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.

Seven Sustainable Christmas Present Ideas

Hello you lovely people,

how are you? Do you already have all of your Christmas presents? In case you don't, listen up! :)
As you all know I started to study Environmental and Sustainability Management this fall. Reason enough for me to search for sustainable Christmas present ideas, which make the presentees and the planet happy at the same time. Here come seven ideas, I came up with.

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. :)

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"... 

Memory Calender

Hello everybody,

Day 10 of our Advent Calender is going to show you another cute DIY present idea: a memory calender. The original genial idea for this project comes from Design Sponge. In contrast to a normal calender the purpose of a memory calender is not to plan future events but to archive and memorize beautiful moments in somebody's life.

What you'll need

• 365 file cards A7
• 12 postcards (I got mine from MQ shop - they are from papierpiraten.de)
• paper box that can hold 365 file cards plus 12 postcards
• dater and ink pad

How it works

Start by stamping every date of the year onto your file cards (but without a year).

In a next step put the (now stamped) file cards into your box. Cut the postcards into shape so that they are about one cm higher than your file cards and easily fit into the box (in my case 13,5 x 8,5 cm). They will separate the different months from each other.

To start the memory calender pick the card with the current date and write down the current year plus what was the best thing that happened to you on that day. Over the time you'll get an archive about the happiest moments in your life. I hope you enjoy it!

All images by Stefanie Reichl