HAPPY NEW YEAR...2012

It took me a while to integrate the feeling of GRATITUDE. My life as yours without doubt is not easy, more than often we just want to quit and run away but we don't...Day after day the wheel changes for the best i believe because our experience and our wisdom grows. I am a better person today than i was yesterday. I am more compassionate, tolerant, open minded than i was last year. Today I LOVE MYSELF with all my demons and flaws. I could have choose the path of bitterness or anger because being grateful for what we have instead of what we think we should have is definitely not an easy one!
 I know what is to love and being loved.
I know how to give and receive
I know when to listen and when to speak
I know that i know nothing...used to said Jean Gabin
because despite my wanting some people will love me others don't
some will stay with me forever others only for a dinner but i feel grateful to be able to connect...
I wish you an open heart for 2012
I wish you to dance and laugh
I wish you to hug and make love
I wish you to embrace LIFE
xo
Be inspired
Be creative
Be bold

Enjoy your Christmas...

I love Chrismas! This year though, with all the buzz of the open markets i didn't have time to make my usual christmas decoration which usually goes on for several days... but it's ok  as i have learned in 2011 to just let go, not an easy target but one that in the end will bring you peace of mind!  
The most important thing that i have learned this past year is to FEEL BLESSED, truly blessed!
I realize how lucky i am to be alive, to be in good health, to have a bed where i can sleep and a warm home, to have food in my fridge, to have a job, to have heart friends, to be able to create, to have a studio  full of vintage stuff.....and most of all TO LOVE AND BE LOVED. I don't take anything for granted, I cherish my family and my friends and hope that I give enough. My endless questioning about who I am, what is my mission will never cease i guess but now i wake up everyday with a sense of gratitude towards LIFE. I'm ageing and...it feels good! I would loved have those insights in my twenties...didn't we all? I hope I can age as well as my mom or my husband who don't care about their wrinkles but are concerned about the giving. 
I wish you a Merry Chrismas full of joy, laughter and good homemade food! 

Obrigado... Merci...Thank you

 My stock is becoming thinner! THANK YOU for your trust, confidence and...good taste! Just arrived yesterday from Bangkok pretty exausted as always and was talking with one of my colleagues who ask me if i had bought gifts for christmas in the "mecque" of shopping! Well no i replied because i create what i offer so they are heart gifts! I sense that my clients recognize that, my art being one very emotional and personal which maybe explains the major success we're having despite the crisis here in Portugal.
THANK YOU
MERCI
OBRIGADO
GRACIAS
GRAZIE
DANKE...

Have a nice week
Remember to laugh, dance, smile, hug

What can you bring to the world?

Blogging turned out to be very stressful lately! I started with a free spirit, enjoying the ride and  hoping of course to be read by others fans of mixed media. My mom as been doing a blogger pro course and started two blogs, sos-stress.com and lescheminsdelintuition.com and kindly started to explain me how it all works....because blogging is an art in itself and out of a sudden i lost interest. I'm not using key words or podcasts or tutorials because it takes a considerably amount of time to learn how it combines and to tell you the truth it's boring! I love searching at dawn in flea markets "the object" and bring it back to the studio where he will join others objects still full of dust! But...there's always a but isnt'it? I do want my blog to have success which means being followed and read so ultimately i have to take time to understand how it works. My mom told me who cares about your life? People want to learn new techniques, discover new things...What can you bring to the world? Wow! My mom is a specialist she's a top psychotherapist she knows it all. What can i bring to the world? Is there others girls like me who have an alimentar job, who have a dream but still no guts to live out of it, who struggle not to drown between the day to day life, the grocery store, the kids(if you have them...i have a cat! ) oh!!!! i forgot being always good humored available for your friends sexy for your husband! Okay we are millions outhere... This year who is about to end (thanks God) is being very challenging i dare say a bit too challenging...for my taste because i fail to have the awnsers yet! Last night i hear Deepak Chopra in the tv questioning the audience:
 Are you happy?
 Who are you? 
What is your purpose in life?
 Do you feel blessed? 

Hope you like my new necklaces?

They have a story these pocket watches...bought them in Chor Bazaar, Mumbai, India.

Will tell you in the next post!

  

Happy thanksgiving to my heart friends across the atlantic

Amanda

Adeola

Amy

Stephanie

Jessica

Michelle

Xo

A working girl...

I realized over the months that i'm struggling to keep up with my blog. I feel that i have lost my voice and have turn it into something politically correct! The true is that i am not a full time artist, dreams to be though, but in the meantime my life consists mainly in traveling around the world. In a month, I fly to 3 countries like Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and Bangkok, multiply by 11 months plus the holidays it sounds crazy how i can still find energy to create something in my studio! The truth is that i am pretty exausted and can only imagine my friends who have kids because they cannot rest at all.
So my blog till now wanted to related more about my art than the rest of my life and that's where the problems arise! I am a working girl who dreams to become an artists! Like thousands of girls outhere who struggled to keep up with a passion despite the lack of time.
So from now on i will post about my whole Life! Because i only spent 1/4 of my time in my studio.
I have just arrived from Bangkok and cannot tell you how mad i am about the medias. One as to be aware about their lack of credibility. Downtown Bangkok was completely safe. So there were no need for tourists to cancel holidays, the streets were empty, sales up to 80% in the malls... the flood was indeed impressive when approaching by air but it was in the suburbs. Journalists are interested only in the sensational and they don't care about the consequences among the population. I took a thai cooking workshop in the famous restaurant "Blue elephant". Check their website, they have 12 restaurants from Paris to Dubai. Unique! A 10/10.
Have a good week end
Xo

My little Big Brother...1975

Bonne Anniversaire Schounard! 

