Friday 31 December 2010

Looking back: My 2010 to do list

Maybe one of you, who also was here a year ago, remembers my DIY todo list for 2010.
If you weren´t there, shame on you ;),  you can read it here. I was full of ideas and seriously thinking I could commit myself and do all of those things. 2010 brought some amazing things for me, but almost none of them were planned. Anyway, it seemed like a nice idea to look back on that list and tell you what I did.

1. Make a piece of clothing from scratch. Well, all I can say about that one is: it's also on my 2011 to do list.

2. Make a cookbook of all the amazing recipes I tried. I actually did that one! It's still on my old laptop and there aren't that much recipes in it. But I'm looking forward to expanding that collection next year.

3. Try my dad's old camera collection. There was a moment in 2010 that I was walking near the Louvre in Paris with one of those old camera's in my hand. Seriously. With a film in it and everything. And then, after a few decades the battery was empty. My dad tried the camera a few days before and it was still fine. That didn't spoil the fun though. Paris is amazing. I actually went there twice this year. Ahh. All those wonderful memories.

4. Get creative with canvas bags.  I bought one. To start making cute ones. And then I discovered this really cheap pretty bags at a store in the Netherlands. For only one euro. I am that person that tells the person in the store that I don't want a bag, because I have my own. Yeah I know, probably annoying when you're behind the counter. But I think it's a very good thing to always have a extra bag with you. It's good for the environment, we use way to many plastic bags. So this store (Blokker) has really cute ones with a tiny thing to put them in. Perfect for in your handbag. I didn't really need to make those myself. Sorry.

5. Make a huge painting. No. Still no huge painting. But I did paint a whole room by myself, (my sister and a friend were wonderful help) In cute purple/lavender colours. Does that count?

6. Photograph. Yes. Did that. A lot.

7. Make a video.  I started making a simple stop motion, but never got around to finish it. And I made a silly video of me walking. It was just an experiment and I can't recall me showing it to anyone. I'm a bit ashamed. The song is really pretty though. But because I really like you all. Here it is:
I just got my new camera, which isn't  really meant for filming, but I wanted to try that. And this was the result. Quite stupid I know.

And that was the list.
Not that great of a year it would seem. But I'm very very grateful for everything that has happened. I've done some wonderful things and met a lot of inspiring people. Including starting my own little Etsyshop. Not a single sale. But I have a lot of fun working on that. And the travelling was great. I've been to so many places this year. Let's hope that 2011 is a much fun as 2010!

We wish you all a very happy new year!

All pictures belong to me.

Thursday 30 December 2010

Interior Inspiration

I always find it relaxing to look for inspiration for my home. So many people have gorgeous ideas and interiors. That's why we show you some of the inspiration we found every now and then. 
 Don't you just love it when people take random, ordinary things who otherwise wouldn't be noticed and turn them into beautiful, eye-catching decoration?
 Makes me want run up and down the stairs and count. It's a creative idea to make a simple staircase something pretty and fun.
 I wouldn't mind going to the toilet here. ;)
Beautiful kitchen. Need I say more?

Wednesday 29 December 2010

52. Quote of the Week

Missed our sidebar 'Quote of the Week'?
Here it is!

Dear You...


Someone once told me that our blog was filled one half with cute posts and the other half with apologizing for not posting. Which is probably true. We started this blog a long time ago and the amount of time that goes into updating a blog is a lot more than you would think. Our lives have become more busy and our priorities are elsewhere. Still, I do remember the fun I had updating These Lovely Things. I would be sad to give up our little blog. You know what I'm going to do? First, not promising you to update this blog, because time has told us that I won't do it anyway. And second, just have fun and not make it something I have to do.

How about that?

Have a wonderful new years eve.

Image source: weheartit.com

Friday 22 October 2010

What I Want to Wear...

... this Fall.

A few lovely examples of what I would love to wear this fall. All those grey and brown earth tones.








