Scrapping update

Now I do really hope that you've already had a peek at these at either the AMLT blog (the monthly galleries are on the left side of the sidebar) or at the Inspiroidu blog.

Because, truth be told, these two DT deadlines keep me scrapping these days.
And when I do get my stuff out, I tend to do a lot of pages. I average 8-10 layouts when I start cranking them out.

Occasionally I make extras and show them to you right away. I made two extras last time, but forgot to show them.. and how lucky am I.. they accidentally fit the october assignments for AMLT. Honestly I'm cracking up here...
You'll see those two layouts on Oct 4th over at the AMLT blog.

Unless I decide to make new pages today.. remains to be seen.

I have been wondering about something.. would you scrappers like to see a list of products I've used on my pages? The "ingredients" are listed at AMLT but not Inspiroidu. Now I have to warn you that along with new products I tend to use positively prehistoric stuff too... prehistoric in the scrapping world meaning three years or older.

-sassy-


-downtown-


-st. james-


-queen-

-new trick-

-silly summer troll-

-quilt of happyness-

-sun, sand and sea-

-50 stems-

Another favorite

A while back I promised I'd be right back with this recipe..
..that was July 28th... oops.

One of the perks of being home sick and actually being able to sit up today is the fact that I get to do some much needed catching up. I still got a high fever yesterday, started about 1pm.. so I've got a few hours at least.. hopefully all day. I was truly bored out of my mind yesterday.. I couldn't even do knitting after 1pm.. hmmpph..

But back to the recipe.

Behold the Two Story Currant cake

..or what was left of it... hehee..
I guess you could use any berries, but nothing too sweet. I think rhubarb would work really
well too.. just cook the rhubarb qiuckly with a bit of sugar first. The cake has two different cake doughs on top of each other.
I use a pan that has the latch at the side to pop the bottom off.

You will need (and these are metric measurements, dl= desiliter, l= liter):

100g softened butter/margarine
1½ dl sugar
2 eggs
1½ dl flour
1dl potato/corn starch flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ l clean red currants

Whisk the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy (you know what I mean...). Add eggs one at a time whisking well. Add dry ingredients together and add to mix. Whisk smooth.
Pour dough into a well buttered and floured springpan. Add berries on top and pop in the oven at 175C for about 30 minutes.

Make a cup of tea and sit down for 15 minutes and then start on the next phase.

For the second layer you will need:

2 eggs
1 dl sugar
4 tsp vanilla sugar
1 dl flour
5-6 tbl potato/corn starch flour

Whisk eggs and sugar (you know the drill by now.. whisk whisk and then whisk some more). Mix dry ingredients and add to the dough. Mix until smooth.

Take the cake out of the oven and pour the new dough on top. Pop it back into the oven for another 15 minutes at least.

Let it cool a bit and enjoy :)

Sunny and warm fall

Love how the low rays of sunshine seem to be tickling the roof...

It's been so lovely and warm here.

Only now are the nights chilling up.

So very pretty.

Of course I have my second cold of the fall... mindboggling really, I'm not that prone to colds really. And it's not even the swine flu doing rounds yet...

I had a fever last night, and am now coughing and sneezing.

No temp yet today, so cross your fingers... I have my mini club meeting tonight... hate missing those.

One of my favorite things

It was one the things I really wanted when my grandma passed away.
I had been admiring it for most of my life.
It doesn't make an appearance very often.
I'd hate for it to break.

It resides in this box, in a cupboard up high, behind the booze..heh.


It's a delicate glass punch bowl.


Not just any glass either.
Designed by Oiva Toikka in the 70's, it's called Fauna.
Can you see the lions?
(click on the images to see them bigger)


For the longest time I thought these were bunnies, but now I think they are birds...
..tilting head... hmm...


There's a pregnant lady too.

My absolute favorites are these elephants.

I'm a big elephant fan.

And at the very bottom, a pair of swimmers.

You know what... are those tail fins?
Maybe they are mermaids?

This is one of the reasons I love this bowl.
Even after over 30 years I still find something new in it.

Yes.. mermaids for sure...

For you knitters

I had a few ask about directions for this shoulder warmer/shawl-like-thingy I'm making.
It is just about the easiest thing to knit.

You need 200g (that was four skeins Novita's Puro for you Finns) of yarn, wool preferably to keep you nice and snuggly warm and number 6 needles (6mm).

You start with casting 70 stitches (are they stitches in knitting? I've only ever knitted in Finnish, heh) and it's your basic knit (oikein) one side, purl (nurin)the other with the first and last two always knit (aina oikein) on both sides.

Knit until your piece is either 110cm or 120cm long, your preferance, and bind off. Before sewing the short ends together, twist it once. Take a look at the photo in this post to get the idea.

