I’m back! All relaaaxed and super tanned! Well. All relaaaxed and also a little tanned. Tanning doesn’t seem to be my thing really. It’s either Michael Jackson, or BURN! (But the burn does turn into a tan eventually, so that’s kind of the same thing!) (Kind of. ) I did however manage to relax! Which is a good thing, because that is kind of the whole point of going on a holiday. To lie down and – well, to nothing really. To lie down and nothing! Which is simply fantastic, it releases stress, makes you stuff your face with ice cream and gets your thoughts out of that tangled mess you’ve created at home and at work over the past few months… Now while I did manage to sort through some of the mess in my head and smooth out some of those wrinkles which my mom says I’m imagining, ironically, I did also manage to create some new tangles. So let me just take a moment to acknowledge all those entanglements guiding me through my life at the moment: 1) My hair. One simple twisted and tangled furry ball of messiness. It definitely experienced the true powers of the sun, the water, the wind and it looks like it too. But it still kind of smells like sea salt. Which is pretty awesome. And probably means that it’s time for a proper shower. 2) The embroidery thread I used for my latest project and I decided not to cut, but leave as one long strand because I thought it might save me time. Which it did. But the shoes also look all kinds of crazy on the inside now. But I’m confident no one will make me take off my shoes to show them. 3) Disney’s Tangled. For the win. Definitely going to be watching that tonight. (Frying pans… who knew, right?) So now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me get not-so-straight-anymore to the actual point of this blog post. (Which is essentially all about number 2). When I was a little girl my mom would regularly get us plain white canvas shoes from the craft store and us kids would go nuts and - tastefully - decorate them with gem stones, glitter, felt pens and pasta. Or whatever else we could find. So when I found these ones at Primark for 3€ a pair, I knew I had to get them. In fact, I bought three, because I feared they might run out… Which they have not yet done. (Not sure what to do with the other two either, so if you have any ideas, do let me know!) Now, I didn’t actually buy these with the beach in mind, but boy was I glad to have brought them along on my trip to California! How do these not scream ‘Let the summer commence’?! I firmly believe that you can easily pull off the beach look with these little white canvas shoes! Pair them with a white-and-navy stripy T-shirt, a pair of jeans with the hems rolled up, throw on some cool shades and you are good to go! And boy, was I good to go! Our trips to the beach were definitely the highlight of our vacation, so roughly 80% of the photos I took are of water, waves, sand and water. Which is cool! No two waves are the same! It also means that I just had to take some time out of our not-so-busy schedule for a mini-photoshoot and capture these newly enhanced shoes by the ocean – so pretty! I definitely want to share some more photos of the trip on the blog too, but at this point I’m just a little overwhelmed. It was a an absolutely amazing trip (Isn’t it sad how quickly we fall back into our daily routines though?!), I have created some great memories and am incredibly grateful to be living in a time in which I can visually hold on to these memories so easily. But there are just too many bloody photos! How do I choose?? I’ll have to figure that one out. Until then, enjoy these few snaps of the beautiful Californian coast! And here’s how to make the embroidered shoes: Trace your pattern / guidelines onto the canvas. Then, thread a long piece of embroidery thread (mine was 6 strands thick) onto a rather thick needle that will easily go through the thickness of your canvas shoe, tie a knot on one end and start stitching. Now, I am not a stitching expert. In fact, this might actually be the first embroidery project I’ve every finished, so let me tell you, it really is not very difficult! So be brave and give it a try! There is no particular order in which to stitch the elements, so I simply started on one end and worked myself to the other, adding flower petals using a daisystitch and adding to each flower a little French knot in the center. Originally, I wanted to add little leaves around the flower heads, but opted against them eventually and made little decorative French knots instead. At first glance, my mom actually thought they were little beads, which would be really cool too (if you want to give that a try instead)! If you wanted to be really neat, you could snip off the thread after finishing off each flower, but I was much too lazy (as mentioned earlier) and decided to work with one thread per color instead. Definitely a time-saver! Switch out the shoe laces with white leather chord and you’re ready for a picnic by the beach! WHAT YOU’LL NEED: - canvas shoes in your size - embroidery thread, 4 colors - thick needle - scissors - pencil - white leather chord (optional) EMBROIDERY TECHNIQUES USED: Daisy Stitch French Knot MUSIC PARINGS: Caro Emerald, Tangled Up Mandy Moore, Disney’s Tangled, Healing Incantation