Thursday 28 April 2016

Newly Listed: Rainbow Denim Dress Hand


Rainbow Denim Dress Hand Crocheted Lace Dress Bohemian multicolored by StarsWear
Colorful Abstract Wall Art Purple Yellow Blue Painting More Than Hopeful by kerriblackmanfineart
Camel, Colorful, Multicolor, Geometric Camel, Animal Decor, Art by ColorLab2016
Colorful Confetti Photography, Home Decor, Multicolor Wall Art, Fine Art Photo by DreamyPhoto

Monday 25 April 2016

Eco Friendly Wedding: Tableware and Food


It has been a while since my last Eco Friendly Wedding post. My previous posts are: 'Decorations and Locations' and 'Bouquets and Centerpieces'.
I already mentioned the impact of flowers in the bouquet and centerpieces post and suggested plants or other kind of centerpieces instead. Now we also have table placements which are often done on paper, I love the idea of writing the names on found pebbles or leaves. Zero impact on the environment and free of charge a win-win, you'll only need to write the names by hand, a small price to pay I think!


Tableware is another issue, I have a huge dislike towards plastic tableware, we already have so much plastic everywhere, why use them when it can be avoided? Porcelain tableware is an option, could be even bought second hand, washing it all is less fun though and they get pretty heavy.
Another option I liked are biodegradable palm tree leave plates and utensils, they look so pretty, chic and they are eco friendly, love it all!


Food is one of the biggest problem when it comes to environment impact, but food is also often a delicate issue to talk about.
All food needs water to become eatable. Meat uses the largest amount of water per kg and has a huge impact on our planet, my friend Stephanie wrote a blog post about the environmental impact of meat, worth the read if you are interested!
Not everyone eats meat anyway so making your wedding a vegetarian one has several advantages:
-No need to make separate type of foods for vegetarians
-Meat being the most expensive of foods you save a lot of money
-By not using a whole bunch of meat you used less resources and your wedding is much more eco-friendly.


Beside making it vegetarian, a few more things that will save both resources and money are:
-Buying local dairy products, vegetables and fruits, which are usually without those horrible plastic packaging, did not travel to reach destination and are also fresher
-Buying seasonal vegetables and fruit (just like with flowers), they taste better, are cheaper and are so much friendlier for the environment
-Instead of having plates prepared full with food which most likely half of it will end in the trash, an open buffet is wonderful to avoid waste. Everyone can take the amount they want and can choose what they want. All leftovers will be on the serving plates so can be taken home by the people who worked at the wedding and most likely had no time to eat so they'll appreciate it.
Here are 73 open buffet/ food bar ideas for weddings.


If you have any more tips to save resources for a wedding I'd love to hear them!

Thursday 21 April 2016

Newly Listed: Floral Hummingbird Bag


Floral Hummingbird Bag, Needle Felted, Leather, Felt, Kiss-lock, Colorful Bag by StarBags
Fine Art Photography Print bright colors spring maple home decor wall art gift by photoechoes
German Fairy Tale Houses Photo Germany Decor Photograph Pastels by seardig
Carnival Ride Photo, Art Photography, Ocean City Maryland, Colorful Art, Home Wall Decor by JKiesewetterPhotos

Monday 18 April 2016

Get the Look Vol.3


I really enjoy scrolling through Pinterest looking at amazing places, things and homes :)
I found a few more home decor ideas which you can accomplish with items from our StarHomeStudio shop. The first is this Pottery Barn Chest, it is distressed to look old, ours below is really a vintage one, all distressing is done with time and use, so the real deal :)



This one might freak out some, I am thoroughly against taxidermy and fur, but skulls, when naturally found, is nothing harmful. This dark grey wall with all the skulls looks pretty impressive.
We currently have 3 skulls in the shop, either found on the beach or in the woods.



I haven't been able to find the source of this image but love the look of it, feather pens, ink pots and some more memories gathered under a glass dome, actually a lot of things look amazing under a dome, don't you think?
We have a set of two 1930's ink pots in the shop, which would look great like that, a perfect gift for writers and calligraphers or collectors in general.



Succulents from LaSelvaSucculents, with seashells from our shop would make great nautical botanical decor pieces :)


Saturday 16 April 2016

Newly Listed: Green Sea Urchin Post Earrings


Green Sea Urchin Post Earrings, Tiny Sea Anemone Earrings, Little Studs with Sea Urchins by StaroftheEast
Old Stone Church Photograph, foggy medieval ancient stone building, travel photography, eery ruins by FirstLightPhoto
Nature photography, neutral plant nature print, Olive botanical wall art, fine art photography Olive Branches by LupenGrainne
Large Sea wall art, water landscape photography, ocean wave art print, nautical decor, photo by RivuletPhotography

