Green Thumb

I've been on the Road and on the Go for a while now. In between switching countries I discovered these 5 cuties at my local florist's and although I only had 2 pots waiting for their occupants, I just couldn't leave the rest of the crew hanging.

Meet the Babies

echeveria elegans

somekind of crassula

sempervivum tectorum

no idea, so i named him Paws

crassula ovata hobbit

Adorable gang aren't they? Now finding suitable homes for the little ones, I needed to get a bit creative. The big sisters Vera 1 and Vera 2 (gotta come up with cooler names) took care of their new buddies while I dug about my drawers and stashes. 

I bought the aloe veras from 2 different fleamarkets for about a year ago and they have grown fabulously ever since. We had to battle against some mealybugs with whisky and new soil in between but it seems like they have survived the meany attacks quite unharmed although Vera 1 has turned sadly pale.

Done! I had to surrender my favourite tea cup and a tiny milk jug made of porcelain to the kiddies but what wouldn't one do for their children right? One of the plants inhabited a small marmelade glass which I then stuck into a water resistant paper bag from Uashmama.

Yeah I feel like I just saved the planet by planting some mini trees. If not the planet then hopefully at least the air quality of my 13m². A Bit. I suppose the summer slash holiday feeling was more what I was going after.

Have a great week people!

DIY Tea Tin

I had this tiny DIY-thingie going on one night. I'd bought Matcha Tea for cooking/baking purposes (try it with risotto!) from a Tea House in Hamburg and would have liked to have a prettier tin to go along with it. I insist on storing my loose teas properly and most of all elegantly! Therefore I was left no choice but to take action myself. I took inspiration from my bigger jars -as seen in the picture above- and thus went for a japanese style.

First of all you need some of these lovely origami papers. I bought my yuzen at my old job at Akiko's. My tin was luckily tiny enough that I could work with 8 cm x 8 cm big slips and needed altogether only 4 pieces for it. For bigger projects, bigger papers of course. You may as well take other papers but make sure they're thick enough so that they won't get wavy from the glue and last longer in use.

Start with picking up a nice series like Bewitched here that doesn't need to much of your attention to run in the back. Tea Tin dressing needs love and devotion you see. You also need some runny glue, scissors and a flat soft paintbrush. I had Decopatch glue (google decoupage technique), and just a basic 1 cm wide watercolour brush.

Now use the cap to draw a circle to the back side of  your chosen paper and cut it out by leaving a 3-4mm edge to it. Spread the glue with a brush and place the paper onto the middle of the cap. Now use scissors to for tiny diagonal cuts for the left-over edges and then fold and glue them along the border rim as seen above.

For the "body" you should measure the hight and width of your tin and cut a 2mm higher rectangular piece to wrap around it. Glue. Finish the edges like you did with the cap.

Now do the same thing to your cap that was still left undressed above except for the top. It's just another cylinder so don't sweat it. Pay extra care, however, when glueing and finishing the edges! You don't want them to start peeling off any time soon.

TA-DAAH! A pretty little tin for storing tea, jewelry or any other small items elegantly. I also think it's a great made-by-yourself gift idea! Infact I am already planning on trying the same method on a squared tin for a friend's birthday that is coming up next week!

Ps. I've used decoupage technique before on several items as you might see in picture Two with the spacey looking box holding my sewing things or in picture 4 the picture frames on the wall dressed in the map of Barcelona.

Winter Nest

Okay here we go welcome to my Crib in Darmstadt! I try to vary my interiors or textiles according to the season. For example green and yellow in the spring, blue and turquoise in the summer and finally orange and red through autumn and winter.

Like often enough repeated my room is only 13m² small big but has just the right size and price for my taste. It's located close enough to the city Center but is on a quiet street with really good connections to the tram, various grocery stores and to my University. I share a flat with 2 other people, both of them unique and nice. For this room, a shared bathroom, kitchen, tiny hall, balcony and a basement room I pay altogether 220 euros per month. Including water, heating and Internet.

I almost always manage to snatch the week old flowers from work before they're thrown away! Lately I've also spent more time on decorating my walls with posters, photos, postcards and prints.. By the way do you still remember these posts 1, 2 and how my room looked like before?

Coming Up

Hello Dearies,
it's been awhile and it will be awhile as I am trying to save what is left of my 5th Semester of Architecture studies. Topping repetitive days in the Arbeitsraum
-a working space in the University- the winter in Darmstadt has been
gray, rainy and gloomy with no end. I am trying to keep my head high but the cracking of my spirits is audible.

In order to keep things rolling, I am continuing my battle against the Darkness with tiny lovely things sprinkled into my timetable. Things like decorating my  
Hermit Hole into a Stress-free Safety Zone.

I'm off to Uni now but am determined to make a Picture post of my 13m² room until the end of this day so stay tuned! I hope you're all alright no matter where you are.

Cheers,
E

Living Room

I just finished the last hand-ins for my University this year. I am all worn out and I haven't had the time to set myself into the Christmas mood at all. Such a shame cos I really enjoy the feeling of waiting for that mysterious day (that changed into just an ordinary day ever since I was 13 I suppose)!

This year I'm spending the holiday with my mister's family in Hamburg but I thought it'd be nice to show some of the wintery outfit of my mother's cottage in Finland. I heard from an Italian exchange student once that Finnish people are crazy when it comes to lighting and lamps in a room. Looking at my mom's interior deco I cannot help but smile in agreement. More is more!

I reckon I won't be posting a thing while in Hamburg so I'd like to wish you all
a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014!

Presents before Christmas

I've been yearning for a this kind of paper star ever since I first saw them at the Hamburg christmas market. They seem to be pretty common in Germany but I am deeply amazed every time they catch my eye.

The reason why I haven't gotten myself one is because I cannot choose. Not the colour, not the pattern, the size or the amount of cusps. After a long battle and diskussion at the Darmstadt market, I however managed to buy one for my mother for her birthday. Naturally I took the biggest, brightest and richest (in glitter and cuts) for my favourite person!

Handwork worth of all the love and money, I think.