These images/looks belong the The Satorialist, Stockholm Streetstyle, LookBook.nu and Cats&Dogs
Which are all amazing places to find wardrobe inspiration! 


Thursday 21 October 2010

42. Quote of the Week

Missed our sidebar 'Quote of the Week'? Here it is! 
The quote for week 42. Found on Etsy Admin Daniellexo's profile page. She gave same amazing critiques for my own Etsy shop.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Print is not Dead



What better way to start than with an absolutely adorable stop-motion? I have a weakness for this type of short films. Would love to do one of my own one day.

A Fresh Fall Start

Dear Followers,

I think we're there. Our fresh start. I've spent a part of the afternoon redesigning 'These Lovely Things'. After a few days in bed with the flu and a terrible cold I was fed up with the Fall season. But then I went looking for chestnuts and acorns. The trees are turning red, orange and yellow. And it's that time of year again where you can drink hot chocolate while you can hear it rain outside. Isn't it lovely? It's autumn again!


Hopefully everything is going to be fun the next couple of weeks. I'm going to try to post regulary. And as always, I would absolutely love your comments! What do you think of our slightly new design?


Image found on weheartit.com.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

(:

Long time, no posting. Again. As you may have noticed, this happens pretty often to us lately. We're both very busy and unfortunately can not find the inspiration to make lovely posts. That's why we decided to have an official little break. No posting for a while. But don't give up on us yet! Please check out These Lovely Things every now and then for our fresh start. When we're ready. Have a wonderful day, week and month!

Fleur & Karin.

Friday 3 September 2010

New Series Season

Hello everyone!

Finally a new post, from both of us! ^^. Karin lives in Utrecht since Wednesday, so on Thursday Fleur came to explore Utrecht together :) We had an amazing time and discovered a lot of little, cute shops (you probably will hear a lot more about those sometime)!
But for this post, we like to share some dates. You see, in September, a lot of the series we watch start their new seasons ^^.


Merlin (season 3) 11 september
Gossip Girl (season 4) 13 september
How I Met Your Mother (season 6) 20 september
House (season 7) 20 september
Glee (season 2) 21 september
Bones (season 6) 23 september

XX
Karin & Fleur

Monday 30 August 2010

Hello there!

How was your weekend? Mine was filled with family, sitting in the car for hours and 'enjoying' the rain! No internet, so unfortunately no blog post.

I learned from my previous mistakes, I'm not going to promise any blogposts untill I'm absolutely sure I can live up to that promise. (I'm moving this week, so exciting! Busy, busy, busy.) But I can promise you I have some exciting new projects going on. Well, mostly just one exciting new project. I'll tell you soon. And for now...




Have a nice week!

Karin.

Friday 27 August 2010

Miracles Happen Every Day

Thursday 26 August 2010

5 Looks: Basics

I love basics. Every wardrobe needs them. You can combine basics with basically everything. But they also work well together! Maybe it looks a tiny bit boring, but I think it's perfect for everyday life. 

It's time for a new 5 Looks.
By Nadia.
By Trang

By Zina.

By Veranica.

By Marianna.

Karin.

Monday 23 August 2010

Monday's Melody

I feel almost ashamed to post Monday's Melody. Fleur and I came up with Monday's Melody to make sure we'd post something every week and to replace 'Our favourite song at the moment'. But as it turns out, we can't even commit ourselves to post one regular post regulary. ^^ 
Anyway, the most important thing is:  this week there is a Monday's Melody.

I like so many different types of music. Last week I was slightly obsessed with the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. Couldn't stop listening. 'A Postcard to Henry Purcell' makes me think about live a few centuries ago.  Don't get me wrong, I love pop and rock music, but a little classical music every now and then is so relaxing.

Enjoy!

Tattoos

I'm not really a tattoo person. I never considered taking one, nor which desigin I would like. But a few weeks ago I talked about tattoos with a friend, who was considering taking a tattoo. I was a bit surprised, but when I thought about it, tattoos can be a great way to remember a certain moment or person in your life. I'm not that fond of the 'forever' part, but I get why some people find it very important. We talked about having a word or sentence that means a lot to you tattooed. I immediately thought about that when I saw the picture above. I absolutely love it. I got a bit carried away looking for some other inspiring word-tattoos.




