Lebenslustiger.com (Entries tagged as decoration)

Kitsch & Cozy...

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 10:57:33 +0000

...@ Bine and Andrea today.

So, I have to show you "übercozy" Blitzi one more time again for all, who haven't seen this picture yet...

Happy first Advent,

Anette

P.S. More Lebenslustiger at Twitter, FB, Pinterest, Instagram and Etsy

Golden Times...

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 00:07:00 +0000

ahead!

At least in the home decoration world and here especially in form of large golden animals.

And don't forget the foliage - no good decoration these days without leafy greens...

But - honestly - my favorite is the unpretentious beautiful linen towel I found at Porch.

It's like in life - often less is more - don't you think?

XOXO, Anette

A Visit to...Anthropologie

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:30:00 +0000

Lucky you, if you live close to an Anthropologie store. As far as i know we have only one in Europe and that is in London - still far away from where i live in Germany...

So - whenever i have the change to see all their lovely things in real, nothing can stop me! Plus the sales staff of the Santa Barbara store is really sweet and invited me to shoot as many pictures as I wanted. Thank you!

Careful - here comes the flood...

And those cute grey white dotted sale pants went home with me!

What about you - Do you have a favorite store/company near by? What's its name? Do you prefer online shopping or the good old brick and mortar way?

Have a great week start,

XOXO, Anette

Please come upstairs

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:28:00 +0000

.... to visit "Upstairs" with me!

You will find this nice shop in Montecito, the upscale neighborhood of Santa Barbara, which is home or at least second, third or fourth home to more or less famous people.

Upstairs is located above a fun clothing store, so you get to check out at least two great shops when you come out here...

But let's focus upstairs now:

I love to come here in the morning hours with enough time to wander thru their spacious rooms while it's still quiet.

The very friendly staff let's you roam free, which i always appreciate in this kind of shops, to discover all the great little and big goodies. If you need help, they are of course happy to assist you.

The shop is an eclectic mix from all over the world - esthetically decorated in an inspiring way.

It's a bit like traveling to different country's ... cozy throws from Peru, handmade items from Africa and much, much more...DID i already tell you, that i love traveling?

Here are my favorites from my recent visit:

colorful rugs and throws colorful covers

colorful comforters

colorful papers

color your life!!!

XOXO, Anette

Window Weirdness

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:33:00 +0000

I think, we are quite suspicious for many villagers here in the remote country side of Germany.

We both work out of a home office and that's - let's say it nicely - a bit 'unusual' because people around here have an 8-5 job.

That's what you do if you are 'normal' and having a REAL job!!!

In addition we are often gone for weeks in a row during breaks. And we have no blinds. That's - 'unusual'...

Indeed somebody anonymously reported me to the tax office questioning my income tax!

Tsk Tsk Tsk ...

If they would only suspect that we - in addition to the daily working hours - even spent most evenings or night hours at the computer or workshop...

Anyway - but now I blew it completely:

I doodled ON my windows!!!

With this pen!

Oh my - I can't help it - I might be the village weirdo :)

XOXO, Anette

My Dear Little Big Friend - A Kind Of Letter To My Son

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 00:24:00 +0000

"There is my friend" was my very first thought when I saw you for the first time twelve and a half years ago.

A doctor had just helped you by Caesarean section to come into this world. He hovered you over my left shoulder so I could take a look at you and you glanced contently and calm right back into my eyes. And even with being paralyzed downwards from my belly on, my thinking was perfectly clear, straightforward and not exhausted at all, because this had been a planned event.

You never turned head down in my womb.

My gynecologist was absolutely confident that you had just turned back again, but being able to compare to my second pregnancy later, I now know, that this had never been the case - case in point that some people literally cannot tell a head from an ass :)

So we learned - despite regular ultrasound - just one day before your due date about your particular situation being breach. Giving birth naturally in reverse order starting with your feet, then shoulders and at last your little big head - to be honest - that didn't really sound fun. So we went with surgery.

Whatever - You were finally here and I was happy and grateful - even for Grandpa's big birthmark who has skipped me but magically made it onto the left side of your cute belly. What a great insurance against possible confusion in the hospital: I would ALWAYS find you back with this little fairy kiss on your side - was my relieved thought while they were busy finishing up their things so I could finally welcome you into my arms and life.

I relaxed and then wondered. "There is my friend" - what a nonsense I was thinking, right? My baby, my darling, my little cutie, my son ... yes, all THOSE words would have been appropriate; but "my friend"? This small being, this little miracle, couldn't possible be my friend right away, right ???? I was just kidding, right ? I'm a mommy now - no weird thinking anybody - let's be serious..

What exactly is friendship anyway? For me, above all it's many facets, it is CONFIDENCE.

And raising children with confidence is basically like jumping down a cliff without a parachute all the time

Amazingly it turned out that this very first friendship thought regarding you was and is the correct term of our relationship - because the friend feeling persisted. In the early hours when you slept next to me puffing the sweetest sounds, in the early days that followed and where they found out about your hip dysplasia, the first few weeks, months, years ... I never EVER felt the need for that rescue parachute I was talking above. Instead I found myself happily in a completely and utterly genius friendship with you.

"Yah right - Friendship and Happiness" would you say annoyed, if you knew what I'm writing here right now. You angrily sit at the piano this very moment. Complaining, grumbling, almost crying. You do not want to practice now - actually, you never want to at any time. You would much rather read or play a computer game.

"What kind of friend is this anyway, who's forcing me to play piano? What kind of friend is this, who always wants me to move even though I love to hang out. What kind of friend is this, who constantly wants something: learn, clean up, go pick up, wash, bring, learn a bit more... pff! Tiger-mom!"

You are not able to take that frustration and put it into words yet. That I'm only trying to help you achieving your "best" sounds often even really lame to myself... Interpreting feelings and then talk about it - "Oh please NO ...don't bother me", is your default attitude about that "feeling" topic. You are quiet, calm, rarely stubborn so far. Unbelievable smart - You memorize volumes of knowledge that leaves me speechless. PLEASE take good care of those precious brain cells in a few years and don't harm this gifted body with any bad stuff!

So - due to all this nature of reality - our friendship might be still a bit unequal - but undoubtedly, it has always been there!

And the signs of growing equality between us are more than hopeful and promising.

My greatest wish for our future: I would love nothing more than healthily and happily remain friends forever!!!

Why would I share something so personal to the public?

I had a deep, from the heart outbound need for it. It's a significant milestone for me to be able to blog about personal content. Of course - by any means - that was just my personal goal. Everyone is different and needs to find it's own (blogging) way.

I have been doing a blogging workshop over the past weeks with one of my favorite bloggers: Holly Becker from decor 8. "Blogging Your Way" is a great online course with tons of valuable information and definitely helps your blogging adventure reaching up to the next level. The course outline is exellent and exceeded my expectations. So well made. However, the most important finding for me personally during the workshop was the "blogging from the heart" lecture.

And that is what I've just done!

Last but not least: here is a little side story: I once met Holly personally during her book launch tour. The room in which she gave a lecture, was equipped with chairs for the participants. On all these chairs was a stack of various cards and flyers. I thought, this was the famous business card exchange that occurs on these legendary American blogger summits I had heard so much about online.

So I spontaneously put my Lebenslustiger card on top of each chair thinking that this is what everybody else had done or was about to do. I better should have asked ...

The next day I received a tweet from Holly. This stack of cards was exclusively from sponsors!! Shame on me - how embarrassing - I felt horrible and terribly sorry but there was nothing I could do about it then excuse myself.

Well - let's hope Holly has forgiven me my faux-pas...

Permanent Marker DIY

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:08:00 +0000

Would you like to do something really forbidden?

Yes?

Then grab a permanent marker and draw ONTO - for example - a seat cushion!

Yes - your childhood desires are finally heard!

It might only work on cotton and you should protect the backside of your work with slipping a plastic bag between the layers of your piece so the colors won't bleed through to the back. I just left the foam inside and it worked fine.

After you are done drawing, sprinkle about 10 drops ( depends on the size of your design - I used a lot more for the large "flower") rubbing alcohol onto the middle of your finished design and watch the magic evolving and spreading right before your eyes. Let dry and iron or put in a dryer to heat set the colors.

Incredible fun and super easy. I just drew a very simple design but you can experiment with different shapes and colors.

If you try it please let me know - I would love to see YOUR design!

XOXO, Anette

Chocolate Bread With Chili Cheese - Post Aus Meiner Küche

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:22:00 +0000

"Post aus meiner Küche" is a great event where - this time - chocolate creations are being shipped throughout the country this week. I chose to do a Raspberry - Hibiscus - Chocolate spread and a Cocoa - Baguette for Martina from Mathilda-Kuchen im Glas, my partner in crime.

To make up for my less then stellar cooking skills I figured to stick with simple recipes, but exquisite ingredients:

Maracaibo Classico 65% - WOW - doesn't that sound magical??? Found it Here ...

250 gr Raspberry (fresh or frozen)

200 gr Maracaibo Classico

3 EL Hibiscus leaves

50 gr Cane sugar

1/2 TL old Aceto Balsamico (next time, I would increase that amount)

Crush the leaves. Gently cook Raspberrys, sugar and the crushed Hibiscus for 2 min. Strain through a sieve and add chocolate and balsamico. Stir until chocolate is melted. The warmth of the berry sirup should be sufficient to melt the chocolate - if not, fill another bowl with warm water (not too hot!) for a water bath.

Fill! Cool! Enjoy! (I licked out the bowl - D I V I N E...)

The receipt worked very well - I only worry that the spread might be not soft enough since the berry's didn't produce a lot juice... M A R T I N A...bear with me, please...

To accompany the spread I wanted to bake a cocoa-bread baguette style. I searched the net and surprisingly it wasn't easy to find a recipe which didn't turn out a cake-like (instead of my desired baguette-like) chocolate bread.

This one is close to what I dreamt of:

150 gr flour

150 ml warm water

10 gr yeast (I used a third of a fresh block)

mix and let sit for 30 min

Then add:

350 gr flour

1 tsp salt

70 gr sugar (I used less...)

50 gr cocoa (I used more...)

70 gr soft butter (I used olive oil instead - remember: baguette-style...)

ca. 175 ml warm water

mix into pre-dough, knead well, let it rest for another half hour. Form two breads and put them on a greased sheet. Let it raise for 1 hour, wet the surface slightly and bake ca. 35 min at 175 degrees.

We instantly savored the still warm cocoa bread with butter - and - really nifty - topped it with Chili cheese! Y U M M Y !!!

Copenhagen - Inside Colors

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:40:00 +0000

I love to read travel tips and shopping recommendations online or in a book but once I'm actually on-site I usually just enjoy to wander the streets trusting to discover little treasures here and there.

I found that a lot less stressful - especially when traveling with children.

Here are some of my favorite Copenhagen finds. Great places to visit but also just wonderful for a colorful visual inspiration...

Copenhagen has great creative little shops on the alleys right and left from the main shopping street called "Ströget". Helbak and Scherning features Malene Helbak's well-known hand-decorated, colorful earthenware and Mette Scherning's delicate handmade porcelain jewelry. There are exclusive collections from the two designers that are only available at this location:

Isn't that mint floor awesome?

Retro Villa just around the corner from Helbak Scherning is a small charming boutique and online shop by super talented interior designer Mette Helena Rasmussen where you will find Scandinavia's largest selection of original vintage wallpaper and cute design items for your home, your children and yourself.

And the last pictures where taken at Atrium. A shop who - among other great danish designs - carries stylists Rie Elise Larsen's fabulous creations.

All shops were super nice, friendly and welcomed me to take as much pictures as I wanted! Big Thank You - Copenhagen Love!

Oh - the Give Away!

Next Post... I promise!!!

Dip into Easter

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 10:45:36 +0000

O.K.

One more time...

... I dip into the neon fun...

... to match my bunny pillow parade...

... and also send them over to rosa & limone for their "Blogger-Ei Parade"!

