just so

It was my birthday last week. I turned 28. You know, the older you get, the less special you think the day is and deserves to be... and the less you start expecting in terms of gifts and parties and things... and the more you secretly hope that maybe, it will be special in some way anyway... and then, bam, wonderful people make it very special, by caring. Thank you, family, for making me feel loved.

Fe and Papa made a great poster. Another family portrait, along with all the things Fe would like to give me... ice-cream, a flower, the sun, a big house with lots of windows... and many yellow lamps (ha, she knows me well! I've been dreaming about this).

Sisie destroyed a toilet paper role, especially for me! And my J (who knows I'm partial to nice wrapping) wrapped my gift in awesome by simply drawing on the ribbon. Creative he is.

We painted snow. And the floor tiles. Unintentionally.

And then I got the loveliest of surprises by sweet Vi of the ever-so-stylish snygg, who sent me the most endearing happy magnets for our fridge. I had left a comment on her blog, a long time ago, telling her I loved them. And she remembered! I am so happy! What a lovely surprise! And she wrote a sweet note on lovely lovely paper, too. Thank you, danke, tack så mycket!!! You made me smile in a big way! :):):)

And so it is that I really enjoyed my birthday this year. There was no big party, but those I loved were there (and chocolate), and that's all that matters.

:)

PS.

Where Children Sleep. (via Designmom)
Made this yesterday and it's really, really delicious.
Lemon yellow organic crocheted sunshine.
blog-crush and one more.
to make with Fe. And this.
owl decals (via Pamela).
Thank you Deborah, again. So honored! :)


And a few more things:


First, I'd like to apologize for the previous post, which got published something like ten times. I was playing around with my new phone (new phone, yay birthday) and what can I say, I have not mastered the art of mobile blogging.

Second, would all you lovely people who participated in Craft-It-Forward (wohoo!) please e-mail me your addresses sometime before year-end, so I can send a little something handmade your way... one of these days/weeks/months. :)

Happy week!

Off...

We are on a mini vacation. See you next week!

:)

Craft-It-Forward

A while ago, Jutta posted about Craft-It-Forward. The idea is, in short, that I will make something (myself!) for the first five people who comment on this post. Those five people will then post about it on their blogs and make something for five of their readers... and so on. You have until the end of the year to make and mail it. And it can be whatever (Sewing, painting, photography, pottery, etc.).

What a great idea! I'm so excited to get a small package from Jutta. 

And I am also excited to be making something small (I have a few ideas... ) for 5 of you!

If you are interested, comment away!

And Happy Weekend!

PS, if you have a lot of extra time on hand (who does), go check out odosketch.
(Fe and I had a lot of fun with it yesterday. Look, it's the lemon tree with the villagers!)

Lemon Tree.

The other day, Fé told me a beautiful story about a lemon tree.

It stood in the middle of a little village (I forgot its name, something very creative) and there were huge round yellow lemons hanging from it. All the animals from the village (a crocodile, a rabbit, a bear, and a mouse) stared at it every day and it made them happy. One day, the rabbit wondered why it had lemons, for he had rather wanted apples that one can eat. And he said so to the tree.

The next morning, when the animal villagers got up and convened, as was usual, at the market square in the middle of the tiny village, they saw, to their surprise, that the lemon tree had brought forth apples. Why, the rabbit asked the lemon tree, did you give us apples? To which the lemon tree replied: I give lemons for joy, and apples for food. Whatever it is, ask, and you shall receive. (The next day, the lemon tree grew jars of honey for the bear, and the day after that, cubes of cheese for the mouse.)

Huh.

So I had to sew that tree. I'm not sure yet how to tackle the jars of honey, but I will get there. Also, neither Fe nor I know what the tree ended up offering to the crocodile for food. Antelopes?

Happy Thursday to all.

PS. It's -22 degrees Celsius here, brr. After 4 years here, I t h i n k I need to admit it to myself and go buy real winter clothes.)
PPS When I was 13, I was addicted to this song. Haha, happy 90s.

Lofty peeks.

Still not finished, but here are a few glimpses.

We are waiting for a closet. Built-in, high-gloss stained white glass. (For now it means that there are clothes and boxes lying around everywhere. It's annoying.)

I'm looking for an old barn door to make a desk. (Anyone have one lying around?) :D

I want to cover our head board in tweed. And big fabric covered buttons.

I am looking for the perfect (affordable) lamp. Something like these, but cheaper.

With two little kids, it all takes so much longer than I thought it would.

I'm craving white, can you tell.

