So.. in Tallinn..

I travelled with three lovely women from my dollhouse club and we were on a mission, my friends.

(which did not involve cool looking graffiti, but something oh so much better!)


We were on our way to a crafty person's paradise.
The shop is called Karnaluks (click on the link for address info, if you are bound to Tallinn).
I had heard rumors about it.
Nothing could have prepared me for what it was.

Let's put it into proportion timewise..
We got there at 11am and the first time any of us looked at the time it was 2.15pm.
And we hadn't quite been through the place yet..
There's a distinct advantage of traveling with likeminded people :D

The shop itself is three rooms filled floor to ceiling.
With, for example, an entire wall of knitting needles and crochet hooks.
If you can't find what you are looking for, it most likely does not exist..


I'll let my photos do the talking for a bit:











Looking for a zipper?
I have never seen this many.
Ever.





Once we walked out of there, we had a feeling we had filled our need of touching things for the day.

A few handy hints:

• Make a list before you go. It will make your life so much easier. Totally worth it to map out future projects first.
• Wear comfy shoes and have a water bottle handy.
• You need to add 20% VAT (arvonlisävero) on the pricetag as those are wholesale prices.
• Be prepared to wait in line to pay. That part of the shop really should be designed again! Good company and said water bottle help immensely :)

What did I get?

Lovely yarns..
The solid color one is Rowan's 50% cotton-50% merino wool, and is quite possibly the softest yarn I've ever worked with. The price was about half of what it would be in Finland.

The multicolored one (I love my green..) will most likely become a shawl.
I also got two sets of bamboo knitting needles (for about half the price).


Some neato gadgets found their way into my basket.
A case of "That would be so cool, but they don't have it in the shops here, and ordering it online would make it ridiculously expensive."
I am now a happy owner of a bias tape maker (yay!) and a thingamajigy that helps you turn tubular sewing.
And I got some useful knick knacks and pretty embroidery threads.


I found some suitable things for making miniatures too.
Yarns, beads, teeny tiny crystals and a lovely ostrich feather.


All and all a very nice shopping trip!
Plus I stayed within my budget.

I highly recommend a trip to this place.
I can also recommend a nice café, Chocolaterie in the Old Town on Vene, as you will be in need of a caffeine fix afterwards :)

A new ghost moved in today

Meet Petri Mushroomagick and his bird Mazilu.

He especially enjoys the company of the siamese twins...

He fits right in with the crew :D

(I imagine there will be quite a welcome party once it gets darker.. I'll light a candle so little Miss Emmeline won't be afraid..)

He's made by the talented Miss Vanessa, I've been wanting one of her wee elfins for a while and finally lucked out at her Etsy store.

(Vanessa, it's makes me giggle a bit as Petri is the name of my childhood friend.. I must say the two look nothing alike)

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 :)

Oh sweet KI.. how I love you..

So if you've ever seen any of my scrapbook pages it's pretty clear I've been a HUGE KI Memories paper fan since their very first collection.

Love at first sight.

And if you hadn't noticed that, well here are a few of my favorite pages featuring some of my favorite papers ever:

And yes.. I save every single minute scrap of these papers. In fact they have a box all of their own :)

Last week I got an email from Katy that got me very excited.
KI has released some of the classics in digital form!!!

And the best part is that the paper sets were just $2.00..

Well no.. in fact the best part is that they had the Ice Cream Parlor papers.

SCORE!

Now if they'd next release that pink flower paper I'd be over the moon... pretty please?

Yes I noticed they had it in green.. but I'd love the pink one.. perhaps I should just go ahead and purchase the Evergreen papers and fiddle with the hue of the paper..heh..

*grin*

I'm still on a color high

It all started with these lovely kids' play dishes from IKEA.
I got these for Niina's birthday present.. I mean how cute are these?
Look at those cafe latte cups..

Or these dishes... like sorbet.


Cute glasses..

..and even silverware. Sigh...too stinkin' cute :)

That's how the trouble started...
I decided to surf online a bit.

Thought I'd go over to see what fun they had at Pottery Barn... the teen catalog.
BIG mistake.
Now I'm kicking myself...

I want the owl pillows, please.

And this bedding.

I wouldn't mind sleeping in an enchanted forest either...

I'll take all the natural light in this room, thank you very much.

I could live with this piece. Oh yes I could..

A polkadot rug.. swoon...

One in each color, please.

The green or all three... all three I think. One for me, one for Saara and one for Niina. Yeah, that's it.

And naturally we'd all need our own hairdryers to match...

Now if they'd just bring an outlet to Finland....

Just let me dream, ok?

Sunday thoughts

* I start work tomorrow...


* Wish you could smell this... my one and only climbing rose.


* I need more hollyhocks. They make me happy.


* Picked these from under and around the playhouse. They have been brought from sailing trips in the archipelago years ago. You can see all the colors of granite and gneiss this country is made of.

* It's raining today.

* I was eating my breakfast yesterday and wondered if I had sand on my toast or something.. kept getting this grinding feeling. A bit later same thing happened with my gum. Took it out of my mouth, looked at it.. and darn it.. pieces of a filling. Luckily I have a former classmate who's a dentist and she'll fix it up next week.

* Did I mention I go back to work tomorrow???

* The house is quiet. Mika's taking Niina to his parents' house for the week. Saara's at a friend's summercabin still today. She'll be taking the train tomorrow.

* It's our 15th anniversary next Thursday. A conversation like this went on a few weeks ago when Mika was booking tickets for a work related trip to Germany:

-You're going to Germany?
-Yeah.
-And you'll be gone on the 7th?!?
-Aha.. why?
-The date doesn't ring any bells then?
-Nope. Should it?
-Yes, hon, it really should...
-How come?
-...sigh...

So I get to spend that day alone. I'm thinking of kidnapping a friend from work and going for a drink and quite likely seeing a chick flick... either Sex and The City or Miss Pettigrew. Or maybe Once.

* Nine weeks of vacation is really not enough... funny isn't it?


* I took out the sewing machine last night. And some pretty fabrics. Plus two UFO's (that's UnFinished Objects).



Finished this one.. you'll see it eventually, but for now I'll just give you this glimpse.

Made headway with the Marimekko-picnic-quilt-to-be.

Odd pieces of Marimekko fabrics I've picked in the -50% bin-of-pieces and some embroidered sheets of my grandmother's. From the 1940's and 1950's.


Her initials.
(now who else is thinking "Call home"? Hehee)


I still need a white border around it with nice mitered corners. Maybe I should embroider something in a few of those white squares.. like these handkerchiefs on Flickr. Something unexpected...

* This was my last batch of scrapping goodies I ordered:

Truly inspiring. Seeing that after they arrived, I scrapped for three straight days and have 15 layouts to prove it.

Keep your eyes peeled on that page slide in the sidebar :)
You'll see new pages pop up. You'll also see some at the AMLT gallery and blog ( I hope you've been checking out the blog for great ideas and fabulous give aways. Jill is giving out some really awesome new CHA goodies!!! And you know what, Finns are allowed to join in too. In fact it doesn't matter where in the world you reside, AMLT contests are open to everyone!)
And the Finnish Inspiroidu blog also.

* I think I'll go dig in my fabric boxes to see if I can find something I can sew myself a new handbag out of. Because, let's face it.. I'm going back to work tomorrow... A new bag might help me to adjust :D