What is your favorite Easter egg color/technique this year??? Come and join the collection!

Pin It

XOXO

Hop-Along Neon Bunny

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:01:00 +0000

I had so much fun writing words on my linen cases the other day that I really wanted to try out stenciling some more motivs.

And with easter around the corner...

...I let bunnys hopped onto my pillows!

I got the linens here and the stencils here - the fabric markers came from a crafts store around the corner...

Pin It

Hoppy Easter to you and your loved ones!

Upcycle your beads

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:09:00 +0000

Do you have beads you are not wearing any more?

Maybe to old, too heavy, wrong color, ... ?

Well - I had about three longer strands of those - and some left over chalk board paint.

The paint worked really well because it's creamy and thick and stayed nicely on the beads with just one quick coating. And it dries quickly, too.

After drying I threaded them on wire and bended the string into a word.

Nails and hammer - Done!

Have fun!

Pimp my Folder

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:29:27 +0000

It's February - that means...

back to school for the 2nd term - new teachers - new folders - new luck...

Friendly pupil question: "Sir, do you prefer a certain folder color for your lesson?"

Bugged teacher answer:"Brown stripes with orange dots!"

Ahhhh - NICE one!

You should ALWAYS take a teacher's word with a grain of salt, right... though sometimes taking it literally is fun as well:

Easy-peasy...2 minutes and 2 meters masking tape later...

Thanks for this assignment, Sir!

OH - wait WAIT! EXCITING NEWS!

I FINALLY opened my DAWANDA shop!!! Please visit: http://en.dawanda.com/shop/lebenslustiger

Please let me know what you think! xoxo

WORDS ON PILLOWS

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:30:00 +0000

WOW - looks like I caught the DIY fever...In a happy moment of totally blissful creativity I even signed up for the 'Brigitte Kreativ-Blog Award' - uups!

So - I'm kindly begging for YOUR friendly vote by clicking here. The link brings you to a place where you can click on a little heart to show YOUR support to lebenslustiger.com! THOUSAND THANKS, DEAR!!!

But now let's take a look what I have been up to last weekend...

You already know that I DO love words on stuff !

No wonder I liked this DIY project from wit&whistle a lot and I could also totally relate to what Amanda is saying in her post. I too love many of the products with writing on them which are plenty available these days. Dishes, fabrics, posters and more...

BUT - if possible - I rather choose my OWN favorite quote or saying.

It was SO MUCH FUN to write onto these linen pillow cases!

One wears one of my very favorite Audrey Hepburn quotes and is done with letter stencils and a fabric paint marker:

"I believe in pink! I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing - kissing a lot.

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.

I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.

I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."

I used different stencils for the second pillow:

laugh until it hurts, dream big, travel the world

watch a sunset, fall in love, take a risk, order dessert

shake things up, treat yourself once in a while

dance, sing out loud, sleep well

give with a happy heart, be thankful

be you

Oh I still know so many more great quotes - I think I will keep on lettering...

Of course - NEVER without supervision...

Which font is YOUR favorite?

Have fun creating your own unique word world - if you want to use fabric markers as well, keep in mind that they don't last very long and you might need two of them to finish one pillow case.

HERE COMES THE SECRET - COPPER DIY

nospam@example.com (Lebenslustiger) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:56:00 +0000

I still owe you that little secret a trend scout birdie wispered in my ear at Maison&Objet in Paris:

COPPER IS IT!

Uhhhhh - REALLY???

Well - I don't know...

BUT - I DO know, that these thin copper sheets are a lot fun to work with.

Pin It

All you need is a working surface, scissors and a tool with a not to sharp tip - I like to use a wooden knitting needle - to press into the sheets.

With Valentine very much arround the corner, I thought to write some love notes...

I think, this technik is also called embossing, right?

I LOVED writing 'into' the metal!

If you first do it very light, you can turn the piece and write on the back side mirror-inverted. This way your writing will be raised from the surface instead of being pushed in.

Ad some beloved masking tape to back side and edges e - VOILÀ...

Copper DID come to my house!

What about you?

Will you invite this color in your home???