New Year's wishes

Dear readers,

Christmas Eve was as usual very nice & cozy. A quiet evening with our family and good food .... that's all we need. I foresee that preparations are done the day before so that  on Christmas Eve  I can spend my time with the family instead of in the kitchen .... For the last day of the year we will create the same atmosphere, but it is even still relaxer because we have no guests, although we always provide a beautifully decorated table in an intimate atmosphere.

On these last days of 2014 , I want to thank you all for the lovely comments and compliments that I received about my blog. As last year, once again we've got a lot of new clients through the blog and that alone is worth mentioning here because we are always grateful to be able to meet new people.

I am aware that I should post more, but I always try to make sure to take my time to make the posts and unfortunately I can not always provide the necessary time. Maybe it'll work better in 2015 ....
Anyhow , I want to show you some pictures of Christmas eve. For the decoration of our table this year we've chosen a combination of purple and green tones, which in my opinion was very successful ...
Remains for me to wish you a very nice end of year

and for 2015:
* Take good care for yourself and your loved ones
* Follow all your dreams and wishes
* Embrace changes
* Be thankful for the little things
* Dare and take occasional risks
* Get inspired
* Never give up
* Take care of your body and soul
* Give lots of love and expect nothing in return..

*Enjoy your interior....

Lots of love

Sabine

XXX

See you again in 2015 ....







Saint Lucia, Snow and Sweden

The countdown to Christmas has begun with the first Advent candles now being lit all over the world and none more so than in Sweden where every window is lit with a star or advent candelabra.  So put on your armour of light and fend off the darkness.  This year I was lucky enough to be in Sweden for St. Lucia day, the 13th December.  The roads had candles burning on the central reservations and in the shopping centre were young women dressed in white dresses with red sashes. The lead girl wears a crown of candles as this is also the shortest day of the year and thus it is a festival of light. 

My lovely God-daughter dressed up for me in her Lucia dress and crown of candles. 

St. Lucia is one of my favourite Scandinavian images and this year I hung a painting (by an American artist known as Audrey Eclectic) over my fireplace. If you have seen my home in Homes & Antiques January issue you can spot it.

For two days of my trip I popped up to Kiruna in Sweden (which falls in the Arctic circle) for some snow, and despite their being less snow this year than previously, it did fall to minus 24 degrees and there was no daylight at all.

The lack of daylight made photography very difficult but the weather was more of a hindrance in this respect as you have to wear such heavy special clothing that you can hardly move. 

Kiruna is a mining town and quite industrial, the smoke from the mines chimneys chugs away all day and night (not that you would know the difference).  Unbelievably the whole town is going to be moved in 50 years as they need to mine for the steel and iron underneath it.  The lack of light, and coldness added to the rather film like quality of the place, not so much in a pretty pretty way but more spooky and akin to Fargo.

We did a small amount of walking and between our hotel Camp Ripan above and the town we found some lovely older houses in gorgeous pastel colours. 

this house is empty with windows missing but seems to be undergoing some restoration.

this pale pastel yellow is a favourite colour for the houses 

I like the colour combinations on this house.

pink and yellow offset the Swedish flag on this property

the window lights are so welcoming,  I particularly like the candles on the window ledge.

We had one of these little cabins and to get to the main hotel had to walk down here. 

I had to considerably lighten this picture. It was taken quite early in the day.

And then there was the Ice Hotel. Mmmm a bit of a sore point with us. Due to open two days after our visit it was basically a building site with no signs of being ready. They charged us for a very lame tour and then left us stranded with no food or drink waiting for a bus in sub sub zero temperatures. 

It will take some convincing to get me back there.

In the Ice Hotel reception Rachel gets stuck in to lending a hand.

reindeer skin and antler doors

A corridor which we weren't allowed to go down.

The bar of the hotel is separate this year and in this round dome.

looking down towards the Ice Hotel from the car park

The ice is harvested from a local river and stored like this.

the bar where we didn't have a cocktail in an ice glass

the main hallway

I didn't get any photos of us dog sledding, that was quite an experience, being pulled by 8 huskies through the snowy forest and across a frozen lake. Not for the faint-hearted it was quite a basic way to travel and pretty scary.

As for the Northern Lights, well we did see a glimmer but not the full green illuminations. Strangely everywhere we went people said they had just seen it earlier! We think they were exaggerating.  Heres the thing though, they could start from around 4oclock and go on until late, you would have to sit outdoors away from town lights for many many hours just looking at the sky and in those temperatures you need to be pretty determined.  Perhaps I will try another time. 

Hope you enjoyed my little round-up of photos to join with Audrey Eclectic on her St. Lucia parade of blog posts. 

More photos later in the week of my special Christmas bargain finds from the charity shops. 

