This is the graffitti in my neighborhood....

It's amazing how easy it is to find inspiration out on the streets. I've always been a fan of graffitti. I don't mean tags, which are annoying and sometimes gang related (though I suspect a lot of them here are just done by bored teenagers.) Mural, like the kind done in San Francisco by muralistas are amazing, but they are too official to be graffitti and too amazingly done. But graffitti art, simple, sometimes impressive, I love. It is the work of an anonymous artist who is viewed by so many, often ignored and who never receive credit for what they have done. There is so much cool graffitti on my street- Mittenwalder Strasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg 61. Kreuzberg 61 is like the San Francisco neighborhoods The Mission and Noe Valley got together and had a love child. It's got a bit of the organic food loving, yuppie side like Noe Valley but is also filled with hipsters and is Multi-Kulti like the Mission (only with Arabs and Turks, not Mexicans.) It's also a bit on the pricey side for Berlin, though anyone who lives in New York, San Francisco or London would scoff at the word "pricey." For example, my husband and I live in a beautiful three bedroom flat with a huge living room, parquet floors and vaulted ceilings and we only pay 900 Euros a month (and again, for Berlin this is a bit on the expensive side!) Anyway, I love this area and I love my street and I love some of the graffitti art that is on it. I took pictures yesterday when I went out for a walk of some of my favorite stuff, like Pete the Frog King, Edwin the shy ghost and Ralf the angry worm (names I, of course, thought up myself!) Take a look at the slide show underneath to see the different works. I'm planning on doing something with them for my etsy shop, schaufenster (http://www.schaufenster.etsy.com). What exactly I don't know yet. Maybe magnets or a book? We'll see where inspiration guides me!

Re-vamping Vintage

I really like that my blog is often also personal, with little tidbits about my life. I've read the blogs from other Etsy users and they seem to usually be rather impersonal and business orientated, like "I made this really great new necklace. It has rose quartz and a skeleton carved out of my grandma's bone. What a great piece of work! Come take a look at graverobber.etsy.com!" We already have our product description, it seems like blogs should give us more than that. Ok, that was my soap box for this evening. Things are going pretty good here in Berlin. I went out to the Turkish market on Maybachufer today to buy some cloth. We are making a cool purse thing tomorrow and sewing class and I chose purple and gray jersey to make it with. I can't wait to get a sewing machine. Not much money in my bank account right now, but my birthday is on Saturday, and my mom said she would contribute some money towards one, so if I can find a good deal I will get one at the beginning of next week. I'm not really that ambitious about making my own clothes yet. It seems like a lot of work not to mention pricey and I'm wondering whether I'd have the patience. I know I'll make some bags and things and I'm going to make a green dress as my final "project" for the class (that way I will know if I like it or not...") But what I really want to do, what I've dreamed about for years, is re-vamping vintage. I love vintage clothes, cloth and patterns from the 60s and 70s. But there is a problem. Occasionally you can find a piece; a dress, a skirt, a sweater; that is cool to wear but often they are just simply too dated. The neckline is too high, the color too pointy, the skirt too long. Maybe some people can get away with it, but if I were to wear stuff like that I would feel like I were going to a Brady Bunch themed costume party! But if you just made some adjustments, changed hemlines and necklines, added stuff, etc. you could create really amazing pieces, old stuff meets new inspiration. Anyway, I'll be updating how things are going along. Right now I'm already doing something with a vintage floral dress I bought on ebay earlier this year. Here it is:

It is ok really, just somewhat boring and a tad too grandma. I've had it in a bag of things I want to give away for a few months, but recently I pulled it out and was inspired. The biggest problem with the dress is that it lacks pep. For example, the buttons are simply dull- dark purple, cheap.

Luckily, the most amazing shop in the world, Knopf Paul (Button Paul)is right around the corner from me. They sell only buttons there, thousands upon thousands of modern and vintage buttons made of glass, plastic, metal, bone wood....I took the dress there for inspiration and wound up coming home with these.

Cute little vintage babies, are they not? Anyway, that was a few days ago and I've been busy with other things and have not yet attached them. When I do I will be sure to have a photo session with the results. Ok, off to bed.....
p.s. I love these photographs. They totally remind me of spending childhood days in Arizona!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Schaufenster.etsy.com

The woman's curse.....

