Vom Glück Mit Katzen zu Wohnen - A beautiful book and a giveaway!

Hello everyone, As a lot of you know, I am lucky enough to not only share my flat with my sweet daughter Ella and my great husband Mr. Love. I also live with Mr. Cheddar, the funniest and most curious cat on Earth. Living with a cat means having to make sacrifices; if you like interior design like me, you can for instance say goodbye to materials like velvet, as it is a cat hair magnet and some people like my friend Jodi from the blog Joelix have to be very careful with flowers and plants, as some cats love to eat them, even if they can be poisonous for them.
BUT... living with a cat also means a lot of joy and it can be really fun! The German editor Callwey just released a book about that topic and you can win it today on the blog!
Vom_Glueck_mit_Katzen_zu_leben_giveaway

The book, which is written in German, shows the home of several cat-loving families and proves that you can have both: a cat and style. The author Maike Grunwald is a journalist living in Hamburg with her family and her cats and the photographer Anja Hoelper is specialised in pet photography and you can really feel their love for cats through the pages of this great book. You will find a lot of inspiration about furniture that is cat-friendly and pretty.

Vom_Glück_mit_Katzen_zu_leben_spreads

I couldn't resist showing you a couple of pictures of my little fury friend, as it is a #catcontent blogpost anyway. So there you go, here is Mr. Chedds for you:

cat_white

Here is how to join the giveaway:

  • Leave a comment under this blogpost explaining why  living with your cat or dog makes a home happier.
  • Like Callwey Verlag and madame-love on Facebook (if it's not already the case).
  • The winner will be drawn via random.org. The winner will be informed by e-mail.
  • The giveaway is open worldwide (but keep in mind that the book is written in German) and closes on Sunday, November 17th, midnight CET.

Have a great day and good luck!
Elodie

+++++++++++++++++++++++UPDATE+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Frau Süd from the blog Nord & Süd is the happy winner from this lovely book and will receive it in the next few days!
Congratulations!

#2flowergirls #8 - Chrysanthemum edition

global_view_chrysanthemum_2flowergirls Hello dear flower girls and boys, I hope you are all doing well! The time has come for the new edition of my #2flowergirls project with my dear Inga from the blog glomerylane. As Inga is in hospital at the moment, as I explained last week, I am a single flower girl this time. You can put the link to your blogpost under this post.

If you want to participate for the first time, you can read here how it works. Inga and I decided to style this underestimated flower for the November edition: the chrysanthemum. I have always liked them, even though it's not the first flower that comes to my mind when I am going to a flower shop. So this time, I am going out of my comfort zone as well and not stlyling a most-loved or favourite flower. One of the good things with chrysanthemums is that they are very strong flowers that will last a long time when cut. The glass vase is from Zara home and is sold as a bathroom accessory but I found it far too pretty not to put flowers in it.  The little vase is a tea cup from the Alice collection by Vienna-based artist Sandra Haischberger.  I bought it at the great Milchmädchen shop as a birthday present for myself, with a little bouquet in mind of course! I love the soft and grey colours of the collection. I took the cup in soft pink and the saucer in dark grey. I hope you will enjoy my styling. I can't want to see what you have been up to! xxx Elodie

a_small_bouquet_of_pink_chrysanthemum_in_a_small_grey_vase

2flowergirls_chrysanthemum_madame_love_1

2flowergirls_Chrysanthemum_madame_love_close_up

a_round_bouquet_of_red_and_pink_chrysanthemum

Floral Hamburg - My article in sisterMAG

Hello everyone,I am pretty quiet on the blog right now, but learning to be a mum can be quite challenging and time-consuming, but also lovely of course! I have been so busy lately that I forgot to tell you about the article I wrote for the great sisterMAG. I am so proud to be a contributor of this great e-magazine. I already wrote an article in January about flower styling and still life photography. This time the sisters asked my to write an article about my city, Hamburg and about my favorite topic: flowers - so I wrote a floral guide of Hamburg with beautiful flower shops, lovely markets and cute shops where you can find vases. I will present some of the shops and market stands, on the blog in the coming weeks - but in the mean time, here are some spreads from the article: siserMAG _Floral_Hamburg_by_madame_love_1

06-jardin25

siserMAG _Floral_Hamburg_by_madame_love_3

siserMAG _Floral_Hamburg_by_madame_love_4

siserMAG _Floral_Hamburg_by_madame_love_5

siserMAG _Floral_Hamburg_by_madame_love_6

siserMAG _Floral_Hamburg_by_madame_love_7

siserMAG _Floral_Hamburg_by_madame_love_8

You can read the article in English here and in German here.

Talk to you on Monday with my  #2flowergirls blogpost! xxx Elodie

#2flowergirls in November

Hello everyone!We are already in November! A new month also means a new #2flowergirls edition. As you may have seen on Steffi's Blog, Inga is in hospital this month for her transplantation - and we are all thinking of her and crossing our fingers. I discussed with her in the past weeks if we should pause the #2flowergirls project while she is in hospital, but she told that it would make her happy if we continued arranging and photographing flowers during that time. So, let's rock it together and do some flower magic for Inga. We have decided to play with Chrysanthemums this month.  Are you in?

Chrysanthemum

I will be posting on 11th November and you can take part as usual until the end of the month and post the link to your blogpost under my blogpost.

I wish you a great Sunday! Your flower girl - Elodie

lieblingsblume - favourite flower

Dear all, I hope you had a great week-end! I had definitely an interesting one, and certainly full of flowers! I attended a blogger event on Saturday organised by the "Blumen Büro Holland" to promote Dutch flowers in Germany, their new website: www.tollwasblumenmachen.de. They also introduced their new great Facebook App. The event was very creative and we had a lot of fun with the fellow bloggers and their female friends. The motto of the event was "Freundinnen kennen Ihre Lieblingsblumen" (Friends know each other favourite flowers) and it was all about friendship and how a small attention like a bunch of flowers (the favourite flowers) can be a huge proof of friendship. I completely share this statement! Flowers make life happier! Lieblingsblume_workshop_4

Lieblingsblume_workshop_5

Lieblingsblume_yellow_flowe

I spent this great afternoon with many talented fellow bloggers, that I am glad to be calling friends now and their "analog friends" My +1 for the event was my friend Sabrina:

Lieblingsblume_sabrina

the sweet Claretti (one of Ella's blogger godmother with Jeanny)

Lieblingsblume_tastesheriff

Sarah from erdbeerwald

Lieblingsblume_erdbeerwald_

My dear Susanne

Lieblingsblume_serendity_st

I was also happy to meet 2 bloggers, I have been meeting a lot online through the #2flowergirls flower styling challenge I run every month with my dear Inga. The lovely Anastasia Lieblingsblume_stilzitat

and the sweet Julia

Lieblingsblume_Junifaden

Lieblingsblume_styling

Lieblingsblume_pictures

Lieblingsblume_iphone

Lieblingsblume_titatoni

Here is the list of all the bloggers who attended this great event:

Anniwear: www.anniewear.de Lieschen heiratet: lieschen-heiratet.de Cozy and cuddly: cozy-and-cuddly.de Draußen nur Kännchen: draussennurkaennchen.blogspot.de Hamburger Liebe: hamburgerliebe.blogspot.de Elmasuite: elmasuite.de Formtiere: formtiere.de Fräulein K sagt ja: fraeulein-k-sagt-ja.de Golden & Pink: goldenandpink.de Elfenkind: elfenkindberlin.de Junifaden: junifaden.blogspot.de Mädchen mit Herz: maedchenmitherz.wordpress.com Erdbeerwald: erdbeerwald.de/ Mintlametta: mintlametta.blogspot.de Pfefferminz Blog: pfefferminzblog.com Serendipity: serendipity-blog.de Stilzitat: stilzitat.wordpress.com Tastesheriff : tastesheriff.com Telishah: telishah.blogspot.de

blogger_flowers

blogger_flwoers_2

madame love

Lieblingsblume_last

All pictures by madame love except the last three (C) Blumenbüro

A white bouquet: scabiosa, nigella and dahlia

Hello everyone, Look at what I have found on the market on Saturday! Some charming scabiosa and pretty nigella and a couple of simple dahlias. I think this species of scabiosa, the scabiosa caucasica in the colour perfection white, and also called pincushion flower are so subtle with petals that look like silk paper and look so gorgeous. The nigellas have such a crazy shape. I think they look a bit like a weird insect. They definitely add some fluffiness to the bouquet.

scabiosa_dahlia_niggela

I was inspired by the colour series of my friend Kiana from the blog tulipina and decided to make a monochrome bouquet - all in white. I also used a white vase. I hope you like it! I think it looks quite spectacular on the black background. It is pretty challenging at the moment to style and take pictures with my little one. So, when I get the chance {thank you Mr. Love} , I enjoy every second of it. My friend Laetitia from the French blog Floresie, who became a mum in July described the process of making a bouquet and photographing it so well in her #2flowergirls blogpost - it is so funny and so true!

So here are the pictures! I will be back soon with a very cool give away for cat lovers. xxx Elodie

scabiosa_3

scabiosa_2

scabiosa_1

scabiosa_7

scabiosa_8

scabiosa_10

scabiosa_12

scabiosa_14

scabiosa_15

Such a sunny afternoon

Hello everyone, as I told you in my last post, I am trying to get back on the blog. This is not always easy with my little one, but I am trying to use the quiet moments where she is sleeping or resting. We had such a great day on Friday and Ella and I spent a long time outside with the pram, enjoying the sun! I had taken my camera with me, so here are a couple of impressions of my lovely Hamburg under the sun. Autumn is definitely my favorite season! I love the colours - and when the sun is shining on the orange, yellow and red leaves, it is just magical!

Oh, by the way, I have been working on my blog layout. It is still a work in progress, I hope that you like it. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Talk to you soon Elodie autumn_5

autumn_8

autumn_in_Hamburg_1

autumn_7

autumn_6

autumn_4

autumn_3

autumn_1

autumn_2

pink and red roses for my friends

Hello everyone, I am back on the blog today with some flowers as promised on Facebook. The life with my little Ella is beautiful but I must say that I miss blogging regularly. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends who helped me out during my first weeks of motherhood .

Thank you Katharina, Igor, Jocelyn, Lou, Jeanny, Mel, Anne and Judith - Those flowers are for you!

Talk to you all soon! xxx Elodie

red_and_pink_roses_11

red_and_pink_roses_3

red_and_pink_roses_4

red_and_pink_roses_5

red_and_pink_roses_6

red_and_pink_roses_9

red_and_pink_roses_12

red_and_pink_roses_13

red_and_pink_roses_14

red_and_pink_roses_15

red_and_pink_roses_16

red_and_pink_roses_17

LOVEly guest post by Judith from JOELIX

joelix-madamelove-drawing1 Hi everyone! It's Judith from JOELIX.com. While Elodie is enjoying her first weeks as a LOVEly maman for bébé LOVE, I'm honored to guestblog here today.

When Elodie asked me to write a little something childhood related for her blog, I knew I wanted to show some flowers. Because ever since I met Elodie, flowers somehow reappeared into my life. It may sound a little strong, but with 3 flower (and plant-) eating cats around and a greenhouse where I enjoy growing succulents and palm trees, flowers were not on top of my list. Elodie and Inga's #2flowergirls series and The Lonely Bouquet inspired me to introduce flowers in my life again and I haven't looked back since.

joelix-madamelove-drawing2

At the age of 5, flowers were clearly part of my life: I found one of my drawings from the 80s which included all these colorful flowers. Drawing and painting were my favorite activities back then. When flipping through my photo albums I realize that I had a very low-tech childhood. No iPad or phone to play games, but lots of crafting & drawing, Lego and playing with my sister. And I still like doing all of that!

If I were a little girl today, I'm sure I would have loved Marion Deuchart's Let's make some Great Art or any of the Appracadabra apps, which come in up to 16(!) languages (also in French & German, Elodie ;) ). But color pencils and a piece of paper, and maybe even flowers, would never be far either.

joelix-madamelove-drawing3

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memorylane. Thanks Elodie for having me and gros bisous for bébé LOVE! I hope that in a few years from now, she'll surprise you with some nice flower drawings!

joelix-madamelove-drawing4

LOVEly guest post by Anne from Hafenmaedchen

Hello everyone, Today I would like to introduce you to my friend Anne from the blog hafenmaedchen. In real life, Anne works in a nursery and is surrounded all day by little children. She wrote this beautiful blogpost - in German - about the tradition of German birthdays with some tips for the first three birthday parties as well as a delicious cupcake recipe. I will be back next with my last guest blogpost about childhood memories, this time in English. Thank you so much Anne for the great post!
I wish you a great Sunday!
Elodie

Heute darf ich meinen ersten Gastpost schreiben. Juhu!

Als die eMail mit dem Betreff „LOVEly request“ von madame love in meinem Postfach auftauchte, wusste ich sofort da möchte ich dabei sein.
Unsere Aufgabe ist es etwas über Kindheit zu schreiben, schönes Thema dachte ich. Ich habe zwar noch keine eigenen Kinder, aber jeden Tag mit über 20 Kindern zu tun und dann sind da noch die Erinnerungen an die eigene Kindheit.
Eine Weile musste ich überlegen, doch schnell war klar ich möchte über Geburtstage schreiben.

