(This is a copy of my original german post inviting everyone to our little etsy craft picnic /party thingy in Cologne. Looking forward to see you there!)

Nach einigem fußballbedingten Location-Hinundher haben wir (Nicki, Kathrin, Britta & ich) nun endlich einen offiziellen Plan für den Selber-Machen-Tag am Freitag (18.06.2010) in Köln:

Ab 18 Uhr treffen wir uns auf der Wiese im Stadtgarten – ihr erkennt uns an Fähnchengirlanden & Lampions. Wer Lust hat, kann Stempel basteln – wir bringen alles mit was man dazu braucht (und freuen uns über einen kleinen Unkostenbeitrag und freuen uns sehr, dass Etsy die Stempel-Aktion sponsort!). Ihr könnt aber auch gerne zum Stricken, Häkeln oder einfach nur zum Quatschen & Kennenlernen vorbei kommen!

Und wenn jeder noch eine Kleinigkeit zum Essen & Trinken mitbringt, steht einem perfekten DIY-Picknik eigentlich nichts mehr im Wege.
Wir freuen uns!

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

There was a bookbinding market here in Cologne a few weeks back. I still didn’t get a chance to go through all the photos I took, but I thought I’d just post a couple of pictures of the beautiful papers I got.

How do you like these wonderful wrapping sheets by Kamal, that my collegue discovered today?

Some supercute girls dresses at Blutsgeschwister, which reminds me that I’ll definetly have to sew myself another skirt or even a dress this summer.

I always love browsing stores that sort the clothes by colour. And I wasn’t the only one, as Magasin Populaire was completely crowded when we got there.

I also found the perfect sneakers there called “Hui Li Warriors” except the smallest size didn’t fit me :-( They are traditional chinese sneakers who gained popularity again through The Book of Warriors students project by Shumeng Ye.

And we found tons of cute stuff at Boutique Frau Kayser, like these fabric covered buttons.

Too bad that it was so rainy, I really hope there’ll be a second time with better weather.