Inspired by color

If you've seen any of my scrap pages you know I like color.
I'm slowly trying to incorporate more color into our white-walled home, but that takes time. Not to mention a little convincing...
We did get that blue chair a while back and now it looks like we won't get it re-upholstered after all, but instead get a pillow in that same blue for the couch. I enjoy the vibrancy.

Which brings me to my favorite color inspirations.

I saw this ad in the monthly magazine that comes with our newspaper.
I was wowed.

If I could pull off that outfit in the big picture...
I love the reds, oranges, indigo and the green. Mmmm..and the plum.
And I simply love the floral border.
I ordered the catalog yesterday just so I could flip through it.
If you'd like one of your own, go check out Gudrun Sjoden.

My other big favorite is Designers Guild.




Just last night I was imagining my dining room chair seats upholstered with one of these cushion fabrics. That pink and green combo is delicious.

Niina and I were looking at the Pottery Barn catalogs online (oh how I wish they shipped here...) looking for color ideas for her room. We'll be repainting it within a year.
She picked out these:


I need to put my thinking cap on...

I survived. She survived. We all survived.

She's officially 11. wow.

The party was a blast.


12 kids divided into teams, as fate would have it, all 3 boys were in one team. First we had a relay race where the kids had to show hula hooping, limbo, balance, running and skipping skills.

Then they had to put together a 60 piece puzzle without seeing the picture on the box.
And we tested those pesky balance skills again.

Tried to calm them down for a little brain bender and then it was time for everyone's favorite: the yucky food. On this particular plate: marshmallows in ketchup.

On a scavenger hunt for jungle animals and tossing water balloons to a bucket.
The blue team won by three points and were awarded first choice of chocolate bars, the orange team got what was left.

And note my happy expression here :oP
She blew out the candles with such force I got candle wax rained on me.
On my arms, my new shirt...
Lovely.
But the cake was good. Devil's food cake with chocolate frosting.

I have to say one thing though...
Jeff Probst has it waaayyyy too easy.
I want to see him handling twelve 10-11 year olds.
Because they
-don't shut up
-stay where they should
-don't shut up
-don't listen to instructions
-don't shut up
-cheat where they can
-never ever shut up!

sigh.
I need a t-shirt that says I survived this party.

well well well...

...I really don't know what to think...

I knew Saara read my blog.
I figured if Mika (the DH) wanted to read this, he'd ask for a link.
But no.
The man googled it.

GOOGLED it.
Had to check it out myself. If you write in blog and my nickname guess what is the first link that pops up.
A-ha.
Now that was a bit too easy.

All I can say is read at your own risk...heheheheeee...

I know why he snuck in here.
He's curious about what I do all day.
Because us SAHMs just sit on the couch all day watching daytime soaps and eating bon bons.
Right?

So just to humor him, I'm going to list all I've done today.
So far.

-left at 7.40 to take the girls to school
-after Niina went inside, I chatted with Samuli's mom for about 5 minutes
-drove to the grocery store to get the things I forgot to buy last night as I made the faux pas of going to the store without my list, duh.
-at home ate breakfast and read the newspaper
-cut my fingernails because they were too long to bake with
-put in a load of reds in the washing machine
-made dough for pesto buns
-sat down to make cue cards for myself. Just so I can look a bit more the Jeff Probst part come tomorrow, but I'm not wearing khakis LOL. And to remind me of the order of all the challenges.
-wrote a text message to check if one the guests was coming
-Irina (that would be Samuli's mom) brought Niina home
-picked up the mail
-checked out Niina's first library books with her (it's so cute how excited she is about school. I'm amazed at how much english she has picked up in just two weeks. Yesterday she went around the house singing about Mr. Sun)
-baked the pesto buns (they smell yuuummyyyy...green pesto and pine nuts in them)
-finished making the cue cards while the buns were in the oven
-took laundry out, put in a new load (blues and greens this time)
-hung laundry to dry outside
-made a list of things I still need to track down for tomorrow's challenges. Such as trays, spray bottles, limbo stick, notebooks and pens, baskets, bucket etc.
-timed how long it took me to put together a 60 piece puzzle without reference to the picture on the box (one of the challenges)
-found a few items on my list
-made lunch for Niina and myself
-made dough for vanilla rolls
-found more stuff on my list, including the missing spray bottle
-baked vanilla rolls..mmm...the smell is irresistable
-hung the rest of the laundry out to dry
-made cinnamon roll dough
-sat down to write this as I needed to take a break

I still need to bake those cinnamon rolls, make Saara a snack when she comes home and make dinner. Oh and I have to make a card for the birthday girl!
I doubt I'll be able to have this house vacuumed by the time he comes home.
So I think I'll leave that to him, seeing as he's so good at it :o)
And as you can see,
so much time for those bon bons...

