crêpe de chine et macarons

Hello everyone, yesterday, I was lucky enough to be invited to visit the great pop-up store of the label 7 Chic Avenue. This is the gorgeous label of designers Marianne and Jutta. The pop up store is open until this Saturday in the Isestrasse 79 in Hamburg-Eppendorf. If you can't make it, you can purchase their very elegant and feminine creations online. They use some very exquisite fabric such as crêpe de chine. Another highlight of this event was the catering, made by Aurelie Gourmet. Aurélie is well-known in Hamburg for her macarons. You can find them every Saturday at the Marktzeit in Altona (currently on summer break). Yesterday, we didn't just have macarons but also chouquettes - a small choux pastry sprinkled with sugar and cannelés (the sweet speciality from Bordeaux) - and it was delicious - It felt like home for an hour or so. Thank you Aurélie!

Have a nice Friday evening. Talk to you soon

xoxo Elodie

2flowergirls #5 - peonies

Hello dear readers,Today is the big day for the start of #2flowergirls in June with madame love and glomerylane. The flower of the month is the peony and I am very much looking forward to seeing your creations and see which variety you found. There are more the 200 varieties of peonies, from white to purple, from yellow to light pink. Peonies are called pivoines in French and Pfingstrosen in German (Pentecost) as they usually bloom at that time of year and are many people's favorite flowers. No wonder, they just look gorgeous in the garden, in an exuberant bouquet and are a classic for weddings. So let's the peonie's explosion start! Please post a link to your blogpost in the comment field underneath or on Inga's blog and we will post your photos on our peony pinterest board. For those who don't have a blog or don't want to blog about it, you can just post a picture on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #2flowergirls or send us your peonies per email.

I hope you will like my pictures. I tried to show the variety as much as possible and found 6 different ones from 3 different flower shops yesterday, and displayed them in single vases.

Here is also a selection of Inga's photos. I am completely in love with the bloom in front of the mirror. You will see her complete shooting soon on her blog.

Speak to you soon! Your 2 flower girls - Elodie & Inga

Photos: (c) Elodie Love and Inga Lorig

#2flowergirls in May - a review

Good morning! Our #2flowergirls action for June is starting next week on Tuesday. Inga and I announced last week on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that this month's flower will be the peony and we are very excited about it! I think of it as a very photogenic flower that can be styled in many different ways that looks fantastic alone or as a huge bouquet or even as a flower crown. We are very happy about the participation, the enthusiasm around the project, and the wonderful blogposts that have been submitted so far for the ranunculus and the hortensia edition - and I am personally very happy I met Inga through her lovely blog glomerylane and that we are doing this project together.

I made a little collage for you, to show you some of the photos that have been posted on all those beautiful blogs or on Instagram. You can have a look at all the photos on our Pinterest board.

From left to right and from top to bottom: Ashley from the blog Nord & Süd - posted on Instagram: @ashleysued Igor from happy interior blog - posted on Instagram @igorjosif Kathrin from happy home blog

From left to right and from top to bottom: Sandra Wild (without blog) posted on Instagram @41sommersprossen Julia von Junifaden Eva von Emil und die grossen Schwestern

From left to right and from top to bottom: Clara von tastesheriff Katharina von Katharina kocht Sabine von Azur Weiss

From left to right and from top to bottom: Miriam from Miris Jahrbuch Judith from Joelix Susanne von Serendipity made with love

From left to right and from top to bottom: Julia from Junifaden Katharina from Katharina kocht Jule from Jules kleines Freundenhaus

I hope to also see your flowers for the peonies edition in June! Have a nice day and a stressless end of the week - and.... don't forget to buy yourself flowers! Elodie

at the cactus farm

First I thought, I didn't like cacti, and then I read the beautiful blogpost from my friend Inga on her blog glomerylane - and I realised how charming they can be. During my holiday in Spain, I visited Cactus Costa Brava in Begur, a 4.000 m2 plantation. It was just fantastic and I would have brought some back with me, if I wasn't travelling with Ryanair on the way back. Instead, I made a lot of pics, and I am going to share them with you today.Enjoy and speak to you soon! Elodie

Lovely dry petals

Hello!Today I have a little up-cycling post for you. I recycled those lovely delphinium petals from this blue bouquet. I left the flowers a little to long in the vase and they dried in a very pretty way, and I wanted to give them a second life and not throw them straight away. I hope you like them in this little Japanese bowl. Speak to you soon!

