Wake up to Yellow

You haven't asked for it, but you are gonna get this anyway - an insight into my bathroom. Incidentally it is trend city: dark gray and bright yellow accents seem to be en vogue. (Just put "gray and yellow" into Google and see what comes up.) Alright, I admit - gray was actually my better half's idea. I was not so enamoured with the colour of rainclouds. But true to form and nickname, I came up with the bursts of yellow and together the combination really rocks. So follow me on a quick tour of my bathroom.

Now, just to give you a bit of context: The house I live in is over 200 years old. Hence it would not have had a bathroom/toilet originally. The bathroom was tacked onto the house about 110 years ago, I reckon. It sits on top of a three-storey extension at the back of our house. The sanitaryware is original!

And it has a funny little dome that illuminates it from above (just about visible in the image above).

This is what it looks like when you look up - the dome is a octagon shape.

(I need to do something about that awful light fitting. I know *sighs*) Above the sink you can see my lovely soap holder. I can tell you, I had *some* fun with that implement when I tried to get it onto a plane in my handluggage...

 The security guys had never seen a thing like that before and were very suspicious. Apparently it is a 1950s design from France, available at manufactum. The walls of the bathroom are wood panelled and painted in this luscious (!) dark gray that makes the yellow stand out even more. Here we have a detail of the sink with my toiletries in the background (actually: some lemon soap bought in Sweny's Chemist on Bloomsday!!! Once a James Joyce-fan, always a James Joyce-fan...)

Let's slowly turn to the left from the sink to the bathtub. It's an old tub - but unfortunately not remotely ornate, therefore encased in panels, too. It had to be re-enameled a few years ago as the water seeping from the original taps leaves brown stains on the enamel. As you can see I placed one of my new yellow prints by dimple prints which I found through one of my regular blog reads, Tatertots and Jello, above the tub.

On the windowsill I have a little nod to the sea - a collection of shells, starfish and those simple birds. Love them.

Oh, and the ducks. They are an ongoing collection. The biggest of them came courtesy of my previous employer, the other two were found in the sea!!!

Turn a bit more and you see the other end of the bath. I put the other print there - it's my favourite one "you are my sunshine" and I placed it there so that you can see it as soon as you enter the bathroom (the door is to the right of the sink). With the light streaming in, it reflects in the glass of the frame, so you can't see it properly. (Check yesterday's post for a couple of close-ups!)

I wish I had a before-photo of the bathroom, but unfortunately it was never up to much, hence I never documented it on film or digitally...

Last little turn now, and we will arrive in the final corner of the bathroom...

Here I have quite sneakily left out the towel warmer in the corner beside the cupboard. The brown cupboard is actually a bedside table which stores towels. Beside it is the towel warmer - a nasty 1980s design that is a disgusting beige colour. Spray job? Maybe! The in-built cupboard is courtesy of the better half and houses swimming togs, soaps and assorted bits and bobs. On the shelves are our toothbrushes and some of the most-frequently used creams. Oh, and a picture that used to hang on the bathroom wall - it's an old soap advert from an antique magazine from roughly 1913. "Erasmic Soap" - first time I saw the ad, I misread the ...-asmic bit *oooops*...

Anyway, that's the downstairs bathroom. It mainly gets used by guests these days because our bedrooms are a floor and a half up from this bathroom and therefore we eventually built a new showerroom upstairs. I have to say that the fresh colour scheme of the downstairs bathroom almost entices me to walk those two flights of stairs and come down there to use it... Nah, just kidding.

So, there we are. Hope you liked the little tour of the little bathroom.

Best,

Good Morning, Sunshine!

The other day I saw this really cute print on etsy. It really spoke to me - not just because it was yellow, but because it said "Good morning, sunshine" - and sunshine used to be my nickname, years ago... It would be the perfect picture to wake up to or to be greeted with in the bathroom when I get up to do my early morning shift. And it got me going...

Sorry, boys, I have to release you and wipe you down!

