shop-a-jeans-a-holic

So you may recall I have a thing with jeans....

Recently my shopping trolley, which started to rip a while ago from overload, finally gave up! The back strap that held the bag onto the metal structure ripped right the way through and my whole trolley capsized!! Luckily I was almost home so I managed drag the whole shebang over to our building, through the main door, into the elevator and right through into my kitchen without losing anything through the major hole on the side of the bag.

Now a wheely shopping trolley may sound very desperate housewifish, but with a family of five and a 10 minute walk to the supermarket it's a lifesaver for my weekly or bi-weekly run. The last few months I've been doing it with a backpack, but obviously there's only so much one can carry.

I browsed around to get an idea of what the investment would be for a new one and was astonished to find these puppies going for 50€!!! I have a ton of better ideas of what I can do with fifty bucks!! And then the idea dawned on me... the frame is still in perfect condition, all I needed was a new bag. Then the idea evolved into a JEANS bag!! And I had just the pair that was looking for a new purpose in life.

All in all it was a very straightforward easy sewing project. I undid the inside seams of each leg and then sewed the front and back to make like a long skirt. I recycled bits and pieces from the old trolley which were in black vinyl to attach the bag to the metal structure. This was most probably the trickiest part, having to sew the back bit on to something that was essentially like a tube so couldn't be laid flat on the sewing machine, but I got it!! Yay me!!! I even recuperated the pull string that closes the bag at the top which I fed through the belt loops of the jeans.

Obviously I love the fact that this didn't cost me a dime, that I recycled the jeans for a new life and reused bits of the old trolley. The added bonus is all the little extra pockets I now have to stick small items into when I'm shopping. I think my coin for the shopping cart will go perfectly in the teeny pocket up front!!

So tell me, how do you shop?

you are our sunshine

In France it is traditional for weddings and baptisms to hand out candy coated almonds called "dragées" as a souvenir of the event. Looking it up on the www I found that this is what they are actually symbolizing with regards to weddings:

The "bitter" almonds and the "sweet" sugar symbolize the bitterness of life and sweetness of love. The treats are often packaged in groups of five to represent happiness, health, longevity, wealth, and fertility.

source

When I was planning Lara's baptism I knew what theme I wanted to use - my favorite flower - the sunflower! I actually had the theme in mind way before I even got pregnant, so I was ready to put it in place when the time came!

To hand out your "party favors" you can use little bags, pouches or an array of baby themed objects that can be found in stores. But I had always thought it would be fun to recycle baby food jars. Lara was not yet onto solids, so I asked some friends to help collect the number of jars I needed. My mom helped me paint the lids in a bright sunflower yellow!

At the same time m&m's just started launching their personalized m&m's that you can order in the color of your choice with names & dates printed on them.

I opted for yellow and orange since I got the brown almonds, so the full pallet of sunflower colors was there! The m&m's would substitute the label that one usually makes with the child's name and date of baptism.

The final touch was to add in a small fake sunflower inside the jar which tied in with the theme and added a nice little touch. Here's the final outcome:

 

I really like having used the baby food jars. On the one hand it's recycling rather than just throwing away... and on the other hand it really says "baby". It would work great for a baby shower too!!

What other traditional gifts are there for baptism's?

too da loo

About this same time last year a friend of mine posted a link to the following page or something similar: 20-things-to-do-with-toilet-paper-rolls. Now I'm always up for a challenge and love thinking out of the box and recycling, so doing something along these lines was just up my alley....

I really love no. 8 Cable Storage and since cables can be a nightmare I opted to tackle this one!

You may have seen my post on my mola desk tidy. The different drawers hold paper and notebooks, I have for USB keys and memory cards and one for cords and cables: iPhone, camera cable, cable for my label machine etc...

I decided to paint the inside of each roll black with plain acrylic paints; super easy and dries in no time. Then in keeping with my mola theme I cut out swatches that fit the size of the tube and mod podged over the whole thing to make it stick and give it a great finish.

Originally I had printed the labels for each roll contents in white onto the mola design, but it didn't stand out nicely, so I opted to print labels with white text on a black background and add them on top of each roll.

In German there is an expression I love for jumbled up cables: Bandsalat (translated Cable salad). Well, no more "Bandsalat" on this desk. Every cable is in its space nicely tucked away! And how perfect is this, a toilet paper roll fits perfectly into a drawer!!!

If you're looking for more toilet paper roll inspiration check this page out on Pinterest.

Have you made anything fun with toilet paper rolls?

mr. postman

We buy stamps and I store them away somewhere, and of course when it comes to mailing a letter, it's impossible to find them....typical!! So I decided to create a space for them to "live" where I'm sure they won't get lost in other papers on my desk!

