Fleur De Boheme

Merry Christmas

2011-12-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

Just a few words from here to wish you all a Merry Christmas and give you a little update on how things are going around here ;-)

I´ve been far too busy lately but finally the right Christmas mood is sneaking up on me - I´ve decorated the shop and made it cosy with lots of my handcrafted cushions, candles and knitted scarves.

I´ve started to use parts of discarded vintage watches and combine them with vintage rhinestones and other jewellery to create necklaces. The first pieces made their way into the shop:

A few days ago I even managed to get done some Christmas decorations in the house, I love these fabulous purple glitter deers combined with the moss, hyacinths and shiny baubles. Glamour!!! Here in Denmark it´s common to use hyacinths in your christmas decorations, and I think it´s a lovely tradition.

Even the pets enjoy the cosy Christmas time, isn´t old Snuff just sooo cute taking his afternoon nap in the conservatory? He turned 15 in october and we´re so happy he´s still around and enjoying himself. He´s such a lovely dog!

Last thing I have to show you is my new tattoo - finally!!!! I´ve wanted it for so long but struggled to find a tattooer who was able to draw exactly what I wanted. But it was definitely worth the time and effort to find him - I love what he´s done! It is very personal and has exactly the feminine and vintage feel I had envisaged:

The picture was taken when it was very fresh, it actually looks more subtle in grey-tones now where it´s healed up.

Enjoy the holidays and have a wonderful Christmas! And if you´re Danish speaking, pop around my other blog La Vie Bohème!

Bohemian Boudoir.......

2011-08-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

I´m sorry for being such a bad blogger, but this summer has been madness! I´ve been so busy with the new joint craft shop in Ebeltoft plus getting my own wee shop ready that there hasn´t been any time left for blogging! This is what I did most of the time (apart from crafting) - painting walls + vintage furniture for the shop!

But it was worth the effort. I had a great season and the renovated train carriage-goes-shop is amazing..... Here are some pictures of the transformation:

Now the REAL fun part started....filling the space with my vintage furniture and wares!!! By the way, apart from the floorboards and parts of the cladding we only used recycled materials for the renovation, all the windows and the door (from 1930!) came from estate sales or salvage yards. You want to see the final result? Okay then:

More to look at than read this time, but I´ll keep you more updated again from now on ;-) Enjoy the beautiful late summer + see you soon ;-)

Busy times, exciting news!

2011-05-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

I want to apologize for not having updated my blog for such a long time, I don´t know what actually happened - one day took the other, so many things to do and not enough hours in one day! But now I want to share the exciting news with you!

I´ve opened a craft shop in the nearby market town Ebeltoft together with these two lovely ladies:

Annette to the left is a ceramist and Lotte is a textile artist, too. We suddenly had the oportunity to rent these charming premises, and decided to give it a go! Of course I´ll still run my summer shop in our converted train carriage, so this is going to be a very busy summer!!!

So the last weeks have been CRAZY.... but now we´re open and I want to share some more pictures with you!

I promise to be back soon, and thanks to my followers for not having dismissed me! Hope you´re all well, happy and enjoying yourselves!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

2010-12-31T11:21:00.000-08:00

I have to apologize for having neglected my blog for a while, but my goal was to update it before New Year, so here I am!

Let me start with a picture I wanted to show you for a long time, it´s a birthday card my friend Amy made for me - a little portrait of myself and my two doggies Gustav and Snuff. I love it and decided to frame it, so now it´s part of a little stilleben showing off my collection of vintage jewellery and other treasures collected over the years.

Christmas was nice until our beloved old dog Snuff (to the right in the picture) suffered a stroke on Christmas day. It was awful, but luckily he is recovering and back on his feet again, a bit of a miracle if you know he is over 14 years old! I guess he has too good a doggy life to give it up!
Here he has a cuddle with his pal Gustav, our other dog, who was really concerned about his friend!

Here are some pictures of my Christmas decorations and the Christmas tree:

I´ve gone a bit gothic in this one with the black vase and aubergine candles ;-)

A little stilleben in the conservatory

Christmas tree in the conservatory

We had a very cold and snowy winter so far, and although it means lots of extra work with our four horses, like carrying all water because the tap and pipes outside are frozen, it´s beautiful too!

Huge icicles outside the conservatory

One of my favourite walks in the hills

Craftwise I´m already thinking spring - I´m working on this doily scarf in merry colours which is very refreshing in the dark of the winter!

I´m also working on a couple of new brooch designs for next season, for example these "Sweetheart" brooches:

Okay, that´s all for now! I´m very happy I managed to update my blog in time to wish you all a happy, creative and exciting New Year and to say thank you for following my blog through the last year! See you in 2011!

Autumn....

2010-11-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

Autumn has come. Grey days, rain, frost and fog in the morning - time to prepare for the Christmas season, snuggle up in the sofa with a good cup of tea and light lots of candles! And craft nice things for the Christmas shows and web-shop, of course!

I have decided to make Christmas decorations for the markets I´m going to attend, I love working with flowers, making wreaths - and the garden is full of wonderful things I can use. In the picture above you see an arrangement featuring one of my small wreaths made of hops, ivy and hydrangea.

I´ve made them in different sizes, to arrange with candles, baubles etc, or to hang in a window or on the front door. Here are some more:

They make nice autumnal decorations now and can easily be upcycled for the Christmas season. Another arrangement on our dining table:

I have also made a bunch of Christmas cards which I forgot to take pictures of, so I´ll show you next time, lots of wristwarmers in nice dusky colours adorned with hand dyed vintage appliqué and lace and small purses made of vintage florals.

I love sitting in the conservatory when I´m working, especially this time of the year, as it´s so light and you almost feel you´re sitting in the garden - just with much more comfortable temperatures! Frida the Forest Cat loves keeping me company, either she snuggles up in the cushions on the daybed:

... or in one of the chairs. Look at this pretty furry ball:

Last not least I´m proud to announce that my new Fleur de Bohème website is finally finished and online, and I even created a new website for my shop La Vie Bohème. Take a look and tell me what you think - I did it all by myself, independancy rocks!!!

I´m finally back!

2010-09-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

First I want to apologize to all my followers that I´ve been away for such a long time, thank you for not having dismissed me and welcome to my new followers!

Summer is always incredibly busy, lots to do in the garden, summershop and markets – time seems to fly. I love having the summershop, and I can´t wait the new train carriage to be ready for next season as it will be insulated, more light and I will have more space!

I even attended the newly launched local farmers and craft market, selling both my handcrafted stuff and my homemade jam. It was a very cosy thing and especially the jam sold very well, so I have decided to diversify a bit and produce more homemade jam, jelly, liqueur and even vinegar and oil with herbs to sell in the shop next season. In the picture you see me with my friend Carey who I shared a stall with.

I can´t believe it´s autumn already, the fact that we´re heading towards the dark and cold months seems unbearable. The garden was wonderful this year, my hortensia bushes are still in full bloom and the other picture shows my collection of old roses flowering earlier this year.

Of course I found time for crafting, I still have to finish a shawl for the lovely Cat that I swapped for one of her pictures, but I´m getting there as you see:

And here is the beautiful picture I got from her:

I even made these rings:

Before I go, I just want to show you two pictures of our white cat Kveiting – he´s such a character!! This seems to be his new favourite place – an old bucket we use to feed the horses!!!

Oh, and don´t forget to pop around my webshops which have been kind of neglected during the summer, too - I´m listing lots of new stuff!

My creative space

2010-06-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

My creative space today is mostly about my summershop that I recently opened for the season.

The carriage needed to be reorganized and a lot of cleaning was involved before the funny part - setting up the furniture and decorating with my wares - could begin! I love the sofa, my sweet neighbour Helen gave it to me as she had no use for it any longer, and the shape and duck egg blue colour add a good hint of boudoir to the atmosphere which I really like. Here are some more pictures:

The peeling turquoise dresser looks gorgeous together with my selection of vintage china for sale! I even decorated the space outside the carriage with lots of flowers:

Although setting up the shop for the season took a lot of my time, I managed to get some work done. I made these summery bohemian textile bracelets:

And I needed to make more button rings as they´re almost sold out, so here is a selection of button tops ready to be glued on to the ring base:

While I was sitting in the conservatory busy with crafting my wares, our sweet Norwegian forest cat Frida kept me company, taking a nap between my tins with threads and buttons ;-)

Don´t forget to pop around Kootoyos blog if you want to explore other Bloggers creative spaces!

Spring has come.... at last!

2010-06-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

I´m sorry for having been absent for such a long time, but things have been crazy around here for a while... Thank you all again for the good wishes for my old cat Frasse, but sadly he didn´t make it and had to be put to sleep.

But on a more merry note, spring has finally come and the garden is beautiful right now, so I used the blossoming fruit trees as a backdrop for some new shawls:

Here some more photos of our spring garden, taken a couple of weeks ago. This is our beautiful old beechtree with a flowerbed with lady´s mantle and roses in the foreground:

And here a peek into the vegetable garden with the greenhouse:

I´m happy to tell that my train carriage arrived a couple of weeks ago and was sound and safe put into place between the horse paddock and the beech hedge. It´s going to house my summershop and gallery, has direct access from the street and I´m sooooo looking forward to move in with my stuff - but there still is some work ahead before I can do so ;-)

The proud owner in front of her "new" vintage train carriage!