Aaaand: I need to clean the glass, don't I?
(But they still need to do work on it and exchange a few pillars, so it seems pointless.)

Yes to love.

You know what? 

I believe in 

love.

And holding hands.

And kissing.

Passionately.

And in gummy-bears.

(And in the Finnish art of freeze-drying.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

[insert picture of me and J kissing. 

In the rain. Under a stylish transparent umbrella. In Paris. Wearing cool scarves. He.]

facepalm

To those calling me a "cool mum" for allowing my kids to color themselves and each other (thank you, btw), here is the rest of the story:

First things first. As a birthday gift, the husband wanted a portrait of us three for his office.






Ya, that didn't work out.

But I got these ones that I really like:




Anyway, we had a lot of fun with the colors. When J got home from work that afternoon, we colored his face and his belly, too, ate cake and steaks and played Sioux.

Before bedtime, we put the kids in the bathtub for a great scrub-down, and I thought all was well. I admit I thought I was kind of cool. I replied to the comments of my last post this morning, saying: No worries, no children or furniture were permanently damaged by the experiment.

Until today, 2pm. I had just managed to put the baby down for a nap, when the Miss came up and I shrieked something like "hüüüüüüüüüuüiiiiiiiii" because she had thought, apparently, that it would be a great idea to do the coloring thing AGAIN.

Her face, her feet, the soles of her feet(!) her hands... they were pitch-black. And so were our walls, the steps of our brand-new staircase, the railing... anything she managed to touch on her way up. :D

So, the joke's on me. It's taken me over an hour to wipe all the surfaces, to get her into the bathtub again, and to get Sisie to sleep again.

So be forewarned, if you try this at home, make sure you tell your kids that it's not an everyday type of activity. (Also rub them with oil beforehand so the stuff comes off more easily. And please use non-toxic colors.)

:)

Anyway. For the rest of the week, we're on chalk.


\


And thank you so much, Darcy! (I love your name and the person on which it is based.. and your blog is fantastic.)

Happy Birthday

He wanted portraits. Happy Birthday love!

PS In case you were wondering, that's a soggy mush-cake, just the way he likes it.

food.

+ quinoa tabbouleh


+ carrot cupcakes 

I've been getting my act together and cooking (almost) every day. Cooking is still such a chore for me, but it's getting there. I'm starting to enjoy it. I'm planning meals and buying groceries according to a shopping list. Wow, I'm all grown-up! Sisie eats everything (and I mean EVERYTHING. Celery? Brussels sprouts? R a w onion? Num.) Fé, on the other hand, doesn't eat anything. Apples, raw carrots, plain noodles, and cocoa oat milk. Bread. That's it. If it were up to her, she'd eat cookies and ice-cream all day. Man, I hope it's just a phase.

Why am I telling you this? I'm not sure. I just wanted to. :)
The recipes above are good. Also this and this one.

(I used to make fun of people exchanging recipes, you know. And look at me know. Haha. Having kids certainly changes ya.)

Raise me up.

The Miss after climbing one of the gazillion snow mountains out here. There is so much snow here that trucks have to pick it up a few times a day to ensure we don't drown in it.

Anyway, it's her favorite thing in the world. Snow mountains. (Definitely a true Finn, that one.)

I'm standing at the bottom of a big mountain, too. I'm looking up and I feel like I don't want to climb it. I'd rather just stay on my couch and not do anything about it. But climb it I must, the sooner the better, or it'll only loom larger and larger in the background.

It's good to remember the feeling you get when you've climbed a mountain. The air is clear, you can see for miles... and in the end, it was all worth the effort. Right?

Talking of mountains. An oldie but goodie.
SUCH a great crafting with kids for Valentines idea.

And thank you, Brigg, Fé is so very honored.  :)

Kinderzimmer III: Bunting

Earlier this week, I finally got around to hanging up the paper bunting I bought a while ago from Fryd & Design. I like these colors and patterns so, so much.

I also managed to hang up the felt ball garland I made for Fe last year. [And when I say "made" I mean I used a needle to push a thread through several store-bought felt balls. There is no easier DIY than a felt ball garland. Really. For a how-to, go, for example, here.]

The room... it's getting there... bit by bit (and the "loft" is, too...)

Talking of rooms, I saw t h e most beautiful little girl's room today. The lamps were made using spray-painted pieces of soda cans (!), and that's just the beginning. I'm still in awe. (Yes, I'm talking to you, S.)

Oh, and thank you, sweet Mima. :)

Happy weekend.