Birthday

Erinnert ihr euch auch so gern zurück an eure Kindergeburtstage?
Für mich war das immer ein absolutes Highlight des Jahres.
Das schönste und aufregendste ist ja bekanntlich die Vorfreude auf den Geburtstag, besonders wenn die Kinder älter werden, welche Geschenke wird es geben und die Vorfreude auf die Party mit Freunden. Ich habe immer die Tage und Nächte gezählt. Und wenn es dann hieß nur noch einmal schlafen, war an schlafen vor Aufregung kaum zu denken.
Um die Spannung nicht zu groß für die Kinder werden zu lassen, finde ich Rituale sehr wichtig. Rituale bringen für die Kinder Ruhe rein, sie kennen mit den Jahren die Abläufe und können sich auf das kommende verlassen.
Ich habe für euch eine kleine Liste an möglichen Ritualen zusammengestellt.

  • Kerzen auf dem Tisch (Geburtstagszug/ Geburtstagskranz/Geburtsschlange o.ä.)
  • Frische Blumen der Jahreszeit angepasst/ Jedes Jahr die gleichen?!
  • T-Shirt mit dem Alter drauf
  • Geburtstagskrone
  • Geburtstagskuchen(Lieblingskuchen)
  • Jedes Jahr wird das gleiche Lied vorgesungen
  • Geburtstagsgeschirr

Diese Liste könnte man wahrscheinlich endlos weiter führen und jede Familie hat ihre eigenen Rituale.
Für mich waren immer besonders wichtig meine Geburtstagskerzen und das Lebenslicht, die dicke Kerze in der Mitte. Wie man auf den Fotos sehen kann zog sich der Kerzenkranz durch meine Geburtstage.
Ein weiteres Ritual waren bei uns Blumen. Da ich ein Frühlingskind bin und manchmal sogar am Frühlingsanfang Geburtstag habe, kann ich mich noch gut erinnern, das meine Mutter einen Blumenkübel mit Primeln und Osterglocken bepflanzt hat. Heute bestehe ich jedes Jahr auf einen Tulpenstrauß!

Der erste Geburtstag ist meist für die Mama etwas sehr besonderes. Da Kinder mit einem Jahr noch nicht verstehen können, was das besondere an diesem Tag ist kann man an diesem Tag auch die Mama feiern die vor einem Jahr ein Kind zur Welt gebracht hat. Ich denke es ist auch wichtig an diesem Tag das Kind nicht mit Geschenken zu überschütten, ein Teil zum auspacken reicht vollkommen.

Auch den 2. Geburtstag würde ich empfehlen noch eher klein zu halten, zwar verstehen die Kinder nun schon ein bisschen mehr was mit ihnen an diesem Tag passiert, dennoch würde sie eine große Party und zu viele Geschenke überfordern.

Ab dem 3. Geburtstag kann man meiner Meinung nach anfangen richtige Kindergeburtstage zu feiern. Nun verstehen die Kinder was das Besondere an diesem Tag ist, können benennen wie alt sie geworden sind und können erste einfache Partyspiele spielen.
Ich erinnere mich gerne an Schokokusswettessen, Luftballontanz, Brezel beißen, Bello Bello und Eierlauf zurück. Bis heute sind dies gängige Spiele auf Kindergeburtstagen.  Nicht zu vergessen ist natürlich auch ein kleines Goodiebag mit ein paar Süßigkeiten oder Spielzeug, welches gern von Kindern nach der Party in Empfang genommen wird. Die Betonung liegt hier auf klein. Die Goodiebags der Partys heute fallen häufig sehr groß aus und sind meiner Meinung nach übertrieben. Kinder freuen sich auch über Kleinigkeiten wie z.B. einen Stempel, kleinen Zauberblock, Flummi und kleine Süßigkeiten oder einen Lolli. Es müssen nicht immer große Goodiebags sein, denn ansonsten steigen die Ansprüche von Party zu Party und von Jahr zu Jahr und es wird nur noch über die besten Goodiebags diskutiert.

Ich hoffe für die ein oder andere werdende Mutter waren ein paar Tipps und Anregungen dabei, oder ihr konntet dieses Posting nutzen um neue Ideen für Rituale an Kindergeburtstagen zu finden.
Zum Abschluss habe ich noch ein Cupcakerezept für euch,es ist ganz schnell und einfach gemacht und schafft jede erschöpfte Mama noch schnell am Abend vor dem großen Tag.

Blaubeercupcake_bearbeitet-1Cupcaketopping_bearbeitet-1Liebe Elodie, dir wünsche ich nun eine aufregende Zeit mit der kleinen Madmoiselle Love. Und viele tolle Geburtstage.

 Liebste Grüße vom hafenmaedchen