I´m finally back....

Almost two years ago to the day since my last blog post.... I gave up my part time job and took the plunge into being totally self-employed, which has meant lots of work and even less time than before. Of course I´m still creating and I run my shop in the summer, and I´m also working as a freelance translator, so if you´re in need of a skilled German or Danish translator you know whom to get in touch with!

I will continue to write about my craftwork and little shop, my passion for vintage stuff, our life in an old farmhouse in the Danish countryside, my big cottage garden and our efforts to live a sustainable lifestyle.

Today I want to write about my chickens. We´ve made some additions to our flock recently and currently have 9 hens and a rooster. Most of them are bantam breeds, but I also bought two Easter Eggers, and look what beautiful eggs I get from them!

I love my chickens, and everyone who has the possibility should consider getting their own little flock. Chickens are entertaining, lovely to watch when free ranging in the garden, the amount of work they cause is manageable and nothing can beat the fresh eggs from your own hens! My chickens often wait by the front door begging for treats (oatmeal or sunflower seeds are very popular), which is so cute and makes me smile every time.

I believe that chickens should be allowed to free range under controlled conditions - ours have a safe run where we keep them when we´re out, but they roam the garden and horse field when we`re at home. This arrangement seems to work well and we haven´t lost any to predators yet, although we live very rural. Here you see them foraging on the horse field - this is how chickens should live in my opinion.

At the moment we get around 5 eggs per day from our 9 hens, as the bantams are not high perfomance layers and some of them are 4 years already so only lay every couple of days. The Easter Eggers are laying every day, so eggs in pretty shades of turquoise, olive green and cream are piling up in my kitchen.

And sometimes, you can be really lucky and get a double yolker - our Easter Egger Emma is laying them from time to time, not unusual for young hens who have just started to lay.

Do you keep chickens? I would love to hear about your flock then, so feel free to leave a comment!

A Taste of Summer and Happiness

We´ve been spoilt with sunny days and warm weather the last couple of weeks, so what better thing to do than gather some friends and have a cosy meal under the blooming fruit trees in the garden?

Our friends brought their kids and our contributions were of a more furry character - Kveiting the Cat and Gustav the Dog who for the sake of the picture were allowed a place on the table, lol.

We had a merry afternoon with good food and much fun, many more to come this summer I hope!

I´m a bit obsessed with bunting right now and made some not only for the shop and garden, but also the chicken run. Together with some granny chic fake flowers my chicks have a rather stylish home now!

Our chickens are free rangers, but we keep them inside the secure chicken run when we´re not at home, as we live very rural with quite a lot of foxes around, and I can´t bear the thought of them being taken by a fox.

The tourist season is about to begin, which means I have started to keep the shop open.

Not many customers yet, but I´m hoping for a good season and the shelves are stocked with both new wares, like these cute prints on textiles among the vintage china.....

...... and fresh jam and preserves made from organic fruit from our own garden.

I hope you enjoy this lovely springtime as much as I do, and don´t forget to pop around my etsy shop for some summary loveliness like this Birdie Brooch!

Nothing is Forever

I´ve recently started to work with textile wallhangings again. This one is called "Nothing is forever" and was inspired by our beloved dog Snuff who sadly passed away a week before Easter, 16 1/2 years old. He had the most wonderful life a dog could wish for and had followed us since our student days through the half of Northern Europe as we lived in both Germany, Norway and now Denmark and we do miss him a lot. Here he is in a picture taken last spring:

On a happier note, spring has finally arrived after an unusually long and fierce winter. Lovely to be out gardening again, especially when you have furry and feathery company!

And after a couple of hours digging and planting, what could be better than relaxing in the conservatory with a cup of tea and cake.

It´s the best room in the house, especially in spring, when it´s often too chilly to sit outside. Filled with light, birds singing and watching how the daffodils and tulips unfold and the garden is getting greener every day.

I`ve recently bought the Dottie Angel book "Granny Chic" and I have to say it´s one of my favourite books as it is filled with happiness and crafty inspiration. Inspired by the book, I made this crocheted sling bag to accompany me to the fleamarkeds and carboot sales of the season:

I also made new curtains patching together vintage fabric, lace and linen, embellished with doilies and hand embroidery and finally I re-vamped a couple of old lampshades:

See you soon, enjoy this lovely springtime - and pop around my fb page if you like!

