Buy less, make more! | 6 good reasons to make jewelry yourself, and why it's easy

I've been making my own jewelry ever since I can remember. Well, more or less, depending on my age. I've made necklaces with colorful wooden beads, friendship bracelets, earrings from buttons, all kind of things. Lately however I've been into simple necklaces that are basically made by combining a plain necklace chain with a pendant or a few beads. I love how they don't look all store bought and not at all handmade. Nothing against handmade, I love all things handmade, but I hope you know what I mean.
My favorite necklace at the moment is the one below, with the color sprinkled ceramic beads. You know how long it took me to make? A minute at most. You know how much it cost me? Under 1€. You know how many people asked me where I got it? Four up to now.

I knooow, I didn't really make this necklace. Not in a crafty kind of way. I assembled it. But still it's my own creation, I chose the supplies and  I thought of the design. No one else has a necklace like this and I'm pretty proud of it. 
So let's not argue about words but start making more jewelry ourselves. Here are 6 good reasons why:

1. It's easy

Jewelry making doesn't have to be difficult. You can make some very decent pieces in just a few easy steps. Take the basic pendant necklace consisting of a pendant and ... a necklace. Easy. Did you know that you can buy a lot of different pendants and supplies online? Choose your favorites and than its just one plus one and you have a great piece of jewelry!

2. It looks just like you want it to look

That also means, that it doesn't have to look handmade. You know best what you're looking for and what you want your jewelry to look like. By choosing the supplies and making it yourself, you have a lot more control over the look and style. Maybe next time, when you have a new piece of jewelry in mind that you can't find anywhere in the stores, try to DIY!

3. It's cheaper

Buying supplies and combining them at home can be a lot cheaper than buying it in the stores, especially for costume jewelry. You don't have to pay for brands, names and designs.

4. You choose which quality you'd like

This one goes with number three. If you like to buy costume jewelry and change your stock every few months, you can choose to by cheaper materials. I'm talking mostly about metals here: chains and jump rings and closures. You could go for gilded copper or tin instead of going for pure gold.
On the other hand, if you'd like your jewelry to last long and look pretty all the way, than you should go for higher quality metals.

5. You can make more

Your jewelry is broken, discolored or lost? No problem! Because you know where you got it from or have all the supplies still at home. A lot of shops sell their jewelry findings in multi packs, so it's easy to make more for your friends, make your favorite necklace in different lengths or create matching earrings.

6. It's all yours

You create unique pieces if you DIY jewelry! There's literally no chance you ever come across one person on the street who is wearing the same jewelry you are. And the best thing about it: if someone compliments you on it and asks where you got it you can smile and say 'I didn't buy that. I made it myself'. Best. Feeling. Ever.

To get you started on your handmade jewelry adventure, these are three necklaces that I made lately. The one on the left is my favorite necklace and I've been wearing it almost daily. If you'd like to recreate it, or one of the other, these are the materials that  I used:

ceramic beads
natural citrine pendant
ball chain necklace

For more jewelry tutorials check out my MAKE page!

The summer essentials

Obviously, the weather can't decide if it's really summer or more like fall this year, and changing it's mind every week. I wanted to share some of my summer favorites for a while now, but every time the weather changed to rain and boots and warm cardigan weather again and it didn't seem appropriate anymore. But I've learned my lesson and checked the forecast! Ingenious. Now I know that it's not a waste of time to get my toe nails painted, because I can wear sandals for a few days more.

1.hat/even & odd 2.shirt/h&m 3.dungarees/mango 4.sandals/charlotte stone 5.sunscreen/avene 6.blanket/magazin 7.lipstick/anna sui 8.shirt/monki 9.skirt/vila 10.dress/mango 11.swimsuit/h&m 12.lipstick/models own 13.necklace/bojou brigitte 14.shirt/vila 15.bangle/bijou brigitte 16.shorts/h&m 17.sandals/lika mimika

18.nail polish/barry m 19.nail polish/barry m

I've been wearing these or similar things all summer (the good days) this year. Except that denim dress, but I might have to buy that now. I love that I managed to really simplify my closet and love every single item in it. It makes choosing outfits a lot easier if you have a smaller selection of clothes, that you really really love. Take my shoes for example: I'm wearing exactly 5 pairs this summer. three pairs of different sandals, sneakers and chelsea boots for the colder days. I would wear all of them all the time (if I had 10 feet) and picking a pair of shoes for work or for running errands or for a date is just deciding between your favorites. Does that make any sense to you?

I've also worn a lot of bright lipstick colors this summer. My wardrobe color scheme is made of a lot of neutral colors with a lot of black, white and denim in it and a bright lipstick color gives a great pop of color. A bright orangey color is one of my favorites. Bright orange sound bad, but it looks actually very cute. Even if the internet tries to tell me that blond girls with fair skin should wear lipstick with a bluish tinge. I decided to ignore the internet in this point.

All in all I would describe my summer wardrobe as very comfy, relaxed and very versatile, since you can basically pair anything with everything. What clothes are absolutely essential for you this summer? Any must-haves that I missed?

Handmade espadrilles | #prymcontest

Helloooo! I'm seriously excited right now because I'm finally showing you my espadrilles for the prymcontest, in which I had the privilege to participate. For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about: The prymcontest is a contest organized by Prym, Farbenmix, Swafing and the Handmade Kultur magazine, in the course of which 50 lucky people, who got the chance to participate, received a fantastic (and huge) box full of supplies to make their own espadrilles. The best 10 pairs of espadrilles can win super cool prizes! You can follow the progress and the results of the contestants with the hashtag #prymcontest on Instagram, Facebook and all over the internet! You should really check it out and have a look at what all those crazy talented ladies created! I feel so lucky to participate and to get to know so many lovely and gifted people over the past 4 weeks.

But without further ado, here's my contribution to the prymcontest:

It was quite a journey to create my espadrilles, but I'm very very happy with the result! I love that I came up with something that is totally me and I swear I would totally buy these if I saw them in a shop somewhere.

I started my design process by  searching the internet for inspiration and falling in love with way to many espadrilles. Next, I drew tiny sketches into the notebook that I take with me wherever I go. I decided that I wanted my shoes to look a lot like the classic espadrilles but with a modern twist and I very much wanted to incorporate leather somewhere. I thought that the design I came up with was a bit more advanced than my sewing and pattern-making abilities, but I loved the design too much not to give it a go. The leather piece was the most difficult part, because it is cut in one piece that goes over the front, the sides and the back. You bet it made me break out in a cold sweat more than once. But everything went just as planned. Phew! I'm a tiny little bit proud of myself that my espadrilles turned out so pretty!

The feature I'm  also very smitten with is the small cap at the tip of the shoes. Of course I had to search half of the Internet for the right way to do it, just to find out that it's made with the same stitch that I used along the soles. Naturally. This cap is what really makes it espadrilles for me, because that's what the classic Spanish espadrilles look like. And also, it's darn cute.

I'll post a full tutorial later this week for you. Until then, to shorten the time, Enoy these pictures of my espadrilles and feel free to take a look at the tutorial for the melon espadrilles, that I made last year!

Espadrilles: Summer For Your Feet! | Part II

If you follow me on facebook you know that I am one of 50 people to participate in a contest (#prymcontest) by Prym, Farbenmix, Handmade Kultur and Swafing to make the best, most innovative, prettiest pair of espadrilles. I got the email a few days ago and after a happy-dance and telling the Internet about it, I immediately had to search the web for cool espadrilles. For inspiration so to say. Bad mistake. Well, not really, but the only thing keeping me from spending all my money on a new collection of espadrilles was the fact that I loved them all, they're all so pretty! Now I'm only more excited for my supplies to arrive! (Every participant gets a free package full of supplies that they can use to make their pair of espadrilles)

While we wait for said supplies to arrive, I thought we could have a look at a bunch of pretty espadrilles and dream of summer, the beach, wind in our hair and a cool drink in our hand.
And it's so warm in Berlin today! Maybe I should just buy one pair now....

1.soludos 2.zara 3.soludos 4.soludos 5.lika mimika 6.loeffler randall 7.soludos 8.paez 9.lika mimika

And if you want to see even more pretty espadrilles, check out my post from last year! You can never have enough content about shoes, right? Haha! Have a great day!

12 green ideas for earth day

Earth Day is just around the corner. I think it's a great opportunity to get into loads of environmentally friendly project this week and maybe learn a thing or two how we can treat our earth a little better. I collected some simple ideas and projects you can try to celebrate our beautiful Earth this year.

