The Temps de Flors show is held every year in May in Girona (north Spain), filling the city and old town with plants and spectacular floral displays, many of them are quite artistic. I love the more creative proposals such as the coloured cauliflower of the last collage.

This floral exhibition converts different monuments, courtyards and urban locations into ornamental gardens during one week. This year it’s been a special event since it was my birthday! We had a rainy day, it’s been a crazy Spring over here ( you can see it from my face, it’s been chilly! :-) so far but still, it was just lovely!

El  Temps de Flors de Girona (norte de España) tiene lugar cada año en Mayo. Se llena la ciudad durante una semana, y sobre todo el casco antiguo con plantas y arreglos florales, algunas de ellos muy artísticos. A mí de siempre me han gustado sobre todo las propuestas un poco más artísticas como el coliflor teñido en el último collage.

Monumentos, patios y plazas se convierten durante una semana en jardines ornamentales. Este año ha sido más especial aún para mí porque era el día de mi cumpleaños. Estuvo lloviendo a ratos, la verdad es que está siendo una primavera un poco loca, y pasé algo de frío como se puede apreciar en la foto:-) pero igualmente estuvo muy bien.

This post comes out of a simple question I asked on Instagram when uploading a picture about two mugs. The question was: What do you collect? Since there were such nice comments popping in (at the end social media is all about interacting, isn’t it?), I thought about publishing a common post with several bloggers who wanted to take part and have sent me over pictures of their beloved collections.

So, let me introduce you to lovely fellow bloggers and their passion:

My name is Sabine of the German blog azurweiss where everything is about interior and styling. Beside blogging I’m working as a freelance copy writer / editor and I am running a small online shop called la mesa wohnaccessoires where you can find pretty little things for your home mostly produced in Europe.

I have been collecting china for ages. I would never invest in jewellery but I can’t resist nice relief patterned vases, cups and plates – let them be new or vintage. My heart beats for pure white pieces – tender monochrome patterns as the flowers on the Royal Copenhagen items are allowed.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

My name is Sandy and I am running the Blog Confiture de Vivre which is dedicated to french-inspired recipes, my travel treasures and bits and pieces brightening up my life.

When it comes to food, I am obsessed, so no surprise that I collect cookbooks, food-related magazines and aprons. I do take this very seriously I have to admit. Wherever I travel the first thing I do is hunting a food magazine or entering the next bookstore. To keep the books in order I decided to organize them by color a couple of months ago. I really had a blast to do this and to stroke my favorites. Most of the books I would never ever use in my kitchen. Sounds strange, right!? A cookbook belongs onto the kitchen counter – I hear you say. But I so love my books – it is more like a long lasting relationship – that I don‘t want to see them covered with grease spots and dog-ears. Enough said – 100 books aren‘t enough – I‘ll keep the ball rolling.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

My name is Lynn and I run a clothing homewares business in Melbourne Australia and have for the past 8 years. It is quite an eclectic mix of beautiful French clothing and washed linen clothing from the USA and other covetable goods which I curate myself from around the world as well as beautiful homewares mixed with vintage finds, all housed in a beautiful Victoria building. My blog is about Scarlet Jones (store name) and my Instagram throws in what I’m up to as well.

Sandra Kantanen is a photographer based in Helsinki, Finland using a very unique technique by printing her photographs with similar pigments found in acrylic paints on aluminum plates, then finishing the pieces with varnish. She sweeps the wet prints with a brushes to leave visceral brush strokes and paint lines creating distortion, blurring, or streaking, some of which recall the results of overexposure. Her latest works are photographed in China, Tibet, Finland and Japan.

I immediate fell in love. You?

I have attended a couple of weeks ago a chalk painting course ( if you follow me on Instagram, you know I have been abusing a bit with many pics) and have been kind of addicted to it since. I have decided to make a break now since everything I could get ahold of was about to get a new colour.

Neus is a wonderful teacher at All Washi Tape Talleres and I really recommend you try a course with her (she offers different techniques) if you happen to live around.

Chalk painting is just so easy, no need of sanding, the thick paints are so pleasant to work with, they don’t smell and the colour palette is amazing. Those colours have been developed by Annie Sloan and you can find them at many stockists.

The Duck Egg Blue is clearly my favorite color. Once you wax it 24hrs later, it gets slightly darker.

Here you see some of the pieces I painted such as the twisted wooden stool, a vase, the icon wooden hand and a tree trunk found some years ago in a forest. Ah, yes, the bamboo ladder looks fab in my bathroom as a towel holder. And you should see the bed side tables and… :-)

Since terracotta is now the new trend, I had to try it out, it is called Scandinavian Pink . The white paint is called Pure White and is just perfect for mixing up other colors!

