Time is ticking away... it's almost November

After updating my calendar and to-do-list I realized how many things there are to do for me in the weeks to come. November is always my busy month. My husband's, my daughter's and my Mom's birthdays are in November. 

As readers may know I already covered Mom's birthday with a pillow. She just called me today - the parcel arrived safely in Germany. 

I still have to come up with presents for my man and my big girl and also throw her a party.

Oh and then there is Thanksgiving which means decorations, cooking, hosting guest - you know what I mean.

Like I already mentioned before, I am making two Advent calendars for my girls and have to have them hanging Dec. 1st with all the little gifts in place. By the way I have already made 20 little pouches in the meantime, still 28 to go.

This year my in-laws will be coming to visit from Germany to be with us for the birthdays and also to watch my girls so that I can sneak away to Italy for a week in early December. What a treat!!! Will be going to Venice with my parents and my little sis to celebrate my parents wedding anniversary. Molto romantico!* 

But before that I have to make some room for my in-laws in my sewing room which doubles as our guest bedroom. Right now it's really packed. Oh it's BAD!

Not much room for guests to hang their clothes into the closet... hmmm????

I better stop blogging and get to work. Happy Halloween!!!

*I used to live in Milan for a while in the early 90ies and really miss going there. It's just so far from California!

mariasimoneidejhs

Stadtwerke Erfurt

Hurra, endlich hat mir Freund und Kollege Guido Werner die fertiggestellten Layouts von den Shoots für die Stadtwerke Erfurt Kampagne zugeschickt. Bei einem der Shootings hatte ich mir den Kindheitstraum vom Mitfahren auf dem Müllauto erfüllt :-) (siehe Post vom 27.3.08). Alle Bilder entstanden im Auftrag der "Viertakter" und hängen jetzt überall in der Thüringer Landeshauptstadt. 

Guckt mal:

mariasimoneidejhs

Das geht uns alle an

... denn wo wir schonmal beim Thema Hilfe sind, hake ich heute mal an einer anderen Stelle ein. Das Thema Brustkrebs ist in aller Munde. Sicher kann man diese Art des Krebses heute in verschiedenen Stadien bereits sehr gut behandeln. Fakt ist aber, dass das Mammakarzinom, wie man den Brustkrebs in der Medizin nennt, die häufigste Krebserkrankung der weiblichen Bevölkerung darstellt. In der westlichen Welt ist Brustkrebs die häufigste Todesursache bei Frauen zwischen dem 30. und 60. Lebensjahr. Weltweit gibt es nach Schätzungen der WHO (2003) über 1 Million (!) neue Erkrankungsfälle pro Jahr, davon 580.000 in den Industriestaaten.

Und auch, wenn jeder von uns dieses Thema gern beiseite wischt und denkt "ach, ich doch nicht...", ist es an der Zeit, ernsthaft darüber nachzudenken und die Forschung zu unterstützen.
Die Estée Lauder Companies engagieren sich weltweit das Bewusstsein zur Früherkennung von Brustkrebs zu fördern, weil dadurch die Überlebenschancen um ein Vielfaches erhöht werden.
Die diesjährige Kampagne Bewusstsein für Brustkrebs steht unter dem Motto

"Eine Welt in Pink. Eine Welt ohne Brustkrebs. Tragen Sie die pinke Schleife.
Setzen Sie ein Zeichen."

Beim Klick auf das Bild erfahrt Ihr mehr über das Engagement der Estée Lauder Companies im Kampf gegen Brustkrebs und wie Ihr dazu beitragen könnt Leben zu retten.
Davon ganz abgesehen: immer brav zum Doc gehen, gell?!

mariasimoneidejhs

Hello again...

It took me some time to return to my blog and write a couple of lines. I had a bad cold and then my whole family had it and I had to pamper everyone.

Now I am finally almost back to my old self. I even made a new pillow case.

During the summer I went on a little treasure hunt in my grandparent's cellar and discovered (next to wine bottles dating back to the 60ies) unbelievably cool 70ies draperies in bright pink and orange. I was really surprised about my grandmother's bold choice. How cool was she? I wish I had pictures of their house in the 70ies.