My dad smokes cigars in different sizes and regularly keeps the small cigarillo tins for me, so I have a little stash that was waiting for me to transform them.

Now, what better to decorate a stamp tin with than with...stamps! I found a stash of old stamps, placed them in warm water to unglue the bits of paper they were stuck to and sorted through them to chose the ones I wanted to use.

Lucky for me the stamps fit perfectly to cover the tin lid. A couple of coats of Mod Podge and hey presto....

 

 
So now I know exaclty where they are when I need them! I'm still contemplating attaching a magnet to the back of the tin and I could stick them on my magnet board behing the front door for very easy access....

any other uses for cigar boxes or stamps??

oink oink!!

Now when we did our Chinese signs, Lara went as a little piggy. I had some old Piglet ears and plenty of pink clothes to dress her in, but the main feature on any pig has to be the nose!! And this one was an easy one....

A plastic bottle cap from a kids milk bottle - they're pink here in France. I made two little holes on each side to attach the elastic and glued two little dark pink buttons on top for the nostrils... Oink Oink!!

 

Can't get a cuter little piggy than that!

karneval alaaf!

Karneval is a big thing in our family! We celebrate in Cologne where my mother's family is from, and it can mean serious business for some, but lots of fun at our level!!

It's the time of year where I get my thinking cap on to come up with our costumes. I usually like to find a family theme and I don't like to necessarily buy new costumes. The fun thing about "Karneval in Kölle" is that anything goes! Some of the simplest costumes are the best!

In 2010 Karneval Sunday, which is the day the parade comes through our part of town, fell on the same day as Chinese New Year. Having grown up in Hong Kong of course I'm quite familiar with our Chinese Signs and thought it'd be fun if we each went as our Chinese sign - I like a bit of a challenge! So here we are the 5 of us:

Me - the Rooster

Hubby - the Rabbit

Misha - the Dragon

Lara - the Pig

Ilya - the Ox

Now you see some costumes don't take much...but let's zoom in on Ilya's Ox head:

 

Basically it's a warm woolly dark brown hat into which I cut two little holes at the top for the horns. The horns are actually two little nozzles from those suction things you use to "blow" little tot's noses. I painted them white with white-out!

I used the same white out on two big buttons I had and with two smaller black buttons on top that made for the eyes!

The nose is another two smaller brown buttons and the nose ring is an old keychain ring that I just slid through the hat. To give the nose some depth I folded in the front part of the hat and stuffed some cotton inside to pad it out before sewing it by hand.

And voilà a costume - plus one that kept his ears nice and warm on such a cold and snowy day!!

What is your favorite costume?? Do you make or do you buy....

mélimélo matriochka

You may recall from my bio that my hubby is of Russian origin. Russian dolls have kind of become the latest big craze here and you can find them on almost anything and in any style.

I thought it would be fun to make Lara her very own customized "matriochka". I looked for some inspiration on Pinterest for different styles and designs, although I did already have some elements in mind:

- I knew for sure that I wanted to use the fabric that I've used to decorate Lara's room. It's a typical Chinese red peony fabric, which includes also birds and other bright colors (pink, green, yellow, turquoise...) I find the fabric girly enough, but not too pink-girly, and the peonies to me are a strong yet beautiful flower - a bit like our little Lara actually!!

- I also have a weak spot for jeans fabric (see my Christmas stockings here), and I had already tested the combination of the two fabrics in Lara's baby room.

- The rest would be bits & bobs or ribbon & buttons etc...

****

I actually used two pieces of dark jeans fabric as the basis to work on. On what would become the front side of the doll I covered the top half with the peony fabric so that it would be the scarf of the doll. Two layers of ribbon in bright red & yellow would define the neckline and cover the seam.

On the matriochka's belly I decided to use a jeans' back pocket, which could potentially hold something secret... To decorate it I delicately cut out one of the pink peonies from a piece of fabric. Since the fabric is very thin I decided to mod-podge it to make it stiffer and not quite so fragile. Then I hand stitched it onto the pocket with red thread.

For the little lady's back side, I decided to play around with the top bit of a pair of jeans, and added some ribbon for a little frilly feminine touch! My stitching isn't that great I must admit....

Now, for the mademoiselle's face....button eyes were a must and she needed rosy cheeks for sure. Again I used more jeans, stone washed this time for the face and some unraveling darker bits for the hair. A little red button mouth looked cute and for the nose I used part of a push button that gives her a shiny little nose!

 

Those who know about my "attention to detail" obsession, will surely not be surprised to know that the fabric I used for the cheeks is actually cut out from a small silk pouch that they put jewelery in in Asia, like below. Pink was a must, which is the color I also chose for the big fat ribbon I made and sewed on to the neckline.

