Newly Listed: Sterling Silver Sea Urchin Ring

Sterling Silver Flower Ring Pink Sea Urchin Ring One of a Kind Size 6.5 by StaroftheEast
Bird and Flowering Branch - Fine Art Photo - Flowers, Botanical by BrookeRyanPhoto
Lavender Floral Photograph, Ethereal, Romantic, Flower photograph, Wall decor by hellotwiggs
Original Small Abstract Acrylic Painting with Pink, Orange, Blue, Wall Art by Jimarieart

Eco Friendly Wedding; Bouquets and Centerpieces

Weddings are a big deal, although it does not always happen it is planned as a once in a life time thing and often no costs are spared.
Besides the high costs weddings are often also not friendly for our planet, there are a lot of aspects that can make a wedding eco friendlier and even cheaper because of it. I am planning to write a few blogposts about this and am starting today with the flowers.

Flowers are often used as centerpieces on each table, bouquets for the brides, bridesmaids and flower girls, and as decoration.
Unfortunately most flowers available at flower shops have a very big carbon footprint, which is especially sad as all these flowers will be seen for one day and than end up in the trash. I myself have never liked flowers as they die quickly, I much prefer a pot with a nice plant which I can enjoy for many years, this idea can also be kept in thought while planning a wedding.

If you always wanted fresh flowers on your wedding, checkout local and especially seasonal flowers,  they are much friendlier for nature and also cheaper a win-win. Who knows maybe you even have a friendly neighbor with a beautiful flower garden :)

1. Center piece from Projectwedding 2. Succulent bouquet from loverly 3. succulent decor from weddingchicks

But even though seasonal and local flowers are a much better eco option, they still will die, so I love the idea of plants, especially succulent plants. They are beautiful, don't need much water and can handle a day easily as a bouquet. You can also have little pots with succulents as wedding favors and the center pieces will look great in your home and friends homes for many years, even your bouquet could be planted as succulents can propagate with only the leaves.

If you are not convinced yet, check out these 70 succulent plant wedding project at dearpearlflowers!

Paper flowers and decorations are also a great option, recycled paper of course like magazine leaves or newspaper, later they can all go in the recycle bin. Maps could be used for the travelers or music sheets for musicians.

Checkout at idoityourself for how to make such a bouquet yourself.

Center pieces are where most flowers are used for, instead of flowers other objects can be used too, no need to go traditional. Love the idea of this backyard wedding from glamourandgrace where the bride and groom created center pieces with arrangements of beloved personal objects from their own home, their parents, and friends. No waste, no costs!

There are many more alternatives like fabric flowers made of upcycled fabric, pinecones are also great for bouquets and decorations, the amount of flowers can be reduced by using a lot of alternatives for decoration.

And of course we make bouquets too! Ours are made with beach findings like sea urchins and shells, vintage fabrics and brooches and lots of love :) If you are in the middle of planning your wedding I hope you have come up with more eco friendly solutions for the flowers. I will be writing more posts for eco friendly solutions for wedding related things.

How to Keep coming with new Ideas for your Blog

Today I have totally no idea what to blog about, and then I thought that I will share what I do when I have this problem, so the problem of not knowing what to blog about turned in to a blog post about not knowing what to blog about :) After more than 8 years of blogging this is what I do when my mind is on a blank:

- Check your last 10 blogposts, write them down and then come up with new blogposts inspired by those last 10 ones. For example a previous blogpost about our furniture projects could lead to of course the before and after photo's of those furniture pieces but also a tutorial on how to fix a furniture piece or I could share furniture pieces made by others that I love and there you have 3 blogposts that you all of a sudden could write simply by thinking about 1 blogpost, with 10 posts you can easily come up with 20 new blog posts materials. If so write them down and look at them when you have no idea on what to write about :)

- Think about what you have done lately and share those new projects, this can be something that you make (and sell) but also a house make over, a little home decor upgrade etc. Sharing the process of these projects is fun for others to see and encouraging comments can also stimulate and motivate you to continue or do more than you originally planned.

- Share something personal that you have gone through lately. You don't need to share your dirty laundry or deepest secrets, but something might have happened lately that will give a good laugh to others or touch someone as they went through something similar.

-And finally I try to mix it up a little so not too much of the same kind of blogposts in a row but different things for variation and to connect with more people as some of your blogposts will be more liked by some people while other kinds might be liked by a different audience.

Here are my favorite three blogposts of all time, hope you enjoy them too:

~Mum decided to cook... (originally posted in 2008)

~Eco Fur (originally posted in 2009)

~Going back to Fairyland (Originally posted in 2014)

Newly Listed: Beachshells

Beautiful large seashells for nautical coastal decor, seashell planter all available at StarHomeStudio
Landscape Photography, lighthouse decor, beach wall art, wheat, nautical, art print by TraceyCapone
Tropical Decor, Hawaii Art Print, Beach Decor, Palm Trees Photography by EyePoetryPhotography
Beach Decor, Wave Photograph, Ocean Picture, Wall Art, Sea Photography by PureNaturePhotos

Another sad Goodbye

Just when we started to get used to a house without Lucky, our old little Bibi passed away, 1 week after Lucky. Two losses in such a short time is heart breaking and we have a few more old dogs and the thought of loosing them is horrible.

