Last week I finally made it to the Balloni store here in Cologne for the first time. As the name suggests they carry tons of balloons and other party decorations. But as I discovered they also have a huge selection of beautiful wrapping papers, walls covered with ribbons in every color and design you can imagine, as well as tables filled with wonderful paper goods.

I bought a sheet of this beautiful red Hiawatha paper that you can see in the second photo (btw a new addition to the good life series from NineteenSeventyThree, which I blogged about previously) and am thinking about using it to make a large photoalbum. The wooden toy crocodile also caught my eye. It’s handmade by a local designer and I’ll have to try and find out the name again.

BALLONI
Ehrenfeldgürtel 88-94
50823 Köln
On the Map

www.balloni.de

Oh my – long time, no post. Part of the reason is that I just haven’t done any bookbinding so far since the new year started. I’ve been trying so many new crafts and it’s been exciting and fun to just try some new things: I crocheted a sunburst flower granny square blanket and created a photo-tutorial that I posted on my not-so-paper-related personal blog. The instructions are german, but the photos are quiet detailed and there’s also a link to the english instructions.

Besides that, I’ve started taking a weekly sewing class where I made a sweet little dress and learned how to shorten jeans. On the web I found this wonderful tutorial for sewing owls that also kept me busy several nights.

But slowly I’m starting to miss my papers, especially after yesterdays visit to Balloni – a quiet impressive shop here in Cologne. You can find a sneakpeak on flickr and some more photos hopefully here on the blog soon. Have a wonderful weekend!

Paperworld is a huge fair for paper, stationery, crafts and office supplies in Frankfurt – and a must-see for any paperlover. I feel like I’m still recovering from all the wonderful impressions…

My personal highlights: Beautiful journals and new paper designs by Jackie for Bindewerk, finally a catalogue from Carta Pura (Munich) so I can order via E-Mail and a secret tip from Brevi Manu on where we’ll soon be able to find their amazing journals, tapes and notepads in Cologne!
I’ll keep you posted!

Walking through Amsterdam we discovered this lovely shop called the Otherist, carrying many things from popular etsy-sellers like Ashley G.’s bearded guys but also lots wonderful (handmade) things I’ve never heard or seen before.

the Otherist
Leliegracht 6
1015 DE Amsterdam
Netherlands
On the Map

www.otherist.com/

For Christmas I got a wonderful new print for my yellow wall:
the “Spore Twins” by Daphne Cellophane.

I think it will go perfectly in the top right corner, now I just need
to find a new black frame. Or actually three.

Update:
On flickr you can see by which artists they are.

How amazing is this airmail tape? Besides my airmail postcards I’ve honestly been planning to have tape like this made for quite a while and already did some research, but it’s so expensive. So I was very very happy to find this wonderful airmail tape in PrettyTape’s etsy shop.

And doesn’t it look perfect with these wonderful brown kraftpaper bags that Marigold gave me? Thanks again dear! I really think I’m in need of some penpals…

We started the new year in the Netherlands and also had a wonderful (but much too short) afternoon in Amsterdam. On Reestraat I found a lovely little stationary shop called Cortina Paper with a nice selection of fine papers ideal for bookbinding – mostly italian Carta Varese and my favorite german “Buntpapiere” from Bindewerk.

Cortina Paper
Reestraat 22
1016 DN Amsterdam
Netherlands
On the Map

www.cortinapapier.nl

Looks like I (re)discovered crocheting. After seeing all these amazing granny square blanket projects e.g. by Sandra Juto and Sarah Goldschadt
I decided to give it a try too.

My goal is to make at least 64 squares using this Sunburst Flower Granny Squares pattern and turn them into a tiny blanket (ca. 80 x 80 cm). I’ve been working on it a lot the first 2 weeks and finished 32 sqaures so far, but I notice how I’ve been slowing down since starting to sew the threads away (is that correct english?).

What crafts are you planning to (re)try this year?
Any big projects planned?

Guess who took this picture? Yes, it was me. And not with the auto-timer, but with my supercool new foot-operated wired camera remote controller thingy that the boyfriend build me. Yeay! (Some might note, that I am a huge Gilmore Girls fan ;-)).

Thank you Mr. S, you’re absolutely amazing! And I’m sure there are some people out there, who will really enjoy the instructable you’re working on. No pressure, though ;-)

I guess I still need some practice, holding things into the camera and getting them in focus. But I’m really excited and hope to be able to use this awesome new tool to take step-by-step craft-tutorial pictures all by myself with my hands “actively crafting” in the photos.

The wonderful anchor ribbon and the toadstool (parts) you can see in the pictures, are just a tiny selection of the many lovely things that the wonderful mlle. A. of handmade2.0 sent me in trade for some fabrics.

Plus: I’m very excited that she invited me to take part in her handmade.Interview series, you can find it here (german only).
Thank you, mlle. A.!

Slowly it’s time to wake up the blog from its winter sleep. I spent the whole friday evening and most of saturday going through piles of photos from 2009. I uploaded almost 400 of them to flickr and even though there’s still quite a pile left, it feels very good to be finally catching up.

We started the new year in the Netherlands with a group of friends, which was absolutely wonderful. We also spent an afternoon in Amsterdam and since I don’t have any new craft projcts to share yet, I thought I could just show you some of the lovely patterns I found there.

What are your new year resolutions for 2010? One of mine is to try and take less photos.

Wishing you all a happy new year and a lovely week!