...tomte-making with my assistant.
Little did I know when I moved my studio home last Summer that I would have so much to sew during nap-time! I didn't want to spend money on the rent while satying at home with F. Back to where I once started it feels! I opened my Etsy shop 9 years ago when my son was one. Baby F will turn one the 15th! Time flies by so quickly!
Happy new year everyone! We had, as they called it in the newspaper, a black Christmas. It's been dark and rainy for weeks now and we are all getting so tired of it and looonging for snow and sunshine. I keep checking the weather forecast for the weekend (I am quite addicted to that app on my phone), because Saturday is showing a big shining sun. And they say there will be snow on Friday! I am sorry for talking so much about the weather, but it really starts to get at you when you barely see any daylight for weeks. Christmas was spent peacefully with family and friends, with good food, too much chocolate and all that a Christmas should be, but I am very happy to go on to everyday life now!
I got back to work yesterday after the holidays, the kids were so happy to see their friends at school and I tried to be happy to be back in my messy studio... It was filled with stuff from our pop-up shop and a lot of odds and ends that I didn't have time to take care of in busy November-December. So the program for this week is cleaning up and sorting out. And to take pictures for the Etsy shop (another reason for the sun to show its pretty face, I need light)! I have already started listing some stuff, but there will be more! I will have a sale on all products starting on Monday January 13th. You will get -30% off everything in the shop for a month! I will be back with a discount code for you on Sunday!
We played a lot of board-games during the holidays, so fun! We should get off our screens and do it more often this year!
I always buy flowers for Christmas! They bring hope of a new Spring, especially when it's been as dark as this year.
On a postivie note, the soil was still so soft and warm in December that I planted some tulips in the garden! I got the bulbs to a bargain price too! Looking forward to see if they will bloom in Spring!
Wishing you a sunny new year!
Hello my friends! Someone wrote to me and asked if all is well, I am here and I'm alive, thanks for caring! I've just been so busy during the last month with fairs and orders so sadly this blog has been neglected again!
This is where I am spending my time right now! Me and my friend Mia have a little Pop-up Christmas shop with lots of lovely crafts in this charming old building here in Ekenäs/Tammisaari. We have gathered a nice collection of craft products from local crafters and designer friends. I am very happy that we can offer a sustainable alternative to Christmas shoppers. I try to buy as many of my Christmas presents from crafters, small design labels or local businesses.
A little peak inside! Do join our event on Facebook if you want to see more of our shop! I am posting new products in our advent calendar every day!
Have a joyful holiday time everyone!
I have a weak spot for old, embroidered textiles, the more traces of life they have, like coffee staines and holes, the more I like them! Now, in darkest November I find that creating unique fairy-angels out of these much loved old fabrics a very good occupation. Greta here looked a bit scary before she got her face and hair-do.
I made Greta's dress from a linen table cloth. The hand-embroidery on her pocket comes from an old tea-towel. She's got linen hair too.
Now here she is, with a hair-do suitable for an angel named Greta with rosy cheek in close conversation with her friend Matilda. Can you hear the chit-chat? I find myself talking to and laughing with (not at!) my new friends! For Matilda's dress I used a worn-out tea-towel with a very pretty monogramme.
Greta and Matilda with their tomte friend Ulla-Britta! I think they are waving to you! Hello everyone!
I am used to start Christmas season early, but this year it started earlier than ever! Thanks to this fresh book, Jouluiloa kierrätysmateriaaleista (☆) Gummerus 2013, that I've made in co-operation with Karin Lindroos.
And before you ask, yes, it's only available in Finnish this season. We are crossing fingers and toes for editions in other languages next year. But for now this is what we have to offer! A Christmas candy with craft and sewing projects for the holidays.
I have a few of the projects I made for the book on display on my studio wall a long with some new holiday card originals; a patchwork stocking, a little santa, a superhero cape and a kitchen towel. We used recycled materials for all projects, a challenge I enjoyed very much!
Look inside the book!
These cards are available in my Etsy shop!
(☆) Christmas joy from recycled materials
This is my favourite spot to sit in my studio. It is where I sit down with a cup of coffee to check my e-mails in the morning, where I do my books and where I sit and stuff my tomte softies. Yes, it's elf season again! The very comfy chair was a gift from a friend and the chalk-board door I found at a flea-market. It inspired me to take some new pictures for the shop!
But first there was some sewing...
...and elf stuffing going on. These little guys are very hungry.
What I enjoy most at elf making season is combing fabrics for these little patchwork fellows.
In the shop I am selling them in groups of three, because they are not very used to be alone. I have a feeling that there is some serious giggling and whispering going on in the studio when I am away.
For the bigger tomte softies I have been collecting Christmas fabrics at flea-markets the whole year. Torsten here got a pretty dress with snowflakes and toad-stools.
And here is Elmer on my favourite chair!
Have a nice weekend!
The catalogue is out so I guess I dare to say it out load! During the last few months me and Karin have been busy working on this Christmas crafting book Jouluiloa (~happy Christmas) that will be on the market in October! This first edition will be in Finnish, but we eagerly hope that there will be an English and a Swedish edition (and what else!?) next year too!
Hello! I hope you are all having a relaxing holiday time! I am spending some lazy days with the family and am trying to really get into the vacation mode. Karin came by yesterday to take some pictures, she took this picture of me in front of our house. As you can see it has been snowing A LOT during the last weeks!
This is the first Christmas in our own house, after a few years in a small city apartment we appreciate the space so much!
I have a lot of exciting projects for the new year and am looking forward to it, but first, let's all enjoy the holidays! Happy New Year everyone!
Here's a little DIY tip for those of you who do not have space for a Christmas tree! We have a very dull wall in our shop so I got this bright idea... S got inspired and brought some left-over material from the greenhouse she built last Summer, a few screws and voilá!
And then some lights and decorations...
Happy weekend!
It's been nearly two weeks since this fair, but I wanted to share a few pictures from our stall. It is exhaustaing to do markets and I so much appreciate that I do not have to do it alone anymore. Next week me and the other KimaraCrafts girls have the last joint event this year, a Christmas fair (Naisten joulumessut, Wanha satama, Helsinki 5-9.12), I very much look forward to it!
All set and ready for the first day at the fair!During the last week I have been making more of these unique fairy-angels. They are all made from old faded and stained embroidered table-cloths, I have to take a family portrait of them all, before they all move away from home!
Last day of the fair, looking happy, but tired...
Now I am going to lit some candles, we have a terrible snowstorm blowing outside, brr!
Artist, crafter, mother of two, blogger, small business owner... Author of the sewing book Scandinavian Stitches. (Stashbooks)
Recent Comments