What is European Beautiful?

What is Mod Podge? Where can I get Washi tape? What is a Sharpie? Where is the nearest West Elm? Why is everybody into chevron?

These were but a few questions I had when I started reading about design and DIY. That feels as if it was a million blogs ago.

You see, in my European corner of the universe, a Sharpie was called a permanent marker and Anthropologie was just a field of study. Probably 90% of the blogs I was reading originated in the United States. Their writers were sharing tips about Dollar Store crafts, giveaways open to U.S. Residents only and an obsession with Target that I could neither understand nor relate to.

It seemed that my blog reads were all coming from a magical kingdom at the intersection of New York and San Francisco, with a few streets of Toronto and Chicago thrown in for good measure. The writers in this kingdom were all amazingly talented people, but I wanted something closer to my own heart. Sure, there was some Paris and London in there, but that was about it.

I frantically combed through blogrolls and link parties. I stalked link ups like it was my job. I opened 20 tabs and crashed Mozilla like there was no tomorrow. Alas, it was all in vain.

So I set out to create something that I couldn't find myself. My objective is to discover and showcase European bloggers, crafters and artists.

I want to answer a few questions. What are European crafters creating? What is their creative process? Where do they find inspiration? What preceded their art?

Stick around, let's explore and find out together.

How to make paper snowflakes

Early in our relationship, my partner and I decided to get a Christmas ornament each year. We don't like buying the Christmas ornaments that you find in stores. It seems to me that all the collections available are cheaply made in China. The glitter is more in the box than on the baubles, Santa's eyes are drawn on his forehead and angels have dubious things hanging from their backs, that definitely don't look like wings. We like to buy from small businesses or independent vendors at craft shows or online, but we're also learning how to make Christmas ornaments from scratch. Making a paper snowflake was a simple and fun project done while we were watching TV. I remember doing this paper project when I was in kindergarten, so it really is easy. The most difficult part might be picking the right book to butcher, if you choose to use book pages instead of regular paper. I did, so I picked Jerry Seinfeld's Seinlanguage . Jerry wouldn't mind, and all

Wisdom on: the unfounded fear of being childish

I love collecting quotes. My own thoughts, when they come in the shape of quips of other people's wisdom, seem more fully formed. When I was little, I used to fill notebooks with quotes and pictures that matched them. There was really nothing that I couldn't pair with a picture. For hours, I would sit at my desk and cut and paste (literally, using real scissors and glue) little bits of printed magic. I used magazines, newspapers, chocolate wrappers, packaging and pretty much anything with a cute picture printed on it. Everything that fitted beloved words. I would then get out my quote notebook and find one that matched the mood of the picture. Sometimes, it was the other way around, with the words of wisdom waiting patently at the bottom of a blank page for the colors, shapes and textures of a glossy piece of daydreaming. When I first started this habit, I had never seen a computer. I didn't even know such things existed beyond computer labs. It was the mid-90s and the

Wisdom on: being alive is a grand thing

I love collecting quotes. My own thoughts, when they come in the shape of quips of other people's wisdom, seem more fully formed. I'm hoping to renew my old habit of collecting quotes in a series called Wisdom on: in which I pair quotes that resonate with me with pictures that are inspired by the words. In keeping with the spirit of the blog, I'm trying to feature European crafters and artists. Here's my quote for this week: "I like living. I have sometimes been wildly despairing, acutely miserable, tacked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." Agatha Christie - An Autobiography Nursery art by CassiaBeck Another Wisdom on: the unfounded fear of being childish .

European Beautiful

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