Even one word can mean a lot.

I think this way too long, but I do loved the quote!

Isn't this one amazing?

A wonderful message (although it kind of depends on what you did ^^)
Again, just three words that say everything.
I don't have to say anything about this one. 
And to end this post, a pretty one with birds. So cute. 

The thing I eventually discovered that I do like some tattoos. They can mean a lot and have amazing stories behind them. I would love the stories behind those pictures. I'm not planning to get a tattoo anytime in the near future, but I just wanted to share these little artworks.

Have a lovely week!

Karin.

Thursday 19 August 2010

25 random things I love.

Remember our favourite quote? When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life you have a thousand reasons to smile! And that is one thing we're trying to do here. I didn't actually make it till thousand today, but I came up with 25 random thing that make me very happy. 


  1. Lavender.
  2. My feet in the sand.
  3. Old keys.
  4. Ribbons.
  5. Travelling.
  6. Photographing.
  7. Milk.
  8. Reading.
  9. The wind in my hair.
  10. Fairytales.
  11. My friends.
  12. Smiling to random people.
  13. Blueberries.
  14. Music.
  15. My family.
  16. Fields.
  17. Reading.
  18. Clouds.
  19. Laughing.
  20. Flowers.
  21. Painting.
  22. Drawing.
  23. Pretty dresses.
  24. Spring.
  25. ChocolateChipCookies.

And what things do you love? I would love to read your list!

Karin.

All images were found on Weheartit.com

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Postcrossing

All of you probably have already heard about this, at least I did, but I never joined. I always wanted to, but just never did. Postcrossing is a website you can join to send and receive postcards to and from random people in the world. I always love finding a postcard in my mail and I suppose a lot of you love it too. 
I started with sending a postcard to Germany, Finland and China and I'm now waiting to get some postcards from other people. I have to have a little patience, but I'm so excited!


A little bit about Postcrossing: 
"The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive at least one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world."


And I always love to look at the statistics. At this moment Postcrossing has 203,868 members in 210 countries. Most of the users are female. 5% of the users is Dutch. 4,951,369 cards were received with Postcrossing. These cards  traveled 27,188,444,004 km (678,439 laps around the earth, 35,364 return trips to the moon).


Ofcourse I'll let you know when I receive some postcards!


Karin.



Remember that time when I promised you a post tomorrow? Yeah, that was almost two weeks ago.. I'm a little bit ashamed, because Fleur took good care of our blog when I was gone and  when she was gone I didn't post anything. Okay, I was in Rome last week (that's quite a good excuse, isn't it?). So now I'm trying to make everything right. I'm planning on posting a lot more this week. Look out for some new posts!

Karin.

Thursday 29 July 2010

Back Home.



Wow. I'm home again. Sorry to have kept you waiting. I've been to Paris, Lausanne, Venice, Ljubljana, Vienna, Prague and Munich. And Sunday I'm leaving to go to Milan and Rome. You're probably wondering how I'm keeping up with all that. The truth is, I'm not. But I had so much fun and have so many stories to tell. But for now I'm just going to bed and sleep until I wake up. A new post coming up tomorrow! Fleur is doing well, the internet connection isn't that good in Thailand, but she says it's nice there. Well, I'll talk to you all tomorrow! Good night (:

Karin.

Monday 26 July 2010

Glee - Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) - Roses Turn

Love this song! Had to share it with you! Especially this version from glee ^^. Kurt is almost, if not totally, my favourite glee character ^^.


XX Fleur

Sunday 25 July 2010

ByeBye

See you in three weeks!


XX Fleur

Saturday 24 July 2010

Last DeviantArt favourites ^^.

Here are my last few DeviantArt favourites ^^. I just liked to share them with you :D





XX Fleur