Along with the train carriage came a nest with 5 young blackbirds.... unfortunately without their parents.... we started to feed them with earthworms immediately after we had discovered them, but the next morning they had left the nest. We found one dead on the ground that hadn´t survived the jump, one in the nearby rapeseed field and another one in the shrubbery nearby the train carriage, the other ones we couldn´t find. We took the two birdies in, but the one we found in the shrubbery died later the same day. The other one is strong and healthy and we have nursed him for two weeks now, so he is rather tame:

We take him out in the garden every day so he has the possibility to train his flying abilities, and he takes a round or two and then comes back to us.... very cute. He has started to look after worms and insects himself when being outside, so he is soon ready to be released into freedom. Here he came back from one of his rounds to sit on my knee:

I even did a couple of exhibitions and markeds, the exhibition in Germany was great fun and I´m going to tell more about it next time and show some pictures. Last weekend I did a garden festival, and although the setting was beautiful and everything was well organized, it was disappointing...

The first day it was so windy that my little tent was almost blown away, my shelves and rack for my shawls fell over many times and I spent most of my time either chasing my stuff because it had been blown away or collect it from the ground.... The next day it was raining (heavily raining!!) all day, so there weren´t too many visitors. My stall looked good I think, I had really made an effort to create the right atmosphere:

A big problem apart from the weather conditions was the fact that most of the visitors were simply not my target group, the audience was slightly older and I didn´t even break even (the costs for a stall were rather high), so I spent two days in wind and rain and cold for nothing...
But you have to try things, and soon I´ll open my summershop for the summer season which I´m really excited about!

This post is linked to the creative space group, and if you want to explore other Bloggers creative spaces please go to Kootoyos blog!

Hope you´re all well and enjoying springtime!

Flowers!

2010-04-01T01:43:00.000-07:00

It´s so nice that finally spring has come! I´ve been out gardening every day for an hour or so the last couple of weeks, with a garden the size of ours you need to be out there by now otherwise you´ll never catch up! And I enjoy it!

Even my creative space has been dominated by flowers this week. First I made these waterlily brooches, they feature burnt organza, taffeta, handdyed lace, silk and pearls.

Next project were some crocheted flower-hairpins in merry colours. I first crocheted lots of tiny flowers:

Then I embellished them with small buttons and seed beads and attached them to the pins:

I´m going to list some of them in my shops soon, if anyone should be interested ;-) And - it was so wonderful sitting in the conservatory making these colourful brooches and happy little flowerpins while the birds were singing outside!

And of course I had to try the new stuff on - remember always to wear flowers in your hair!

I made the little scarf last year and I simply love its colours, just the right thing to wear on a chilly spring day!

I´m also very happy because I´ve been invited to exhibit in Germany in May, so I´m going to be rather busy the next couple of months!

Last thing for today are these pictures from my spring garden, lots of snowdrops where the ground in the summer is completely covered by ferns:

And these small beauties that resemble snowdrops but they aren´t! I tried to find the English name, but I couldn´t - in German we call them "Märzenbecher" and I love them!

Have a wonderful Easter and don´t forget to pop around Kootoyos blog to visit other Bloggers creative spaces!

Spring....

2010-03-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days you really could feel spring in the air, so wonderful after this long and cold winter. I didn´t get much done last week, mostly due to my old cat Frasse having been so poorly. But I managed to finish this commissioned doily scarf:

I´m really pleased with the result, it looks gorgeous worn as a shawl as shown in the picture before, or as a scarf:

I really want to thank all of you who left a comment or sent an e-mail wishing my dear old cat Frasse to get better soon, and although we didn´t have much hope it seems to have helped, at least for the time being. He is much better, the blood test showed that there is something wrong with his liverfunction, but he is reacting well to the medication and has started to eat again and actually gained some weight, so we´re rather hopeful. Apparently the next week will be crucial, as his dose of steroids and antibiotics has to be reduced soon and time will show if he can cope with the lower dose, but they´re is quite a chance that he might be around for a while longer, so keep crossing fingers ;-) Here he is, enjoying the spring sun in the conservatory, I took the picture this morning:

I had some great swaps with blog friends lately, yesterday this bunch of gorgeousness arrived from the lovely Cat from La Dolce Vita - lots of fantastic lace, fabric and trims and one of her beautiful artworks, based on a landscape photography:

Already a couple of weeks ago I got a parcel from another blog friend, Alicia from Altered Bits:

I had won the beautiful Frida ATC at her blog give-away and swapped the rhinesone buckle, and she was so nice to add some more nice bits´n bobs! Make sure to check both Cats and Alicias blogs to see more of their fantastic stuff.

Before I go just a couple of spring impressions, the first flowers in the garden, winter aconite and snowdrops, we have them all over the garden:

And a spring wreath for the front door I made from hop and pink organza ribbon:

Enjoy springtime and pop around the other creative spaces, you find them at Kootoyos blog!

My Creative Space.... Spring colours!

2010-03-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

I didn´t make it to join the creative space the last two weeks, but now I´m back with some colourful, springy pictures! I can feel that spring is on its way, although we still have snow – with night temperatures down to -7 degree it takes time for the snow to melt, but we´re getting there....

Luckily we have our conservatory, and I spend as much time as possible there working on my projects. I have bought primula in bright colours, daffodils and muscari to get the right spring-atmosphere:

Even my creative projects are inspired by the colours of the forthcoming spring and summer. I made a prototype of a new necklace design in vibrant colours, combining crochet, vintage buttons and vintage bakelite flowers:

And I finally finished the commissioned wristlets for Rainey from the Josie Baggley Company:

A couple of days ago I received this yummie yarn in the mail, it´s pure cashmere from recycled sweaters and the colours are simply gorgeous, not to mention the supersoft luxury quality of the yarn.

I´m looking forward to turn the yarn into lightweight lacy summershawls on my knitting machine, right now I´m working on a lace shawl in a pale limegreen shade:

On a more sad note, my old cat Frasse hasn´t been well lately.... I had him checked a couple of weeks ago and he seemed alright, but now he has lost his usual appetite and quite a bit of weight, so I have him checked with blood tests and everything again on friday. He is almost 15 years old and I know he won´t live forever, but he was always very agile and fit for his age and I can´t bear the thought that his time might have come.... He was the first pet we got together and has moved with us through the half of Northern Europe, from Germany to Denmark to Norway and back to Denmark - a trustful and dear companion. So I have been a bit tearful the last couple of days, especially because our dog Snuff is very old, too, 13 1/2 years, luckily still very frisky and cheeky, but it just reminds you that their lives are so much shorter than ours.... it´s sad!

So please, cross fingers that Frasse soon is his old self again as in this picture:

See you, thanks for stopping by, and to see what´s going on in other bloggers creative spaces please take a look at Kootoyos blog!!

My Creative Space!

2010-02-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

Once again it´s time to invite you into my creative space. Lots of different things on the go, as always, but let´s start with this lovely scarf, another commission for Rainey from the Josie Baggley Company and part of a swap that we´re doing:

The scarf is made of a nice and fluffy mohair yarn in a delicate lace pattern, and the combination of red and pink is so beautiful - I love it! It can even be worn as a little shrug closed with a brooch:

I´m working on the matching wristlets right now, I´ll post a picture next week ;-)

I want to make lots of delicate shrugs in this beautiful lace pattern for my summershop and have chosen the following lightweight yarns in yummie colours, most of them supersoft kid mohair:

I even managed to finish my crocheted cushion cover, I really like the summary colours - just what you need after this long and cold winter when we all are waiting for the spring to come!

A couple of days ago I was tidying up my studio - things are funny enough piling up everywhere , lol - when I found this almost finished cuff I started to make for myself before Christmas:

I´m glad I found it as I´m looking forward to wear it, I only have to put the lining in and I want to add more bead embroidery to the edges of the pink velvet trim. The black lace falls very nicely from the wrist down on your hand which I really like.

Well, it has almost become a tradition that I post a picture of our furry family members, and I´m sure you will enjoy this cute photo of our two dogs Gustav and Snuff in the snow, looking hopefully up to me because they know I have some titbits in my pocket ;-)

Who could possibly resist them ;-)

Well that was all for now I think, and I´m rather proud that I managed to update my blog in time for the Creative Space posting as I had a rather stressful week. To see what´s going on in other bloggers creative spaces please take a look at Kootoyos blog!

And take a look at my NotMassProduced shop where I have listed lots of delicious new stuff like these flower bracelets that really make you think of spring, sunshine and happy hours!

Glam Girl Bracelets

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend!

My Creative Space

2010-02-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

I´ve had a quite productive and busy time since last week´s post and have many things on the go! I have a couple of commissions I have to finish, and one of them is a scarf made of doilies. It is amazing how the doilies change character when you dye them and use them in another context! Take a look at two scarves I made earlier before I show you the commisioned piece in progress:

This scarf is made of rather big cotton doilies, hand dyed in purple and pastelgreen and embellished with a crocheted edge in pink. I love the colours, the make me think of the spring we´re all longing for!

This is a more delicate piece:

Filigree doilies in a lacy quality have been dyed in a pale peach shade and embellished with a crocheted mohair trim in cream with a thin gold lurex thread.

The customer who commissioned a doily scarf wanted it in hues of off-white and cream and with two rows of doilies. I´ve started to crochet the trim around each single doily using organic cotton yarn:

I have actually dyed the doilies in a in a pebble beige shade but they still vary slightly in colour which I like. I´m going to use 22 doilies for this piece as she wants double width, and I think the finished piece will look quite elegant yet with the right twist of shabby chic!

