It was a lovely weekend

I do love this time of year.
The kids are thrilled to play outside all day after a long wet winter.
My garden is waking up.
The light makes me giddy.

My desk is in front of a window facing east.
I get to enjoy the glorious morning sun.

So... what does my desk tell you?

* I scrapped and drank red wine the previous night :)
* one of my plants was committing a slow suicide and I decided to grow a new generation
* our trip to England is fast approaching, trip papers and passport here there and everywhere
* reminder notes of Saara's dentist appointment (that's already been cancelled twice ugh) and for me to write down the diabetic info for my replacement while I'm gone
* a mysterious black notebook... telling you nothing. Yet ;)
* cute silver pencilcase for my journaling pens
* phototabs, popdots and gluedots, hey... I scapped!
* the postcard next to my empty water glass is to remind me to buy my goddaughter's b-day present.. her b-day was in March.. [whistlin']
* and the dust tells you that I dislike dusting.

In the morning Niina was playing in the backyard and came in to tell me she saw a little animal.
"I think it's a hedgehog"

Sure enough, it was a hedgehog.

Can you see it?
Right in front of the blue shovel.
Behind the shovels you can see the tub leaning against the fence, he/she (I'm thinking she..) gathered dry leaves and took them inside the tub where she was building a nest.

She was so busy.
And didn't mind us watching at all.. as long as we were very quiet.


I told you I was hanging laundry outside to dry.
I have to go buy a new basket... two of the three handles are broken.


Now my "forest" floor is filled with white woodland anemones.

And the hepatica are still in bloom also.


Pretty daffodils.


Hedgie and I crossed roads again in the evening when I went to fold the last load of laundry off the line.
We may have to think up a name for her.. hedgehog in Finnish is siili. Sounds too impersonal...

Been cleaning...

..my desk/cupboard of scrap stuff.
Takes forever.
But it's been worth it.

I even found one of my fave postcards, the one of Bogart checking out Marilyn's cleavage :D
I put it up on my magnetic inspiration strip.
There are also a few pics from magazines, a cute wooden bird, the "wake up little sushi" magnet that makes me smile (when I was an exchange student, my host family had a hamster called Sushi, and as my nickname is Suski.. well.. you can imagine), a ceramic heart I got from my friend for Xmas and the calendar is from a swap with Suzanne.

Happy things.


Here's something I've been working on.
I had no idea what it would be when I started it, but it has turned into a tree.
More to follow...

We went to a housewarming party last weekend.



Using up both paper and ribbon scraps :)

And one baby card.

One of Mika's colleagues had a baby girl this week.

The weather here is lovely.
In fact I'm heading to hang laundry out to dry for the first time this year.
Yippee!

Oh it was chilly today..

..wasn't supposed to be.. even wore my new skirt today, left my gloves home and regretted both on my way home... brrr...

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the steep stairs I have to walk up every morning to get to work.
These:

That's the school up there...

Want a closer look?
OK..

80 steps.
Like getting on the stairmaster every morning.
And guess what.. more stairs inside the school...
My butt better be looking good after a year of this.
Ha!

So, I went shopping for a house warming gift yesterday and found THE CUTEST DRESS EVER for Niina.

Just ignore the model...
That was the NO I WON'T SMILE- look.

Smocked florals and polkadots... swoon.

Yeah... she's been grumpy lately.
Like for the past two months. Must be some growth phase.
Driving me nutty though.. my sweet levelheaded Niina has been abducted and a gnarly little bear is inhabiting her body. A LOUD little bear. With a very short fuse.
Watch where you step is all I'm saying...
Hoping she'll grow out of it by summer.

I also found a cute shirt and skirt for Saara. I didn't get her to model..
Apparently I went totally wrong when I bought a skirt (pretty chocolate color with a little ruffle) with [gasp] floral embroidery.
Sheesh.
She didn't tell me to return it though, so I'm hoping she will wear it in England as we have a Sunday church service where you need to dress nicely.
Oh and as far as the England trip, she has firmly told me NOT to embarass her..

And here I thought it was the other way around... little I knew.

Lastly I have a little favor to ask of my dear cyber friends :)

As you know I look after three diabetic boys in school.
One of them is a finalist among four to win a dream trip from Bayer HealthCare.

Lenni is a cool 8 year old who was diagnosed with diabetes last summer. His wish is to go to Lapland, ski, visit Santa etc with the whole family. Fun stuff. Trust me, this kiddo deserves it! He's that kid who's a real clam.. takes you a while to crack that shell open, but once you do.. wow what a personality!

If you are Finnish you can read his "application" here.
And even if you are not, go vote for Lenni here.
The form asks for your (in order) surname, first name, phone number and email address x 2. Then write the code you see and hit "valmis".
In just a bit you get a link in your inbox.
Click on that and your vote is registered.

Thank you so much!

After a couple evenings..

..of some quality time browsing the treasure trove of Flickr, I have heaps of photos marked as new favorites.
I thought I'd share the yumminess.
And inspiration.


