German blogger feature: Muellerin Art

Müllerin Art is another German blogger Crafting it Forward in 2011, but I wanted to give this blog it's own special feature. Full of original photos of the author's lovely artwork, I'm going to go ahead and say Müllerin Art is right up there with another one of my favorites: Genine's Art Blog. I'm currently in slash mode when it comes to my blogroll (and my overflowing Google Reader inbox), but the Müllerin Art blog is actually getting added because it's that good.

So of course I was thrilled when Michaela Müller agreed to be interviewed for my Living Colors series...in German! Yes, I made the leap! It seemed to be the most appropriate way to go about this interview, so Michaela was gracious enough to correct some German grammar errors in my questions and I've offered to translate her answers in English to allow for a bilingual post. I have to say it was a little nerve-wracking to dive into contacting somebody randomly auf Deutsch, but I figured if I didn't try I'd never know, right? (seems to be a running theme as an American living abroad). I'm so glad it worked out and that I'm able to introduce you to Michaela Müller. Welcome Michaela!

1. Your blog is called 'Müllerin Art'. What does 'Müllerin Art' mean, anyhow? Dein Blog heißt 'Müllerin Art'. Was heißt 'Müllerin Art' eigentlich?

This is tricky for English speakers because it's a play on words. 'Müllerin Art' is the name of a special recipe for how to prepare Forelle fish...just like the millers used to make it, so 'Miller's Style' would be the best translation. Of course, in German, 'art' means 'style', but in English it means something creative...so when somebody has such a boring last name as Müller (Miller), a double meaning like this is great!

Es ist eigentlich eine Bezeichnug für ein besonderes Rezept, einen Fisch (Forelle) zu zubereiten.... so wie die Müllerin es macht...nach Art der Müllerin... in englisch hat es was mit Kunst zu tun, und wenn man schon so einen langweiligen Nachnamen hat... solche doppelten Bedeutungen mag ich sehr!

2. Tell us a little more about the role creativity plays in your life (official work, hobby, etc). Kannst du erzählen, was Kreativtät für dich bedeutet (im Alltag, auf der Arbeit, als Hobby, usw.)

I'm a freelance graphic designer and for the past 15 years I've been creating logos, brochures, fliers, corporate design concepts and sometimes illustration projects. Aside from my business projects, I'm always creating and designing in everything I do: gifts, birthday cards, and little decor items; I love wrapping up gifts, sewing bags, drawing and making collages in my sketchbooks and on trips, and lots more.

Ich bin freiberufliche Graphik-Designerin und gestalte seit 15 Jahren freiberuflich Logos, Corporate Design, Broschüren, Flyer und manchmal auch Illustrationen. Aber unabhängig von Aufträgen gestalte ich ständig immer und überall, ich entwerfe Geschenke, Geburtstagskarten und Dekokram, packe leidenschaftlich gerne Geschenke ein, zeichne und collagiere in Skizzenbüchern und auf Reisen, nähe Taschen und vieles mehr.

3. What made you decide to make creativity your profession? Warum hast du dich entschieden in der Kreativ-Welt zu arbeiten?

It was never a question for me. Even as a child I was always gluing, drawing, coloring, desiging, and making little books.

Etwas anderes kam für mich nie in Frage. Schon als Kind habe ich immer gestaltet, Büchlein gebastelt, gezeichnet, geklebt und gemalt.
Da ich aber immer konkrete Aufgaben brauche, war die Entscheidung für ein Graphik-Design-Studium eindeutig.

4. What tools and mediums do you usually work with? What do you like most about them? Mit welchen Werkzeuge und Medien arbeitest du? Was ist besonderes attraktiv an ihnen?

Sketchbooks are my foundation for my work. Everything is possible in my sketchbook: fleeting ideas find a home; ideas are developed; shapes are tested; colors combined; reminders, found items, samples and thoughts are added in; drawn items leave trails that create starting points for the next page, and so on. It's ideas, and not final versions, that go into the sketchbook; in this way lots of things grow out of it.

