syko

New cutting boards and some business thoughts!

p.s. If you take the time to read this post you get a coupon code at the end. Scrolling down is also allowed :) d.s

I think it's been two years since I first got the idea of having cutting boards with my appliqué prints made and now they are finally here! There are a lot of products that I could have made with my prints, but most of them do not fulfill the ethical and ecological standards and the quality I want my products to have. I want to feel as proud of the products that I have had made by someone else as of a product I made with my own hands!

And I am very proud of introducing these cutting-boards that arrived on our doorstep yesterday! They are made of quality material, that is birch veneer, by a family company who specializes in making trays and such. The cutting board has a durable melamine coating that protects the printed picture, so you do not have to be afraid to use your sharpest knife on this one!

This peas on earth cutting board immediately moved into my own kitchen! I think there will have to be another blog post about the peas that inspire me so much right now, because today I feel like saying something more about quality products and craft business.

Most of you are familiar with my postcards, it is the Syko product that is most well-known and liked by so many people, which I am very grateful of. I have many resellers that sell my cards only. I love to have a product that anyone can afford! And it is pretty cool to have your own postcard collection, who would have thought? Still, I consider myself a crafter and take great pride in what I make and do. Which is why the cards are printed on recycled paper by a small business in Helsinki, were I know people personally. The cards are important, because I try to make a living on this business and I think the people who are able to make a living solely on handmade products in Finland today are not many. Above all I want to make and sell stuff that puts a little (or a big) smile upon your face in your everyday life! And that, I think, can be achieved by selling happy and cheerful things, but also when you know that what you sell has been ethically produced!

So the post about my new cutting boards became a little talk about my business policies, I hope you enjoyed it :) And since this is business, so I would like to offer you free shipping on all orders over 15€ from my Etsy shop until Friday night with the code BOARD4U. 

Voit tehdä tilauksesi myös sähköpostilla! Det går bra att göra en beställning per mejl! order (at) syko.com

Arts & Crafts in Mariehamn

I spent a lovely sunny day in Mariehamn at the Åland Islands last week. I was asked to talk on the subject of social media for artisans and small business owners and was very happy to meet a group of inspired people eager to ask and discuss. It is a challenge to share your experience and knowledge in just a couple of hours, but I hope everyone went home with some new thoughts! Someone asked me to share my speech here, I'll give it a thought! My most important message however was and is, whatever you want to do you have to have the motivation to do it! Whether it is to blog or sell your stuff on Etsy, if you do not have a strong feeling that you want to go on this adventure, think twice! I believe you can do (and learn) 'anything' if you really want it, but to do something that you really wouldn't like to is stressful and eats a lot of your good energy! 

That was my little Sunday speech, now I would like to show you some pictures from Mariehamn!

SALT is beautiful shop run by a craft collective. It is situated by the sea in a new building inspired by the traditional red wooden houses in the area. I used to spend my childhood Summers at the Åland Islands and have always enjoyed visiting the craft shops. 

Goldsmith Titti Sundblom was working in the shop on Wednesday. Love those flounders! And these:

Made by Eva-Len Mattsson. 

Yummy strawberry print by Gunilla von Nandelstadh.

Beautiful ceramics! I haven't figured out who made the pieces in the first two pictures, please tell me if you do! The ceramics in the first pictures is by Mia Englund! The fun plate with the doodles is by Sussi Henrikson, there was a small exhibition of her work, I really love her style! The last picture with the window features work by Lugnet keramik. And yes! That is the frozen sea outside the window! This place is gorgeous!

I adore the work of Ann Granlund! And was very sad that I couldn't go wild shopping! Next time!

The sun is shining here by the coast of Finland so I am out for a sunshine walk! Take care!

 

 

Doodles and a speech

On Wednesday I will be talking to a group of crafters and artists about social media, Etsy and on-line marketing for small business owners. When I worked at the university I used to lecture on a regular basis, it is good to have that experince, no need to get nervous, I am quite looking forward to it and have enjoyed to jot down what I want to say! It helps a lot when you get to talk on a subject that is close and dear to you! I did a couple of quick illustrations. I don't want to spoil the suprise for the people I am talking to and post all my thoughts on the blog, but I thought I'd share these pictures anyway... Translations below the pictures!

Type 1 aka 'Everyhting used to be so much better'. People can blog away as much as they like, but I am just going to sit here and craft in my own corner like I've always done. 

Type 2 'I would like to, but I don't know how to'.

I know nothing about computers!?

Help! I'm far too old!

What happens if I touch this button?

Possibilities? Error 

At the (wrong) market.

GREAT SOCKS. BUY NOW.

Something is wrong with me!

My socks must be too expensive?

Is the quality good enough?

I need to sell them cheaper!

Maybe they don't like the colours?

Idiots!

Nobody understands me in this place!

I'm going to open up an on-line shop!

It's winter in Australia after all! 

 

Museum therapy

Yesterday was a dull grey day and it was snowing when we woke up in the morning, though it's mid April! I cannot believe how late Spring is this year! I pity the small flowers that have dared to show their pretty faces, they must be freezing their cheek off during night!

