Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Minimalism

Hi, Y'all!

No public holiday this week but perfect weather - another ideal reason for celebration! 

In order to have more time for celebrating the good things in life I will show you a few projects that need only two to three ingredients and little to no time. And that is in no way diminishing - I love it even more, if I can make something beautiful with little material in a short period of time.

Let's start with a pretty handy utensil - the cable cat:


Cut from SnapPap, the leather substiute made from cardboard, which doesn't fray - no need to serge or hem. Then glue two Velcro dots to the inside of the cat's head, fix it with a few stitches that look like whiskers and you're done. You could make them in different sizes for various cables and - of course - in other shapes and colors.

Not as handy but very pretty: A lantern or hanging basket: 

An old honey jar, a tealight and some twine which is knotted around it, et voilà - a little lantern for the backyard. I didn't have enough twine, thus I crocheted some chains. And you could insert some plant instead of a candle - might be pretty, too.

Then let's go from the DIY table to the kitchen counter - cookies are always a good plan!

Here we have two very healthy snacks: On the right oats mixed with apple sauce and grated hazelnuts and on the left oats mushed together with bananas. And that's it - no sugar, no baking powder, only a hint of cinnamon. We had this as a side dish for our last Sunday breakfast. 

And this is my all-time favorite to avoid a hangry hubby: Bolognese lentils

Boil red lentils (takes ten minutes, only) and put them in the pan together with a can of diced tomatoes. Heat them, add some spices and you're finished! Sure you could pimp it with everything that belongs into an original Bolognese sauce (e.g. garlic, onions, carrots, red wine), but then it takes more than ten minutes and doesn't belong into my minimalistic three ingredients list any longer :-) This basic version is vegan, but to be honest: I prefer it with a healthy dose of parmesan cheese!

And you won't believe but it's true - there are pretty yummy treats you can make with only three ingredients: truffles!

These I made vor my dad's birthday lately, and of course I put some aside for mothers' day :-) Basics are pretty simple: Melt chocolate, add heavy cream, let cool, roll into balls and coat them with cocoa powder - enjoy! 

For the special occasion I spiced them up a little bit: 
a) white chocolate, cream and und grated tonka beans in powdered sugar
b) dark chocolate, cream and rum in cocoa powder
c) milk chocolate with spiced cookie spread instead of cream in a cinnamon/sugar mix 

Originally, my dad wanted these spiced cookie truffles I made for Christmas, but it was impossible to get these Christmas cookies in May... Thank god I had one of these jars of that spread (kind of Christmas-flavored Nutella) and it worked pretty well.

KISS - Keep it simple stupid!







Monday, May 18, 2020

In one's best handwriting...

Hi, y'all,

many decades ago (when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I went to school) we learned proper handwriting, and I practiced my first bows and hooks on a slate (made from plastic, I guess). And our teacher then judged our writing whether it was really pretty, looked like a chicken crossed the street or whether a GP wrote a prescription only the MTA can decipher.

During the course of time I developed a more or less nice looking, more or less legible handwriting, and until my high school graduation I wrote all homeworks, notes and exams by hand. For my 18th birthday I got an electronic typewriter and learned to type with all ten fingers, which was an awesome development considering my single-finger Muhammad Ali technique: float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! After 30 years of working as an EA, I now seldom write by hand (only notes on the phone and my groceries list) because it is much faster with a computer and less tiring for my hands.

But I always liked calligraphy - and I even remember taking part in a calligraphy weekend workshop once. Nowadays there is a new trend with a nice new name - calligraphy is now called handlettering, although it is pretty much the same. Except that you now can combine different techniques and different fonts and add some design to it. A subspecies is called fauxligraphy and you guys with an affinity for language might guess where that comes from. In calligraphy you usually write with a quill and whether you draw up or down, the stroke gets thinner or wider. If you use a modern pen with a fine tip you don't have that effect but you can fake it by reinforcing every downstroke. In that way your pen acts as a fake (or faux) quill and that is the reason for the term fauxligraphy.

Before you fall asleep by my lectures, I will show you my beginner's attempts on handlettering. At first I created backgrounds by adding watercolors onto a wet acrylic plate (you could use anything which doesn't soak water, like a plastic bag for instance) and then pressing my paper onto that plate and lifting it up again, like a reversed stamp method. After drying, I started with single words and funny slogans. Admittedly, I began by copying existing designs, and the development of my personal style might take some time. So far, I didn't produce epic fails, but I can say that I like the newest projects more than the first.

Here we go, little doodles to warm-up - as you can easily see, I used them as greeting cards for mother's day:


Little baby steps:




Surrounded by some more doodles:

(Translation nearly impossible... There is always room for sea/There is always room for more (In German more = mehr and sea = Meer) :-(

Slowly adding more text...

(Dance about it (instead of think about it)

(You think so much and dance so little)

The top one looks like I was trying hard,
but the bottom one bears a certain lightness, I think...

Sometimes a funny text distracts from stilistic weaknesses :-)

(Could tomorrow be Sunday again, please?)

(You have to be careful with sugar, it's clever/refined) 
(In Germany refined and clever is both raffiniert))

(A party without cake is only a meeting)

And now my favorites - some simple but witty, some squiggly and some a combination of various fonts and shapes:  

No translation necessary :-)

I cooked - on the menu: coffee 
(in German you cook coffee, therefore it's kind of funny)

(Empty wine glasses are full of stories/memories)

(My thoughts are at the sea - barefooted)

Think of having them in a matching frame - could be soooo pretty. 