I have learned how stylish a houseboat can be when reading Pia’s book “My heart wanders“. She used to live on a houseboat in Amsterdam. And I have a friend who spend some years on a tiny boat here at Barcelona’s port, and I always recall when she said you even have to think about buying a book since there is such few space. One has to get out before the next can come in. It teaches you how to get a certain detachment from things.

Architect and designer Valérie Mazerat and her daughter live in an lovely spot in central Paris on a 100-years-old barge named Margot. The former owner of the barge, fitted a 1920s train carriage to the top of the barge which dates from the early 1900s. This remains today and, after a refurbishment, houses a kitchen, dining and living space, two bedroom cabins and a bathroom.

Photography by Richard Powers. You can see more of his work here.

Ya ví que vivir en una casa flotante puede ser de lo más estiloso cuando leí el libro de Pia ”My heart wanders“. Ella vivía en una durante un tiempo en Amsterdam. Y tengo una amiga que solía vivir una temporada en un barco pequeño aquí en el puerto de Barcelona. Recuero como decía que para comprarse un libro has de pensártelo muy bien porque para que éste tenga sitio, te has de deshacer de otro. Te enseña una vida con desapego.

La arquitecta y diseñadora Valérie Mazerat y su hija viven en una barcaza centenaria llamada Margot en un bonito lugar en el centro de Paris. El antiguo propietario fijo un vagón de tren de 1920 en la parte alta de la barca que sirve hoy para albergar una cocina, sala de comedor y estar, 2 dormitorios y un baño.

Fotografía de Richard Powers. Aquí puedes ver más de su obra.

I have discovered the Dutch edition of Flow Magazine last December at Holly’ Becker’s workshop in Hannover. About seven month ago they put together the first edition of the English edition, and today we have already the second issue on the markets.

Niche magazines are a trend. I see lots of crafting magazines now (Mollie makes, The Simple Things, Uppercase etc.). Do you too? It must be really difficult to stand out in the editorial world and still, so much is happening. There are digital magazines, niche magazines, give aways to attract the customer, different sizes, bloggers as columnists, Instagram pictures as a visual source, amazing subscription deals and the list goes on. What I like about Flow is the mix of “positive psychology, stories on mindfulness, crafting and DIY”. All backed up with beautiful paper prints, posters to take out or a mini garland and window stickers in this issue.

So, here goes the cover of the second issue and the paper garland. Very eye candy, right?

Paper cut artist Sarah Trumbauer worked on those art pieces where you have to loose the flap into the slit to convert it into a tab. There are four of them (see the cover pic) covering the four main chapters in this issue.

Gertie Jaquet has a love of stamp making and has been crafting more than a 1000 pieces so far. There is a nice tutorial of how to make your own stamp on the next pages.

That was a very interesting and surprising story indeed! The famous Rijksmuseum is letting  you download works from its collection to make them your own. And that’s what Flow did with these flower paintings. Further more they have been invited to create a short line of stationery for the museum. You can buy diaries, sticky notes, postcards, etc. as long as the stock lasts at flowmagazine.com.

Leonie Bos and Natascha Boel had their own take on two lovely window stickers attached in the magazine using the Museums’ art. You can dress now your window with a piece of art !

I liked a lot this portrait of Janine Vangool and her love for typewriter memorabilia. She is the publisher and editor behind the Uppercase Magazine.  I have not been able to get this one so far but will at the end of the week when traveling to London:-)

And this is how one of the stickers looks like on my window! I was curious to see the effect, you have to be kind of a genius to stick it without too many bubbles:-) Hope you got intrigued with the review, just get on their site if you want to order the current issue online!

Ya sé, segundo día sin traducciones al castellano. He de pensar como lo haré en un futuro pero cuando hay más texto que imágenes, para mí el tema empieza a ser complicado. Creo que haré sólo traducciones cuando haya poco texto. ¿Os parece?

Before we get straight into the topic, let me state how Wikipedia is defining what ‘crowfunding’ is:  the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. And that refers to any kind of activity and displine.

I am subscribed to a couple of  platforms and every single day now I get popping in new projects in my inbox. I have supported Pia Jane Bijkerk’s last book through Pozible and was happy to see she’d made it. You decide the amount of money you want to spend and receive in return that product the entrepreneur is trying to get into production (there is a pricing scale for diff. product and services you can opt for). If you don’t receive the amount you have pledged for your project in a certain time, the project is not going on. In the case of Kickstarter, if the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers’ credit cards are charged when time expires. If the project falls short, no one is charged. Zero risk. Easy, right?

