3 Glam & chic leather necklaces! After 40 years back on a horse! Win facing your fear!

Glam and chic: leather/chunky-chain necklaces!

I love the combination of leather and chunky chains! It inspires me and more ideas keep popping up in my head. About 3 weeks ago,  I needed more chains and went to my shop, Veritas. My blood drained and I felt a big panic coming up: no chains in the usual place!!! I asked a shop assistant and she showed me the front of the shop: there they were in a big box and on sale!!!  Good that I went that day: I had wanted to go a couple days earlier but was prevented. I came on the right day,  just in time! I bought all what was left: 2 spools of meters and meters of chunky chain and 3 spools of smaller chains! 

This is what I call a windfall! in which everybody has its part: the shop is rid of stuff that isn't selling, I have my chains for a good price and I can sell my creations for a good price! Honesty is the best policy! 

LoveLea's glam leather pool wear necklace

Last week, I felt like making  necklaces: I measured my neck, estimated how much of chain and how much of leather would be required, cut out the strips and made the necklace or choker, as you wish: it was a bit tight around my neck;  I forgot to take in count the thickness of the chain; so the cerulean blue one is for somebody with a small neck, the white one fits me as a glove.

White is easy to match and will look gorgeous with your tan; the cerulean blue necklace will look good with or without tan.

LoveLea's glam white leather necklace

LoveLea's glam cerulean leather necklace

A long piece/strip of black leather has been laying around for quite some time: my eye was drawn to it: bingo, the strip had the right width, maybe a bit long. I started weaving the leather strip through a 20 cm of chain, tried it on: perfect and very chic! I attached the snap buttons and here is a very chic black leather chunky-chain necklace. The metal has a pink shine and this makes it  less bling, more chic!

LoveLea's black leather chunky chain necklace/choker

The necklace measures 41,5 cm.

LoveLea's black leather chunky chain necklace/choker

All my creations are available at my FB-shop: https://www.facebook.com/denyshildemaria.lovelea 

Horseback riding!

My daughter's youngest, 8 years old, is horseback riding since  a couple of months. And she just loves it. She is a quiet girl but when horses and riding come in the picture, she opens up. That made my daughter curious about riding and she made a reservation for last Sunday and there we went, all 5 of us. My husband fell of a horse when he was young and didn't want to experience this again.

The instructor saddled the horses and gave my granddaughter little tasks to do, very clever of her. We were all a bit nervous since neither my son-in-law nor my grand son were ever on a horse back. My daughter rode a couple of times and I rode 40 years back!

Grand daughter carrying her saddle;
courtesy of Lis Vaessen

The whole of Saturday and the Sunday morning my grand daughter had been worrying about the horse she would be riding. She asked the instructor which horse she could ride and she asked: which horse you want? she said Sue and the instructor said: Sue it will be. My grandson mounted Splash, Sue's friend.

Grand daughter on horseback;
courtesy of Lis vaessen.

Grand son on horse back;
courtesy of Lis Vaessen.

The instructor gave the most concise instructions: how to turn left and right, kick your horse to go! and the rules: don't let your horse eat, don't leave a gap between the horses and Wayne should go last because he kicks!!!! Wayne was my horse. I was secretly relieved that I hadn't to ride a horse, labelled as biting, but the instructor gave me a kicking horse.  We went off leisurely to the adjacent national park.

All went well; I felt grand and young on a horse again, took me way back to my teenage years! I enjoyed my horse, the ride, being in the open and the environment. We even saw a heron, fishing in a pond. My grandson (who was just in front of me) just loved it: his horse went left when he pulled left on the reins and right and Splash went on as he kicked him, easy peasy. After 30 min of walking, the instructor started a trot; all of us went bouncing (me included) and jouncing, hitting the saddle, our insides shaken and shouting, crying out the most bizar and weird sounds; especially my grandson shrieked and roared from fear and pleasure. We trotted for maybe 2 minutes?

After some more trotting attempts, something went wrong: on a narrow and sandy path, Splash went through his front knees, got up and there went my grandson, landing on his head and then on his back between the horses' legs! Splash got up, wanted to bolt but was stuck by the other horses, turned around and then my grandson got hold of his horse. I had been shouting: get up, catch your horse so he would get up and back on his horse again. We had yet to go back to the stable! The instructor came to untangle the reins and helped my grandson on his horse again. And that was it for trotting! I would have liked to exercise the trot some more but in this circumstances.... Returning to the stables, my grandson declared: never on a horse again, his fear of tumbling bigger than his initial pleasure.