See? I said it was super simple.
I also like knitting with the variegated thread, pretty soft stripes...

Chim-chimenee-chim-chinenee-chim-chim-cheroo...

We have the yearly visit from the chinmey sweeper tomorrow morning.
He is in for a surprise...

No, both our chimneys are still up there on the roof :)
He'll be knocked off his boots as after ten years of nagging about it once a year, we've finally gotten around to adding the missing roof ladder.


Mika spent a couple weekends painting and hammering.


There they are.

Pretty, red and finally a non slippery route for the soot faced man.

Now don't ask me why these weren't added ten years ago when we got a new roof... it is still a mystery to me too.

What to do with all those odd Barbie shoes...

I'm working on some small projects to spruce up our Afternoon Club room.
One of them is this mirror we bought from IKEA.

I mixed kiwi green and lime green paints to get just the shade I wanted.

One that looks nice with our rugs :)

And of course I might be just atd partial to green in general...

When unpacking and organizing all our toys in August, I set aside all the odd Barbie/Bratz/Action Man shoes, some game pieces and some odds and ends.

I got those out and plugged in the glue gun and went to work.

The kids are loving it.
Now if I'd only get the school handyman to come down and make some holes in the brick wall so we could hang it up!

That and the clock too... sigh...

I also wanted to show you my little (ever growing) art wall that gives me peace of mind during the afternoon hours. I've printed them out and laminated (my favorite machine EVER!) them.

Most of these are great free art downloads from Feed Your Soul.

I recommend a look-see over there. :)

It's officially fall

I've got my knitting needles out and am clicking away on the bus, in the car, in front of the tv, in the teachers' room...
Isn't that a pretty yarn?

Hope to finish this soon:

Because the mornings are getting colder here and my shoulders could do with a little extra woollen help.



I owe you all some major posting...
I've been exhausted after work, our 1st graders are quite a challenging bunch. We've had way too many mondays in a week...LOL!
I have photos for at least five separate posts waiting for me...
Keep tuned on this frequency.

Habitare '09

On Saturday we headed to the Interior Design Expo Habitare.

It is a bi-annual event and I've been attending it for goodness knows how long... my Mom used to work for a office furniture company and we'd always have tickets.

I've always loved going.

Seeing what's new.

Getting ideas.

Or even finding something for our home like two years ago.

Mostly I love to admire the creativity.

One of the exhibits was about ecological design.

There were some amazing ideas.

PUF-FUP, cork free-shape puff.

Made out of cork spheres from production surplus from the wine industry.

Eco Chair Concept 1. The seat is made from used sails.

Rahit. A series of six benches.

The Light Swing Chair. It is a dynamo, as you swing, you produce energy and light :)

Can you imagine how pretty that looks in the dark?

Feed Me. A bench and a storage system.

Too cute.

Costume. The chair is cushioned with recycled jeans.

Felt I noticed was a popular medium throughout.
V. 31. A tree trunk chair made with felt.

A felted bouquet that will never wilt.

And a cool notice board made out of those felt baubles.

Yes, yes it is.

We came across some amazing recycled lamps.

Can you guess what it's made of?

Plastic bottle tops, cut to look like lilies.

Saara made herself a pretty flower brooch.

She got help from the talented designer himself, Heath Nash from South Africa.

So soft...

What is it?

Cool huh?

They are leaning on this:

Who needs regular path lights outside when you can have this?

Ok... disregard the slight off focus and tilt your head and you'll be able to see us :)

This particular lamp never fails to give me a headache as its pieces swirl and shine...

Use for all those odd yarn remnants?

How about it, knitters?

I also liked this rug made quilt style from old rugs.

You'd need an industrial strength sewing machine to make one yourself though...

Saara bought the one in her right hand.

A missing piece...

The whole family has a love affair with this chair by Eero Aarnio.

Sitting in it makes the hustle and bustle of the world fade away.
Only the price tag makes us walk away sighing...

5850€.

$8526.

Niina would love the Pony.

The Double Bubble would be more likely.

The thought of birch skin weaved in metal is fascinating.

A flat birch on your wall...

Really cool tablerunner.

Made from phonebook pages!

Pretty dishes, I loved how you could see the brush strokes.

The fabric store display was straight out of a storybook.

I'm not a big fan of decorative pillows but this makes me want to go buy several hundred..

This lamp gives a whole new meaning to airhead, don't you think?

Hehee...

The girls are designing a new couch for upstairs.

Such a neat concept.

A couch My Way.

Still a prototype.
I hope it'll reach production.

I'll end this photo blast with a smile.

Moomintroll has just read Tarzan...

Tickled my funny bone.