Granted this isn't my typical friday.
And I have to admit to four pieces of dark chocolate, but that counts as health food.

I have to get back to the grindstone now.
I'll be back after the weekend to tell you just how much fun we had.

Blustery day

But still warm, above average for the time of year.

I've been busy today.

-worked some photoshop magic on my friends travel photos.
-made Saara's present (can't tell you more as the kid reads this...)
-finished those flags
-I'm off to the grocery store in just a bit
-there's also the parents' evening at school tonight

I also need to plan the order of events for saturday. And how can I be the host and photographer at the same time?

I did promise to show some pages a while back, right?
I haven't had a chance to submit yet (why is it such a pain to do?) but I'll show you here before I post them publicly anywhere else ;o)

Just click on the pics to view them bigger.

-gasp-

-friendship-

-on the hill-

-acrobatics on the lawn-

-jewelry and I-

-love imusic-

-moscow circus-

As for journaling translations...well you'll just have to patiently wait until I get these submitted and I'llpost the journaling on 2peas. I'll give you links. Promise.

Susie. you ROCK!

I feel like the Statue of Liberty...heheheheeee...all covered in glitter too.

Susie promised to make me a hat to celebrate the 10 000 views on my blog.
That was 865 clicks ago.
This is the coolest crown I've ever owned.
Thank you.
(and no, I most certainly do not think you are the Queen of Dorks! The crown is on my head!)

On that note, Heli will you email me your address?
susanna.tunturi @ dlc.fi
Just remove the spaces :o)

Here are the flags I made.

I used a hawaiian name generator to translate Saara's name.
Came out as Kala.
Which quite funnily means fish in finnish.
Do you know that finnish and hawaiian are both pronounced exactly as they are written?
That means I could pick up any text written in hawaiian and read it perfectly.
Now that would be even cooler if I'd actually understand it too.

Anyone have a good recipe for a chocolate cake?
That's Saara's choice.
And it needs to be a recipe that doesn't include shortening, as I can't get that here.
It's all margarine, butter and oil for us, baby.
Feel free to link me.
I have one that I'll use if you can't show me a better one.

Wicked cool

You'll never guess what I found yesterday while slicing a lemon.
Look at the photo.

Want a closer look?

Yes, roots and all!
I've never seen this before.

Needless to say that since this was one determined lemon seed, we planted it.
The girls are already looking forward to lemons.
I hate to burst their bubble...
but seeing as we don't live in California, I don't see anything but store bought lemons in our future, LOL!

Orange and turqoise

I'm painting team flags for Saara's Survivor party.
I'll hopefully resurface tomorrow.

I can see!

Blogger was wonky for me all weekend.
I couldn't see my own blog.
How very annoying.

We had a lovely thundery weekend.
I love a good thunderstorm.

Saturday afternoon we went to Linnanmaki, the local amusement park. Loved taking shots of the park details.
Photos like this.
Can you see me?

And the staple curly fries.
mmmm....
love amusement park junk food.


Details from the park.





And finally the new and bigger ferris wheel appropriately called The Bagel. Or Rinkeli in finnish.



Yesterday I had a class reunion. Though you can't really call it that. There's a core group of about 10 that gets together twice a year. We invite everyone, and sometimes we have a new person show up, but most years, like this, it's just us.
Eight of us yesterday.
And yes, old friends really are the best ones. We've known each other since we were five. For 32 years. There is no need for pretentiousness. It's all honest. Down to earth. And we have a very twisted sense of humor.
I haven't laughed as much in a long time.
I'm talking side splitting, tears down your face laughter.
I'm on a high still this morning.
I better go text a few messages...

Have a happy monday.

Friday, YESSSSSSS!

I'm so relieved.
I can actually sleep in tomorrow morning.
Anyone have Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at hand?