36 years time flies indeed...3 years ago i offer him this album with all my heart. My little Big Brother as accomplish a lot already in his Life. He knows what he wants and go for it! He's not only talented but disciplined, self centered, determined, courageous sensitive intuitive...Maybe a little overprotective towards me! Definitely is a winner and it feels good to have his energy around ! I wish i could be like him when i grow up....

I deeply admired him.

When we were little, the first thing Stephane used to do when arriving home was call after me, Tenda where are you? He followed me everywhere imitating me and...i was not very kind to him! I'm 6 years older! Even nowadays sometimes i still argue with him but i know that we deeply loved each other and that we are there for one another always and forever.

Je suis fière de t'avoir comme frère

Je t'aime

Parabens schounard

Where is my love?

I miss my husband! He's away for a week doing a raisin cure. Eating only raisin is a wonderful way to detoxinate your body every year but it take's nonetheless courage which Luis has plenty of. He's one of those special man with an enormous  heart. His friends know how reliable and generous he is. I know that my love is always present available caring tender protective towards me. I miss him... I want it back home...
It feels strange to be at home without him as usually i'm the one packing! His smell is everywhere, his strong presence, his love for me in the notes that i keep by my bedtable...


Tell your love how much you love him
the way he combs his hair
the way he smiles
his way of dancing
his favorite food
what make him laugh


Have a good week
Xo

Create your notebook

I have once in a while to rearrange my own filofax, keeping some scrap papers thowing others. Well not exactling throwing keeping them aside in my overfilled studios as a friend was telling me last night! How can you work with so much stuff around? That's my point everything really depends on your vision of your world as i feel that i don't have much material comparing to my heart friends in the US and of course it applies for everything in Life. Some will see the bright side others the dark side no matter what they have. My studio feels comforting, reassuring, cosy but for her as she suffers from asthma it's to much papers, tissues, hair cat...as for me i crave for more!

Creating my handmade journal is always something very relaxing and a way of knowing what i have been doing last year. As i rewrite in new papers what were my goals, my sales, what i create, what courses i had etc... and what i would like for the year to come it's a way of remaining self centered and connected. I am doing again the "artist's way" exercices by Julia Cameron as doing the Katie Kendrick online workshop was great  but being so much out of my comfort zone my censor hit me hard! You are not capable of drawing, who are you kidding bla bla... positive thoughts as you can see so urgent measures needed to be taken! I am writing everyday her three pages as she tells us, not negociable! With my censor nagging me what's the point of this pages? bla bla.. So i come back for a while into my world which is good as i'm taking some balance to continue Katie's course that i absolutely love.

In the meantime holidays are over so let's get back to work, flying to Sao Paulo not a city that i like very much being overly crowded but there's a flea market that i want to go...so i'm excited. Will give you tips if it's worthwhile.
 Thinking a lot of my beloved and my mom who are in beautiful sunny Toulouse doing a raisin cure for a week. Wow! Check on the net for more information if that fancy you cure-detoxination.fr
Have a good week end
Remember
Dance
Laugh
Make love
Enjoy...

Life is good...

It's 7h30 in the morning and i'm already wake up...thanks to my special teacher katie Kendrick! I'm completely addict to her faces having a notebook with me all the time and practicing practicing... She's a wonderful creative inspiring teacher giving us a tons of tecnhiques with an open heart that i don't get to see often. I was out of my comfort zone and still am but it's like she granted us with a green light...go girls unleash your creativity. I would love to add to my albums painting as well. I'm really into the mixed media gathering in one piece all sorts of techniques and materials. Above for example I sewed into an old paper a coco leave that i brought from Brazil... This album is on progress...let's see what comes out of it. I am always wondering when looking at old pictures where they happy? This woman, did she loved the man she married? Was he caring devoted to her?What were her dreams? Her vision of the world? Was she an open minded? Did she give enough? I don't know for you but i have always mixed feelings not to say guilty when spending time doing something that i love the most. It must be among other things for the fact that i don't have kids as God didn't granted me that part so there's always this nagging feeling...am I being selfish?My beloved husband goes every saturday visit a young man who is in prison, bringing him newspapers, self help books and a positive attitude towards life. Luis knows how to connect, interact and touched others heart. That's a blessing!
Have a good week end
xo

Serenissima...Venezia

Had I arrived 15 days earlier and I would have probably seen...George at la nostra de Venezia! Instead I get to see beautiful Italians who possess an unique and astounding charm. The italian men show you by whistling, singing, saying out loud how "belissima" you are and...it feels good! My advice is that  any woman after a rough experience with men  should go to Venice because her self esteem rises up pretty fast. One feels awesome and gorgeous in this magic city. Beauty is everywhere.

The only but...that cannot be neglected is the excessive price of everything! Feel free to share the taxi boat  on your way to Venice with other tourists like we did or when sightseeing in the grand canal for example. Be aware that most of the mask are made in china and the shop owner is chinese!

My husband Luis fulfilled one of my mom's secret dream that was staying at the Danieli. She was like a kid, savouring each moment of this timeless luxury hotel. The breakfast with a top view over the grand canal is incredible and we did feel in heaven! The palazzo was built back in the XIV century and belong to several venetians family like the Dandolo or  the Gritti and they all highly preserve it splendor. Dal Niel bought it in 1822 and transform it in the hotel known since then by his nickname DANIELI as he was known in Venice. The most romantic room being number 10 where Alfred de Musset et Georges Sand lived their love story back in 1833.

Hope you enjoy the photos

I enjoy taking them

Have a good week end

Divertite

Grazie