All the art and all the cousins!

Somehow this went from being a blog about crafts and hobbies, to the last two posts - and this - being about art!

My family has always been very excited about art. As a child I was dragged around museums and galleries and I HATED it! With every fiber of my being - I hated it! I would cry, stomp my feet, resist going, stay in the car, cry some more - and this was just last summer! Imagine me as a child..
My parents have a very varied taste in art. They don't go by any rule book or specific style, which I really commend them for. Art should be about what appeals to you and catches your eye, not about it being by some specific artist whether or not you actually like the piece. When I was younger, and being dragged to the museums, my parents mostly bought poster art. Some of the poster prints my parents would buy I really did like. But most of them were kind of obscure and some were even erotic and sexual. That was quite hard to agree with as a shy child - I still don't understand it!

But now I am kind of getting all excited about art as well in many shapes, forms and sizes. Maybe it's something to do with age?! I am especially in love with all that is vintage. Old advertisement posters from old Danish or English companies, old fan posters of legendary music artists. Anything old, really, as long as it is in a cool, graphic style. It needs bold colors and cool lines. I could plaster all my walls over with posters I love. There are so many styles and I can't decide which is best, prettiest, coolest or just right. This does lead to some confusion in my "art collection". Just look at the last two posts on the blog. One about vintage black&white camera poster prints, the other about graphic, in-your-face-messages, bold colored posters. Today I add another style to the mix. Granted, all three posts are about posters, so I guess there is some cohesion.

I am lucky to have an artist in my family. My cousin is so talented! She paints abstract paintings and her latest series is filled with colors inspired by her travels to Asia and it's called The World In Colour. Check out her website at bjerker.com.
The other day my cousin posted on Facebook looking for someone to help her with some English editing. Of course I offered my assistance to her, being the ever-helpful English-wiz that I am -.-

She offered me two of her art prints in lovely black frames as a "thank you". Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity and two days ago a lovely package arrived at my door step. I was so happy to get these prints, because I just can't afford those kinds of indulgences right now, and I really wanted to buy some to support Vibeke, but I also just wanted them. So to get these as a gift was just perfect - not much support for Vibeke's business, but still. As I promised my cousin, these two lovely frames will be the first things I hang on the wall in our new flat. I already know where to hang them. Just take a look at these beauties!

The frames are 30x30 cm, so they fit perfectly right between the two living room windows. That is also a great place in order to keep the prints well-preserved as the sun will at some point have an effect on them. So that is my plan! Man, I am so lucky to be surrounded by great family members who aren't afraid to share their "talents" with other people. The "artist" cousin is my dad's brother's middle daughter. She is about the same age as my older brother, so we never really connected when I was younger because of the age difference. But now I am feeling the connection! I am discovering the creative sides of myself and I get so much inspiration from Vibeke's paintings. They are just as lovely as she is! It is great to see how someone else in your family has been so successful with her creative endeavors. Plus, I just learned that she lived 6 months in London, which is my absolute favorite city in the WORLD! Anything connected to London and I instantly love it.

One of my other cousins - my mother's youngest sister's eldest daughter (wow!) - is also providing us with her legal expertise, being a cand.merc.jur.. Just because she wanted to! Just because she loves digging in problems and finding reasons and solutions, I guess. She offered to look at our problematic situation with the municipality - looooong story - and she just wanted to help. I love my family! I truly do!

Decorating a new place - the real reason for moving!

We are moving. Up until now we have lived in my aunt's house while she has been working in Norway as a nurse. Now she has announced her "home-coming" and we have to find a new place to stay.

Luckily, we found a lovely little flat not far from both of our parents and some of our friends. The only reason I say "luckily" is because we have sold our car (!). If we live close to either of our parents we have easy access to a car whenever we feel too bound down and bored of things within "walking distance". Of course, it is not the only reason!! It also means that my mum won't have to walk that far to come and do the cleaning and general house keeping while we are out driving in her car... haha, I only write this because I know my mum isn't reading this :) :)

One of the absolute pleasures of moving into a new place is the chance to decorate completely empty rooms! Over the past few months we have changed our interior decorating style. We have always had second-hand furniture, mix-matched tree sorts, all kinds of colours and it has all been a bit messy and old-fashioned. Now we are streamlining the style to being more of the same basic colours which I can then spruce up by adding cool, homemade pillows or hanging colourful posters in my black frames.

I can't wait to get a more classic look in my home. Lots of white furniture, preferably old, quirky drawers or cabinets with cool designer items on top with magnificent colours. This also means that I get to go antiquing so I can look for a new cabinet for my dinnerware and Royal Copenhagen collection. Yes!

One of my ideas is also to get some vintage looking art on the walls. I found these free printables via howaboutorange.blogspot.com - originally from designeditor.typepad.com, and I just love them!

Cool, vintage cameras put in a classic, black frame. It doesn't get much better than that! All you have to do is download the files, take them to your local copy-store and they can make it any size you want. I still need to get my copies printed, but it will be done! I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished results in the new flat.


I have also been on the look-out for pillows, so I have an actual excuse/reason to make new pillows cases. I have so much cool fabric tucked away in my craft boxes and it need to be used! Well, I might forget about the fabric I already have and then pay fabricrehab.co.uk another visit to order some of their cool, vintage fabrics. There are some of the retro fabrics they stock that I find it hard to live without - especially the Geekly Chic line. They got me hooked and I am a true fabric addict. Oh my goodness, I am getting extra excited about the prospect of all this work!

It is going to be so great to live a place, where we are not living there on borrowed time. Don't get me wrong, it has been absolutely lovely living in my aunt's house, but there has always been a deadline over our heads. It will be great to not have that. Even if Lady Luck blesses us with a child at some point we can still stay in the flat if we need to. It is big enough for that. So we are set for the next couple of years!

I'll post pictures of the sewing projects I will embark on when we move. And most likely, I'll also post updates on the interior decoration, because I am getting oddly excited by that prospect right now. Maybe because we have been living in someone else's furniture for a 1½, and it is going to be so great to see our own stuff again outside of a storage box!

July 1st, please come now!