Lovely Sunset

Hello everyone,

a couple of days ago there was yet another lovely sunset here in Kassel. Let me show you some pictures.

Apart form that, I am not so happy to report that I am once again having to deal with a tonsillitis. Which means a lot of reading, a lot of Netflix and Amazon Prime lately and some yummy antibiotics ;) But I am recovering slowly but steadily.

Enjoying some "open fire" while reading in the evening :)

Yours
Uta

Rainbows in Autumn

Hello everyone,

most of you probably know how fond I am of Autumn. It is definitely my most favourite season :)

And as usual, I rang in Autumn on the 1st of September this year by changing the decor in my little apartment.

Not long after that, Mother Nature greeted us with a wonderful rainbow.

Yours
Uta

A lil' Show & Tell [Video]

Hello everyone,

I posted this video over on YouTube a little while ago. As the topic might suggest, it's a little Show & Tell - enjoy :)

Yours
Uta

Impressive Evening Sky above Kassel

Hello everyone,

on August 9th we had a little thunder storm here in Kassel that lead to some impressive cloud formation on the sky in the early evening hours. Of course I took a few pictures which I'd like to share with you:

Yours
Uta

Zodiac Signs & Constellations & Free Printables & Changes to the Blog

Hello everyone,

a little while ago I had the great idea to decorate my bedroom walls with the constellations of the zodiac signs. Well, I didn't expect that DIY project to take that long but in the end it took me about 8 hours in total to finish it.

First I looked for some useful pictures online using the google image search. Afterwards I transferred these onto paper using Gimp and Microsoft Word. I'll spare you the details here.

The most annoying part was to figure out where to place which constellation. I ended up using some yarn, a triangle, a straightedge and some crepe tape to do that.

Having all the constellations in place I added about 180 fluorescent star shaped stickers to the wall.

And I am more than happy with the result :)

What do you think? :)

And as I'm totally into zodiac signs and star constellations lately I thought it would be awesome to create some zodiac sign printables for you. Click on the picture below to download your copy :)

Soooooo last but not least, there are some changes I have in mind for my blog or better to say for my blogging schedule. Currently, I am trying to post something every two weeks. But to be honest, at the moment it's kinda hard for me to find the time, the topics and the energy to do so. So what I am planning to do is trying to post monthly for a little while. One post per month. I am not quite sure yet on which day will be posting day but I'll figure that one out soon I guess.

Alright, that's it for today.

Happy Craftin'!

Yours
Uta

My favorite crafting tools

Hello everyone,

today I'd like to talk about my most favorite crafting tools. There are a couple I use almost all the time and can't live without anymore :)

Cutting Board
About a year or so ago I bought a cheap cutting board from one of the local discounters. Don't wanna miss it anymore. It makes crafting with paper so much easier and faster. And it also comes in handy when you're creating your own planner inserts like I do.

Adjustable Hole Punch
I learned to love my adjustable hole punch the day I started to create and print inserts for my Filofax planner. It cost me about 11€ if I remember correctly and I thought it quite pricey at first but over the last couple of months I figured it's worth the price.

Japanese Screw Punch
I tried several multi punch tools and failed using them before I came across a Japanese screw punch while watching a Martha Stewart video on YouTube. I am not exaggerating when I say this changed my crafting game a lot. But to be honest, the first screw punch I bought, it was a pretty cheap one, was garbage at best. The second, which cost a bit more, was way better and is still in use.

Precision Craft Tool
This set includes six different cutter blades, one embosser and one awl. I bought it ages ago at Tchibo. Again, one of those tools that absolutely comes in handy when crafting with paper.

Triangle
Whenever I make an envelope, a notebook or other creations of such sort, my triangle is my best friend. This is a habit that probably built from my mum's influence and I definitely can't blame her for that :)

What are your favorite crafting tools? Anything you can recommend?

Thanks for stopping by :)

Yours
Uta

Dashboards, May Inserts & more Happy Mail

Hello everyone,

I know I'm a bit late to the party this week, so sorry for that :)

let me start today's blog post by showing you the monthly dividers of my Filofax planner that I've created not too long ago. It took me little while to decide on the right patterns for each months but now I'm happy with how it turned out :)

I even labeled all the tabs

January till June

July till December

Something else I would love to share with you is the lovely Happy Mail that arrived about two weeks ago from Algeria :) My amazing friend Sarra sent me so many lovely goodies:

I added one of the flowers to my April planner spread right away.