I even have another doily scarf on the go, cotton doilies in a flower shape, hand dyed to a berry shade and embellished with a pale pink trim in organic cotton yarn:

This is another commission, for my Irish friend Rainey from the Josie Baggley Company:

A generous but delicate wrap in the most delicious laceweight kidmohair yarn with a dainty handcrocheted trim, here a little close-up:

The crocheted trim makes the wrap really special, but it´s driving me crazy - the wrap is 220 cm long and crocheting the trim takes longer than knitting the whole wrap, lol. Luckily I´m half finished now and I hope Rainey will love it ;-)

And, as I promised last time, a peek of my throw - I´m getting there! (And the colours look fresher and happier as in the pic which doesn´t quite do it justice ;-(. )

The pink-peach-red cushion is not finished yet, but you´ll get to see the finished piece next week! And - if you would like to see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog .

Before I let you go two pictures of my domestic universe ;-) You´ve met our funny and highly strung border collie mix Gustav before - here he is again, in one of his rare completely relaxed moments, together with our cat Frasse, while I´m working on Raineys wrap:

Yes, our pets are allowed to lie on the sofas and sleep in our bed and we actually like it! Nothing more cosy than a dog or cat to warm your feet in a cold winter night!

I wave you goodbye with my rather cheaky new ostrich plume duster, given to me by my mum - dusting is suddenly more funny and you almost feel like a Moulin Rouge girl, haha!

See you next week and thanks for stopping by!

My Creative Space...

2010-02-10T12:09:00.001-08:00

Welcome once more to my creative space! I´m still doing quite a lot of crochet work at the moment, unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of my throw, but I´m happy with the way it comes along and post a picture next week! I also started on a new crocheted cushion in fresh hues of pink, red, peach, yellow, orange and green to match my round sofa cushions. Apart from the yellow and green I found all the yarn in charity shops, so we´re really talking about a recycling project here!

Have you noticed our white cat on the sofa? You can probably understand that visitors sat down on him a couple of times because they thought it was just a cushion - or they didn´t even realize he was there ;-) In the next picture you see how the cushion has come along so far:

I have also made this rather glamorous scarf in shades of turquoise, seagreen, reedgreen and silver.

I have again used the technique where you place yarn between layers of dissolveable tissue, quilt the fibres together and then rinse the piece. This is how the yarn looked before it was turned into a scarf:

I have some of it left and have an idea on how to use it for flower brooches using the same technique... let´s see if I can show you something next time!

It´s Valentine soon, so I have listed some nice Valentine gifts in my webshops. Let´s start with my NotMassProduced shop where you find these:

Crimson Daisy Earrings

Candy Girl Button Ring

And in my Fleur de Bohème Etsy shop you find this delicate embroidered brooch:

Marie Antoinette Brooch

Talking about Valentine - please, take time to stop by my friend Ivy´s blog Edera Jewelry , she makes the most intricate vintage inspired jewellery and has a gorgeous Valentine give-away:

Bonbon Necklace Giveaway

If you want to see my latest gorgeous vintage finds pop around my other blog Extravaganzza Vintage Treasures - I have just updated it and I promise lots of vintage eye-candy!!

If you want to see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces please visit Kootoyos blog!

My Creative Space.....and snowy furry creatures!

2010-02-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome once again to my crafty universe! We had another snowstorm yesterday, this winter has been incredible so far as Denmark usually is not exactly known as a wintersports resort, lol. But this year we´ve actually had snow - continuously! - since the middle of decembre!

Well, having lived in Norway that certainly doesn´t scare me, on the contrary, I prefer it so much to rain and grey days! Just thought I show you some pictures of our horses first because they looked so cute + funny all covered in snow! In the first picture you see our shetlandpony, his real name is Speedy but we only call him "the boss" (guess why ;-) ) or warthog, haha.

Here you see all four of them munching their yummie hay, they look like a bunch of snowy yetis!
And - I can assure you - they are not freezing, they have a massive fur, a shed to seek shelter in and we make sure they get enough food to keep warm.
The two dun fjordhorses were our first horses and they are actually mother and daughter. They make gorgeous riding horses and you can always rely on them.

In the next picture you see our beautiful draught horse mix Sill, she is a rescued horse and was in a very poor condition when we got her 9 years ago. She is such a gentle soul and much admired by the many tourists in the summer because of her size and beautiful grey colour.

Ok, what have I actually worked on since last time? I finished this machineknitted shrug, it´s a new lace pattern and it looks beautiful I think.

I haven´t finished the pink bag yet as there still is more bead embroidery to do, but I made this wee purse:

It is once more almost a complete recycling project, I´ve used a vintage crochet tablecloth, vintage buttons and the lining is pale green silk from a thrift store. Only thing new are the handles which I bought at a craft fair a couple of years ago.

Last sunday the big annual booksale started and I bought a couple of gorgeous books, among them Cath Kidstons book "Print" and a Danish book about using thrifted textiles in all kinds of crafty projects. I was so inspired by the books that I went to my favourite brocante and charity shops where I found lots of old tablecloths and bedlinen to use in a big patchwork throw for our bedroom.

I don´t have the time to handsew it so it´s going to be a more simple machine sewn version but I still think it´ll look nice! So far I have only cut the different fabrics into squares and sewn the first panel together, but let´s see what I can show you next week ;-)

I´m still working on the crocheted throw every night and have actually finished the zig-zag cushion, so I´m rather pleased with myself!

Last not least a little peek into my Fleur de Bohème Etsy shop where I´ve just listed these items:

"Glacier" Necklace

"Odilia" Buttonring

....and in my NotMassProduced shop shop where you find these:

"Marie Antoinette" Brooch

"Waterlily" Cuff

That was all for now - to see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog!

My Creative Space...

2010-01-28T02:23:00.000-08:00

I´ve been slowed down by an awful cold this week, so there was a lot of computerwork going on while I was sitting with my herb tea next to the logburner ;-)

One of the news I was going to tell you is that I was accepted by the British based craft and design platform Not Mass Produced, so I opened a wee shop there! Take a look, there are lots of talented people from the whole of Europe offering their work. One of the items I´ve listed there is this delicate lightweight shrug in a beautiful lavender shade with crocheted lace details I finished last weekend:

I also finished two of the items I showed you last week, the quilted scarf now is embellished with a pale yellow crochet edging:

Keep an eye on my Fleur de Bohème Etsy shop if you like it as I´m going to list it there soon.

And the pale pink ruffled purse with doilies is finished, too:

This purse is almost completely made of recycled vintage materials and I´m really pleased with it. I haven´t listed it yet as I might spare it for the summershop, but if you´re interested just contact me!

And of course a little update on my crocheted throw! It´s coming along well I think as I crochet a bit every night:

I even started on a matching cushion cover in a zig zag pattern:

Other news include my new Fleur de Bohème Facebook page where you can sign up and follow what´s going on in my webshops and summershop. I´ll even use it to keep you informed about sales, special arrangements and give aways so if you use facebook regularly anyway it might be a good idea to sign up.

Another thing I want to tell you about is the Fleamarket Floozies group on facebook. We´re a group of European girls who are participating in the Dottie Angel challenge where we have challenged ourselves only to buy second hand or handcrafted for our house and wardrobe for a whole year! On the facebook page we barter and discuss and have lots of fun! Take a look and sign up, there are some really nice things up for swapping already. You simply list what you want to barter in one of the categories under "discussions" and upload pictures - it´s quite easy!

The other exciting news I promised to tell you is that I managed to find and buy another vintage train carriage!! Solely dedicated to my summershop!!

This is a picture from the one we already have, but I couldn´t use the whole space for my summershop as we needed some of it for storage of garden equipment etc, so I had been looking for over a year after a new one as they´re quite hard to find. Another thing is that transporting them is very expensive because of their size and weight, so you have to find one rather nearby. The one I bought is exactly the same model as the one in the picture, from the 50ies, and it´s going to be put up right by the road so the shop becomes more visible and people won´t have to cross the courtyard to get there. I´m planning to build a little terrace outside the entrance where I´m going to sell seasonal flowers (for the right atmosphere) and display my stuff of course.
We fetch it in april as we have to build a foundation first and this can´t be done in the winter, but I certainly keep you updated!

See you soon - and remember - to see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog .

My Creative Space...

2010-01-21T02:37:00.000-08:00

I actually realized this morning that the creative space group first starts posting again next week, but I´d taken all my pics and I have soooo much to show you.... many different things on the go.... so I thought I´ll post anyway.

First thing I want to show you is this scarf:

I´ve used a technique where you layer yarn and fibre between water soluble material and then quilt the whole thing together. After having rinsed the scarf I´ve hand dyed it in a dusky purple shade. If you´re interested, you can find it in my Fleur de Bohème Etsy shop!

Using the same technique, I also made this scarf:

I somehow think it looks a bit "naked", unfinished - although there is lots of texture to it, so I´ve chosen some pale yellow yarn to give the scarf a crocheted edge all the way around.

Next project in progress are these two bags. They´ve been on their way for a looong time as I started them over a year ago, haha. I´d sewn the respective fabrics together with material that shrinks when exposed to heat, done the shrinking and cut out the bag shapes.... and then they´ve been resting on my worktable until now.....

...when I suddenly decided I wanted to embellish them with vintage doilies, buttons and beads. The fabric in the bag above comes from a vintage pillowcase and I think I´m going to make crocheted handles in one of the two yarn shades shown in the pic (it´s actually organic cotton). Maybe I´ll add more beads, too.

I certainly love pink, but decided to combine the very vivid colour of this fabric with vintage lace, a doily, and cut out tiny flowers all dyed in a dusky purple hue to kind of dampen the bright pink a bit and not have the finished bag look like a gift from Ken to Barbie, lol. I´m thinking of crocheted handles here, too, in the yarn shown in the photo. What I like about both bags so far is the incredible richness of texture in them.

