My last post of 2010...

... so I can´t promise I won´t get all sentimental and silly - but anyway:

For many years I had tons of penpals from all over the world and every time I received a letter (you remember those, right - the paper ones?) it was like getting a little glimpse of the other persons life. We used to send eachother small things and told eachother of the teen lives we all lived, though during very different conditions - and I loved it!

Well, to me this blog thing is just like that; sharing small glimpses of my life to those who want to listen - and being able to see the creative lives of others out there. It brings me true happiness when I see that people from USA, India, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, England and so on visits for a moment.

So.

Thank you for that, and here´s what I want to share with you:


Now I´ll take a break from the blog until next year - though I´ll skip around to wish you a Happy New Year so I don´t miss anyone.

I´ll kick off 2011 with a nice surprise for you, just so you know!

Take care until next year, you lovely people! :-)

Cold, cold and even more cold!

I must say that I´m a bit amazed with this winter. We´re not spoiled with these amounts of snow in my part of Sweden - but it´s sure nice to look out on white instead of grey gravel and dirt.

Not to mention the photo opportunities:

The words are from Robert Frost´s (such a fitting last name) poem Snow, which I like. There´s a lot of great poems out there people!

My oldest son will have a friend over today and I´ll try not to be lazy and instead actually get some cleaning and washing done - followed by a walk with Elsa (the terrier who thinks she´s a little boy with two legs instead of four).

So it feels like a great day - and I still have 11 days of free time left, wohoo!

I hope you´ll have a great day too!

Typewriter memories

When I was about 7, I got an old typewriter from a friend of my parents. It looked very similar to the one below, only more turqouise greenish - and I loved it!

(image borrowed from Olympiaman´s Typecast)

I can´t even count how many "newspapers" I wrote on that, and endless little stories about this and that. I felt like a grown up, having something like that just for me.

One day, the same man who gave it to me came and said he wanted to borrow it for a photo shoot he was having. I was reluctant to let him have it - but since he was the one who gave it to me, it would be really impolite to refuse. So I let him have it.

And he never returned it.

And I never dared to remind him, since that was embarrassing.

Isn´t it intriguing, that I think of this with sadness 30 years later?

A little fabric...

I´m a bit ahead of things, but I was thinking about the new year that´s not too far away and the spring that eventually comes with it - so I ordered some fabric:

I´m a lover of green and turqouise and therefore I have a lot of those colors around. Variation is good though, so I figured blue and yellow could be really neat to have in our livingroom next spring and summer! Doesn´t this fabric make you a bit happy?!

Ordered from sewlux´s Etsy shop and the photo is hers as well.

So I´ve made some changes here at the blog; the photos will be bigger, the background cleaner and I´ve removed some unnecessary labels.

I hope you´ll like it!

I´m changing the blog a little...

... so it may look a bit strange for a while. Hopefully, it will become better than before in the end...

Doing a happy dance..!

I´m getting a new lens for my camera from my husband:

I´m sure it isn´t perfection, but it will serve many of the needs I have - and it will be so much easier to bring just one lens when for example travelling.

I´ll get it within a couple of days and you can be sure that I´ll try it out like a maniac - wohoo!

Summary over 2010 - finished stuff!

This will not be a total summary over the stuff I´ve done this year, I started this blog in March 2010 and don´t quite remember what I did before that. That´s the good thing about a blog; it´s a great diary!

Click on image (and then click again) if you want to see a larger version:



1) I´ve baked a lot, definately more than I´ve shown on the blog

2) Made a dinosaur pillow for youngest son

3) Found cool places online which made me able to create great wall art

4) Renovated oldest son´s room

5) Made a blanket for oldest son

6) Chrocheted a shawl for me

7) Made a blanket for youngest son

8) Made a picture for youngest son - Photoshop is so fun!

9) Made a pouf for youngest son, loved it!

10) Painted a chair in a way I´ve never tried before - with my sign on it!

11) Chrocheted a little bag, just to try the technique

12) Sew a storage for my chrochet needles

13) Made wall art with pencils - love that one!

14) Learned how to use textures in Photoshop (but still much to learn)

15) Sew pillows for oldest son, wonderful fabric

16) Made a butterfly painting with masks and a page from an old atlas

It´s been a fun year, it´s a bit hard to get that I´ve actually managed to finish all of the above. There´s also some things I started but didn´t finish, like a dresser and two other blankets.