And now some impressions from Berlin city trip from last week. I took these photos from the TV tower shortly before sunset. Such an amazing view!

And last but not least, the May Filofax inserts are available :) You guys know the drill, hop over the Planner Inserts page and download your copy for free!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Yours

ta

Christmas Presents, an AliExpress Order & Tea Time

Hello everyone,

with Christmas 2017 being over for more than a month now I am finally able to share this Christmas present I hooked for my friend Kristin :)
I found this lovely Fox Head Scarf thingie over at pinterest. Unfortunately, the link to the pattern doesn't seem to work any longer. Luckily, I downloaded the patter before it was taken offline. So in case you're looking for the pattern but can't find it, let me know, I've got a copy stored somewhere on my hard drive and am willing to email it to you :)

This project was definitely fun to crochet. It took me quite a while but it was all worth it.
I used a 100% cotton yarn for it by the way. To be honest, I prefer using cotton yarns for all of my crochet projects lately.

Apart from self-made things I also love to give local products as presents. For example coffee from the two local roasters Seegert and Die Kaffeerösterin.
Lately, I also discovered wonderful products made from Kassel City honey like honey liqueur, honey vinegar or even mead. And an all-time favorite are the mug cakes from Tüpfelchen.

What things do you like to give as presents? Maybe also some products from your area?

Alright, change of subject. My AliExpress Order arrived last week! I love ordering planner and crafting supplies at AliExpress. You can get the cutest things and the prices are pretty low. And then it's always wonderful to finally receive your order which is always a surprise - because it takes quite a while to be shipped to you and in the meantime you normally forget what you've order ;)

Okay, here's what I got:

A transparent A5 planner for some memory keeping
A felt A5 planner for my spritual art project
A set of rings for filofax inserts archiving

Lots and loooooots of stickers :)

And in case you're interested in one of these goodies as well, here's a link to the AliExpress shop: JIANWU Shop

And last but not least, I had my friend Carina over for tea last weekend. Carina prefers drinking fruit tea so I brewed us a pot of my all-time favourite fruit infusion Roasted Almonds by TeeGschwendner. It's a seasonal tea that is only available around Christmas. Last year I bought an extra large package of it so that I can drink it all year around.

We had IKEA almond cake and Dongles donuts for tea :)

Well, that's it for today, see you soon :)

Yours
Uta

Things are about to change next year - but just a tiny little bit

Hello everyone,

today I am not sharing anything crafty with you. Instead I will give you an idea of how I plan to proceed with this little blog of mine throughout 2018.

Christmas is near, so 2017 is slowly but steadily coming to an end. That's usually the time when people start thinking about those famous resolutions for the new year, about what they will do differently once the calendar marks the 1st of January. But before I get started on my plans for the upcoming year, let me wish all of you

*** Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays ***

The titel of this post already indicates small changes Paper, Wool & Yarn will quite possibly undergo. Well, yes. I will change a few things. But not much.

A truly magical friend of mine - her name is Dena, go check out her blog and YouTube channel - does have this wonderful tradition. She chooses a word for every year as part of her intentions.
And I decided that for 2018 I will do so as well. And my word will be *Grounding*.

Grounding can mean quite a lot so let's focus on what it means in context of my social media presence. And that is quite simple actually:
I am working on a more clear social media concept.

I do currently have accounts on Blogger (quite obviously), Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter. Quite frankly, that's too much for me. With a regular day job that keeps me busy 40+ hours per week and this blog being an unpaid hobby, I simply don't have the time to keep all of those up to date and neatly organized. So down-sizing is the key.

Before I go into detail, let me just quickly assure you that I'll stick to Blogger so Paper, Wool & Yarn is save :)

But Instagram, Google+ and Twitter will have to go. That being said, I won't delete those accounts, I'll just not longer post there. My Instagram account has already been emptied out quite a while ago, Google+ and Twitter are about to follow soon. At the beginning of this month I even disconnected my G+ account from my Blogger account and returned to my old Blogger profile.
My Pinterest account will stay as my private account only. I won't be sharing anything Paper, Wool & Yarn related there any longer and I'll remove the link to it in my sidebar.

