Supermoon

Who doens't LOVE this moon. I hope you are having a great night, enjoying this fabulous full moon which happens to be a supermoon.

This happens to be a 100% monothematic posting. Does not happen too often around here. 

Clouds passing by

After some dozens of photos I finally figured out the surprisingly short, correct exposure that shows the surface of the moon: ISO 100, 1/500s and F9. A Nikon D 90, handheld and a kit lens is all it takes.

Sleep tight!*

Paula

* maybe not tonight 

Scrapbook History

Hello!
 
31 years! It has been 31 years since I've glued these tickets in my "holiday diary", the ancestor of today's trend called Traveller's Notebook.

I guess this is my oldest scrapbook. How I loved it! It brought me a lot of joy.

My memorabila box holds several of these. This is the fanciest one. Others were simple notebooks like the ones we used at school. To me my traveller's notebooks from the 1980's are total pageturnes. I enjoy flicking through them.  

Journaling mattere 

 This simple notebook travelled through the Austrian provinces in 1987

 

I do remember this trip to Alpbach, but I could not remember the travel journal. 

I am surprised to see how easygoing my journaling was back then. Glue, a pen and tickets. No ruler, no rules:

And this is "me" today, 30 years later: 

Today's memory journals include a few new features, such as the handy photo printer at home and Washi tapes. :-)

One huge motivation that keeps me doing this is a podcast I have been listening to almost non-stop since January: The Scrap Gals podcast. Tiffany and Tracie are experts when it comes to scrapbooking. Their show is 100% motivating and inviting, I find myself sewing (!) notebooks and fllling them with memories on a monthly basis, all thanks to their podcast.

Too sad those rub-on letters are out of fashion. In the 80's and 90's they were quite common.

A few weeks back, looking at this page, I felt like this would have been something a young girl would do and enjoy a lot. In other words: Yes, this somehow does look childish. Well, having rediscovered my old scrapbooks I can say "Yes, I did enjoy making these!"

Joy comes easily.

Have a nice weekend!

Paula

PS: I blanked some lines for discretion.

Photo Journaling 101 aka Analogue Blogging

Hello!

Last week's memory journals/notebooks quickly morphed into "rapid photoalbums"–  "rapid", because compared to other, still empty albums, which I had sitting on the shelf for years, this goes really fast. Japan (2007!),  Cuba (2001!!) - untouched albums! The photo piles are neatly stacked and  sit next to empty albums. Well.

Why not put photos on paper on a(n almost) daily basis?

I noticed that many photos have a story to tell. Who is going to tell the story, if not me?

Besides the photos that need the story behind the moment, there are many unspectacular stories,  small anecdotes, nevertheless, they often make my day.
Now those small stories have the chance to become memories, thanks to the photo that pictures the moment. The photos "pin" small moment to my long-term memory.

I remember my great-aunt looking at a family-portrait from her childhood. She was 99 years old and was suffering from dementia. Holding the wooden frame in her hands, looking at the photo, her mood changed in an instant. She smiled. She was happy.

Ok, it is probably not the main purpose of my new hobby, to create a pile of "Happy moments for possible future deseases". Speaking of purpose: Is there any purpose at all? Maybe just "happy moments for today".

Sounds better. :-)

Now enough with the talking, let me walk you through the process of photo journaling:

This is the set-up:

One month = one notebook. The month of January comes with a winter landscape on the cover

Next to me sits the Canon Selphy photo printer:

It takes 40sec for a moment to become a memory.

It's playful, soooo playful ...

I can do whatever I want to. I arrange, combine and smile. A lot. (I guess this pretty much nails my understanding of "playing")

First steps into the world** of those colourful Washi Tapes:

Seriously? Yes! Finally!! The January Cure makes it into the Photo Journal

How popular is photo journaling?

I could find numerous videos and blogs on Traveller's Journals/Midoris, bullet journaling and art journals (those journals which come with lots of watercolour on curly notebook pages), but there almost hardly any blogs/videos on "Photo Journaling" out there. 

