colors!!!!

It seems, I can't stop making those *^_^*

I love leporellos, it is so much fun to draw in them and when you open it, it's like a little story unfolds itself <3

Sorry for the poor picture quality (light, coke bottle and stuff) I took them while wtching telly XD

Cheers

First ideas for my refashion project/ new workspace/ new way to organize my earrings/ water soluble crayons

Yayh, I know, creepy long title, huh o.Ô
Read on and you'll figure out why...(beware...picture heavy)

After I had my epiphany about upcycling my wardrobe, I picked my first project.
I'ts a jacket I bought this summer in Bavaria (speaking of epiphanies, the jacket reminded me of Sweeney Todd, so I had to buy it ^^), but it's so tight at the arms, that it hurts -.-

So I'll take the sleeves of and I've never been satisfied with the way the collar looks, so I've made some sketches when I couldn't sleep:

What do you think? Any version better than the other? (forget the little fascinator in the left corner, it's another idea I have ^^)
At the moment I don't like the red striped one soo much (part of it is, that it would be a lot of work to line the collar new XD)

I still have some time left to think and then to get to work...we'll see =)

Anyway, I never came around to show you my new workspace.
After my birthday at the end of September I went straight to Ikea to get big plastic boxes and other stuff to organize my little sewing corner in my room. I couldn't stand it to have my fabric all stashed up in my small drawer, it always got stuck and I didn't knew what kind of fabric and how much of it I had.
So I took all my sewing and fashion design books from the shelves to replace them with my huge plastic boxes filled with fabric.

I also bought my first serger !!! and I love it so much, I don't know how I survived without the rolled hem, or the neat way it serges the edges <3<3<3

Unfortunately the boxes are really heavy, I barely manage to get them down and put them up myself again -.- So maybe I'll make another trip to ikea to buy some smaller boxes, dunno yet.

the shelves over my bed where always filled with my random books and novels I don't really read anymore. But since bookcrossing there is nothing to bother me anymore and my fashion design and sewing books and of course my burda magazines (blue folders) took their place

I like to work in an organized environment. Creative chaos can be fun, but only when you're not searching anything desperately ^^

This leads me to my next headline: the fast and easy way I organized my earrings (really it took me only 15 minutes!)

Ok I'll admit, it's not the smartest and most beautifull way I hung it up, but it was the fastest...

all I used was an embroidery hoop I covered in pink tulle and some black duct tape to secure it ;-P

I've got the idea from decor it yourself (threadbanger)

And last but not least, I had some free time at hand and sifted through 100 Ideas to Spark you into Creative Action again.
I always liked no. 11 but could never find those watersoluble crayons (it was oil pastells, wasn't it?) Anyhow today I couldn't wait any longer and went for a real search. Fortunately I could locate similar crayons at boesner, an art speciatlist shop close-by (one reason I'm always broke -.-)

30 colors i totally fell in love with =)

For my taste there are too many gray colored crayons and much too less green ones, but hey, I can still buy them separately when I need more. I couldn't wait to try them, so here are my results:  one picture before I used water and one after

 

 

 

 

 

I really like to doodle and to be inspired by other creations like this one here or here (one sketch was so great, that I all but copied it ^_^)

I hope you've enjoyed todays post, cause I did ^^

I'll go and doodle some more, those crayons are really fun.

xoxo

upcycling my wardrobe

Wikipedia:

Upcycling involves [...] the re-use of a product with crippled functionality for alternative purposes, to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials [...]

Yayyy, that sounds like fun ^^
Well, I stumbled upon this idea when I tidied my room this night (I always do it before I go to sleep, I'm kind of nocturnal or something >.<)
Anyway, I realised that there is not much room left in my closet and to be honest, we (at least I) only wear 20-30% of our wardrobe in everyday life.
Maybe it's 40% with me, cause I use lots of clothes to create one style, but that's about it.
The remaining 60% are either unwearable (too small, too big, ugly, not your style anymore, a gift you couldn't refuse like the poncho your gran knitted for you ages ago, but you only wore it once -.-, etc.) or out of place (dracula halloween capes for example...I've got 2!)

So I've made myself a promise.
I will, from now on, select one piece from this 60% every week and upcycle/refashion/do a makover (or whatever you call it) with it. If I don't have any idea how to alter it within this week, I'll lay it aside for three weeks.
When it happends, that I haven't figured out what to do with this piece of wardrobe after one month I'll deliberately give it away, so it'll find a more grateful owner =)
I 'll also repair the neglected pieces of wardrobe who are missing a button or where a seam is torn apart, this will be counted as only  half a surgery and I'll have to do more than one in a week.
Of course I don't tell you this out of fun, but because I will make this my new blog theme, so I can journalize my progress and give pictures as evidence.
Maybe the one or another is inspired to renew his or her own wardrobe =)
If this is the case, please send pictures of your upcycling, I would love to see them!