Elodie

Wild flowers in Spain #2

Sometimes images speak louder than words. As I promised in yesterday's post, here is my wild flower bouquet from the Costa Brava. I hope you like it!

Speak to you soon - I will be back next with some new ideas for the baby's bedroom.

Take care

Elodie

Wild flowers in Spain #1

Dear all, Those following me on Instagram, know that I just come back from a great holiday on the Costa Brava in Spain. The weather was not great but we had a very relaxing time. One of my highlights were of course the flowers. The variety of wild species, growing on the side of the road is huge! The roads were quite narrow and it was not very easy to park on the side, but Mr. Love and myself organised a little "blogspedition" to collect some flowers. I will show you some of the flowers and plants we found in this post and the bouquet in the next one. I hope you will like them!

Can you imagine how the bouquet will look like? Do you like making bouquets with wild flowers from the forest or just from the garden? I am so frustrated sometimes living in a big city and having to buy flowers...I miss my parent's garden! Have a great day! Elodie

Cat on dog

Hello everyone, 2 weeks ago I received a little package I ordered some time ago on the online shop fab.com. Fab is a members-only website and mobile app that offers curated sales, featuring designers and manufacturers from around the world. You usually have to wait a pretty long time between the order and the delivery, but it is generally worth it. My last order was for my cat Cheddar and I promised on Instagram, that I would post some photos of the little present, so there you go:

The funny scratching dog is from the US company Imperial Cat. They are not on sale anymore on the Fab Website, but you never know, they might come back at some point. Anyway Cheddy loves it! I wish you a great day! Speak to you soon

Elodie

2 flower girls #4 - Hortensia

Hello flower girls (and boys)! #2flowergirls is starting a new round today and we decided to style hortensia this time. I love them and their beautiful colour palette. They look fantastic in a garden or on your dinning table and don't need much work. A good thing to know if you want to keep them a little longer in a vase is that they need a lot of water, so always check that you have enough water in your vase. We are so looking forward to seeing your interpretation of hortensia styling. Please post your contribution under this blogpost and we will post the pictures on our pinterest board. If you want you can check out the ranunculus edition board. If you post some Hortensia on Instagram or Twitter, don't forget to use the hashtag: #2flowergirls.

Here are my #2flowergirls pictures:

Here is a sneak peek of Inga's photos. You can see more on her blog www.glomerylane.com today. I am a big fan of those coulours, aren't you?

Speak to you soon! Elodie

Photos: (c) Elodie Love and Inga Lorig

Blue variation

Hello everyone, I gave a little dinner party last Saturday, and it's always the occasion for me to pimp my flat with some fresh cut flowers. When I was on the market, I bought some blue flowers. I decided not to mix them, but to make three different bouquet and display them on different spots of the flat. Here is the result. I hope you will enjoy it. Which one do you prefer? Myosotis, delphinium or hortensia? Speak to you soon!

xxx Elodie

The nursery project #1 - book & magazine inspiration

Hello! As a lot of you already know, I am expecting a little girl at the end of August! I am so excited about it. That also gives me a great occasion to start a new decoration project - and I would like you to share my thoughts and my decorating journey with you. The nursery will be set in our former bedroom, and my old office/workshop is now our bedroom. You have to have a little bit of imagination if you live in a relatively small space (80 m2). The room is approximately 10 m2, but you don't really need much space for a newborn baby who will sleep in our bedroom to start with anyway. Today I would like to share with you where I find my inspiration offline. That's a question I am asked all the time when talking about the blog or about decorating in general: Where do you find your inspiration? So, here are some answers, some great books I am reading at the moment and the French magazine Milk (which also has texts in English). And what about you? Where do find your inspiration when you want to decorate/redecorate a room? Have you got some tips regarding kid's and baby's rooms?

Talk to you soon, for some more baby inspiration.

xxx

Elodie

1. Decorate workshop by Holly Becker  (the founder of the decor8 blog). This book is like no other decoration book I have read before. It can be used for any decoration project, it is more a guide, a companion than a book - very inspiring! 2. Children's room by Terence Conran (the founder of habitat). A very interesting book with a lot of tips, written by a design guru. 3. & 4. two brilliant books from my favorite publisher Paumes. This small Japanese publisher has some great books about children's rooms and family life in various countries. Most of the texts are unfortunately in Japanese, but the pictures are really inspiring. You can order them online via the online concept store Bodie & fou 5- The French Magazine Milk about children, now has a decoration issue, which I really love, with a lot of home tours and creative ideas. A lot of the texts are in English too.

