamp set is this Decole's Otogicco one here below! I love it very much, I find the way in which it revisited the tale of the Little Red Riding Hood so cute!

And I took decision to produce some felt brooches with these cute stamps and to organize a special giveaway for them to make a special xmas gift to the readers of my blog! Would you like to try your change and to win these brooches? Rules to participate are very easy:

  

Write a comment from now to the 9th December at 13h00 (Rome, Paris etc. hours) in which you declare which is your favorite tale. If you'd like to add other details, such as the reason of your choice or who was used to tell you this tale, they are very welcome! To each comment I will assign a ascending number (1,2,3, and so forth) and randomizer, as usual, will find out the lucky winner!  good luck!!!

Fun cute jewelry sets for Xmas gift

This Xmas, I have made a couple of fun jewelry set to become the perfect gift to make happy a special person. Serious and precious jewelries are so boring... instead I prefer to embellish outfits with a touch of cuteness, in order to spread all around the joy of a funny and smily style!!

 

 

These are completed sets with earrings, a brooch and a necklace, in two version: one with a lovely bear and another one with a smiling cloud. They are special productions, I realized them with some glittered FIMO, and only one exemplar of each one exist. So, if you are interested hurry up on my etsy!

Xmas is approaching

Xmas is approaching and the hunting for gift has already started with the growing dose of stress that, as all years, comes along... But my favorite activity for Christmas is to prepare unique and cute greeting cards and wrapping. This years I prepared some stamps that will be very useful to customize my gifts, my greetings, and each of my "merry xmas" will be different to the other one!

 

As you can see in the photos posted above here, I have hand carved a set of stamps with the shape of different xmas balls: a star, a round one, a dotted one and also a long and twisted one! They fit perfectly with their hook for hanging to form a cute combined stamp. I have a lot of fun in drawing with a pen also the faces onto the ball... in my journal, the page of 25th december is already fully decorated!!

 

   

More than these xmas balls, I have carved also a stamp with the shape of a Dala Horse. Dala horses, also known as Dalecarnian horses, are typical wooden horses of the Swedish folklore. They are symbol of Sweden, but their "kurbits" style recalls to me also the typical atmosphere of the xmas, of the snow, and of the rigid cold of the great north. As a consequence, this xmas many decorations of mine will use the cute Dalas, with which I have also created some stickers to be used to embellish packs and wrappings. All these ideas for xmas, and more other, are available on my esty.

Last but not least: I also created a special and unique listing, on sale only for this time on my etsy, with some felt animals to be used as decorations and ornaments in your xmas threes. Hurry up if you like it, this set will not be available again in the future!!

My little Astro Dog

Since Fifi arrived in my life, much spare time of mine is systematically spent in having walks with her, and in find out places in Paris where she can meet up with other dogs. And I have to admit that it is really pleasant to look at Fifi while she is playing: she keeps always a very kind behavior, immediately able to strike up friendship with all other dogs!

  

I do not know if because of her funny, pointed, movable hears, or because of her happy and melancholic look at the same time, but Fifi remembers me Astro Boy indeed. As you maybe know, Astro boy is maybe the principal chef d'oeuvre de "Godfather of Anime", Osamu Tezuka. Created during 1950s, and turned in a TV program during 1960s, Astro Boy is a kind of Pinocchio of the future, created from the mind of a mad scientist that, after the dead of his beloved son, aimed to replicate him with a robot. The Astro Boy's anime tells the story of a boy-robot in a fictional future in which men and very advanced technologies coexist, even if not without difficulties.

Actually, his father-creator realized soon that the Astro Boy could not replace completely his son; in particular, the incapacity of Astro Boy to grow like all other children became insupportable for the scientist who took decision to sell out Astro Boy, as mere thing, to an evil circus manager. After some times, Astro Boy was "saved" from this circus by another scientist, who instead remarked his unique and special "human" behaviors and emotions, which other robots have not, such a natural inclination to be kind and warm, to be altruist, to fell happy or sad depending on situations. In a certain way, Astro Boy is a deep exploration in what human beings are and in what to be human means, told from the standpoint of a "non-human". I am sure that you have already seen the 1980s version of Astro Boy, but recently I found out also the original series from 1960s on youtube. And now I am addict!

  

Going ahead with my thought about Fifi, her pointed hears, and her similarities with Astro Boy, I get the inspiration to crave a couple of stamps with the shapes of Astro Boy: one done with the old-school version, and also another one done following the Astro Boy Tezuka Moderno, its ultra-kawaii version, which appeared recently in the comics stores. I hope you like them!

The town of Carrousels

Paris is the town of carrousels. I am often surprised by the countless number of carrousels that are scattered around both in very touristic places (such as nearby the Tour Eiffel, in Montmartre, at the Hotel de Ville, in the Marais etc.) and in the hidden corners of the town or in the parks. More than the permanent ones, which work all year long, during the Xmas period more carrousels are installed in each district. Their lights and their whistling jingles are able to bring even more romanticism in this town and to warm up the hearts of both young and old ones, in spite of the big cold. 

When I see the laugh blossoming in the children faces when they ride on a carrousel, I always think that sophisticate things are not necessary to get fun and to be happy. Also simple things, inherited from the past and built following low-tech considerations, are able to spread happiness all around: as a consequence, those things are rightly evergreen creations loved by everyones. Carrousels are maybe one of few things that are able to perfectly combine poetry, fun, and beauty.

 

 

And carrousels inspired me to create a new stamp, which I used to made a pendant necklace with shrink plastic and some stickers to embellish notebook and other stuff. You can find them on my etsy. I hope you like them!!!