nordic craft

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T01:02:00.003+01:00

Happy 2012 everyone! I had a lovely, quiet New Years Eve with Keith this year. We cooked dinner and watched the fireworks over Stockholm. Perfect after a very busy Christmas!

If anyone would like to celebrate the new year by doing a bit of embroidery, I thought I'd remind you of the New Year Embroidery Sampler I designed a few years ago. The numbers on it still say 2009 of course, but that could easily be changed. Perfect if your New Years resolution happens to be learning a few new embroidery stitches!

Several people found the time to try my sampler design back in 2009, the above image is from the (now dormant) blog Potluck Crafters. If you decide to make your own 2012 version, I would love to see it!

Creative Christmas Packaging

2011-12-24T11:21:00.001+01:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Today (the 24th) we celebrate Christmas here in Sweden. I know that for my overseas readers it's still a day early, so I thought I'd post some last-minute gift wrapping inspiration.

I love wrapping presents in simple brown paper, but it does feel a bit plain if you don't add some color! Last week I made these tags/ornaments for my gifts, inspired by Helena at Craft and Creativity. They are made of air-dry clay, stamped with regular rubber stamps. I think they do much to brighten up my gifts!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Christmas Cracker Tutorial

2011-12-22T18:08:00.002+01:00

D'oh! I forgot to mention to you all that I had a guest post published over at the Pickled Herring a few days ago! Kathryn approached me several weeks ago asking if I would like to contribute to her "Scandinavian Christmas" blog series. Of course I was thrilled!

I contributed a tutorial for these very traditional Swedish Christmas ornaments. They are similar to British Christmas crackers, but less noisy and much simpler to make. We don't have a tree this year, but I hung the ornaments of a door handle for good measure:

If you'd like to make some ornaments of your own, head over here to read my tutorial!

Homemade Cinnamon Toffee

2011-12-18T09:35:00.000+01:00

Hope you are all excited for the holidays to start! I am leaving for my mothers' today, and we will be celebrating Christmas in her cottage in the country. Before I leave, I wanted to share a recipe for some x-mas treats I made the other day - simple and tasty! The original recipe (in Swedish) can be found here, but I went ahead and translated for my non-Swedish readers! Here goes:

Cinnamon Toffee Recipe

Ingredients:
100 g (3,5 oz or roughly ½ cup) butter
2 dl (roughly 1 cup) granulated sugar
1 dl (roughly ½ cup) pale treacle
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tbsp all purpose flour

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan.
Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for about 5 minutes.
Pour the (very hot) toffee onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Allow to cool in the refrigerator, then cut into pieces using a sharp knife.
Store in the refrigerator, wrapped in parchment paper or cellophane.

These are my toffees before I wrapped them in parchment paper to give away. The recipe is supposed to make around 40 pieces, but of course that depends how large you make them. Beware, though - they are very sweet! Small pieces are best.

Patchworking

2011-12-10T21:09:00.004+01:00

How is it December already?? We had the first snow in Stockholm yesterday - and though it melted within minutes, it was still a nice feeling. I've been doing quite a bit of Christmas crafting lately, but nothing I can show yet unfortunately! I have too many family mambers following my blog... So I thought I'd show you another little gift I made for Liv.

It's a patchwork ball, completely hand sewn using a great tutorial posted by iHanna. I've been following Hanna's blog for ages, and finally got round to making this. Hand sewing is really relaxing, and this ball is a great project even if you haven't done much hand sewing before.

I made two different balls for two different babies, and put a couple of little bells inside for added fun. It's the perfect size for throwing around - Keith has already asked me to make one for him, too!

Stockholm is great this time of year - all the Christmas lights, hanging out in cozy cafés, going to the Christmas market right in my neighborhood... I'm ready for the holidays!

Exploring Stockholm: Textile Arts at Nordiska Museet

2011-11-18T10:00:00.000+01:00

I love moving to a new city, exploring and trying to find a way to "fit in" to my new surroundings. Having spent the past 5 years in Gothenburg with only sporadic visits to the capital, the move has really prompted me to explore more of Stockholm than I ever have before. There's so much to see!

