TURSKISH (DE)LIGHT

Eddi goes on lots of trips for his work and when he went to Istanbul jsut before the Holidays I asked him to bring me some lamps back home; I've always loved turkish and ottoman style mosaic lamps and I wanted something to colour up the dining room which is rather pale.


I got these two small table lamps as Christmas present. They sit well among the other things I have at the countryside house.

WINTER WONDERLAND

I love winter, when it really is winter and not just brown wet mush all around. I love snow and how it can lay so light and soft on the ground and how it can sparkle so beautifully (more than any stage outfits ever can no matter how much the bling), I love the crisp cold air of winter and how and all sounds are more silent, muted by the snow that is all over. I love how it’s a bit like stepping trough the magic closet and into Naria every time you open the door. I do love it when it's winter.

The porch froze.

Except for that it takes forever to get a child dressed and it gets hot when you you’re inside the tram or the bus or a shop and it takes forever to get your car out of the snow when you a re in a hurry. And it takes forever for the snow to melt come spring; it always takes forever before winter is over and you get sick and tired of that damn jacket and those damn winterboots over and over again.

So yes, the coin always has two sides but at least the snow and the first weeks of winter are always amazing. This year, as it seemed to be a rainy Christmas like the last one also was, the snow did indeed make everything more magic when it fell and fell a week ago and turned everything so beautiful just in time for the holidays.


Dag as he fell asleep while we were on a walk in the woods.

CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas! Which you know still goes on for more than a week! (Officially, over here and in my book at least.) Hope you all are having a good one!

This year turned a splendid one over here, with much awaited snow falling just a couple of days before. We've been out in the countryside and altough it's beautiful and cosy it also gets rather hectic, with dinners and family gatherings and lots of to-do's. The middle days in between Christmas and New Year's have always been my favourite as those contain a lot of taking it easy.





And eating chocolate. And having wine. Plus lighting candles everywhere.


This year I made our Chrismtas tree to resemble the one's the Moomins make when they once wake up at winter and experience Christmas. Dag is a huge Moomin fan, and I am a big fan of Tove Jansson.



The tree has random items like sea shells (I got huge ones from a masquerade shop and cut them a bit smaller and glittered them over the course of a few days) and spoons and cups and pearls. Altough I used pom poms instead of pears.

Instead of a star it has a huge rose on top.

Quite suitably they read the chapter about the Moomins on Christmas on the radio earlier during Christmas Eve.  Here's what the original looked like from the books:

I noticed I have now apparently reached that stage of adulthood (that some have been in all of the time, I know, but not me) where one changes the textiles at home according to season. I made this table cloth for the holidays, consisting of different bits of red-and-white fabrics - X-mas points to the maxxx!

On Christmas Eve my whole family and Eddi's parents came over to us -four generations all-in-all.


My youngest guest -my new nephew- was just two weeks old!

Dag was a little eager to start with the Christmas dinner. (He's too young still to know to be eager for the gifts. Well, that will propably change nexgt year already...)

Then Santa Claus came over!
I remembered being scared of him when I was very young but this year, being the first Dag met Santa, he was very brave and only a little shy when he shook Santa's hand and introduced himself.

He had been a good boy and got lots of toys.

Calm Christmas Day morning.

MAKING OLD SHOES SHINE: THE SPARKLY VERSION

Suitably for DIY-season of the year (yes,  Christmas time) I was asked to collaborate with Yahoo! and get acquainted with and inspired by their Yahoo!DIY digital magazine - and then come up with my very own little do-it-yourself.*

Yahoo!DIY has a fresh and easy-to-navigate-trough layout, and is now full of eye candy along with lots of tips and tricks to DIY during the Holidays; gift and wrapping ideas, recipes, different decorations and more. I came across a post that mentioned both bling and glitter in the headline (on how to add a little extra glitter here and there without any mess) and as you know, bling and glitter has -apart from checks- been a theme here lately, so that was my thing! And I intended to add a LOT of glitter.

Some time ago I made an old pair of shoes fancier by adding rhinestones to them, and last week I pimped up a plain shirt by embellishing it -now it was time to spice up another pair of shoes: to glitter them up!

