I have a new blog!

I’d be glad to see you there!

Bizarre Window Display

More pics on my Flickr. Now what were they thinking, really!

Amarcord

This is a copy of a posting on my other blog. Sometimes my life gets in the way, and I can’t make the clear division: crafting OR translation. It’s just me. 

My grandmother was born in Corfu. My grandfather in Turkey. They met in Alexandria, Egypt, and got married. They spoke French, Italian and Ladino. My grandmother also spoke Greek, and they knew a little Arabic, and later on Hebrew, too.

My grandfather would call my grandmother, Rachelle (Rake-leh), the Italian way, and her friends called her Rachelle (Ra-shel), in French. My grandmother called my grandfather Maurice or Maurizio. We called them nonno and nonna, Italian for grandpa and grandma.

At nonna’s house we would drink “Café au lait”, and hear her say “Basta” and “Toma”, or “Mon cher”. When she would get angry, she would say “Allah!”, and she also used “Ah! Dio santo!” When we would cross the road together, she would squeeze my hand in hers, and say “Shema Yisrael”.

Nonna always laughed, “Il moso tiene otro moso” (my servant has a servant of his own), and said about people she didn’t like, “faccia di pocos amigos”. At her house we ate dukka and pisti, bamia, fideus, aliches, lubia, and avikas, and she would make us jump over her pan of “Behor”, to keep the evil eye away. I owe my nonna my knowledge of French. Until the age of four she took care of me, and it is in her house that I learned all these languages. Even today, there are words I only recognize in their Egyptian accent. It was only a few years ago that I learned the funny expression “Doo Paroo” is actually French, d’où par où.Two days before my ever optimistic nonna died in the hospital, she told me, “mostufa”, a new word I had never heard, and didn’t understand. I asked, and she explained that it’s from the Italian “stufa”, but in Corfioto. She had had enough. Nonno died exactly three years ago, at the age of 86, on the eve of the Jewish New Year. Nonna died this week, aged 87, three days after her birthday. May they rest in peace.

Sento la mano tua stanca
Cerca I miei riccioli d’or
Sento e la voce ti manca
La ninna nanna o’allor
Oggi la testa tua bianca
Io voglio stringere al cuor   
-From Mamma Son Tanto Felice, here by Pavarotti, who also died this week.

My grandparents, Maurice and Rachelle Rozanes, on their wedding day:

Happy New Year!

Well, not just yet. The Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana is on September 12th, less than a month from now, and I realized I need cards to send out to my customers. I’ve been thinking about this all day, and I realize I have to hurry, because if I want to have them printed written and mailed on time I better get going. I’ve set my eyes on some nice apple brads (apples go together with the new year here – they will make your year sweeter!), but I’m not sure yet how to combine them in a simple but memorable greeting.

Anyway, this isn’t what I was going to write about, I just wanted to share my beautiful collection of vintage greetings, which I just uploaded to Flickr. They’re all so naive and beautiful, and some just crack me up (the bride, the militaristic ones, and the ones with the dolls- what’s that got to do with the new year?). I think you’ll enjoy them, and you’re welcome to print and use them in your artwork, too.  Enjoy!

In for a good laugh?

This made me laugh hard, this morning.

Asian Ball-Joint Dolls

Oh, what would my life be without Flickr?
I’ve been meaning to write about these gorgeous dolls for a long time. I find this trend really fascinating. I noticed these beautiful dolls some time ago, and added some of them into my favorites, and then I realized there’s a whole industry surrounding them. It’s a little like the Blythe craze, which also never ceases to amaze me, but I don’t think you can buy Blythe in separate parts.
Apparently, these Asian dolls are very expensive (I haven’t researched too extensively, but from what I can see the basic dolls are about 200 dollars and more), and people buy their skeleton (yes, it freaks me out too! See this one also.), and then they add eyes, hair, make up, clothing, etc. There are many types of dolls, but I think the prettiest one I’ve seen so far is the Latti doll. You can see her pics here and here .
She’s so adorable! Isn’t she?
Laura has this wonderful doll, she crochets and knits dresses and outfits for them, and she also takes wonderful photographs – thanks, Laura, for letting me use your pics!

Disturbed

So the time has come to change from my winter bag to my summer one, and I found 7 (!!) pens in my bag. There’s got to be a name to this kind of anxiety. The fear of being lost without a pen, or something along those lines. I only transferred 3 (!) to my summer bag. You can’t say I’m not dealing with my problems!

So happy the weekend is here!

Inspiring design

Somehow, these past few months have turned the street right across from my house (Ibn Gvirol) into the center of chocolatiers. There are about 4 new ones surrounding me, and at least 4 others I know about down the street. I find that really weird, but we’re not here to talk about that.

One of these new places is called Trinidad, and I can’t walk by without stopping to admire their window. Their packaging is just so pretty, and they have a large variety of boxes/ bags/ packages. Well, the other day was a friend’s birthday. So I finally used the opportunity to buy chocolate and steal the packaging. I took the paper bag for myself, and hopefully my friend will rememeber he has to give me the chocolate box when he’s done eating them! Unfortunately, I tasted one and…um, I’ve had better. I have to make friends with the guy who sells there so I can get a few free boxes without have to pay an outrageous amount for not-so-good chocolate!
They don’t have a site yet, but even their “in construction” page is beautiful! (lose the pink…). This the bag, and you can see two more pics in my Flickr.

Deco

This is just a very small collage I did in a deco named “Shades of Orange”. The Hebrew in the middle says “happiness on sale”. I’m really liking decos and altered books, I love how I can get to see other people’s work in them, and how these books are always a bit worn from the travel. I find it very inspiring.

Link time

A few things that have made me happy this week:

1. This photo presentation makes me smile. Makes my heart jump. You have to watch it. Via notcot.org.

2. Scratch n’ Sniff stickers. This brings back so many memories. I can actually smell them right now! I think I had every single one of those, and I still have at least 3 here. Now. Via notcot.org.

3. Elise’s cards. I love them. I love the idea, and how fun, colorful and smart they are.

4. This picture. It’s so happy. The clothes are so colorful and fun, the girls are so cute. It’s perfect.

5. Illustrations: every. single. one. of these illustrations by Mandy Sutcliffe. I am so getting me some for my birthday!  

Enjoy!