Fear, our ally.

This takes us to another subject: fear. Fear is a good thing, a sign we can work with! Yes! why? Because it shows us what is slowing us down or worse, hindering our growth. Your fear tells you: this is an issue you have to work on.

Dissect your fear: what is the trigger, what are the circumstances, what am I fearing? Is this the real reason or am I fooling myself? Most of the time, the fear is in your head: when you do what you fear, when done, you think: was that it? Did I fear this?

Fear confronts you with yourself: you think you are courageous but in front of your fear, you find out how big your courage is! Very deflating, a big eye opener, very confronting. But when you conquer you fear, you know it is possible and then nothing can stand in your way!

A nightly visitor

Two nights ago, the king of the night payed us a visit; he stayed the whole night. In the morning I prodded him so he would open his wings. I had seen his nice colors the night before. He flew up and tried to get out by the window. I didn't help him until a got some nice pictures! Then I took him in the hollow of my 2 hands and released him outside.

My King of the Night

I call him King because of his waistcoat with 4 buttons; admire his royal red colors!

That was it. Hope to see you next week with more news and pictures!

See you!

How to create your own boho style! about the correlation between stress and weight gain! a baby boy!

What is boho style?

Boho style is all about vibrant colors, soft statements, elegance, nonchalantness, carelessness, the special feeling of living on a small island and the 3 s's. More specifically it is about leather, beads, tassels, fringes, corroded metal, lace, crocheted lace, intricate or simple, repitition! No bourgeois chic.

What makes jewelry/clothes BOHO?

 

Boho is about color and boho colors are: turquoise and pink and all of its variations and earthy colors! Mix a lot of shades of the same colors! What shows off vibrant colors? White, flowing, comfortable, loose fitting, long, maxi cotton muslin dresses!  If you want a print, think flowers, embroidered or painted! Feel the wind going through your dress and toying with the tassels of your bracelets, the fringes of your clothes!

Bogo jewelry is about LEATHER, mostly bracelets; cognac colored leather or very dark brown leather are basics! The bracelet should have beads, fringes, tassels, charms; it is about layers and layers, so be sure to wear lots of the same type of bracelets or make a statement with 1 very simple string bracelet.

And top this all with a wide brimmed hat! If you don't have a hat, a scarf around your hair will do also.

 I don't possess Ibiza or boho style clothes so I borrowed them from my daughter. Her whole family are Ibiza fans, especially my grand daughter in the picture above. I'll show you some dresses/outfits so you get the hang of it paired to a jewel or an accessory.


This dress (in the picture below) already has a necklace. Choose either the white leather bracelet with turquoise accents and corroded charms or the cognac leather bracelet with turquoise accents and metal charms.

LoveLea's  2bracelets in cognac & white
with metal corroded and shiny charms.

Artfully mixed colors.
 Photo courtesy of Fred Vaessen.

The dress below is a more modern version with a little touch of neon; wear it loose with shorts or wear it with a belt, but not very tight; it should accent your hips or wear the belt as a choker or necklace. The beads are nice glass beads

LoveLea's white leather choker/belt,
with white glass beads

Ibiza/boho colors with a modern touch;
 Photo courtesy of Fred Vaessen.

LoveLea's brown leather choker/belt 
with turquoise beads

This chokers can be used as a choker in different ways: wrap the choker around your neck twice and let the ends accentuate your "poitrine"; or fold the choker in 2, lay it around your neck and pull the ends through the loop and show off the nice turquoise beads. And use it as a belt on a white mousseline dress.


They aren't all elaborate bracelets, I have some basics one too: a leather strap with a vintage glass bead.  Some of them have 2 glass beads, even 3. They used those turquoise beads to dress up their horses' attire in Turkey. Now they use acrylic beads and they call this progress and modernity! All of bracelets open and close with a sliding knot. Wear just one or combine 3 strings or even 4.

LoveLea's leather string bracelet
vintage glass bead & sliding knot

LoveLea's leather string bracelets
 with 3 vintage glass beads & sliding knot

Although the following dress isn't a typical boho dress, the colors are right. This 4 wrap bracelet/2 wrap choker in cognac leather & wooden beads that can be spaced to your liking looks, definitely all right with this dress.