Next thing:

This is a new brooch design, I´d actually made some similar ones some years ago, found one of them recently and was inspired to do these. They´re kind of baroque I think with pearls and sparkles of gold and silver, but still suitable for the spring and summer season because of their colourway. I haven´t listed them yet, get in touch if you´re interested!

Of course I have someting on the go on my knitting machine, too:

This is a new lace pattern I´m trying, very intricate, and it´s going to be a shrug....well, if the knitting machine decides to behave and not suddenly cast off the whole thing as happened before....

Last thing is a little cosy project for our own home, I´ve decided to crochet a throw out of the many yarn left overs that are piling up in my studio.

I only started yesterday, but I´ll keep you updated on the progress. It´s going to measure 130 x 190 cm approximately so it´ll take me a while...

So, you see, lots of things going on and even more ideas!! I always have to laugh if people ask me where I get all the ideas from.... getting the ideas is not the problem, the problem is more not to get so overwhelmed by them that you end up paralysed because you don´t know where to even start ;-) But you know that probably only too well yourself, haha.

I actually have some exciting news to tell you but that´ll have to wait until next time (always nice with a little cliff hanger, isn´t it?!)

Happy New Year.... ;-)

2010-01-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

I know I´m a bit late , but not too late to wish all you guys a Happy New Year I hope! Bjarne was visiting his parents in Norway and I was in charge of the whole pet menagerie all by myself.... We have four horses....feeding, carrying water and mucking out .... plus walking the dogs - very time consuming, especially in this cold weather.... The horse droppings were rock-frozen to the ground so I had to bash them loose with a spade before I could shovel them into the wheelbarrow.... No time for blogging guys!! Luckily the cats only had to be fed....! Well, my man is back now and I have more time again!

Okay, let´s start with all the gorgeous Christmas presents I got this year!

Before Christmas Bjarne and I decided to buy this painting as a joint present.

It´s made by the lovely Rainey from the Josie Baggley Company and I simply love it!! It´s called "Alice`s White Rabbit" and contains steampunk elements & vintage ephemera. Make sure to visit her blog and website, her paintings and steampunk jewellery are gorgeous and both her blog and website are a fantastic visuel experience! Here you can see where I put it up:

Another present I´m very happy about came from my man - he gave me the delicious body powder "Pretty" from Elizabeth Arden. What a girlie-glamorous-daily luxury, and on top of it all it looks gorgeous on my vanity dresser!

Here you can see all my nice gifts arranged on the table in our conservatory. The Dita von Teese book was actually my present to Bjarne, but I enjoy it as much as he does - Dita is amazing and the photos are fantastic, she looks like a goddess from the 40ies.

Of course I made some things, too. I wanted to crochet a lampshade for our bedroom for ages, and finally, I got around to do it. Gives a very cosy light but is still bright enough to read a nice bed-time story ;-) The vintage porcelaine lamp foot is a fleamarket find.

I also made this scarf and matching brooch for my mother-in-law, it was her birthday at the beginning of January. I have used a technique where you arrange different kinds of yarn and fibres between layers of water soluble fabric and quilt the fibres together with the sewing machine. You never quite know how the result is going to be before you rinse the finished piece with water, but this one turned out nicely I think.

Last not least a little update from my Fleur de Bohème Etsy shop! I have just listed this merry crocheted Flower Necklace and matching bracelet - makes me think of a nice spring day!

I´ll be back next thursday with a Creative Space posting!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T06:50:00.000-08:00

Just want to wish all of you a merry happy wonderful Christmas! I´ve so much enjoyed reading your blogs and your nice comments and it has been a wonderful year in blog world for me! I´ve met so many lovely, excentric and inspiring people from all over the world that I didn´t even know existed! Getting in touch with you has been both a great source of inspiration and very encouraging, and I´m looking forward to see what you´re up to in 2010!

Here are some Christmas pictures, we actually have a white Christmas this year - wonderful!

Our Christmas tree with vintage American baubles from the fifties, crocheted flowers, Christmas owls and pearl garlands

Handmade cards for friends and family to give with their presents

Notice the angel - I made it when I was 5 or 6 years old ;-)

Vintage pink dresser with old birdcage, hortensia, fil de fer angel and candles, of course

In the evenings the conservatory looks like a place from a fairytale with lots of lit candles, shiny baubles and fairylights!

You can call this white Christmas I think!

Our train carriage in winter wonderland

Enjoy Christmas and see you soon!

My Creative Space.....

2009-12-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

My creative space this week is not so much about my work but more about decorating the house for Christmas, because I finally got around to making some nice little Christmas decorations.
I have decided to abandon the classic Advent-wreath this year and instead use some nice trays to display my favourite Christmas items. Here you see the decoration on our dining table, I have used a vintage Russian tray and filled it with nostalgic baubles, golden deers, a hyacinth in a beautiful porcelain cup (Marco Friis of course), a cone in a little vase and candles.

A little close-up of the deers, I love them - they have just the right kitschy appeal!

Over the dining table we have a vintage chandelier and obviously it needed to be decorated, too! Opulent baubles and a little colourful Christmas owl! I have bought lots of these owls in different colours as they are going to adorn our Christmas tree this year, together with vintage American baubles and crocheted flowers (which I still have to make..... lol).

This is the decoration on our coffee table. Baubles, another hyacinth, a nice glass with a tealight and a little Christmas tree made by an English artist who turns scrap metal into sculptures and small pieces of art. I was given to me by my friend Tracy and I´m looking forward every Christmas to get it out of the cupboard and use it in a decoration. I´m sorry that the picture is so dark but the weather is awful again - no chance to get a decent picture!

To see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog .

And then... slightly delayed... I want to announce the winner of the last give-away! The beautiful mother of pearl ring goes to...

Sandy Mastroni

Congratulations Sandy! And I´m happy she won as she is such a lovely person and makes the sweetest things! I bought this pillow of her recently, it is based on one of her drawings and features all kinds of vintage materials such as lace, buttons, trims and doily snippets. The cat in the little dress reminds me of my own cat Frasse, and I smile every time I look at it. Along with the pillow she sent a lovely bookmark and two postcards.

Please visit her Etsy shop and take a look at all the nice things she has for sale.

The next two give-aways are first taking place after Christmas as I´m simply too busy right now to keep on top of it all ;-)

Last thing I want to show you are these colourful brooches I made a while ago and which I´m going to list in my Etsy shop later this evening!

See you next thursday when I´m going to tell you more about the Christmas market I attended last weekend.

My Creative Space

2009-12-03T04:58:00.000-08:00

My creative space this week is mainly about getting things ready for a forthcoming Christmas fair this weekend. It takes place at an old castle not far away from where I live and I´m really curious how it´s going to be as it is the first time I participate.

One of the big challenges when you go to those fairs I think is how to present your work in the best possible way. I´m really struggling to find a good way to display my rings and finally came up with this solution:

I have used a vintage gold frame bought at a local car boot sale, lined it with pale pink silk and voilà - a new display for my button rings. What do you think?

As I told you a while ago I got this big bag full of the most beautiful mother of pearl buttons from a craft friend in Germany, the soft and subtle colours and different textures are simply amazing:

I thought I create some more rings for the craft fair, as the ones I have already made are mostly vintage bakelite buttons, and here is one example:

The pattern and colours of the mother of pearl are so intriguing, and I´m sorry that the picture doesn´t do them justice, but after two beautiful days with frost and sun it is raining again today and simply impossible to get good pictures! So typical!

I even re-vamped some giftboxes to make them look christmassy with a hint of nostalgia, I had bought these oldfashioned labels a while ago (I´m not sure if you would call them labels in English but can´t find a better word) and now glued them on my boxes and sprayed the boxes with goldglimmer.

Now my wares can be giftwrapped in the right Christmas style and make their way under some nicely decorated hristmas trees I hope!

I´ll better go now - I still have to finish off some brooches, clean the shelves and tables which I´m going to use to display my stuff and start packing everything! To see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog .

And, please, don´t forget this weeks

Blog Give - Away:

Another beautiful ring, three vintage mother of pearl buttons embellished with seedbeads and adhered to an adjustable silver-plated ring base.

To play along and have a chance to win you have to do the following:

1) If you aren´t a follower of my blog yet, join the follower list

2) Write about/mention my blog give-away, link to my blog and leave a comment here to let me know you have done so

3) Make sure I can contact you in case you´re the lucky winner - if you´re not commenting as a blogger leave your e-mail address

You can comment until next sunday evening. The winner of the second give-away is announced on monday, December 7, and the next give-away starts the same day. Good Luck!

And one last thing - pop around my new blog Extravaganzza Vintage Treasures dedicated to my love and interest for all things vintage, in particular fashion, jewellery and accessories. You will find beautiful pictures of vintage treasures as well as features about vintage related shops or topics and the newest items from my Extravaganzza etsy shop for vintage clothing and jewellery.

Blog Give Away .... Winner and New Round!

2009-11-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

The winner of the first blog give-away has just been drawn and it is....

Vic from Punky & Me!!!

Congratulations Vic, the pink Mohair Beauty is going to be send to Australia as soon as you mail me your address.

The next give-away is this beautiful ring:

Three vintage mother of pearl buttons embellished with seedbeads and adhered to an adjustable silver-plated ring base.

To play along and have a chance to win you have to do the following:

1) If you aren´t a follower of my blog yet, join the follower list

2) Write about/mention my blog give-away and link to my blog

3) Write a comment to this posting to let me know you have done so

4) Make sure I can contact you in case you´re the lucky winner - if you´re not commenting as a blogger leave your e-mail address

You can comment until next sunday evening. The winner of the second give-away is announced on monday, December 7, and the next give-away starts the same day. Good Luck!