Für meine freie Arbeit ist das Skizzenheft die Grundlage. Im Skizzenheft ist alles möglich, Flüchtiges findet seinen Platz, Ideen werden fixiert, Formen ausgetestet, Farben kombiniert, Erinnerungen, Fundstücke, Muster und Gedanken eingeklebt, zeichnerische Strukturen hinterlassen Spuren und geben den Startpunkt für die nächste Seite. Nichts muss sein, aber vieles kann daraus wachsen.

5. Do you ever find yourself in a creative rut or bored with what you've been working on? If so, what do you do to get inspired? Wie schaffst du es, dich zu inspirieren, wenn du das Gefühl hast, in einen Trott zu verfallen oder von deinen Projekten gelangweilt zu sein?

I'm always coming up with new ideas and stuff, so it's rarely boring. Inspiration comes from everywhere, not just all the pretty blogs that I often look at.

Mich reizen immer wieder neue Ideen und Dinge, so dass es selten langweilig wird. Inspirationen lauern überall, nicht nur in den vielen schönen Blogs, die ich mir zu oft anschaue.

6. Have there been any defining moments in your creative journey? Gab es besondere Momente in deiner kreativen Karriere?

Perhaps it was after graduating from Gymnasium/high school. I received my rejection notice from a school in Düsseldorf and I then realized that the only choice left was the one I really wanted: I would pursue graphic design studies. Six months later I was accepted into a school in Münster, no problem.

Vielleicht war es damals nach dem Abitur die erste Absage auf meine Bewerbung bei der Fachhochschule in Düsseldorf, die mir klarmachte, dass ich keine Alternative habe, dass ich Graphik-Design machen will und nichts anderes. Ein halbes Jahr später hat es dann ohne Probleme in Münster geklappt.

7. What is most difficult about your work? Was ist das Schwierigste an deiner Arbeit?

The hardest thing for me is to work long and hard on a project and then suddenly come up with new and different ideas that make me want to change everything.

Ich finde es am Schwierigsten lange und konsequent an einem Projekt zu arbeiten, zu schnell kommen wieder andere und neue Ideen, die umgesetzt werden wollen.

8. How would you encourage a young artist exploring your field? Wie würdest du einen jungen Künstler/in in deinem Bereich fördern?

Stick with it, do your own thing, do lots of drawing, turn of the Computer (I should do this too!)

Dabeibleiben, das eigene Ding machen, ganz viel zeichen, den Computer mal ausschalten (sollte ich auch!)

Thanks so much for sharing with us Michaela! If you like the images you see here, you should check out her blog!

Like this interview? Read other artist interviews in the Living Colors series.

Favorite moments remembered: Oh Pioneer!

Tumblr blogs have always seemed a little too hit-and-run for me to really take to any, but I have to say I stumbled upon Oh Pioneer! via a Pinterest pin and...I fell in and went back to a dusty corner of my life full of memories and folky music.

Some of the things in this corner include: happy summers as a camper and counselor in the North Carolina mountains; canoeing and camping in the Adirondacks; bluegrass concerts; an outhouse, water pump, canoe and a summer shack in northern Ontario; having a college crush swing me around the Barn in Montreat, camping in New Hampshire; throwing rocks in rivers; the cry of a mountain lion in the Sierras; illegal campfires in the woods behind my college;

being part of an underground Dead Poet's Society; a memorable Vigilantes of Love concert; playing the mouth harp as 'part of the school band' so I could attend high school football games for free; paddling along the shores of Lake Champlain; smelling like woodsmoke and not wanting to wash my clothes; countless concerts at Passim's; working in experiential ed; indian paintbrush from Montana flattened in my travel journal -- all slices of an American pie that you just can't bake here in Germany.

By the way, Oh Pioneer! has two great, great playlists you can download here and here to listen to, even here in Germany.

What about you? What favorite memories are stacked up in the corners of your mind?

DIY ideas on Pinterest

So I've totally gotten sucked into the Pinterest world! So many great ideas and such an easy way to catalog them (picture is captured along with an active link to the page you pinned it from)!