There is actually a yellow zone in my house. It's the downstairs bathroom. It has a few splashes of yellow here and there but it needed some more. And when I came across some free printable yellows courtesy of dimple prints via Tatertots and Jello, I got the kick up my backside to finally do something about my yellow love.  I scoured our "frame cabinet" - a cupboard in our sitting room which is full of old frames with some unnamed ancestors in it. And I found two nice frames. But *eeeeek*, look at the state of them:

That's already better, isn't it? No idea who the ancient tottie is - the family had four daughters, so he's not one of "ours"... I had to dismantle the frames to wipe them down - and of course I cut myself in the process. That's one thing I hate about the old stuff in the house: I am always slightly suspicious of the dust of the centuries that covers everything in here. If I vanish from the blog, you'll know that my right middle finger has turned gangrenous *ggg*

It also turned out that the frame on the right was actually not grey but green. Oooops, doesn't quite go with my colour scheme, but well...

Anyhow, I stuck the sunny prints into the frames and *boom* instant lift!

Curious what the rest of the room looks like??? I'll give you a look tomorrow!

Best,

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Everything's going to be green today! And since I have taken leave of absence from Facebook, I am communicating to all my friends all over the world via the blog - have a great day, Irish or not.

Smile if you like the Irish!

The leprechauns were pretty active around here. When we sat down to breakfast, they had turned our milk green.

And guess what, that made our customary bowl of Weetabix green, too. (Hm, not sure if I really like the look of this...)

Sure, even the little buns came out green from the oven...

The plan today is to go down to Dame St and watch the parade. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of this - mainly because the streets will be so crowded that with my height of a mere 1,68 m I will really only be watching the backs of other people's heads. I usually bring a stepladder along - but my kids will be sharing that with their friends while good old Mama has to stay at ground level. *boohoo* I suspect I'd have a better view of the parade on TV...

Happy Paddy's Day!

Best,

Felt Flower

The momentum was kept up today with not one but three crafty things I did. It's already late now and tomorrow is Paddy's Day, so I won't have time to write up all three, but I'll show you todays favourite piece of creativity - a felt flower.

The inspiration for this easy flower pin came from pinterest - or actually a craft blog called Homemaker in Heels. I saw the flower there and decided on a whim that I should try it out. And I did and was lucky at first go. Goes to show how easy this project really is!!!

Here's what you need: A strip of felt, scissors, a glue gun and a brooch pin.









 




Cut off a piece of felt, about 12" long and 4" wide. Never mind whether it is ironed or not - it won't make any difference to the outcome of the project.










Fold the strip in half.















Sew down the length of the strip and then cut the felt almost down to the seam.













Roll up the length of felt. Secure the last bit with a drop of hot glue.












Now fix the flower by putting hot glue all into the rolled up middle of the flower. Before the glue has hardened, bunch a bit of felt into the middle there to fill it in a little.











Cut a bit of felt and cover the bunched up back of the flower with it. Hot glue a brooch needle onto the back and tidy up all the glue strings.













Presto!

































Look how extraordinarily pleased I am with my flower pin. I am grinning like a gingerbread horse (sorry, direct translation from German - but you get the picture... I am happy as Larry, pleased as Peter and delighted as Delilah...) You can almost hear me say tadahhhhhhhhh...











 Anyhow - if you are looking for a simple flower brooch to update an outfit, to prettify a hat or to bump up a bag, this is the project to do as you will more than likely have all ingredients at home. I think I will make many more of these - as pressies for friends, mums and goodie bag contents for the next girly birthday party. It even looks good in my tin of shamrock, planted just in time for Paddy's Day.

Best,

Linking this to:

Tickled Pink @ 504 Main
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous

Easter Nest

The zesty lemon has obviously revived me. My creative juices are literally boiling, it seems. Mind you, I am only doing little projects here, preferably something that is done in ten minutes. Anything else and I have a major guilty conscience because I *really* should be doing my college homework and not some nimsywhimsy crafting... But look what I made:

Easter doesn't get any easier than this! Took me five minutes do make this little nest. It had been on my to-do-list for at least two years. Chances are that you have everything you need for these little beauties at home, anyway: some beads and silver wire.

For my first little nest I didn't take any pictures, but I have created another one just to show you in a tut how these are made. Start by threading your beads onto the wire. I think that three work best, but you can use any number.

Now start winding the wire around the three  beads. Just keep going and going. Occasionally, change direction or move the wire right underneath your developing nest, just so the wire rounds become a little more irregular.

Continue until the nest looks big enough. You can fix a pin to the back of it by simply threading the wire through the holes in it. Unfortunately my nest is not really big enough to disguise the pin - I was just too impatient to finish it.