Still life in pink

Hello everyone,I hope you're having a great bank holiday. I jus had a great lunch in the sun and decided to post some flowers on the blog today. I made this bouquet in different shades of pink in a medicis for the last issue of the great sisterMAGAZINE to illustrate my article about still life photography. By the way, the new edition of sisterMAG is coming out very soon - and it's going to be gorgeous as usual! So stay tuned.

Speak to you very soon!

Elodie

My new love

Hello everyone! Today I want to share my new love with you. Last month I bought myself a new smartphone. After a lot of research, and thinking: iphone 5 or not, etc...I decided to buy the new SAMSUNG GALAXY Note II. The main criteria for me were, the battery (which lasts twice as long as the iphone) the size of the display, to read online-magazines and blogs, and the quality of the camera. I must say I am pretty happy. I am also pretty happy about the Mint Cover.

Like a lot of bloggers, I am a big fan of Instagram. You can follow my stream here.

Here are a couple of photos I took with my new smartphone and just a little bit of Instagram magic:

And what about you? Which smartphone do you use? Are you on Instagram too? If yes I would love to see your stream!

Talk to you soon!

Elodie

My yellow anemones

Hello everyone,I haven't been very active on the blog lately. Soon, I will reveal you why, and I hope I will find more time to write and publish more. Today I want to share some simple and extraordinary flowers at the same time with you. I have always loved anemones. We used to buy some with my mum for my piano teacher who loved them when I was a little girl: the classical red, white and blue mix. The other day I the flower shop, I found some yellow ones! They don't naturally grow that way, they are artificially coloured, which I usually hate, but this time, I love the result! What do you think? I also love how they contrast with the blue grape hyacinths.

The flowers are from the flower shop Küchenblume in Hamburg. The fabric is from heuteschmidt. The vase is from Miss étoile.

Have a wonderful week and speak to you soon!

Elodie

From Switzerland with love #2

Hello there, Lucile is back on the blog today with more Swiss adventures. I am so glad to have such a talented visitor on my blog!  Talk to you soon! Elodie

Hey everyone!

March just ended and I have to say, it’s one of my favourite periods. Once a year, spring just pops up in the middle of winter and says hello. It happens every time in March, just for few days, just for everyone to be surprised and to think again of all the good memories from last summer… Now I’m used to this little joke and I know it’ll pass, it’s not spring yet and the snow and the cold will be back soon… But these few days are so good ! It's a perfect excuse to go out, sit at a terrace, drink a coffee, do nothing and just feel the air and enjoy the sun. I like this little preview, it's helping me to get through this never-ending final part of winter.

So, today I decided to present to you my favourite place from last summer. It’s a café/bar called Zar, located in the Mattenhof area. I like this spot because: 1. it’s like being at home, a small place where people stop by after work and it seems that everyone knows everyone and even if you know none you feel instantly welcome. 2. they serve delicious cocktails. Last summer I used to drink Amaretto Sour (after of course having tried all the different ones) and this winter I have been enjoying Zar, a hot drink that mixes calvados, apple juice, cinnamon syrup and a slice of orange. Mmmmh !

This month too, I was glad to recieve my grandma’s Christmas gift. A real Eames coat-hanger! It’s said it was designed for children but I don't care, I love the flashy colours.

Breakfast of the day : yoghurt, fried egg, crunchy choco muesli and black coffee. Last week, it was snowing again and it’s not warm outside yet, but I look forward to the real spring and summer!

See you next month!

xxx.

Lucile V.

Vase story - my little whale from Japan

Hello everyone, Inga from Glomerylane and I have been really overwhelmed by the success of our first participative edition of #2flowergirls. You can see the links to the participating blogs under Inga's blogpost and under mine. Thank you so much for all those flowers, and for the positive and encouraging feedback. It made us all warm inside - and we definitely need that at the moment in Germany. You can check out the result on the March Pinterest board of #2flowergirls.

Today I decided to blog not directly about flowers, but about vases - my other love! When I travel, I always try to bring a little vase back with me in my suitcase that reminds me of the great places I visited. I bought this one on our honeymoon in Japan in 2008. I found it at a gorgeous shop for handcrafted products in Kyoto. It always makes me smile when I see it. It combines my love for flowers and for Japanese design with my obsession about animals in decoration.

What about you, have you got a favourite vase? What do you bring back with you as a souvenir, when travelling?