Interesting to see how much I´ve been chrocheting - I learned to do that after I started this blog so I haven´t even done it a year yet!

Here´s to a creative 2011!

My favourite christmas gift

My mother in law gave me some money to find a good christmas gift for - and that was actually perfect since I´ve been eying these sheep skins for a looong time:

It´s absolutely lovely to sit on while chrocheting or watching TV - plus it looks great as well.

It´s a bit crowded in my corner of the sofa now; two boys, one dog and one mama all wanting to share this skin... Oh well, that´s cosy (and warm) too!

Some christmas and some chrochet..!

I do hope you´re enjoying yourselves - my thought was to post here yesterday but I was actually busy enjoying my life and my leisure time so I didn´t make it to the computer. Oh, that plus the fact that I stuffed myself with good food and candy the whole day which made me feel slightly comatose... I have a hard time being moderate during Christmas...

Promised you to show the finished striped blanket, so here it is (with youngest son included):


And since he wanted that blanket, I of course had to begin a new one for me:

I´m a bit amazed I managed to chrochet that much during yesterday - being comatose and all - but as a matter of fact, it turns out I can chrochet really good lying down... Go figure..!

Hugs to you all!

City tray for Christmas..!

I got the Christmas gift from my work now and it was a really neat idea this year. For those of you who may wonder why I open it before Christmas; I´ve known what it was for weeks since it´s my boss who ordered them for the office. Otherwise I promise I would be able to wait, haha..!

Anyway; it was a tray printed with different symbols from the city I live in (Linköping):

I like this idea and was for once excited to get the Christmas gift - mostly, we get eatable stuff and I´m quite tired of that. Unfortunately, the designer´s name is not on the tray so I can´t tell you - but I think he/she did a great job with the layout.

Pop Menagerie Giraffe...

... by Jonathan Adler. Let me just say this:

Yes please.

(photo borrowed from mydeco.com)

I need to go back to the States, I really do. I need to get me some Jonathan Adler schtuff so my life feels complete.

So much prettiness, that´s all I´m sayin´.

My son playing the piano

Ok, ok - I do realize that it may not be as exciting for you as for me to see my son in action with his piano playing... I promise I do - but since we have relatives reading this blog too I might as well put it here.



A bit nervous in the beginning as you can see (and hear) with a couple of mishaps - then more relaxed and pretty proud in the end.

To me - who can´t even play Twinkle little star - he´s pretty amazing. I´m a tiny bit biased though..!

The blanket is DONE!

It´s almost 1 AM here in Sweden, but I had to shout it out - the striped blanket is done! Can´t tell you how great that feels, after attaching 1265 ends of yarn..!

My goal was to finish it before Christmas and so I did. Wow. Didn´t expect it to go so fast!

Will take a picture when I get the chance, as you know the light is awful...

Good night!

Now it´s REALLY close!

Just four days to go until Christmas Eve, just three days until my 17 days of leisure! Oh, how I need those days with my boys!

My neighbours seemed to think that I was a nutcase when I was outside to take this picture..! I actually tried to get myself into the picture instead of the opposite, because I felt it would be a bit fun - it wasn´t that easy though. If you look closely, you can at least see my legs, haha!

I´m definately making a tradition out of these Advent photos - very nice to have.

I´ve been both tired an busy these last days, but today I´ll grab a big cup of coffee and visit you all, I´m looking forward to see what you´ve been up to!

What if..?

You know how it is, right? You dream about that house you´d love to build, if only you had that piece of land.

Well, we´ve been dreaming about this for several years but it has felt very distant since there has not been that much land to buy in the suburb we live in - and the queue to buy is long.

Yesterday I read in the morning paper that our municipality just decided to sell lots of land exactly where we want to live... Suddenly the chance to actually do this feels more real...

And suddenly I realized that building houses is a jungle - how is it even possible - if we would get a piece of land - to decide between the different builders? Not to mention the prices, wow! You sure must make a good budget...

If we get the chance to get a piece of land eventually (nothing is finished yet) it would take a lot of thinking before a decision, that´s for sure. Still; I can so see us in a house similar to the ones above (those are from Trivselhus), I can see it so vividly!

To be continued (I hope)...

Lucia is over and done...

... and as usual, it was great to see my boys in their outfits. My youngest celebrated at his pre-school on monday morning and my oldest did the same at his school tuesday morning.

