Rose Bouqets made of Fabric

Last week I went shopping with Bambi for some simple T-shirts or longsleeves. I couldn’t find what I looked for and was about to leave, when I decided to check the accessoires section on my way out, where I found an old rose-coloured dream.

Isn’t the pattern of this shawl wonderful? The fabric is sheer, flowing muslin that would flatter any Jane Austen heroine. I can’t wait to wear it in a decent Lolita or Mori Girl co-ordinate, but it also fits my black everyday garments.

The other wearable roses grew on the even further way out, in the children’s section. They catched my eye and I was really disappointed that there were no such pieces at the women’s section. But then I plucked up courage and decided to try it on in the largest size they had – and it fit and was suitable!

The print is really good and looks like it will survive several years of washing, it has a hood, pockets and thumb holes and adds a cute flair to my everyday attire, just like the shawl.

I beg your pardon for the somewhat blurry pictures, but the lighting conditions were kind of bad.

Dear Blogs

I’ve been tagged! Teli named me as one of her dearest blogs and I feel really honoured (the next part will be in german as it is a german award).

Hier die Regeln:
- Erstelle einen Post, indem du das Liebster-Blog-Bild postest; die Anleitung reinkopierst (= der Text den du gerade liest).
- Außerdem solltest du zum Blog der Person verlinken, die dir den Award verliehen hat; sie per Kommentar in ihrem Blog informieren, dass du den Award annimmst; ihr den Link deines Award Posts da lassen.
-Danach überlegst du dir 3- 5 Lieblingsblogs, die du ebenfalls in deinem Post verlinkst; die Besitzer jeweils per Kommentar-Funktion informierst, dass sie getaggt wurden und hier ebenfalls den Link des Posts angibst, in dem die Erklärung steht.
Liebe Bloggerinnen:
Das Ziel, dieser Aktion ist, dass wir unbekannte, gute Blogs an’s Licht bringen, deswegen würde ich Euch bitten keine Blogs zu Posten, die ohnehin schon 3000 Leser haben, sondern talentierte Anfänger & Leute, die zwar schon ne Weile bloggen, aber immer noch nicht so bekannt sind.

Ich konnte keine drei deutschen Blogs finden, und den Award an Blogger weiterzugeben, die kein Deutsch verstehen, wäre eher sinnlos. Daher nur zwei, und zwar (jetzt wieder auf englisch):

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My dearest blogs in the category “german writers” are…

Lilibeth with her blog Princess for a Day – Or the Rest of Your Life? who is not only a fellow Steampunk and Lolita but also my very dear pen friend. Her blog and writing style are so classic and sophisticated and she’s quite a real princess in her habits and manners. I admire her style and the way she keeps her own mind.

Jolly Rotten with her blog of the same name. Jolly is one of my favourite artists, her skills are admirable, not only in drawing and painting but also in sewing and knitting and sculpting and making little steampunk accessoires. I’d love to meet her in person one day and I hope she’ll make her way as a wonderful illustrator and comic artist!

So that’s it for now with my favourite blogs. Now, off for new adventures!

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Presents from the Scoundrel

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

Well, it was neither on the first day of Christmas nor was it a partridge in a pear tree, but an old cookie box filled with old things he knew I’d consider treasures and three volumes of a comic we both love.

When he came back to our fairy tale town after the holidays he had spent with his family, I had to leave the room for a few minutes after I gave him his presents, and he hid his gifts for me so that I had to search for them.

I love treasure hunts, and the first one was even found rather soon. It was an old, little bit rusty cookie tin box, adorned with pictures of medieval Nuremberg (where the original gingerbread that was delivered in this bin came from), a craftsman and his workshop and a pocket watch, as the craftsman was a clock maker.

My favourite picture from the gingerbread tin.

When I looked inside, I found pieces that other would call “trash”, but I consider it treasures. Old metal washers, a button, a small door bolt, a wrench, copper pipe parts and best of all, a heavy, massive old plummet.

I think I’ll fix the bolt at my old, crooked door to finally be able to shut it properly.

The second gift was way harder to find, as the three volumes of Elfquest perfectly blended in with my university files and folders.

Elfquest! How long it had been that I’d read about Cutter and Skywise, Leetah and Rayek and especially Nightfall and Redlance! Redlance the treeshaper is my Scoundrel’s favourite character and Nightfall, huntress and his mate, is mine. It was quite a coincidence when we discovered that we both loved this comic when we were younger and spent whole afternoons in our respective public libraries reading trough their adventures in the world of two moons and that even our favourite elves were one of the most unusual couples of the wolfriders (or “Manowar elves”, as Teli calls them).

Redlance and Nightfall.

I was really, really delighted, he couldn’t have thought of a better gift for me. And I’ll get a fourth volume of Elfquest for our anniversary. ^^

Presents for the Scoundrel

The things about the Scoundrel and presents are:

1. His birthday is two days before Christmas which means that all the ideas kind of have to come at the same time.
2. He has neither an affection for silly, useless things nor a “heraldic” animal or something like that. Giving is way easier with people like Bambi (who mostly gets something that is related to fawns or self-made game merchandise) or the Imp who is a great pianist and has a thing for zombies or Tristan who likes tigers…

So I decided he’d only get things that he’d find useful. Which is kind of difficult for me as someone who loves to make little things that don’t actually make any sense but look cute… This was also a problem that I had with his advent calendar as he doesn’t like sweets (just imagine!). I substituted them with spices as he’s not only very fond of rosemary and cinnamon and pepper, but also a very able amateur chef.

