Let LOVE show!





Add some love to your home!
With redecorated vintage plates, wooden map-hearts, a pretty typographic artwork or just simply a cute card. One can never have enough love. Or show enough love. So, especially in cold but lovely february, let's keep our hearts warm and happy by just being a little more loving every day!

Fotos and items 1-3 (you can buy them): Not on the high street
Last Foto and card-design: Martina Voigt-Schmid (soon in my shop)

Friday Pretties: Raspberry hearts




Eat your heart out - in a nice way!

On Valentines day or ... this weekend? I'm still at home, not feeling so well and phantasizing about lovely things to eat and to do once my strength is back. And look what i just found - Raspberry cream cheese pan crepes! A mix between pancakes and crepes, filled with cream cheese and fresh raspberrys. Might be good with frozen ones, too. I hope that honey & sons Ltd. will be delighted when presented with this, although they consider valentine things being girls stuff. Find the recipe here.

To lift my spirit and yours in the survival of winter, i 'm planning to make February the month of love. One day just isn't enough. Will you join me?


Photos and recipe: family fresh cooking 

Les chats de Julie Gaston







Handmade Sweetness
I want to show you something especially cute we got for Christmas: Our cat Itzig, modelled in clay!The first two pictures you see here, that's him. In his fury black and white tuxedo, friendly and elegant - Mr. best dressed cat, as some major cat magazines have mentioned!
The other two cuties are called Julie Frederike and Sir Henri Peterson. If you want to find out more about talented Mlle Gaston visit her blog here!

Friday Pretties: Weekend treat

We've made it!
Another weekend's just right around the corner and with it, the possibility for a special breakfast ...
My kids ask me to make american-style pancakes for a long time - now this weekend, we're gonna give it a try. These here, with fresh blueberrys, look especially good to me and i thought they'd qualify for a Friday Pretty!


Blueberry Pancakes
 115g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs, separated
125ml milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 punnets fresh blueberries
oil for frying

Sieve the flour into a medium bowl and combine with baking powder. Make a well in the middle, add the egg yolks and milk and whisk to create a smooth batter, the consistency of double cream. Add more milk if the batter is too thick. Whisk the egg whites in a separate clean bowl with the salt, until they form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter. Add one punnet of blueberries and mix them gently into the batter. Lightly oil and heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Pour two tablespoons of the batter into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes until bubbles start to form on the surface. Flip the pancake over and cook for further 1 minute, or until golden brown. Remove pancake from the pan and serve with a maple or golden syrup and some fresh blueberries.

Photo and recipe: cook your dream 
More Pretties here!

Add some art to your home




Smile for a while!
Adding a piece of art you really like to your room will make you smile more than once, for it brings a kind of energy that nothing else can give! Again i was having  fun adding paintings of mine to some tasteful interiors i found, this time between the pages of style at home. What kind of art do you like best - i'd be interested to know!

Paintings: Martina Voigt-Schmid, Photos: Michael Graydon,

Funfair fashion




Life's just a merry-go-round. Come on up. You might get a brass ring.

Some fabulous photos that add fun and color to white winter days! I like these old fashioned carousels with painted horses, gold and glitter! Must be fun to arrange a fashion shoot in these surroundings, or just go there with some girlfriends and take pictures!

Photos: 1-3: Liz Ham, 4: Lindsey Michelle

Friday Pretties: Cata's Giveaway



These slippers are made for walking ...
along sandy beaches, shady porches or where ever your heart desires! They are made by my talented blogfriend Cata, who makes the sweetest things and is such a great photographer. And she's offering these fab little shoes in her giveaway now. Very easy to participate. Find out more about it here.

Happy Friday everyone! Have a fun filled weekend and find a little time to create! 
For more Pretties, have a look here!

Sweet winter beauties


Art & Fashion
This is my favorite picture from a fashion shoot for KidsLife last winter. Our little models Miriam and Helen are posing in front of a collaborative painting by me and my friend Andrea, a huge painting called "Medusa". The part of it that shows here, reminds me of the milky way - lots of tiny silver dots form kind of like a veil over the painting. It shifts with the light and looks fascinating. This is how we work together: I do the painting part, while she adds graphic elements, such as silver dots or typography in crayon.

Photo: Robin Benito, Painting: Andrea König & Martina Voigt-Schmid

Loulou de la Falaise in Paris






"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
Ernest Hemingway

Ever dreamt of a charming place in the capital of love?  I sometimes do! And  Loulou de la Falaise's apartment here looks just perfect to me!

Loulou de la Falaise was Yves Saint Laurent's favorite muse. And as a designer and a woman with great taste and style she decorated the place in a relaxed, elegant way, combining neutral eggshell shades with colorful items from all around the globe. 
'When I saw my apartment for the first time, I felt good in this artist's studio,' she says.
Well - i would, too! Can i please come visit for tea and macaroons Loulou? 

In case you want to dream on a bit, i highly recommend the little book by Ernest Hemingway  "Paris,  a moveable feast".  It's a real favorite of mine and i read it again and again over the years.

Photos via Daily Mail from from Fashion Designers At Home by Marie Bariller 

Friday Pretties: Purple rain





Think violet!

The rain that falls here in germany is far from being purple - but it melts away the snow and makes me dream of warmer times, of soft air and returning flowers (dream on babe, at least 2 more months to go ;))
 I love the atmosphere and color combination in these fabulous pix by photographer CorrieBond,. Don't know why, but i'm so attracted to purple and violet shades at the moment.  It is said if you surround yourself with purple you will have peace of mind.

Put some violet in your life to:
  • use your imagination to its fullest
  • re-balance your life
  •  remove obstacles
  • calm overactivity or to energize from depression

    Happy Friday my dears! Come and look at some more pretties here!

    My Motto for 2011




    Bloom! Boom!

    This is a painting that was hanging around in my studio for a long time, without ever getting finished. It had nice parts in it, but never felt quite right. And maybe it isn't finished now. The colors are a bit unusual for me. Maybe too gloomy. But somehow, just before Christmas i started playing with it and added the purple face and the word - BLOOM! And when i look at it today, it seems to be the message for me, the word that titles this New Year. Welcome, flowers of all shapes and colors - this garden will be beautiful!

    New Year, new colors






    Let the sunshine in! 

    I've just returned from a lovely trip to Austria and Munich, meeting a lot of family and taking a break from it all. Now, January is here, looking like a white canvas, kind of empty and bland after all the opulence of christmas. A new year, a new page. a new story - hmmm, what colors am i going to use?  What plans and resolutions do i have - and how can i make my dreams come true?


    The modern prints and bold flower patterns in this California bungalow designed by Krista Ewart appealed to me. It is just the mix of fresh, clean and creative that seems right to get the year of to a great start. Get rid of some old stuff and bring in some new inspiration!


    A toast to 2011 and to all of wonderful you - see you soon! 

     Photos:Victoria Pearson, via House Beautiful