Are you addicted to Pinterest?

Because I am ;-) What a brilliant source of inspiration! Since I have discovered this website, my to-do-lists exploded. So many things I want to make, I want to cook, I want to decorate, I want to give as a gift...

Of course there are hideous things or stupid tipps (especially the whole weight loss which are actually ads), too, but overall I have to say: I am thrilled!!!

So in case you haven’t discovered it, yet, it is really worth a look: Pinterest

If you want to find out, what my fantastic finds are (which I keep rambling about), you can also click on the little Pinterest button in my right sidebar and it will take you straight to my folders:

At the moment I have 14 boards with topics ranging from Accessories to Yummy (Food). You see, all my favourite topics ;-)

Oh and just before you go, I have to warn you. Pinterest is highly addictive. You will forget to bring your children to bed, you will be late for work or dates, you will stay in your pyjamas all day, you will burn your food in the oven and stay up too long... but it is worthwhile ;-)

Lazy Saturday!

As a mum you need those lazy Saturdays so badly. The little one sleeps. You have nowhere to go. You have nothing to do (well, you always have something to do when you are a mum, but the secret is to ignore all those chores for a while and pretend that you have nothing to do). You have a cup of coffee. And your laptop in front of you. And thanks to the WorldWideWeb the shopping world is at your feet.

Today I did a virtual shopping spree at Anthropolgie and as so often I fell in love with their accessories.

Isn’t this dachshund cute?

And look at this classic Chanel-like necklace!

Oh, and what a sparkling but sophisticated headband!

Ahhh, and those golden feathers!

Oh and what a beautiful Obi-belt!

All found here

Hope you have a wishful Saturday, too!

Highlights of Me Made February

Me Made February was really the greatest blog initiative I have ever taken part in.

 It was FUN: especially trying to take photos of myself, without automatic release, without tripod, but with dark winter skies, a clingy 9-months-old and a splotchy mirror ;-)

 It was INSPIRATION: new blogs, new creative people, new things on my to-do-list e.g.
 Vintage fashion like Catherine’s

 A ‘real’ or ‘fake’ underskirt like Dana’s

Print with stamps cut from old ‘isomatten’ as seen at Paula

Looking for fabrics in second hand shops (not matter what size or style the clothes have) as seen at Sanne

It was amazing SUPPORT: I have never expected so much positive feedback, so many encouraging comments, so constructive criticism and even a birthday present from a lovely reader

It was a KICK IN THE BUTT: to start dressing up again (even if you are just going to playgroup), to get some unfinished projects finally done and to start and finish new ones and to post on this blog EVERY day

It was a SUCCESS: I have posted one me made piece every day and finished one new me made piece every week. Here they are:

2 hairpieces

+

2 belts

+

2 skirts

+

3 brooches

+

4 earrings

+

7 necklaces

+

4 re-stylings of my favourite me made jeans dress

+

4 new me made accessories

So mission completed! Challenge met! Hurray!!!


Thank you so much, Cat for inventing Me Made February. For organising it. And for being our head. Our inspiration. Our shining star. Looking forward to our Me Made Mondays or Wednesdays. I am definitely in!

Me Made February – Finale: Hat

Finale – the last day of Me Made February. And to mark this special occasion I wear today...

... my brand new me made hat.

Pattern: me made, inspired by a hat I bought on St.Kilda’s Esplanade Market

Fabric outside: lightweight Prince-of- Wales- Check (Glencheck) fabric – gift from my friend N.

Fabric lining: pink lining fabric from the Neuköllner Stoffmarkt

I am really proud of it and therefore I saved it for the finale of my Me Made Challenge. It is the first time that I made a pattern myself and after only a few tweaks it now looks like the original. Only better ;-)

I love hats per se. But this hat I simply adore.

I love its style. It is chic yet practical (it is warm and covers both your ears completely plus you can just fold it up in your bag when you go inside). It is traditional yet quirky (I love tweed, but feel that I am not eccentric enough to wear the English-landlady-style from head to toe).

Therefore I knew I had to make a similar hat like this when I first saw it. And I am proud that I managed to do so before the long German winter is over. So now I have two of these wonderful hats to alternate for the rest of the winter. So bring on the -10Cs ;-)

And now ...

... that’s it! I cannot believe it. That was my last post and last item for this Me Made February :-( So, before I start to become all melancholic, I better go and have a look at your me made posts. For the last time – sniff!

