A Winter look without snow

I am starting the year in style, but no snow, in those pictures at least. We finally got some colder days and  a bit of snow, but when we took these outfit pictures there was no sign yet of the white glory. I really love this combo, the white skirt with the aztec print is such a fun piece to style and works really well with my burgundy poncho. The white scarf and hat were a gift by my mom. Do you have this same issue that you always look for a simple and slim scarf and that year huge blanket skarves are the only thing you can get in stores. Thank goodness for my mother and her knitting skills!!

What I wore

Skirt, Cardigan & Cape: C&A

Shoes: Deichmann

Shirt: Ernsting's Family

Hat & Scarf: handmade by mom

Tights: Esda

And an outtake - Mr.B calls my capes and ponchos the batman looks and here it goes again - Bat Anja!

Last Minute DIY Christmas gift ideas

Every year, I try to get all my presents on time, but every year I forget just a couple of small things and these DIY ideas are a great last minute gift that can be made even 2hours before giving it.

Baking cookies

My favourites are cookies with icing, but they take so long to decorate. 

Vanilla kipferl are perfect as they only need a coat of powdered sugar.

Spritz biscuits are easily made last minute and can be left without chocolate coating.

Hot Pepper Oil

This is something for the guys. As we grow our own peppers on the balcony each year, we've got quite some left and we add the dried ones into a little bottle, some good Olive oil, et voilà!
As Jamie Oliver always says: Take the good stuff, extra virgin.

The recipe is by A Beautiful Mess

Some handmade gifts I made in the last years:

Cookie dough in a glass

Pralinés by Fräulein Klein

Handmade Vanilla Extract by A Beautiful Mess 

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and my last minute present ideas could help some of you!!

DIY - new cupboard shelves with foil

After look



Before look

Some of my long-time readers might know that I am living in my great-grandma's old apartment. I moved in after her death and as it was my first apartment, I had no kitchen of my own. Therefore, I kept a lot of her furniture, including the kitchen. It is an old 1970s model and is a real gem, but hey, time is still doing it's toll on the cupboards. I recently bought a set of dishes from my favourite Finnish brand Iittala in bright turquoise and the dishes looked not so nice in the cupboards with blue checkered lining. I decided to use self-adhesive foil to give the shelves a makeover.

The empty cupboard. I used the chance and also cleaned it from top to bottom again! The foil is easy to use and I have done some upcyclings with them already. Only trouble is the bottom shelf, which can't be taken out and the foil has to be added into that small space. It took me about 1h to add the foil to all shelves. I will soon do this for the second cupboard as well, which holds my spices.

I added foil to top and bottom of the shelves as one can see the bottom side as well.

My turquoise dishes are the highlight on the shelves now and get the right attention with the light color of the foil.

What do you think about this easy DIY? Have you tried something similar or would you like to try it?

The 50s vibe

Last weekend, I visited a great 50s party with Mr.B and some friends and dressed up in one of my beloved swing petticoat dresses. Since then, I have definitely felt the 50s vibe and my outfits gravitaded towards that look. It's wonderful how one event can remind you of all those lovely pieces hiding in your closet! I have been wearing lots of swing dresses, reds and blues, college jackets and pencil skirts. I felt like Joan of MadMen once again and Mr.B definitely loves that look on me. This is an outfit I recently wore at work. Do you have a certain style that you gravitate to over and over again even though you sometimes try out new things?

What I wore

Dress: thrifted, Lindy Bop

Watch: Skagen

Tights: Esda

Scarf: Pieces

Shoes & Jacket: Primark

Necklace & Bracelet: DIY

A visit to the King

Last week, a big dream became true. I finally met the King of Rock'n'Roll, or better the singer of the Musical Elvis that is currently touring in Germany. My parents got the tickets for Christmas and I got mine for my 30th birthday (how fitting that I was born on Elvis's 50th birthday!). It was a wonderful night with great music at the Leipzig Opera House. I wore this look for the night. Of course I had to wear a 50s inspired outfit and my new (to me) Lindy Bop dress got it's first outing. I had been on the lookout for this floral version of my faourite red "Grace" dress, but it was sold out everywhere. I finally got this one thrifted online, but one size too large. Thanks to my seamstress, it now fits like a glove!

What I wore

Dress: thrifted, Lindy Bop

Cardigan: C&A

Necklace & Bracelet: handmade

Bag: heirloom

Shoes: Deichmann

Tights: Esda

Petticoat: Amazon

Coat*: Long Tall Sally

*PR Sample 

A Merry Christmas and my Christmas decorations 2014

With this post, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy your holidays with your loved ones and have a wonderful time together. We spend these days with Mr.B and my families again, trying to find some time for all our relatives, eating lots of good food and just having a good time. I want to leave you with a couple of photos from our decorations this year. They are pretty similar to the ones last year. In our region, we have a lot of traditional wood work and crafts made by hand. They are quite expensive, but also timeless and I have collected quite some pieces and got a nice selection of old pieces from both my grandmother and great-grandmother's collections. They are handed down in our family and it is very nice to display them every year also to remember these loved people.

Our small advent "wreath" - we needed a space-saving option as our coffee table is just so tiny and I found this nice glass bottle variation last year at Depot.

The one new DIY piece. The door wreath. I loved the idea of a wreath, but never found one that I really liked. Therefore, I decided to give the handmade version a go and this is the variation for this year. Red and white colors!

Breakfast table decorations. My color combination this year was mostly white and silver with a little bit of grey and red here and there. These things on the table also work well during the rest of the winter time and I am thinking of restyling them as winter decorations after the holidays. A little spray paint here and there and they will look great on our table.

This light arch (Schwibbogen) is also a new addition. It shows the small mountain city of Oberwiesenthal and has a special meaning to Mr.B!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

DIY - Handmade Christmas gifts

This year like every year, I try to give thoughtful gifts to friends and family members. I am still working on my presents for this season (still a secret!), but wanted to share my little DIY projects from last Christmas with you!

1.Cookie recipe in a mason jar

I gave this cute little gift to several friends and family members. It is something different and a lot of fun for them as they can decide themselves when they want to enjoy this little gift from us. We gave it to people that enjoy baking and hope they will have fun and think of us while doing it. The recipe is from Frl. Klein and her lovely book "Weihnachten mit Frl.Klein" that I got as a little gift from Mr.B a couple of weeks back.

2. handmade cookies

I always bake a ton of cookies and we give them to grandparents, aunts and uncles that rather eat than bake the cookies. It's a little something even for those people that never want a gift or don't need anything. It's thoughtful and nice to bring something and our cookies are made with love and taste well :) Recipe by Frl. Klein once again (see above) - adapted by me.

This year, my friend J. helped me with the baking and she is also the master with royal icing. The cookies have never looked that good!

Apart from the royal icing and sprinkles, we also made some  double and triple decker cookies with nougat filling. I got the idea from Frl.Kleins second book that I already own since last year! I used the basic cookie recipe and after baking added the nougat in between. Finally I dusted the cookies with cocoa powder.
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