Last thing I want to tell you is that I´ve started a new blog called Extravaganzza Vintage Treasures. This blog is dedicated to my love and interest for all things vintage, in particular fashion, jewellery and accessories and I also want to promote my Extravaganzza etsy shop for vintage clothing and jewellery. You will find beautiful pictures of vintage treasures as well as features about vintage related shops or topics. I would be happy if you would pop around, take a look and tell me what you think!

I´ll be back on wednesday with a posting about my creative space!

My Creative Space.......and Blog Give-Away

2009-11-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

After a couple of days on the knitting machine I decided to work on a new design for earrings today.

For a long time I have wanted to create earrings with a vintage feel and incorporate crochet work somehow into the design, but I was struggeling to achieve the desired expression. But suddenly, a few days ago, just before I went to bed, a vision of these earrings popped up in my head and today was the day to try and see if my idea would work! This was the first pair I made (with two pairs of wristwarmers awaiting the last finish in the background):

I tried different types of yarn but ended up using the same yarn as for the wristwarmers - it is thin and delicate but also a bit fluffy, and I actually like the contrast between the dainty filigree flower charms, the smooth gemstones and the textured yarn. I´m really pleased with the results! What do you think?

I was sitting in the conservatory the whole day and enjoyed working on these earrings so much! It´s such a gorgeous place, especially now in the winter where there´s a lack of natural light inside the house. Great place to work!

To see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog .

Blog Give-Away

Just want to remind you that I´m having a blog give-away every sunday in advent, and the first thing you can win is this this dainty Mohair Beauty Brooch in a nice pink colour:

To play along and have a chance to win you have to do the following:

1) If you aren´t a follower of my blog yet, you have to join the follower list

2) Take a look at my Fleur de Bohème etsy shop and write a comment on either this or the last posting, telling me which two items you like best and why. You are even welcome to comment other things regarding my shop and suggest improvements concerning f.ex. my pictures or item descriptions

3) I would be pleased if you would heart my etsy shop ;-)

4) Make sure I can contact you in case you´re the lucky winner - if you´re not commenting as a blogger leave your e-mail address

You can comment until sunday evening. The winner of the first give-away is announced on monday, November 30 and the next give-away starts the same day - so make sure to pop around on monday!

And..... make sure to pop around my etsy shop - I´m participating in the Etsy Holiday Sale and have reduced lots of stuff!!

Free Blog Give-Away and Delicate Crochet

2009-11-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

I just realized this morning that I have to get my free blog give-away started because next sunday is the first sunday in Advent!

But before I explain how you can participate, I want to do a little feature on one of my favourite artists and dear blog-friend Ivy from Edera Jewelry. I met Ivy here on blogspot - or was it flickr? - and I was instantly fascinated by her intriguing jewellery.

Ivy incorporates fine crochet and lacemaking techniques into her work and her sense of colours and textures is just amazing. Her jewellery collection is both elegant and romantic and she uses silk, gold and silver thread, embroidery, semiprecious stones, vintage beads, and handcrafted chains to create her unique and very feminine jewellery.

But Ivy isn´t just a very talented artist, she is also such a lovely person and has provided me with lots of help and advice on how to promote my work on blogspot and especially etsy - thank you very much Ivy!

Make sure to visit Ivys blog Edera Jewelry to see more of her beautiful jewellery and even take a look at her etsy shop as until December 1st, she is having a 25-50% off Sale on select items!

Free Blog Give-Away

Now let´s come to the blog give-away! As I have announced earlier, I´m going to have a free blog give-away every sunday in Advent, starting next sunday. The first item you can win is this dainty Mohair Beauty Brooch in a nice pink colour - perfect to add a splash of colour to your outfit on a grey winterday ;-)

To play along and have a chance to win you have to do the following:

1) If you aren´t a follower of my blog yet, you have to join the follower list

2) Take a look at my Fleur de Bohème etsy shop and write a comment to this posting, telling me which two items you like best and why. You are even welcome to comment other things regarding my shop and suggest improvements concerning f.ex. my pictures or item descriptions

3) I would be pleased if you would heart my etsy shop ;-)

4) Make sure I can contact you in case you´re the lucky winner - if you´re not commenting as a blogger leave your e-mail address

The winner of the first give-away is announced on monday, November 30 and the next give-away starts the same day!

Last thing I want to tell you is that the first pair of wristwarmers made it to my shop!

I´m happy to make them on order in the colours shown in my last creative space post (the wool cones behind the knitting machine), for more details see my etsy shop or contact me!

My Creative Space

2009-11-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the lovely Ivy from Edera Jewelry I have decided to join the "My Creative Space" postings.

This week I´m busy exploring the possibilities of my new knitting machine. I´ve put it up in the living room on a vintage chest of drawers, a very cosy place overlooking the daybed (with Snuff taking a nap) and the woodburner in the background.

A little close-up of the kitting machine, some of my yarn and the dusky pink lace scarf I was working on when I took the picture.

So far I have knitted a couple of scarves and matching wristwarmers in a beautiful lacy pattern.

I´m sorry that the pictures are a bit dark and blurry but the weather right now is hopeless if you want to take decent photographs - it´s raining and dark all the time!

I´m also making postcards for a forth coming Christmas fair, my table is covered with paper, lace, beads, sequins, buttons, trims and all kinds of stash at the moment!

To get myself in the right Christmas mood I decorated a vintage Russian tray with baubles, candles and hyacinths. A little close-up of the postcards and the decorated tray.

To see what other bloggers are working on in their creative spaces visit Kootoyos blog .

I´ll be back soon with details about my blog give-away and the feature I talked about in my last posting!

I´m dreaming of knitted dresses...

2009-11-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update after a very busy weekend where I laid hands on the last details of my order to Norway. I thought I show you some of my latest cuffs that are going to be send tomorrow.

A vibrant yellow-pink-orange cuff that was inspired by the dahlias in my garden.

The next two cuffs capture the more dusty still rich colours of an autumn day.

A glamorous version for the festive season – would even make a gorgeous wedding cuff I think.

I was visiting an old friend in Germany a couple of weeks ago, she is a weaver and designer and gave me some of the most gorgeous mother-of -pearl buttons she had left over. To be precise, she gave me a whole bag of them – thank you Brigitte! As you can see I made some rather glamorous rings with them.

I also created these rings, they are made of vintage bakelite buttons which are simply lovely with their subtle colours.

And here a picture of my "Mohair Beauties", sweet crocheted flower brooches just perfect to lighten up a grey winterday! Available in 8 colours in my etsy shop

Other news include the purchase of a knitting machine. I have thought about getting one for a long time but after having seen the film “Sequins” - french title "Brodeuses" - (which actually is about two embroiderers who are very different but make friends through the shared love for their craft ) I simply had to buy one! Why, you may ask, isn´t it about embroidery? Yes, but when I saw the green lacy knitted dress Claire is wearing in the last scene of the film I knew I wanted to make dresses and shawls like that!

Now I´m soon going to be the proud owner of a Brother KH 900 knitting machine (it is going to be delivered on Tuesday). I signed up for a course next weekend and going to keep you ajour with my lace knitting progress! And - if you haven´t seen the film go and get it! It´s so typical french with a good plot and it´s simply a feast for the eyes! It´s my favourite film ever, bien sur.

I´ll be back soon with a little feature about one of my dear blogfriends and favourite artists!

Baroque and Quirky

2009-10-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Shame on me – what a bad blogger I am! I can´t believe it, but it´s three months since I last updated my blog!! Sorry to all of my followers, but it´s not only laziness but more a combination of incredibly much work and serious illness in our family, but luckily it looks as if things are going the right way now.

While my summershop was open a Norwegian girl, who turned out to be the owner of a beautiful shop just outside Oslo, came around and was really enthusiastic about my stuff, and – she placed a really big order due to deliver in October! So now you can figure out what kept me so busy!

But my true agenda for today is a different one. It was my birthday in September and, well, I´ve reached an age where it´s not unconditionally fun any more to have birthday, because it actually proves you are getting OLDER. But, the good thing still is – you get PRESENTS!! And I love presents!

My lovely parents had asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and without hesitating I had answered that I wanted some of the gorgeous pieces of the Danish ceramist Marco Friis. He is one of my favourite ceramists and his work is just amazing. Baroque, opulent, quirky and subtle – all at the same time.

Marco Friis really knows how to combine styles from Romantic to Baroque with clean, modern lines and in 2006 he was awarded the Danish Craft Prize by her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. Often people tend to think that these beautiful pieces have been created by a woman, but there definitely is nothing effeminate about Marco Friis – when you enter his stylish little combined studio and shop in the Latin Quarter in the heart of Århus, you are greeted by a tall, blond and handsome guy who likes to chat and makes you feel welcome.

These are two of the pieces I have chosen for my birthday present, and I LOVE them! The pictures don´t really do them justice as it was a grey day not suitable for photographing, but I simply had to update my blog today. I have to admit that I haven´t used the cup for my daily cup of tea yet – although Marco emphasized that his ceramics are made for daily use and can be put in the dishwasher – but then this is easy for him to say!!! If he breaks a cup he can just make himself a new one, whilst I have to wait for my next birthday, lol.

For further information visit his website www.marcofriis.dk and take a closer look at his opulent cups and quirky bambi- and rabbitbowls in his showroom! And should you ever come to Århus make sure to visit his cosy and stylish shop in the Latin Quarter, Badstuegade 16.

Last not least: to make up for my long blog absence I have decided to have a free blog give-away all four Sundays before Christmas – the give-away presents include a ring, a pair of earrings and two brooches, all of them handcrafted by me, of course! More about this next time!