Glitter is something that growns on you. There was a point in life that if asked, I would have said that there can be such a thing as too much glitter. But nowadays, and especially at this time of year, I would say No, there simply can not be any such thing as too much glitter or bling. This often from a burlesque point of view, which is slightly ironic and full of the love of all things camp and kitsch. (And if you haven't noticed, Christmas is a very kitschy holiday.) But glitter, even when there is a lot of it, can still be stylish and classy too. And depending on how you choose to style a pair of glitter shoes, the result can be either wonderfully over-the-top or then very elegant. Or maybe even both.

Some of you may recall that crafting and I are not total bff’s, but that is only goes for certain areas of crafting. As I have accepted a lot more glitter in everyday life, I have also come to enjoy the bling up’s a lot more, to the extent that I sometimes start new projects and choose items to bling up without having an actual reason for it. But in this case there is very much reason - to give old shoes a new life. I have glittered up several pairs before and am often asked about how they've done.
So, here’s how I do it:

First take note that this will require a day or two - the steps are rather quick to do but the waiting in between takes time. So if you want to wear your blingy shoes for  Christmas you might be in a bit of a hurry, unless you start in 1-2-3-NOW! and yo might be able to wear then for Christmas day (which is, as I remember from the days when I was young and out and about all the time, the day to part-ey out on town.) But, even better, and as you perhaps might have a few other things on your hands righ tnow, make them in time for New year’s eve to definitely out-sparkle all other shoes in the room!

So - take out an old pair of shoes -or new ones if you so please, but wear them in first - and clean them up if needed. I find this works best on satin (or canvas) shoes, but basically you can do the same on any kind of material - this is also how I made the glitter surface for the (plastic) soles on my red heels that I embellished some time ago.

The pair I’m working on are a pair of by now rather sad looking dancing shoes I use on stage, but as I’ve said before; dance shoes are the most comfortable of heels as they are soft tand flex. In other words, perfect for parties as well!

You will need fabric embellishment glue, one that dries see trough and elastic. I go for my old pal Jewel-It. Then you'll need a brush to paint it on.

And, glitter. Heaps of glitter.

But don’t be chocked by the size here! For someone that pours glitter on herself and throws it in the air for a living, this is standard size and I go trough several of these a year.

A smaller size (that some perhaps may still refer to as a big jar of glitter? Hard to say when you have caught what we call glitter-herpes) will do fine, because in the end you will not need that much to cover your shoes, although the process requires quite a bit. You can smarten things up, and in the same time get by with less of a mess if you grab a few papers along for your working surface and an extra jar for the glitter.

First, fill your shoes with newspaper (or a few rolled nylon socks) in order to keep their shape and to not get messy on the inside. Start by covering one side of the shoe with glue; paint on a rather thin layer (it will sink in fast). Apply a second layer after a about ten minutes. Try to paint the glue on as even as possible - don’t make the layer too thick as the glitter will not attach evenly then, but make it thick enough still not to be soaked in straight away. It should leave a visible surface. (If you are working on another kind of material that won’t soak up the glue one layer is enough).

Fold a paper in half and open it up so that you have a little crease in the middle. Place the shoe on the paper and pour glitter on it. And I mean pour! Pour glitter on it like there is no tomorrow! Make it pile up! Glitter it like it’s 1999!

The shoe will look a bit over glittery and fuzzy, but it will not remain that way. Wait for some ten minutes again, and carefully lift the shoe and let the excess glitter fall off on your paper. Tap the heel and the toe a few times on the paper to get all the extras off.

To re-use your sparkle, fold the paper in half and pour the glitter back in your jar.

Leave the shoe lying on the side to dry while you start with your other shoe.

You can do the other side after an hour or two, depending on how well the first side has dried. Let that side dry too and then glue and pour gitter on the back of the shoes, leave them standing to dry. The glitter surface may look a bit uneven and weird, but fear not, this is only the first round.

You can speed up the drying process by gently blowing the shoes with a hair dryer. And I really want to stress it when I say ‘gently’ -keep the hairdryer on a good distance and on low effect; too hard a blow can make an uneven result as the glue-glitter mass can move. Also, do this away from your crafting table, unless you want to cover your whole house in glitter (which, depending on a lot of things, may not necessarily be a bad idea. But it’s not what were after here).