1. Make colorful bowls
and containers from empty soap or shampoo bottles.

2. Plant an indoor garden.

3. Take a walk.
Enjoy the nature all around you, listen to the birds and the wind.

4. Clean naturally.
Learn how you can clean basically everything with natural products you already have at home.

5. Start a kitchen garden experiment
with food scraps. Grow your own pineapple tree! Entertaining and educational, not only for kids.

6. Make seed balls
and bring color to your neighborhood. Up for some guerrilla gardening? Drop seed bombs all around your city or town and watch flowers grow everywhere!

7. Make cute kitty planters
from old plastic bottles.

8. Make a round art gallery
from toilet paper rolls.

9. Recycle old t-shirts
into yarn and use it for a crochet or knitting project.

10. Plant a tree!

11. Transform a stack of old magazines
into a stylish stool. I know this one is to buy, but seriously, you can easily DIY it and safe a lot of money, too.

12. Host an Earth Day dinner.
Try to use only local and organic foods. The most delicious way to celebrate.

10 easy hairstyles for the bob (and lob)

When I cut my hair a few weeks back I was thrilled about all the new possibilities that come with it. I have to admit that my first hair styling attempts took ages! I feel like I still have to figure things out that work for me, but I'm getting there. Practice is everything! And of course I did my research (I'm a scientist!) which means that I raided Pinterest for hair tutorials and inspiration and collected a few, that I want to try sometime. If you have a bob or a lob, too, these hair style ideas might be something you would want to try out!

1. easy waves
2. twisted half-updo
3. knot tie updo
4. ballet bun
5. braided back
6. fishtail braid half-updo
7. quick rolled braid updo
8. messy knotted bun with a braided band
9. mini twists
10. easy 1960's-inspired updo

I can't wait to try every single one out and make my hair look pretty and all. I love the messy knotted bun with the braided band! My hair lacks the texture to pull that style off, but maybe if I curl it first and with tons of hairspray ...?

Thank you, Love Circus Bash. We had a great time!

Last weekend, my parents came for a visit! Finally! And while my father spent the day in museums, my mother and I got to visit the Love Circus Bash, a wonderful offbeat wedding fair that's really more of a wedding festival kind of event. It's organized by Love Circus, an event agency which specializes in unconventional modern weddings. We met many lovely and creative people who will make any wedding super special and unique and I got so inspired that I'm almost sad that I don't have a wedding to plan. At least not yet.
Talking to various service providers about dresses and wedding cars and discussing ideas with my mum (and find out we're not so different really) was fun and I was asked repeatedly if I'm marrying this year or next year. Well, it's not too late for next year, bwahaha.

I'd have to admit that I was too lazy to use my camera, but I snapped some pictures with my phone so you have some picture evidence.

1. I didn't take pictures of every stand I've been at, but the cakes and cupcakes and all the sweet and colorful things at Fräulein Wild's stand were just too cute to ignore. We spend a ridiculous amount of time there, talking about cakes and cookies and tasting what must have been one of the best chocolate cakes I had in a long time.

2. Frau Dinkel and Gretchen are two very talented photographers who both have a beautiful style and are very nice people as well. I will be a lucky girl if one day, at my own wedding, I'll have a photographer that is anywhere near them.

3. Oh! I'm in love with this car! Kiezwagen Blank serves an organic lunch and sells unpackaged dried foods in the cutest vintage car. And the best thing: they go completely without plastic!

5. We made a short break at the small cinema of HERZ and relaxed a bit while watching one of their wedding films. Or that was the plan. I did not expect that it would turn out to be one of the best experiences of the day but the film was AMAZING. It's hard to believe what we saw was an actual real wedding with real people, because it sure had a cinema-like feel to it. Aaand I might have teared up once or twice and I didn't even know the people marrying there. Woah what!?
It's pretty clear that I will have to save a lot of money before my wedding now, because these guys (and girl) from HERZ will have to be there, too.

5. I knew oh so pretty before and they did not disappoint my expectations. Their stand looked like my wedding inspirations jumped out of my Pinterest board and right into their shelves. If you're looking for something more modern and fresh than the conventional white-chair-covers-with-tulle-bows-hearts-and-red-roses-everywhere kind of wedding - check out their shop! I want to have it all and I'm not even planning a wedding. By the way: I learned that my mother hates buntings! What? Really? Why!?

6. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of a single wedding dress! I liked the dresses by Anne Wolf a lot. Elegant, modern and not too poufy and definitely dresses to make anyone look amazing on their special day.

