Ideas for Mother's Day

Hello everybody, hallo zusammen,

as you all know, it's Mother's Day on Sunday and I thought some of you might still need some inspiration on what to get for your mommis. Of course, you could simply present them with the classics such as chocolate, perfume or flowers, but I'm thinking in a little different direction. As you already know from this post, I'm a huge fan of gifts that are actually no things at all, but mutual activities. This also applies here! Therefore I came up with some fun ideas, on how you could spend a lovely day with your mom, which will (hopefully) stay in your memories for a long time. 

wie ihr ja alle wisst, ist am Sonntag Muttertag und ich dachte, dass der/die Eine oder Andere von euch vielleicht noch etwas Inspiration benötigt, womit ihr euren Mamas am Sonntag eine Freude machen könnt. Natürlich kann man sich einfach an die Klassiker halten und Schokolade, Blumen oder Parfum verschenken, aber ich denke in eine etwas andere Richtung. Wie ihr ja bereits aus diesem Post wisst, bin ich ein großer Fan von Geschenken, die eigentlich gar keine Dinge sind, sondern gemeinsame Aktivitäten. Daher habe ich mir ein paar Ideen einfallen lassen, wie ihr einen schönen gemeinsamen Tag mit euren Müttern verbringen könnt, der (hoffentlich) lang in eurer Erinnerung bleibt.

Christmas Chocolate Crunchies in a Bottle

Hello everybody,

Are you already looking forward to Christmas? I totally am! I already started to decorate my apartment and I listen to my Christmas playlist all day long, which turns David a bit nuts already, as he is sort of a little Grinch. :D

Do you already have all of your Christmas presents? I don't, but I already came up with some ideas for small presents, which could also serve perfectly as host(ess) gifts for eventual Christmas parties. Among other things I decided to make "cookies in a jar" this year. Those can currently be bought everywhere in Vienna (even in interior decoration shops), but I thought it would be much nicer to make them oneself, also because then you can be sure which ingredients have been used. Here comes the instruction. :)

Every Month Birthday Present

Hello you darling people,

last Sunday it was time to celebrate another birthday - mine in this case... ;)
I invited some friend over for brunch (which lasted for about 12 hours ;) ) and really had a fabulous day. For those of my guests who read this: THANK YOU again for joining me! It was a blast!
Of course I got some presents too and although all of them were pretty cool one stuck out especially for me. My oldest (and one of my best) friend Karin gave me an "Every Month Birthday"-present and as I liked the idea so much and guessed you might find it inspiring too I decided to share it here on the blog.

Gift Wrapper with Origami Swans

Hi there,

as the weather last weekend was rainy and grey I had the perfect excuse to stay inside, watch a bunch of movies and work on some little DIY and cooking projects. Among other things I thought of a nice gift wrapping idea with origami birds. Swans to be exact... :)
As I never really did origami before I was a little uncertain if the actual result would conform my imagination but as it turned out the swans were quite easy to fold, although I did one or two with blank paper before folding the actual wrapping paper.

What you'll need

• two sheets of matching paper
• scissors
• Scotch tape
• gift box

How it works

Use the first sheet of wrapping paper to wrap your gift box.

Now it's time to fold your swans. Cut out two squares (21 x 21 cm & 16 x 16 cm) of the other sheet of paper and here we go! For instructions I used this really cool video tutorial by BesserBasteln:

Once you've finished your origami birds simply put them on the upside of your package and fix them either with a little bit of glue or some scotch tape.

Done! :)

Have a nice day!

Yours,
Tulip

 All images by Stefanie Reichl

Last Minute Book Presents

Hello everybody,

for those of you who are really last-minute-Christmas-presents-shoppers walking into the next bookshop may be a pleasant solution for getting gifts today. Personally I believe that books always serve as great gifts, at least if you have an idea which ones of the thousands of books you should buy. Therefore I asked my good friend Romana, who is responsible for the book selection at phil (a very cool café/bookshop/DVD shop/music store - actually I think you can even buy the vintage furniture) if she could give me some tips. Here come her books of choice:

Romi's favourite book is the "Atlas of Remote Islands" ("Atlas der abgelegenen Inseln") by Judith Schalansky. She says about it:  "Whenever you wanna dream yourself or your loved ones away from this strange planet, you can open up the "Atlas der abgelegenen Inseln" by Judith Schalansky. You can practically smell the ocean and hear the seagulls and the tides. A wonderful book, which turns us into Robinson Cruse for a moment."

"The Girl Who Saved The King Of Sweden" ("Die Analphabetin die rechnen konnte") is the new book by author Jonas Jonasson who also wrote the bestselling novel "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared". It's the story about Nombeko Mayeki, a girl born in an South African township. Destiny and her unique talents lead her to Sweden where suddenly the fate of the whole world lies in her hands. 

In "Woolgathering" the great Patti Smith dips into the past. The book includes texts about her childhood, poems and thoughts about life, time and contemporaries plus numerous photos.

"Die Kunst ein kreatives Leben zu führen" is the new book by psychologist and philosopher Frank Berzbach. The book deals with the work and life realities of people working in the creative sector and the (often) missing balance between these two. It's an "invitation to a cup of tea and a silent dialogue"... 

Gift Wrapping

 Hello everybody,

Day 11 of our Advent calender deals with the topic of gift wrapping. I know we run a little late today, sorry for that, but what shall I say: Sometimes life simply gets between you and your blog post... ;)

When it comes to gift wrapping I like to keep it rather simply therefore you won't be surprised that the basis for my packaging is (once again) simple brown paper. 

What you'll need

• brown paper
• gift ribbon out of fabric
• candy cane
• green or red paper
• gold cardboard
• Christmas stickers

How it works

Start by wrapping your gift into simple brown paper.

Put the gift ribbon around the package and tie the candy cane to the gift ribbon. 

For the gift tags I cut out a bigger tag of gold cardboard (about 8,5 x 5,5 cm plus the rectangle with ca. 4,5 cm side length) and a smaller tag of green paper (about 4 x 8 cm plus the rectangle with ca. 3,5 cm side length). Then I glued the green tag onto the gold tag and embellished it with the Christmas sticker. Use a puncher to make a small hole into your tag and fix it with a short piece of ribbon at your gift package.

The only thing missing is the name of the presentee and you are done! :)