The prettiest book

A couple of weeks ago it was my mums birthday and I bought her a book, 'Tikken tegen de maan'. Before I wrapped it, I read it myself and I found out how amazing this book is. I knew I had to show you because I'm sure most of you will love it, so I quickly took some pictures.

It is a collection of Dutch and Flemish poetry for children selected by Joke van Leeuwen (Dutch author, illustrator and performer). The poems are written by (relatively) well-known poets, and great on their own, but what I love about this book is that the publisher has asked starting talented -but not so well known- Dutch and Belgium illustrators to illustrate this book. When I see a book like this I'm so glad there are still small independent publishers like Ons Erfdeel.

Each spread is definitely worth framing, and there are 50! Needless to say, I had a hard time, giving this beauty away...

The risks and joys of buying online (2)

So, one more post about the risks of buying online and than back to something more positive.
First of all, the shop which never delivers my purchases apparently read my post and decided to refund after all, and send me some nice items and apologies. Of course I'm glad that that's over now, although that wasn't the reason for my post. The reason truly was that I couldn't get this experience out of my head and that I was really curious how you guys deal with situations like this.
Well, that question is answered too, because I've got a lot of reactions on my previous post, in the comments, e-mail, Twitter and IRL. It's clear that I'm not the only one with an experience like this. Luckily most of you say that it has happened only once, while they made many online purchases and that's the same for me. It is striking to me though that most of you say they have  never made that experience public, and the one person who did regets it. Only one person said we should make it public because it increases customer services at webshops in general.
The reasons for not telling about negative experiences are "not liking a negative athmosphere on your blog", "a negative comment on the internet is permanent" but also "because the seller might be popular among bloggers and a negative comment might shine back on you". You are the sweetest people really! I guess I had the same thoughts and that's why I never posted or tweeted about this before. But if it happens to me again I might tweet about it (in a constructive way if that's possible), that's less permanent than posting on a blog and it seems only fair since I also tweet about positive experiences.
Anyway, I'm glad it's over and out of my head now. Thanks for all your comments, here and elsewhere. I'll be back with a post about some beautiful stuff -a pretty children's book- soon!

The picture shows and old screenprint design by me

The risks and joys of buying online

You all know I love to buy from independent sellers online. I'm always looking for unique items to decorate my house. I've bought numerous prints on Etsy, and many handmade, vintage or other products in mostly Dutch webshops. Usually I recieved nice packages, really quick and more often than not nicely wrapped and with great extras.
I've always tried to spread the word about these shops and their amazing service on my blog and Twitter because I know shops like that can use all support.

However, I also once had a really bad experience which I can't get out of my head. I was still relatively new in online (indy) shopping when my friends gave me some money for my 30th birthday to buy something pretty for  my home. I bought a cushion and a towel at a Dutch online shop I had read about in Dutch magazines. It felt ok, since I also 'knew' the owner via our blogs (and now also Twitter). So I thought it was safe. Then, I never received my items. I have send a couple of emails, and the answer was always: ' I am waiting for a delivery from my agent'. After a couple of months I din't believe I would ever get it and asked for a refund. I never got my money, although I've kept asking.
This person is still active in the blogging community. I could meet her in person if I would go to meet-ups of Dutch bloggers, so it feels like someone I know has stolen my money. Now every time I buy something I feel hesitant.

The thing is, although I always tweet or post about good service, I've never done so about this bad experience. I've thought about it a hundred times, because I know some of you are still buying at this shop and are taking a risk of loosing their money.
Still it feels like it's 'not done' to do so, I don't know why. I guess one of the reasons is that I don't want to discourage anyone buying from Indie sellers, because in the end usually it is a great experience. I do know I wish someone had warned me.

So guys, whats, your opinion on this? Ever hesitated buying online? Ever had a bad experience? And did you share that experience online? Did you go to the police? I'm so curious for your thoughts!