Train update

2009-07-13T13:25:00.001-07:00

Just want to give you a quick update on how it´s going with my summershop - and thanks to all of you who left such nice and encouraging coments and a special thanks to Mandarine d´Italie and Rafaela Tomazzoni who featured me on their blogs.

It has been going well so far, it was a good decision to convert the train carriage into a shop/gallery space and I get a lot of positive feedback from the people who come around. I just wish more people would find out here but having said that I have actually sold quite well and I even got commissions for a customized slip dress and two bags so I am quite busy ;-)

Last year I bought some plain white boxes for my wares which I decided to pimp a bit so these are my new Fleur de Boheme giftboxes:

I even made Fleur de Boheme badges in different colours which I give away to customers to help them remember me and people seem to like them - haven´t taken a picture of them yet but will post one later.

Last not least two pictures from the exhibition at my friend Tracys gallery, the space is much different from my own venue but it´s such a beautiful gallery and my things look very nice there I think.

I haven´t asked the other artists yet if it´s alright for them that I post pictures of their work on my blog, but I hope I can show you their work in my next posting.

Train in Vain ;-)

2009-07-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy the last weeks as I had to get everything ready for my summer shop in our vintage train carriage. I opened last thursday and I´m really happy with the result. I painted the table, bench and steps I use to display my bouquets of flowers from the garden in a nice lavender-blue shade to make it look cosy and inviting to visitors.

The rough style of the carriage creates a very interesting contrast to my handcrafted textiles and jewellery and the venue has a nice shabby chic feel to it.

My worktable with jewellery and accessories in the corner.

Vintage linen and tableclothes and in the mirror a peek of my vintage dresses.

Dainty summer scarves and my embroidered jewellery.

We had a heat wave the last couple of days, so there weren´t particularly many customers yet - everyone was at the beach I suppose, but I hope more people will come around during the next weeks. My summer shop was mentioned in one of the Danish lifestyle and interior mags, they had even put two nice pictures in, so I hope that´ll give me some extra customers.

I´m also exhibiting with three other artists in my friend Tracys gallery, I´ll post some pictures of that exhibition soon - the three other girls make fantastic stuff, too.

That was all for now - enjoy the summer!

Busy times and new opportunities!

2009-06-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

I´ve really been busy these last weeks! My parents visited us last week, which was really nice. I had such a great time with my mother, she is a creative mind too and we made jewellery together, went shopping and chatted a lot. And she ironed all the clothes and linen that had piled up for weeks in my laundry basket.... Here´s a picture of us, doesn´t she look gorgeous? She is 66 years old, who would believe that! Hope I have inherited her good genes!!

I´ve been stressing around a bit, I have to deliver my work for the first exhibition on friday, I open my own summershop in the train carriage the 1. of july (and the carriage still has to be cleaned, some of the furniture I use for displaying my work has to be painted and there are some reparations to be done on the boards of the carriage) and then there is also the exhibition at my friend Tracys gallery....

Anyway, I managed to finish two re-vamped vintage slips and made a couple of headbands using some of my vintage millinery flowers.

I even found the time for a little brocante tour last saturday. Here are some pictures from the first place we visited, an old farmhouse that used to be a pub in a tiny cosy village - so typical Danish!

They had mostly old china, glassware and silverware, but I managed to find these beautiful old tins and the funny small forks.

We decided to have a cup of tea in Ebeltoft, a small town nearby, and popped around another antique store. As you maybe can see in the picture, it´s quite a shabby venue, but packed with all kinds of vintage stuff.

I rummaged through a basket full of all kinds of small items and found these nice old pearlnecklaces, beads and jewellery findings. Great stash to re-use in my work!

After that we went to the café, and on the way I discovered that in one of the old warehouses someone had opened a combined studio and vintage clothing shop. Of course I had to check it out, and I found a nice black dress from the 50ies, quite hard to find in bigger sizes so I am really enthusiastic about my find!! The owner, who is a painter, actually recognized me, she had been at my summershop. We started to chat and she asked if I was interested in doing a vintage fashion show with her at the local festival the last weekend in July and I said I was indeed! We agreed we would show both vintage dresses, my re-vamped vintage slips and tops and my handcrafted textile jewellery. Quite exciting, I´ve never tried that before.

And, there are more good news: she actually rents the studio for a very reasonable sum and told me the owner was interested to rent out more of the space, so I´m going to meet him on thursday to discuss the possibilities. My plan is to gather four or five artists/crafters and use some of the space in the warehouse as a combined studio and shop. By sharing the rent we can keep the costs low, which is important, because Ebeltoft is heaving with tourists from June to September - but the rest of the year it´s more or less dead, so you have to earn your money during the summermonths.

Well, as you can see - lots of things going on at the moment - I´ll keep you informed ;-)

Oh - about the peacocks - they actually belong to a farm outside our village, the people haven´t had them long and obviously the peacocks decided that it was time to take a closer look at the surroundings ;-).

Peacockblue Surprise

2009-05-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had quite unusual visitors.... these two beautiful peacocks!

They first landed on the roof of our conservatory......

Then I served them diner in the courtyard and tried to persuade them that they had found the perfect home...

After that they took a rest on the roof of our vintage train carriage....

And then they spent the rest of the day wandering around the garden (and, although I loved them, I was slightly nervous what they might do to the vegetable garden - but they didn´t touch anything!)

Unfortunately they left our garden in the evening, but tonight I saw them on the roof of our neighbours house, and not only two but actually three peacocks!! It seems as if they have "adopted" the village, and no one knows where they are coming from. I hope they stay around, I always wanted to have peacocks! (And I hope they drop some of their beautiful blue feathers next time they come into my garden)

Busy Springtime

2009-05-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

I can´t believe it´s three weeks ago I published my last post!! But it´s so much to do right now -my parents are coming next weekend, so I had to tidy up the guest room and I even moved some furniture around and re-arranged some of my still lives. Here you see a collection of ceramics made by a friend of mine (and my cat eye glasses from the 60ies - I love them!!).

I also gave my beloved collection of vintage jewellery a good clean up and picked some flowers in the garden - the result turned out nicely I think.

There is still a lot of work in the garden, although I have to say the garden really looks great this year, espacially my vegetable patch. Took this picture in the greenhouse today, lots of flowers waiting to be planted in my flower tubs.

I have been a bit frustrated lately because I can´t exactly say that I sell massively well on etsy... I really make a big effort to network, take good pictures and upload new items regularly, which is quite time consuming, because I both have to supply my Fleur de Boheme shop with my own work and my Extravaganzza shop where I sell vintage clothes and jewellery. I sold my first handcrafted pieces a couple of days ago to Canada, the lace scarf and matching brooch shown below.

Of course that was nice, and the vintage shop is doing slightly better, but still....
I find two things difficult, the first one is to get enough traffic on the sites and the second one is the fact that I live in the most expensive country in Europe (probably one of the most expensive countries in the world) and I feel I just can´t compete with American prices at all!! We pay 49% taxes in Denmark, the prices for food are hideous and supplies are expensive too! I like where I´m living, but I find the fact that everything is so expensive really hard to accept!

Anyway, I reduced the prices on most of my items on etsy a while ago to see if that would make a difference, and I want to ask you a little favour: Would you take a look at my shops and give me feedback concerning my pricing?
I booked a few showcase spots to increase shop awareness, and the storque and accessories showcases were quite successful and gave me new followers, whilst the vintage showcase was a flop I would say. I also tried two snatch a treasury many times now because I think that´s a good way of networking, but it just seems impossible!

My newest item in my shop are these whimsical flowerbrooches - they´re almost like butterflies and I really like the picture ;-)

Well, to finish the etsy talk - if anyone out there has more tips concerning how to become a successful etsy seller, I would be grateful!

Talking about my work - I didn´t get done too much but I finished another brooch and I am now working on a bracelet, both for my summer exhibition - that´s the reason why they´re not in my etsy shop yet ;-)

Last year I started an education in creative embroidery, it´s a mixture of short courses and distance learning and it takes three years. I did the second module a couple of weeks ago, and now I have lots of projects to finish before the next module in september. The topic of the last module was nature, and one of the pieces I did was this embroidery inspired by birchbark. It includes printing, different layers of fabric, machine and handembroidery. I´m not sure if it´s finished yet, I might embellish it with beads in some places.

I even saw a fascinating exhibition while I was away for the embroidery course. It featured the work of the Danish artist Marie-Louise Otte who creates the most scrumptious ballet costumes made of paper, gold leaf, svarowski stones and other vintage materials. I hope to be able to write more about her next time and to show you some pictures of her amazing sculptures - I´m waiting to get her permission to show pictures of her work here on my blog.

I can´t give you any update about the article in "Isabellas" yet. I bought the newest magazine and was sooo disappointed because there wasn´t any article featuring interesting craft and vintage shops in Denmark - until I found out that the article is first due in the next issue which doesn´t come out before july ;-)

So, enjoy this lovely springtime - see you soon!

Springtime

2009-04-30T02:37:00.000-07:00

I think it´s time for me to write on my blog again - I´ve been so busy in the garden I haven´t had time for much else really. We have a huge cottage garden with many roses, hortensia, mixed borders, fruit trees and a big potager where I grow our vegetables, so there is plenty of work in the spring - but I love being out there digging, sowing and planting! My granny had a big garden and I loved being there as a child, the garden was next to a big field full of pansies that belonged to a nursery nearby, and pansies still are my favourite spring flowers.

Every spring I´m so looking forward to see the fruit trees in full bloom, and I especially love our old japanese cherry tree with the beautiful pink flowers that look gorgeous with the ferns in the border in the background.