It's been interesting to note trends in what I pin...clearly I have some color fetishes like my yellow board:

I'm also noticing trends in what clothes I pin...I could actually prioritize future purchases (looks like I really want a white tunic and more red clothing):

Patterns, patterns, patterns! I love them! I've been pinning a ton of chevron things...maybe I should try a little chevron project..maybe like Monica's rug?

But my "DIY Ideas" board is the biggest! Here are a few of the things I'm 'pinning' to try at a later date:

1. Patchwork wallpaper door

2. Jersey knit pom poms
3. "Paper" tin can planters
4. Hanging paper trees
5. Hearts on a stick

Do you "pin", online or otherwise? Do you notice trends in your image collections? I have another board where I wanted to put all red and blue images, but as I look at it, I notice that it's really heavy on blue. While you could say it has to do with the amount of blue vs. red images out there, I tend to think the bottom line is that my eye likes blue more than red. When asked, "What's your favorite color?", I've always said "It's a tie between blue and red"...but it looks like I really like blue best!

Are you on Pinterest? Follow me! Need an invite? Let me know!

Pillow project: I'm Stuck!

Well, that pretty much sums up where I am with my pillow saga. I did my practice pillow, I have inspiration from here and here, and I'm seriously looking at this idea as well....but I can't commit! Have you ever had this problem??

I want to feature the larger print with the flowers, but nothing seems to be 'right'. I also have a huge editing project that's due today as well as a 10 minute talk to give auf Deutsch tomorrow, so I think my brain is just fried right now. Maybe next week will be my slow week??

Also, a special hello and welcome to the crazy amount of new visitors that are popping over from a reference to me on German blog Liebesbotschaft! Unfortunately there's not a lot of German here for you, but there will be a German/English artist interview coming up soon!

** Liebe Grüße und herzliche Willkommen an die neue Besucher von Liebesbotschaft's Post! Es gibt fast gar kein Deutsch hier für euch, aber ein Deutsch/Englisch Interview kommt gleich! (mit viel bessere Deutsch, ha!) **

Since I'm so stuck, any ideas on the pillow project would be welcome....hint hint =)

Child's Drawstring Backpack

I know two little Irish girls who are about to join their 'mummy' on a crazy long trip to the other hemisphere with side trips to places like Abu Dhabi (anybody else remember that song?). When I went over to say farewell I took along two little drawstring backpacks filled with treats. There's something reassuring about having your own little bag of stuff when you travel, especially when it's just your size.

I grabbed the deets for this project over on Prudent Baby, but found their pattern a tad small. I ended up using their measurements for the 3yr old's bag, but decided to increase the 5yr old's bag to 16" x 32" with straps that were 1.5 yds long each. By the way, making these only took about 30 minutes per bag!

The verdict? Prudent Baby's measurements made a bag that just barely fits an average-sized three year old wearing a T-shirt (sweater/coat wouldn't work). My bigger version was great for the 5yr old and the straps were even a tad too long, but perfect if she had a sweater or coat on. Play around and see what works for you; it's easy to mess with since the length is just double the width. I also just used packaged bias tape sewn shut to make the straps, easy peasy. PB's tute has great photos and explanations, so no need to repeat all that here!

The girls were thrilled with what they've dubbed their 'holiday bags' and even asked their mother to "mind my holiday bag" when they went to play on the other side of their living room. I think we have a winner!

Wrapping paper storage

I got this idea from Ines over on the Frau Heuberg blog. Total genius. Almost every time you buy drinks in Germany (from juice to water to alcohol) you also receive a crate like this. This is handy for bringing drinks home and then later returning the bottles to the recycling center at the store.

Or, if you're like me, it's handy to keep your tubes of wrapping paper organized. My husband reminded me we had paid a deposit for the crate, but we agreed it was cheaper to keep the crate then pay for some fancy container to do the same job. Since I keep my hodgepodge of (gosh, I should purge some of that) paper in the pantry, I suppose it's OK if it doesn't look all dolled up like this one.

What's your favorite re-purposing trick to organize?

