last minute gift: DIY candle jars

Hello guys!

Shock shock boom: the day after tomorrow is Christmas already!

I'm so glad I have all the presents together by now - although I have to admit I did some last minute shopping yesterday. And some last minute crafting too!

After having moved into the new apartment I'm pretty broke, so some presents had to be cheap DIYs this year.

Here is an easy-peasy idea for lovely christmassy candle jars.

You need:

- jars from the 1 dollar (or euro) shop

- old newspaper or even better: yellowed books

- paste glue

- golden spray paint

- decoration charms, ribbons etc.

Simply paste stripes of the paper around the jars with the paste glue, decorate with the spray paint if you like. Let it dry over night.

The next day you can add the ribbon or other decoration to make it look festive.

Don't forget to put a candle inside!

Et voilà, that's it!

Hope you like it! :)

I will be back with lots of photos after the Christmas holidays!

Have a lovely time everyone!

Until next time,

beats & bummel

Hi guys!

How have you been?
God, I had a really awful day. First I was 15 minutes too late for my seminar at uni this morning because of our shitty public transport (when the bus is overcrowded the bus driver thinks it's not necessary to stop at a station anymore....) and then I had to hold a presentation for this seminar and it sucked for some lecturer-concerning reasons...
So instead of fretting about today I tell you something about last Saturday.



♥ cardi: gina tricot ♥ shirt: bershka ♥ skirt: gosha ♥ belt: primark ♥ boots: h&m ♥ necklace: six ♥



Last weekend Patrick and I needed some rest from the busy week, we were both feeling exhausted and weren't up to anything exciting. But then again we also didn't want to hang around at home all day, so we were at least able to pull ourselves together for a little fleamarket spree. There is a fleamarket in our neighbour city, it's called "Gare du Neuss" because it takes place in an old storage building behind Neuss' main station.
Normally its on Saturday noons (beginning at 11 am), but last Saturday it was hosted as a kind of "stylish young market" called "Bummel und Beats" (meaning stroll and beats). There was lots of rummage, but also DIY stands, cake, sushi, a lounge area with vintage furniture and a DJ who put on some electro tunes.
Actually it was a quite nice event but I couldn't help feeling to be surrounded by too many (wannabe) hipsters, that is people who understand "fleamarket" as trying to palm off their used Zara bag on you for 5 bucks less than the original price. Woohoo, that's what I call a fleamarket bargain...not!





But I don't want to be a grinch, it was a nice mix of different things displayed there. I discovered a stand with these lovely DIY strawberry hats that I've seen around the web a lot lately and I was so tempted to get me one but abolished this idea last minute because it made me look like a moon-faced kindergarten child.
Patrick wanted to leave after 20 minutes, he's a person who thinks he has seen everything after one round through the rows. I was able to convince him of going around again because I think a real fleamarket rummage aka treasure hunt has to take some time. Eventually we left after another round, but fortunately I was in a "quick treasure hunt mode" and snatched three lovely things before leaving.



♥ darkgreen Moroccan leather bag - 8€ ♥ darkgreen kitschy suede belt - 2€ ♥ pair of beautiful handmade wooden Russian horses - 12€ ♥



Jackpot! I adore these wooden horses so muchhhhh! I had been looking for something like them forever and the only thing I had found before was a wooden carousel horse figurine with a missing tail.
Now these two Russians live on our book shelf in the living room and the matryoshkas have moved to the sideboard. Giddy-up!
I'm also a sucker for darkgreen at the moment, hence the bag and belt were great finds as well.

How do you like my finds? How do you like "stylish young fleamerkets"?

Happy Thursday!

dear, you're sitting on tea towels

All pictures in these post were taken from suziestanford.com.au !



Hi guys!

On Tuesday I went to the doctor without an appointment , so I had to wait a little. Fortunately they had some copies of "Schöner Wohnen" (a home design and interior magazine) in the waiting room so I could pas sthe time reading and looking at all the beautiful home decoration. I love this magazine! I would never buy it but I love to read it at the doctor's :)
Everytime I flip the page I'm like "Aww I want a room like that!", every single page is amazing, seriously!

