Stockholm #1 - First day in the city

Hello everyone,I spent the first days of February in Stockholm this year. You might find it a strange idea, as the meteorological conditions are not the best for visiting a city but I had an excuse. I was attending the "Meet the blogger" conference - An international event for home design and lifestyle bloggers. The conference took place on Saturday and Sunday, but I will talk a little more about what I learned and who I met in Stockholm in another blogpost. I arrived to Stockholm very early on the Friday morning with Clara, and we had a few hours to discover the city before the sun came down - and believe it or not, it was a very sunny day!

It was a charming first day in Stockholm with a lot of walking around. I will be posting more Stockholm in the next few days - So stay tuned. What about you? Have a visited Stockholm? Do you like the city? Talk to you soon

xxx

Elodie

Antwerp #4 – Where to sleep

Hello everyone, I think nobody likes Mondays ... I think the best cure is to plan your next holiday and think back to your last holiday. While doing it, I realised I still wanted to give a last tip about Antwerp, where I spent a fabulous break last October. After telling you what to do in Antwerp by day and showing you the city by night, where to eat in Antwerp and where to shop, here comes my ultimate tip: where to sleep in Antwerp - and the answer is a beautiful Bed & Breakfast called Home @ FEEK. It is one of the most fantastic places I have stayed at in my life - it was the night of my birthday and it was definitely special!

It is located in the old house of the harbour master and five minutes walk from the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom).

The place is run by product designer Frederik van Heereveld. Frederik is known worldwide for his collection with FEEK and new materials, which he integrates into his interior designs. All the furniture in the rooms can be bought. Even the lift is really funky.

The changing colour lamp in the bedroom was also a highlight.

Hone @ Feek Website: www.http://home.feek.be Oude Leeuwenrui 23, Antwerpen

#1.2 – 2 flower girls by Glomerylane & madame love

Hello everyone,Maybe you couldn’t wait to see Inga’s flowers yesterday and had a look at the Glomerylane blog already. Today I will be presenting her flowers on madame love as well. It is stunning to see how you can achieve a very different styling with the same flowers.

First I am in love with the sweet owl vase, I think that using animals in decoration is just charming.

I also love the dark background, and the texture of the fabric on some of the photos. I think it gives the composition a very strong atmosphere that contrasts beautifully with the cuteness of the owl. I found this first edition of “2 flower girls” very exciting and stimulating. What do think? I am really curious to hear about your reaction. To be continued in February.

xxx

Elodie

PS: you can find the pretty owl at Lys Vintage.

Photos by Inga from Glomerylane.

#1.1 - 2 flower girls by Glomerylane & madame love

A the end of 2012, I met Inga and visited her beautiful flower blog Glomerylane online. We have been talking a lot over skype and e-mail since.  I live in Hamburg (in the north of Germany) and Inga lives in Stuttgart (down South) and we will finaly meet in real life in March at a blogger meet-up in Munich. We decided to start a project together in 2013, as we share the same passion for flowers, and flower styling. Once a month, Glomerylane and madame love will be writing a column together  called “2 flower girls”. The idea is that we buy the same flowers in the same colours on the same day and style them our own way. We would like to give you some styling tips and maybe inspire you to do it yourself at home.

Here are my styling tips to achieve the same result at home:

1- If you use a wide and relatively low vase, don’t be afraid to cut the stems. The flowers have to fall nicely in the vase. 2- Think about the structure of your vase: if you use a vase made of glass, you should try to use the transparency and think about how your stems look through the glass. For this bouquet, I decided to bind the flowers with some organza ribbon. It think it looks gorgeous floating in the water. Try also giving the bunch a nice twist when binding it. 3- Get rid of the leaves – or get rid of most of the leaves. You can keep a couple of them, but if you keep them all, the green will become very dominant in your bouquet. It is true for hyacinths and I think it is also very true with tulips.