I wish you a wonderful week!

Elodie

2 flower girls #3

Hello everyone, Today is the third edition of #2flowergirls with Glomerylane and it is a very exciting edition for us, as we are slowly becoming more than 2 flower girls as everyone can participate. It is so beautiful to see how many different things you can do with the same flowers. So inspiring. If you want to see the other bouquets, you can check out our #2flowergirls Pinterest board or follow the links in the comment fields. Maybe spring will come eventually!

Here are my photos and those from my lovely partner in crime Inga:

I am so in love with Inga's colours. I love this light pink on a grey background. For my bouquet I decided to go round, and make a compact bouquet that reminds me of a wedding bouquet.

This time, we selected the same flowers, in different colours, but we both had the same idea to do a picture with a candlelight holder. Mine comes from the lovely designer frau sieben based in Hamburg.

We are looking forward to discovering your flowers! Please link your blogpost under this post or send us your photos by email to this address: 2flowergirls@web.de and we will post them on our pinterest board.

I wish you a fantastic week - and don't forget to buy some flowers for your home!

xxx

Elodie

three little bouquets

Hello everyone,When I found those gorgeous old roses on Saturday, I couldn't resist and had to bring them home with you and show them to you on the blog today.

As usual, instead of making a huge bouquet, without rearranging the flowers, I chose to make three little bouquets in various glasses or candle holders I brought back with me when I was travelling or visiting friends.

When trying to make a small bouquet, there is no point in trying to keep all the leaves. So DON'T BE AFRAID TO CUT THEM AND CUT THE STEMS!

Next week Inga and myself will be announcing the flowers for the March edition of the #2flowergirls project, and you can be part of it and style those flowers as well and share the photos with us. I wish you a very good week and don't forget to buy some flowers!

xxx

Elodie

From Switzerland with love #1

Hello everyone,today, I will not be talking to you. I am leaving a little of my blog space to my dear French friend Lucile - she will be visiting madame love once a month, with her lovely stories.  It is Lucile's first blogpost today, so I am very excited for her, but if you want to see  and read more about her, she has a very beautiful photo project with a graphic designer called melocoton et boule d'or.  Elodie

Hi! I'm Lucile. Elodie and I met in 2007, in Berlin, where I studied for a semester. We both loved good food, lovely cafés, sewing, design, flowers and home sweet home, so we became friends quickly…Last November, I visited Elodie in Hamburg and then we’ve decided that I could be a guest on her blog… It makes me really happy, thank you again Elodie !I'm now living in Bern, in Switzerland. So every month I’ll make a Swiss post and I’ve decided to share with you every time a lovely café, a walk in the street and some pics from my apartment and my breakfast (my favourite meal !). I hope you will like it… Today is my first post and I'm a little scared. So, not too many words and plenty of photos…

« Apfelgold » is a sweet café, so quiet and gourmand. Always full of light, with books everywhere and the cakes are so good ! I like to order a "café gourmand", this is an espresso served with some surprise cakes. Never the same and always a lovely surprise…

Winter in Bern is full of snow ! This is not surprising, but I grew up in the South of France, so, for me, there is always something magical about snow. I’m like a child… It’s freezing, but I love it !

Breakfast of the day : some yoghurt, an egg, homemade pear compote, some crunchy choco muesli and a cup of tea (not in the picture). It helps me to get out of bed ! :) That’s all for today… See you next month ! xxx Lucile V.

Still life photography - my article in SisterMAG

Hello everyone, Two days ago, the new sisterMAG - a journal for the digital lady - came out in English and German. The topic of the issue is Trends and Utopia. I wrote an article for the issue about the trend of still life photography with an exclusive interview of the Australian photographer Kevin Best about still life photography in general and also about his new book Still Life Photography. I was so happy about the result and the beautiful layout and so honored to be part of the great publication. The quality of the articles in sisterMAG is remarkable and I especially love the way the heart of the two sisters Thea and Toni beats for the digital world. SisterMAG is definitely the future of publication, it is a trend, but will not stay an utopia. You can read the magazine online via the issuu desktop version but also offline and your smartphone or tablet by downloading the sisterMAG app for IOS or  of the Android App. With these apps, you can enjoy reading your sisterMAG in the tube or in the train on your mobile device.

Here is the complete issue in English:

and in German:

and here is my article:

I hope you like the article! I am looking forward to your feedback! Speak to you soon xxx Elodie