Me Made February – Hairclip

Wow, I am slowly running out of me made things. And I am running out of time to make new me made things. My lovely husband and I are working like crazy on the girls’ room today. Girls that is me and my little one and we are going to share a play-craft-room ;-) We finally finished unpacking our 2 million moving boxes from Australia and the 3 million storage boxes. Hurray!!! Now we are working on the lights and the baseboard. And I am so happy that we are finally getting this done that I cannot stop or even slow down. Therefore I couldn’t put too much effort in my outfit. Or any effort at all, to be honest.

So, today I am only wearing a me made hair clip to stop my former-fringe to fall into my eyes. Oh, how glamorous my life is ;-)

Hope you have nicer things to do today!

Me Made February – Brooch

Today I tried my very best to look like a modern mum. A mum who works, but is still dedicated to her little one. Who is reliable, who is always there if the little one needs her, but who also trusts that other people can care well for her baby. In short, I tried to look like the mum of every child carers’ dream ;-) Yes, I am on my way to an interview, no not a job interview, but an interview at a child care centre. Although Berlin has many child care options, they are in high demand. And under the age of 3 no child has a guaranteed place in kindergarten. I have heard at some special kindergartens you have to send a CV of your child and both parents are invited to an official interview, if the child has impressed with his or her achievements. Crazy! It is not that bad at my child care centre of choice. Officially it is not an interview, but a conducted tour of the kindergarten, but of course this is also the only chance to make a (good) first impression. Hence my dressing up. Maybe I am exaggerating, but I don't want to be remembered as the crazy mum with the lobster brooch ;-)

Now back to fashion and Me Made February, however:

I wear my favourite (bought) pencil skirt with boring aehm classic black shirt, cardigan and tights. Black boots, a warm grey-and-black coat, a warm grey hat and red leather gloves will be added before leaving the house (it is -6C outside!).

The me made thing of my outfit today is the grey brooch. I made it from a beautiful button form the 40s, which I found at an antique shop in Melbourne.

I love the structure of the yarn. Its subtle shine. The shade of grey. It looks so classy. I wish they had more of these buttons. Wouldn’t a row of these buttons stunning on a dark coat? Well, at least i got one of these treasures and so i can add a touch of class to every (boring) outfit ;-)

Looking forward to your Friday outfits!

My creative space meets Me Made February – Belt

It is Thursday and in my blogging world that means My Creative Space – a great blogging initiative initiated by Kirsty from Kootoyoo. Creative people from all over the world show their working space, projects they are currently working on and unfinished projects. I find it very inspiring and the photos that show the work spaces are truly stunning. So here is my creative space today:

I finally started on my hat. I found the right woollen fabric, I bought the matching lining, I even made the pattern last night,... so today I hopefully get started with cutting and sewing. Because I really want to finish the hat this month. In Me Made February. Before gets warmer in Berlin (-10 C this morning!). And because I promised it to Dana ;-)

Since the hat is not finished, yet, it doesn’t count for My Creative Challenge, for which I have to wear something me made or made something new for me every day of February.

Catherine invented the German version of Self-Stiched September by So Zo and now Germany is crafting up a storm of me made fashion items. Have a look here at all the amazing girls.

I wear a green me made belt out of silk with a Chinese pattern today. As you might have recognised I love folk inspired fashion. Especially Asian one. It is a bit hard, however, to incorporate them into your daily wardrobe

a) because even I don’t want to look like I am on my way to a dress-up party every day

and

b) because traditional Asian dress or top patterns are simply not made for an European girl aehm women with an hourglass figure ;-)

This belt is about the only fashion item I have which is green. I am never sure which shade of green suits me, but actually I like this combination of brown and light, non-yellowish green very much.

Me Made February – Earrings

As part of my Me Made Challenge invented by Catherine I wore these me made earrings today:

My lovely husband calls them lustre earrings (‘Kronleuchter-Ohrringe’), but when it comes to fashion advice I rarely listen to him anyway ;-).

I actually like them a lot. They are unusual, but not too flashy. They fit with almost any outfit. And they are now very comfortable to wear. There was a first version of these type of earrings with ‘real’ lustre elements, but they were made of solid glass and thus were heavy like hell. Impossible to wear without ruining your ear loops forever. Therefore I had to wait until I found these lightweight ‘fake’ lustre elements which are made of plastic – practical but still glamorous.

And now I jump straight to your me made pieces, while my little one is still asleep.