God was really cruel when he thought up PMS. Women already have to bleed once a month from 12 to 50s and put up with the pain and, let's be honest, bloating and gas that go along with it. They have to give birth to children which, by the way, hurts like a fucking bitch. And, as if that wasn't enough they also have PMS....I don't always have PMS that bad, but since getting my period again (you don't get it the first six months if you breast feed)it has been especially bad. One week before aunt flo comes for a visit I'm sure my life is falling apart. This time it was guilt and worrying about money. My husband is the bread winner these days (though I still get money from the German government until April. 800 Euros a month Elterngeld (parent money)which all parents get the first year of their child's life, 68% of your income)and I can tell it is wearing him out a little. He is a freelance lawyer and has good times and bad times when it comes to getting clients. Our plan was that I get to stay home, raise our daughter (and baby x when he or she comes) do my writing and my art(and hopefully start getting some recognition), teach and do proofreading a little for extra cash. But life is damn expensive, even here in Berlin, the cheapest of cheap cities. My father was always bitching and moaning about money. He earned a really good salary but lived in the ultra expensive Bay Area with four kids and wasn't very good at handling his finances (though this last one he would never admit to, but it's true. He's simply bad with money but thinks he's some stock market genius!) "If it weren't for you kids I'd be a rich man," I heard over and over growing up. Because of this I think I am especially sensitive to financial strain and stress. Parents and future parents who might read this, DO NOT EVER SAY TO YOUR CHILDREN WHAT MY FATHER SAID TO US!!! You can't imagine the guilt and shame it creates. You feel guilty for simply having needs. Not good! Anyway, the PMS blew it all out of proportion and I got really pissed off at my hubby. Feeling better now, except my baby is finally getting teeth and is crabby! She is so cute though. Here she is:

On a lighter note, I made a really cute bracelet on Etsy that I am proud of. Vintage flower buttons and a brass chain. I would like to find this one a home, but I will definitely make one for myself. There is the coolest button store one street over called Knopf Paul (button paul). I have also added some photographs to my site, including the main one to my blog here Schaufensterbabe. Only up one day and it's already been looked at 42 times. Alright!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Schaufenster.etsy.com

Feeling better...

So I'm feeling much better now though it was another sleepless night. I also had a dream yesterday afternoon (during a nap with Mia)that disturbed me. In the dream I put some animals (pets I had at various times in my life)down in the basement while I worked on re-doing the kitchen. I told my dog Buster that it would only be for a little while. I just didn't have time for them during the renovations therefore they had to stay in the down there. I got distracted, kept working on the kitchen and neglected bringing up my pets. Suddenly I realized that they must have died. I went down to the basement with Jasper and knew Buster was gone. He (Jasper)came out with a bag of small animals who were all dead. My rat Hope who I had as a teenager was there. I felt terrible and didn't even want to open it but then I did and saw that the snake Janet Jackson was still alive (I never had a snake named Janet Jackson, but I did have one named Jorge!) She must be starving I thought. I had to get her something to eat. I would take her to the pet store and get some advice on what to feed her. But then I realized I didn't have a license for her and I could get in big trouble (case of dream logic there.) She looked like a gopher snake so I figured pinkie mice would be good but I wasn't sure how many. If I got her four and she only ate two then more animals would die (they were too young for me to take care of)and I didn't want that. I woke up soon afterwards and felt creeped out and a little depressed. Maybe it doesn't sound like much of a nightmare, but the thing is, it is a variation on a theme I often dream about: neglecting animals for some reason or another. But this was the first time they ever died in a dream. Normally I remember them and somehow they are miraculously alive (bunnies in a cage I forgot to feed for six months, etc.) The fact that this time it was too late to rescue them was somehow really disturbing....
On a lighter note, I made some cool stuff last night for Etsy. Going back on a jewelry kick which was cool after making all the collages for a while. I also got some photos printed which I will have blown up and add later. I love my eclectic mix! Sewing class also went well. I made a cute little bag and can't wait until I have a little extra cash to buy a sewing machine. It's so much fun and I've learned that if you go extra slow and measure everything anally it goes really well even for a novice klutz like me! Anyway, here is a slideshow of the jewelry I made plus some better pictures of older stuff.

Tired but inspired....

Man, I am so tired right now. It is actually a lot of work trying to get my work out there and viewed. I spent some time on the Etsy Forums today to try and find like minded people. I always kill threads though. Still, I did find a cool dress someone else made. Check it out:

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Schaufenster.etsy.com

Birds. Just my thing. It would look hideous on me though. A few of my items got favorited and I am up to 30 hearts. No sales though. I just uploaded some pictures onto Flickr but didn't have the patience to add tags and what not. I would love to update my weekend, what's been going on (a lot) my nightmare about the tsunami, but I am just too damn tired to do much of anything. Besides, no one is probably reading this blog anyway. It is just my little virtual diary and it will just have to wait until I spill out all my secrets. One thing that isn't a secret: I am totally obsessed with collages. Here are the most recent ones I made. Cool!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Schaufenster.etsy.com

Cool, creative weekend...

Well, I had great weekend (with plenty of sleep I might add.) I would love to write all about it here but I'm just too damn tired. Here is a slide show with some of the collages I made over the weekend. Enjoy! Be back later.

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