With this in mind - stay safe and creative!










Tuesday, May 12, 2020

8th Anniversary

Hi y'all,

exactly 10 years ago, hubby and I met for the very first time, and exactly 2 years later we tied the knot. At the age of 30 (not 37) I thought this is it, my life, predictable, stable, meh. I couldn't be more wrong - since I met this guy, it turned out very funny and anything but boring!

But I don't want to dull you with our relationship and instead tell you a little bit (haha) about my wedding preparations). First of all, there was the question of all questions, presented to me at some friends' wedding, and of course I answered with "Yes" (this is typically German, we say yes instead of I do). We fixed a date and searched for a nice location to have our civil marriage. As we didn't want to get married in church we needed a registry office offering their services on Saturdays, otherwise we would've had the ceremony during the week and the festivities on the weekend - which we didn't want. But we were successful and received our marriage licence in an old castle - very romantic. And after the location hunt and all admin tasks (and these were a lot, we are in Germany, after all) were done, I could go over to all the fun tasks (at least for me), namely: looking for dress and outfit, decoration and flowers, stationery, Give-aways et cetera, et cetera. I can't list everything because this is only interesting for someone planning their own wedding, I guess. (If applicable, don't hesitate to contact me, will gladly help!)

But let's start with my outfit. I always wanted a black wedding dress and then I just wanted to demonstrate to the shop assistant and my maid of honor that the color of that particular dress wouldn't suit me at all... and then I stood in front of the mirror with tears in my eyes. And so I ended with a gorgeous peachy wedding dress. I didn't find matching shoes but changed the shoelaces of some cream colored shoes to peachy satin ribbons. I cut off the original straps of the bodice and changed them to the same satin ribbons. The leftover fabric I turned into a flower with the help of some yarn, pearls and a lighter. First I thought of wearing it in my hair but it ended on the bolero jacket.





And that was my next DIY: After excessive search I found some yarn matching the dress color perfectly - with a subtle glow it was ideal for my knitting project. Now I hear you whisper - a knitted cardigan to wear with a wedding dress??? To be honest, it was not the typical cardigan, and I really, really liked it.


Then I went to the salon to test my updo and make-up. The chignon slightly resembled H.R. Giger's alien, but I am not the type for delicate curls and braids. Therefore, no veil, no flower wreath but only two hairpins adorned with pearls. 



Outfit - check; next topic: stationery

The first notion of an upcoming wedding for the guests are the save-the-date-notifications and the invitations right after that. Thus I chose themes and motifs for the stationery even before I engaged myself in finding an outfit. I settled with a dark green (very elegant), a calla lily (my favorite flower) and the Papyrus font - which I used for all decorations and paperwork. This is what I made: 

  •  Save-the-date-note with a knotted hanky 
    (explained that a while ago in another post)
  • Invitation (even the postage stamp matched the color scheme)



  • Menus (I took picture frames with a pedestal which could be used from both sides, they were embellished with silver wire, green rocaille beads and green satin ribbon) and the printed version was in color, of course. 

  • Seating plan (menus had the same colors) 

  • Place cards/name tags, which I opted against later on
  • Coloring books to keep the little guests occupied

  • Stickers for the water bottles (we had a typical German reception with bubbly at our hotel, but not where our marriage ceremony took place. Therefore, I wanted to make sure that nobody suffered from dehydration). Please note: bottle caps matching the color scheme :-)

  • Hankies for tears of joy (yes, they exist - for real)

  • Thank you notes afterwards


Outfit - check; stationery - check; next topic: decoration and flowers

Calla lilies were a no brainer, at least for my wedding bouquet and in plan also for hubby's boutonnière. But he decided against a dinner jacket and thus the boutonnière had to be fixed on his red suspenders. As the Calla was too heavy, our florist changed and took a peachy rose. Side note: it didn't make it through the party... I left these flowers (and also my hair and make-up) to the experts, there are things I cannot DIY. 


But I layed my grubby little hands on the table decorations. On each table there was a silver chandelier (which I bought from a colleague after her wedding and which I sold right after ours - what would you do with 10 candle holders???). Around the pedestal of the candle sticks I placed green glass nuggets and tealight glasses filled with green glass granulate, water and white carnations. On the kids' table there were no candles but a large jar with green wine-gum frogs and coloring books and crayons for each child. My sister placed some single-use cameras in wedding decor on the tables and we got some very funny shapshots!


The hankies for the tears of joy were distributed by my oldest godchild before our ceremony, and his little sister showered us with fabric flower petals afterwards. She had so much fun that she collected the petals and threw them again and again :-) For both purposes I bought white wicker baskets which I decorated with green handles, ribbons, silver wire and pearls.


Nowadays you can't let your guests leave the party without some give-away - that reminds me of my kindergarten days when it was your birthday and you had to prepare little goodie bags for all other kindergardners. Anyway, in our case I took little chocolate bars (called naps - short for Napoletaner, instead of non adaptable player, as my gaming expert would assume), stripped them from their outer paper layer and wrapped them again in newly designed wrappers printed by myself. Then I took three of these bars with different shades of green (not grey), put them into a dark green organza bag and decorated it with a mini calla.


Outfit - check; stationery - check; flowers and decor - check;
party - definitively check!

Is there anything more? Sure, there are so many things to mention - about our rings, about fotos in which all people are named Alex, about the old and new castle in Neckarbischofsheim, about our party, our wedding pogo dance, but that would be way too much. Only this: It was spectacular, awesome and unforgettable!!!



Love one another, please do!