Oh Oscar!

Picture from here

I just saw that there is live coverage of the 82nd Academy Awards on Australian TV tomorrow. On Channel NINE from 12.30 to 4pm. The reason I got so excited about this is that we have a public holiday in Victoria tomorrow and that means I can actually watch it ;-) From start to finish. From the red carpet to the final tears on stage.

I think the reason why I didn’t had it on my radar is that in Germany the award ceremony was always in the middle of the night (due to the time difference). On a night from Sunday to Monday. So only the hard core movie fans stayed up all night and pulled a sicky on Monday. Although I love the award ceremony the utmost for me was to get up on Monday morning at 5am (two hours before I actually had to get out of bed – woah!) with a really strong coffee and watch the ‘most important’ awards like actress and actor in a leading role. Best movie was usually decided by then.

But this year... the time difference and the public holiday are on my side. Hurray!

I know I am late. Too late to organise a proper party! Too late to decorate my living room! Too late to do any Oscar-related crafting! And there are so many wonderful ideas to be found at OnePrettyThing:

And here are even more ideas from last year’s roundup!

Anyway, although I am late for most things, I am not too late to have a great afternoon. Dressed in high-heels and a little black dress! With popcorn! With preggie-champagne (aka sparkling apple juice)! With a bit of embroidery during the less exciting categories (I know it is rude and categories like best film editing deserve publicity as well, but hey I am 13.000km away and sit well-hidden on my sofa – they won’t see me!)! I cannot wait!!!

Fabric decorated Baby Onesie Tutorial

Today it was raining cats and dogs today – with thunderstorms, hail and flooding in the afternoon. Yes, that is supposed to be summer in Melbourne ;-)

So the best thing you can do is... crafting. And today I want to show you my latest baby project: baby onesies decorated with scrap fabric elements.

It is a great project. Super-easy! Super-quick! Super-chic! Super impressive! I made a couple for all my friends, who expect babies at the moment, and some for my little one as well. And it didn’t take me longer than 2 hours. So much fun!!!

All you need is:

• plain white baby onesie
• scrap fabric
• Vliseline Vliesofix/Wonder Under/Bondaweb
• scissors
• iron 

Iron the onesie and the piece of scrap fabric.

Cut out a piece of Vliesofix and iron it with its sticky side onto the left side of the piece of scrap fabric (that is the side where the colour looks more faded, also often called the 'wrong side'). The recommendation is to iron it for 3-4 seconds on heat ** with dry heat.

The Vliesofix should cover the piece of scrap fabric completely (be careful the Vliesofix will become very sticky and will stick to the ironing board very easily, make sure that you remove it quite quickly from the board).

Cut out the piece of scrap fabric accurately that you want on front of the onesie. Due to the Vliesofix the edges won’t frazzle.

That is how my piece of fabric looked afterwards.

Then peel back the paper side of the Vliesofix on the back of the piece of fabric.

Place the piece of fabric onto the onesies – wherever you want it to be. I positioned mine in the front middle. Then cover it with a damp cloth and iron it onto the onesie for 8-10 seconds, pressing it down lightly on heat **.

Let the finished onesie lay flat for 20 minutes to cool down. And then voila – admire it ;-)

I hope you find this tutorial helpful. It is my first, so please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I could improve.

Sydney

I have been on a business trip to Sydney today. And although I have become a Melburnian in the past 2 1/2 years, I cannot deny that I am absolutely obsessed by the Sydney opera. I have literally taken hundreds of photo. By day and night. From every possible and impossible ankle. Of details and the whole masterpiece. A symphony in white.

I think this was the last business trip before I have my little one end of May. It feels strange. Travelling was always such a big part of my job. And now that should be over? At least for the moment. Or the next year :-( Anyway, I celebrated the 1-hour flight home with a lovely fruit smoothie and the latest trash magazines. And I think I am ready to move on ;-)

Busy Day

Wow! Today really was a busy day. Driving to work very early. A presentation with a very nervous client in the morning. A quick at the desk lunch. Preparations for the next project. Interviews in the afternoon. Driving around town. Back to the office. Checking the letterbox for friends. A bit of housekeeping. Quick TV dinner. A refreshing shower. And now... exhaustion.

So I leave you today with a view that always calms my nerves. Gives me power and strength. And is simply beautiful! “My beach” in Brighton:

Relax! Enjoy your evening! I am off to bed now ;-)

My favourite Wedding Blogs

On Wednesdays I share everything wedding with you: tips, projects, organisation, photos, faux-pas, fun things and golden rules I ‘learned’ from my own wedding. I feel I need to give something back to the fabulous blog community who helped me stay sane and enjoy every second of my ‘big day’.

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As I said I really started to get into reading blogs when I prepared for my wedding. Because it was such an unknown and exciting new world to me. Because I wanted to make this day special in our own way and therefore I wanted to know about all the different choices out there. To be able to decide what we want and what we don’t want. And of course because the second best thing to being invited to a wedding is to read about one and see all those wonderful dresses, decorations, places and emotional people.

