Fleur de Bohème on the Road

Summer is over, so is the tourist season, and it has become rather quiet in my little shop. So I´ve decided to spread the word and attend a couple of craft shows, the last one in Århus, the second largest city in Denmark. It was called "Craft, Kitsch and Vintage" and I thought I show you a couple of pictures.

What I always find challenging with these shows, is that you have very limited space to present your goodies, and that things should be rather easy to set up and safe to transport. So I came up with a new solution for my button rings:

I used a vintage tin and rolls of lace and fabric and now have storage and a pretty presentation all in one!

Here two pictures of my little stall:

The location of the market was really beautiful, as it took place in a historic building that used to be a riding hall and it is full of rustic charme and has lots of atmosphere. The stalls were built from vintage scaffolding which looked very good.

And the best - I had lovely company the whole weekend as I shared a stall with visual artist Eeli-Ethel Polli who is born Estonian but lives in Denmark now. Eeli is a member of the third generation of  Estonian artists and creates wonderful prints and stunning mixed media paintings. I recommend you to pop around her website and take a look at her fantastic work. Here she is smiling for the camera:

 

And last not least a picture of my humble self - the hall wasn´t heated and it was freezing cold, so no idea how I managed to look so happy!

 

See you soon - and welcome to my new followers!

Summertime

So I´m back....finally. I know I´d promised to update my blog once a month, but somehow this isn´t happening ;-) At least not during the summer when there´s so much to do with my shop, the garden and a house full of critters!

I can´t tell you how happy I am with my renovated train carriage! The space works perfectly with the combination of my own designs and the vintage stuff, and I get more and more people stopping by although I´m far out in the country.

 

I´m not as productive as I wish, because I keep the shop open as much as possible during the summer when there are lots of tourists, but I do manage to make new things of course. I´m very proud of this cushion featuring lots of handembroidery and vintage lace + doilies:

 This is another brandnew item, a very luscious flower made from distressed organza and tulle. I´m going to play around a bit and try out vintage lace and distressed fabric and various sizes, but I can see them worn as hair accessories, brooches, on fascinators or dresses.

 Unfortunately, the summer has been a big disappointment so far. Too cold, too wet, not enough sun at all. And my garden is invaded by slugs, but somehow the plants survive (at least some of them!) and my hortensia are fantastic this year - there are hundred of flowers on them and they´re not even in full bloom yet.

Even the veg patch looks not too bad, although the slugs have eaten half of my beloved dahlia. But there are lots oft soft fruit, cabbage, celeriac and courgettes. Not sure about the pumpkins as it´s not very warm. 

Despite the cold and rainy weather I try to make the most out of the summer - going for a swim in the sea, relaxing in the hammock on sunny days, having the occasional barbecue, taking bikerides with my dog Gustav.... I even managed to get away for some days and visit dOCUMENTA 13 which takes place in my hometown Kassel every five years. It´s the biggest exhibition of contemporary art worldwide and the city is full of life and interesting people and, surprise surprise, art! Of course I saw my family, and also an old friend I´d found on facebook after more than 20 years which was really fun.

Before I go, just a little picture of the newest addition to the family: four bantam chickens that I hope will help me keep the slugs at bay by eating the baby slugs and eggs. And of course supply me with nice free range eggs once they´re grown up!

We turned an old wooden playhouse into a henhouse and I painted it in dusky shade of duck egg blue, so they have a very cosy home indeed! Once they have settled in they´ll roam our big garden and the horse field, looking forward to see them foraging in the free!

Enjoy your summer and see you soon!

A Fairytale World....

As I promised last time, I want to feature the wonderful Gitte Lyng Sørensen from Wonderwho in Århus. She is a knitwear designer and truly has created a universe of her own. Stepping into her 300m2 combined studio and shop in a former factory is like opening the door to Alice´s wonderland:

picture courtesy of WonderWho/ Gitte Lyng Sørensen

Gittes own handknitted dresses, cardigans and shawls and a fine selection of vintage accessories, shoes and casual dresses also designed by Gitte.

picture courtesy of WonderWho/ Gitte Lyng Sørensen

The old loft is a fantastic space with incredibly high ceilings, and the place is crammed with Gittes fantastic design so you feel as if you could get lost in all the beauty and glamour that is spread out on racks and shelves.

picture courtesy of WonderWho/ Gitte Lyng Sørensen

Gitte herself is the most welcoming and inspiring person you can imagine, offering visitors a cup of tea and make you feel at home in her fairytale world. Here are a couple of my favourite pieces from her collections:

picture courtesy of WonderWho/ Gitte Lyng Sørensen

picture courtesy of WonderWho/ Gitte Lyng Sørensen

If you like Gittes creations, visit the WonderWho website - I ´m sure she will be happy to post overseas. And if you come to Århus, make sure to visit her at Nørrebrogade 6, 8000 Århus.

Of course I had to get some of this loveliness for myself, and how lucky she had a sale going on, so here is what I treated myself with: A cream vintage style petticoat and matching feathery corsage/hairpiece.....


....and the same petticoat in a dusky pink and a matching sheepskin stole. Glamour!!!


Wishing you all a Happy Easter and don´t forget to pop around my Fleur de Bohème fb page and like it so you can keep updated with what happens in my webshops! I´ve recently dropped my dayjob and need to boost my sales, so if you would spread the word I´ll be thankful ;-))

Spring Clean

Can I just say I´m so content with myself! My studio looked (and was!) a right mess for ages, it was so bad that I walked in, panicked, grabbed the stuff I needed and sat down to work somewhere else! But now...


Yes, I gave it a good spring clean and it looks as nice and inspiring as it should again! I´m so happy as I actually love the space, it´s not big but with three windows and facing our cosy courtyard with my converted train carriage-went-shop.



I find it really important to have a cosy environment when I´m working, so now the ideas flow and I have been working on a new earring line, here´s a little sneak peek:




I´m working on pictures for my own webshop to come soon, so please let me know what you think about the photo set-up - does the cup steal to much attention or does it actually complement my style? (That was my intention, but feedback is much appreciated) I have to say though that the pics are taken with my Iphone and not my camera, so the quality could be better but I was only playing around and the batteries of the camera had run dry ;-)

We had snow and cold weather the last couple of weeks, but many beautiful days - just watch this sunset a couple of days ago!



Today though the birds sang, the sun was shining powerful enough to make the snow melt and I feel spring is on the way!

I´m determined to update my blog at least once a month from now on, and next time I´m going to feature a fantastic Danish designer - maker who creates the most amazing knitted dresses and accessories. So - stay tuned! I´ll be back soon!

Merry Christmas

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.......

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!

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!