Carrying a journalist-gen I love going into depth, exploring recently unknown topcis, to compare and also to look at the background that comes with most stories. Recommendations are very welcome!

Can you recommend some blogs/vlogs on photo journaling? I am curious to hear about them.
 
Wait ... photo journal  .... journalist....  Ha! This all adds up.  :-D

best,
Paula

* The innocent world of Washi Tapes has the potential of becoming a "Universe of Japanese kawaii-ness full existing of al kind of paper craft supplies. You have been warned

Analogue Blogging aka Memory Journaling

New year, new passion? 

Probably! 

Hello dear readers!

I am busy (yes, again), designing the foundation for future memories and it comes with a lot of paper. Nice paper of all kinds, countries, weights and colours. A playful, recently revived passion of mine. As far as I can remember, paper always brought joy. (*)

(*) The only time it did not bring a lot of joy was duing our hike to an acient paper mill in the middle of France on a hot summer day. We really did earn that visit. Lasting memories. 

Paper from Italy and England, companies with a long tradtion, dating back 200 years and more

 Playing around with various types of paper and  - also important - finding the favourite proportion.

Trimming notebooks to a preferred proportion

Approaching the right proportion. Which proportions do I enjoy? What proportions feels good in my hands? Which one is nice to look at?

 Prototyping:

The blue notebook to the left has a fine proportion for text & photos and allows a good amount of unused space on the pages. Inspiration: SZ DVD Edition. The grey notebook to the right has (almost) the proportion of the popular "Midori Traveller's Notebook". (the width of the Midori notebook measures ca +3mm)

Very much to my surprise the Midori-width is almost the Suhrkamp's pocketbook-width. Those pocketbooks do seem small, but they do hold a lot of words. Those books are a 20th century design icon. But with a width of 11cm, any 10cm-wide photos is likely to cram a page. I will stick with the proportion of the blue notebook. For now. :-)

Here I have been playing around with the trimming: flush trimming, overlapping covers ...

Now that I have build the foundation, I can move on to the next step, which is every bit as entertaining as the first one was: printing memories.

  

I will keep you posted!

Paula

Shortcut on Calligraphy

Hello again!

Well, this ended surprisingly early.

On my route to becoming a highly passionate calligraphista, I forgot one important detail : My left hand! Gothic lettering does not support people like me: Lefties. I can manage fountain pens almost worryfree (after some practice). But writing Gothic lettering with a nib that needs to be pulled from left to right in an exact angle of 40°? No way!

What to do? Become right handed in my mid 40's?
Learn a language that moves from right to left?

I opted for the third option and returned to the playground where passionate hobbyists like write with flexible nibs, no education or training needed.

"Tintenfaxi" was the breaking point where I quit Gothic lettering. (I thought the term Tintenfaxi is familiar in German, but I could not find a single entry online. Seems I was wrong! Tintifax it is - a character from  the Kasperl stage).

pictured above:
1st row: this was all I could write after an evening with the calligraphy nib, blame it on the left hand writing.
2nd row: writing with a flexible nib and black ink ("Pilot" = not the profession but the name of a Japanese Company which sells phantastic inks)
3rd row: Happyness comes with the flexible nib and black Pilot ink.
4th & 5th row: exploring the variations this flexbile nib offers

New adventures to come. Without lessons. Yes, all those lessons in the Calligraphy book did chase me off.

A simple flexible nib alreasy creates awsome results. All I have to do is: Write! The ink flows and so do my thoughts, which I bring to paper.

Black ink and a flexible nibs work as a phantastic trigger for writing/painting/drawing illustrations. I am surprised writing with a pen has not become a trend yet, with all those adorable illustrations surrounding us these days in magazine, on shop windows and online. My guess would be, that as soon as the ongoing hype "Colouring books for adults, mandalas etc" passes, illustrating will become really popular.

After all the excitement I chose to relax tonight and dedicated the evening to ... Christmas cards. No experiments. Simple watercolour.