My next garden project is getting chicken and building a little hen house, I think it´s so cosy with chicken in the garden but we have to build a solid hen house and chicken yard as we have many foxes around.
I even want to show you a picture of our three horses, they are grazing on the little field by our house right now, but soon they are going to their summer grazing - I´ll miss having them so close and looking at them while I´m gardening.

Although I have been very busy in the garden I managed to do some creative work, I´m still working on the Marie Antoinette theme that is going to be exhibited in the summer. The first piece is a pendant, made of vintage lace, tulle and applique, some of them hand dyed, and embellished with pearls from a vintage pearl necklace, glassbeads, a mother of pearl flower and hand embroidery. I´m not sure about the chain yet, might be either vintage lace or beads and pearls - I have to play around with some ideas!

I also made this neckpiece, a combination of vintage lace and a beautiful hand dyed vintage applique adorned with lots of glassbeads, pearls, sequins, mother of pearl buttons and hand embroidery.

A couple of days ago, something really exciting happened! During the summermonths I have a little shop in our old train carriage where I sell my craft work, vintage dresses, vintage china and tablewear and things from the garden - flowers, jam etc. When I checked my mobile, there was a message from an editor of the Danish interior and lifestyle magazine "Isabellas".

She asked me to call her back because she had found my website and asked if I could supply her with some pictures of the shop as she was writing an article about craft- and vintage shops in the countryside and wanted to include me!! I sent her some pictures of the shop and my work and now I cross fingers she really writes about me - that would be so fantastic as it is a great mag and would give me some extra customers!

Last not least I was awarded the lemonade award by lovely Nicki from "Curious Me" (http://nicki-curiousme.blogspot.com/) - check her blog, it´s full of gorgeous pictures and beautiful crafty things! It´s my first award and I´m really happy about it - thank you, Nicki!

A Lemonade Award is given to bloggers that you feel show a positive attitude and/or gratitude. Here's how it works:

1.Put the logo on your blog or post
2.Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great Gratitude and/or Attitude.
3.Be sure to list and link your nominees within your post.
4.Let them know they have received this award by leaving a comment on their blog.
5.Nominate your favorites and link to your post.

These are the blogs that I want to nominate:

1) oldflowers4me (http://oldflowers4me.blogspot.com/)
2) The Silly BooDilly (http://thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com/)
3) Hens Teeth (http://hensteethart.blogspot.com/)
4) Boboho (http://tracy-boboho.blogspot.com/)
5) Roses Radishes and Rubbish (http://rosesradishesandrubbish.blogspot.com/)
6) Edera Crocheted Jewelry (http://edera-faerie.blogspot.com/)
7) Kaylovesvintage (http://kaylovesvintage.blogspot.com/)
8) Katinka Pinka (http://katinkapinka.blogspot.com/)
9) Babaprincesse (http://babaprincesse.blogspot.com/)
10) Sticky Kitten (http://stickykittenz.blogspot.com/)

Well, I´m off now to do some gardening ;-)

Neglected Treasures

2009-03-29T13:18:00.000-07:00

The birds are singing, the days are getting longer - spring is on its way!! Made me want to redecorate a bit, so I changed the outfit on my dummy:

I love the hat, it´s so springy I think, with the vibrant pink and the flowers! It´s a fleamarket find from Germany and it´s very small, so I only use it for decoration purpose.

Even in the garden there are signs of spring, I´ll have to give the garden a good clear up over Easter.

I still fetch fresh vegetables from last years growing season, mainly green cabbage and leek. They are great winter vegetables - I didn´t even cover them over winter.

But let´s come to the neglected treasures.I had a little raid around my favourite vintage shops on Saturday, and of course lots of things made it home with me!

Some nice tins (again ;-) - but can you ever have enough??), an old sewing box like the one my granny had, a charming old mirror, lace, fabric and some small bits´n bobs.

In the second shop I found a whole box of sewing equipment - thread, embroidery yarn, crochet yarn, needles, fabric and these adorable needlecases!

I even found some unused stockings from the 60ies with the most delicate pattern! So naughty ;-)

Isn´t that beaded lace gorgeous? And the buttons will make beautiful centrepieces for a brooch or a pendant.

The woman who owns the shop where I found all the sewing equipment, some nice fabric, buttons and the stockings told me it all came from the same old lady. She had stored everything carefully, neatly wrapped and put away, there had even been old fashion magazines from the 30ies and 40ies and vintage slips but they were sold already (AARRGH - how annoying!!!). And although I was ever so happy having found such beautiful and useful things, it made me sad to think about the fact that this old ladies life now was for sale in a vintage warehouse, that none of her relatives appreciated the treasures she had collected and stored so carefully for many years enough to want to keep them. Well, at least some of it found a new loving home!

Home Sweet Home...

2009-03-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

I recently set up my flickr photostream and my God, it´s addictive!! But I still found time for a little bit of shopping, bumped into this great flower-fairylights in the local shop and had to have them! They look nice draped around my tailors dummy with the vintage slip, don´t you think?

The cupboard is a fleamarket find that I´ve painted in a nice pale yellow shade and the scarf is a gift from my friend Tracy.

I made some more pictures of our home and my favourite vintage goodies for the flickr site.

Here you see a corner of our living room. On the blue cabinet a collection of beautiful ceramics made by my friend Laila Witt. The painting is the work of another friend of mine and the lovely vintage Chinese lantern was given to me by my generous and dear friend Tracy who had found it during a holiday in Brighton.

Some vintage goodies from my studio. The mirror is a fleamarket find as is the beautiful tin, the doilies and the vintage pearl necklace. The metal lace in the foreground is just stunning and comes from France and the other lace is a mix of ebay and fleamarket finds.

I have to show you this, too. It is a vintage angel from the 20ies and it comes from my home country, Germany. She looks like a beautiful fairy as she looks down from the top of my vintage Dutch mirror. I found her on ebay, the picture was quite bad so I didn´t really know what I had purchased befor the parcel arrived and oh so happy I was when I saw her! Look at the teeny tiny candle!! The seller had a blond version too and I´m so cross with myself I didn´t buy this one too!!! I guess I just have to enjoy the one I have.

The last two things I want to show you is recent work - I don´t want you to believe I´ve been lazy! The picture above shows my latest cuff. It´s built around a piece of vintage jewellery and made of layered silk and lace and embellished with a vintage appliqué, pearls of an old necklace, glassbeads and hand embroidery. The cuff was inspired by Sophia Coppolas film "Marie Antoinette" which I recently saw again.

This brooch is inspired by "Marie Antoinette", too. It´s made of a lacy vintage serviet ring combined with hand dyed tulle and embellished with lace, sequins, trim and beads.

If you want to see more, check my flickr photostream. See you soon!

Waiting for the spring....

2009-03-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of myself - spent the whole afternoon yesterday cleaning our lovely conservatory and getting it ready for the spring.

We don´t use it in the cold wintermonths as it is very expensive to heat, but from the middle of march the sun is powerful enough to warm it up and we put the floor heating on, too. So I spent a wonderful sunny afternoon getting everything ready, I haven´t put the blankets and cushions out yet as it is still quite cold and I don´t want them to get damp, but apart from that everything is ready. I´m so looking forward to sitting out there drinking tea or a glass of wine, it´s my favourite room from march to octobre where I spend most of the time when I´m in the house and not in the garden. If you want to see more of our conservatory and the rest of the house, take a look at boboho where our home is featured and take a walk around our Danish farmhouse ;-)

The other thing I want to show you is this - I love flowers, so what more can I ask for?

I bought this gorgeous bracelet and the matching earrings on etsy from moonlilydesigns and oh how thrilled I was when I opened the parcel this morning!! Such delicate beadwork! Check out her shop.

So - I am definitely in the right mood for spring!

Furry Friends and woolly bits ;-)

2009-03-05T11:35:00.000-08:00

Oh oh I have been a lazy blogger - maybe someone missed me out there? Yes? That´s nice! This time I want to show you pictures of my furry friends - our gorgeous cats and dogs (the horses come later!) For us they are dear members of the family and they enjoy quite a lot of privileges - like drinking out of the vases with flowers and squashing them... which sometimes leads to nice pictures though!

Here you see Kveiting, our 10 year old white Norwegian - he adopted us when we lived in Norway and what a great cat he is! Always gentle and calm but still incredibly confident.

And here we have Frasse, 13 years old and a lovely little stripy tiger. He moved with us from Germany - we are a truly international family with me, Frasse and our dog Snuff being German, my Partner Bjarne, Kveiting and Forest Cat Frida being Norwegian and last not least our Dane, Border Collie Mix Gustav.

No, this is NOT an enormous beaver with very small ears but our 6 year old Norwegian Forest Cat Frida. We got her from the animal rescue centre in Kristiansand, Norway and she is quite special (read: she´s lost the plot a bit), but a real beauty and obviously the picture doesn´t do her justice - I am going to post another one later, I just think it is so funny I had to share it with you! So sorry, Frida ;-)

Well, how many dogs have their own bed, boudoir style with tons of cushions... Ours do! They love it - and we have the big corner sofa for ourselves, at least sometimes! The daybed from the 20s is a fleemarket find and the cushions are of course my own design! The lazy furry creature to the left is Snuff, our gorgeous Collie/Shepard/Retriever/Elkhound/Husky Mix. He is such a great dog, self confident, patient and always friendly. He is 12 years old but still going strong! The other doggy is Gustav, our 6 year old Border Collie Mix. Do you know the New Zealand comic strip Footrot Flats? Dog, the protagonist - that´s him! He loves herding the cats, and we even caught him herding snails in the summer, it´s true!! He is quite demanding, but his love and devotion are immeasurable and I´m so happy he is part of our family, he makes me laugh all the time with his crazy ideas and naive enthusiasm for the world around him.