Monday 11 April 2016

Newly Listed: Under the Sea Bag


Under the Sea Bag, Appliqued Sea urchins, seaweed, Blue bag, Leather, Vintage Fabric, Kiss-lock, Colorful Bag by StarBags
Beautiful freediving girl swimming with fish - Underwater Art Print, Limited Edition by Suahuatica
Underwater Ocean Photography by LongForgotten
marin - jellyfish - Art - digital Illustration - Art Print - Wall Decor - Poster - Blue - Underwater - Pink by aliette

Saturday 9 April 2016

Newly Listed: Celtic Love Knot Earrings


Celtic Love Knot Earrings Sterling Silver Hand knotted Viking Knot Kazaziye Oxidized and Mat by StaroftheEast
Magical Night Photography, Landscape Photography, African Bush, Full Moon, travel photo by photographysensor
Mountain Photography, Misty Day, Scottish Landscape,  Wall Art, Travel Photography by AgaFarrell
Composure Accented  photo - Metallic finish by feliciano

Thursday 7 April 2016

Childhood memories and Alice in Wonderland


I was born in a typical Amsterdam house, 3 floors with steep stairs. People who are not familiar with these old stairs are often surprised how steep they are, but those are typical in Amsterdam. Our house had a garage on street level, then 2 floors and the attic, with lots of stairs in between. In the center of the staircase there was an empty space where my mother had bookshelves installed, throughout the entire height of the house it was books books and more books, thousands of books. Beside adult books there were at least a thousand children books as well and one of my most vivid memories of childhood was that I would sit on the stairs, pick up a book and read it then and there. As a single child with a working mother who needed sleep during the weekends I spent my weekends quietly escaping to all kind of magical places, learning English with Dr. Seuss and producing a colorful imagination.


Alice in Wonderland was of course one of my favorites, I actually dressed up like her for a school event, but I am not close to be a fan like Dina Fragola who shares her HUGE collection of Alice in Wonderland themed memorabilia on her blog. As I have been seeing her collection every week I remembered those old days back in Amsterdam, the stairs, the books (which are now due to lack of space mostly in boxes in the attic and we desperately need something like this) and was inspired to create something 'Alice' themed.


We have been creating Little Red Riding hood, Snow-white, The Seven goats and the Wolf, The Puss with Boots, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel themed fairy tale clothing so Alice in Wonderland was bound to happen!


With a gorgeously detailed Japanese fabric, a fluffy petticoat lining, a lace trim with on top a red roses trim, the skirt is like a fairy tale itself.


While we were at it we also made one in black :)


Both skirts are available in our clothing shop!
What is your favorite fairy tale?

Monday 4 April 2016

April Projects


Somehow the end of March and the beginning of April's transition got a little lost on me, as here we are already the 4th of April!


I ended March and started April with a fun project; a side table entirely made of all sorts of reclaimed wood. The idea started when a friend gave me the table feet you see here above on the right.
With the idea of using that foot, boat wood for the top and driftwood for the other two legs I started to search for pieces.


Mum suggested to use this old wooden tray for more stability on the top and for a little more prettiness.


So now I had this whole pile of wood, weather was gorgeous so I started right away on putting the pieces together.


At the end of the day I had a table!


I then looked through my acrylics for the colors that were present in the boat wood to paint the tray so that it would match the top. I wanted a distressed paint job but never had done that before.


I looked on Pinterest for distressed paint work and found of course a great number of sources. I looked through several posts to get the idea and grabbed the ideas I liked of several sources. From one I got the idea to start with the lightest color paint and add the layers from light to dark, with some sanding in between to let different colors peek out. I started with the white and by the time everything had a layer white I just continued with my next color without waiting for it to dry (it was mostly dry).


Another blogger said to use a pretty rough brush and to be sure to not cover the wood entirely but just roughly applying the paint, ignoring all the normal rules of applying paint. I loved it! Not thinking about neatness was super liberating and I had a lot of fun, I guess that is why I continued to 'work' till almost midnight :)
From a third blogger I got the idea to use also a metal brush to rough up the paint, I liked that result a lot, and used it more than sandpaper, it was also great to let two colors blend in together.


The table top I did the next day, finding the perfect pieces, then sawing them to size and sanding both sides to give smooth corners. I used boat wood and driftwood for this, love the peeled layers of paint and the rusty details!


Those little pieces will eventually also become something, don't know yet what.


I am so happy with the result! Love the fact that everything used had a life before and get a second chance now. The wood pieces of the table top are both glued and nailed, I used a lot of reinforcement to make it stable.


At almost last minute I decided to also paint the leg that got this all started, it looked too plain and new, compared to the other pieces of wood.


The table is available in our StarHomeStudio shop, I am definitely planning to make more of this kind, I enjoyed it a lot!


I also finally started working on the two chairs that I have been procrastinating for the past few months. The amount of staples to be removed was the reason that I so much looked up to it, and I was right, but slowly there will be progress. The fact that both mum (kidney stones) and I (back and neck) got some health issues this week is not helping to speed it up, but eventually these too will become pretty :) Now that the weather is good I hope to spent a lot of time on the balcony and cleaning these two up!

Do you have any plans/ projects for this month?