Here are the pics of my much to full closet

sorry for the blurry pictures, it was late -.-

And the dresses in the right part of the closet take much more space then it looks like, I just couldn't get a good shot of them.

I'm not exactly sure how many pieces it will be in the end, for some I already have an idea. Maybe I'll make 3 things into one new...who knows,  I'll just go with the inspiration =)

That's it for tonight,
sleep tight  <3
xoxo Julia

this years (poor) first attempt at christmas cookies

Hey there,
Since I love cookies and christmas isn't that far away I had my perfect excuse to make some  =)
Dunno what happened but they didn't turned out as I imagined -.-

1) I was too lazy to mix dough, so I bought ready to make cookie dough and put it in the refridgerator...
that was my first uups, cause when I wanted to make the cookies, I had to wait till the dough was warm enough to work with

2) Everything went well then. I used our beautiful newly bought cookie cutters and created cute little stars and hearts.
I put the baking tray into the oven and... forgot it completly.
major uups

twenty minutes later I had some quite dark looking stars and black hearts -.-

3) I wanted to decorate the cookies with frosting, but when I wanted to mix it up with green food coloring I overdid it unintentionally

Well, all good things come in threes...

Did I mention that, when I put icing on the first cookie, it bounced and turned upside down, landing on the fresh iced side? And then, when I put icing on the rest of the cookies, it ran down the sides and looked more like a Halloween decoration than christmas?

Maybe today wasn't my day for this kind of stuff...I should have stayed in bed...or at my computer, where it is save ^^

Normally I'm really good at baking stuff and decorating it tastefully -.-

Well, I'll eat them anyway and I took pictures, so you can see for yourself what a mess I've made today.

Here you go:

that's the one landings on the wrong side... I frosted the backside too, so nobody would notice ^^

I make myself all bad without having even tasted one of them...tststs

I'll grab myself some milk and cookies,

you enjoy your evening =)

cheers <3

how to (pronounce) crochet

Due to my huge amount of free time (I graduated this summer and took a year off, before studying), I've learned how to crochet!
I was searching for a special hat, the slouchy sort, and couldn't find it in the shops for some time now. I've bought one last year, I loved it, but unfortunately, I lost it -.-
So you can imagine the joy I felt, when I've stumbled upon this little episode of threadbanger.
Here is the earlier episode, where they teach you how to crochet.
Well, I must admit, that without the help of my dear mother, I would have been lost entirely...
But with her help and the play and pause button I finally made it ^^.
It took me only 2 days o.Ô and I never crocheted before!
I promise, pictures will follow as soon as possible, but at the moment my hair looks awful and the light isn't right to take photos.
So be patient ;-)
xoxo

just a quick good night post

For I am bushed, this is just a small post. I am almost to tired to lift a finger -.-
My exaustion is the result of a half day fabric huntig (the dutch farbic market pitched its tents in Potsdam again) and my first dance training that followed in the evening. Not to forget the one and a half hour it took me to get from Potsdam to Treptower Park (plain spoken, across Berlin), thanks to the not existing S-Bahn transit in most parts of the city -.-
argh!
The dancing was great fun, even if I could'nt keep up with the choreographer and my body will ache tomorrow for sure.
I'm most exited to learn Micheal Jackson's "Thriller", yeihh!
And with this thought in mind I will go to bed =)
sleep tight,
xoxo

Englsih english everywhere

Well, since most of my favourite websites are in english, I might as well start blogging in this beautiful language ^^

I now apologize for the first and last time if there are any mistakes in spelling, grammar or whatever might get wrong. I'm only human and english is not my mother tongue, so cope with it ;-P

But this post is not only about changing the language on this blog, but also showing you guys my newest discoveries.

One thing I've stumbled upon is this lovely list of 100 Ideas to Spark you into Creative Action  
I felt deeply inspired by some points on the list, e.g. I started making little stickers (number 31)    
Other sites I've been gratefull to have discovered are Cut out + keep, Threadbanger (gosh, I love those guys) and of course Burdastyle (Maryy is such an inspiration to many users there). Some Sites I've discovered more recently then others,  but they were all very usefull to me, or I wouldn't bother you with them ;-)

While browsing the internet, I also felt the urge to start knitting. Yes knitting ^^
My gran tried to teach me ones, but I never got quite the hang of it... So here I go, needles ready to knit, with some help of youtube and my mom. Hopefully I will have finished my first project (a slouchy hat) till xmas along with two other hats I've decided to give to my friends as xmas present...ambitious aye?


Of course I still sew a lot, actually that reminds me of the next date for the dutch fabric market (previous known as "Stoffmarkt Holland") which is next week ^^
I've already wrote a list what I will buy this time, it is quite long... what a surprise o.Ô

Enough of the talk. I want to draw some more stickers =)
Cheers