So far the furry friends, let´s come to the woolly bits! I want to show you some of my crochet pieces, first two lamps I made a while ago. The red one you see in the picture to the left is quite quirky and a little bit over the top, but I love it! I stripped an old lampshade and crocheted a new cover in a lovely raspberry red. The foot is vintage and a carboot-sale find and the pink, blue and green flowers add to the kitsch appeal of the lamp.

The other lamp I want to show you is kind of oriental inspired. I actually started with the beautiful beaded trim in eau de nile and purple colours, chose a matching cotton yarn and combined the shade with a vintage metal foot. This lamp is more elegant and gives a very nice light.

What I especially like with crocheted lampshades is their great texture and the pattern that emerges when you switch on the lamp. Everyone should at least have one crocheted lamp!!

It´s quite late now so the rest of the wooly bits follow soon!!

Creatures of Comfort

2009-02-23T00:11:00.000-08:00

We had such a lot of snow in the weekend, it was amazing! Went for a walk with the doggies on saturday and it was all so beautiful and calm with the forest covered in snow. And then... saturday night.... it suddenly became 3 or 4 degrees above zero and today everything has gone!

If I can´t have snow I want it to be spring! We have a lovely conservatory that we do not use in the winter because it is quite expensive to heat it up during the dark wintermonth, but from March onwards we can sit out there on sunny days and oh what I´m looking forward to it! It´s like being out in the garden, everything is flooded with light and I love sitting there with my embroidery or crochet work!

Talking about spring and happy days, I want to show you one of my favourite artpieces, this lovely creature made by the British artist Julie Arkell which truly makes me happy every time I look at it! I purchased it some three years ago when Julie was exhibiting at my friend Tracys gallery, and it is safely placed high up in the shelves between my merry vintage English china as Gustav, our Border Collie Mix, has a sometimes unfortunate love for everything made of paper.... I even had the pleasure to meet Julie and her lovely husband as she was staying here in Denmark to be present at the opening of the exhibition, and what a great and inspiring person she is! She works with paper maché, knitting, embroidery, vintage fabric, ephemera, buttons and beads and her intriguing work employs naivity, sentiment and nostalgia. She really creates a universe of her own with her part human, part animal creatures and I find her work both very eccentric and very English - in the best imaginable way.

A book about Julie Arkell and her work has been published in 2004 by The Gallery, Ruthin Craft Centre and it is not only a fantastic visual experience but very interesting reading, too. The book is called "Julie Arkell: Home" and it is packed with pictures of her amazing work and her cosy studio. I regularly flick through it because it is a never ending source of inspiration. Julie does not have her own website, but a lot of sites have featured her work so you should be able to google her if you want to see more!
The picture also shows a collection of my vintage buckles and the dusky purple belt I made a couple of weeks ago - the colour goes perfectly along with the book cover I think ;-)

I even want to show you some of my own work, I did these embroideries before christmas and it is the first time I have incorporated mixed media techniques in my work. I was inspired by Beryl Taylors book "Mixed Media Explorations" that I had found while surfing on amazon and considered interesting enough to order. And what a good decision! Beryl is an English artist who moved to the United States a couple of years ago and her work is very detailed and combines lots of different techniques that inspired me to do the pieces shown in the pictures.

The embroideries are based on paper that I have either painted or ironed metal foil on and consist of many layers of organza and tulle fabric combined with cut out details from vintage doilies, waxed paper, vintage buttons, beadwork, some gold glimmer, metallic rub-on and hand- and machine embroidery. In the piece shown in the picture above I even used puff up paint and medallions made of friendly plastic imprinted with a stamp. I enjoyed so much working with these different techniques and I plan to make a whole series of small embroideries based on those techniques using details from vintage doilies, buttons and maybe jewellery findings. The problem is as always - time!!! So many projects and ideas buzzing around in my head it´s hard to get everything structured not to talk about getting it realized!! Some of you might be familiar with the problem.....

Treasure

2009-02-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Ebeltoft, a small town nearby, to do the weekend-shopping. I popped around my favourite vintage shop and how lucky I did so!! As you can see in the picture, I found treasure! A whole stack of beautiful doilies, four fantastic old tins (I specially love the small square one in the foreground), a rhinestone buckle and some nice buttons, beads and pearls from a vintage necklace.
It is such a nice shop, and the owner is so friendly and cosy to chat with. What a great start to the weekend!

I have been a busy bee this week and continued
working on my different button projects.
We have a big dining table and it is a
complete creative mess at the moment, as the picture illustrates ;-). The workspace in my studio is simply not big enough for this kind of work where you need so many materials at hand all the time.

I have almost finished my seafoam breeze cuff and only need to line it, I´m really happy with the result and of course I want to share the picture with you! The subtle shades of aqua and turquoise combined with splashes of pink, yellow and orange make me think of relaxed summerdays on the beach - I´m looking so much forward to it! But right now we have temperatures below zero so the prospect of jumping into the cool water seems very far away....

While I have been working on the cuffs suddenly visions of kitschy, candy button rings emerged in my head, and of course the idea had to be carried out immediately! I think the rings are very funny, they have a fabulous kitsch appeal to them and they make quirky and eyecatching accessories. Three of them are for sale in my etsy shop, the other ones are going to be sent to a craft shop in England that is interested in stocking my work. I even have to finish some brooches that are going to be sent to England, but I am waiting for the broochpins I have ordered. Good thing is, if the rings should prove to be popular they are not as time-consuming to create as many of my other work and I should be able to make some money on them ;-)

Apart from all this I am working on an art event together with my friend Tracy Nors (check her blog tracy-boboho.blogspot.com for her great artwork and her website www.boboho.com to see and read about the hottest interior trends). We want to launch a pompom project, inspired by Elvis Robertson, and after having contacted her we hope to be able to turn it into an international event. I am going to write more about it next time, maybe someone out there wants to join in? In the meantime, check Elvis` blog www.pompomproject.blogspot.com

More buttons... and doilies!

2009-02-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got another parcel filled with the most scrumptious vintage buttons, so I spent the last two days making this merry cuff. I first layered pale purple wool-fabric, tulle and hand-dyed lace and then embellished the cuff with lots of buttons and glassbeads. The lining is made of vintage liberty fabric. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed every moment! I called it "Purple Rainbow Cuff" and I have actually decided to keep it for myself - I just love the purple and pink shades and think we will have many happy hours together!

I am now working on another cuff in blue-green-turquoise shades that is going to be called "Seafoam Breeze Cuff". This one will be for sale in my etsy shop, so keep looking there if you are interested!

I even made another piece for myself a couple of weeks ago, the scarf you can see in the picture on the left. I dyed vintage doilies in shades of green and pink and crocheted a black edging around each of them. Afterwards the doilies were sewn together by hand. I used mohair yarn and the fluffy effect creates an interesting contrast to the cotton doilies , but I have to say that cotton yarn works better and gives a stronger scarf.

It is incredible how the doilies change character when dyed and used in another context. They make a truly bohemian accessory and the scarf is my favourite right now!

If you like vintage stuff and bohemian style, also in interiors, you have to take a look at one of my favourite websites: Lyn Gardeners Empire Vintage, www.empirevintage.com.au/

Lyn is an Australian stylist and her home and shop have been featured in several interior magazines like Elle Interior. To me she is a real style ikon with her characteristic big hair and unique style. Her vintage universe is very feminine and sophisticated and she uses nothing but authentic vintage furniture, fashion and curiosities in her work.

I love her big hair and still try to figure out how she styles it, having dark curly hair myself I would love to adapt her hairstyle!! I think she uses a hairpiece and her hair is only just below shoulder-length whilst mine is waist-long which makes it harder to create that fluffy "bird nest" of hers!!

Winter Days...

2009-02-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

It has been really cold and stormy the last days, so I have been spending a lot of time in front of the computer listing nice things in my recently set up etsy shop. Nevertheless, being the lucky owner of two lovely dogs and three horses I couldn´t escape the elements completely - the horses need to be fed and Gustav the Border Collie mix needs his exercise (Snuff, our old dog wouldn´t mind to spend the whole day in front of the log burner!). Even the cats couldn`t be bothered to go out and had lazy days on the bed.... on the sofa.... or in my studio!

Today I received a parcel with bright colourful vintage buttons, and a couple of days ago I got my beautiful vintage rhinestone buckles found on ebay, and I have many ideas what to use them for. I have already crocheted a nice dusky purple belt embellished with mother of pearl buttons and glass beads, and it looks beautiful with the rhinestone buckle I think.

I even made a couple of bracelets from the last lot of doilies and lace that I have hand-dyed. I have started to use brighter colours in my work and I´m really happy with the results so far! Makes me think of the spring, birds singing, sunshine.... For the bracelet shown in the picture I have only used vintage materials. First I layered hand-dyed tulle and lace and burnt the edges of the tulle fabric for a rougher look. Then I put on turqoise flowers cut out of a vintage tablecloth. I handstitched the edge of the flowers with thick embroidery thread in different colours that I had been lucky to find in a charity shop and embellished it with vintage buttons and sparkly glassbeads. The bracelet is lined with vintage fabric in candy colours.

Finally got started....

2009-02-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

So I finally got my blog started ;-) It took me a while to understand how things work, but from now on I am going to tell about my ongoing projects and artists/websites/events that inspire me.

The picture shows one of my current projects, I am working with vintage doilies and slips which I hand-dye, embellish with beads and vintage buttons and transform into something new! The turquoise slip is not finished yet, I have only pinned the doilies on so far and yet have to do the sewing and embellishing. I will keep you informed how things develop!