Alien feelings

The feelings are very alien, very weird and mixed! End of day 1 in my "own" house and I can't feel a thing that supports that fact.

I will not pretend that all the feelings are in the neighbourhood of happiness.

There is surprise that a structure of walls, columns, beams and bricks - a blank canvas can convert into something beautiful and a work of art.

There is worry about the sheer amount of work involved to keep a house clean. True for any size, shape, style of a home.

There is disappointment about the way some of us humans behave, the greed we display for money, for more, for anything extra or free. The kharcha-paani that every delivery or installation person wants even though the sales receipt and customer service says delivery and installation are free of cost ma'm!

The shock when a lady who comes to help do a one-time, one-day only, clean up of the place, which has already been properly cleaned once, asks for Rs 600/- to do a round of sweeping and mopping and no other actual cleaning and refuses to budge till that amount is given.

The feeling of being let down by the shoddy work done by some groups of workmen, with the taps leaking at places, the doors coming off at hinges, the paint peeling off (already???). What happened to good work ethics, quality of work and doing one's job properly?

The feeling of slight regret at the thought that maybe I should have gone with a big interior contractor/firm to do get all the work done. Maybe the final quality and look of the work could have been better. The could-have-beens and if-onlys just add to it.

The hope that all these niggles and hiccups will be gone eventually and things will work smoothly.

The pleasure of lovely views, night time city lights, cool breeze, warm hearts and sun drying clothes.

The joy when things like newspaper delivery, laundry collection, milk delivery and car wash are all taken care with one phone call.

The belief that all things that are meant for you shall come to you - in one way or another! So do what you want to and life will gently tread you towards the path meant for you, towards people you are supposed to meet, towards places you are supposed to go to!

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Shop Update: Postcards and Posters for Fall and Winter

Hello, hello! :) Eeeeeks, here's a shop update! These past days I've been working like crazy to finish each a postcard and a poster with an illustration for fall and winter. 
This is Frieda Fox, the colorful lady who lives in the forest. Her favorite season is fall and she loves cozy evenings. 
This is Rosa the Reindeer. She loves winter, the holiday season, long sleigh rides and crafty Sunday evenings at home, drinking some egg nogg.
Eeeeeks, which one do you like best?
If you want to call one of the illustrations your own, they are available as DIN-A-4 posters and DIN-A-6 postcards, you can buy them here in my DaWanda shop. :)
Happy, happy!
Lu

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Real Homes I - Poorni, KG and Adi's house

This post has been pending for the longest time ever! I know! Without further delay presenting to you *Drumroll please* - the first home in the Real Homes series, which belongs to Poorni, KG and their son Adi.
Lets start with a tour of the house and then I will tell you about the owners :)

For me, these first two pictures sum up their home, they are the essence, the soul of their home.  These pictures are a preview of what the owners love!

Poorni is learning to play a guitar. Music, books, collectibles, eclectic stuff, mixed furniture, it all finds a place in their home and makes it warm and inviting. 

Both Poorni and KG are book lovers and yes they pick up books even if they have lots in the to-be-read list. I do that too, do you?

One of the many things I love about their home is the lived-in, casual feeling one gets as you walk in.

Those are tiny paper lights strung around the bigger hanging lamp and they look oh so pretty when lit up!

The Dhalls are a travel loving family and their trips all over the world have resulted in a lovely collection of artifacts displayed all over the house.

Ladies and Gentlemen presenting to you the Starbucks coffee mug collection :) 

This lamp was picked up from Delhi on a trip to source lights for their current house when the interiors were being done. 

Wall art picked from Purple Turtles, Indiranagar. The art is by Aarti Karwayun Chawda of ispaceart. 

Very soothing and long lasting natural fiber blinds from BlindLove, Indiranagar.

Their house has soothing colours, mostly neutrals or earthy colours like this brick wall here. 

Art and various art forms can be seen throughout the house, like the aboriginal art from Australia above. 

The blend of the traditional with the modern, you think?? Love the antique finish mirror, again from Purple Turtles. The fridge magnets are souvenirs picked from everywhere they have been. 

The love for music has passed on to Adi, who is learning to play the drums. 

Poorni is an ex IT professional. She loves to travel, read, try new things and explore the world, one bit at a time! She is also a photographer and does assignments professionally. Check her photography page here. She is the owner/creator of Beantree, which uses natural and locally sourced ingredients to produce food free from preservatives and additives. Their lovely, finger licking hummus is available in multiple stores. My personal favourite is the lemon coriander hummus. 

KG apart from his corporate world/IT career which takes him around the world more than often, loves to read and run. He is now preparing for his first 50K run. 

Let me know if you would like to know anything about the things featured in the post - what, from where, et all. I shall ask the owners and let you know. 

Happy Friday and hope you all have a lovely weekend!!

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5 Different Handmade Necklaces - DIY: Faux Leather Scallop Bunting Necklace.

Hello, hello! Remember my last post featuring the craft supplies of my sponsor idee. Creativmarkt? I posted a tutorial for how to make an easy wire statement necklace and another DIY for how to make a toy animal necklace. This time, inspired by Anja's triangle bunting necklace, I'm going to show you how to make a faux leather scallop bunting necklace, also using craft supplies I have chosen and idee. Creativmarkt sponsored for this cooperation. Have fun making your own necklace!
Here's what you need (partly available via idee.):
- A necklace chain and a necklace clasp
- Tiny jewellery rings
- Jewellery plier and scissors
- Faux leather
- A sharp item like a bradawl (or a hole puncher for leather)
Although the tutorial is relatively self-explanatory, I'm gonna tell you a few sentences: cut out tiny faux leather scraps and cut them into scallop-shapes.
Use your bradawl (or other sharp tool) to make holes at the top corners. Then use your plier and the tiny rings to connect the faux leather pieces.
Connect all of them and finally attach the chain.
Then you only need the clasp.
Use two more jewellery rings to connect the clasp with the chain.
That's it!
Have fun with your new necklace! :)
Lu
P.S.: As always, although the supplies for this blog post have been sponsored, this doesn't touch my opinion on the sponsor or my decisions concerning this blog post's content! :)

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"Bye Bye Summer!" Sweet Table.

Hello, dear readers! Here's last weekend's big project, a "Bye bye summer!" sweet table! This past Sunday, we were having guests for a little party at our home which I had already been planning for a few weeks. I totally was in the mood for making another sweet table (find the other older party tables here, so I have been thinking about a theme and decided to say bye bye to summer. For this occasion, I then needed a color concept and decided on using a bright yellow in combination with lots of white and natural colors, eeeks!

I made plenty of super delicious apple-cinnamon cupcakes (recipe coming soon) and my very first homemade cheesecake (recipe also coming soon). Moreover, I bought donuts, popcorn and the thing which is called "Americans" here in Germany (but in English-speaking foreign countries, these tasty pieces of pastry are called "black and white cookies" and are usually available in two colors).
To decorate the sweet table, I collected constalks and grasses and bought tiny pumpkins on the market.
Mhhh, my very first homemade cheesecake, it turned out sooo good!
Moreover, I'm especially proud of all those delicious cupcakes. Flo said they were the best I have made so far, yay! :)
As many of the other decor elements, the paper dishes were sponsored by partyerie, my favorite shop for party supplies. :)
Oh, I'm so happy about how bright the photos have turned out and how pure the sweet table looks with this nice combination of color and light.
The honey combs were part of the package that I've chosen from partyerie, but the pompoms are handmade and the tassel bunting, too. I used fabric leftovers, cut it in stripes and Flo was so sweet to help me to tie them onto the cord.
Our party was great and apart from all the tasty sweet things, we also had another food table with savory things, partly prepared by me, partly with things brought by our guests.

I'm so proud of this lovely sweet table and how I was able to capture its prettyness. :) I hope you like it, too, and are inspired for an own sweet table or themed meal!

Like last time when I organized the summer picnic, my cooperation partner partyerie hast sponsored this sweet table project: Birgit let me choose my favorite items for her shop for this project, but see yourself:
All items shown above can be found in Birgit's DaWanda shop partyerie and many of them are also available in other colors for different party concepts. I love working with her and her shop is one of my favorites, not only because of her wide range of items and bright and pretty product photos. :)
Have fun shopping there!

Thanks for reading and have fun preparing your own next food table!
Lu

P.S.: Although some items shown in this blog post were sponsored, this does not influence my personal opinion about this shop!

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