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!

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!

Spring....

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!

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.....and snowy furry creatures!

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!

Home Sweet Home...

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!