SEVEN

She's turning seven today. Little H.
Our wild child. Our strong willed but sweet all the same child.

She's always been on the fast track.
Intelligent and very sensitive too.
A chatterbox.
I so much love the way she giggles.

Seven!
She's seven!!

Happy birthday my sweet little H.!!


xo, P.

DIY : colorful wire clothes hanger

We're still in summer mode here, though for K. today is the last day of his summer vacation, unfortunately. This year's summer vacation has been very relaxing - Carpe Diem (seize the day) has been our motto. We've been doing plenty of things but only because we wanted to. And today I really wanted to do something crafty! So I did. It took me a while before I came up with something, though. I made a big mess as I kept pulling things out. But then eventually pieces fell into place when I found a wire clothes hanger (check out this article if you'd like to find out more about the origin of the wire clothes hanger - the drawings are great!).

The result of my crafty afternoon is this enhanced, colorful wire clothes hanger... with a short description in 16 photographs. Again, it's an easy craft you could have your kids do or help you with on a rainy afternoon.


What you'll need:

- wire coat hanger (the ones you get at the dry cleaner's)
- bias tape, ribbon, or a piece of fabric
- a piece of (masking) tape
- white glue
- optional: ribbon, rivet punch + rivets




Steps:

1. If you don't have ribbon or bias tape at hand, make your own (pic. 4 & 5) by cutting a long strip from a piece of fabric. Don't bother about cutting in bias, we want the ribbon to fray! Yes, fray! Although I had only a small piece of fabric, I cut one long strip from it. This is how: start cutting a strip lengthwise from one side to the other, BUT WITHOUT CUTTING THROUGH TO THE VERY END! Repeat, alternating sides as shown in the diagram below.



2. Attach the ribbon to the wire coat hanger as shown in pic. 6 and wind the ribbon around a couple of times to hide the tape.

3. Next, start twisting the ribbon around the wire all the way around. Don't be afraid of the fabric fraying - we like the effect! To make sure the ribbon is everywhere tightly twisted around the wire, check once in a while and twist the ribbon between your fingers as you work your way back to where you stopped.

4. At the bottom of the hook twist the ribbon around both wires and work your way up the hook (pic. 9 & 10).

5. Cut off the ribbon leaving a 1 inch end. Put on some white glue and next continue twisting the ribbon, smearing the glue in and over the fabric and such way that the tip is completely covered and there are no loose ends left (pic. 11-13).

6. Optional: Decorate with a tag. I used stamps for this and the motto of our summer "Carpe diem". Make one for every family member and have their names on it, or if you plan for a summer party make one for every guest. The possibilities obviously are endless. Use the rivet punch to attach a rivet and tie to the hanger with a piece of ribbon. All done!

Back

We're back from our trip to the Lot. It was really fun in every respect. The weather was great, so was the food (canard, summer fruits,...) and so was the place where we stayed. We booked a gite run by the very nice Peter and Zoë, who've been doing this for over twenty years now. They transformed a former farm into small cottages and B&B rooms. The big yard contains a pool as well. What more could one wish for?! We found a perfect balance between day trips in the area, playtime by the pool and lots of reading.
The region of the Lot is simply gorgeous with its small medieval villages, winding roads, sun flower fields, vineyards, markets, châteaux... What was striking though is that quite a few of these villages have turned into ghost towns almost, as people moved to the bigger cities. Apparently this has been an ongoing process and the recent economic and financial crisis certainly didn't help. A lavender distillery we visited, is running on its last legs because it's economically no longer viable to maintain the activity or to do the much needed investments. This is only one of several stories we heard, and it made me feel sad knowing that traditions and part of a culture will sooner or later disappear that way. So, I truly hope the region will surmount its problems and will become flourishing again as never before because it really deserves it...

For more pictures, visit my Flickr set here - I'll probably be adding more photos in the days to come.

Announcement: a new Flickr pool

I've been thinking about this for a while and given the huge response on the last tutorial posted here, through your comments, e-mail, on other blogs, with pictures... (THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!) I decided why not - I made a special Flickr pool where YOU can post YOUR creations made with the help of a tutorial found here.

So, if you made something with the help of a // Between the lines // tutorial or if you got inspired by something you found on this blog, feel free to post your pictures at Made with // Between the lines //!

I'm really looking forward to seeing all of your creations!

// La douce France // - arts and crafts

Earlier this week we visited this cute little village, Puy l'Eveque, and found quite a few surprises there besides the weekly market we intended to visit. Different alleys across the village were "dressed up" in one way or another - with old shoes, umbrellas, word art, ... So much fun - we felt like being on a treasure hunt wondering what would turn up in the next alley.
And we all loved this tree decorated with a most colorful crocheted scarf.

To be honest: this visit made my fingers itch...

// La douce France // - le 14 juillet

Still in the Lot area we celebrated le 14 juillet like never before, in a small village, at the very top of a hill, with the most stunning view over the area beneath.
People of all ages, locals and passerby's like us, sat together at long tables for food and wine (and other drinks as well), and danced through the night at the "bal populaire" with fire works once the sun had set to make it complete.

Fun and surreal at the same time...

// La douce France // - the country side

We exchanged the big city for the country side with it's winding roads, poppies, hay stacks and bugs we can't name. The girls enjoy having their hair blown in their faces when we drive our car with open windows through the green and still lush landscape.

It's good to be outside...

// La douce France // - at the market

You didn't hear much from me lately. I was too busy packing and preparing for our trip to the Lot. Our well deserved family vacation. Temperatures are pretty steep here but much more bearable than they were in Paris.
Is there a better way to start a lazy Sunday than going to the market in the nearest village and having a refreshing drink at une brasserie overseeing it all when shopping's done? Life is good in la douce France and we try to enjoy every single minute of it...