Hello 2013!

First of all I want to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year! Personally, I´m glad to be done with 2012, which wasn´t a good year for me at all. So I´m happy to embrace 2013 and hope it´s going to be a better one for me ;-)
We´ve had quite a bit of snow already, and I love our cottage covered in white!

Even the shop had got a little wintery - Christmas make over with fairy lights, candles and cuddly mohair scarves and wristlets for sale.

Unfortunately I haven´t had too much time latlely to create new things, as I´ve been busy listing and marketing my work on etsy, DaWanda and Epla because the tourist season here is short, the locals are not at all supporting my shop and I therefore need to focus more on selling my work online. I have also expanded my translation work to make ends meet, so if someone out there needs their website or other pr material translated to German, you know who to ask ;-) .

Anyway, I managed to work on a few new designs, partly inspired by some gorgeous vintage beads and stash I found at the lovely Paris Carousel on etsy:

I used some of these fantastic antique rhinestone beads in a vintage assemblage necklace, for sale in my etsy shop:

I really enjoyed working with wire wrapped jewellery again, so I also created this prototype of a new ring design, coming in more colours and variations soon:

 That was all for now - what have you been busy with? Oh, and pop around my pinterest and fb page if you haven´t been there yet, you´re most welcome :-)

Frankfurt

As most of you know, I´m born German although I have lived in Scandinavia for the past 16 years, and my family still lives in Germany. So last week I went down to Kassel, my hometown, to celebrate my mum´s 70th birthday. And I even took a little trip further south to Frankfurt to visit an old friend and explore the city a bit more.

 The most distinctive feature of Frankfurt is without any doubt the impressive skyline of the city that is both unique in  Germany and gives you the feeling of actually being in America. The city is the financial Capital of Europe and seat of the European Central Bank, and most of the skyscrapers are inhabited by big German and international banks. What is more, Frankfurt is home to the second largest airport in Europe, so the population of the city is very international and you find lots of museums, exhibitions and cultural events of all kinds.

I wanted to explore the craft and design scene a bit, and found that Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen and the area around the Brückenstrasse houses lots of interesting small shops run by independent designers or art co-operatives. My favourite one is called "Ich war ein Dirndl" and offers a very interesting selection of handmade clothes, art, accessories and stationary.

  When I´m visiting shops like this, I´m always searching for inspiration of how to present my products. Whilst I feel I have developped my own very distinctive style over the years in my work, I still struggle to present it when taken out of the context of my own shop. The right packaging and presentation is so important to make the product appealing to potential buyers and make them pay the price you deserve for your handmade goodies, and it´s even important to tell the story behind the product.
 

I found these small notebooks made from vintage paperware very intriguing, nicely wrapped in compostable cellophane bags and the story printed on the sleeve. Well done, so I bought a couple of them, makers are called "June and August" and you can find them on facebook.

 I even liked these pictures from the same shop very much, a clever combination of vintage fabric and quirky print - just what I like! I´ll buy one of these next time I visit I think.

Another shop with a very interesting concept is Designe, Kleine! in the same area, where designers and makers can hire a box for 20 Euro per month to display and sell their creations. I might actually approach them and give it a try, just to test the German market!

 "Designe, Kleine!" offers everything from quirky stationery over textiles, jewellery, ceramics and glass in the shop and it´s in shops like these where you find the best presents.

After my little shopping round we walked along the river Main to the Liebieghaus, which was built in 1896 as a retirement home for the Bohemian textile manufacturer Baron Heinrich von Liebieg. The city of Frankfurt acquired the building in 1908 and devoted it to the sculpture collection. The museum includes ancient Greek, Roman and Egytian sculpture, as well as Medieval, Baroque, Renaissance and Classicist pieces, and works from the Far East. 

 You even find a very cosy cafe in the backyard, with a lovely selection of cakes that I can only recommend to visit should you guest the city. 

Well, that was all for now - see you soon :-)

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!