Inspiroidu #105 - iso alkukirjain/big letter

Longleat

Big letter in the title.. more like GIANT letter in my case, he he...

Traffic jam in a safari park.

I'm ready for summer now :)

Took out my sewing machine and one big UFO (unfinished object) yesterday.


Today I have my happy bright picnic quilt finished!


I've shown you some if this before, as it's been a long project. Mostly because all the colorful Marimekko fabrics were bought over a long period of time as remnants from the 50% off bins. The white fabric is pieces of my grandmothers embroidered sheets from the late 1940's.

And yes I know it pulls a bit in that one corner, but I'm letting it slide. It was very difficult to quilt this with my sewing machine due to the backing...

Which is fabric with a waxy layer on it, so even if the grass is a little wet, you'll be nice and dry.

I love that I could include some history into this one.

I do miss my grandma..

Inspiroidu #104 - naamio/mask

Hey!

A fun page about the April Fools joke my girls thought up...

Mostly made with assorted paper scraps found floating on my desk the day I made this..

Yup, that's the way I roll.

*grin*

Oh the jokes one volcano creates...

We are naturally talking about Eyjafjallajökull.
The Icelandic name of the week..

..my colleague is Icelandic and after they closed up most of the airspace over northern Europe last week, he just said to us with a smile "And that's the small volcano.."

Funny how a simple thing like ash can bring a continent to a halt.

The best thing I saw all week was a Facebook group called "When I die I want my ashes spread over Iceland" :D
Sweet revenge..LOL.

Personally I think this busy paced world was due a reminder from Mother nature just who's in charge on this planet.

My package from A Million Little Things took that week and a half longer to arrive.

But it is here now.

And the planes are flying.

Looks like Eyjafjallajökull is cooling down.

Let's hope Katla (the bigger volcano) next to it stays quiet.

Because we have plane tickets to Paris for June 22nd I'd like to use...

It was a laundry kinda sunday..

..lucky for me it's the one household duty I enjoy..

Up on the line they go.. can't dry outside yet because of the pollen in the air.



I have this twosome watching over me while I sort the laundry into piles.

The small guy is practically ancient.. from the 50's I believe.. The girl I bought from a craft fair in Lake Orion, MI.

Next to them is a little bitty wallhanging I made with baby pictures of myself and my brother.

I absolutely do measure the detergent with this coffee cup :)

Much prettier that way.

And then there's that jar filled with Lush bath goodies...

Smells soooo good.
I like to try to keep my laundry/sauna area pretty and smelling good.

In fact I ordered a little something fun yesterday from Etsy that I'll show you when it arrives :)

Oh and remember our playhouse?

Well it is time to admit that the girls have overgrown playing house :(

However.. new plans are taking place... as it is a nice sized little house (even a grown-up can stand tall) it will be transformed into the kids/teens hang-out room for the summer. Privacy, sleep-overs, rainy day picnics.. rugs, big pillows etc. you get the idea.

This of course will involve a trip to IKEA this week to get us started. They have all sorts of fun summer stuff in now.

Oh darn..

*grin*

Random photos

You might have seen them if you've been following my 365 project over at Flickr :)

I love the view to the sea over the roofs of Helsinki.


Especially when shared with a friend and a glass of good wine :)


Morning sky.

Taco night.

There was still ice at sea a couple weeks back.

These were all in our shoes on April Fools day...

Can you guess what it is?

Last ones...

Such a clear stripe.. like someone painted it..

In bloom right now.

Sparkles...

Moss on the patio.

Doing math homework.

Flickrlicious

1. LEAP, 2. San Francisco Treats, 3. real water isn't blue, she'll tell you, 4. Tulips from my garden, 5. New craft studio - WIP, 6. Studio Organization, 7. Millie Retrobot & Fabric Trees, 8. Pink Cabinet - Drawers, 9. studio, 10. anthropologie craft room window display 2, 11. neat + tidy, 12. Untitled, 13. Breakfast counter still life., 14. laundry., 15. Ice Cube Tray, 16. Bugga Bugs Groceries Play Food Pattern

May Day is around the corner

We've been getting ready with some crafts at the school afternoon club.

We painted carnival masks and then added lots of sparkle to them with glitter glue and sequins.

We also made some pretty trash...LOL!


By making spring flowers.


These are so easy to make.
You need white coffee filters, water soluble felt pens and a spray bottle.


Cut different sized circles. You can cut them into flower shapes before or after, it really doesn't matter.. we did it both ways. Draw your design (have something underneath to protect your table!) put on a paper towel and spray. Let dry. Glue pieces together.

They really brighten up the place!

Happiness is...

..a new book.

I've been a reader of Patricia Zapata's blog A Little Hut for some time now. I really enjoy her creative recycling mind. Go check it out, she has some great projects on there.

The book.. well.. it's fabulous.

And those who really know my creative persona know that I live by paper and scissors :)

Inspiroidu #103 - teippausta

Huhuu (translates to Hoot)

This week it's all about taping.

I used fabric tape (the black one) and striped masking tape both by 7 Gypsies.

For the background I printed out those KI Memories digital papers :)

25 days edition four

1. 18_3, 2. 17_3, 3. 20_3, 4. 21_3, 5. 22_3, 6. 23_3, 7. 24_3, 8. 25_3, 9. 26_3, 10. 27_3, 11. 28_3, 12. 29_3, 13. 30_3, 14. 31_3, 15. 1_4, 16. 2_4, 17. 3_4, 18. 4_4, 19. 5_4, 20. 6_4, 21. 7_4, 22. 8_4, 23. 9_4, 24. 10_4, 25. 11_4

The little sweetie is one!

It was Julia's 1st birthday on Sunday :D


I may be partial here.. but is she not gorgeous???
All big smiles on her big day.
And couldn't get enough of being walked.


I love how her face lights up when she sees my girls. Same goes for the girls. They are eagerly waiting for the 30th when Julia will spend the night with us.

I just love this little person to bits!

She's a reader, this one. A reader and a thinker.. you can almost see the clogs moving inside her head.

We gave her a car and she got right down on her stomach and wheeled that baby on the floor :D

And yes.. sometimes the mom went in the back of the car and the baby drove.. head down..heheee...

First taste of cake..hmmm.. not so sure...

Almost as funny when she had her first taste of ice cream at Easter at our house. Same face as in "whoa..this is cold" then her face changed, mouth opened for more and again the frown as the good stuff was still cold.. over and over.. we were giggling madly at her...

She certainly lights up our lives.

Inspiroidu #102 -ihme ja kumma

Imagine..
..can you imagine anything as amazing as a see-through butterfly?
That was so cool...


This is one of those pages where I simply started to stick down all sorts of odds and ends off my desk and scrap box.
I'm quite pleased at how this turned out :)

And this was the last of the England pages... well there could be one more once we find the group photo..LOL!

Missing our big furry friend

My brother's dog Kobito was put to sleep today...

He came into our lives in 2004 as this goofy furry pup who loved the tiger dubbed Hobbes.
He also loved running into my peonies.. over and over again.


My girls loved him from the start.


He grew up into a big goofy furry dog.
Who sat down and crossed his front paws.
And high fived you.


And he loved the water..

We'll miss his gentle nature and lethal tail (that could bruise you or knock everything off the table) :)

He taught my girls that big dogs aren't a scary thing.

But indeed quite huggable.