I cut out the shape I wanted for my doll's body from cardboard in order to outline where to pin, pinned both parts together, sewed away, stuffed her with some foam I still had....et voilà, here she is:

And in situ on Lara's bed...

I gave it to Lara for Russian Christmas, and she was thrilled - has been sleeping with her since!! I love how expressive her face is!

Has anyone else ever made a matriochka, or another doll?

mélimélo molas

Now if you read my post about "where I'm from" you'll recall that I was born and raised in Panama. When we lived there my parents started a collection of molas which were always on display in our home. My parent's housewarming gift when I moved into my first apartment in Paris were 6 autographed black and white prints of paintings of the Canal Zone done by Al Sprague, our Canal Zone neighbor and a fantastic artist. So really the art of Panama has followed me since childhood.

So it won't come as a big surprise that I would have chosen to theme our bedroom with this and other Panamanian art...

Now, you may be wondering what exactly is a mola? I like to describe them like drawings I did as a kid where you covered a sheet of paper with lots of colors, and then covered the whole thing up in black (using crayons). Then with a needle you would etch your drawing into the black and the colors would come through from underneath. Now surfing the net I found a site that is dedicated to molas and the "molagirl's" explanation is most probably a bit better than mine. Her website also offers plenty of information on the Kuna Indians who make them and the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama where they live.

Now I've had this project on my radar for a while, and I'm so happy I finally got to it. It all started with a Christmas gift: a new printer! Such a cool gift... did not see that one coming!!

This new baby is a little bit deeper than our previous printer, and so I embarked on a mission to rearrange our desk space. Purging, reorganizing, streamlining, rethinking the space to best suit our needs, and hopefully getting rid of some of the clutter. So by the end of the day, the desk looked like this:

 

I was pretty happy with the result, but it looked like a bare canvas crying out to be played with....and so I did! 

And thanks to our new printer I was able to print out some cool detail photographs of molas 

to embellish some of the elements on our desk.

I chose mola details rather than a full mola as I felt the graphic look would be visually stronger, and I think that was the right choice. I cut the rectangles to fit the front of the drawers - the tricky part being to cut out the U shape slot!

And then thanks to Mod Podge I varnished them onto the drawers for a nice glossy effect. 

I am really quite happy with the end result!

To tie in the two magazine holders in which I'm holding the "To Do" admin and other clutter I haven't yet sorted out,

I cut out two more designs and using the same technique dressed them up too!

And here you have the end result:

Just for fun, I decided to change our computer background to a mola visual, which really gives the whole desk and brand new look!

Quite amazing what a little color, a printer and some glue can do!

Here's one more side by side before & after shots:

If you're interested in seeing what Al Sprague does, you can check out his website here!

I'm curious to know, had you heard about molas before?

happy saint nikolaus

Since I was little my mom always celebrated Saint Nikolaus, as is done in Germany on December 6th, filling my stocking with a few goodies. It's been a while since I got my act together to get my kids' stockings up in time and have something to put in them, but since I just got back from Cologne I had plenty of tidbits!!

And above all I had new stockings! Well, not brand new of course...

I've had this project in mind for a while to make the whole family some matching Christmas stockings, and since the Summer I knew what I would make them from: Jeans!

The little side pockets are perfect for smaller items and I'm sure with time I'll find a use for the back pocket too!

For now I've just attached them to a board with some ribbon (I used a different colour for each of us), but ultimately I'd like to customise each one with our names and maybe more??....

I'm open to suggestions for the personalisation!

So, do you celebrate St Nikolaus day too? How??

If you want to learn more about Saint Nikolaus clic here

spreading some christmas cheer

When Misha was 5 he started bringing home some great drawings, so at Christmas I thought these would make perfect Greeting Cards. The drawings weren't made by me specifically, but I pulled them together into some cute Christmas Postcards.

I scanned in all the images and one of his "signatures" and then on Publisher arranged the different elements so that I could just cut straight through horizontally & vertically to make the cards.

The one tricky bit was the back side. Since I wanted postcards I designed the backside like traditional postcards with a pre-printed greeting (in a couple of languages of course!) and our signature - leaving enough room for a personal handwritten message. I used our address as the middle bar leaving the right hand side free for the address of the recipient.

(I added the green line here to show the cutting lines, but did not keep them on the final print out)

Now all I had to do was print them out back to front before cutting them in 4!

I liked this way of showing off Misha's art and a twist on more traditional cards. Lara is starting to get to the same age Misha was and her art is starting to blossom. Not sure about this year, but next year for sure I'm getting her to draw for me...

So, do you still send out snail mail greeting cards?