My beach dress in boho colors.

LoveLea's leather 4 wrap bracelet
or 2 wrap choker,  wooden beads.

And of course, there should be lace, crocheted lace, por favor! And wear a longleather tassel earring dangling from 1 ear! That is a statement!

Strapless top with lace. Courtesy of .F Vaessen

I designed and created a long tassel (10 à 12 cm) earring in 2 boho colors: pink and turquoise. Would style great with this strapless lace top:

LoveLea's  leather earring,
boho style

I want to close this sequence about boho style and boho jewels with one of my favorite pictures: my daughter and grand daughther in Ibiza:

Stress and weight gain!

The week before my birthday party I was very stressed: will the rented table and chairs be all right? will the food and the beverages be sufficient? the cooking and preparing of the food etc. But all went well. 

Then there was the extra tableware to wash and stash away, extra laundry to do, empty bottles to get rid off... When I sat down to eat, I was all nerves, on edge and jittery: I couldn't take time to chew my food and just kind of swallowed it down my throat. I felt hungry all the time, ate a bit of every thing my eye got hold on.With the result that I started to put weight on! That set me on alarm and then it downed on me that I didn't chew my food as I should. In 2 days I regained my newly acquired good habit of chewing thoroughly my food and my weight went down again, thank God!

It's a boy!

You remember my highly pregnant niece from my 65th birthday party? She gave birth to a cute, lovely baby boy; my grand daughter isn't the youngest one any more!

Are you used to my new colors? Do you like them? I'm not sure yet if I like it better; it is lighter, that's for sure.

That's it for this week. I have a nice weekend in prospect. I'll tell you about it.

About celebrating and being 65! Serendipity again! and a tough question!

Celebrating my 65th birthday

Last Sunday I turned 65! We celebrated it on the 30th of June for convenience sake. Almost all my brothers and sisters with their offspring were present. It makes a nice family photo, mostly young people. I am in the middle with my husband to my right.

Picture of my big family.

As I told you in  a previous post, my son and his girlfriend graciously offered their garden as location for my party. They didn't only offer the location, they decorated the place with paper lanterns; we ended up eating inside because of the heat:

Garden ready fort he party

And balloons at the entrance!

Balloons welcome the guests

My lucky star, 65 wasn't lacking:

The first guest are arriving: my daughter with husband and son, my sister with husband, daughter with boyfriend:

First guests overcoming the heat!

And here is my niece: she is high pregnant; how courageous of here to attend. The birth was expected for the 1 st of July. That would have been wonderful: a little cousin born the same day as me. But then she couldn't have attend my party. We are 4 days later when publishing this post, still no news.

My fearless high pregnant  niece.

At about 13.00 we are complete and my eldest brother prepared a speech:

My big brother is giving a speech.

Finally we are eating: everybody was famished and the buffet was halved in no time. Too bad I didn't think about taking pictures of the buffet. You can read what we had on the buffet in this post I you want recipes: you can request them by emailing me. We were 28 people. Most people have left to sit outside in the shade.

We are eating inside to escape the heat. 

A small serendipity event

And after a nice meal, a coffee is "de rigueuer". In the above mentioned previous post, I spoke about my worry of not having a coffee machine. I was on the border of ordering a machine but something hold me back and then I got a mail from my benefactor that she had a coffee machine. Wow, this was great: buying is simple, storing when you don't need the thing is a problem. My advice: never be to quick to act!

Coffee time outside in the shade. Courtesy of S. OZONDER.
 

And here are my son and daughter with her son:

My soon and daughter with her son. Courtesy of S. OZONDER

Around 17 hr we went for a short walk, too hot to explore a big part of the countryside. When back, I cleaned the tables and put everything in place for the cheese buffet. Around 20 hr, one by one people left and we did some cleaning up and went home, exhausted but happy full of new energy that loving people give you.

This is the only close up picture of myself with my friend and a splendid bouquet of flowers, my new hair cut and newly made tassel earring.

