Innholdsfortegnelse for 8th issue 2020 i Jeanne d'Arc Living English Edition

When we reach that time of the year when we start preparing our Christmas edition of the magazine, I always LOOK FORWARD like a young child for the months to follow until I feel that I’m "allowed" to start decorating our own home. It really IS the coziest time of the year and the creative ideas just keep coming. I’m often inspired by all the wonderful articles that we get to do in cooperation with creative people, and I’m looking forward to showing them all to you. Right now, we also look back at the past year. A year that’s been a strange one in many ways – also for us here at the editorial office. Nothing’s been like it usually is, but still, we’ve tried to stick to a…

Cakes and confectionary belong to Christmas so we’d like to offer you some of our favorite recipes here at the editorial office. CHOCOLATE/NOUGAT PIECES 10.5 oz (300 g) nougat, 10.5 oz (300 g) dark chocolate, 2.5 oz (75 g) almonds, 3.5 oz (100 g) salted peanuts, cardamon Finely chop the almonds and melt half of the chocolate. You can do this in the microwave by melting it for 20 seconds at a time at maximum level, then stirring, and then doing another 20 seconds. You can also use a water bath. Mix finely chopped almonds and chocolate, and add cardamon. Pour the chocolate mixture into a square tin, approx. 6 x 7.9 inches (15 x 20 cm), which is covered with greaseproof paper. Place the mixture in the fridge for…

We’re visiting Alexandra Eriksson who lives in the middle of the town of Jönköping in Sweden in a two-room apartment with a size of 646 sq ft (60 sqm). There’s no white and powder-like snow on the day when we arrive in Jönköping but that’s no problem at all when you’re going to visit Alexandra’s beautiful, white apartment. It’s full of so many shades of white and lots of details and materials, and together, they create a sense of peace but also a feeling of curiosity. Christmas and new year are just around the corner, and Alexandra’s apartment is nicely furnished to welcome guests and celebrate the festive seasons. The discreet Christmas decoration items have been carefully placed in groups or as still lifes. Finding some of these things has…

Of course, we’d also like to show you how we lay our Christmas table at the editorial office this year. Anette and I have covered one of our round tables with a large piece of linen. We’ve used a set from the Danish supermarket Netto, and the glasses and the flatware are old treasures from our cupboards. The napkins and the furniture are from JDL Home. Lots of old bottles of various sizes make up the decoration. We went to the local florist’s to buy some simple but beautiful flowers and then we placed them in some of the bottles. We also added candles to some of them. These colors are just stunning – subdued shades of rose and gold – and they look incredibly nice combined with the green…

Visual artist Saryn Muldrow is from the town of Ullerslev on the Danish island of Funen. She’s a creative woman with many interests and she loves interior design. Earlier this year, she did a few articles for our magazine, including "Afternoon tea". Her Christmas table is inspired by her wish to create something informal, simple and country-like, using subdued, natural and calm colors, and she’s really managed to create this exact expression. Saryn explains that she inherited the salt and pepper set, and the silver flatware, from her grandparents. Her maternal granddad’s family is from France. The silver napkin rings are from a flea market in Sweden and so are the small signs with statements. Saryn lived in Sweden for 10 years before moving to Funen. She’s been collecting tin…

Houseleeks are fantastic and you can use them both indoors and outdoors. Originally from the harsh mountains, they can easily survive outdoors in the winter. Fill your pots with lots of houseleeks already in autumn. All they need is plenty of light and not too much water, and they’ll produce lots of small buds which you can plant in small pots and use for your Christmas decorations. Houseleeks come in many different shapes and sizes, and you can usually find a large selection in garden centers and at the local florist’s. We went shopping and got a good selection of houseleeks in various sizes, shapes and colors. Rikke combined them with moss, eucalyptus, cones, lichens and twigs, amongst other things, to turn them into some beautiful and somewhat different decorations.…

The year’s coming to an end and we're showing you the last inspirational pages from Anette about how to make your own calendar. As we’ve often mentioned throughout the year, this calendar is so much more than just a calendar – it’s also a fun way of keeping track of your appointments and plans, wonderful memories, recipes or ideas. Your calendar is also a diary. There are no rules. Just make it exactly the way you want and use if for whatever you need. It’s important that you keep your calendar because it turns out to be a snapshot of the year which you’ll most probably enjoy looking at later. Reserve one of the last days of the year for looking through your calendar and reliving the past year. Reflect…

