And they lived happily ever after

My cousin, with whom I grew up and shared beautiful childhood memories, got married to his high school sweetheart at the end of December, three days before Christmas.What a brave decision to celebrate the wedding in such stressful time! 

Two months before the ceremony, he asked me for designing his wedding invitations. I felt touched for being asked. The invitation design will be a small present of mine to celebrate a new chapter in his life, since "we can do no great things; only small things with great love". I wish him all the best for the future.

This is how the official invitations and the other two options look like. 

Forest animals

One year has passed since I made my typography paper cut "Cras numquam scire". 
This is the first paper cut I made this year. It is supposed to be a birthday gift for a friend's father, who turned 75 years old this year and adores the art of cutting paper designs. I finished the paper cut one day before my trip to Strasbourg, France. 
Someone told me, the paper cut brought back his childhood memories of watching the TV series "The Animals of Farthing Wood", based on a book of the same title written by Colin Dann. What a coincidence!

Cras numquam scire

"Cras numquam scire" is Latin for "Tomorrow never knows". 

While learning for the exams at the university, I made this paper cutting at break just to give variety to this tiresome and boring time.That's why it was not really as well done as I expected it should be.

A Happy Summer Bride

Leafing through the lovely DIY wedding lookbook of Mollie Makes made me feel like sewing a wedding dress for myself. (I have a sewing machine at home.)

My best friend told me: "It's a good idea to keep you busy. Because of your lack of skill, it will take you years to finish the dress for sure. Until then you may have already found Mr. Right to wed."

What a clever friend she is!

A used book

Yesterday I found a used book, published in the year 1912. The book looked ordinary, nothing special about it. Somehow it caught my eye. The old deep indigo blue of its cover is lovely. 

I bought it, brought it home and found some pretty pressed flowers inside. I wonder, how long these flowers had to wait until someone would leaf through the book and find them. What a nostalgic feeling!

A perfect lonesome tea party

I'm my own woman. I enjoy my own company and my own tea party.

All we need for "a perfect lonesome tea party" are tea you like, good books, delicious cakes, a lovely vase of your favorite flowers, beautiful gentle music and no one else except ourselves.

Piggy loves dancing

I went a ballet school, when I was 12.

Actually the lessons were pretty difficult and lacked of fun due to strict diet plans. However, everything in memory of the old days seems to be always illuminated and very gentle.

Dackel loves butterflies

This is a very small drawing quickly made just for fun. 

Dackel is one of my favorite German dog breeds. I'm glad that where I live is located near a Dackel club and therefore sometimes I can see a lot of Dackels at the same time crossing the street to the bus stop or have a chance to watch them performing amazing tricks in the conformation show taken place on the first day of July every year. 

First hand-embroidered bag

Life is too long to do just one thing.
That's why I sometimes put my drawings on hold to try something new. This time I learned how to doodle with embroidery.
The idea for a cloth shopping bag mostly came from the book "Doodle Stitching- The motif collection" of Aimee Ray. I changed some details and floss colors which suit my taste and tried not to repeat the same colors too many times, since boredom is a foe of human happiness. :)

My shopping bag looks organic and ecofriendly, doesn't it?

Another entry also about hand craft:
Japanese tsumami kanzashi

Magazine Girl

I made this portrait from a picture I saw in the French magazine "marie claire idees" issued in March, 2012.
I don't know the model's name. She looks gorgeous in the fashion picture collection called "C'est vous l'artiste" inspired by some well-known artists' clothing. The picture I like most is the one in which the model has a beautiful hairstyle inspired by Frida Kahlo.
Famous names are mentioned, such as Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Camille Claudel, Salvador Dali and Yves Klein. I can't help seeing this picture collection again and again.

And this is how the hairstyle, which bewitched me, looks like.

Dahlias in winter

I like to have flowers in my room. They cheer up grey winter days. Dahlia is one of my favorites. The complex arrangement of its petals fascinates me.
I purchased two dahlia, one rosa and one white, two weeks ago. They are now fading little by little, but beautifully.

 

Bottle postcards (3)

Let's see, what Grandma has in her garden: Strawberries, snow peas, daisies, yellow pansies and lavender. :)
The strawberries look yummy. Such a shame, because of an allergy, I cannot enjoy their tasty flavor.

Bottle postcards (2)

If we could put one's memories into bottles and lay them on a shelf, I wonder, how many bottles we would need? 

As child I used to live with my grandparents at the seaside. To me, memories of the sea are memories of the childhood at the same time. As teenager I was asked, if I were a thing, what I would like to be. I remember to have answered, that I'd like to be a lighthouse. :)
However, today's theme for the bottles of memories is Love. Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" and a heart carved in a tree as symbol of puppy love were my inspiration.

Actually, I didn't have either memories of  a romantic starry night or a heart carved in a tree. How about you?

Bottle postcards (1)

Don't throw away empty bottles.
Let's fill them with a lot of beautiful memories that you're afraid you will forget.
These two belong to a set of postcards about my favorite motive: treasures in a glass bottle.

Speedpost Service

A brand-new speed post service offer for lovers of culture of writing and vintage style or eco-warriors...

Be bored with Airmail etiquettes and troubled by greenhouse effect?

Let's GO GREEN by the use of our new Snail Mail stickers! 

(Caution: This is just a work of fiction.)

I wonder whether Mr. Postman could feel offended due to delivering this postcard. :P

Front side:

 Back side: