Inspired by Sweet Paul

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Since I have not been reading or writing blogs for a while I had to catch up a littele bit. I started by checking blog by blog from my blogroll (inspiring blogs). After a while I came across a list of "50 of the world's best design blogs" by the London Times online.  Some of them are already in my blogroll, but most have been new to me and fun to discover. However, a list like that compiled by a single person is never complete or pleasing everybody. So I did miss some of my favorite bloggers (you can find them in my blogroll). - Anyway. I am writing all this, to let you know that I discovered one interesting blog in that top 50 list: Sweet Paul by Paul Lowe, a stylist who works with both food and interior decor:



Photo by Victor Schrager, stylist Paul Lowe

This blog is so clean and serene - not overloaded with tons of colourful mosaic photos as it is now popular in many blogs - Paul's pictures are styled by himself and photographed by professional colleagues of him. The above photo - he writes in his "Holiday countdown" post dec 17 - was shoot on a hot summer day in August for Country Living and he discribes how to get the style.  Right now, Paul posts everyday until dec 25th a new fun craft or recipe that sets you in the right peaceful Christmas mood.


Photo by Studio Dreyer Hensley

Paul loves "chasing the sweet things in live" (this is the subtitle of his blog), and so all the sweet recepies are by himself.  During his childhood in Norway he used to bake gingerbread cookies with his mum while his grandmother used to make a gingerbread house every Christmas. Enjoy Paul's recipie and house making instruction here.

Sometimes a good blog is inspiring other bloggers. Sweet Paul definately is inspiring me and gets me back on the creativity track. I also realise how much styling is important for a good photo and got familiar with the job of a prop stylist.

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*  Happy Holiday to all of you !  *
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Creative Tuesday

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this morning I saw colours ... of course, when you have followed my last posts, no wonder ... 3 bold fundamental colours (red, blue and yellow) and 4 complementary colours (red-green, orange-blue) on my dining table ! Of course I had to take out my camera. This could be a motif to paint:




My painting class was right after (I am doing water colour every Tuesday morning with my neighbour architect, his friends and an art teacher). But we paint what the teacher proposes. Today we had to paint a frozen lake near our town. She, the artist, always brings a photograph and one or two versions she already has painted. Then she paints in front of us showing her technique and how we could compose the picture - and then its our turn. It is always interesting to see all the different results. Here is mine:



And after this post I can say, that I have been really creative today (photograph, painting, writing) !


DIY: Recycling hangers into useful accessories

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What I did lately:
Recycling a laundry hanger into a still missing bathroom accessory: a toilet paper holder.


It is a simple, but unique, creative, and green idea - quickly and easily to implement without spending money!

Also these hanging accessories are a unique.
If you just have renovated your bathroom and still have no mirror this could be an interim solution.



The chalkboard 'capt'n hook' could hang near the entrance or in the kitchen. (For magnetic chalk boards see my previous post).

All products could be done by yourself - or purchased at Magazin, one of my favorite furnishing shops. There are three of them in Germany (Stuttgart, München, Bonn). The toilet paper hanger (yes, I copied the idea) is available in this shop for about 7 Euro. The mirror was about 19 Euro, the chalkboard 29 Euro. Better DIY!

Black Magnetic Chalkboard

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I love this big black magnetic chalkboard sliding door by Christine Lane!

My sister has a big black magnetic board till the ceiling in her kitchen.

And I want one as sliding door for my son's playroom.

It will be fun to stick his drawings on it instead of just filing them somewhere. It will be fun for him and his friends to draw on it. It will be fun to play teacher and student. It will be fun to write poems on it. Maybe in Chinese characters. It will support our creativity and be decorative at the same time.

I researched chalkboards on google images and found so many nice ideas. Sfgirlbybay did a peak worthy chalkboard round-up.

Get inspired and DIY !
Get magnetic primer and chalk paint in green or black.
Make a bold statement on a wall in your home office, entrance, kitchen or kids room or loo. Let guests leave a comment.

Entrance of Front Hotel, Copenhagen via hyggehouse