Preparing for Christmas

 

The last weeks have been very busy for us, there were a lot of projects to finish and for the next week, there are still a lot of appointments on the schedule .... but meanwhile the Christmas feelings are beginning to come. I look forward to next week: monday the christmastree  will be delivered and we can start decorating .... I already found some ideas  on the internet. Perhaps they also inspire you to realize a wonderful Christmas atmosphere ....

Hope You enjoy....

Lots of love

Sabine

XXX

rustic table setting
source here

 

source here



On the morning of Christmas eve, I need my cup of tea.....
source here



simple door decoration: Always works
source here
 



festive, fragrant & decorative
source here



 

source here

 

dressing up for Christmas eve....
source here



nice and simple table decoration
source here

Must have for Christmas: linnen napkins and silver...
source here



simple oregano wreath
source here


 



The good thing of being a blogger is reading other blogs, doing research and fall in love with gorgeous things other people make around the globe.
For example reading Holly Beckers blog decor8, I saw she posted about these insanely pretty bowls and plates from Suite One Studio. White bowls with gold details make my heart skip a beat, and then those that have paintbrush strokes that look like little paintings just amazing.
I do agree with Holly as she mentions that we have to support small businesses! To contribute to this I buy many of my things from Etsy, mostly handmade items and vintage goods. Many of these sellers are one person -or small businesses, people that started their dream making the things they love. And what is there not to love to own a one of a kind item made with love!
Hope you are all are safe and well and have started your Christmas preparations for the festive days to come. Love

Christmas Candles and Choral music.

Christmas decorating just wouldn't be the same without candles, whether you are a user all year round or just for the darker season, candles are an absolute must for every home to create ambience, coziness and fragrance. Just be sure not to leave them unattended. 

I don't know about you, but over the years I have bought a lot of fragranced candles and most of the time Im bitterly disappointed. They either smell like toilet cleaner or have no smell at all. Finally Ive come across two types which I can thorough and whole heartedly recommend. 

To get you in the spirit why not play this video I made for the Choral group The Mediaeval Baebes who I photographed at their recent London show before they headed off Stateside for a tour. Ive never posted a video on my blog before and for some reason it works fine on the computer but not on the phone, sorry about that.

I discovered DPM Fragrance/Capri Blue  candles through Anthropologie in the UK.  Since smelling Aloha Orchid when I first walked in store, I have become a serial user of these candles.  Firstly their fragrances are amazing and secondly the packaging is fabulous, so beautiful you will reuse it long after the candle has burnt down, often in chunky frosted glass jars and mercury glass containers with lids. With seductive names like "Velvet Moss and Jasmine" they smell every bit as good as it sounds. Below the top candle is from DPM, I love to display candles on glass cake stands as a table centerpiece. 

At DPM/Capri Blue they use the top quality food grade soy which absorbs the fragrance much better than any other type of wax. Its so soft its like perfumed cream and smells so exquisite I would actually wear it as a perfume.  

Soy candles are hand poured using traditional methods and I was interested in the process after reading about it on the DPM website. 

These gorgeous containers can be recycled in many ways. This design is part of their Muse collection.

DPM/Capri Blue are based in Mississippi in the USA and use sustainable and recycled materials where available. 

If these inspire you to have a go at making your own, why not get a kit containing all the essentials you need, these are available at Making The Best a shop in Leighton Buzzard. 

The kit contains, soy candle wax, wax dye, scent, 4 tin containers, thermometer, wick, sustainers and wick pins and instructions.

To melt the wax without a double boiler you need to put one saucepan inside another, its probably best to use old pans for this. The under pan contains water which heats the wax in the smaller pan until it melts, use the thermometer to get the strategic temperature.  The wicks need to be coated in melted wax and the instructions tell you how to do this with the sustainers and greaseproof paper. The wick is fixed in the bottom of the tin container and held straight with wick pins. 

Now melt the candle wax, add colour and scent and pour into your tin or whatever container you choose to present the candle in. 

Leave to set for 24 hours. 

Ive simplified it all here so make sure to read your instructions thoroughly.

And while we are here, I thought Id show you what Ive done with my kitchen cabinets to make them look festive, using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and stencils I changed the colour of the wooden doors in time for Christmas. 

Scented candles are also available to buy ready made from Making The Best and my favourite from them is Nag Champa, like the traditional Indian incense but without the smoke, the smell is strong even when unlit. Because every single candle is hand poured, even the tea-lights, Patricia ensures that they are thoroughly tested before sale to give the best quality product. If they don't make the grade they don't go out for sale. 

Personally I think whether its a ready-made candle or a kit to make your own these are a perfect gift, many of my girlfriends say they appreciate the luxury of expensive bubble bath, soap or candles as they aren't always the first thing you buy for yourself. Hope this suggestion helps. Im off to Sweden for a week, see you all on my return with lots of snowy scenes from Lapland I hope!