So without any further rambling: Here are my favourite wedding blogs:

2000 Dollar Wedding
What an amazing idea! Despite the general wedding hype Sara and Matt managed to have a simply wonderful wedding for just $2000. Although I tried very hard, my wedding budget ended up being higher, but her blog was always a rich source of inspiration and sanity throughout the wedding preparations. My suggestion is that you go to Sara’s blog and read at least 5 posts after you had a look at any wedding magazine or had a chat with a wedding planner or another wedding-obsessed person. It will help you to stay calm and refocus, to stay down-to-earth and enjoy the preparations as well as the big day itself.

Earth Friendly Weddings
A blog full of simple, stylish, eco- and often also budget-friendly ideas. For crafting, for buying or simply to admire their beauty. Jennifer’s posts inspired me to make my own wedding that little bit eco-friendlier as well: email save-the-dates and replies to the invitation (added benefit: so much quicker delivery from Australia to Germany!), no disposable cameras (everyone brought his or her digital camera anyway) and have the wedding in the city (very little transport needed).

Jesse and Deanna
Journey of an incredible creative, but otherwise wonderfully normal couple through their wedding preparations. I love that they both blog – finally wedding preparations are not only the job and passion of the bride-to-be. One of the highlights are definitely their favours – I cannot get over it, they are so brilliant and so much fun

Eco Chic Weddings
More green and stylish ideas including jewellery, flowers, dresses, gifts, invitations and and and...

Etsy Wedding Blog
That is where you get all those wonderful one-of-pieces: dresses, accessories, decorations, presents, cards,...

Offbeat Bride
I am afraid I am not off beat enough to have a totally alternative wedding with a red dress or in the woods, but a great to balance all the barbie-princess-style weddings, very individual and creative

Once Wed
I especially love the real weddings section as inspiration and the diy weddings section as hands-on advice

Style Me Pretty
This blog is full of pretty, pretty pictures which are a daily inspiration. I often found little treasury ideas in those photos and tried to re-create them.

Wedding Bee
A wonderful community of brides-to-be who share their individual journey through the wedding preparations. From hilarious to serious, from inspiring to shocking...

With this Ring
Wonderful real life weddings and a big diy section as well... pure eye candy

It’s a dog’s life...

Pecorino and Toni Anzenberger are a great duo: Toni is a traveller and a photographer. And Pecorino is his model and dog.

Incredible how this dog poses. So patiently! And Toni has the right vision.

Here are my favourites:

For more wonderful pictures which make you smile, please have a look at their gallery here

London calling – My Hotel Bloomsbury

At the beginning of each month I want to show you places where I’d rather be at that very moment. As you know I am constantly either travelling or dreaming of travelling and I want to share my favourite bars, restaurants, hotels, cities and countries around the world with you. And I am looking for your recommendations for my next trips.

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In London location is everything for me. Because no matter how nice a room is, you are in one of the liveliest cities in the world. So why would you want to sit in your room?

Especially if the rooms are as tiny as they are in London. I think these are the rules for London hotel rooms: no matter what price you pay it is always tiny and the window always overlooks a courtyard with smelly garbage bins which will be emptied every morning around 5am. So don’t expect to sleep in. Bring as little luggage as possible, because there is literally no space in the room to store it and you want to you shopping anyway, don’t you?

My favourite hotel in London is My Hotel. True, it is in line the general rules (tiny! Garbage bins!), but it has a lot of wonderful things to offer:

The best location ever! Just a mini walk away from Tottenham Court Road, a very central tube station and also the start of the big shopping mile Oxford Street. The theatre district and Soho with all its wonderful small shops and affordable eateries are close as well. So you can easily drop your shopping bags, take a little nap before heading out for evening entertainment. Oh and for those who love culture, the British Museum is just around the corner.

The design: Minimalistic – sophisticated – beautiful! From my point of view the only style that is suitable for those mini hotel rooms. Not a single piece of furniture that you could spare. Everything you need but nothing more. A splash of colour. A splash of modern photography. Comfy cushions and blankets.

The bathroom. This tiny bathroom has more to offer than first meets the eye. No carpet – I have no idea why but for whatever reason British hotel interior designer have a soft spot for thick, fluffy carpet in the bathroom. Yuuuuck! It has a bathtub – a bit smaller than standard but still something you can sit in and relax after a day running across the city. Heaven!

The lovely little extras A little water heater to make yourself a cup of tea or Nescafe in the mornings. Or a hot chocolate before going to bed. A free bottle of water. A fresh apple every day (because it keeps the doctor away ;-)). Real plants which haven’t died ages ago. A stereo. A TV.

Make sure to book early though, because unfortunately a lot of people have discovered how lovely it is there. Rates are expensive (but what isn’t in London), but if you want to save a few pounds just book without breakfast. There are a lot of nice coffee shops on Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street (my favourite: Cafe Nero), where you get great coffee, amazing sandwiches, freshly squeezed juice and good people-watching for a fraction of the price.

myhotel Bloomsbury
11-13 Bayley Street
Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3HD
telephone: +44(0) 20 3004 6000
fax: +44(0) 20 3004 6044
email: bloomsbury@myhotels.com