How to use this Page

It's such a joy receiving surprise packages. Yesterday i felt like i forgot about my own birthday, i found two packages with goodies in my mailbox!
I am a big fan of the designs coming out of the sisterbrandt design studio, so i was chuffed discovering a package from Sabine Brandt! What a joy to open and adore all the pretty patterns! These are just a couple of the gorgeous cards she sent me.

These pretty notebooks remind me of the ones i had in school when i was a young girl, i love them! One has, instead of lines or blank pages, squared pages. I mean, like what you use to do math. It came in handy when i did my taxes. Yes, i use spreadsheets/calculators/am a girl of this millennium, but sometimes writing down the numbers on paper works best. J'adore!
There were also small post-it like papers with small illustrations on them. I feel spoiled.

Last week my sweet mom treated me to a surprise box of books. Craft books. Vintage craft books. I love the books, i love my mom even more. These are my favorite from the bunch. See how thoughtful she is? Embroidery books! So much inspiration. Yes, i will show some of the insides of the books here soon! I feel spoiled.

The other package that i received yesterday came from my 'old country'. The Netherlands. Sweet Dani from Moochi.nl send me one of her beautiful passport covers. I must say it is so well made, it fits my Dutch passport perfectly, it makes me want to hop on a plane and travel! Definitely check out her Etsy shop too! She makes them with all kinds of fabrics, this one is made with Indonesian Batik fabric, which brings me back to my roots. Just like the kopiko candies she also added. And just look at that adorable little elephant. Too cute. Oh, there also was a My Melody key strap. Jealous already? I feel spoiled!

And when you think you can't take no more generosity, there is Maria (the vintageholicfrog) who blessed me with winning the giveaway for a one month ad on Blog Giveaways blogspot! (there seems to be something wrong with the layout right now, but normally all buttons are obviously on the right of the page, instead of all the way on the bottom under the blogposts.) Feeling lucky? Check out the Giveaway blog, she lists the most wonderful giveaways to be found in the blogosphere!

As you can understand, i feel spoiled! Thanks for all the kindness. For real. I must have been a good girl.

With the usual hoopla Google has launched a virtual tour of the Prado Museum in Madrid that enables visitors to closely examine 14 of its masterpieces on their computers monitors. A Google spokesman said: “The paintings have been photographed in very high resolution and contain as many as 14,000 million pixels (14 gigapixels).

“With this high level resolution you are able to see fine details such as the tiny bee on a flower in The Three Graces (by Rubens), delicate tears on the faces of the figures in The Descent from the Cross (by Roger van der Weyden) and complex figures in The Garden of Earthly Delights (by Bosch).”

While broadening the access to digital images of art works is welcomed news, it remains to be seen what real need this initiative may ultimately fulfill. What is Google’s commitment to art other than drumming up one-time novel seekers and sprinkling their brand with a bit of highbrow culture? Personal experience has shown me that museum goers rarely spend more than a few seconds per painting as they “do” the gallery and with special exhibitions it is not uncommon that visitors spend more time reading the accompanying brochure than looking at the objects on display.

Gary Schwartz, one of the most knowledgeable experts of Dutch 17th c. art, briefly mulled over the fashion of major museums who lend themselves to the cause of contemporary artists like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. Read his article.

In any case, hats off to Hirst who sealed a pact with the Rijksmuseum  (where four of Vermeer’s works are permanently housed) to exhibit his world-famous diamond encrusted skull along with the artist’s personal selection of sixteen 17th-century paintings (all scary) from the Rijksmuseum collection.

The Rijksmuseum also dedicated a special website (scary) to Hirst’s work that must have been meant to work somewhat like a lighten rod. It democratically invites negative opinion to efficiently channel it away. And, yes, in a clean hi-tech way (scary).

I propose Vermeer’s take on death above (a detail of his Allegory of Faith). It may constitute proof he was spritually on par with his English colleague. Too bad the Sphinx of Delft died penniless… and as Proust wrote,“ obliged to begin over again a score of times a piece of work the admiration aroused by which will matter little to his worm-eaten body.”