7. Something that I will definitely try to remember for my own wedding are the flower crowns by Kopflegenden. If you know my wedding board on Pinterest, you might have noticed that I'm a sucker for flower crowns. No exception here. You could find me marvel at their beautiful flower crowns at multiple times during the day. They also offer workshops!

8. My mother and I agreed on this: this dreamy table setting is absolutely stunning. I wish you could see the birch tree and lace canopy above it. Sigh. Like stepping into Pinterest. The table setting was designed by  Love Circus itself and the flower arrangement was made by the talented Ulrike Buchheim / Floral Artist.

Bathroom selfie. Ha!

We had a great time and got home inspired and with our goodie bags filled with flyers and business cards and brochures. Thanks, Love Circus Bash, we'll be back next year and who knows, maybe even to actually plan a wedding.

This year I will ...

I've never been much into resolutions. They seemed so pretentious to me. I would say something like "This year, I will start exercising." or "This year, I will actually learn for the exams and remember their dates." (borrowed this one from schoolgirl-me) and know that I wouldn't stick to it. I'd be nice to, but I wouldn't.
This year I really feel the desire to change certain things in my life and I feel determined to go through with it. Of course you don't need a new year to start changing what you feel needs to be changed, but it's a nice occasion for it. Like a new start and a new chance to be a better me.
Here are my resolutions for 2015. What are your's?


1. EAT HEALTHY AND FRESH
2013 was a super healthy and fresh year for us. I reacted very badly on histamines and since that includes basically everything that is somehow preserved or contains flavor enhancers, we had to cook fresh every day. I also had to cut back on meat, dairy, gluten, coffee, chocolate and alcohol, so I'd say that's pretty healthy, too.
2014 got a lot better with the histamine. I could eat many things that made me nauseous before. I can even tolerate a whole espresso now and then (and I love coffee!). Or eat pizza. And tomatoes. And cheese. And while I'm thankful for the improvements, I'd like to get back to some of the habits of 2013. Bake my own bread. Buy organic. Avoid sweets and sugar (says the girl who got a whole IKEA bag full of sweets for Christmas). Try to stay away from processed foods and make more from scratch. Try out new fruits and vegetables. Reduce the number of pizza orders on weekends (we do that a lot).

2. REDUCE WASTE
The truth is: I feel bad when I end up with a mountain of plastic packaging after cooking a fancy dinner or when I see the amount of plastic bags from grocery shopping trips that we store in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. I'm no ecofreak. I think I just got more aware of the amount of unrecyclable waste that has no more use than to contain stuff and that will end up in landfills to take hundreds of years to decompose. I don't want to start about the risks of untested chemicals in plastics in direct contact with our food, but that's something I've been thinking about, too.
In 2015 I want to try to avoid plastic packaging, only drink water from glass bottles, cut back on disposable items, stock up on wooden tools and glass containers in our kitchen and bathroom and learn how to DIY cosmetic products like soap or lotion.

3. SIMPLIFY
In 2015 I want to declutter my whole apartment - closet, kitchen, bathroom, craft supplies, everything. I'm no-one with a strong emotional attachments to a lot of things, so that's a good thing when it comes to getting rid of stuff. I already started to clean out my closet and donated 4 large bags of clothes, shoes and bags to charity and didn't regret it for a second. Sorting through the craft supplies will be the real challenge. I'm more of a hoarder in that department and totally attached to every bead and every piece of pretty paper, but I'm determined to simplify.

4. QUALITY BEFORE QUANTITY
This goes along with my goal to simplify.  I want to try to buy less, especially clothing, but invest in a small number of timeless high quality pieces that I adore, that fit well and that will last for a long time.

5. GET ENOUGH SLEEP
Some people need a lot of sleep. I'm one of them. The boyfriend isn't. Our habit of going to bed and getting up at the same time means that one of us doesn't get the optimal amount of sleep and usually that's me. Coffee helps, but I can only tolerate as much as half an espresso per day and that's not enough to get me through the day after 5 hours of sleep. This year I'll make an effort to go to bed early and get enough sleep every night. Maybe create a little sleep schedule to help me stick to my goal.