I made some goodies for them yesterday to treat them a little extra:

They loved that the muffins (you don´t say "cupcakes" when they are made like this, right?) were heart shaped - they are not too big and tough for hearts just yet!

Hope you´ve had a great day, I´m quite tired since I lost track of time yesterday evening (deep into fun stuff) and realized that it was time to go to bed close to 2 AM! I´m a night owl, but that was really overdoing it even for me..!

I hope you don´t get tired of my wintery photos but...

... I just had to take advantage of the light this passed weekend!

I really want to join a photo class so I can improve my photography and get better at taking pics during bad light. Winter feels so limiting since I leave home when it´s dark and return when it´s even darker (if possible)!

Parts from a poem by Jim O'Donnell - like made for snowy photos!

Hope you all will have a great tuesday!

Pampering myself

I think I have been going on about how much I freeze during winter a couple of times - now I´ve pampered myself with buying these cosy slippers:

No more cold feet - wohoo! Such an easy solution, yet it has taken me forever to actually buy a pair. Go figure.

Thanks for your nice comments about my son´s (and his friend´s) piano concert yesterday - much appreciated! Everything went well, a couple of slips but nothing major. He was very pleased afterwards!

This morning it was time for my youngest and his friends to have Lucia at their pre-school. He was a Star boy and very cute - as they all were. Great start on a monday morning!

Have a great day!

It´s close now!

It´s Advent third today and only 11 days to Christmas (we celebrate it december 24:th in Sweden)!


This afternoon it´s time for that piano concert I was talking about yesterday. My son is a bit nervous but excited and I hope he´ll have a great experience.

He´s done it a couple of times before, but of course the demands from his piano teacher gets higher the longer he plays... She is russian and very strict - but also very good at getting him to listen and focus (not always that easy with 8 year old boys).

I hope you all have a great sunday - I´m very thankful and happy that you are here, listening to my ramblings!

Striped blanket update!

A little update on the striped blanket:


It was snowing like crazy when we took the pictures, if you look closely you can see that the snowflakes were aiming for my eyes... I´m not sure my vision will ever recover...

Anyway; not that far to go now! My youngest son wants this blanket so I guess I´ll give it to him instead of the other one - works for me!

Oh - and I´m not blonde anymore! I really couldn´t get used to it, so I asked the hairdresser to change it back... I´m glad I gave it a try though!

Time to make pancakes, my oldest son is having a friend over for lunch - that is nice.

Have a great day!

This weekend I´ll...

* Sleep at least to 8 AM

* Take a couple of nice, long walks with my dog

* Chrochet a couple of rows

* Clean our home

* Wash some clothes

* Enjoy my oldest son´s (and other children´s) piano concert

* Take lots of photos when the light is good

* Finish the Photo book I´ve started so I can get it printed

* Drink some wine combined with cheese and crackers - yum!

* Wrap some Christmas gifts

* Hug my sons about a thousand times

(but besides the above, I´ll just go with the flow, haha!)

So - what are your plans for the weekend? :-)

(photo from Weheartit, emailed to me by a friend)

For the animal lovers...

Just sharing one of my all time favourite photos of the two creatures that make my home messy. Or maybe I should say the two creatures with four legs, otherwise it may sound like I´m talking about my sons, haha!

My sweet Elsa when she was just a little puppy - in awe of this magnificent cat in front of her. And the magnificent cat Saga, not that much in awe of the silly dog behind her...

They turned out to be the best friends you can imagine. Life is funny that way; the most unexpected alliances can occur.

Speedy gift wrapping

So sorry for the bad quality of the photo... Bad light + iPhone - need I say more..?

Anyway; had to do a really fast gift wrapping today at work. I was intending another style at first, but the paper was too weak unfortunately. Turned out OK anyway, considering it was finished within just a couple of minutes.

I like wrapping gifts, you can really just go with the flow!

Four months to go...

... until this:

This morning I really didn´t want to get out of bed. It was dark and cold and I was quite tired. Could think of thousand things I would rather do than going outside.

But.

Just a couple of weeks to Christmas.

Just four months to Fuerteventura.

Now; I´ll repeat as many times needed to get through this day..!

(image from bajovuelos.com)

Colorful inspiration!

Found these beautiful, colorful photos on the internet today and they totally did it for me, so I wanted to show you!

I´ve tried to figure out where they come from so I can give credit to the right places/persons, but it can be a bit tricky if the pics are re-posted from some other site. If I´m wrong: please let me know so I can correct it!

