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 :-)

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!

Busy times and new opportunities!

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 ;-).

Treasure

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!

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!!