Watercolour LOVE -  in capital letters.

Oh, I almost forgot: Yes, I did return the calligraphy-book. I bough envelopes instead. It's time to finally ship some cards.
Have a good night!
Paula

 

Highly Efficient?

Hello!

I have been having a good time lately. A good health plays a big role. So far no cold, no flue has caught me. The days have been incredibly sunny, almost everyday we have blue skies. Maybe not all day long but at least for a few hours.

Spirits are high, perfect time for mastering a new hobby. Calligraphy. Also known as: The slowest possible mode to reach a goal called "sending Christmas cards" by the end of this week.

Lets get started .. by looking at nice photos. Almost like watching YouTube tutorials. Well, more like looking at thumbnails. Still, entertaining.

 Whoa, progress!

The progress I will have made by the time I reach page 19 - vertical strokes - brings up the idea of binary Christmas greetings. Yep, I could do that. Just give me 2 days. Maybe 3.

This is how I manage to write and ship Christmas Cards by the end of this week. NOT. ^_^

The first word on page 41. How cool is that! "ma". Need to get to make it to 41 Probably not tonight. 
LOL

As a true serial hobbyist, I don't "just do it". Getting ready is an important step. These days you get ready by watching YouTube videos (people who write letters aka Calligraphy), reading book reviews on amazon, watching more videos (All those nibs! The pretty inks!) and a few nights later it's done. Well, should I say "the set up is done"? 11 days till Christmas. Chances are that cards will make it ... until New Year's Eve maybe?

Not only is the craft art of calligraphy tricky, but the writing as such is tremendously sloooooow. Hahaha.

Before I took up this new hobby, I spend an eveneing speed-painting:

Very, VERY important utensil, not pictured: Michael's YouTube tutorials.
4 cards per evening. aka Christmas cards, the highly efficient way to do it. This was fun.

I want to give June, The Serial Hobbyist Girl full credit for the term I just can't stop repeating, because I like it so much: Serial hobbyist. This woman knows how to do a FOX HAT! And not just fox hats and mittens and sweaters ... I think I might have found her through - Black and White photography! Welcome to our world, the world of serial hobbyists.

Now to you: There must be more of our kind? Come clean, share your hobbies, please.
No passion too short-lived to be loved from the bottom of your inner child's heart. 

Spend your evening with passion and fun,
Paula

Busy Silent Period

Dear readers,

sorry for the silent period. I am still busy, de-cluttering my closets and wardrobe, making room for air and some new entries in 2016.

And in the pauses I give my kitchen some TLC

You can't go wrong when you shine your sink.

I have to say it's way easier to say goodbye, when you spend a decent amount of time for "saying goodbye", f.e. by taking photos. I use the photos for ads on a local 2nd hand platform.

Gone are the "Fürnkranz" times in Vienna.

And gone is the closet time for this coat at the Paula Residence:

No need to decant wine at the Paula Residence. The wine decants by the slow speed it's consumed. Days, weeks ... I know!

 Not my life: the life of a woman with single long stemmed flowers 

Hehe. Who did NOT want to change his/her hair? 

I used to use the flat iron for curling my straight hair. Worked wonders, killed my hair.

Now, years later, I might use it for straightening the increasing frizz. But those hair killings the iron had caused in the past have not been forgotton. Goodbye!

Hm. Sure. I would just have to lose 3kg and we would become friends again. Until then this skirt morphes me in to a Bavarian Weißwurst sort of. No, thanks.

Yes! This. Is. An. Actual. Helmut. Lang. Skirt. from 1994

"Good old" aka vintage  ...

... vs "Bad old" aka worn out

The photo above and the photo below better keep their distance. Seeing them so close together causes mild stress. Dirt vs. Shine or:

old_worn out vs. new_perfection in every detail

Au Pays des Oiseaux Fleurs / design: Christine Henry

I could look at those birds, flowers and trees forever. Birds make me smile.

