Eggshell planters for spring

We eat a lot of boiled eggs in Germany...it's a German thing. I've been saving the shells for various Easter-related ideas, but decided to use some of them to get ahead on some summer planting for our balcony. I picked up the ceramic egg crate from Depot, used a toothpick to punch a drainage hole in the bottom of each shell, and filled them with potting soil and seeds (funnily enough, it was Martha's 'daily craft' recently).

My hope is that I will see some green sprouting up in time for them to help decorate my Easter table...we shall see! At the very least I'll eventually have some seedlings that will easily transfer to our balcony when it's warmer. Egg shells are supposed to be good for your soil, and since I can just crush the shell a little to plant them, it couldn't be easier! 

It's been a long time since I've tried growing seedlings to transfer. Have you ever tried it? What are you growing?

My unstyled life: in my office

A while ago I read a post by Jules about finding the beauty in the everyday. She ended up running a series for a while on this topic and I like the words she used to describe this concept:

My unstyled life isn’t messy or clean or ugly or stunning. Instead, my goal is to create a home that reflects back the spirit and personality of our family. It’s a work in progress. Sometimes the beauty in my life is by accident, other times it’s intentional. It’s there, either way, because when I remember to fill my home with what I love–person, place, or thing–odds are it will be beautiful. Maybe not always appreciated, but always beautiful. 

I touched a little on showing the not-polished-for-the-blog concept with my craft fails, but aside from showing failures, I decided I would take up the idea of periodically posting some unstyled shots of real life.

Today's pictures are of what I see when I turn away from my desk. Tucked under the skylight is my little reading corner and the lamp that lights it up at night. Incidentally, both the chair and pillow are awaiting much-needed slipcovers, but from here they still look nice. This is where I sit when I need to be away from the computer. Yesterday I spun around to take a break and smiled at my happy little corner and planned to enjoy it later.

Do you have a happy little corner somewhere?

German DIY e-mag: Eigenwerk

Oh my goodness you guys, I'm so swamped with editing work and curtain hemming -it's sick! Hemming curtains stinks; long swaths of material are so awkward to work with! Still, I managed to make some time to flip through a new, free German e-Mag called Eigenwerk: Das Magazin für Macher (lit. 'own work: the magazine for makers'). I heard about it over on the Sodapop-Design blog, so thought I'd post on it here to share the love.

Habt ihr das neuen Deutsche e-Magazin, Eigenwerk: Das Magazin für Macher, schön gesehen? Ich habe es Gestern als erste Mal gesehen via das Sodapop-Design Blog.

This issue has a heavy focus on knitting and crochet (which are pretty big here in Germany in general), so I couldn't relate too much, but still. I thought it was cool to finally see a German DIY e-mag after having enjoyed so many from the US for so long.

Das Thema geht meistens um Hakeln (nicht so meine Ding), aber ist schon was Interessantes zu lesen.

Are there other German e-mags out there that I haven't heard of? Likely! If you know of any, share them in the comments!

Gibts andere Deutsche e-Magazinen??

Killing me with the C.U.T.E.: eggs

So cute I can't stand it:



from Chez Larsson's egg projects

adorbs.

In my office: curtains, pillows and medical articles

Here's what's been keeping me busy when I'm not plowing through my stack of  medical articles waiting to be edited:
  
KARLSTAD, $579, POÄNG, $99, SANELA, $70, BYHOLMA, $60, MAJKEN, $7.99, MÖRKT, $7.99, KNASTER, $1.49

Somebody has a new apartment in Oberbayern and I'm helping a brother out by hemming curtains and sewing pillows.*just realized this is also the color scheme we had for our last living room in the US and I'm really missing it now....sigh. husband would have a fit if I asked to re-do the current living room.

I'm happy to say as part of the process I've managed to obtain some rectangle pillow forms for myself, so I think once the aforementioned projects are fertig, I'll finally make some progress on my own pillows. Hooray!

6 Spring DIYs That Caught My Eye

The first day of spring is just around the corner, so I thought I'd share a few of the DIY ideas that have been catching my eyes lately.

Two great pom pom ideas from Sweet Paul's free Spring e-magazine.

Gorgeous large paper flowers from The House That Lars Built.

Paper daffodil candy dishes and yarn wrapped candy nests from Martha Steward.

Upcycled grouped spring vase from Luzia Pimpinella.

See anything you think you'll try? Or what spring projects have you already started? I've got got my mind on a few...

I've got quite a bit of work on my desk just now just now, so it may be quiet here for a week or so, but I'll try to pop in every now and then!

Craft Fails

They say it's not wasting time as long as you enjoy what you're doing, but when I work on something and then realize....yeah, not so much...I feel like I've wasted my time. However, maybe it's not so bad to share these craft fails and remind ourselves that the blogosphere is almost always the most polished side of the story.

1. I was cutting up an old T-shirt sleeve and had a left over piece from the shoulder area. I thought I could make some kind of fringe necklace. I was wrong. My husband came around the corner and said, "What is that? It's so creepy looking!". He was so right -I'd have to be part of a biker gang to pull this thing off. Hideous!

2. I had been messing around with stitching on felt and thought pairing it with ribbon would make a cute bookmark/wrap thing...um, no. This was only a draft, so admittedly it could easily be prettier, but the entire concept is stupid. It's so cumbersome that I would never in a million years actually use it as a bookmark. Moving along...

3. Admittedly I have a pom pom addiction, however using this method to make one out of a napkin just didn't do it for me. The funny thing is, I made it over a month ago and it's become this joke that we keep moving/tossing around our living room.

HOWEVER, like Michaela said of her sketchbook in her recent interview, lots of ideas can grow out of our notes and attempts. I already have ideas for taking these things further, so let's see if I get there!

What about you? Any epic craft fails you'd care to share? Crafting is definitely not all rainbows and unicorns is it?

Killing me with the C.U.T.E.

um yeah.



cats pinned by NatashaFoote


and double yeah.



baby pinned by greengable

Oragmi Bows and Repurposed Masking Tape Rolls

Well I am too stumped to continue with the pillow project. Every time I pick up the idea in my head and turn it around a few times to see if I can go further...I can't. For some reason I can't get the idea of incorporating solid colors out of my head...alas, I have none that match my patterns, so I'm back to being stumped. I think I may be forced to just make something to tide me over because we really do need pillows on the couch!

On the upswing, I've come up with a design for a pillow in my office, so I'll be stitching that together soon, hooray! It's going to be pretty darn cute, so I can't wait to get it done!

In the meantime, check out these origami bows from Tweety Atelier (via Zakkalife). How adorable are they?! This blog is published in some kind of Asian language and seems to be completely flash-based, so unfortunately I can't point you toward direct links for the project. However, it's not too hard to poke around and see all the crazy paper projects she's done!

I also wanted to show another one of her great projects for repurposing those large masking tape rolls. She turned them into little containers and a pin cushion; how clever is that?

What about you? Are you an origami person? I seem to have success with simple designs, so maybe I'll be able to pull off this bow...?