Oh Scarlet! Etsy Treasury

Making a treasury is addicting...user beware! So of course I had to make one for Valentine's Day called "Oh Scarlet!":

Red - 1 Large Tissue Pa... pomtastic $4.00	1919 Valentine Postcard... fullcirclestud... $3.00	Pincushion Ring - Red V... madeinlowell $	All You Need Is Love - ... artstudio54 $25.00
Bird on Branch Silhouet... kattuna $3.50	LOTUS Flower Modern Clu... Upstyle $75.00	Silver Love Valentine N... amyfine $30.00	xoxo Embellishment love... InspireLovely $10.00
Grey Rosita (FREE MATCH... RachelleD $29.95	Art Deco Art - Charlott... matouenpeluche $6.00	DeBella Swarovski stret... cissdena $18.00	PRINT - 10 mil besos RE... thebigharumph $20.00
ORIGINAL Vintage DICTIO... RococcoCo $11.00	Decorative Pillow Cover... cottagepixie $20.00	Gnome and Heart set greenmountain $5.50	Paper Heart Art - Scarl... sugaredsweet $45.00

What do you usually do for the big red day?

Projects in the pipeline

Color inspiration from Creature Comforts, here and here.
Honestly, Ez finds the. best. color combos. EVER.

Sorry to be all cryptic, but it's going to take a while for this project to come to fruition. Working on it's just too fun and interesting to keep the project a total secret!

However, I can tell you that I've got a new Living Colors post coming up! I'm excited about this one (well, I'm excited about all of them, but whatever) not only because of the artwork, but also because it's going to be a bilingual post, which I never thought I would be able to do!

And the pillow saga continues. We're about to start semester break this week, so once I return all these student assignments and get this week behind me there will be a whole lot more time available to pour into creative ventures (um, and replying to emails), phew!

What about you? Any exciting projects in your pipeline?

Patchwork Inspirtation

I love the pillows at Story by Maynes/Germon and Tara Badcock (discovered thanks to Holly's feature). So now I'm basically wishing I had rectangle pillows for the couch instead of square ones. Oh well.

I do like their patchwork style, I'm just not sure it would look as nice on a square pillow, know what I mean?

3 German Bloggers Craft it Forward

Well it's been pretty exciting to see Allison's idea take off and see who's been signing up to Craft it Forward 2011! I'm honestly pretty shocked to see how it's thriving so much (I can tell b/c of incoming links on my blog stats)! The other big surprise to me is that it seems to be mostly Germans who are doing this! This is pretty cool because I've found myself reading through blogs auf Deutsch and flexing my Deutsch skillz!

Can you read German? If not, grab a Google Translator button and check out these 3 German-language craft blogs (and their DaWanda shops) I found via the Craft it Forward 2011 net that might interest you:

Und noch mal auf Deutsch...ha! ich versuche!... Hier sind 3 Deutsche kreativ-blogs die ich gefunden (durch das Craft-it-Forward 2011 Aktion) haben...vielleicht findet ihr auch was interessantes? ...pssst!...die allen haben auch DaWanda Laden!

Kleine Fluchten and her shop on DaWanda

Apfelbäckchen Magazin and her shop on DaWanda

Eva's Werk and her shop on DaWanda

What about you? Do you read any of these? How do you feel about reading blogs via a translator?

My 3 Favorite Valentine's Day Freebies

You all know I love a good freebie, so of course I had to post something for Valentine's Day! However, there really are oodles of fantastic, free ideas flying around out there, so I figured I'd just post my three favorites and let some other roundups speak for themselves.

Evie S. (have you seen her lovely blog?!) has one, two, three free & lovely .pdf valentines to download. Generous!

Kind over Matter's printable CD-sleeve in mix-tape style is super sweet! I used to love making and receiving mix tapes, so I find this especially cute.

Eighteen25's Valentine subway art (in 2 colorways) is awesome. It just is. Way to go them! *I happened to be in my local copy shop the other day and discovered it would cost me less than 2 Euro for them to print this file if I brought it in on a flash drive. Shocking!

Of course, we still have our little mini-banners from last year hanging in the kitchen... ha!

PS- it's not too late to print out a free calendar for 2011!