Kiki and Pia run the company "Vintage Workshop Denmark" together, making the most fantastic stuffed animals out of recycling materials. They tell us that they get inspired by their way of living. They each live on a farm in the Danish town of Ringsted, close to each other, and they use nature both in their creations and decorations. Each season brings fantastic, new inspiration and new ideas are born all the time. Kiki and Pia have known each other for many, many years and their cooperation’s simply fantastic. Together they create some exciting and wild ideas which turn into some amazing creations. They got the idea of setting up "Vintage Workshop Denmark" after having been collecting antiques for 20 years and often buying old fabrics, documents and sewing designs. They…

Nothing creates a perfect Christmas feel as instantly as lights. Janne from the store "Anno 1808" has made some nice Christmas houses for us out of cardboard and you can easily make some too. They’re just so cute and they look like the ones you can find at flea markets. The light inside the houses is created by placing small, battery-run string lights inside the house so you can also use such a house in a child’s bedroom as it does not require the use of candles. Even if it might look like a complicated project, these houses are actually quite easy to make. What you need: Cardboard from a standard cardboard box, scissors, brushes, a small scraper or knife – preferably a hobby knife – and a glue gun…

Each year on Christmas eve, my Christmas table looks different than the year before. Planning and preparing a beautiful Christmas table is one of the things I love the most. Therefore, I’ve asked some of all the creative people who work with us here at the editorial office to show us their Christmas tables. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted and this task turned into a big Christmas table theme with many different and very beautiful tables. I hope that you can find plenty of inspiration for your own Christmas get-togethers.…

Lene’s Christmas table has been laid with a wonderful, old linen tablecloth and matching napkins on the raw plank table. She loves the simple, natural and rustic look. The plates are old Aluminia ones that she uses every day. The glasses are Charlotte Amalie from the Danish company Holmegaard and Lene just loves those because they go so well with many different styles. During summer, this old egg box is used for a hydrangea plant outside but Lene brings it in for Christmas. The old Christmas tree stand from France is also a great candleholder and whereas the old cast iron cake tin is adorned with dried flowers in the summer, it’s got a completely different expression with moss and tapers at Christmas. The Christmas roses have been placed in…

Tine’s Christmas table is elegant and based on a theme featuring dark colors and brass. Tine has used some beautiful, old wine glasses and champagne flutes from France. The jug on the table is an old olive jug which has been filled with twigs with lichens. The old brass candleholders are also from France where Tine often goes to find items for her store at various flea markets. They’ve been adorned with a single olive twig to create what looks like a candle ring. Kiki, who’s also invited us over for a visit in this edition of the magazine, has made the reindeers. Each plate has been decorated with a napkin, a piece of linen string, some soft juniper, old cow bells and small wooden hearts with Christmassy statements on…

Come along as we visit Karin and Klaas whose Christmas is inspired by nature and the dried flowers trend… As soon as summer’s over, Karin starts thinking of Christmas. What is it going to be this year? Traditional but still very different from last year. How’s she going to decorate her store and the private rooms that customers are allowed to visit during a couple of days in December? How can she offer them the ultimate Christmas experience and what can she do to inspire them? What’s the current trend like? This year, she was inspired by nature because whilst hiking with Klaas in summer, she saw so many beautiful grasses, herbs and plants that she decided to stick to nature this year and use lots of dried plants. As…

Bulbs are fantastic for making Christmas decorations and bouquets. They last long because they bring their own "lunch" in the bulb which is full of water. If you leave them in a cool place, they won’t blossom for a while. Linda has placed lots of bulbs very close to each other on a big, rusty dish. These are hyacinth bulbs but you can use whatever bulbs you like. She’s placed some pillow moss along the edge and added a bit of grass on top to create an airier expression. The wreath on the wall was made with fir and adorned with larch twigs with cones and some nice ribbons. You can add one or more bulbs as well if you like. If you cleanse the bulbs, you can use them…

When decorating for Christmas, don’t forget the windows. You can decorate your windows in many different ways and here we’re showing you three different ideas. Let yourself get inspired to decorate your own Christmas home. The first window has a white theme. Pieces of white cotton have been threaded and hung, and we’ve added prisms at the end of each one. They hang very close to each other in the window, creating the impression that it’s always snowing. Airy, white curtains and Christmas roses add a light feel to the setting. An artificial Christmas tree in the corner and a soft pelt in the chair – that’s all we need to be ready for a cup of tea and a good book. We got the wonderful, old iron pig from…

Create a modern Christmas feel by using paper and dried flowers. One of the big trends that seems to continue year after year is using dried flowers, grasses and straw in the interior design. These everlasting bouquets have entered our homes so why not use them for Christmas as well? Linda has made a beautiful "flower cloud", which is what she calls it, out of natural materials from the roadside, the forest and the garden. Nature’s full of beautiful materials that you can collect and work with in your DIY projects. This cloud is a large, wild bouquet which has been turned upside down and hangs from the ceiling. Such bouquets are both incredibly long-lasting and very beautiful when made with a combination of grasses, seed heads and dried flowers.…

