Who doesn’t love masking tapes? These days it seems like they’re everywhere and I tried to find a good way to organize my little collection. So last week I built a wooden tape dispenser to hold them and I thought you might like to build one too. This one can hold up to 7 rolls of masking tape – but you can also built a larger one…

What you need
– wood (12 x 28 cm, 12 mm thick / 5 x 11 inches, 0.5 inches thick)
– a rod with 2,5 mm (1 inch), 16 cm long (6.4 inches)
– a rod with 6 mm (0.3 inches), 16 cm long (6.4 inches)
– 6 nails
– wood glue

Tools
– saw
– hammer
– drill

Step 1: Cut the wood in 3 pieces: the bottom and the two side panels.

Step 2: Draw the side panel slots on both side panel and cut.

Step 3: Mark the position for the small rod and drill the holes.

Step 4: Mark the position for the side panels on the bottom and hammer the nails through the bottom into the side panels.

Step 5: Put some glue in the holes and insert the small rod.

Step 6: Put your masking tapes on the larger rod and put in place.

Voila! There you have your own wooden tape dispenser.
If you like, you can also paint it.

On the fleamarket I recently discovered some beautifully patterned books – they all belong to a series called Insel-Bücherei (Island library). I bought a few old ones and Nicki surprised me with some lovely pink, red and purple ones that are still in excellent shape for my birthday.

Yesterday I had a visit from Manuel whose Paperbot workshop I missed and together we spent a nice afternoon turning a couple of these books into file folders.

… and finally – after many many adventures in crocheting, sewing and knitting – I’m in the mood for making file folders again. And I think I never showed you the drawer, since I cleaned it and ordered all my papers several months ago.

It’s been coming back slowly. Last week I picked up tons of cardboard I had cut at Buchbinderei Schäfer. Then Fabienne surprised me with this amazing handmarbled blue paper, when we made sushi together on sunday. And yesterday I happened to walk by Balloni to find some more beautiful paper. And tonight? My fingers are itching again…

Today I was very honored to be invited by Hans-Werner Guth to join him and some more origami enthusiasts from around Cologne to spend an afternoon in the sun, folding modular origami and eating yummie cake. I have never really done origami before and – as always – I picked one of the most difficult models to start with – the one you see on top. Isn’t it amazingly beautiful? I have to ask about the name again.

The folding of the parts was actually pretty easy, but the assembling is really quiet tricky. I got about half of it done – yay. I will try to do the rest at home – will see how that works… And I’m definitely looking forward to the next "Faltnachmittag"…

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