Anyhow, these are really cute. They are about the size of a thumbnail and might be suitable as pendants or earrings. I am also thinking that they could look sweet as decorations on the Easter table.

Happy Easter decorating...

Best,

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Hello hello - yes, I have woken up from hibernation in Hibernia. It is quite evident - not only in the fact that I have already posted a crafty project this week, but that I could not rest until I had spring-cleaned my blog.

Well, it's a bit more than a spring clean, I guess. It's a complete make-over. I just couldn't bear the bright read any longer. Inexplicably I have recently developed a "thing" for bright yellow. I have no idea why. I never particularly liked yellow - too garish, too cold, too sour. But at the moment I simply cannot get enough of yellow. I have been posting quite a bit of that on my Pinterest boards. Maybe I am craving the colour of the sun after months of winter? In any case - since I cannot really re-decorate my house in bright yellow (it would just look out of place, I think), I am revamping craft-werk instead.

Grey is pretty much on trend, too, and doesn't it look great with yellow? I couldn't resist and drag the spring-theme even to the header and reappropriate one of my earlier projects, the bird magnets, for the header illustration. Read about them here.

Oh, and one thing hasn't changed: I am still a geek. And therefore I had to change my favicon from the white scissors on red background to a sleek little factory. (If you want to know how to make your own custom favicon, here's my post.)

That, actually, is my general logo for my RLW (real life work) as a journalist and photographer. Incidentally, if you wanna have a look, check my new photography website which I am currently revamping, too (so not entirely glitch-less yet). It's called imagewerk - of course...

Anyhow, hope you like the new look. While I was at it, I had to change my blog signature, too. After all, it all has to fit together, somehow - the organic look, so to speak. So I made myself a new signature on mylivesignature.com It's dead easy - so had over there and get yourself a personal touch, too ;-)

Best,

Spring into Skirts

Why hello, tonight I am writing from my iPhone rather than my computer, just because I am so flippin' pleased that I can't leave my latest creative creation. I have been skirting again...

My love affair with skirts began, which was rather late for me,
Between the end of the Chatterley ban,
And 1963.

Eh, no, that's actually quoting from my second favourite poem by my favourite poet, the wonderfully laconic Philip Larkin (name of the poem: Annus Miserabilis, check it out!). My love affair began - late, admittedly - about four years ago. At the time I had lost a whole lot of weight and I suddenly discovered that maybe I wouldn't cut such a ridiculous figure in a skirt anymore... The first skirt that I bought was a tame, grey, sporty number. Lots of pockets and zips and details.

Oh dear, an iPhone photo again. Sorry, very grainy...

Sadly, I never wore the skirt that much. It was just before leggings made their big comeback, and I was just not a very "tight" girl... But I wore it occasionally, then less frequently, and for the last two years I think it just sat sadly in my wardrobe.

Until I came across it today. I had it in my hands to add it to the bag of charity clothes which is about to get another boost thanks to spring cleaning. And then a wave of nostalgia hit me and I felt that I should give poor little skirtie another try.

I quickly put my finger on the reason why I haven't been wearing it for so long: it is too long. It looks like a weird mix of old-fashioned mid-calf length and trendy side-pocket-style. But I decided that the trouser heroine aka moi was going to apply her clothes-saving magic to a skirt for a change. Tada! So out came the scissors and scrupulessly I cut of a good hand's width at the bottom.

Here it is, shortened but not yet hemmed. I managed to cut off the bottom rather neatly and slightly rounded. However, because there are side pockets that reach down all the way to the knee, I couldn't cut it too short.

I actually even went to the lengths of removing this little badge from the cut-off bit with the intention of sewing it back onto the skirt somewhere. The little tool here in the picture is actually my favourite sewing implement: the seam unpicker is a great little thing that I couldn't live without!!!

Anyway, I turned the skirt inside out, pinned the hem up and then sewed around the skirt twice to get the kind of typical, rustiv "denim-y" seam at the bottom. It was actually not that difficult.

And here is the finished item - sorry, not modelled by anyone, since yours truly is home alone and does not have anyone to take pictures of her *awwww*.

I am actually mega-pleased with my re-used skirt. It nearly was thrown out - but now it'll get a new lease of life. And I don't have to spend money on clothes (but can spend it on photo equipment, *yay*)

Best,





- Posted on Tour, using BlogPress from my iPhone