That leaves us with Blogger and YouTube. Those two will stay with Blogger being my main focus. But I'll make tiny changes to my posting schedule.
New blog posts will be published every two weeks. This way I am trying to make sure I am putting out good quality content plus I also hope to be able to keep up blogging throughout the whole year without those nasty week-long breaks due to missing ideas and crafting projects. In addition to that I'll try to record and upload at least one YouTube video per month.

Apart from that I decided to give the woo woo stuff a separate home. That means there will be a second blog for everything spiritual at some point in time. But that baby is still in development and not ready for go live yet.

Alright, that's it for today - and for 2017 I'm afraid as I'll be taking the rest of the year off :)

If you have any questions regarding my new social media concept, please leave a comment below.

See you all in 2018!!!

Yours
Uta

Someone's busy

Hello everyone,

is it just me or is time passing by like extremely fast at the moment? I am already counting the days until Christmas which is approaching quickly and there's still so much to do before the end of the year. So many points on my to-do list, so little time...

I have to confess, I sort of fell off the planning wagon a little while ago and it took me weeks to get back on track. In fact I just found back to my old planner girl self last Sunday. And it all began with a simple brain dump. I just got so overwhelmed with all the things that required my attention. Writing it all down seemed like the best option. Afterwards I started sorting my notes. I created little to-do entries for the upcoming days, wrote down shopping lists and so on. It felt good. It still feels good.

my daily habit tracker for the next two weeks

Last Thursday we had a short power outage in my district. I just came home from work and started doing the laundry when the lights began to flicker and went out. For about 30 minutes we were without electricity. First I thought that just my apartment was affected. But after meeting a few neighbours outdoors I figured the whole neighbourhood was without light and therefore without electricity. Well, it didn't last long so it wasn't such a biggy. But things like that don't happen that often where I live. Luckily I was well equipped with candles (I knew buying candles in bulk at IKEA would pay off one day!) and flash lights.

Magical evening sky last Sunday

Luckily besides all the household chores and such I also found some time to be creative. I am currently in the process of recreating planner spreads I used in my 2017 Leuchtturm planner for my 2018 Filofax planner. Oh and I am thinking about sharing them with you when they're finished. Downloadable pdf files I thought would be convenient.

Well, that's it for today. Unfortunately, not so many crafty thingies, I know, I'm sorry. Next week I will give you a sneak peak of the planner spreads mentioned. I am not sure yet when I'll make the pdf files available. But stay tuned, I'll keep you posted.

Yours
Uta

Still on the move

Hello everyone,

so this will be once again about me moving, so sorry ;)

Before I actually started packing together my belongings, I looked for tips and tricks online on how to make moving easier in some way. While doing so I came across a moving newsletter by IKEA for IKEA family members. This newsletter includes a coupon for a starter package to pick up in the store. The starter package includes a couple of coupons as well as some labels for moving boxes.

IKEA labels & DIY labels for kitchen and office 

Those labels are adorable but unfortunately there aren't enough for all my belongings. I therefore simply scanned them and made more by printing them on simple sticker paper. This way I also added another label to the collection that wasn't there before which is a label for my office.

New DIY labels in use

As you are reading this, I am taking some much needed rest from breathing in wall paint and being up all day long for quite a few days. Well, rest maybe isn't the correct word. I will probably spent most of the day filling some more moving boxes.

Moving boxes lined up in my living room and ready to be filled

I spent the last days painting the walls of my new apartment with great support by my mother. In the meantime my father installed some lights and took care of some cables. Piece by piece my new place is coming together.
I am expecting a huge furniture delivery to arrive tomorrow which will be followed by a few more busy days setting everything up. And of course most of the boxes still have to be brought to my new place so there's still quite a lot to take care of.

Daily morning ritual: Brewing several pots of tea for the day

Well, I am definitely looking forward to when it's all done and I am finally settled into my new apartment :)

Yours
Uta

Moving forward...

Hello friends,

I am still quite busy with moving. As a matter of fact, I have not yet arrived in my new apartment. There are still some walls to paint and rooms to furnish. And let's not talk about all the paperwork that still needs to be filed and the necessary visits to authority.