Yes, seeing all the old stuff is kind of boring. No worries, there is not much olf stuff left. New stories to come soon. :-) But what I can say for sure: I've come a long way:

No, this. was. NOT. Halloween.

ROFL

This outfit is supposed to be way outside any possible comfort zone. What can I say, I loved it. The vest was one of my favourite piesces. What was I thinking? Next time I should title this posting

 "The return of the suburbian reptiloid from outer space"

Have a great weekend! I'm off to the city centre, picking up some new loden.

Paula

DIY coffee pot cozy - reinvented design

Hello!

You remember my original DIY coffee pot cozy?

The last year has been successfull in terms of nice minimalism hacks.

Not long ago, I came up with the idea of a reinvented DIY coffee pot cozy design which works without the clothespin.

Those of you who had the pleasure the time to watch a woman get dressed get wrapped with cloth which ends up in a kimono, will easily see, where this comes from: from Japan.

Wrapping a woman with cloth, wrapping a coffee pot with cloth ... it's obvious!

        

A woman who wears a kimono somehow has this humble appearance. I guess that's part of the kimono-idea: wrap her up so she can't move freely.
There was never the risk of a freely wandering coffee pot at the Paula Residence, still I appreciate the humble look. This coffee pot is meant to serve us and it serves us well.

Listening to The January Cure

Hello!

tonight I just send you a short update. The January Cure is coming to and end. I am not sure if this was Janel's plan behind all the assignments, but the deep cleansing in several rooms lead straight to serious decluttering processes. The progress I am making is enormous.

 Sorry Yazz/The Only Way is Up, you have served me well, but now it's time for you to go.

 
Right now, while typing this posting, I am listening to old records. They have been sitting in the shelf for decades, I hardly ever listened to them. I am listening to every single record and it seems as if my taste in music has changed over the decades. This project is fun. It entertains us at home.

Now playing: Talking Heads. Speaking Tongues. 1983 (Burning Down the House, Girlfriend is better etc) genial
It is amazing how genius he Talking Heads were. 
After 20 records, this seems to be the first "modern" record in my collection. It sounds so ...  fresh. I am very happy. I think I like the record 10 times more than I liked it back then. David Byrne sounds comforting, such a kind man. Did you know he loves to ride a bike where ever he stays?

Mr Paula thinks this "going through the records" is the best assignment of the whole "Cure". Even though it was no actual assignment. It just happened. I am surprised how good the sound is, compared to the internet radio and MP3 we usually listen to.

So, enough with the talk, here comes the slideshow and you will see the last days have not only been about records.

 Music, my third love right after drawing and photography. (the photos shows just a tiny, daily dose, several more on stock)

 The rose(s) held up really well! This one is 2 weeks old or even older. (another shot that captures the excellent quality the SIGMA DP2 provides, even in relatively low light)

This apron is tiny and accompanied me during my first years in the kitchen, from 3-9 years. I can't let it go, I am going to keep it together with this trio:

Yes, we actually played Star Trek, which included a lot of beaming. The beaming platform was a box whre you pushed buttons and the crew magically disappeared. Lucky children we were.

MAYA Norway. 

This is how we used cut meat at home. Before the electrical knife boarded the kitchen.

 oh the hard disks ... but I am doing fine. Their status has improved lets say at least by 120% since last saturday.

reliable high fidelity. project record player. and a peculiar anti-dust device. 

discerning @apartmenttherapy.com asked for a portrait of my clothes-rail. it looks like this: is:

a simple but very effective clothes rail

 this shelf has served as our out box for YEARS! I am glad I am finally getting the stuff to move out. :-)

The shelf is going to move out, too.

glasses, mugs and lots of stuff sitting in the "out box" (this is a LOT, the spatula in front is actually a HUGE spatula, twice the normal size)

pillow stuffing (pure wool), a bicycle helmet that gives me headaches (yes, I still am the Princess and the Pea), outdated clothes and the suitcase itself, serving as another out box

I hope this entertains you a little. 

More - or hopefully less - to come! :-)

Paula