Picturesque Month ~ 02'14

Another month gone by this year, a particularly short one which flew by so quickly. Let's see what happened:

~ this moth has been filled with lots of healthy vegan & low carb foods, the best way to start the day is a nice warm matcha latte
~ vegan, glutenfree & sugarfree banana muffins and a smoothie for breakfast
~ Matcharinhas to prepare us for a friend's surprise birthday party

~ porridge & raspberries for breakfast
~ not very low carb, but still vegan & super yummy, leftover pizza from Sfizy Veg
~ I've already lost a few pounds with this "diet", mostly low carb for dinner and healthy carbs for breakfast and lunch

~ it's also been a crafty month, lot's of preparations for the wedding, Save the Date DIY coming soon
~ made this clock from masking tape and wrapping paper for my mom as a birthday present
~ turned this cool shirt from a size S to L, much more comfy this way

~ the future husband and I went to another Dawanda workshop, the first one this year
~ it was hosted by Lucy Knisley, an American comic book artist and she taught us how to draw a short comic strips
~ I drew a comic of a dream I had the night before: We're moving offices at work and I dreamt that I came back from vacation and all my colleagues moved offices, but they didn't save me a place so I had to sit in the hallway! What a nightmare.

~ speaking of work, I also went to a bunch of concerts this month, first off; Maximo Park
~ then I saw Arthur Beatrice, an upcoming new british band, they actually played the same night as Maximo Park, so I had to leave early to catch this show
~ and finally Thirty Seconds To Mars to top things off, I don't actually like the music that much, but the show was great!

~ good thing my dream didn't come true and I did get a place after the move. It's a pretty awesome place as well, right by the river Spree and with a breathtaking view of the Oberbaumbrücke conncting Friedrichshain to Kreuzberg.

That's it for last month, many great pics to come this year, looking forward to reviewing them all at the end of the year!

Size Wars - More Love for the Stormtrooper!

I got an awesome Star Wars tank top for cheaps a while back, but since it was way too small I've never really worn it and even though I'm losing a few pounds at the moment I'm sure I'll never be a petite/small size. So I grabbed another shirt that was a bit stained aleady and made a comfy shirt out of both of those.

I started out with these two shirts. The red one was from a flea market and got permanently stained by some squished cherries in summertime. The Star Wars Shirt is from a Sale at my company, we have a merchandising subsidiary and they do a huge sale every half a year or so and I got so much Star Wars and Batman stuff for so little money, it's insane. I really loved the print, so I had to get it even though the size is not even close to what I usually wear.

First I cut apart the main shirt. I used a tool to remove the thread between the fabric so I wouldn't lose much of the fabric and shape of the shirt.
Then I cut out two pieces of the same size from the red shirt to sew in between the cut out side of the main shirt.

I sewed it twice and sealed the excess with a decorative stitch from the outside to add an extra pop.

It's so much more comfy now and flowing instead of strangling. Also it's just an awesome shirt which got a little more special by adding the matching red fabric on the sides. An ideal way to fix up the shirt that got too small when you're not ready to let it go.

This post will be part of Nina's Upcycling Tuesday and the Creadienstag.

PS: Check out all these funky geeky crafts at the Nerd'n'Geek Linkparty <3

Lumpy Space Pillow

Next to Bob's Burgers, which is awesome btw, our favorite show to watch for breakfast on the weekend is Adventure Time with Finn and Jake. On of my favorite characters from this show is Lumpy Space Princess or in short LSP.

I've been wanting to make a stuffed animal/pillow for our couch area in the living room for a while and since I bought purple plush fabric LSP was the perfect shape and colour for a first try at it.

I started by making a stencil in the shape of LSP. The shape is pretty easy to draw freehanded, I just used a picture on the internet to check how many fabulous lumps there are.

Cut out the shape twice (flip it for the second one so you get the exact shape on the same side of the fabric! I didn't do this andhad to use the not so fluffy side of the fabric for LSP's backside). Then you use a fabric of your choice for the eyes and the mouth and a golden/yellow fabric for the star on her forehead and sew these on one side of the lumpylicious shape. Above you see how it looks like sewn on from the other side.