So, the internet is becoming a platform that supports talents in an unusual way and I love it! But why is it becoming a trend?

1. Well, consumers love to shop a product when it is still at concept stage and they get first hand all information about the newest product, most innovative projects and design. By pre-purchasing, they are having the feeling of being really early.

2. Another observations why this is going to be an important trend is, as a consumer (and I can tell you from my experience) it makes you really feel good when you realize you have been part of a crowd funded project because it is all about helping out and make things happen. So, there is a strong emotional part too.

3. It is a way to get your product produced and you could even make it into larger retail chains which is under “normal” circumstances a quite difficult goal to reach. So crowdfunding platforms can become a new trade show for buyers of larger companies without having to travel to the event.

Here go some examples of successfully funded projects:

Tableau Vivant

Pledged with a 1.500USD goal, funded at the moment with  1.505 USD and , still 24 days to go.

They are planning to develop and test a traditional tableau vivant during The Lab, which will be presented as part of the Underbelly Arts festival 2013 (Australia). Tableau Vivant is a French term which means living picture and became popular as a movement in the late 19th C and early 20th C. This project is a further exploration for the collaborative artists into the spectacle and the spectacular around the dining table. The large temporal sets to date consider excess, pop culture, and the use of food as a “triumph of the table” or “feast for the eyes”.

Philographics: Big ideas in simple shapes

Pledged with a 15.000USD goal, funded already with 42.611USD, still 17 days to go. A huge success so far!

Philographics is all about explaining big ideas in simple shapes. Genis Carreras started the project 2 years ago with the intention to merge the world of philosophy and graphic design, and it has since received some internet popularity. In the beginning it was a set of 24 posters, explaining philosophical theories like Dualism, Free Will, Existentialism or Idealism using only shapes and colour. But so many important ‘isms’ were left out that he decided to add more designs to the collection.

FlipBooKit: Mechanical Flipbook Art and Kit 

Pledged with a 5.000USD goal and funded with 137.567USD.

Flipbookit.net is from kinetic artists, Mark Rosen and Wendy Marvel. They create moving art that tells stories and tickles our sense of nostalgia. In late 2011, their series of motorized flipbooks based on the motion studies of Edweard Muybridge began touring with galleries, art shows and at special events internationally. The gallery-versions of their original mechanical flip-book artworks are expensive and are only available in limited editions. But the public response became so overwhelming that Wendy and Mark decided to bring in a pro. For directing the production version of the Mechanical-Flip-Book-Maker-Kit, they teamed up with  friend, inventor and manufacturing designer Steven Goldstein. Steve holds over 12 patents, was a Disney imagineer, and has guided many products from concept through production into distribution.

Have you recently found a project you liked (or have supported)?

Lo siento, chic@s, cuando hay mucho texto, dejo el artículo sólo en inglés. Ójala, más adelante haya un traductor que se ocupe :-)

Lucy from The Design Files has been after this Melbourne based home for more than one year since nice homes end up first in Interior Magazines but she finally managed to do a fantastic production.

Lucy que está detrás de The Design Files ha conseguido al final poder publicar esta casa de Melbourne cuando llevaba un año intentándolo, porque cuando las casas son bonitas suelen salir primero en las revistas de interiores.

The so called ‘Log Cabin’ by the owners is a renovated 1970′s timber home and it belongs to Simone Haag and Rhys Haag and Tank, a Great Dane x Irish Wolfhound.

Los propietarios la llaman su ‘cabaña’ y en esta casa de madera de 1970 viven  Simone Haag y Rhys Haag y su perro Great Dane x Irish Wolfhound ( no me hagáis traducir eso, por favor :-)

They turned in only 3 months a pretty dark 3-bedroom home into this scandi-style light paradise you are seeing now. It has to be mentioned that Simone works for interior design studio Hecker Guthrie and that Rhys is a construction manager. I guess that helps.

En tan sólo 3 meses convirtieron un oscuro piso de 3 habitaciones en esta oasis de luz con toque escandinavo. Con todo que hay que decir que Simone trabaja el estudio de diseño e interiorismo Hecker Guthrie, y Rhys se mueve en la construcción. Supongo que eso ayuda.

The goal was to make the space much brighter and give it a certain scandi-style feeling. My first style impression though was lots of vintage ceramics! For me the main feature recalling that Scandinavian feeling was the white panelling (of course, there are other icons too). I really like that!