Your shoes are ready for the next coating after a few hours, or the next day. Paint on a new layer of glue, thick enough to cover all the glitter. It may seem like you are ruining the fine sparkle, but don’t worry, they will improve! Pour on glitter en masse again, wait a while, tap it off and let dry. Repeat on the other side and in the back. Let dry properly.

Two layers will most like be enough, or then go for a third, your choice.
You can choose to finish your project here and strut along in super glittery shoes already. Give them a light fix with hairspray or fixative (for coal crayons) before you head out.


I like it with a little less crisp and more smooth finish, that also makes them last longer, so I paint on one last layer of glue, thick enough to cover all the glitter, on. Once again you might get sceptic and think that you’ll ruin them, but don’t worry, as the glue dries the shoes will sparkle like whoa! again!

Like this!
Now dance the night away in shoes that would make Dorothy and her ruby slippers  jealous.

Some small extra tips and trix:

- you can mix two shades of glitter for more ‘depth’ to your sparkle, like a more yellow and a more brownish gold for exampe. Or red and fuchsia. Mix them in the jar you work with before pouring on.

-Bling your heels to the max by adding a few chrystals or rhinestones on top afterwards., for example in the front on a pair of sandals.

-Glitter just a section of you shoe,  the back and heel for example. Make sure to draw an exakt line with the brush when you put the glue on for a neat and pretty result, or then place place a trim /ribbon or a row of rhinestones on the edge to cover it.

For more crafts inspired from the magazine search for, or for sharing your own creations inspired by the posts use #yahooDIY

*) to be clear, this post has been sponsored by Yahoo! and I give my sincerest thanks for sponsoring me in the making of my glittered shoes. While this was a sponsored opportunity from Yahoo!, the idea of the post, it’s content and opinions expressed here are, of course, my own.

LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Don't get frightened by the headline there - last minute is still far away. According to some at least.

After being rather late when it comes to Christmas myself (in my book at least), this weekend I've made lots of preparations,  glittered things up here and there, prepared food and gifts, bought flowers (I always by a bunch of flowers whenever the season changes) and all that. I love giving presents and prefer never to give anything that is not of any use (unless it is really really funny or really really kitsch). But there are always those who it can be hard to find nice gifts for. Apart from giving away a dinner, tickets to see a play or movie, a day together like going bowing or so or a gift card, here are a few tips and tricks for nice gifts when you are in a hurry or don't know what to give:

Anything in a jar. You may recall that I love jars. And most people have a need for them anyway. Putting something rather mundane nicely wrapped in a mason jar makes it more of a gift, even though it's a pair of classic wool socks. But you can of course stuff your jars with lots of goodies like...

...homemade gingerbread.  Or sweets - home made candy or raw candy. Or go for store bought if you are not the baking type. Or mix!


Or store bought goodies. Mix healthy and less healthy. Or salty and sweet!

Or, give away a recipe to make. Cookies for example, where the receiver ads just the fat (and eggs, if needed). Remember to add the how-to (and ingredient list) along with the gift. (Recipes with candy or dried fruit in it looks nice when jarred up. )

Fill a bowl - new, flea market find, your choice - with fresh fruit and some extra tinsel to go along.
deliver as it is or wrapped in cellophane. Or, wrap it in -

...a tote bag deluxe (with clean seams on the inside). Mke on out of nice fabric to use as wrapping and fill it with just anything, like tea or coffee. Or chocolate. You can seldom go wrong with chocolate. In my humble opinion at lest. Or sew a kitchen towel (as simple as it gets) and do the same.

Or, place those wool socks or movie theatre tickets in a nice box that can be used for storage afterwards. Two-in-one!

Or then - give a book! Because you know, books are great.

THORNES AND FLOWER BUDS

My sister brought me a belated birthday present;  a set of mini cactuses. I placed them all on a tray together with a mini hyacinth I got earlier this fall.

Then I almost forgot about it until I noticed the hyacinth in pretty blue bloom. We're leaving for the countryside to spend the holidays and I almost feel sad for the little hyacinth to bloom alone. (You see, I am the kind of person who can sometimes feel sorry even for a sad forgotten glove put up on a bench in the park, all alone. Not to mention small forgotten toys, alone and sad.) But it goes so well with the cactuses I left it there anyway.