Voila! Tomorrow I will be posting Inga’s bouquet on my blog, so stay tuned! If you can’t wait, you can have a look today on her blogpost, at Glomerylane. Have a lovely day, speak to you tomorrow and don’t forget to buy some flowers this week!

xxx

Elodie

A white bouquet for Jodi

Hello everyone,here comes a little flowery post in white. For this flower composition I made for my friend Jodi, who invited me for New Year's Eve, I mixed hyacinth, buttercups and Christmas roses. I hope you will enjoy them, and I hope that Jodi will forgive me for taking some pictures of the flowers, before bringing them to her place. Have a nice day and don't forget to buy some flowers this week! Speak to you soon xxx Elodie

Milchmädchen - or where to find the softest blanket in the world!

Hello everyone,

Happy new year! Here comes my first blogpost of 2013 and it's about a very nice shop in Hamburg, which has a very good online shop too. So not only for Hamburgers this time! Just before Christmas I took the time to pay a visit to one of my favorite decoration shops called "Milchmädchen" (milkmaid). I have been wanting to do it for ages. It is a very charming place with a lot of not so well-known designers from all over the world and delicate hand-made products. I really recommend this shop to people who like to do things themselves, as you can find a lot of pretty supplies such as Japanese washi tape (If you want ideas about what to do with washi tape, you can check out my Pinterest board Lovely washi tape),  colourful wrapping-paper and stamps.

You can also find some very pretty jewellery and candles. It's the ideal place to find a nice present for a friend.

My favorite items at Milchmädchen are the ceramic pears (from S to XXL) and I am lucky enough to have two of them at home, a big white one and a small one in copper. They are made by the Brasilian artist Selma Calheira and Milchmädchen is one of the few places in Europe to distribute them. But the highlight for me at Milchmädchen is definitely the blankets. I fell in love with them a long time ago, and was so happy when Mr. Love gave me a golden and grey one for my birthday this year. They come from Spain and the brand is called Hijos de Cecilio Valgañón and they are made out of mohair. You can either buy one that is already in the shop or order one from the catalogue and have it made for you with exactly the size and colour or colour combination you wish. It is the warmest, softest and most beautiful blanket I have ever had, and it's perfect for anyone who is cold-sensitive like me. It is now my best companion for watching TV on the sofa.

I hope you will visit the shop soon. If so, say hello to the lovely Irina for me and leave a note to tell what you found there. Have a very  nice day! xxx Elodie

Milchmädchen Website Online Shop

Lehmweg 47 20251 Hamburg

Mo. – Fr. : 11:00 – 19:00 Sat.            : 11:00 – 16:00

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful Christmas! Speak to you in 2013!

Elodie

Metropolitain in Hamburg

Hello everyone, There is a new place in Hamburg I would like to share with you today. It is very French and I am so happy I can reach it within five minutes the next time I am feeling homesick. Metropolitain is the long name given to the French Metro. This place is not an interior shop, it's a café/pâtisserie/wine shop/champagne lounge. The concept is really well thought through. You have three rooms:

1.  The first one is black and white, with a completely black counter, white tiles (the same as in the Parisian metro) and black bistro chairs. The area is designed to be like the entrance of a metro station. 2.  The second room is completely black, with sofas, and is the champagne lounge. It is conceived to be like when you are travelling in the metro and going through a tunnel. 3. The third room is completely white and reflects the interior of the metro trains.

It is a very atmospheric place with fantastic food, only organic French wines and a lot of attention given to details and corporate design. One of the owners is French and used to work in advertising, and you really feel that a lot of attention has been put into the concept, the choice of colours, etc. The green tone used in the logo is, for instance, exactly the green used in the Paris metro.

The products that are sold and the decoration at Metropolitain are so typically French that I decided to give you a little basic French course via the pictures.

A little French course:

Speak to you soon. xxx Elodie

Metropolitain Hegestraße 28 20249 Hamburg Tu. – Su. : 10:00 – 18:00 Closed Mondays

12 aus 12 by madame love

Dear readers,

My German blogger friend Ricarda, from the blog 23qm stil had this great idea to review your 2012 via 12 pictures. As I started searching my photo archive from 2012, there were far too many photos and great memories to only post 12 photos, so I decided to make 12 photo collages for the 12 topics that influenced me the most this year and which tell my story the best. The birth of my blog (on July 15th) was definitely my highlight and all the great projects I realised through the blog, the workshop and conferences I attended and the many more to come in 2013, and most of all, the brilliant people I met through blogging.

