Crafty time!

Today I managed to complete few projects that have been waiting for the right time.

First I took my trusty hammer, two nails, two old toy cars and a wreath base... I've had that base for years (leftover from some crafting project) and the wooden toy cars are from my childhood. I thought it would be nice to keep them, but I hate cluttering surfaces with tiny decoration items, so I had to come up with something.

 Few minutes later I had simple but cute wreath to decorate my door. And I get to keep my toys. ;)

I got two small Singer charms some time ago (a very thoughtful present from Marmalade) and I've been aching to make earrings out of them every time I see them. So... Today I went to a small store near my place that has amazing collection of glass pearls. I picked two beautiful square ones (and some more, but let's not go there right now...) and voilà - I've got a set of earrings.

Completing a project is always so sweet!

Midsummer finds

When ever I'm in Finland for mid summer festivities, I want to enjoy pancakes and coffee in the early morning at the local market place near our summerhouse. As always, the place was buzzing already at 8 am, so I hurried to get the right kind of potatoes that go well with Baltic herring and salmon and summer's first fresh strawberries.

On my way back to sea shore I popped in to a local flea market and made some interesting finds with just few euros; An old Fortuna board game and a white vase that had similar pattern painted on it as one of my old treasures.

The turquoise smaller one was painted by my great grandmother in 1954. The fortuna game is really in bad shape, but I love the pale greenish paint on the edges and the tiny crooked nails look adorable. I wonder how many exciting games some kids might have played with it in the old days?

I remembered my greenish vase had triangles painted on it, nut this was a surprise to find out they are so similar when I placed them next to each other. I guess they're from the same era.

At the minute I laid my eyes on that Fortuna I knew what it is going to be doubling as: A jewelry display!

I'm not sure if it's "chic", but it's definitely shabby!

IKEA hack - new life to Frosta stools

I got four of these IKEA Frosta stools stacked in my kitchen. I bought them about 10 years ago and they've starting to lose their lacquer finish. 

I was about to replace them with new ones, but then i got stingy and decided to give them a coat of paint. I even got the paint for free as Cherry's renovating her apartment and had some leftover furniture paint from her kitchen makeover. Luckily we have similar taste, so the color she had chosen was perfect for me too.

I used sandpaper to get rid of old lacquer and then wiped the stools clean with a damp cloth. 2 coats of paint  and voila! There's probably more "professional" way of doing this, but if I get few extra years for my stools like this, I'm content.

To avoid washing the paint tray later, I covered it with plastic bag. I used a small brush for the edges of the stool and a small roller for the top part.

I didn't want to paint the legs, so I used some tape to protect them.

Alvar Aalto designed very similar stool already 1930's ( stool number 60 ), it's now available in different colors, also in turquoise, sweet!

1920’s Apartment – A Facelift

Me and the Mr recently bought a two-room apartment. The building is from 1920’s and location is downtown. Perfect! I instantly fell in love with the place.

The apartment has been renovated heavily in the 1980’s and some small things have been done in the 1990’s, but frankly it’s in a poor shape. The former owner has lived abroad for at least last ten years and has been renting the place during that time. It’s really no surprise that the whole place needs some TLC.

There are some major renovations coming up during the next two or three years though. They’re going to redo the electric wires and plumbing in the whole building. This might mean that they’ll have to open floors and walls to get things done. So it wouldn’t be very wise to do expensive renovation that would be ruined just year or two later… (There went my beautiful tile flooring in the hall and kitchen. Tiles are already bought, but I’ll just have to wait.)

Layout of the apartment

I still need to do something so we can actually live there (as soon as possible). Thinking it over and over again I came up with a plan. I have a very tight budget for anything that is only temporary or might not be “permanent”. I want to make the place look fresh and appealing for nearly nothing. I’ll have to use what I have as much as possible, but a little paint can take you a long way. ;)

I'll post more about our renovation as we make progress. I think first room we'll finish will be kitchen, but let's see how it goes.

Xmas nails

Time for Christmas decorations...



I used Isadora Magnetic Nails "Opposites Attract" as base... looks kinda like a Christmas tree. ;) The dots were made using a toothpick and three different pastel nail polishes. Not perfect because the top coat softened the base a little and the waves are not as sharp as they looked before applying the top coat... but so what?

Merry Christmas!

Christmas preparations

I love the holiday season and start singing Santa Baby already in November, so in my world, it's Christmas already. I love wrapping presents, especially now when Pinterest is full of cool ideas. One of my favorites this year is making a fold in wrapping paper, so you can slide the card inside the fold.

Here's my most recent gift wrapping idea: Tea bag inspired gift tag. I just cut a blank gift tag shorter and drew a tea cup on it and a text "for perfect mornings". Can't tell you yet what the gift contains, sorry!

I've tried to keep decorations to minimum this year, but I couldn't resist making a ginger bread house. I think there was some miscalculation with the roof size though...

The only Christmas decoration allowed in my kitchen, polka dot hearts.

And Washi tape around the glass jar lids.

Treasures and trinkets

While visiting my parents yesterday we went through some old boxes containing stuff that used to belong to my late granparents and other relatives. My mother gave me promision to take whatever I liked... 

 

That little jewelry box actually was mine. I can't remember where I got it... I might have bought it myself when I was around 12 years, who knows...

The pocket watch used to belong to my granfather and might have something to do with WWII. It seems well worn, but still has the original winding key. There's also beautiful engraving inside the back cover: anchor and barrels. The amethyst ring was my granmothers, just like the delicate looking necklace. Not worth much, but I used to admire these as a child whenever I saw my granny wearing these.

My godmother and godfather are selling their place and wanted to get rid of some old stuff, so I got my hands on some lovely costume jewelry my godmother had. I love the collar-like pearl necklace and the vintage watch. I've been meaning to get a tiny teeny watch like this for ages. It's really simple and stylish, in need of a new wristband, and definitely something that I need to remove before going to shower or doing the dishes... Sigh. I guess this means that I have to grow up.

The oddest thing is the little pill box. It belonged to my great-granmother who died before I was born. The box was inside her handbag with some other stuff and still contained around ten pills. I got rid of the pills, but a pill box is something I've also been looking for. Not only do I have one now, but also one that has been in the family for generations. ;)

Chalkware, chalkware on the wall...

Yes, I have the occasional weakness for vintage chalkware wall plaques. And I'm still searching for those perfect oriental chalkware figures for my future mid century styled shadow boxes...

 

These two owls I've had a while now in the lobby. I really love the dark coffee brown color (against the latte colored wall) with the gold accents... they work perfectly together. Maybe I'll find a third one to keep them company someday? 

 

Here's what I got today, sunflowers! Yay!

I'm not sure where to hang these yet. These belonged to my godmother (Thank you!!!) and I know they predate 1980's, but I'm not sure whether these are from 70's or 60's. (My best bet is 1970's.) All really I know is that I've loved these ever since I first saw these when I was little.

Here comes the sun(flower)... And I say it's all right...

I need to knit something cute asap!

The weather's getting a bit chilly here in Finland. Not cold enough for proper winter hat, but just perfect for wearing a soft woolly head band. I came up with an idea to knit a head band in tube so it can be twisted and still look the same on both sides. I made it wide enough so I can hide occasional bad hair day with it.

I used some left over yarn (it matches my rubber boots!) from my stash. I've made head bands before, but this one was the first one I knitted in round. Super easy one night (or two) project while watching TV. I used 5 double pointed needles, 40 stitches, plain knit all the way. When it was long enough to go around my head, I ended it with "slip one - knit one & pass slipped stitch over". Then just twisted once and hand stitched the ends neatly together. I used less than one ball of yarn, so I still got some left for possible decorations, perhaps a crochet flower?

I think the pale pink head band would look cool on someone with darker hair. Maybe I'll make one in black too!

The latest flame...