Huge decorations add a very special effect. Here are some of our ideas… The first one was made in a special, old wooden box with compartments. Unfortunately, we don’t know what it’s been used for in the good, old days, but it’s very long so it needs to stand on a very long table. We placed five square candles with the same color but in various sizes inside some of the compartments, sticking them into pieces of clay, and then we covered the clay with moss and some cones. We added various kinds of decoration items to the other compartments, including dried date vines. We used all excess materials to make a bouquet which we hung on a nice, old ladder. An old meat dish is great for making a…

Anette has been creative again and she’s made some fine Christmas bulbs out of old paper for us. Read on to find out how to make them. What you need: music paper, newspaper or some other kind of nice paper, scissors, pencil, sewing thread, needle, glue, glitter and perhaps some decoration items such as filigree. What to do: Draw circles on the paper by using a glass and cut them out. Fold the circles in the middle and sew them together in the middle. Glue two sides together at a time but only at one end because that’s how this wonderful shape is created. Continue all the way round and alternate between adding glue at the top and at the bottom. Once the ball is dry, add a bit of…

Anette and Frank like the French, rough and industrial style, and they also stick to that style when laying their Christmas table. The beautiful, old, Swedish leaf table has such a marvelous tabletop so there’s no tablecloth on the table. Frank is from France so there are always lots of fine, French glasses on the table. Anette has used a selection of various French, mouth-blown souvenir glasses. Souvenir glasses are glasses that were given to the guests as a memento of a big party or event. Often, the guests would contribute to buying such glasses. Anette collects them and she often uses them for visitors. On the table she’s also got some old, French champagne flutes from the end of the 1800s. The big glass jug is from the Danish…

We’re visiting "Janes Blomsterunivers". The Christmas table has been laid in Jane’s beloved orangery and it features a rustic theme with lots of natural materials and beautiful, old earthenware. The tablecloth is made of jute and Jane has made a runner in the middle of the table using a piece of old wood. The plates are antique earthenware from Villeroy & Boch. The glasses are fine, old Holmegaard glasses, called Vibeholm, which Jane inherited from her grandmother. The flatware is a mixture of antique silver flatware items. Jane has adorned the plates with old fabric napkins and she’s added an old glass bell and a small piece of common spruce to each one, using lametta. There’s a small, old star candleholder with a Christmas tree candle in it by each…

Linda has laid an overwhelming and almost fairy tale-like Christmas table for us. No matter what she does, she’s got her very own style, and that’s obvious here too. As always, she’s used nice, subdued colors, and this time she’s chosen shades of beige, green and brown. Obviously, she’s used lots of dried and fresh flowers. She’s made an impressive decoration out of dried flowers and it’s hanging upside down above the table. Amongst other things, she used hydrangea, annual honesty and grasses for this bouquet. A big, beautiful bouquet with amaryllis and eucalyptus has been placed in an old, rustic olive jug. Linda has added lots of cones in all shapes and sizes to the table, along with nuts and star anises. Large, star-shaped candleholders and metal decoration items…

Janne from the store "Anno 1808" has made these slightly rough and simple Santas for us. They just look so cute as decoration items in your living room, on shelves, on hooks or – in smaller versions – on the Christmas tree. You can also use them as cute hostess gifts or as decoration for a nice Christmas present. You can make these simple vintage Santas yourself and we’re going to tell you how. Janne made some in wonderful, subdued colors and color shades for us because we prefer subdued colors for Christmas but obviously you can decide to make them more colorful if you like. What you need: Cardboard from a cardboard box, an old white sheet, a kitchen towel or another piece of coarse fabric, Vintage Paint, Structure…

Christmas products from Jeanne d’Arc Living. Find them at your nearest retailer - visit www.jeannedarcliving.dk or call +45 36 93 20 10.…

Here we’re showing you how to make the cutest small Christmas trees out of paper. They’re placed in various "Christmas tree stands" from a flea market. It’s a good idea to make several trees so that you can create a small forest or arrange three trees in a row in the windowsill. What you need: Brown greaseproof paper, crepe paper, standard A4 paper or paper from an old book, wooden skewers, a glue gun or wood glue, standard clay or Fimo clay, various small containers to use as "Christmas tree stands", flora tape, cold coffee, scissors and a brush. What to do: Start by cutting a shred of paper of whatever quality you’d like, using a width of approx. 4.7 inches (12 cm) and a length which is as long…