Carina's craftblog

Some changes

2009-12-13T16:18:00.004Z

I have moved the blog, so this will be the last post at this particular URL. From now on, you can find me just a simple shuffle step to the left, at carinascraftblog.wardi.dk. If you are reading this in a feed reader, such as Google Reader (which is the best!), simply add the link above to subscribe to the new feed and your reader should be able to find the feed. If it doesn't, try using this link.

If you are so kind (thank you so much!) to link to my blog, you may also want to point the link in the direction of the new URL for the blog. carinascraftblog.wardi.dk It is a bit easier to remember as well, isn't it?

Goodness me, it's taken a few hours to sort it all out - tinkering deep within the bowels of my webdomain, or atleast well beneath the skin! I've been wanting to do this for ages and I finally figured out how to do what needed to be done. And now it's good to go; although there are still some cosmetic 'issues' to sort out. But that shouldn't effect the reading experience. All the old posts have also been imported to the new blog so everything stays together - and they are staying here as well. So if you are linking to a particular post, the link will not become invalid.

As I said, I've been wanting to move the blog for a while, but I was finally prompted to do it because the commenting system I'm using, Haloscan, will be discontinued in a couple of weeks. So from December 26 it will no longer be possible to leave comments on this (now old) version of the blog. But you are of course more than welcome to comment on the new blog! :-)

Finally, if you need to send me an email about something on the blog, please use the following address in future: carinascraftblog AT googlemail DOT com. Of course, if you use the old one, I will still get your message! I'm just trying to make things a bit simpler. At least I hope I've made them simpler! ;-)

Hope to see you 'next door'!

Chair makeover

2009-12-13T11:42:00.000Z

Looky-looky! Our dining table chairs are slowly getting made over. And I mean slowly. S-l-o-w-l-y. We bought the new fabric in Denmark at the end of April. April. Almost 8 months ago.

I recovered one chair 2-3 months ago and decided this would be a 2-person job. And we didn't get on with it until the start of December. But one chair is still not done. I wonder if it will actually get done before the year is out!

Still, 3 out of 4 chairs is not too bad. And they look a lot better than the original faux suede cover. Which is starting to look a bit 'used'. The chairs are from IKEA, in case you are interested. I believe it's called 'Roger'. The fabric is 'Magnificent' from Prestigious Textiles in the UK. Can't find it on their site... I've found it on another site though (with really bad pictures! The white background looks green in the picture. Ick.)

Scary creative space

2009-12-10T09:16:00.003Z

Yes. That's my desk. Scary, huh? It looks like that on a regular basis. It's a wonder that anything can actually get done at this desk. But it does. I'd say it's more a sign that stuff does get done, because if I weren't making/doing stuff, there'd be no reason to have all this stuff lying around, eh? Anyone else 'guilty' of this kind of creativity 'pile-up'?

More creative spaces this way.

Inside & Outside

2009-12-09T13:39:00.000Z

I forgot to show you, I got my little book, Inside & Outside, a couple of weeks ago. Love. It. It is sooo cool to look at your own pictures in book form. I can highly recommend using Blurb to make your own books/photo albums.

Because it takes up a lot less space than regular albums and if you lose it, all isn't lost, you can just order another copy! And they would make pretty great gifts, I reckon.

This is one of my favourite spreads in the book. Technically, I guess you'd say that the photos All Wrong. First of all, they are taken from a car, on a cloudy day with the wrong settings on the camera etc etc. But I so love the etheral, dream-like feel of these photos. Hooray for happy 'mistakes'!

Some people find that Blurb books take a while to arrive, but I think both the times I've ordered books from them, I've received them within or just over a week after ordering. Not bad, I think!

I have decided that I am going to make sure I take more photos of us, of the everyday and on holiday and all sorts. And then after each year make a book. As nice as it is to look at pictures on the computer, there is certainly something to be said for flicking through pages of memories...

Another favourite photo (the one on the left). It's from my hometown in Denmark. They put up this 'canopy' of lights in the High Street and it just looks lovely. Even when there's no snow, you can't help feeling a bit of Christmas cheer when you see that. Shame I won't be seeing it in person this year...

Muji Christmas

2009-12-08T13:40:00.002Z

Perfect stocking stuffers from Muji. That tree is so adorable. If there was a Muji store nearby (as in doesn't involve travelling in to London), I'm not sure I could keep myself from buying it. It's so cute! Right? Like, really, really cute.. :-)

Scottie Dog Noughts & Crosses :: Adorable!

North Pole In A Box :: There is a Polar Bear in this. Nuff said.

Wooden Tree Large :: Frickin' cute!

Press Up Brontosaurus :: Flippin' awesome.

Historic City View Handkerchief Paris :: Wouldn't blow my nose in it, but hang it on the wall. There are also London and NYC versions...

How to make a Flickr Mosaic

2009-12-08T09:42:00.004Z

Please follow this link to the tutorial.

Mosaic Monday, December 7

2009-12-07T12:31:00.000Z

1. 3, 2. Postal // 47 ilustradores, 3. Fa La La La Felt, 4. Untitled, 5. Blues, 6. Blurred bling I, 7. Untitled, 8. the world's youngest drag queen, 9. Vintage Tree Ornaments, 10. Ugly Face XII, 11. Untitled, 12. thanksgiving time, 13. crochet cards, 14. Untitled, 15. wild flowers, 16. succulents at dianas

1. Untitled, 2. Mexican Blouse pink flowers and fields, 3. thriving, 4. paper doll #93, 5. Wreath #2, 6. Passage | 12.03.09, 7. Untitled, 8. winter issue 2009, 9. paper garland, 10. flow, 11. snippets, 12. The Swan Maidens, 13. island house cards, 14. Untitled, 15. ALFALC (part of what will be sent), 16. and it starts...

I think I forgot Mosaic Monday last week, so here's a double for ya. Happy Monday! :-)

Christmas Is All Around

2009-12-06T21:33:00.002Z

More Christmas music/video goodness. This one from one of my favourite films, 'Love, Actually'. Not many films can almost bring me to tears every-single-time I watch it, but this one can.

This video is a song that features in that film, an almost has-been rock singer is trying to revive his career with a kind-of strange Christmas song (which ends up being number 1 - a big deal every year in the UK..). It is sung by Bill Nighy in the role as Billy Mack.

Christmas is all around - unfortunately, I can't embed the video, so you'll have to scoot over to YouTube to see it. This video is possibly NSFW, it's got scantily clad ladies and semi pole-dancing. ;-)

Sunday visits

2009-12-06T15:54:00.000Z

Hey, I've not had time to take any pictures (isn't it a bummer how little daylight there is this time of year?!), so I thought we'd have another go-visit post. Links to some of you nice people who stop by from time to time (thank you!)

Elemental Stitches -Fizz Pop Bang Blog - The Mayberry Sparrow - Flower Press - Happy Squirrel - painted fish studio - Knit-R-Done - Follow the White Bunny - Noodlehead - Hopfaldera - june at noon - Handmade at Home - yes, i MADE that - Fiddlesticks - Teacup Lane -Petitpalais' Weblog

Hope you've had a nice weekend! :-)

A bit of news!

2009-12-05T09:56:00.000Z

There's a new blog header - nice and festive. But not too much. ;-)

But that's not the real news! This is: I finally bagged a job! Huzzah! I start on Monday. Not sure about my hours yet and all that, but hopefully it will be 'a lot' leading up to Christmas.

So posts may become a bit less frequent around here now that I am no longer a lady of leisure as it were. ;-)

Now to fully enjoy this last proper weekend in 'freedom' (I suspect I'll be working some weekend hours as this is a retail job).

You are awesome

2009-12-03T15:14:00.002Z

Thank you so much for all your comments about my table at the craft fair. You are all so bloody nice and now I don't feel nearly as bad about the outcome of the fair. As some of you have said; wrong crowd and/or tasteless crowd. ;-)

I wish you guys could have come to the fair, might have had a different result at the end of the day! Well, let's remedy that, I'd like to invite you to a, er, virtual version of my table. Below are pictures of some of the items available in my shops (I have a few differnt ones, trying to figure out which is the best option..). There's a direct link to each of the listed items below the image, but here are links to each of the shops:

My paintings on Etsy - polar bears, ladies and little girls in their own little universe
The Polka & Bloom Emporium on Etsy - mostly zipper pouches and the magical phone cozies, but other things will soon be there too.
The Polka & Bloom Emporium on Zibbet - lots of different goodies: several softies that are on Sale. Skinny crochet scarves which are also on Sale. Gocco goodies and more!

As a thank you (because you are a-w-e-s-o-m-e!), if you mention the blog in message to seller, I'll send you something nice. Nice stuff for nice people, yay!

Green Gocco Zipper Pouch

Softie Alma - sale!

Softie Lilli Patches - sale

Set of 3 Gocco Cards

Set of 3 Gocco Bookmarks (I love these!)

Crochet Hairbands, set of 3

My head with 3 hairbands. Sorry, my head isn't for sale. ;-)

Skinny Skarf in Raspberry and Plum - sale. Yummy.

Skinny Skarf in Mint and Yellow - sale

Girl in Red Original Painting

My Polar Bear Friend Original Painting

Blue Flower Phone Gadget Case.

Brown Felt Phone Gadget Case

Not so fair fair

2009-12-01T14:12:00.001Z

This is my table at that craft fair a couple of weeks ago. I think it looked quite nice. Lots of colour, nice things and such. But, sadly, it wasn't enough, apparently, because I didn't do particularly well. To be honest, most of the people seemed to have a really slow day.

And I suspect that the things I make weren't exactly in line with the taste of most of the browsers. Trying to look at it in a 'positive' way. Well, you live and learn. And I learned that not all people want something that is unique.

Anyway, moving on. Because that is all you can do, right? Still, I'd love to hear what you think of my little table.

Happy hyacinths

2009-11-30T13:30:00.003Z

There's a new pattern available in the shop. Hyacinth Holidays. Aren't hyacinths lovely at this time of year? When we need something bright and colourful.

Here's a tip for ya. Instead of using threads of different shades of the same colour to achieve a look similar to the blue hyacinth below, use a variegated thread. But jump all over the place, so the different colours of the thread gets spread all over the area you are stitching.

Mary's Boy Child

2009-11-29T11:29:00.003Z

So.. today is the fourth Sunday before Christmas and that kicks off the Christmas fun good and proper in my family. Some decorations go up, Christmas baking definitely gets under way and so on. And we light the first candle in the 'adventskrans' - a wreath with four candles, one for each of the four Sundays before Christmas.

And I thought we should have some Christmas music here on the blog too. To ease ourselves into the reindeer and jingle bells madness, we'll start with this classic from Boney M. You've probably heard it loads of times before, but have you seen the video? It is hilarious! Especially the guy in the group. For one, his strange hairstyle: an afro with a parting? Also, his incredibly tight trousers! But the funniest thing is his dancing. Oh it is impossible to describe in words. Although I encourage you to try in the comments! :-D

Happy Sunday!

I like...

2009-11-27T18:56:00.002Z

...to wrap presents in a simple and kind-of messy way... using my new Japanese masking tape and a paper 'doily'...

...the brown paper is from IKEA - quite cheap and fairly sturdy... must remember to get some more....

Dotty and wonky

2009-11-27T08:52:00.003Z

Look! Oh look! My mum just sent me this photo - it is yardage of my design WonkyDots printed by Spoonflower. Now that is exciting! I still only have a small swatch of it. I can't wait to see this in person. My mum will be making some cushion covers for the sofa in their living room. :-)

Gocco-bye

2009-11-26T12:10:00.006Z

Ahh Gocco.. so many possibilities, so little actual exploring of those possibilities. So I have made a decision. It's a little sad, but there we go. I am going to sell it. Someone out there in the world must be able to put it to better use than me (currently sitting in its box under my desk).

Before I put it up on Etsy I thought I'd offer it to you guys first. It is £145/US$240/EURO160 + postage (I am not completely sure how much that will be yet).

Edit:
Goodness, that was quick - Gocco has already found a new owner. :-)

It is used (though only a little, d'oh!), but in perfect condition. It comes with all the original stuff: box, a number of booklets (in Japanese), a video tape which I have never opened. Cleaning 'gel', drying rack, blue filter, carbon pen, ink blocking, batteries (slightly used).

In the original set you get 4 bulbs but obviosuly I've used those, but there's 6 left in a pack of 10 that I bought. So there's 6 bulbs, 2 screens for fabric printing and 4 screens for paper printing. Normally, there are only 2 paper screens in a set and no fabric screens.

These are the inks I have - all for paper. You should be able to tell how much is left approximately of each tube of ink. Red - light green - gold (barely used) - black (also barely used) - pale yellow - darker green - orange - blue - light pink and blue. (the last 3 don't have their little boxes anymore).

In an original set you only get 3 colours of ink, red, black and gold - so I reckon this is pretty good! ;-)

The light pink and blue in the bottom of the above image are both really dry, but you may be able to revive them to use them. I have used some of them mixed with other colours.

Please email me if you are interested: binaryflower AT gmail DOT com

Goodies for us

2009-11-26T09:38:00.002Z

Look what I finally* received yesterday! Our advent calendar from my parents. Yay! Can't wait to see what is in the parcels - my mum puts a lot of effort into it every year and I Really Appreciate That! And now that it has become a tradition, I can't imagine December over here without this missive from home...

*Finally not due to any tardiness on my mum's behalf, but because of Royal Mail's uselessness. My mum sent the parcel on Nov 10 and when it still had not arrived earlier this week, we decided to look into it. Luckily my mum had bought 'track and trace' for it, so we could check its whereabouts online. Apparently Royal Mail had tried to deliver it - according to the online information, but noone had been here on the day in question (I know, because I am a job-less bum who sits at home in my jammies all day ;-) ). And even if they had been here, they hadn't left a 'sorry you were out' card.

Really not impressed with Royal Mail- oh well, I got my parcel now, so December is safe. :-)

Fence me in

2009-11-25T10:52:00.002Z

Hello, this is a..uhh.. public service sort of post. Look at that picture up there - that's my computer desktop. Doesn't it look lovely and clutter free? Especially lovely because it has an aerial photo of the first bit of Denmark you see when flying over from England. But I digress...

Looks can be deceiving and so with my desktop, because this is what it actually looks like. Quite a different story, isn't it? I love the clean look of the above image. But my desktop just cannot stay like that, because, well, I dump 'stuff' there and not in a tidy or moderate way.

So, how can I have both? Tidy and mess all at once? If you're like me, you may want to check out a little program called Fences. You can make boxes (the darker rectangles in the 'messy' shot) to group similar files or folders. And the "Fenced" boxes can be any size, so you can have 20 files in one, but only show a few - then you simply scroll in the box to the desired file.

But what abot the clean look? It's the best bit. And so simple and great: double-click to show your messy desktop, double-click to hide it. Oh how I wish such a facility was available for my home. Double-click and all the cleaning is done.

You can set files and folders manually, so if you want the folder with pictures of your pet iguana always visible, you can. So neat.

Please do yourself a favour and check (try!) out Fences, especially if you are a li'l miss messy like me, but still like the serenity of a clean desktop. I can't remember where I came across Fences, but I've been using it for about 6 months and It Is Awesome.

And the best bit is that Tony, who of course is a complete desktop clean freak, can't see all the clutter on my computer and so I avoid the "OMG what is all that crap on your desktop?!" comments. ;-)

Nuff said

2009-11-24T22:22:00.002Z

I've walked past this sign loads of times. The funny part? I'ver never seen even a single man at work...

Someone's been busy!

2009-11-24T12:55:00.002Z

Look at these, aren't they gorgeous? Fabric designed by the very talented Susie of the FlowerPress. It is called Rick Rack and comes in these 2 fab colours (Strawberry and Aqua - delicious!). Both are beautiful, but I do think that the Aqua one is just that little bit beautiful-ler. But the red one is perfect for Christmas sewing, don't you think?

I think you should run over to her wee shop and get yourself some! And while you're there, pick up some fab tea towels - that filigree one is my favourite. Nice!

Some happy shop news

2009-11-23T17:38:00.000Z

Apart from embroidering up a storm (maybe that's why it's so windy here today? It's kinda scary to listening to the wind howling like it is!) I have also been busy setting up another shop on Etsy. I thought it'd be a bit confusing with embroidery patterns along with other 'stuff' in the same shop. (What do you think?)

So these are some of the items in my new shop, the Polka & Bloom Emporium. They are some of the stock I brought to the craft fair (which I just realise I haven't told you about yet - maybe tomorrow..). For now there's my gocco printed pouches/pencil cases and the Magic Mobile Cozies. Which I love. Love, love, love. I have been using mine for the last... 4 months maybe and it's just one of those things that is so simple and makes me so disproportionately happy.

So I went and did a silly little video of how it works. If it doesn't work for you, here's a link to the video on Flickr.

These were all listed today, more colours will be up later in the week. So you see, I've pretty much got your Christmas presents covered, eh? ;-)

Forever Noël pattern

2009-11-23T09:41:00.000Z

Over the last week I've been doing a looooot of embroidery. That makes me really quite happy. I don't know if you embroider too, but I can really, truly recommend it! It is so relaxing and at the end of it you have something pretty. Or something rude if that's your flavour. ;-)

Anyway, here's the first of the Christmas flavoured patterns I've been working on. A little branch-y heart with 'noël' written inside. It is called 'Forever Noël'. I really, really like natural elements in Christmas decorations - maybe that's why I insist on having a real tree?

I remember going with my mum to the nearby forest when I was little, to collect branches, moss, pinecones etc for making candle decorations for Christmas. In my family candles are a big part of the December 'celebrations'. I guess with those cold, short December days you crave something warm and bright to make it feel a bit cozier.

Get the pattern right here.

Adopt a cozy blanket!

2009-11-22T15:49:00.000Z

I have a few crochet (baby) blankets available. The softest 100% cotton.

They are a crazy low prize: £25 a pop, including postage to anywhere in the world!

Email me if you are interested, letting me know which one has taken your fancy. Details about (approx.) size can be found below.

1. 75 x 75 cm - 29.5" x 29.5"
2. 68 x 68 cm - 27" x 27"
3. 70 x 70 cm - 27.5" x 27.5"
4. 65 x 65 cm - 25.5" x 25.5"

5. 70 x 70 cm - 27.5" x 27.5"
~~6. 65 x 65 cm - 25.5" x 25.5"~~
~~7. 70 x 70 cm - 27.5" x 27.5"~~
~~8. 68 x 68 cm - 27" x 27"~~
9. 65 x 65 cm - 25.5" x 25.5"

Email hiccup

2009-11-21T21:13:00.003Z

Hey guys-

just a quick note to say that I just discovered that some of my email filters have gone a bit funny. Some emails have been redirected to other folders instead of staying in the inbox.

So if you have emailed me in the last 3-4 weeks and not had a reply, please email me again and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Sorry about the hiccups, best go sort it all out now. ;-)