Snuff I Didn’t Know. Did You?

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/collection-of-snuff-bottles-ago-3.jpg" alt="collection-of-snuff-bottles-ago-3" width="640" height="518" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-22543 blk-brdr">Last month when I was at the art gallery I took a look into all the nooks and crannies that I'd never taken the time to explore before. I might have made an audible gasp after walking into a darkened area to find two large lighted cases displaying ancient Chinese Snuff Bottles. Standing no more than a few inches high, they looked like little jewels, each a masterpiece in itself.Of course, I'd heard of snuff before and knew if was something people put up their noses, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't really know what it was. So I was interested to see that is was actually powdered tobacco, that came into fashion during the Qing Dynasty in 1644, when the smoking of tobacco was outlawed in China.What you can't tell by looking at these bottles is that, attached to the inside of the lids and dipping down into the bottles, are thin spoons used to get the snuff out.

A Moleskine Notebook becomes a Thank You Card

I wanted to send my cousin a Thank You Card that was a bit more special than a regular card, in response to a very nice gift she mailed me (See what I got at the end of the post). And I had a pack of 3 Moleskine Notebooks, the 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 size, in a lovely burgundy colour. So I decided to send her one of those, fancied up a bit.

I made a sleeve out of brown paper and decorated it with store-bought stickers spelling out the word Thanks. The sleeve would do double duty as it could also be used as a bookmark when she was using the notebook.

Bits and Pieces : February 2014

Hi :) Here is my post where I put some random photos I took during the previous month that didn't fit into any other story so otherwise would not have been seen. I try to keep them interesting and I hope you enjoy them.

As you can see, February's predominant theme was winter around here!

(1) Snowy Fences - When freshly fallen, snow can even make old rickety fences look nice.

Caturday Goes to the Dogs : Too Busy to Pose

Sometimes your pictures just don't turn out how you'd like them to. In this case, after catching sight of this tiny pup and asking his obliging person if I could take a picture, the dog was simply too excited with life to stop and pose. He was having none of that.Even with 6 tries, I could not get a shot of his cute little mug.His name is Coco and he's a 5 month old French Bulldog.