1- My year in flowers:

Flowers have been my main source of inspiration for my blog this year, they made me improve my photographic skills and transform my flat into a photo studio. I love working with flowers and will continue to do so in 2013. I love picking the right vase, waiting for the perfect light, before work or on Saturday morning and playing with colours and textures.

2- My year in shops:

My blog made me visit a lot of beautiful interior shops in Hamburg.  Each photo belongs to one shop: here are the links to the blogposts (from left to right and from top to bottom) Akiko, Palais 13, Küchenblume, Johanna Schultz, Lieblingsstück, Nordlys, Lieblingszimmer, my perfect Sunday, Manoir/Palazzo, Morgenthau,das 7te Zimmer,Richard, Eden Living, Lys Vintage, Human Empire, SmuukeStore.

3- My culinary year:

Even if food is not the main focus of my blog, this year I took part three times in the project Post aus meiner Küche (with the strawberry lollipops, the speculoos stars, and the mini-madeleines. I also took part in the food-blogger event France Bon Appétit. Here are some impressions:

4- My creative year:

I started sewing a lot at the beginning of 2012. I was seriously thinking about creating my own little label: L.O.D. Love On Delivery, and open my own Etsy store. In the end, I used my spare time for my blog and not pursuing my first project. I took part in the designer market -  Kleine Dachladen organised by my friend Merret in May, though, and I really liked it. What do you think, should I open my Etsy store in 2013?

5- My year in Hamburg:

Hamburg treated me much better in 2012 than in 2011. Especially because I found a job I like at DDB Tribal and my friendships grew deeper. Thanks Hamburg - you almost made me forget Berlin (but not my dear Berlin friends).

6- LOVEly white dinner

In August, I shared a beautiful white dinner with my dear friends from Girl Gone International.

7- LOVEly cruise

In May, just before starting my new job at DDB, I went on a cruise with Mr. Love. Venice, Dubrovnik and Corfu. Needless to say, it was lovely! 8- LOVEly Antwerp:

To celebrate my birthday, Mr. Love and I spent a couple of days in Antwerp, and as expected, I really enjoyed the city, its architecture and interior shops.

9- LOVEly Amsterdam:

On the way back to Hamburg, after leaving Antwerp, we stopped in Amsterdam to visit friends and I loved the city very much too. As another friend of mine just moved there, I will be visiting again soon. My blogpost about Amsterdam is coming up soon as well...

10- My star obsession:

Another thing I noticed while browsing through my pictures, is that I have been using a lot of stars this year in my sewing and DIY projects, as well as in my food projects.... 11- My year in red & pink:

...and that I have been using a lot of red and pink in everything I did.

12- My year with Cheddy

My cat Cheddar loves being the centre of attention, and while searching for photos, I found a least one picture of him in each album. So here comes a little collage - *cat content*

So I am ready! 2013 can come. I hope you enjoyed my little review. If you want to read what other bloggers think about 2012, here is a link to Ricarda's blog.

Only 7 days to go before Christmas!

xxx

Elodie

Mimosa - lighting up the winter like in the south of France

Dear readers, I hope you had a nice Sunday. It's all christmassy around us -  but today, I want to bring a little sun into the middle of the winter with the beautiful mimosa I found in a flower shop yesterday. I combined them with some beautiful dark blue anemones. The colour combination is my mum's favorite and I also love it. Mimosa is a neon yellow flower that you find at this time of the year in the south of France and reminds me of the wonderful time I had living in Aix-en-Provence. Apart from being so beautiful and delicate, this is a very scented flower. It is a shame I can't do a scented post yet. I decided to do a musical post instead with a song from the French singer Barbara, talking about the death of her mum and wishing that she rests in peace in heaven with the scent of a mimosa flower.

I wish a nice penultimate week of 2012! xxx Elodie

Que vos étés se fleurissent Dans votre pays, là-bas Aux senteurs odorantes D'une fleur de mimosa, Que votre hiver se réchauffe Au coin d'une cheminée, Que les saisons vous soient douces. Vous avez tant mérité.

Rémusat (Barbara)