1. ., 2. I love my shoes cushion cover, 3. Senaatintori (Senate square) Helsinki, 4. atelier view / vista do atelier, 5. Pez!, 6. Hepatica, 7. Capitol Theatre during Yoyo-A-Go-Go ~ Olympia, WA ~ July 1994, 8. Mixed Paints, 9. fantasy seattle, 10. Aqua vintage finds, 11. pinkcake0803, 12. Cupcakes!, 13. Vintage Pin Cushion and Compass, 14. Snowdrop, 15. My sewing & crafting studio, 16. maison-cochon, 17. More Summer houses, 18. avotakka 5 2008, 19. Ribbons, 20. Ranunculus & polka dots, 21. 飴 / candy, 22. Fabric Flower, 23. Vintage Seam Binding, 24. Fuchsias, 25.PATTY CAKE PATTY CAKE PAINTER'S KEYS


1. Packin' Up, 2. Nest for Natalea, 3. Cupcake Tower, 4. Rowr., 5. Vintage Millinery Flowers, 6. Bike in Bloom, 7. little lolli's sweet shop, 8. The Story of the Bookshelf, 9. Keep calm and carry on, 10. facades, 11. Pink Frosting & Sprinkles., 12. Spring, 13. ice cream cones, 14. Mexican Doll House, 15. the little red house, 16. stacked apples, 17. my lips are sealed, 18. woodmate petit kitchen, 19. frame, 20. Ice Cream Couple, 21. bright-eyed bouquet, 22. behind the pink door, 23. #52, 24. punc-tu-ate, 25. Moominhouse 1976


1. Milk & Cookies?, 2. Day 239, 3. more cupcake liners!, 4. Rows of Macarons II, 5. Moominhouse, 6. a view of my bed, 7. 19/366, 8. bri'z taxi cabz, 9. zaza's pink party: lanterns in the tree, 10. Old lamp with some fancy spruce up, 11. Blue Christmas, 12. robot cupcakes swapped around, 13. angeli tilda, 14. wire basket, 15. super cute vintage trims from Sugar Sugar!, 16. Studio Organization, 17. *Alô...*, 18. Fruitbox filled with fabric, 19. Untitled, 20. Indoor outdoors, 21. 6 egg covers, 22. Tilda hearts, 23. Tote bag with blue florals, 24. Working on - Fairy hangers, 25. IMG_9059

Do click those images bigger :)
Or even better, follow the links and get lost with a smile on your face.

Today was sunny...

..if cold.
But Mr. Blackbird has parked himself on our antenna every night for a week to sing what a fabulous husband he'd make... it certainly is spring.

So a little trip to the garden center was in order.

A pretty new pot and some flowers that'll survive a cold night or four :)

I had to take a wider shot of those woodland anemones...

Click it bigger so you can see how lovely those purple patches are.

And another close-up.
This is a protected flower, you can only admire, not pick.

I like this "woodland" patch in our yard behind the playhouse.

We leave it as is. It sprouts great wild flowers.
(ooopss... the birdhouse seems to be on the ground.. better get that fixed..)


The white woodland anemones are blooming soon too.

And look at this...

..yummm.. fresh rhubarb in June.


I found the first ladybug of the year.

But then I had to go inside as my fingers were frozen solid. Still not feeling 100%. That was one nasty flu we all had. It lingers.... blech.

Happy spring!

Well, hi there!
Oookaaayyy... I do have to confess these photos were taken last friday when the sun was out.
So far this week we've gotten rain, rain and rain.
Walking on the sidewalk is like a huge earthworm maze... and you look really silly hopping and stepping oddly while trying to miss squishing any.
Because A) I do like worms, they make my garden a better place and B) it's just too gross if you squish one.
Ewww.

So my pretty blue woodland anemones are blooming!
Technically they are purple, but they're called blue.



And looks like the neighbor's cat has been up to no good...

Don't enjoy finding a bunch of feathers...

Been a while, hasn't it?

Since I showed off any scrapping, right?
I mean you all do know by now that you'll see new stuff from me on the 5th of each month over at the AMLT gallery, right? The link is on my sidebar there...

But here you are.
An entire post with nearly all the pages I've scrapped this year. I have a few I've snuck away... you'll see those eventually.

Yes true enough... not much scrapping been done in the past few months. So much harder to spread my time now that I'm working. Go figure huh?

I'm saving my photos and energy for the summer.

I have 10 weeks off (nothing beats working at a school!) starting June 1st...aaahhh...

Then I'll spread everything out and scrap till I drop!

Trying this out...

Guess what? I'm sick at home and playing. I'm writing this entry on my mobile phone, heh. A bit slow, but I had to try it out. Plus I can't figure out which is the enter button. I'll be sticking with a normal keyboard, thank you very much.

Snow, sun and red hair

...contrary to rumors, I haven't dropped off the face of the globe.
It's been busy.
I know I know.. same excuse... but it's true.

I have done a bit of shopping.
New clothes for me and the girls.. you just need new stuff in the spring.
Something to blow that winter dust off your shoulders.
I've also taken advantage of the fabulously cheap dollar rate (1 euro = 1.50 US dollars) and made two magazine subscriptions.

One for me and one more for the girls.
This good rate also means my scrapping supplies come cheaply to my doorstep :)

This week has been lovely.
Sunny and warm, in the 50's...aaahhhh...

Last week, specifically Tuesday morning, we woke up to the first true blizzard of the winter (yup... the kind of blizzard that when you are standing on the bus stop you're thinking.. "Dude, where's the road? And is that a bus or a mammoth?") and by afternoon it looked like this:



Even my daffodils thought it was fairly depressing...
Yes, there are daffodils under there!

Wednesday morning looked like this:

By afternoon the sun was out however and I had one happy kiddo digging herself an igloo.


She had a blast.
Until the roof caved in...

But now there's no snow, the sun is out and I have a fresh new haircut.


Shorter than before.
I like it.

I've been very flirty skirty this week.
Notice my new green shoes, aren't they cute?
They are El Naturalista. Cost enough to make me think twice, but they've been well worth the price. So comfy. And the leather is conditioned with, get this.. olive oil!

Cute shoes that are ecological as well?
No wonder they are green...

But my crocuses are purple and yellow.
And blooming.

Yeah!