Some very good friends got married this summer. I made them a photoalbum for their wedding photos. It made me think, that I really should take some photos with an analog camera again. Or at least have some of my many digital photos printed. And maybe make an album for myself…

When did you make your last photoalbum?

(This is a copy of my original german post inviting everyone to our little etsy craft picnic /party thingy in Cologne. Looking forward to see you there!)

Nach einigem fußballbedingten Location-Hinundher haben wir (Nicki, Kathrin, Britta & ich) nun endlich einen offiziellen Plan für den Selber-Machen-Tag am Freitag (18.06.2010) in Köln:

Ab 18 Uhr treffen wir uns auf der Wiese im Stadtgarten – ihr erkennt uns an Fähnchengirlanden & Lampions. Wer Lust hat, kann Stempel basteln – wir bringen alles mit was man dazu braucht (und freuen uns über einen kleinen Unkostenbeitrag und freuen uns sehr, dass Etsy die Stempel-Aktion sponsort!). Ihr könnt aber auch gerne zum Stricken, Häkeln oder einfach nur zum Quatschen & Kennenlernen vorbei kommen!

Und wenn jeder noch eine Kleinigkeit zum Essen & Trinken mitbringt, steht einem perfekten DIY-Picknik eigentlich nichts mehr im Wege.
Wir freuen uns!

Just as R.S.V.P. is a must visit for paperlovers, Frau Tulpe is the place for fabric lovers in Berlin (and Hamburg). They have the most amazing assortment of fabrics – especially sweet pattern prints for kids and a huge selection of japanese Kokka fabrics. And then there’s this "heaven" of ribbons and tape dangling down from the ceiling. Quiet dangerous. Though I think I was so irritated by too much choice, that in the end I bought a lot less than I expected…

Frau Tulpe
Veteranenstraße 19
10119 Berlin-Mitte

Mo-Fr 10.00-20.00 Uhr
Sa 12.00-18.00 Uhr
On the Map

www.frautulpe.de

Walking through Kreuzberg I found this kids book with lovely illustrations by Caroly Reich in a thrift store. And I knew immediately what I wanted to use it for…

They are the first things I made since I got back from Berlin. And just like the little kid who must have owned the book, I also used to draw and write on everything around me when I was little…

Wow. So I’m back from Berlin. And after a week has passed now, everything is slowly getting back to normal. The most amazing thing about Berlin was meeting all these wonderful people. Mostly people I’ve only "known" virtually before, from reading their blogs or tweets, communicating through blog comments, mails or virtual labs – and sometimes not even that.

But also one very special old friend from school who I hadn’t seen for almost 10 years – and her sweet little newborn daughter. There we sat on swinging chairs in the sun, talking, eating and drinking. Catching up.
Has it really been that long?

We take the tube and just half an hour later I sit in Etsy’s new Berlin office – chatting with Benedikta, Matt and Marie. Thinking that it’s been about 4 years since I registered my first account on etsy and discovered this whole new craft world from there – sometimes visiting the virtual labs – but never really expecting to meet anyone in person. And now they’re in Berlin, putting together a handmade office, getting to know the german community – and I sooo can’t wait for etsy.com to finally "speak" german.

Wednesday the re:publica starts. We oversleep. We meet friends from Cologne and have yummie red wine for lunch on crocheted pillow in a cozy italian restaurant.

On thursday we watch Bre talking and later demonstrating the MakerBot. Wow, would someone buy me one? And maybe a laser cutter too?

Later at the beautiful Café Fleury I enjoy a lovely "Kaffeekränzchen" with Nadja a.k.a. Smil, who makes really cool screenprinted t-shirts and bags (Ahoikatze rocks! Oh and don’t miss her screenprinting-workshop at the Etsy Lab) and Sabrina of Small Caps, who designs and prints the most beautiful letterpress cards and journals. I wish I had had more time…

Friday I’m very very happy that Tatiana a.k.a. Fräulein Herz is back in town and between two intersting re:publica talks we sit in her lovely new shop talking and eating yummie cookies surrounded by wonderful bags, pillows and ribbons.

Somewhere in between I visit Frau Tulpe, discover some other lovely things and places (I might tell you about later), take tons of photos, we move from one hostel to another and suddenly we’re on a train back home…

Overwhelmed with impressions. And a bit sorry about some people I didn’t meet – and about being too shy to say Hi to some others…

On my second day in Berlin I went to this lovely little shop called R.S.V.P. – a french abbreviation (Répondez s’il vous plaît) often used in formal invitations to ask for someones reply. I’ve had their website and webshop bookmarked for quite a while and was very happy to finally pay them a short visit.

The shop is really sweet and tiny, with beautiful wooden shelfs filled with the most delightful paper products: kraft paper journals, letterpress cards, labels and stickers as well as pens – and even a small but fine selection of masking tapes. Definitely a must-see-place for any paperloving Berlin visitor.

R.S.V.P. – Papier in Mitte
Mulackstrasse 14
10119 Berlin-Mitte

Mo-Sa 12.00-19.00 Uhr
On the Map

www.rsvp-berlin.de

I’m in the middle of packing and off to Berlin tomorrow – looking forward to meet some old friends, listen to some interesting talks and meet some people at the re:publica conference, take tons of photos and eat lots of yummie food.

I finally ordered some cards to take with me to Berlin but looks like they won’t arrive until monday, so I made some myself last night – well, at least they’re handmade now.

Unfortuanetly I missed the great Etsy Party by just a few days, but who knows, maybe I’ll be able to stop by and at least say Hi. I’m also hoping to be able to visit Fräulein Herz when she gets back to her shop on the 16th – doesn’t it look lovely? And there are some more wonderful things on my list: like visiting Paul Knopf and Frau Tulpe, having a coffee at Café Fleury and a piece of cake at Barcomis. And maybe some Berlin paper-shopping at RSVP, Leporello and Schwesterherz.

And maybe you have some more tipps for me? Any wonderful Papeterie I shouldn’t miss? Or a fleamarket? I’d love to hear from you.

Last week I finally made it to the Balloni store here in Cologne for the first time. As the name suggests they carry tons of balloons and other party decorations. But as I discovered they also have a huge selection of beautiful wrapping papers, walls covered with ribbons in every color and design you can imagine, as well as tables filled with wonderful paper goods.

I bought a sheet of this beautiful red Hiawatha paper that you can see in the second photo (btw a new addition to the good life series from NineteenSeventyThree, which I blogged about previously) and am thinking about using it to make a large photoalbum. The wooden toy crocodile also caught my eye. It’s handmade by a local designer and I’ll have to try and find out the name again.

BALLONI
Ehrenfeldgürtel 88-94
50823 Köln
On the Map

www.balloni.de

Oh my – long time, no post. Part of the reason is that I just haven’t done any bookbinding so far since the new year started. I’ve been trying so many new crafts and it’s been exciting and fun to just try some new things: I crocheted a sunburst flower granny square blanket and created a photo-tutorial that I posted on my not-so-paper-related personal blog. The instructions are german, but the photos are quiet detailed and there’s also a link to the english instructions.

Besides that, I’ve started taking a weekly sewing class where I made a sweet little dress and learned how to shorten jeans. On the web I found this wonderful tutorial for sewing owls that also kept me busy several nights.

But slowly I’m starting to miss my papers, especially after yesterdays visit to Balloni – a quiet impressive shop here in Cologne. You can find a sneakpeak on flickr and some more photos hopefully here on the blog soon. Have a wonderful weekend!

Paperworld is a huge fair for paper, stationery, crafts and office supplies in Frankfurt – and a must-see for any paperlover. I feel like I’m still recovering from all the wonderful impressions…

My personal highlights: Beautiful journals and new paper designs by Jackie for Bindewerk, finally a catalogue from Carta Pura (Munich) so I can order via E-Mail and a secret tip from Brevi Manu on where we’ll soon be able to find their amazing journals, tapes and notepads in Cologne!
I’ll keep you posted!