I recently discovered Miss L Fire shoes... and their webstore. The shoes looked so fabulous I couldn't help myself. I ordered two pairs that were on sale.

Even though they are pretty, I truly fell in love after I tried them on. They're like heaven to wear! And very well made with good quality materials. I simply Need more of these. ;)



Some of my favourites.

Want to see more? Look here. ;)

Bringing Zen to my living room

I live in a late 1950's building and tend to choose 50's items and  style also in my home decoration. I like the simplicity of mid-century design but I'm not too strict with decades or styles, as long as everything looks and feels good.

Most of the furniture in my home is either inherited or bought used. Living so close to IKEA I haven't been able to avoid having something new as well. I try to keep the amount of stuff to a minimum, it's easier to clean and I think vintage furniture looks better with some space around them. I've recently developed a growing interest on minimalism and started a never ending project of decluttering the apartment.

My latest interior design project (apart from throwing stuff away) is a little zen garden/beach to the living room coffee table. I love to doodle and the fine sand makes a nice surface to draw with a stick. A zen garden is a fun alternative for coffee table books or flowers. I didn't place any plants in my mini beach since I want to be able to put the dish away to a cupboard from time to time.

I've brought the sea shells as souvenirs from my trips to Australia, Africa and India. I like to have them somewhere so I can look at them during the long cold winters and think about the warm sand on the beach.

The decoration sand I bought from a candle shop, the dish was made by my mother. The chair shown in second picture is Danish design from 1957 and the table is from local flea market, can't really tell the decade, I'm guessing it's from early 60's.

Sunday sunday...

Since we live in Finland, it's about time we write little something about vintage shopping in our home town Tampere. One of our most recent vintage shopping sprees took place in Suvi-Fintage event, held by local vintage enthusiasts. The event took place in Tallipiha stable yards, which is a tourist attraction in the centre of Tampere. Tallipiha is a nice place to visit even without any special event. Small craft shops and cafés offer a relaxing getaway from the noise of the city and the surroundings take you back in time.

At Tallipiha you can find different kinds of hand crafts and there's a chocolate shop open year round.

We had there a lovely, laid back Sunday shopping and eating ice cream...

On our way home we popped in to a giant ginger bread house in the city center.

We'll write more about vintage shopping in Tampere soon. Until next time!

Let's swap those dresses

Dress swaps are a fun way to recycle clothes and a good excuse to throw a party for girls only. Here's how I organized mine a while ago.

I sent the invitations 2-3 weeks beforehand so the guests would have time to go through their wardrobes and find items they no longer use. I knew most of my friends were planning to go to see some bands play later that evening so I figured the girls would be in the mood for a little pre party with cocktails.

Most of us wear the same sizes and have similar style, so we had plenty of stuff to swap. It doesn't matter if all guests aren't the same size though, you can always swap hats, purses, shoes and accessories.

Should there be a theme?
I think it's not necessary to have a theme, but it helps. People have so much stuff nowadays, so you might not want them to bring all their extra clothes at once. I invited friends who are all into vintage style and swing dancing so we mostly had clothing and accessories under those categories.  You could also have a summer clothes swap, or office clothes swap, anything really.

Sell it or give it?
We swapped some items and some were sold & bought. The main idea was not to make money but recycle and save money. When you invite people who know each other there shouldn't be any problems to decide on these things. It's  a great feeling to know your old favorite dresses have a good  new home in your friends wardrobe and they don't all go to strangers via drift stores.

My dress swap theme was five o'clock tea with cocktails, so we had some tea with blueberry cheesecake, home made macaroons, cucumber sandwiches etc. The cocktail was of course a martini,  but since it's summer I made it with watermelon and vodka. The recipe

I found a matching feather fashinator for my dress! I'm like a walking zoo with all the feathers and panther spots.

After swapping & cocktails we headed to the local club to dance and listen to some amazing  old school rock'n'roll bands.

I came home around 3 am, feet hurting like crazy but my heart bubbling with joy, what a perfect evening!