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What happened...

...while I was away on my unintended blog break. I think I got a bit over-whelmed with this TV thing. The program can now be seen by anyone anywhere in the world, without the copyrighted music: here. Just to keep you updated, here are few things that I have been doing.

I made mead, which is a traditional drink at 1st of May celebrations.

I got myself a new dress for Summer from the Marimekko sale and took a picture of it in a mirror in desperate need of dusting...
I picked some flowers in the forest.

One of my Mårbacka geraniums fell on the kitchen floor, luckily it survived! I love these old geraniums, they grow really tall and are great for people like me who do not like curtains.

I love that pale pink colour of the flowers, so romantic! And I am pretty proud that I managed to nurture the plants one more winter.

I have also done some sewing, these dots were for a set of "mod handbags" I made, I'll try to get a picture of them for my next post!

The sun is shining in Helsinki today, I hope it is shining where you are too!

Felt cake play-food/pincushion tutorial

Tonight is the night I will be on TV (19.30 at YLE TV2), sadly most of you will not be able to see the programme, but I would like to share a little tutorial with you for the felt cakes me and my friends are making in the programme. They both have small kids so I thought it would be a fun little project to take home. All pictures are taken "behind the scenes" at the TV shoot by Viivi Lehtonen/YLE. The pretty felt needle book in the picture below was made by my friend Laurraine.

Ohjeet suomeksi ylen sivuilta.

What you'll need for your cake:

• basic sewing supplies
• felt (we used craft felt, but wool felt would be lovely)
• cardboard (a cereal box will do fine)
• embellishments, like buttons and lace
• wadding 

You can  either sew the cake on your sewing machine, or by hand, if you have a lot of time! 

1.Start by making the card-board circle. This will make the base for your cake and will prevent the needles to go through the bottom of the pincushion. You will need a circle with about 10 cm (4'') in diameter. Draw and cut it out.

 

2. Cut two circles from the felt. Use the cardboard piece as a pattern and add a 0,5 cm (1/4'') seam allowance. Then cut a 5x38cm (2''x15') strip from the felt. 

3. You can either embellish your cake now, or when it is stitched together. I stitched on some lace cream to the side strip of my chocolate cake at this point.

4. Now stitch the top piece to the side strip. The ends will overlap generously so the side seam does not have to be sewn. Stitch the other circle to the bottom (right sides facing) leave a gap big enough for the cardboard piece (stitch about half way). Turn your cake inside out.

5. This is Tuija's pink marzipan cake. She will now start to fill it with wadding. And then close the gap by hand.

6. And the cake is ready! To eat? Päivi's cake does look tasty!

I made a chocolate & cherry cake! What's your flavour?

 

 

 

16 seconds of fame

 

A reminder to those of you who watch Finnish TV: Blogistania (I've talked about it here and here) starts tonight at 19.30 with Outsa-pop. I know that most of you wont be able to see it, but if you're curious, you'll find some short teasers on youtube to watch. It all goes in Finnish though.

The programme about me and my blog, will be broadcasted 11th April. You can watch my 16 seconds of Youtube fame above! I am showing my Batboy card that I designed together with my son and telling you that in our family superheroes always wear wellies :) All in Finnish. My mother-tongue is actually Swedish, so it made the whole thing slighly more challenging. I am a bit nervous to hear how I sound when I speak Finnish, a language that I imagine that I am fluent in, except for when I'm very tired... Even if it sometimes can be frustrating to belong to a minority (6% of the Finnish population speak Swedish) I feel quite fortunate to have grewn up in an bilingual country. Today I use three languages every day  and have even written a book in English! I think knowing languages not only helps you to communicate with people, but also broadens your understanding for different cultures. So all I can say is: encourage your kids to learn languages! Or take a language class yourself, your new knowledge can take you to surprising places!

Blogistania

I told you previously that I am involved in a lifetsyle/documentary series on TV about creative female bloggers called Blogistania (page in Finnish).

The first programme will be on in a few weeks and last Tuesday we had a meet-up with all the people involved. I very much looked forward to it, but was a bit nervous to meet these gorgeous and fashionable blogging ladies, so Wednesday night I got myself busy making this new skirt.

I have often planned it, but in reality I make myself clothes on very rare occasions. I chose linen (love the wrinkles) and pink hearts...

_______________________follow your heart_______________________

I spent most of the night chatting away with the lovely Karin, planning future joint projects, that will most certainly involve her amazing photograhpy. Do check out her blog (WARNING! it might make you hungry)!

Riikka, who is responsible for the pretty graphics, has her own programme in the series as well, she is an amazing doll house artist.

I wish I would have had the time to talk to each one of these girls, but time went by so quickly! Below you will find the links to all the blogs, I got lazy so I didn't translate the Finnish texts, but click away, these are all visually pleasing places well worth a visit!

• trashionista Outsapop eli Outi Pyy
• Helsingin tyylikkäin nainen Fiona Timantti eli Heli Karhunen
• rokkaavan nukkekotiblogin Riikka Kurki
• Jenkeissä breikannut tilkkutaituri Kajsa Wikman
• käsitöitä tekevä insinööri eli Hupsistarallaan Terhi Viinikanoja
• kirppishullu Karin Lindroos
• ruokablogi Jauhot suussa ja leipuritaituri Jonna Vormala
• Vihreiden vaatteiden Anniina Nurmi
• Jonna Hietala ja sisustusblogi Musta tuntuu
• tunnettu muotibloggaaja Jenni Rotonen

 

Phew!

 

 

The feeling of relief when you are featured in a magazine and you look great! I love to make beautiful stuff, but I have never been that concerned about fashion or how I look. I wouldn't mind to look stunning everyday (who wouldn't?!), but I never seem to have enough time for all that make-up and dress-up. So it has been a bit scary for me after my book was released and people/media started to get interested in the face behind it all. So thank you Kaisu Jouppi for taking this beautiful and natural shot of me! This article about me was released in the 01/12 issue of 101 ideaa. It is a beautiful DIY magazine that is released a few times a year. It has a fresh, trendy and creative look and I think it will have a great future!

As you can see I actually started on the quilt I talked about earlier. It looks very much like...pastel. Who would've thought! I had my fare share in my childhood in the 1980's, but maybe it is time again... How do you feel about pastels?

 

 

Blogging on TV

I am sitting in my sofa surrounded by a TV crew when I start to write this post. The first and last blog post I will write in this manner, that's for sure. Yle TV2, which is one of the national TV channels here in Finland is doing a TV lifestyle programme about creative female bloggers called Blogistania. I am one of them! The program will be broad casted beginning in March 2012. Of course I hesitated about inviting a TV crew in our small crowded home, but then again this could be a once in a lifetime experience and our living situation is no secret. I am much more convenient behind the camera than in front of it and have never ever dreamt of a career as a film star or model so this was very much outside of my comfort zone. But, I really like the theme of this programme series and I do think there should be more real people on TV, so here I am! Here are some "behind the scenes" pictures from the two days I spent with the TV team. All pictures taken by lovely Viivi Lehtonen (YLE 2011). 

A big thanks to my gorgeous friends Tuija and Päivi who dared to come to my somewhat unusual party! And to my big girl Elsa, of course, who rather did some guest-starring than went to the movies with her dad! Now I'm going to my last weekend event for the season, a Christmas craft workshop for kids and families. It has been an Autumn filled with events and new experiences and I am looking forward to the (I think) slower pace of January and to get some more time for blogging, I do not want to feel ashamed to call myself a blogger. Happy weekend!