Slow

I really love slow, don't you? This weekend was an extended weekend spent with my husband's family for Easter. I so much enjoy the slowed pace of things in Germany when it is a holiday. People aren't thinking about much of anything, but simply enjoying the time off. Vacation time in Germany is drastically different than in the States, where vacations and holidays are few and far between. In Germany one is off for Easter Sunday, and then "Easter Monday", which I had never heard of before... not only that, but there's not just one Christmas day, but two! How great is that?!? So what does a spring holiday look like here?... kids playing outside the whole entire day until they can run...

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Tischdeko

For my husband's "birthday table" I wanted to do something really special. For the table decorations I made a small, simple wreath from birch twigs, added a sprig of forget-me-not's and a delicate white flower, wrapped them in moss, added a petite speckled bird's egg, and perched it atop a cognac glass... and done. It doesn't get any easier than that! Each person had their own personal flower arrangement... sweet, don't you think? What do you do for spring or Easter decoration... fresh flowers? Lots colors or muted and soft? Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale...

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Köln Hobby & Handarbeit

Speaking of fabrics... this past weekend I traveled to Köln (Cologne) and met Juliette for the annual Hobby & Handarbeit convention where companies within the trade gather to introduce new fabrics, patterns, ribbons, yarns, wools, buttons, zippers, sewing machines, and everything that a crafter could ever dream of. "Oh" and "Ah" are common phrases that one would use for such an event and I left totally inspired by what I saw. ... even though knitting, crocheting, and wool crafts are not usually my medium of choice, these projects inspired me to reconsider adding one more hobby to my list.... it's hard to say if I'm more of a ribbon girl or a button girl... I think more of a ribbon girl....

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Moda on the Move

I wanted to introduce two new fabric collections from Moda. I have been waiting patiently to get my hands on both of these. The first collection is from Designer Kate Spain. Kate is relatively new to the fabric designer scene, but not in the graphic design world... and it seems as though Kate is a quite the busy lady. Not only does she design fabrics, but writes a really nice blog and her work can be found on everything from gift wrap to stationary, dishes to kitchen textiles... really fun!Also designing for Moda fabrics is Sanae, with her fourth fabric collection that leaves lots of room for creativity. Originally from Japan, Sanae finds much of her inspiration from her native country.So what...

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All Measured Up

I remember in grade school first being introduced to the metric system. I thought to myself... why do we have to learn two different ways to measure things? So for tests and quizzes I could rattle off whatever the teacher wanted to know about liter, meter, gram, and so on and then how many milli-somethings, centi-somethings, and kilo-somethings were in each one. ... but as you very well know "use it, or loose it" applies to just about anything. (maybe except riding a bike... does anyone forget that?) So when I first moved to Germany, I had to dust off the corners of my memory where I had stored, what at the time seemed like "useless information". But even as much as I hate to admit...

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Pinned for Easter

So, a special "thanks" goes out this week to Juliette, who introduced me to the time-consuming ecstacy and joy of Pinterest. As they define themselves on their own website, Pinterest "a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by people with great taste."... and oh, is there some serious eye candy to distract you from the things that you should be working on instead. Since I seem to be on the subject of Easter these days, I wanted to pass along a few D-I-Y Crafts I found that would brighten up any Easter table, mantle, or other empty corner in your house... wouldn't these be great for gifts too? 1. Simple & Pretty Spoon Egg Holder...

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