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 ;-)

Homemade Christmas: ‘Stolen’ Piece of Art

It is almost Christmas. Unbelievable, but so true.
This year I decided to make my Christmas as homemade as possible.
Because I love crafting and doing lots of crafts as decorations and presents
make my day uhmm December. So I try to share one idea for a homemade Christmas with you
as often as possible and hope that you feel inspired, amused or simply festive.
Happy Christmas time to all of you!

I know stealing art is not nice. Actually it is forbidden in most countries I know and there are certainly good reasons for that. I did it nevertheless. Well, of course, I didn’t storm into a museum or gallery and took my favourite piece of art away without paying. But I stole a great idea for a piece of art and recreated it at home. Still ‘stealing’ but not in the real mean way ;-)

I have always admired this beautiful collage – so much that I took the magazine it was in with me back from Australia to Germany and believe me my criteria for things to come home with me were strict (given the charges for excess luggage).

The original is made of antique doilies, but unfortunately I didn’t inherit anything like that. So I had to work with paper ones. Fortunately I already had a broad variety of shapes and sizes (please don’t ask me why, I just found them beautiful, they were not expensive and I didn’t had a clue what I would use them for when I bought them). I also had one fabric doilie and I have absolutely no idea where it came from ;-)

Apart from the doilies the only other thing I needed was a white picture frame (which I had stacked behind my desk) and a black background which I just made out of heavyweight cardboard.

So I simply grouped and re-grouped and re-grouped my doilies until I came up with this combination. I quickly stuck the three ‘finalists’ with a bit of double-sided tape on the back to the cardboard and put it in the frame. Voila!

I think it looks almost as nice as the original. And since there is no way that I could have afforded the original by Fleur Wood, an Australian fashion designer, even if all proceeds for this piece of art went to charity, I think it is great.

So while I don’t want to incite you to steal your favourite piece of art, I want to encourage you to make your own piece of art. Maybe it is inspired by something you saw. Maybe not. But the most important thing is that you (or the person you give it to) love(s) it. Because for me the key purpose of art is to inspire you. To make you happy. To brighten your day.

And that is what my doilies art will do for me every day from now on.

Eye Candy

Blackboard art by Shanna Murray

Shopping Sunday

By chance I found a wonderful etsy shop today: Purrr...

It is full of postcards, which I would never ever send. Instead I would hang them up on my wall. Because they are true pieces of art. If I could only decide which ones I love the most – sigh!

I love fashion meets art meets book pages!

or

or

or

or

?

Well, while I make up my mind here, please have a look at Jess’ blog. It is full of beautiful art, jewellery and its inspiration from old movies & books, fabrics & fashion, and other etsy shops.

A present to myself

At the little craft market I couldn’t resist this beautiful, handmade, unique piece of art aka Christmas postcard.

It is made by my amazing talented friend Gabriele Boulanger (and she would hit me if she knew that I rave about her in my blog, because she is not only extremely talented, but also extremely modest).

I am afraid that none of my friends will ever get this postcard. Instead it will hang above my new crafting table. And I will smile every time I look at it. And try to work out how to create a hairdo like that ;-)

More about her work here:

Galerie Josephski-Neukum

Or here:

Galerie Pich

Gabriele will also have an exhibition of her latest works of art in Issing (at the Ammersee in Bavaria) throughout December. So if you are in the area, you can look at them ‘live’.

Black Board Art

Pieces of art found here

One thing crossed off my ‘34 things to do before I turn 35’-list:

After I finished my mat-leave-to-do-list yesterday, I realised that I already have a wonderful to-do-list full of things which I promised to fulfil before I turn 35. 2 months of the 34-years-year have already past and I wasn’t able to cross anything off ;-( Until now!
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...

7. be more eco-conscious
8. invest in art
9. be less impatient
...
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Yes, it is true. I invested in an original, authentic piece of art. Gone are the days where my walls were filled with posters and IKEA prints of famous masterpieces. Now I am a serious art collector. And I promise you this is just the beginning. Whenever I have a bit of money to spend I will buy a new piece. I will constantly look for artists and their work that really connect with me – because I think this should be the only reason to buy art. Because it inspires you. Because you love to look at it. Because it is special to you. Not because it is by an upcoming artist. Not because it would make a great investment. It is art, for god sake, not a bond!

Water Dreaming by Sally Clark

I absolutely love it!!! The way she combined a treaking with the dotting technique. It is so vibrant! So powerful! So colourful! So abstract! So routed in nature! So special to me – it will always remind me of the wonderful land I saw here in Australia and the wonderful people I met here and the amazing stories I heard.

Art Saturday

Today Andi and I headed to the city. For a bit of art window shopping. We really want to buy an original aboriginal piece of art before we go back to Germany in August. Something that will always remind us of the amazing time we spent down under. Of Australia’s unique landscapes. People. Traditions. Animals. Plants. Colours.

After being to a couple of galleries, it became clear to us again that Aboriginal art is not one but a multitude of different art schools. There are many as there are Aboriginal people and languages and environments.

Colourful & Abstract: Bush Yams by Evelyn Pultara

Monochrome & Minimalistic: Salt on Mina Mina by Dorothy Napangardi

Earthy & Folky: Uwalki Tjuta by Mitjili Napurrula

The next one is our favourite. Unfortunately it is a bit expensive. Worth every penny, but I am afraid we have to win the lottery before we can afford it. Still, just a pleasure to look at

Kangaroo Hunter by Kurun Warun

In general we had a wonderful inspirational day. It is amazing what art can do to you. Filling your heart and head with colours and thoughts and images.

Street Art

Found on the streets of Melbourne today: