Thank you!



Have a very Happy, and Merry ..., you know!
And stay warm and safe and have a lot of fun!

Can't wait to visit you all again soon.
Lots of Love!

Photos: 1st: Martina Voigt-Schmid, 2nd: Corrie Bond photography, 3rd: Good Life Eats, via Tumblr

Christmas decoration: 5 easy last minute ideas






5 ideas on a budget

for people who like it light and easy when it comes to Christmas - like me this year. Maybe because the days before Christmas for me, always seem to short to get everything done in them. Not just the decorations, but everything. So many things want attention. And because of this "hype", that doesn't really ad to the feeling of peace and harmony  i'd like to have, easy decoration seems to have what i need. 

Neat little trees and apples in a bowl, doves of peace made from white paper, pinecones stacked up in a tree shape or a plain tree adorned with vintage photos that brings remembrance of family members and times past. I feel very drawn to this "Memory-tree". All these ideas are charming, and you don't need to buy a lot of things to make them. How's your decoration-scheme this year?

Photos: 1-4 Country Living, last picture: Sweet Paul

Friday Pretties: Deer oh deer!


Deer presents for someone de(e)ar!

Some cute Etsy-finds from todays elongated tea-break (white tea!). OK, they ARE a bit kitschy. But a little bit of kitsch should be allowed now and then, especially round christmas. Have you got your ducks in line friends? Ha ha, mine are running wild in the snow while i try to catch them and make them behave like good ducks. But they are running after that deer, the pink one, which is so sweet! I'm counting on this weekends good fortune to get most of the things done. And will be visiting you to see what you've been up to!

Lovely things & photos from: kitschygalore, the storybook rabbit, zeng, japonicas and in blue

Join the party and look at some more pretties here!

Red Meditation



I'm seeing red
Red is a very strong, outgoing colour, normally associated with action, love or aggression. This painting however, shows the meditative side of it, a warm, vibrant, nourishing glow. I read that in Tibet, red is the color that symbolizes our connectedness with the whole. And that reminds me, to look for the quiet place inside, right in the midst of the pre-christmas buzz.

Painting: Martina Voigt Schmid

Friday Pretties: A present from Santa




Look what i found ...

i guess it was him.  A little present on my terrasse. Does that mean i have been good?
And another present is the lovely presentation for our magazine KidsLife in Loretas gorgeous blog. She is such a talented photographer, and i am so honored to work with her and show her beautiful work in KidsLife. Making these layouts was pure bliss, and our readers love it!

Have a warm and wonderful weekend, and look at some more pretties here!
 
Photos: 1st: Martina Voigt-Schmid
2nd & 3rd: Loreta Jasukeliene


Monday Love: espresso shortbread


Some experimental cookies

for this recipe sounded interesting to me -  and yesterday evening, i felt so cold that i had this urge to stay near the oven and preapare something more to eat (right after dinner) instad of spending time with my paintings. I love simple cookies and i love espresso - and this is a combination of both, cookies with ground espresso worked into the dough. They look, like everything i bake, quite "homemade", but i wasn't that easy to get them in shape because please note: this dough is crumbly. But it's worth a try. The kids don't like them, so me and my hubby have them all for ourselves, Yay!

Photo: Martina Voigt-Schmid

Friday Pretties: My paintings in new rooms





4 Colorful rooms
 by Toronto interior decorator Holly Dyment, virtually updated with some of my art. Her site is worth exploring, if you're on the hunt for some dashing ideas on how to ad color to your rooms.

. Have a look: in the first picture you see the painting i've posted some time ago, the yellow and black lady, now with the mysterious silver layer, added by my friend Andrea König. In the last picture you see one of the wild girls from beginning of this week. Ah, i had so much fun doing this! A few dashes of color so brighten my mood while winter spreads out it's beautiful but cold sheets everywhere!

Have some creative fun this weekend, and look at some more pretties here!


Wild girls




2 artists, 6 paintings

These are small canvases - a series of six  that are a collaboration between a good friend and me. I did the painting part and she added the crayon and typographie. We do this on a regular base since many years now and it's always interesting. It is a very special kind of work, and i couldn't do it with anyone else. 

We've started this way of working, when our kids were small and both of us didn't find time to paint at all. So we exchanged little sheets of paper, and each of us in turn added something here and there, until we thought it was finished. With time, we went on to bigger things and organized exibitions. At the moment, the paintings are part of an open house-show at my friends beautiful home.

Hope your week gets of to a great start  - See you soon!

Paintings: Martina Voigt-Schmid, Andrea König

Friday Pretties: A little treat for chocolate lovers


Some sweetness can save the day

... especially a cold and rainy november day!  And especially the sweetness of chocolate! This looks like the thick and creamy hot chocolate they serve in italy - a recipe by Nigella Lawson i'm going to try this weekend.  Just looking at it makes me feel better! What are your plans for the weekend?


Photo via Nigella Lawson
Hungry for more Pretties? Have a look here!

Two worlds - one garden



There are fairies at the bottom of our garden.
Rose Fyleman  

Although now, it may be too cold for them to dance and play outside. Or have you ever seen a fairy in a warm fur-coat? Garden in November and garden in June. Which one do you like better? I'm definitely a summer loving person, but can see the beauty in winter too. The graphic structures of the bare branches and twigs has got something. Keep warm today!

Friday Pretties: A new painting


Yellow and black
Something i just worked on. Sorry, the photo came out a little blurry. But you get the idea.
My artist friend Andrea is working over this canvas with a net of tiny silver dots, and i'm curious to see how this will turn out. We will present it at an open-house event soon, and i'll post aboot it as soon as i get to take some pix next week. Meanwhile i hope you'll have a fantastic weekend with enough fun to give no chance to november-blues! To get some more inspiration, visit Joyce to see  more pretties here!!

Foto & painting: Martina Voigt-Schmid

It's teatime, kids!



 Tea can save a rainy day ...

... well, at least if you serve homemade scones with it, a tradition we came to love from our dear au-pair Janine from New-Zealand. I'm not a big housewife or baker myself, but these are so easy - and perfect for grey afternoons. 

Recipe:
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup milk

Mix all dry ingredients, ad butter in little lumps, then stir in a little milk and knead a dough. Gradually add more milk, as you go along. Form a roll and cut little rounds from it. Place on baking sheet (covered with baking-paper) and bake until nicely browned. Serve warm with jam and whipped cream.

Fotos: 1st: Digitalstock, 2nd and 3rd: Martina Voigt-Schmid


And if you happen to have too many teapots in the house, stuffing your cupboards, here's what you can do with them: a teapot lamp! I really love this idea by Sweet Paul - a great food stylist, who never fails to inspire me. This was a project for for the magazine Country Living.

Friday Pretties: A paper wreath - and how to make it





Do you have old books - old, old books that are not pretty or good enough to keep? Here's something you can do with them, if you're not afraid to cut of some pages! A paper-wreath, leaves made out of printed pages. I liked the black and white look - but maybe it looks good as well, if you cut leaves out of old magazines - with colored pages. A little project if you don't quite feel ready yet to start on your christmas-decoration, and want to keep the autumn feeling lingering a bit longer.

The last picture shows you, how to do it - really simple and easy. Cut the leaves and then fix them with deco-needles on a styrofoam-wreath - that way, you can move them a little bit and adjust them to your liking. A little bow can be aded as a final touch.
Have a great weekend! And visit Joyce to see  more pretties here!!

Fotos artwork & painting: Martina Voigt-Schmid

I've been tagged ...

 Something old
(A painting i did a long time ago)

Something new
(A painting that is not finished yet)


Something borrowed
(A pair of paintings by fellow artist Susan Brown)


Something blue
(A pair of paintings on my studio wall - i can't part with them)


And something more blue
(Also by artist Susan Brown) 

... tagged by my dear blogfriend Anita from "Castles, Crowns And Cottages" with a special task to compose a post with  

something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

That sounds nice - like a poem, and since this is an art-blog, i decided to show you some paintings of mine and some of a fellow artist i like - enjoy looking!

And i'm passing the task on to

Saskia from Join my joy
Gwynnie from Gwynnie B. Designs
Chrissy from cul*ti*vate
Andrea from Andrea creates

Have fun with this project!

Friday Pretties: Happy weekend!


Me and my 3 men

on a holiday in Italy, 2 years ago. We made a day-trip to Monaco and wandered around the casino and the harbor, looking at all the magnificent boats and the deep blue ocean. Hope your weekend will be just as fine. This is just a quickie-post to tell you i love you! Will be back on monday with a fun thing - you'll see!
Meanwhile take time and visit Joyce and  more pretties here!!

Creative idea: Yarn Mobile


Round and easy

If you are like me, and pretty yarns and fabrics appeal to you, but you don't like knitting, this might be a fun project to try. A mobile in your favorite colors of various baubles, some hollow, some full. You could use almost anything round, just as long as it's not too heavy. Or make your own balls, by putting yarn soaked in glue around a ballon wit a greasy surface, similar like you'd make paper maché. You let the yarn dry, and then remove the balloon. Messy, but fun! 

Foto via tumblr, seen on spearmint baby 

Friday Pretties: Golden moments





Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.
Pablo Picasso

Yep - so true this quote! Have set myself the aim, to start on a new painting-routine, for otherwise my days are too crowded now and i'm too tired in the evenings to get involved in creative adventures. Yet i miss them so much! Making the magazine is creative too, but i need the living colors, the smell and feel of them. Hope to blog about this soon. The green and yellow stillife above is something from last winter that keeps inspiring me along the way.

Have a fantastic, colorful time yourself over this autumn and Halloween weekend and visit Joyce and her generous linkup for more pretties here!!

Painting: Aryllic on canvas, Martina Voigt-Schmid


Meet "Les Gastons"





Birds of a feather

Boooooo-hooooooooo! Saw the mist over the meadow this morning? Saw the golden leaves? Found the black feathers? Some beautiful photos to revel in the spirit of autumn and Halloween by my son  Robin Benito, capturing his girlfriend, model and newborn actress Julie Gaston and himself in Edgar Allen Poe style.

My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane.
Robert Frost  

Friday Pretties: In the mood for fun




Ever wanted to be a princess?

A mermaid or a sailor? As Halloween is getting closer, you might be looking for a costume for your kid - or for yourself. Recently i stumbled over these amazing outfits by Abbys tutu factory and the" little girl in me" was very pleased and said, she would like to have all of them! Aw, i only have boys and they are too big for this kind of fun. But i do have a parenting magazine, and start to get ideas for a party theme ...

Have a splendid weekend and treat your inner child to something nice - a trifle with lots of custard, a pink bubble-bath, some funny stickers to decorate your business-letters - you get the idea!

Can't wait ti visit all your lovely places - the last 2 weeks have been so busy, so little time for blogland-adventures - i missed it! Do have a look at more pretties here!
 
Fotos and costumes: Abbys tutu factory