To cheer myself up I went to the National museum here in Helsinki. As you can see it resembles of a church or a castle. It was built in the early 20th century, the time when Finland got independent from a period of Russian rule and it was very important to emphasize Finnish culture and heritage. Can you see the bear sitting by the stairs? I think that is so cool and really makes a statement. It differs a lot from the classical statues you are used to see at pompous official buildings. And it makes me smile! Architects should dare to have more fun!

I did find what I was looking for, but I really can't talk about that just yet :) So I'll show you this cute house banner that I spotted, it's right up my alley! 

I also got myself a pretty, little notebook with lots of blank pages, from the museum shop, to jot down my ideas in. And then treated myself to some goodies at the café. Ah, I feel so much happier today! Reminder to myself: go to museums more often.

 

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!

Bad and good news

 

 

This morning I got a very disappointing call from the estate agency, to make a long story short, we will not be able to buy the house we wanted to. Crappiest crap EVER. Since I am me I had already decorated the whole house in my mind... I guess we will just have to keep on looking, I am hopeful that we will find the house this Summer! So that was my bad news.

And the good ones? Obviously I was feeling quite down about my broken house dreams and it didn't help that it was raining wet snow outside. And then I got an e-mail! I got a grant from the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland for writing my next book! Woohoo! 

Oh, and if you're wondering who that is in the picture, it is Rosa Viola, another one-of-a-kind fairy angel. She is a true romantic and refuses to wear anything else but a dress, by the end of the day she often ends up with green grass patches on her knees and tends to lose her gingham hair-bands. She loves to climb in trees too! Right now she is hiding in my Etsy shop.

What a very strange day! I hope there will be no more surprises. Any happy or bad news you would like to share? I'm all ears!

 

 

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?

 

 

That time of the year

It's the time of year when everything seems to be happening at the same time! Last Friday to Sunday was spent at the mall. It felt quite strange to see my pictures on the posters promoting the event.

 This was the best pic of my table that I managed to catch, I made some new table-runners with birds and tomte brooches. And on the left handside you can see some handy bags for knitting needles!

Today I went to Ekenäs (Tammisaari) to build a shop with Annika and Noora. Well, actually the shop is Noora's, but she has asked Annika and me to share the joy. I am so very happy to share this beautiful shop space in an old house in my favourite little town! Unfortunately I did not bring my camera along, but I will next time! Sadly I've had so much going on lately that I had to close my Etsy shop, but as soon as everything calms down I promise to have it up and running again. However it won't be tomorrow, because tomorrow I will have a TV crew in our little flat.... Wish me luck! 

Stitching it all together

I am going to be honest with you today and talk a bit about the person behind this blog. She has been feeling off spirit and has contemplated the option of spending the rest of the dark season under a blanket. I'm not sure if it was my fast approaching 35th birthday that made me feel uneasy or my crazy long to-do-list. Instead of hiding under a blanket I started stitching one together, a far better medicin!

I am definitely over the honey-moon with my little business and getting quite tired of making all the decisions and having all the responsibility myself. Although I love my job so much I have been feeling like a lousy jongleur lately, trying to get it all to work. I have been waking up feeling stressed by all have-to's and feeling bad about all the unfinished projects, the unanswered e-mails and so on. Now this is no good! I want to wake up with a smile feeling happy about things and take the time to be proud about things I have already achived, instead of stressing away and freaking out about the next note on the to-do-list. 

So, this won't do! I told myself. Things always tend to work out, so try to enjoy things, it's so much more fun than stressing out about things. Ok, I said and took a pic of the beautiful Aronia leaves outside the kid's school building. AND I got the best birthday gift ever! We are going for a vacation over Christmas! Our first real vacation since I started my business. We are  so looking forward to going away to see my sister and her family in Switzerland over Christmas and New Year!!!

I will soon be back to announce the winner of the Bigfish give away!

On my table today...

Here I am again, I needed a little break from the quilt I'm working on. I'm designing as I go so I need to stop and think every once in a while. The quilt will be part of a Christmas exhibition I have been asked to have at Loftet, which is a craft centre with a shop and restaurant in Vasa, the town where my parents live. When I get an idea I make a rough sketch, it takes about 20 seconds, as you can see... The most important thing is that I put it down on paper to remember it. Black ink and white paper are important companions, but any pen and paper will do when an idea strikes...

I do not show works-in-progress very often, I guess I am afraid to destroy the magic or "flow" or whatever you like to call it and I am not very fond of constructive critique when I'm in a creative process, but I decided to be brave this time and show you what I have on my table today.

I went for a blackboard look, the background fabric is kona charcoal from Robert Kaufman, if I remember correctly. The text comes from a song about an elf with a cold, that my grandma used to sing :)

I will have a lot of different types of items at the exhibition, not only quilts, so I have chosen to work with red, green, black, linen and white to get a coherent look. I want the space to give the viewer a Christmas feel, but most of the products will hopefully last long after Christmas. The most important thing for me however, is that people smile when they see my "everyday art". It makes me very happy whenever people laugh at my creations :)