So I found an article about Suzie Standford and was amazed. This Australian lady collects old tea towels and tapestry with outstanding prints and puts them together to upholster vintage arm chairs with them! Beautiful, creative, rad idea! I love it! Look at this:







This is stunning, no? I love this idea of turning old tea towels into modern interior. I wish I had such an arm chair! One day maybe, one day... at least I can look at the pictures and dream ;)

By the way: before I had discovered Mrs. Stanford's arm chairs I saw a kind of home story about a Dutch TV host and she had such an arm chair at home! She said that the arm chair was the one her beloved mother had died in and to honour her the host had her mother's tea towel collection made into a cover for this special arm chair. I found the story very touching and admired the pretty piece of furniture. And then suddenly some days later I stumble upon an article about a woman who designs these arm chairs! Fate? ;)








Furthermore Suzie Stanford designs really cool lamps made of spoons! Sometime I envy people like her for their unfailing creativity... Apart from the seating furniture and lamps she also designs one off pieces or whole interior concepts. You can see it all on her pretty website

suziestandford.com.au


I could look at these photos for hours :)

Have a wonderful day folks!






now playing: philipp poisel - bis nach toulouse

christmas deco + gift shopping

Hi guys!

I'm sorry, I wanted to write a quick post yesterday but when I came back home from all the Christmas shopping I felt so exhausted. Freezing cold outside (I'm not complaining!), warm and sticky in the shops (now I'm complaining), the city overcrowded with people that push each other from the carousel to the wine punch stand and back again... oh it's tough.

Back home I ordered all the presents I didn't get in the city online to avoid another day full of Christmas shopping terror.
And I dug out our Christmas deco, here are some photos:











My Dad, his girlfriend and my Mum's boyfriend all want a nice and cozy scarf for Christmas, so I thought I could try to find some on Ebay. Search criteria "only new items" and "only buy-it-now", score! I found scarves for all three :)
My Mum always wants jewelry because she likes my taste in necklaces for her. I didn't find something in the shops anyway, so I looked through some DaWanda shops and found a necklace, a bracelet and matching earrings - everything handmade, Mum will definitely like that!

Now only a present for my best friend is missing, but I already have an idea. However I won't tell you about it because she takes a look at my blog from time to time ;)
















I haven't put up so much deco because we won't be in our apartment over the Christmas holidays anyway. But this cute knick-knack will make pleasant anticipation come up :)

Tomorrow I'll finally have some photos with snow for you!
Have a lovely day!

knick-knack shopping

Hi guys!

This month's budget allowed me to go on another shopping spree today (thank God there was the possibility to work more hours in the semester break). But I didn't only buy stuff for myself, I was also looking for some nice little somethings for my father's and a friend's birthday this and next week. So after uni I headed to the mall...


...and I found some very cute things :)



For myself:


everything h&m (hooray for their sale)



tights and belts: new yorker, necklace: bijou brigitte



For our apartment:



mug, jar + twigs: nanunana, fig cones: das depot


The twigs now turn this simple vase into an eyecatcher (well, at least I hope they do). I saved the vase from the trash can when my mother moved, it's from my old children's room and used to be a liqueur bottle :)


The lovely little jar bears the scented jar candles company on our kitchen sideboard now. I need to buy a pillar candle for it tomorrow.


Look at this adorable plastic bag I got at Nanunana! I love pugs :D



For others:


both items from das depot

The dog is for my Dad's garden or conservatory, isn't it adorable? :) I'll giftwrap it together with the Landrover sign I got for him the other day.
And the natural instant cocoa is for a friend of mine. We actually give her money for a trip to Munich, but I thought this cocoa-spoon-thingy would make the envelope look nicer.




What I didn't buy:

These are clothes that I fell in love with when I saw them on the hanger but then when I tried them on I wasn't sure. What do you think?




I looove the print! But bodycon dresses are not very flattering for my lovehandles :-/



Sailor stripes yay! But to me it seemed like it looked a bit awkward with and without the belt because of the oversized cut?!



Adorable dress right? It was a tad too tight, so I could only wear it when standing. When I sat down on the little stool the fabric was pretty tight in the stomach area (note to self: 50 sit-ups everyday won't hurt...).



Soo that's what I did/bought/didn't buy today :)
Hope you like it!
Tomorrow I'll be a little artsy fatsy, so come around and take a look if you like ;)


Happy Thursday!



now playing: kings of leon - closer

a little deco feature

Hi guys!

It was a busy busy week for me and next week will be better but still busy, so I only have time to post a little deco feature today.
We have this lovely rustic sideboard in our kitchen and the last time I changed the deco on it was back in 2009 some days before christmas. Fortunately this star-shaped deco bowl is seasonally independent because despite of the shape its rather simple. Then there are some storage glasses and two pretty little plants on a simple beige table runner.









So far so good but I thought we have a summer like straight out off a picture book, so the deco has to be at least a bit more summery. I received a new furniture catalogue with lovely country kitchens in it, so this inspired me to redecorate. I didn't change much but it looks a bit fresher now :)






As you can see I only changed the table runner (bought it at my trusty favourite deco shop Das Depot because their table runners have the perfect measurements) and filled the twig bowl with fresh looking flowers. First I tinkered with the idea of using real fresh flowers but then I thought of how much work it would be to change them every week and that's why I used artificial flowers.









I hope you liked my little feature or maybe you even have some more ideas for me how to improve the look of our sideboard :)


Have a wonderful day!

rummage, deco and other impressions

Hi guys!

I have to apologize for my little hiatus again. And I have to explain that it was another heat hiatus (35 degrees Celsius)...
Unfortunately the weather has been excelling itself again since last weekend (no positive undertone here), so I'm totally desperate when it comes to putting together an outfit in the mornings. I've been dressing like a nerd the last days because I didn't care much about the look but more about the airiness of the clothes. Sorry, no outfit posts until tomorrow.

You might remember that I missed out the last big Radschlägermarkt fleamarket last month because my wallet was stolen before I got there. Well, today I went there again (and my wallet isn't gone) to compensate that I missed it in June.
Despite the exhausting weather I roamed around the central market area for several hours, found bargains, marveled at little treasures and didn't complain about the burning sun at all. Shopping makes me even forget about the heat...that's why I discovered a nice sunburn on my neck when I came home.



Anyway, here are some impressions of the fleamarket (I noticed my mobile makes pretty good photos):



This fluffy horse looked so crestfallen, I hope it has found a new owner by now.



My feet hurt from walking along the endless rows.



What an adorable picnic basket!



I used to have a such a rocking horse when I was little. :)



There were also inside stands, so I could enjoy some shadow.



What a wonderful antique treasure: an old tram paying machine thingy
(I don't even know the German word for this, much less the English one).



I fell in love with this sideboard but it was too expensive.



The sewing box and the old suitcase caught my eye, too.




I found some lovely pieces for my vintage shop and a beautiful new deco object for our living room. On my way home I also bought a flower for the new mini vase that I snatched at Ikea yesterday.
Look:



Let me introduce you Phlox.
I didn't know these flowers before, but they're so cute cause they look like these candies you get at fairs or like the roofs of these old horse carousels. :)



The new Phlox flower in the new Ikea mini vase on our new Ikea bread box. ;)



This is my best find today: a teak wood crane statue that matches the deer I bought last month.
They both decorate our living-room cupboard now.



Last but not least: our new placemats (I love Ikea's floral designs so much).




I hope you like this little deco/inspiration post.
I'll prepare an outfit post for tomorrow and promise I'll try to put together more not-so-nerdy outfits for the upcoming hot days next week ;)

Now it's time for the world cup finals! I'll join Patrick on the sofa in a minute.
Good luck Netherlands!!! :)


Have a nice day!