I will now make more pillow cases for me and to sell on etsy. I think they look just great. 

Also I hung my new print that I bought from sfgirlbybay and just love it. 

By the way the tall red lamp is another find from my grandparents cellar.

Have a sweet Halloween week.

mariasimoneidejhs

Lasst uns helfen!

Meine lieben Leser, Beautyqeens und -kings, Schaumbaddiven und Fashionistas,

heute gehts hier im Schminktantenblog mal um etwas ganz jenseits von Lippenstift und Co.

Dass Weihnachten vor der Tür steht, erkennen wir u.a. an den vielen Lebkuchen, Zimtsternen und Schokoweihnachtsmännern, die uns jetzt schon in jedem Supermarkt locken. An verstärkter Douglas-Parfüm-Werbung im Fernsehen. Aber oft auch an den ganzen Briefen von wohltätigen Vereinen, Behindertenwerkstätten, Religiösen Einrichtungen oder 3.Welt-Hilfsorganisationen die derzeit in unsere Briefkästen flattern und uns um unsere Spende bitten. Viele von diesen Schreiben flattern -Hand aufs Herz- teilweise ungelesen in unsere Papierkörbe, können wir doch nicht entscheiden, wem wir helfen wollen. Oder wissen wir einfach nicht, wie seriös eine solche Spendenaktion tatsächlich ist. Kommt unser Geld auch wirklich dort an, wo es dringend gebraucht wird oder wird es nur totverwaltet (erinnern wir uns nur mal an den Unicef-Skandal dieses Jahres)?

Heute geht es hier um Hilfe. Hilfe für Kinder.
Viele Kinder haben noch nie ein Weihnachtsgeschenk bekommen. Könnt Ihr Euch das vorstellen? Dabei geht es nicht um Kinder irgendwo auf dem Erdball. Diese Kinder leben hier, mitten unter uns, mitten in Europa.
Machen wir ihnen eine Freude zu Weihnachten! Geben wir ein Stück von unserem Wohlstand weiter - für leuchtende Kinderaugen!



In diesen Tagen wurde ich auf ein Projekt aufmerksam, das mich sofort begeistert hat:

GESCHENKE DER HOFFNUNG

Ein Projekt, das mit der Aktion "Weihnachten im Schuhkarton" an Not leidende Kinder im Alter von 0-14 Jahren denkt. Kinder ohne Familie, ohne ein gemütliches Zuhause, ohne Wärme und Geborgenheit.
Man packt einen Schuhkarton voll mit hübschen Sachen, beklebt das Ganze mit Geschenkpapier, Gummi drum und TATA: fertig ist ein kleines Wunder.
Ganz viel ausführliche Information bekommt Ihr, wenn Ihr auf einen der obigen Link klickt. Der bringt Euch direkt zur Website. Hier könnt Ihr aussuchen, wie genau Ihr helfen möchtet, ob nun mit einem selbstgepackten Schuh-Geschenk-Karton oder einer finanziellen Unterstützung.
Veröffentlicht die Aktion auf Euren Websites, in Euren Blogs, erzählt Freunden und Kollegen davon. Damit dieses Weihnachten für Kinder in Not ein fröhliches Weihnachten wird!

mariasimoneidejhs

busy weekend

Finally I was able to cut out some time from my busy weekend to sew a couple of small items.

The first thing I made is this travel pillow for my mother's upcoming birthday. My parents love to travel and also my Mom loves browns and enjoys the softness of wool. I used a very soft almost velvetlike wool cloth and stitched in a modern design on the front.

Then I made some Gingham-felt hearts and keychains for my etsy store. 

I am planning on making more the coming weeks. But first I have to finish my advent calendar project: A German custom is to have Advent calendars for the 24 days before Christmas. You can now find chocolate calendars even here in the US. In our family it's tradition to give one small gift each of the 24 days leading to Christmas. 