Especially for the furnishing part, pinterest proofed to be quite helpful. I have created several boards - one for each room - which I fill with whatever strikes my eye. Slowly but steadily, I am settling with a certain style and color pattern per room.

my pins for the living room and dining area

Apart from that my planner is currently my everything. It's filled with several tables and to-do lists where I am constantly ticking of tasks but also seem to constantly add new ones at the same pace. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel :)

Now let me share with you some impressions of my still unrenovated new apartment:

Until next week, my friends - enjoy the lovely Autumn weather in the meantime :)

Yours
Uta

When tonsils and sinuses team up...

Hello everyone,

I don't really have a DIY project to share with you today. So I thought I should share my excuse for that instead :)

Tea-time!
Herbal Tea from TeeGschwendner

Some of you might remember that last year at the beginning of December I got knocked out by a pretty bad tonsillitis which sort of ruined all of my Christmas crafting plannes. Well, the tonsillitis came about a week ago. Not as bad as last year, but this time it brought along a friend called sinus infection. Even one of those two without the other can be annoying but as a team they are pretty nasty, I tell you.

A new crochet project - counting rows...

So for about ten days I've been taking Roxi 150 antibiotics every morning and every evening plus Sinupret drops (don't ask, I just can't handle pills) three times per day. My throat started to get better pretty soon but my sinuses had a party for over a week. I am still amazed by the amount of snot they can produce on a single day....well, sorry, too much information, I guess.

When you're moving in about two to three weeks but already
sold almost all of your furniture :) I call it indoor glamping!

Okaaaay, so what did I do during all that time? Well, not that much. I wasn't allowed to do anything exhausting by doctor's order. And when you're as sick as I was, pretty much everything is exhausting - even the few steps to the mailbox and back can feel like a 5k.
So I mostly stuck to activities that can be indulged in while sitting or even lying. I started a crochet Christmas present for a friend, I spent a lot of time online searching for inspiration for my new apartment's interior, I sold some of my old furniture via ebay ads and I drank a lot of tea. Oh, and I also binge watched Harry Potter and Downton Abbey which allows me to successfully tick off one point from my Autumn Bucket List :)

Alright my friends, I hope to be back with some crafty content soon.

Yours
Uta

Autumn Bucket List 2017

Hello everyone,

it's that time of the year again, my favorite season, it's Autumn :) Well, not officially yet, official start would be September 22nd. But I declared it Autumn on the 1st of September so for me it's Autumn!

Like in the years before, I created a Autumn Bucket List which I am presenting you today:

As you can see, I wrote it in my planner this year, right next to the September spread to be exact. This way I have everything in one place.

What have you planned for this year's Autumn?

Yours
Uta

Happy Mail from Algérie!!

Hello lovely readers,

today I am sharing with you this gorgeous happy mail my friend Sarra from Algérie sent me!

And I highly recommend you visit Sarra's YouTube channel :)

Until next week, my friends...

Yours
Uta

Final Notes on Camp Reset #TRGCampReset

Hi everyone,

as promised last week, here's my last blog post about Camp Reset!

Let's start with the rest of the Listers Gotta List cards:

The first challenge of week four was all about Memory Keeping. We were asked to print out some of the photos we took throughout the past weeks of Camp Reset and create a memory page in our journals. Here's how mine turned out:

The second challenge was to finish one of our WIPs. I chose to finish two projects. One I can show you today (a couple of different cotton pads), the second will be a present and therefore will be kept a secret for now :)

Alright, that's it!

See you all again next week!

Yours
Uta

A Scavenger Hunt #TRGCampReset

Hello everyone,

one of the Camp Reset challenges for the current week is a Scavenger Hunt which I completed on Sunday morning walking through my favorite park here in Kassel, the Botanical Garden.

Here's what I found along the way:

1) Picnic	2) Blue
3) Pests	4) Trees
5) Water	6) Leaf
7) Footprint	8) Shade
9) Lovely	10) Rock
11) Birds	12) Yellow
13) So Cute	14) Path
15) Perfect	16) Furry
17) Clouds	18) My Shoes
19) Wings	20) Flowers
21) Bright	22) Selfie
23) Grass Blade	24) Weather
25) Branch	26) What I See
27) My Gear	28) Mindful Moment
29) Above Me

Have a wonderful day!

Yours
Uta