Me with flowers and a friend Courtesy of S. OZONDER

A tough question

My eldest sister-in-law asked me why I was so happy turning 65. The most easy to formulate reason  is that now I can ride the train or bus at a very reduced price! Besides this, I feel that my age gives me some weight and by age I mean experience, personal, life or practical experience,  my learning, my knowledge.

Another reason is that I am retired: I finished officially my career and have my own income. But life doesn't end with the end of my career, I still have a big portion of life ahead and can start a whole new, completely new life.

But there is another feeling creeping in: I don't have days to waste any more. Not that I am ill or feeling bad; you know, 65 is not 45! I decided I will use my time very well and balanced: no more reading whatever comes my way, I'll select carefully my reading and wont spill my time any more.  This recuperated time I 'll spent with my beloved ones.


Sorry guys, no boho jewelry styling in this post. I didn't get the jewels in my head created and haven't yet taken pictures of the existing ones. I should think all will be ready by next week.

Do you have any serendipity stories to tell us? What do you like about your age!

See you next week!

About low key leather bracelets & sophisticated furoshiki bags. Who fired this changes? Surprises inside!

Low key leather bracelets: to the beach

If you are not an exuberant person, don't like bling bling, if you are rather low key, I have the perfect choice of bracelets to wear during your holidays or at home.

I am a sea person, not a mountain person, thus my heart goes out to creating jewels you can wear at the waterside. This ones are different  from my also minimalist & low key creations I showed and styled 2 weeks ago (French Riviera Style) and very different from my flashy pool bracelets.

This creations are very simple, inornate but still make a statement due to the nice quality of the glass beads. And you can wear them in the water because there is no metal that can corrode.

Wear LoveLea's leather bracelets with vintage beads to the beach!

I made a leather button and a loop to close this bracelets and the beads I used are glass vintage beads.

I am a bit old fashioned or you may call it prudeness, but I don't walk around in my bathing suit but wear a light, transparent beach dress to go from home or wherever I am staying to the beach. This type of dress works well with my low key bracelets and neck laces. No need to go shopping, look in your closet and see what you have in similar colors!

Beach dress to be pared to a bracelet.

Beach dress paired to a LoveLea bracelet with vintage beads.

The same beach dress, this time with a neck lace: the evil eye bead will protect you from jealous looks! It closes with a sliding knot: no metal involved! The bead is a glass bead, no vintage, knew.

LoveLea's leather blue evil-eye bead necklace

Here another beach dress with a choker that can function as a double wrap bracelet.

LoveLea's leather choker/wrap bracelet.

LoveLea's leather choker/wrap bracelet.

Maybe you have a pareo or 2, always handy. Pair it with a simple necklace but a contrasting one!

LoveLea's leatherevil-eye necklace 

Close up of red evil-eye bead.

That red bead is a modern version of the traditional blue evil eye bead. It is new and made out of glass; the necklace has a sliding knot: just pull the two ends to open or close the necklace; sliding knots are so ingenious!


More sliding knot bracelets, very basic but perfect for a teenager's wrist: the beads look the same but they aren't: the left one is slightly more yellow and the right one is a bit more green and the leather is more supple, almost not visible.

LoveLea's leather bracelet with bead and sliding knot

LoveLea's leather bracelet with bead and sliding knot

and as last, again a very simple, basic, low key necklace with a single new glass bead and sliding knot; let the bead do the talking:

LoveLea's leather necklace with big bead!

Close up of bead.

wow, I have a lot of picture this time!

Leather handle for a sophisticated furoshiki bag

Since we are talking beach, pack your stuff into a furoshiki bag! You can make them very easily. The most easy is to take an (old) scarf, a square one the size as you need and fold them as shown here. It is in Japanse but you'll get it, easy peasy and I'm showing you the real stuff. If you don't want to use your scarves, find a piece of (square) cloth, hem it or don't hem it, fold it and there you are. For a beach bag, a good size would be 95x95 cm or 105x105 cm.

But if you like to be sophisticated, use a leather handle with D-rings; this way you can put more stuff into your bag. I saw them on Pinterest and made one myself. A handle looks like this:

LoveLea's  pink leather handle for furoshiki bag.

If your cloth or scarf is silk or from a slippery material, when you attach your handle via the d-rings, make, wrap the end around the rings, make a nice knot as extra safety so your bag wont slip out of the rings! It happened to me and it is very very embarrassing!

Furoshiki bag with LoveLea's pink leather handle.