Since I have two daughters this sums up to 48 gifts - meaning buy them, wrap them and somehow display them. This is why I started to sew little drawstring bags in order to skip the wrapping and display part for all times. Yesterday I managed to sew 12 bags. Only 36 to go... ;-)

I will show you as soon as I am done with the first calendar. 

Have a splendid week.

mariasimoneidejhs

summer again?

What a surprise: The temperatures are up and it feels like summer again. Decorating for Halloween just doesn't fit with this weather going on. Time to do some planning and planting in the garden.

I want to share with you some of my favorite gardens:

Sissinghurst Castle - Vita Sackville-West

Not far from where I live is Villa Filoli. You probably know it as the Carrington's house from the TV show "Dynasty". It has beautiful garden rooms.

The garden that inspired Monet's beautiful pictures in Giverny.

Have a great weekend!

mariasimoneidejhs

fall thoughts

It has been cooling down here in the San Francisco Bay Area during the last couple of days. Although we still have warm afternoons, the mornings and nights are pretty chilly now.

That made me think about my favorite things to do or have in fall:

10 fall favorites:

1. drink tea instead of coffee

by shadphotos

2. wear warm woolen sweaters and socks

by Knitting Iris

3. light candles

by Flamant

4. cuddle up on the couch with a woolen throw

by living at home

5. down beds

6. wear pretty winter accessories like scarfs, hats and gloves

by Boden

7. rainy days (some rain - not constant rain like in Germany)

8. Carve, cook, eat and decorate the house with pumpkins

9. baking

10. prep the garden for winter

by Smith&Hawken

Have a beautiful fall!!!

mariasimoneidejhs

california dreamin'

Today I spent the afternoon strolling along the cliff walk in Santa Cruz, California. As always I imagined how nice it would be to have a small beach cottage there.

My favorite one is this one:

It's one of few sitting directly on the cliff. It seems to be the guest cottage of the bigger house you can see behind it.

And this is the view:

And when I grow up I could very well picture myself living in this house.

On my walk I came across a yard sale and I scored a pretty bentwood rocking chair for $10. It needs some TLC and maybe a fresh coat of paint but doesn't it have beautiful lines?

It almost looks like an original Thonet chair.

photo: Briggs House Antiques

mariasimoneidejhs

flower power

kitchen stuff, originally uploaded by ATLITW.

Oh, I love these kitchen utensils. So pretty!!!

Reminds me of one of my favorite European brands rice.

Have a great weekend. Here in Northern California it's sunny and nice.

mariasimoneidejhs

domino - THE BOOK OF DECORATING

When I was just about to move over to the couch and start watching "Grey's Anatomy" I first went outside to check on my plants. Then I found the Amazon parcel on my doorstep - containing the first "domino" book. 

domino is one of my favorite interior design magazines. The book is already so pretty from the outside that I will surely have it out on my coffee table in the future.

I will now cuddle up on my couch with a glass of red wine and start the lecture.

mariasimoneidejhs

enlightened

Here is a great and thrifty chandelier that I saw recently at the ANTHROPOLOGIE store on Santana Row in San Jose. It is made from old jam jars. I am already collecting jars - just need to eat more jam.

mariasimoneidejhs

the first...

Welcome,

this is my first post on my brand new blog. I am so nervous. I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. My main concern was/ is my English. I am not a native speaker (my first language is German). At first I wanted to write the blog in German, but after all I decided to write in English so that more people can actually understand what I am saying here.

Enough of that.

Yesterday it was the first Sunday of the month - which means I went to the Alameda flea market . 

I bought some nice antlers for my dining room. I love the fact that they are almost white. Apparently they have been sitting outside for along time. The scull even "sports" a few yellow-greenish patches of moss on the forehead which gives it this weathered look. I added a little gingham ribbon to make it less serious and scary.

Some displays I particularly liked:

Loved the table decorations - unfortunately very pricy booth.

I have to check out this booth every time. The girl who runs this business is a fellow German and I love her taste and selection.

That's it for today.

mariasimoneidejhs