My first thoughts were too large to be realised until the end of December of 2010, so I had to find something smaller. I finally came up with a solution: While we were playing at the same RPG rounds, he hadn’t any dice and worst luck with those he borrowed from Bambi, the Elfin or me. So he got a pack of dice in every variation for his birthday and a dice bag, too.

 

I wanted the gift to still look personal, so I wrapped the dice in my favourite packing paper.

They look like old-fashioned sweets, and even the wire of the jar matches the paper and ribbon!

Of course there has to be a Happy Birthday card, too.

So much fo his birthday. For Christmas it was the dice bag. But to be honest, this was not enough for me. I had to think about something special, and so I came up with the “wrapping”.

Yes! It’s a D 20, made of felt, embroidery yarn and acrylic colour. The numbers are in the right positions, too.

This was definitely not the last time I made a die like this. I think it’s a great gift for all role players, and it’s only a two-hours-or-so work.

But now for the dice bag, the actual present.

 

The bag is made of thin leather with a felt application in the middle displaying the Scoundrel’s sign.

I can't help but thinking of jewels...

I was happy how the presents turned out and that he liked – and also was able to use – them.

Of course I got wonderful gifts, too, but that’s another story.

Little Boxes

Of course I don’t mean it as negative as in the song of the same name (though it’s not bad, either)!

No, I just went to the art supply shop to finally get some new blocks of paint for my aquarelle box. Maybe you remember – this was one of my daring deeds (by the way, this is the 25th task to be fulfilled!) and now after years of procrastinating I finally went to the small shop around the corner and got me six little boxes of pigments ready to use.

The colours I’ve got me are…

• madder brown
• yellow ochre
• Titanium-opaque white
• light yellow lemon
• madder red dark
• cadmium red deep

… all of which I use quite often. I had a pretty hard time to paint with only blues and blue-ish greens in my paint-box!

The other little boxes you can see on the picture above are the wonderfully designed packages of pastilles that I discovered lately at the tea shop just around the other corner. I decided to taste my way through all the flavours they got there, so far I’ve tried full cream chocolate, orange and strawberry.

While I’m at typing, another wonderful incident occurred as with Inbetween Days my last Blue Monday comic arrived! I fear I’ve got a huge crush on Victor (but at the same time am a heavy Victor x Clover shipper)… Lovely!

But now you’ve to excuse me, I’ve got to inaugurate these colours!

10 Things I Love In January

1. My new MP3 player. Well, it was about time. The only thing lacking are decent headphones as the default ones and my ears don’t really get along well. I like the thougt that what I listen to is a secret to others.
2. 2011. A new year! As always a new opportunity, and I think that’s just a great prospect.
3. Thrift Stores. There’s one only ten minutes from our little white house in the green lane which is great for unique pieces. Sometimes you’ll get a nice story that comes with the clothing, too!
4. Silly Holidays. There are countless of them, celebrating childhood heroes (Winnie-the-Pooh Day, Jan. 18th), favourite food (World Pasta Day, Oct. 25th) or weird behaviour (Mad Hatter Day, June 10th & Oct. 6th). Reasons to party and celebrate are always great, so get a list of these dates (here or here) and pick your favourites. And don’t forget, tomorrow is Bubble Bath Day!
5. My new Pocket Calendar. Since I started to use these wonderful, practical things, they’ve grown pretty dear to me. I collect favourite words there, names, dates and birthdays and even those silly holidays mentioned in point 4. As for the design I’m very fond of paper blanks, they look so fine and old-fashioned.
6. Black Woolen Tights. You can’t imagine how difficult it is to get one, albeit they are warm and look great. Gladly, one of the green fashion shops here in Marburg has them, still.
7. Small Rubber Animals. I used to get them as a little treat from the dentist when I was a child and found them again in my favourite toy store in the upper town. They are great for several small DIY projects such as decorating electronic gadgets or hair pins. I love that small dragon, he sits on the speaker of my laptop as I’m typing.
8. The Dropkick Murphys. Although their music found me years ago I listen to them a lot at the moment. My current favourites are As One and The Auld Triangle.
9. Spaghetti Bolognese. THE ultimate student food, even more than pizza.As I write there’s a pot of sauce on the hearth and water for another pound of pasta boiling beside it. We always make more than necessary to have some left over for the next day, too. Plus, Bolognese sauce tastes even better when it stood to brew for a while.
10. The fact that you’re reading my blog. Yes, exactly. You. :)

Starting With Fire

A Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you survived the last night rather unharmed in soul and body and had a good time.

I myself had, celebrating the coming of 2011 together with Bambi, Bertie, the Scoundrel and a fellow firebug of his. As it’s becoming some kind of tradition, we blew up Berties’s architectural models he had built during the last year and it was as fun as last year, but way more creative. We started with two backpacks full of fireworks and still have some left!

I like the effect of the fireworks behind the bare trees.

Most of the photos I took didn’t came out as I wanted them to, but anyway, here are some pictures.

Bambi during the preparation of the fire fountain

There it goes.

As you see the pictures are quite blurry, so I spared you most of them.