So; look at this amazing ceiling with those rugs!

(image from www.majestad.wordpress.com)

And this - how I´d love to rest in that sofa with a book in my hand and some chocolat to enjoy...

(image from www.momoy.com)

This last room feels mischivious and makes me smile. I wouldn´t want it in my home, but I sure would like to have a friend who lived there so I could get a dose whenever I felt like it..!

(image from www.fraishome.com)

Hope you enjoyed my findings, have a great evening!

A little bling has never hurt anyone...

I like small touches of silver in my home, not too much - just a little here and there.
When I found this vase in a flower shop I knew I had to have it. It felt unusual to me, with that pattern and the bottleneck design.

I´ve added a branch with glittery berries and leaves I found at Indiska and now it´s standing in the livingroom window, looking sparkly and nice against the snow outside.

Me like!

In the season of miracles, it suddenly happens...

... all the socks match when I open the washing machine.

That´s all proof I´ll need of divine interference, thank you very much.

Non traditional gingerbread cookies

So yesterday my boys and I decided to bake some gingerbread cookies and I did bring out every traditional heart, pig and star I could find - but the hearts being made were few...

Instead, my boys tried their Star wars cookie cutters I bought for them in Washington DC, and I have to say that we all were pleased with the result:

I love to bake with them, they are so focused while doing it and there´s flour everywhere - haha!

I have to say that this non traditional gingerbread cookie session is the best we´ve had so far!

Since I´m still awake...

... and it has passed midnight, I guess it´s OK to post this:

I think that within the next 5 years or so, Elsa will confront me and ask why, WHY I did this to her in her youth.

Do you know what I´ll say..?

Because it cracked me up.

I´m so sorry Elsa, but sometimes the human´s needs comes first.

Santa in da house!

My Santas and an angel - aren´t they nice?!

I love that they are white all over (except for that gold touch on the angel), they are whiter than they appear here since I´ve played with the action Vintage white in Photoshop.

I´m going to have my eyes open after the holidays, to see if I find any more white Santas somewhere on sale. It wouldn´t hurt to have a bigger collection..!

Soon my boys and I are going to get dinner guests, we´re having tacos which all the kids love.

Wish you a lovely saturday evening!

Winter...

Click on the image to see the poem by Bill Morgan Jr a little better.

Everything has been so bluishly white today, I just had to take some pictures to play with in Photoshop.

It is quite beautiful, this winter thing.

Friday cake...

Not that I need any special reason to eat cake, but I figured that we could need one since we´re not strolling around in London as someone I know...

It´s mainly for my boys (at least that´s my official version, haha) so I decided to go colorful.

Now if you excuse me, I´m gonna stuff my mouth full for a while - there´s two rascals by my side who claims it´s an urgent matter!

Have to show you this!

If you jump over to How about orange (great blog) you´ll find a tutorial of how to make these paper ornaments (photo from the same blog):

Aren´t they cool or what - and not just for christmas, they can be used all year around.

Now, I do feel a bit nervous just thinking about pulling this off, but it´s definately another thing to put on my "To do" list!

Today I saw a post at [room] by sofie´s blog, where she asked about our Ittala favourites.

Even though I feel that Ittala has a splendid and classic style when it comes to their cups, glasses, candlelight holders and so on, it´s the birds that really gets to me.

This owl is what I´d buy first if I had the money right now, because of those big, blue and innocent eyes...


I´d get this pea green one for the simple reason that I love green, in all shades. This would make me smile for sure!


This red little birdie would add that splash of warmth I can be so forgetful to bring into my home - being the cool color lover as I am.


And this little black and white bird would fit right in since I love black and white with everything!


Are you also lovers of glass birds and have you seen any by other brands than Ittala? I´d love to see other kinds as well, so please share in that case!

A wish tree...

I really like the idea of a little wish tree and think I have to make one for our home pretty soon (pics below borrowed from the internet).


Since both my 5 year old and 8 year old can write without any help, it would be so fun and exciting to just let them surprise me with what their wishes are - and then I´m referring to other wishes than the ones for more Star Wars Lego..!

I´m putting this down on my "To do"-list - I have some ideas for making it ours.

It´s oh so very cold here today; about -22 ºC ( -8 ºF if I used the converter right). I´m freezing and wish I could have stayed in bed the whole day, but no such luck...