Se trataba de conseguir un espacio con mucha más luz y darle un cierto ambiente escandinavo. Lo primero que pensé por eso fue que allí vive alguien que colecciona cerámica vintage. El toque escandinavo me lo dan las paredes con los paneles blancos (bueno, hay mucho más que lo recuerda…) y me gusta.

The entire house was repainted, inside and out, new flooring and the timber paneling installed and there is this really smart idea of the dressing room. Have you seen that?

Toda la casa se pintó por dentro y fuera, se instaló suelo nuevo y los paneles en las paredes. Lo que me pareció muy inteligente fue el vestidor. ¿Os habéis fijado?

It’s like a mini closet, such a clever solution and I love the bench and leather handles. You can easily see that there was a true professional behind the idea.

Parece un vestidor mini muy bien aprovechado, y ¡me encantan el banco y los tiradores de cuero! Como se nota que alguien entiende aquí de su oficio.

By the way, Simone has a nice blog too, if you want to check it out, please hop over.

Simone tiene por cierto un blog interesante, echadle un vistazo aquí.

They appreciate that there’s also a real connection with nature, as the home is perched high on an elevated block, looking East towards the Dandenong ranges.

Ellos comentan que también hay un fuerte vinculo con la naturaleza allí, la casa está anclada en la altura y mira hacia los Dandenong ranges que es un parque natural.

Photos by Sean Fennessy.

I’d like to raise up a little question today, why do you think Scandinavian style has become so important? I am really curious.

Hoy quisera saber porqué creeis que el estilo escandinavo esté tanto en auge. A ver lo que opináis ;)

Oh my, I have just realized yesterday I have  10.000 clicks on my YouTube channel. And that deserves a big THANK YOU!

It’ s been a crazy year testing and experimenting, but we firmly believe that videos are the new medium to go with. I am still nervous every time I get in front of a camera, sometimes it takes several takes to tape, but here I am, here we are. My partner is the video producer behind supporting and taking care in every single adventure. And I am really kind of proud!

It grows slowly, there is a lot to learn but I have been taught already some time ago that “sloppy success is better than perfect mediocrity” :-) So, again a huge thank you!

¡No me lo puedo creer! Me acabo de dar cuenta que ya hay más de 10.000 clicks en mi canal de You tube. Y eso se merece un post en si con un gran THANK YOU!

Ha sido un año loco, probando, experimentando pero creemos que el mundo del video es el nuevo medio a seguir! Cada vez que me veo delante de la cámara me pongo nerviosa, y hacen falta unas cuantas tomas, pero allí estoy, bueno estamos porque mi pareja es el responsable de las producciones de video que me anima y me apoya en cada aventura. Y la verdad, ¡estoy hasta orgullosa!

Crecemos poco a poco, hay mucho por aprender, pero ya hace un tiempo que me enseñaron que el éxito algo “descuidado” es mejor que la mediocridad perfecta. Así que de nuevo, ¡un enorme GRACIAS a tod@s!

Are you a color lover? You don’t fancy too much a black and white scheme for your interiors? Are you looking for different proposals? Well, you have to visit Emerald Green Interiors! Corinne writes about colorful home projects, how to use color, and I am happy to be guest posting there.
Italian brand Missoni Home is probably the label that plays most with unusual combinations of color and patterns. But have a look yourself here what they have been up to during the Salone del Mobile in Milan. That’s all what the guest post is about! If you missed the previous posts about the Salone, just click here. And have a very lovely May, 1st!!

Ah, and please leave a comment on Corinnes’s blog, we’d love to know what you think about Missoni Home! Thank you!

¿Os chifla el color? ¿Quizás no os va demasiado el blanco y negro para interiores? ¿Os apetece ver otras propuestas? Entonces tenéis que echar un vistazo al blog Emerald Green Interiors. Corinne escribe sobre proyectos de interiorismo con mucho color y de como utilizar el color, y estoy muy contenta de publicar un guest post allí.

La casa italiana Missoni Home es para mi la marca que sabe jugar mejor con combinaciones de color y estampados no del todo habituales. Pero echa un vistazo a lo que propusieron en el Salone del Mobile en Milan hace poco, porque éste es el tema del guest post. Y si quieres ver y leer algo más del Salone, pásate por aquí. ¡Y disfruta del día de fiesta de hoy!

Ah, y no olvida por favor de dejar un comentario en el blog de Corinne, tenemos curiosidad por ver lo que te parece esta casa italiana! Gracias.