Today I got my hair done while Niina was in school.
You know what I hate?
When my mobile starts ringing when I have haircolor gunk all over my head.
A chick will get the 'can't talk, color on my head'.
But a guy 'oh, so you've got a few minutes, good'.
Dude.
No I don't.
I'll call you back in one hour, ok?
This is supposed to be relaxing...

I've had more calls than usual lately.
My class is getting together on Sunday.
We're a tight bunch (together from kindergarten to 9th grade) and meet up once a year.
Atleast.
Fun fun fun.
Looking forward to it.
But why the guy organizing it this year chose a sunday is beyond me.
He'll be hearing from me...
Cause I have to get up at 6 grumble grumble 30 monday morning.
The least he can do is buy me a G&T.

I have layouts to share.
Hoping I'll have time to submit some first before airing them for public viewing.
Soon, I promise.

I need to go put on a load of laundry.
Not quite the weekend yet.
sigh.

I give up..

Sooo...
I printed out the Survivor invites (as seen above) yesterday. Saara gave them out today.
She just came home and informed me I forgot to add the address on them.
DUH.
Sing with me:
...if I only had a brain...

I have very limited brain function right now.
This morning I thought it was wednesday and sent Saara to school with no afternoon snack or money. Her longest day of the week.
I feel like banging my head to the wall, but I think that might limit my brainpower even more.
I blame having to get up at 6.30 every weekday. My body is in denial.
I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON.

Maybe it's good we're not playing party games on here.
Who knows what would happen LOL.

The picture above is of my magnetic strip on the wall.
My happy finds this week from IKEA are these:

BIG metal boxes with a strong magnet.
I like to keep my sparklies close at hand.

I'm needed to help with homework now.
See ya!

Happy birthday little blog of mine!

Anyone have any good party games?
*grin*

When I started this blog a year ago, I honestly didn't think it would last.
I'm grateful it has.

Humor me today (and tomorrow, seeing as timezones are what they are...heheheee...yes a TWO day par-tay!), let me know who's around. I love knowing who's reading. (and yes that means YOU Tawny!!!)

I'm in a party mood.
I baked a blueberry pie if anyone wants to drop by.

I've also been printing out b-day invites for Saara's 11th a week from saturday.
We've decided on a Survivor party.
It's the one hit show her class loves. We're a couple seasons behind over here, we're watching Survivor Palau now (season 10), dont tell me who wins, ok? We were rooting for Stephanie but since she's gone our money is on either Ian or Tom.
I came across some great ideas for the party online today. It should be a a BLAST! We'll have team bandannas, obstacle course, puzzle solving, scavenger hunt, gross food etc. The works. Teams gather points to see who wins and nobody gets voted off.
All in the name of good fun.

I've also washed some windows today and ran to the store (well not literally!) for some milk.
What's in your plans for today?

What's your trick?

How do you get your eyes open in the morning?
I would be in trouble if I didn't have a little something stashed in the fridge ;o)

It's like those roll-on lipglosses, only for your eyes. Specifically for those nasty bags under mine... I keep in in the fridge so it's cold and works a tad better on the luggage.

PS. Lumene is make-up for us Nordic Beauties..heheheeee....

Using up scraps part 2

This by the way is one of our themes next month at AMLT.
You'll see atleast two scrap related projects from me on September 1st.

I'm a self-confessed scrap hoarder.
I need a 12 step program.
Not that I'd take it.
Heheheee.

I hold on to the smallest pieces of pretty paper.
Usually I make good use of them on cards.

Like these flowers made out of tiny KI Memories paper pieces.

Or the sun for my bro's b-day:

My anniversary card:

Baby card:

Birthday card:

And yes, it does have tiny squares from 50 different blue papers.
Sigh.
I said it was bad...

I also used some scraps to make business cards:


And if all else fails, give the scraps to your kid.
Niina made an entire family:

Using up scraps part 1

One of my favorite things to do.
Doesn't matter if we are talking paper or fabric either.
Today's episode is fabric.

Meet some new buddies.


I found these cute little purses while browsing those dangerous crafty links ;o)
My girls walked in and started pointing out which one they wanted.
What's a mom to do?

The ballerina piggie is made of an old scarf and houses Saara's bus pass.
The cute tiny elephant holds my house keys so I don't have to do a frantic search at the door.

Niina's panda. Just for fun.
I used bits of fabric I had taking space.
So much fun.

Stay tuned for paper scrap stuff tomorrow...