I didn't want to buy stuffing, so I purchased a second hand stuffed animal and slaughtered it for its soft insides:

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Isn't she lumpylicious? One of many beautiful pillows to come.

And what happened to the rest of the stuffed tiger you may ask yourself? Well, the future husband needed a new hat to show off his animalistic side.

This post will be part of Nina's Upcycling Tuesday and the Creadienstag.

PS: Check out all these funky geeky crafts at the Nerd'n'Geek Linkparty <3

Framed Chalkboard DIY

Our kitchen has been missing a chalkboard/bulletin board for a while now. It's just nice to be able to leave a note/picture to the loved one or write down some items for the next shopping trip.Of course we have a fridge to put up notes, concert tickets and such with magnets, but it's not at eye level, so important things could be missed. I searched ebay for a used chalkboard, but no success, there were quite a few chalkboards, but they were either already gone or or too big. Most of my inquiries weren't even answered, which is pretty annoying. So we took matters in our own hands.

I decided to go with adhesive chalkboard foil instead of chalkboard paint, because it is easily removeable, easy to handle and much cheaper. The frame foils are from last years secret santa with the girls. We had a recycle secret santa where everyone brought something they don't use (anymore), but is still good or even new. I think they're from Ikea originally. I used the big frame, that's made up of 2 L shapes and used 4 of them to create a square shape.

 

The chalkboard foil is very easy to cut and mine even had graph paper on the back so you're able to cut a straight line without using a ruler.

I lined up the 4 L shaped frame foils around the square chalboard foil. The only way to do this with the ikea frames I used was to overlap the two ends of each L with the next one, otherwise the foils do not align.

The future husband got to draw on our new chalkboard first. Too bad I had to wipe off the cute dinosaur to prepare the chalkboard for the obligatory instagram post:

Well, I'm pretty sure there are more dinosaurs and other silly things to come. Looking forward to the fun this chalkboard will bring us.

This post will be part of the Creadienstag.

Shelfies!

Shelves are pretty great. They let you store things vertically as high as you want. Since we got rid of most of our furniture in Munich the need for shelves was great. Good thing my brother had these corner shelves lying around. Of course they needed some upcycling.
Once the space for the shelves was picked out I chose a colour to go with our couches and blankets.

The most annoying part about revamping furniture is the preparation. Cleaning the boards and sanding them down.
After that I mixed the paint, a lovely piggy pink in pastel.
Before and after. I'm always amazed what a bit of colour can do to a piece of furniture. The poles were left as they were in a silvery grey which actually matches our window frames.
And here it is in its natural habitat. By now it is hosting our stereo and vinyls and a few other things that are handy to have next to the couches.
Soon I'll write about our big shelf project on the opposite site of the couches, it'll be great!

This post will be part of Nina's Upcycling Tuesday and the Creadienstag.

Picturesque Month ~ 01'14

Remember the Picturesque Friday? Well, Steffi from Ohhh...Mhhh... decided that it's time for new features for her blog and sacked it. But I'll revive the picture sharing by giving you a review of the past month every month (if I remember).
Let's start it off with some Sherlock Goodness:

~ no better way to start off the new year by watching the new episode of Sherlock Season 3
~ the future husbands christmas gift coupon needed to be cashed in and we got ourselves the Sherlock Cluedo, so far Mycroft has always been the killer
~ because Cumberbatch in HD, that's why

~ what would Bazooka Crafts be without its crafts, check out the awesome chrochet snowflake garland I made for wintertime
~ the Christmas tree needed to go, so turned it into some Space Invaders
~ I made my very own LSP cuddle pillow, making of coming soon

~ wintertime sunset view over the subway station and the Berlin airport from our balcony
~ my favorite winter fruits: lychees
~ my very own weirwood; the future husband and I are huge fans of game of thrones (books+show)

~ Berlin is pretty ugly in winter, or is it ugly pretty? At Schlesisches Tor.
~ icy river Spree and a glimpse of my work building
~ opposite view of the river, nicest bridge in town I think. At Oberbaumbrücke.

~ our windows in froze last week when it was -15°C, looked pretty cool

All in all my January was pretty uneventful, shoulda coulda done more, especially in preparation for our wedding in June, but I'm still sort of calm about that.

Cheers,
Anni