Bibi has been with us since 2002, we do not know her exact age but it must have been around 15/16. We found her on the streets in very bad shape but thanks to a never ending appetite she recouped well and never had any health issues in all these years.  Until we discovered a lump in her breast last year. As you might remember we lost Daisy and Lily from breast cancer, we both had them operated which did not help much and took weeks for them to recover. Because of this we did not have Bibi operated on. She actually lived longer than the two who we had operated, but I think her good appetite helped a lot. When she all of a sudden stopped eating we knew it was her time.
Instead of letting her go on her own, we took her to the vet to have her put to sleep. This decision was because we know that even when they do not eat and drink it takes days for them to pass away, which is painful for them and agony for us to see them suffer. Bibi's tumor was swollen due to an abscess and looked horrible and painful.

This the last picture I took of her, the day she passed away, she now lies in the mountains with her other brothers and sisters.

If you want to avoid your female dogs to get breast cancer, please let them be spayed as soon as possible, best is when they are 5-6 months before they produce hormones. The older they get the more risk, especially when they have had pups spaying doesn't help much anymore.
We learned this the hard way by loosing 3 girls in 1 year, our 3 remaining girls are all spayed and hopefully will stay with us for a long time.

January Projects

Now that the weather is colder and wetter not much planned for the house, but there are two projects waiting for furniture revamps. Last month was a success as all plans got finished.

This set of chairs will need a lot of tender loving care before they can be painted and upholstered, the wood is not in a condition that it can be varnished, but maybe a crazy color will give it a nice modern make over, nothing planned yet.

The second project is a piano seat. It is super heavy with the metal work making the height adjustable and the solid wood legs.

We are thinking some crazy stuff for this one too, lots of colors for sure and of course it will need a seat :) The metal work will need to be cleaned and treated too so although a small piece this one will take some time.

And as soon as weather allows I still have some paint work to do on the house, the place of the new window and some make up on the walls in general, I scratched off peeling paint so the walls look a little sad now, but this will all be fixed soon.

Do you have any plans for the month/ year?

Newly Listed: Woodland Farmhouse Jacket

Woodland Deer Jacket Fairy tale Vintage Plus Size Clothing Landscape Gobelin Tapestry Fabric by StarsWear
Symphonic - PHOTO, enchanted forest, green wall art, pacific northwest forest, oregon gift by Jenndalyn
Kitchen decor, fine art Thyme photograph, rustic kitchen wall art, fresh herbs, farmhouse kitchen by LupenGrainne
Deer Antler Photography, Rustic, Woodland, Photograph, Wildlife, Animal, Forest by PaperMeadows

Happy New Year!

2015 already has come to an end, time does really fly!
We ended our year with a sad note, we lost our 15 year old Lucky. He was not ill, and his passing away was very unexpected, but all of a sudden he stopped eating and drinking and he passed away quickly without too much suffering. We have a lot of old dogs now and we are mentally preparing ourselves for loosing them, Lucky was the 4th we lost in the past 14 months and it has been hard. We still have 10 at home so a lot of consolation, but the thought of loosing them is really hard.

On the bright side, a new year, new plans to fulfill, new ideas and dreams to become reality.
A new year always makes us stop and think about improvements, do you have any big plans or dreams to chase in 2016?

Wishing everyone a Healthy, Happy and Peaceful New Year!

An Artful Upcycle Project

Sometimes my mother comes with crazy ideas, ideas I do not appreciate (right away), some do not pan out but a lot of craziness turns out to be quite brilliant. This project is one of the good kind :)
I painted this oil painting back when I was going to my drawing course. It is not really the style I normally paint and was my first portrait, so it has a lot of room for improvement but it was just a step to learn. I thought about improving it but somehow never knew what to do with it and I didn't want to ruin it.
So here come mum's crazy idea: 'make a bag out of it'.
my first reaction was raised eye brows and probably scratching my head, but it eventually worked out.

Tadaaaa! It was a challenge sewing it. Unlike fabric, painted canvas is very sturdy and can not be turned in side out. It was pretty hard and each step took some figuring out but I am happy that I have a crazy mother, and am happy with the result :)

I've made it with leather details, and a baroque style lining, it closes with a zipper (I was glad that I managed that!), you can see more pictures and details in our bag shop StarBags.

I had cut out the canvas from its wooden frame, leaving me an empty frame which could have been used again by stretching new canvas, but I have attached vintage style map printed leather to it and am using it as back drop for some of my bigger globes :)
We offer this type of world globe printed leather in our supply shop, in case you want to make something like that too, but this leather is also perfect for upholstery, bags and more.

Merry Christmas!

We here by would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

For us the past 7 years Christmas is the time we work harder than ever, which we are thankful for of course but doesn't leave much time to celebrate :)
We never have snow around here, its too warm for that, but we will now rest a bit and enjoy our merry and bright bathroom!

I painted the ceiling 3 times, only need to give the grouts some tender loving care and then clean it up all nicely but we are very happy with the result, considering how it used to look this is a huge improvement :)