6. LESS SCREENS
At work, I spend 99% of the time in front of a Computer, like many people do, I guess. When I come home I still have to catch up with orders from my shop or do blog stuff. Maybe we'll eat dinner in front of the TV and maybe I'll finish up some cross stitch portraits after that while watching a silly movie. And that's  not even counting smart phone screens. To be honest, you would be really lucky if you catch me not staring at a screen and I do want to change that. I like the idea of no screens after dinner or similar ideas, but since that's really not doable without neglecting the shop and the blog (I'm a busy person) I'd like to start somewhat smaller. I want to start with no smart phones in bed, no smart phones during meals. I want to go outside more, have more meals at the kitchen table, and turn the TV off whenever I'm not actively and interestedly watching.

7. SAVE MONEY
After years of being a full time student I'm now finally in a place where I can say that I earn money, meaning that the times where I lived on a student loan only are over and I actually have money left on my bank account at the end of the month (Hooray!). And while it's a great feeling to be able to afford a slightly better lifestyle than before, my goal in 2015 is to save money for travel and other bigger investments. I think putting 20€ into a money bank every week might be a fun idea as well but otherwise I have no specific plans so far.

8. READ MORE BOOKS
This is an old one. This resolution is on the list every single year. Why? Because there's just not enough time  to read all the books I'd like to read. Ever.
You won't get a 'read one book every week' challenge from me here, because I'm a 2000-pages-fantasy-series kind of girl who loves Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and everything Tad Williams does. My books will range between 400 and 1000 pages each and while I easily read those in a week when I was still in school, I need much longer now. To keep things realistic my goal for 2015 is to keep reading on public transport on my way to/from work, but take more time for reading at home.

9. TAKE MORE PICTURES
There are so many situations in the past that I wish  I had taken (more) pictures from. I have a disposable camera in my bag everywhere I go and I have my phone, obviously. Still I often forget to take pictures and regret it afterwards. This year I want to challenge myself to take pictures every day, in every situation, everywhere. There's no better way to keep the memories alive than through photographs!

10. DOODLE EVERY DAY
I want to work on my drawing skills in 2015. I believe that anyone can draw and I believe that I can draw, too, only my drawings never turn out on paper how they looked in my mind, which is totally frustrating. I'd like to practice this year and see if anything cute comes out of it.

Books, books, books | 2014

1.sew la tea do 2.20 ways to draw a doodle 3.cucina vegetariana

4.the wes anderson collection 5.designobjekte aus beton 6.aus alt mach schön

7.mollie makes - waldtiere 8.making an impression 9.gemüse satt!

10.smarte maschen für mein zuhause 11.die knooking-socke

12.finish this book 13.how to be parisian: wherever you are

14.verrückte diy-photo-booth-accessoires

Only one week until Christmas! If you still need a few things for your loved ones, here are some last-minute-ideas for the creative book lover. And to make sure, everything arrives in time, you can order everything with Amazon Prime. Yay!

Gift guide for her | 2014

1.journal/sugar paper 2.mug/alisa bobzien 3.necklace/cult of youth 4.kimono/zara home 5.art poster/anek

6.planters/barruntando 7.soap pack/a breath of french air 8.boots/sperry top-sider

9.trapper hat/j.crew 10.pillow cover/belles and ghosts 11.shirt/simka sol 12.basket/ferm living

13.calendar kit/heather lins 14.socks/happy socks 

After a gift guide for guys there has to be something for the ladies, too. Some things to wear, some things to use, some things to decorate the home with. And when in doubt, go for sparkly.
I personally would like to have everything on that list (do you hear that, relatives!?). Except the boots. Because I already got me a pair of those as a Christmas gift to myself. Your welcome, me.

Gift guide for guys | 2014

1.backpack/originals 2.drinking bottle/eva solo 3.socks/happy socks 4.body treatment set/zara home

5.iphone6 case/c sera 6.multi purpose knife/leatherman 7.globe/zara home 8.scarf/j.crew

9.shirt/supremebeing 10.gloves/j.crew 11.alarm clock/rue des louves 12.ipad mini case/asos

13.burger recipe book/asos 14.keychain/monti lederdesign

Hey! I'm throwing in some great gifts for guys today!
For me Christmas shopping for guys is the worst. Know those dudes with no wishes, no hobbies, no interest in books  and no time (goodbye activity gifts)? Yeah, well, being the only girl, I have a whole family of those.
Not. Amused.
You would think I'd be kind of an expert by now, but finding a thoughtful and personal gift is driving me crazy every single year.
If  I have absolutely no idea what to get the men in my life, I pick one ore two of the gift ideas above. They may not be super unique or rare, but they're a safe bet for happy faces on Christmas Day and that's worth something, isn't it?