November 30, 2015

Cyber meeeeeeehday


Monday, windy, rainy, unfocused.
Sometimes trying to make my business work feels like I am trying to fly by flapping my arms.
I have zero marketing skills. Never had. My favorite teacher at graphic school once told me "you don't know how to sell yourself". In my world it's not bad thing. In the real world...arrrgh...

General feeling today...


November 26, 2015

Black Friday sale


15% in my 2 Etsy shops with code  BLACK15
Offer valid until Monday November 30, 2015.

DinaFragola
TheCaptainCosmos

I combine shpping for the 2 shops :)

All in a golden afternoon...my Alice in Wonderland collection

On this day, November 26,  all the way back in 1864, Charles Lewis Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, gave a little girl named Alice a handwritten manuscript entitled "Alice's Adventures Under Ground".
The now familiar fairytale was first told 2 years earlier, on a sunny afternoon,during a boat ride on the Isis River in Oxford, by Carroll to 3 little girls.

The Thames in Oxford


Lewis Carroll was a teacher at the Christ Church College in Oxford. His boss, Dean Liddel had several daughters, one of whom named Alice. 
Christ Church

Christ Church inside court

Christ Church inside court

 Across the street from the College was a little grocery shop where Alice often went for sweets.
The building is over  500  years old
 If you're familiar with the original book, the shop does make an appearance in Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland.  In the book a sheep is the shopkeeper.


Nowadays the shop is entirely dedicated to Alice inWonderland. It is a goldmine for Alice fans...they flock there from all over the world...well, mostly from Japan it seems as on my 2  visits the shopkeeper was a Japanese with a very basic knowledge of English ;)  She taught me how to say Alice in Wonderland in Japanese too!
Nowadays they have an online shop too.

Note my "light" shopping bags in the foreground ;)

All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretense
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict to "begin it"--
In gentler tones Secunda hopes
"There will be nonsense in it"--
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast--
And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry,
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
"The rest next time"--"It is next time!"
The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out--
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.

Alice! a childish story take,
And with a gentle hand
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's withered wreath of flowers
Plucked in a far-off land.


Lewis Carroll

November 23, 2015

Bouquettes de Liège, Christmas pancakes

Traditional Christmas pancakes from Liège. This is my gran’s recipe.
You’ll need :


500gr white flour
2 eggs
150gr raisins or 200gr  red cherries
20gr of fresh yeast
½ liter water
½ liter milk
2 large tablespoons of breadcrumbs
a teaspoon of brown sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
cinnamon (as much as you like)
oil for cooking
sugar





 First dilute the yeast in some warm milk (that you take from the ½ liter) with the brown sugar. You then soak the raisins in warm water (or warm strong alcohol, original recipe mentions “Peket” a local beverage similar to Genièvre). If you prefer cherries, you can also soak them in alcohol. But I use water, I am not keen on hard liquor.
Beat the egg whites.
In a large bowl mix the flour, water, milk, yeast mix, yolks, breadcrumbs, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add the egg whites last with a wooden spoon.


Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes in a warm place.



Warm oil in a pan and pour some dough, add as much raisins (cherries) as you like. Flip and cook the other side.



Sprinkle each pancakes with sugar and pile them up in a plate. Eat warm or cold, they stay good for up to a week (and get even better when older).


November 20, 2015

Friday favorites

 A cool Pip Studio sweater...supposedly a pyjama top but I'd wear  that out, no problem...

 An incredibly cute bunny plate from Thestorybookrabbit on Etsy.

Juno Bunny With Blackberry Floral Vintage Illustrated Plate


 Super fun cat gloves from Felissimo, Japan. Go watch the demo video on their page, too funny ;)
 A beautiful plant and flower sweater from Esprit.


And being cheeky again, a mega-ultra-super cute Captain Cosmos necklace ^_^

November 19, 2015

My Alice in Wonderland collection - some pins

 I have lots of Alice pins but these are special as they are the first ones I bought  in the early 90's. I am not really sure how those became so widely available in Europe as they were made for Walt Disney World 15th anniversary back in 1986.
The little anecdote here is that I actually bought 2 sets...one for my collection and one to wear...but as there was no way I'd wear something that says Coca-Cola I had actually sawed off the bottom part.








You all the photos from my collection (so far) at GEMR

November 16, 2015

Christmas plugs - limited edition


Grab your limited edition Christmas plugs now!
If the style you like is not listed in your size, send me an email!
All my items are shipped in a giftbox ready to place under the tree and small enough to fit in a sock if you prefer!

November 13, 2015

Friday favorites

 A sequin Christmas cat sweater from H&M
 A very cool advent calendar full of beauty products from l'Occitane.

 Another advent calendar from Ciaté. I love the packaging and their nail polishes.
Probably the most fun (for me anyway) advent calendar...full of Leonidas chocolates
 
A super fun and mega kitsch Captain Cosmos ring 

November 12, 2015

My Alice in Wonderland Collection - plates and glasses

 I love this quote...it seems quite fitting for my collection ;)


This plate is from a series sold at the Disney Gallery in the 90's. There were a few more pieces that I'll show you eventually. Though they are extremely pretty, they are also really poor quality, like some sort of plaster mix that chips and breaks very easily.


  A gorgeous glass blown and engraved glass made by Afternoon Tea, a Japanese brand. Note the pink heart.



 A traditional Japanese bowl with the Cheshire Cat. The Japanese are not afraid of mixing old and new.


 Another piece by Afternoon Tea. A dessert plate and bowl set. Once again the glass is blown and engraved. The plate is exquisite.





 Collectible plate by Kenleys Ltd. for Disney from the 90's. I am not crazy about this type of collectible plates.... It's a bit like those horrible Hallmark plate collections..."let's stick any old picture on cheaply made and unusable plates and sell it for a small fortune"


 A lovely plate by Sony. In Japan Sony makes a wide variety of things...



If you want to see all my collection photos in one place, I post them on GEMR too.