Keith's family came up to Stockholm for a visit a few weeks ago, and one of the things we did was visit Nordiska Museet, a great museum housed in this beautiful building:

The museum showcases Swedish cultural artifacts from the 16th century to the present day. And of course, my favorite part of the visit was the textiles gallery. Embroidery, weaving, tatting, beading... I love to look at traditional handicraft, it's so impressive how well these (mostly) everyday objects have held up for centuries!

This is an example of traditional Scandinavian wool embroidery, dated 1791. I love these colors! You'll have to excuse the poor quality of the photos though - the textiles were all housed in glass cases, and of course flash photography was not allowed.

I hope that you can at least get an idea of how colorful and vibrant these pieces are. Real works of art, often using patterns and stitches unique to different regions of Sweden.

Of course, the textiles were not the only thing in the museum. Keith and the others got bored with the textiles after a while and dragged me off to look at this statue of Gustav Vasa, the first king of Sweden.

All in all, this was a great day trip and if you are ever in Stockholm, I'd definitely recommend a visit!

A good time was had by all!

Baby girl power

2011-11-15T16:00:00.003+01:00

One of the first things I wanted to show you since I've been back are the neat little onesies I made for a friend's new baby girl. I've never done freezer paper stencils before, but it was so easy and fun! I even printed up some fabric for myself at the same time - that's the flower fabric in the middle of the photo. It has since become a fabric grocery bag.

Both of baby's parents are hard-core feminists, so the choice of stencil wasn't difficult. They went over very well! Here's little Liv modelling her new gear:

How cool is that vintage stroller by the way? Straight from the 70's!

Catching up!

2011-11-13T20:37:00.006+01:00

So, really, how do you summarize six months in one post? There has been way too much going on for me to write about it all, but I thought I'd show some snapshots of what I've been up to - enjoy!

I finally managed to finish my thesis, and in June I officially got my MSc in Political Science. I am beyond thrilled! I'll miss all the friends I've made though - some of whom I may never meet again as they will go back to their home countries far away from Sweden. Here is one of the last shots of my graduating class:

Keith also got his MSc (in computer science though) this spring, and one of the lovely things we did to celebrate was attend this graduation ball at a swanky ballroom in Gothenburg.

Yup, that's us. Looking way more grown up (and dressed up) than usual... The next thing we did, only weeks after me finishing my thesis, is pack up our apartment and move from Gothenburg to Stockholm. We managed to find a gorgeous sublet in Gamla Stan, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Stockholm. The building is 18th century - a bit drafty perhaps, but we love it!

So now that we have a new place to decorate and shop for, you may be seeing some more of that on this blog... Can you believe we have lived in the new place for four months and we still have several boxes yet to be unpacked! Our new apartment is much bigger than the last, and we just don't have enough furniture yet!

Anyway, I'm really enjoying Stockholm so far, and hopefully 2012 will be a good year for us with new things to see and do, people to meet and fun to be had!

Time for a new start!

2011-10-31T07:23:00.002+01:00

I've been neglecting this blog for way too long - it's time for that to stop!

The past six months have been filled with non-crafty things, such as: Finally finishing my thesis, getting my Master's degree, moving to Stockholm, working (part time) and applying for jobs (full time ones, that is).

My brain has been too crammed with to-do lists and worries (yes, I am a worrier) to allow much space for blogging ideas, but I do have some crafty goodness to show! Two of my dearest friend had a baby this summer, so there has been lots of kiddy crafting lately... And some journaling of course!

I will try not to neglect my blogland friends from now on!

Simplicity

2011-04-18T20:20:00.005+02:00

I am me. Now.

Sometimes it's best to keep things simple. I think this spread says it all...

Time is flying

2011-04-15T14:16:00.001+02:00

I can't believe April is half gone already. How did this happen?? Thought I'd share my April page for the Kathryn Wheel Calendar Challenge. I'm not as pleased with this page as I was with some of the others, but I suppose there's always next month...

Some more of my recent journal pages:

A crazy page... I love the wild-eyed lady! This page was actually started months ago, but it took me ages before I could bring myself to journal on it. Worried my messy handwriting might ruin it... But I think I did OK.

Feeling sort of rebellious... "Nej" means no in Swedish.

This page was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers and sewers, Kajsa Wikman who runs a blog (and shop) Syko. Kajsa makes the cutest animal applique pouches, and I thought this little piggy and mouse might like to live in my journal as well.

Love affair

2011-04-10T20:30:00.001+02:00

I'm having a love affair with my new Lumix camera (a gift from my family last Christmas) and I though I'd show my love by making it a handmade camera cosy! Please excuse the messy top stitching, I was in a hurry to finish it! *rolls eyes*

This camera is perfect for me, simple but brilliant. I'm off to snap some more pictures!

Challenge yourself!

2011-04-07T18:00:00.001+02:00

I have been taking a break from swapping and challenges these past months, trying to focus more on my thesis, but these two were just too good to resist!

I have joined iHanna's second annual DIY Postcard Swap. The object is simple: make 10 different handmade postcards (any style or technique) and mail them off to 10 swappers from all over the world! The send-outs are fast approaching, so I have been working away on my cards.

I decided to use the same image on all my cards, but vary the collage elements and colors. The girl comes from an old journal page, which I scanned, traced and cleaned up in Photoshop, and printed. I used acrylics, book pages and all sorts of papers for the cards, and then sealed them with mod podge.

Some of them are still waiting for the finishing touches, and then I just need to add sturdy backs and send them off to their new homes!

I also joined the recent 30 days of Lists challenge, organized by Kam, Amy and Justine. Since I am an avid list maker, I had a lot of fun with this challenge. I'm planning on using my lists in upcoming art journal pages.

(Click image for a larger view)

Dolls and stitches

2011-04-04T12:40:00.003+02:00

This little lady is going to be a gift for a certain someone... As soon as I manage to make some clothes for her, that is! I'm trying to find more time for sewing, it's so much fun but a little time (and space) consuming... This doll was made a couple of weeks ago. My inspiration came from the lovely and talented Jess Brown, though my doll-making skills certainly don't measure up to hers! I tried tea-dying the fabric for the body, to give a bit of an aged look... It was my first time tea-dying, and it worked great! The hair is a thick wool felt (vadmal) stitched on with embroidery floss. The arms are button-jointed.

And this is the view from the window sill! Spring is slowly approaching...

My mom visited last month, and she taught me something I've been dying to learn for ages: free motion stitching! I love it! I'm already experimenting with a major free motion stitched project, which will have to remain secret for a little while... The test piece above reads "Karin loves Keith" in my own very wobbly stitching.

Spring is almost here!

2011-03-17T09:46:00.006+01:00

We've had a couple of lovely days here in Gothenburg, the snow is melting and the sun is shining. I'm so ready for spring to come!

I've been crazy busy with my thesis, so there hasn't really been much crafting for the last couple of weeks... But here's a couple of completed pages. I'm a bit late with my March page for the calendar challenge, but here it is finally!

A little bit of spring decoration... The two little cupcakes are handmade by me, finally got them painted a few weeks ago... And don't you just love the table runner? It was made by my mom when she was a kid, circa 1965! Still looks good as new, and I love it so!

Please forgive the goofy expression and my hunchback pose! :-D My dear friend Johan had his 30th birthday this weekend, and Keith and I offered to help with the food prep. This is a traditional Swedish Smörgåstårta (literally translates as "sandwich cake"). An odd dish if you ask me, but Johan loves them so there you go... If anyone's curious, here's a link with some info about this Swedish curiosity... Hope you're all having a great week!

Marbled Papers and a Page

2011-01-31T21:14:00.004+01:00

Thought I'd show some marbled papers I made a few weeks ago using an awesome, simple and fun method: Shaving Cream marbling! I used this Craftster tutorial. The papers turned out lovely, but they still smell faintly of shaving cream! Need to find a way to get rid of that smell...

And here's my February page for Kathryn's calendar challenge! I actually made this page weeks ago, I got a little ahead of myself and made a bunch of monthly spreads. Awesome challenge!

Hope you've had a good month!

More journal pages!

2011-01-23T22:41:00.004+01:00

Well, there hasn't been much crafting going on here, apart from my journaling! I'm really enjoying playing around with colors and techniques.

I like this first spread a lot. I was trying a new color combo and attempting to add more collage to my pages (I've been mostly painting lately). I'm pleased with the result!

I've decided to join in Kathryn's challenge to create a calendar page for every month this year. Lots of fun! I must admit that I have skipped ahead and done more than one page already... For more lovely calendars, see the challenge flickr group.

Another page, haven't added the journaling yet. As in my first journal, I'm doing a lot of imitating (why don't we call it "interpreting"? sounds much better!) other, more talented artists... Trying to find what styles I like. Here I'm playing around with different facial dimensions. Inspired by tollipop on etsy.

First ever visual journal!

2011-01-07T16:07:00.007+01:00

I'm so pleased that I finally finished my first visual/art journal! I started this way back in August. It's a moleskine volant notebook so it has around 90 pages. I really had a lot of fun with this, and I love looking through all the pages. Can't believe I created all that!

These are some of my favorite pages:

Sort-of-self-portrait

This page is inspired by a photo on flickr.

A "fall" themed page made in November

This is a fantasy landscape, supposed to look like a far away planet... :-)

Do you journal? What do you journal about?

Nerd Girl

2010-11-30T09:01:00.002+01:00

I drew this yesterday using my stabilo point 88 pen. This morning I scanned it, and used Photoshop to fix it up a bit and color it in. I'm a complete novice with Photoshop, but it's fun to play around with!

Hope you like this cool nerd chick!

My Bucket List

2010-09-26T18:55:00.003+02:00

Hi there! Long time no see! I am still planning to re-awaken this blog at some point, but I have not had the time quite yet... This post is just to share one of the exercises I have done as a part of the Live a Better life in 30 Days Challenge at the Personal Excellence Blog. This is

MY BUCKET LIST

Go snorkeling in a coral reef
Go on a road trip through Great Britain and Ireland
Shower in a Waterfall
Tour the White House
Visit a Tropical Island
Travel to at least 50 countries
Visit the Great Wall of China
Visit Japan
Visit Russia
Visit Iceland
Visit every U.S. state
Experience a sunset
Experience a sunrise
Go on a road trip across Sweden
Camp in the wild & sleep under the stars
Go hiking in Norrland
Go WWOOFING in another country
Visit the Galapagos Islands
Ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway
Go river rafting or inner tubing
Climb a Mountain
Cruise the Pacific Ocean
Go on a Road Trip across the US
Go backpacking through Eastern Europe
Hike through a Jungle
See the midnight sun
Live in at least 5 Foreign Countries
Earn a Master’s Degree
Have an inspiring and meaningful job in an international organization
Work professionally with peace, development or human rights issues
Give a guest lecture at a university
Speak at a conference or event
Be an expert in my line of work
Be a mentor to someone
Organize a successful charity event
Publish a piece in a Newspaper
Create a Personal Website
Be Debt Free
Study something purely out of interest
Become Financially Stable And Independent
Have a successful blog
Fly First Class
Campaign for Political office
Be my ideal weight
Get Pampered at a Spa
Have my teeth whitened
Have nutritious eating habits
Make Exercise a regular habit
Meditate
Get a complete makeover
Create my dream home
Have a home office and library
Have a wardrobe filled with nice clothes
Acquire Patience
Be present in the moment
Become a better listener
Forgive myself
Forgive others
Laugh more, be happy
Learn how to take a compliment well
Stop biting my fingernails
Try things I'm afraid to do
Go to a personal coach
Make a Memory Book of My Life
Read 100 Works of Classic Literature
Write
Grow a Flower Garden
Grow my own vegetables
Learn how to paint
Paint a Self-Portrait
Sew a quilt
Learn to make pottery
Make an altered journal
Sew a dress for myself
Skate at a roller rink
Go to a Comic-con
Go to a costume party
Sell my handmade creations
Sell at a craft show
Have a beautiful craft room
Send a message in a bottle
Throw a huge party for all my friends and family
Learn how to cook
Volunteer 1000 Hours
Volunteer at a shelter on Christmas Eve
Go a month without television
Fly a kite
Join the Mile High Club
Receive a love letter
Take a Cooking Class
Learn Latin
Learn Spanish
Re-learn German
Learn sign language
Learn to drive
Spend more time in nature
Own a really nice Camera
Own a Vacation Home
Grow old with someone
Make a difference in someone’s life
Change the world

What is your Bucket List?

Happy 2010!

2010-01-02T13:08:00.005+01:00

Just dropping in to wish you a Happy New Year! I've had a wonderful Christmas break, no studying for 2 whole weeks! But from today it's back to the books... I'm hoping to get some more time for crafting before I leave for NY in March though, so please keep checking in!

Here's a little mosaic of some of the projects I worked on in 2009... The ones I liked the most, anyway! :)

1. Bird stamp - edited, 2. "sing" ATC, 3. Bunny stitchette, 4. Molly Monkey - close up, 5. Today's bento, 6. Finished doll quilt, 7. Yummy, 8. ATC QUEENS, 9. Lavender sachet

I hope the new year is treating you well so far!

Exciting News

2009-11-11T06:49:00.004+01:00

Sorry for my complete absence over the past few weeks... I'm afraid this blog will be on hiatus for a while as I try to keep my head above water, school-wise. Not much time for anything else!

I just wanted to share some exciting news: Next spring I will be doing an internship at the UN headquarters in New York! I am beyond excited! I will be at the UN Office for Partnerships, it's the perfect place for me. Can't wait! :-)

To keep this craft related: I have been to NY once before, but I didn't get to do much craft related shopping or crafty sight seeing that time - so any ideas and tips would be appreciated! Those of you who follow this blog will know I often complain about Swedish fabric prizes, so you can bet I'll do a lot of shopping next spring. :-)

Take care everyone, I'll be back soon!

Handmade Journal

2009-10-10T20:38:00.004+02:00

I'm excited to show you some of the things I made for a recent Craftster swap. I tried this tutorial for hand-bound journals about a year ago, but then I forgot about it... Just rediscovered it for this swap, and it's so much fun!

I embroidered my partners initial on the cover fabric to personalize the journal. I used nice white paper for the signatures and a sparkly blue scrapbook paper for the end papers.

Since my partner likes to sew, I stamped some of the pages with a handmade button stamp.

I'm excited to try binding journals again, and I'm thinking about making a couple more journals as Christmas gifts. I think it would be fun to personalize them with different colors, applique and embroidery. I recently started planning out my hand made Christmas gifts, hoping to get some more done in advance and not have the usual last-minute scramble. Do you have any fun gift ideas?

Bad, bad blogger!

2009-10-02T10:22:00.003+02:00

Wow, it's been ages since I last posted. I have no excuse other than things have been CRAZY at school... Not much time for anything else!

I have crafted some things for a swap though, as soon as they're received I can show you. And I've bought some shiny new craft books -which I'll never have time to actually read, but that's another story!

This is an ATC made for a "Used Postage Stamp ATC" swap. You like?

Back to school

2009-09-03T20:23:00.005+02:00

We're back from Riga! We had a great time, there was so much to see. We visited the amazing beaches outside the city,swam in the sea, got massages, rode a pedal boat on the canal, shopped, visited loads of interesting museums, rode go-carts and watched 4D cinema, and walked around the beautiful Vecriga (Old Town) and Art Nouveau districts. My feet were so sore after 4 days of sightseeing!

But now we are back home - and school has started! It was a bit of a shock at first, but I'm really enjoying being a student again! It looks like I'm going to be really busy in the coming weeks, so I probably won't be blogging as much as I'd like... But tonight I wanted to share something that's on my mind a lot these days:

Fun and pretty school supplies!

1. hand bound journal 2. pencil case 3. organizer 4. pencil cup 5. book pin 6. stationery sampler 7. letterhead set 8. tote bag 9. note cards 10. custom bookplates 11. journal 12. note cards 13. stikcy notes 14. pencil case 15. journal 16. mini planner

Aren't they just lovely? I want them all!