Outside Living

In the summer time it's so nice to relax on a balcony, terrace, patio... You name it! Our balcony is very small 50's balcony, which was mainly built, so that women could air their home textiles. These days I use it for the same purpose too, but I'd also like to have a roomy outdoor space for relaxing, gatherings with friends, and quiet afternoon tea moments. I'm hoping to have my own backyard in the Netherlands. I'd love to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and herbs. Viiru would also love spending time outside, chewing tree branches and enjoying the sun.

These pictures are taken in the Housing Fair in Finland. The photos show how you don't really need a lot to create a cosy outdoor space. Just a few chairs, pillows, a rug, and some plants. Outside spaces are perfect for recycled items. Imagine: building a sofa out of wooden pallets, mattresses covered with colourful textiles and unique pillows. Or making it totally black and white! I might try the black and white version inside and the colourful version outside. For flower pots you can use old coffee cups, buckets, pots, vases, or anything you can think of. Then make it your style by covering it with fabric, paper or a crocheted cover. I can't wait to try out these ideas!

Housing Fair in Finland

Every summer a housing fair is arranged somewhere in Finland. This year it's held in Hyvinkää, which is very close to Helsinki. At the fair you can actually go inside the houses and explore every room. The whole area is brand new and the houses have been built to be ready for the fair. And after the fair, real families move in the houses. So that's what a housing fair is, in a nutshell. I thought it needed to be explained, because I don't think every one is familiar with the concept. If you live somewhere else than Finland, I would love to hear your experiences on this subject. Are there fairs like this in your country? Have you ever visited one? What did you think?

This fair is a perfect place to see the trends in housing and living. This year I spotted that there was a very big emphasis on outside living. There were a lot of roomy and beautiful terraces, balconies and yards over there. The colours were quite neutral and a lot of natural materials had been used. If you have a chance I truly recommend visiting the Housing Fair in Hyvinkää. More information about the fair you can find here: Housing Fair. It's open until 11th of August.

I concentrated on recycled materials, recycled furniture and interior items, natural materials, etc. Sorry again about the bad photo quality, but I only had my phone with me. Next post will be about the outside spaces in the Housing Fair. Here are my favourites of the interiors!

Art cafe - Dubrovnik

Oh my god, I've been gone way too long! I lost my inspiration and didn't really have any good ideas for this blog. Now I'm back and intend to start blogging a lot more.

I've been on a holiday in Croatia for the past ten days, today is time to go back home. Yesterday we found a very cool cafe in Dubrovnik. They had used very creational ways to make furniture and other items. The cafe was called Art cafe. If you're in Dubrovnik, I warmly recommend this place!

Amigurumi

I found a perfect way to use my leftover yarn! I saw an article about amigurumi (crocheted or knitted stuffed creatures) in Kotoliving magazine. It's a new lifestyle magazine full of ideas for handicraft, homing, cooking and everything that's important in life! It's my new favourite magazine! But sorry, only in Finnish! This magazine gives a lot of ideas how to use materials you already have without the need to buy more and more.

In the newest number there was an article about Jennifer Ramirez and her amigurumi and I decided to try to make my own. She has an amazing blog The Sun and the Turtle about her own amigurumi patterns. There are some patterns for free and some you can buy, and the page is in English. I fell in love with The Owl Girl and decided to try and make it with the instructions I saw in Kotoliving magazine for a different amigurumi called The Squirrel Girl. I had to do a bit of improvising, and the pattern for the owl the girl is holding, I just made up myself. I think it became so cute and I got a lot of compliments on it when I published the photo on Facebook. Many thanks to Kotoliving and Jennifer from The Sun and the Turtle for giving me inspiration to make my own amigurumi. You can find The Sun and the Turtle and Kotoliving also on Facebook.

I fell in love with amigurumi so much that after finishing the Owl Girl I had to make an amigurumi I had designed myself. My amigurumi is named Dreamy Rebecca and she's a real winter girl holding her snowboard and enjoying the snow falling from the sky!

Valentine's Day

I hope you've all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! In Finnish it's Ystävän päivä (Friend's Day) and in Swedish Alla Hjärtans Dag (All Hearts' Day)! I think it's great how the name of this lovely day is a little bit different in each country. Here in Finland we celebrate friends and loved ones. In America the day is more about couples, lovers, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives...

Mittens from Leftover Yarn

I have a lot of extra yarn, and since I'm getting rid of things, I'm trying to think of something to do with all of this yarn. My first project was making a birthday present for my mom, and I decided to crochet a pair of mittens. I used two different shades of grey, and made some snow flake shaped decorations to make the mittens match my mom's woollen hat that she'd knitted herself earlier. My old doll got the honour to pose as a hat model. Now that I look at the doll picture, I think it looks a bit creepy!

Here are some photos of the yarn and the mittens, and also some wintery photos of our dog that I happened to take the other day.

Buying, buying, buying

I'm so sorry, my lovely readers, for being away for such a long time. I've been sick and haven't had the energy to write my blog! At the moment I can't promise to write very often but I'll try my best, that I promise!

My life is all about simplifying things at the moment. I'm learning to give things up. I've been living in an environment where consuming has a very big role. Now I'm trying to question the thought that, in order to keep the world going, we need to buy more and more things. Isn't that just crazy? Our lives are surrounded by adverts, commercialism and consuming. We are told that in order to survive these economically challenging times, we need to keep buying and buying. At the same time we are destroying the planet by consuming too much.

I've decided to do my part and stop buying things I don't necessarily need. I already have everything I need, and more. That's why I'm also selling a lot of things that have been just lying around for ages. I found out that my friend owns a flea market and decided to sell my things there. She bought the place last autumn and is transforming it to a very nice and cozy flea market. Visit the home page of Sisustustori (only in Finnish) and find out more.

I'm very happy that flea markets, vintage, and retro are such big trends and it feels like they just keep on growing. People are realising that it's not necessary to always buy new furniture, new curtains and new decorative items in order to make your home look different. Flea markets and recycling centres are full of old furniture, and anything you might need. I've found a lot of cool dining chairs in flea markets. My chairs are all different shape and colour but if you want yours to look more like they belong together, just paint them with the same paint and you get a totally different look!