I think this incredible wreath puts my ever-evolving wreath to shame!  Isn’t it stunning? It is made by the very talented Claire from fellow fellow, she has posted a step by step guide on how to make it, and I think if you haven’t already attempted to make your own holiday wreath, this would be the perfect DIY project for the coming weekend…

Click here for Claire’s full instructions. Found via frankie, of course, who are always in the know…

xx

Each year my good friend Leslie (aka Swarm) visits the Design Academy Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week, and while she’s there she takes photos of some of her favourite creations/ideas/designs on display and emails them to me. This one came through my inbox the other day with just these words “Make your own wallpaper from wildflowers and a hammer”.

Love. It.

Created by design student Elena Pereira, her idea stems from the notion that flowers are used to express emotion as well as the strive for perfection:

“Life withers, nothing ever stays the same, why then should we cultivate perfection? The living space is a reflection of the daily struggle with life’s demands.”

Here is a little film of her making the wallpaper, and you can visit Elena’s website to see more of her work.

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Photo courtesy of Leslie Oschmann

101 woonideeën is a Dutch interior magazine filled with lots of DIY ideas and home inspiration. In the current October issue they wrote a little piece about me and Amsterdam: Made by Hand in their woonnieuws section. Thank you 101 woonideeën!  They also have a blog (in Dutch), you can check it out right here.

This past month, I’ve been glued to BBC 2 every Wednesday night, blissfully absorbed in Alys Fowler’s world as shown in The Edible Garden. Each episode, Alys demonstrates through polyculture how she grows various fruit, vegetables and edible flowers in her small city back garden, with the aim to not only avoid shop-bought fruit and vegetables so she and her husband can live off their home-grown produce but also create a beautiful, inspiring garden. The misfortunes and mistakes are not edited, and her style is perfectly imperfect. In tonight’s episode, she planted strawberries, raspberries and blueberries; picked apples to make delicious apple rings; concocted a lip-smacking fruit infused vodka with friends; made gorgeous hapa-zome fabric lid covers for jam pots; and introduced a friend who lives in Bristol and forages for plums and berries in her local environment. Last week she focused on root vegetables, the week before, salads – each episode packed with extras.

While I have no soil patches on-shore or on-deck of my little boat home, I’m completely re-inspired to pot up some edibles again. I love walking passed the on-shore gardens belonging to the houseboats (also love spotting the adorable newcomers) along the Amstel, they never cease to inspire me as most of them are filled with wild flowers, tulips and untamed bushes. There is one that even has chickens.

Also, I’ve been reading up a lot lately on suburban foraging (a couple of episodes ago, Alys made dandelion fritters from foraged dandelions and I’d love to try it!) but really don’t know enough about northern hemisphere wild foods, nor the protocol for foraging here in The Netherlands. Plus, I have no idea where to go. I would love to have the courage to forage but I think it would take a series of workshops and guided tours before I got out there myself.

Anyway, Alys Fowler– wonderfully inspiring, just as much as Ray. Even though you can’t replay the episodes on bbc iplayer unless you’re in the UK, it’s worth reading the episode details and even better, buy Alys’ book. I haven’t got it myself but I’m sure it’s awesome.

xx

PS I just remembered this photo of me in the garden in vancouver island, rather fitting for this post…

I am absolutely loving dear amy’s “made with love” diy column on design*sponge. A few weeks ago Amy launched her column with a fabulous home project of framing fern leaves…

…and today, Amy’s post is about how to make a flower press from two old planks of wood. Ingenious…

I will absolutely be archiving these fab ideas for a free rainy day. Click here to have a peek at Amy’s other “made with love” posts so far. Thanks for the inspiration Amy and Grace! Oh, and I also read on Amy’s blog that she works with Sarah as Saipua – that place is filled with talented individuals.