Bloggy Botox: a new look

This blog is a work in progress, twisting and changing over time, like me. So this past week, in relation to my class, I've been learning how to use the Photoshop Elements program on my computer. I'll actually need to have a working knowledge of PSE for a unique work project I have coming up later this year, so the timing was perfect.


It's fun. Some things are ridiculously simple (like these new labels), and others had me hitting pause every three seconds on tutorial videos! Take the new header, for example. I'm not looooving it, but I like it. I think I'll punch it up later on; it feels like it's missing something. One element was 'cut out' of a photo of my recent collage, and I think it's not a very clean cut. Feel free to offer up some constructive criticism!
I've also added an 'about me' page and a page dedicated to tutorials. The Living Colors page is still a mystery, but I'm looking forward to filling that page up in the future! More on that later.
Finally, I've added a page just for the blogroll. It will be a little more organized and user-friendly than this crazy long list I've got going! I still need to finish some things (blogroll!), and tweak a few things, but I think I'm on my way to something less like a dumping ground, and more like a place where we can comfortably kick back.

What do you think? Love it, hate it, find it just 'meh'?
Would you change anything?

Soggy inspiration

On Valentine's Day we discovered more than 10 soaking wet boxes up in our attic. Long story short, only boxes containing my husband's favorite childhood books and old schoolbooks were among the damaged items. Now every square inch of free floor space is covered with books drying. We run around flipping them over, trying to flatten their covers, etc. While it's sad, it's also fun to see some of the books out again. Hopefully we'll one day have a place to store them properly, however now we're scared to put anything back up in the attic....


Some old Latin schoolbooks, and the story of Peter Rabbit, or Peter Hase (hah-zuh), as he's called in German. Even better, instead of his siblings being called Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, we have Flopsi, Mopsi, and Wollschwanz (literally 'wool tail'). Hee! Peter Hase and Wollschwanz hopping down the bunny trail! Just makes me smile!

More old Latin schoolbooks, some of my pretty Valentine's ranunculus bouquet, and a vintage Tin-Tin book, or Tim and Struppi as it's known in German. Struppi, is Snowy, Tin-Tin's little white dog. If you've never heard of Tin-Tin, you're missing out! Find them and buy them for the children in your life, especially the little boys!

What were some of your favorite children's books or authors?
I used to love Enid Blyton books!

3 Cozy Ways to Counter Cabin Fever

It's snowing again here in Germany and, from what I hear, we're not the only ones dealing with cabin fever. So, I thought it would be fun to share a few of the non-work things I've been doing to make life indoors a little more pleasant.

1) Prepping for Valentine's Day. This free printable Valentine's banner from Whisker Graphics (they have a cute Etsy shop, btw) makes for sweet and budget decor and is easy to do if you have a color printer and some way to string them together. I like ours in the kitchen.


I just used a needle with red thread, things I already had on hand. If you have one of those mini hole-punchers you're golden!


2) Lent starts next week and, although we'll be doing only a partial fast, we won't be eating tons of extra treats during this time, so I'm getting it out of my system now by baking some mini brownie bites. Shoot, I guess you could also use these for some sort of Valentine's treat if you want! My efforts of being all Martha Stewart-y didn't really fly...maybe you'll have a better idea. Looks like I'll have to pull on my boots and buy some puder zucker (powdered sugar) if I want to make real frosting.


My favorite fudgy brownie recipe calls for things I always have on hand as well, so no need to slip and slide my way to the grocery store. You know you can freeze butter, right? This way I always have enough. Also, you only need plain cocoa powder to make these, so no need to chop chocolate!


Oh, um, you might want to butter AND flour the cups...a third of mine just did not want to come out as anything other than a pile of crumbs. Whoops!


3) In the spirit of 'whistle while you work', and as a way to combat the chilly weather, I've been cranking up summery Beach Boys music. One wintry road trip my husband and I listened to the Beach Boys for over 17hrs straight. I know, I know! But we all have our weaknesses, right?

image via

A lot of online music sites don't work if your ISP shows as outside of the US, but this site has been working for me so far...

What are YOU doing to fight cabin fever?

On Assignment: a collage

I haven't made a collage since high school, so one of the latest assignments from my BYW class has been a bit of a throw-back. It was fun snipping, clipping, and gluing again! Our goal was to create something that reflected where our blog currently stood and where we wanted to take it.


I mean, as much as it felt kind of grade-school to do this, it was actually a good experience; to think abstractly and, in a way, more objectively, about where this hobby of mine is going was constructive. It was also fun playing with German words and phrases...makes me want to go back to my German magnetic poetry on the fridge as a way to practice the language more!

* You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them. *


"Rosen, Rosen, Rosen -sie blühen überall auf der Welt"
-- "Roses, roses, roses - they bloom all over the world"

"Eine Rose darf so blühen wie sie will ..."
-- "a rose should bloom however it wants"


"Zuhause" -- "home" "Willkommen" -- "welcome"


"Es ist Zeit, die Welt zu beleben."
-- "It is time to revive/inspire the world."


"Zuhase" -- "home"

For more details and thoughts on the pictures,
check them out over on Flickr.

I have some fun ideas for this blog - taking creativity to previously unexplored areas, etc. This has definitely been a hobby for me, and I'm looking forward to trying out some new things!

Have you ever done anything like this?
Anything you'd like to see on this blog?