With the handles, it does look more like a bag and less a knapsack.

The author with her leather pool bracelet.

Me, myself and a pool bracelet I made last week!

This is a picture of the old me even if the picture is only 3 days old. Next post, I'll look different. You know who fired this changes (blog and myself ): it is Professor Lyn Slater from Accidental Icon: what a revelation, what a source of courage, what an inspiration!

Yes, I changed the background colors of my blog! I wanted it to be light and airy, but not white! Blogger limits the colors and since screaming, neon colors are not my style, I opted for grey (only 2 shades 😇 😏)  and had to change the color of the fonts too. Do you like it? Is it easy enough, comfortable to read? Tell me in the comments.

By next post, I'll be 65! I'll post lots of pictures of my party, so you'll meet my beloved family!

See you!

About leather bracelets styled for the pool; my big event; hand painted sheer curtains.

With a Leather Bracelet to the pool.

This is the second part in the paring sequence: pool wear. The next part will be on beach wear. Why this distinction? Leather and water don't go well together! Metal and pool water don't match well either. My beach bracelets are embellished leather strings, while my pool bracelets are more elaborate; you want to look good at he pool, don't you?

When designing this pool bracelets, I made them easy to put on: a snap button. If you decide to have a swim  before hitting the water, with one movement you take them off and when done swimming, with one movement they're back on. And they have some bling content.

Look at this bracelet, one of a kind!

LoveLea's red leather pool bracelet.

LoveLea's red leather pool bracelet, detail.

Make it match, not your clothes, but your bathing suit:

LoveLea's red leather pool bracelet, styled to a bathing suit.

The edge of my bathing suit inspired me to another bracelet: I laced the same red leather through (another kind of) chain. Voila!

LoveLea's chain with red leather bracelet.

Here is the same type of leather bracelet in cerulean leather with a slightly yellower chain. Pair this to any bathing suit with metal or gold details.

LoveLea's chain with cerulean leather bracelet styled to a bathing suit.

And this white leather bracelet will show off your tan!

LoveLea's chain with white leather bracelet.

More pictures and details at my FB shop, here and here.
Remember, if you get one of this bracelets, wear it to the pool, not in the pool, 😃😃.

THE event

Two weeks ago, I told you about an event. Here it comes: within less than 2 weeks, I am turning 65! And I want to celebrate this amidst my family! We will be around 30 people.

Our townhouse is rather small and the garden is only a 20 m², too small for 30 people, I needed to look out for a nice location. My son's companion talked about this with my son and they both agreed I could have my birthday celebration at their place, it is considerably bigger. This is really great!

My confirmation email to the family members is out; when I have my numbers, I can mail the party-rent firm how much tables, chairs I need and glasses, plates and cutlery; and a drinks fridge. I have to check my table cloths for their size, I want the real thing, no paper cloths! My husband and I are doing the catering. We used to run a restaurant and cooking for 30 people is no big deal.

We have been thinking about the menu: I want "Circassion chicken" so very yummi: chicken with walnuts, this is for my husband to prepare; and salmon paté, this is my responsibility; and sorrel omelet! I want 3 salads: a very fancy avocado salad ( I like to be creative), maybe a potato salad and a variety of green leaves salad.

I want some side dishes like hummus, feta cheese in oil, black and green self grown and cured olives, some dips and baguettes or French loafs! Dessert will come straight from the baker. Only the coffee is a problem, I haven't figured that out.

Since we live in Belgium, no celebration without wine and beer! Personally I love apple cider; this is  for ever connected with my youth: my grandmother made apple cider. When we went for a visit in the summer, we would get apple cider diluted with water; once 12, we were aloud to drink it straight, sitting under an umbrella in white painted wooden garden chairs on the lawn. Bonus: apple cider has a low alcohol content.

Some people will stay till late and I will serve a choice of cheeses with bread. Hmm, there  should also be some butter.

I can't wait to turn 65 and have my party!

If you want any of the recipes, ask by email.

Hand painted sheer curtains.

I washed my hand painted sheer curtains. Look how nice and cozy they look at the clothesline! Very intimate. They would look gorgeous as a pavilion!

LoveLea's hand painted sheer curtains.

That's all for this week! My next post will be about beach wear and how to pair it!  and other stuff, of course.

See you next week.