Me Made February – Necklace

A late and quick Me Made February post from me today. I had a super-busy day, but it is done and all I want to do now is lie on the sofa and read a few pages. So, please excuse that I am a bit short-spoken today.

Despite the hectic, I did wear a me made necklace today. I love it, because although it is made of real pearls, coral and semi-precious stones, it doesn’t look boring. Or too traditional. Or too serious.

See you tomorrow, girls!

Me Made February – Glued

Wow, another week has flown by. Since taking part in the Me Made February the days seem to pass even quicker than normally. Fortunately I still find me made things in my drawers and wardrobe. And just another 9 days to go ;-)

Today I want to show you a me made brooch, which I just

GLUED

I found this beautiful wooden button at a flea market in Melbourne. I bought it although I had doubts that I would ever use it as a button. It is just too big and also a bit heavy. Then I simply glued a brooch backing onto the button.

Now I can wear it more often because I can switch it from one outfit to the next. Today I wore it with my favourite (bought) knitted dress, which I recently rediscovered in one of my storage boxes. Rediscovering old favourites is so much better than shopping for new things. No stress. No smelly changing rooms. Cheaper. And a great chance that it fits you ;-)

Oh, here is a little addition to yesterday’s post. That is how my sushi necklace looks on me.

Still not sure what to make of it. Maybe the fishes need some colour. Not soy sauce black. But maybe milky white. Because otherwise they do look like sweets. Weird translucent sweets. What do you think?

Anyway, I am going to jump straight to your old-new favourites now.

Me Made February – Recycled

 

Recycling is actually one of my favourite ‘crafting techniques’. Because it is ecological. Because it is cheap – or even for free. Because I think that it is creativity as its best to come up with new uses for old things!

So today as part of my Me Made Challenge I wear my sushi necklace. It is made from the little soy sauce containers, which you get with each sushi set.

I love sushi. I could eat it every day. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I also cannot throw anything cute away. So, you can imagine how many of these fish soy containers I have ;-) I thought a lot about what to do with these before I came up with the idea of turning them into necklace charms. I know it is quite unusual and quirky, some may say even weird. I hope, however, that it doesn’t look like trash art. If it does, please let me know. Because even though I love recycling, I don’t want to look like a bag lady ;-)

Looking forward to your me made fashion!

My creative space meets Me Made February – Ge-stricklieslt

Part of my Me Made Challenge which was initiated by Catherine is that I make at least one new fashion item (clothing or accessories) for me every week in February.

Therefore my creative space, where creative people from all over the world show what they are currently working on (see at Kootoyoo is covered in the pieces I need for my third brand new me made item:

Today I finally managed to finish my first Strickliesl necklace. And I love it! Hurray!!! After I fell in love with the good old Strickliesl, after all the project research and after all the time spent to produce the Strickliesl strings, it is finally done!!!

Voila – cosy warm red wool meets a nautical knot. Kindergarten crafting meets fashion.

Let’s see what the other girls have worn today and how all the other creative spaces looked like!

Me Made February – Laminated

Today the biggest surprise waited in my little (real not virtual) mailbox...

... beautifully packaged...

... birthday pressies from my dearest blog reader, Christiane: wonderful events to assemble: a relaxing bath, an afternoon with your friend and even a trip to the Baltic Sea beach. Ahhh that is exactly what a stressed mum in the search of child care needs!!! Thank you so much, Christiane! What a wonderful surprise! You made my day!

As part of my Me Made Challenge I wear some me made earrings today, which I made by simply

LAMINATING

I bought a book in Melbourne’s Chinatown – please don’t ask me what this book is about, although I studied Mandarin for a few months, I have no clue. I can read that the world ‘people’ appears on almost every page, but then which book is not about people ;-) And it was in the fiction aisle, but that’s all I know. Anyway, I simply bought it for its decorative aspects (shame on me, my dad the greatest book lover of all times would be horror-stricken!).

I then cut out a circle with a paper punch (again I can see horror in my dad's eyes ;-)) and laminated them. Then it was cut out again, a little ring and a silver earring loop was added. That’s it!

Thinking about it – I reckon I wouldn’t wear it in China or somewhere, where there are a lot of Chinese people around like all the romantic German castles or any Bavarian restaurant. Could be embarrassing when they read that I am wearing a trashy novel on my ears ;-(

I am sure that none of you is wearing something embarrassing today, girls!