JAMIE SAYS DREAM

Nice museum shop at work

2012-03-06T21:35:00.001+01:00

I work at a museum, Kulturen in Lund, and of course they have a museum shop. It's filled with handicraft, design and books about cultural history. Luckily I don't go through the shop on my way to my office - if I did I would be broke I think :-)

Fabric purse from Frösö Handtryck, ceramic bowl from Schewens skärvor
and ceramic mug from Heidi Hirengren. Photo: Maria/Jamie says dream

Lace bracelets Photo: Maria/Jamie says dream

I'm sure many of you have seen the Swedish Dala horse (to the right below) but have you seen a Dala Elk? I found it on Pinterest, of course. First time I've seen one, so I had to share it as my Daily dose of quirkiness :-) We have a lot of elk/moose in Sweden, so it's quite appropriate as a souvenir...

Dala Elk and Dala horse from Laganland

Sunday Dinner with M2

2012-03-04T21:18:00.002+01:00

Today the flue period is finally OVER for me, I'm not sick and I'm not tired anymore. I went out to the shops for the first time since last friday, and my friend M2 (We are Maria and Maria = M1 and M2) had Sunday dinner here with me (yes, I know I didn't iron the table cloth). Back to work tomorrow, looking forward to it!

My kitchen and my friend Maria. Pineapple and
passionsfruit for dessert was a yummy combination.

Photo: Maria/Jamie says dream

If you want to prepare yourself for nice dinners outside when spring and summer comes, maybe you should recycle an old suitcase into a picture perfect picnic case, like this one in my Daily dose of quirkiness .-) You can find a tutorial at Design Sponge.

The Green Space Travel Case

Children's secrets

2012-03-04T01:36:00.001+01:00

Photo: Petra van der Veer

When I was looking through photographer Petra van der Veer's website today I stopped and looked at the two photos above for while. They took me back to a feeling from my childhood. The secret moments when I was not the ordinary child that went to school and played with my friends. The moments when I got close too or passed a border to something that would come in the future or something that only I could experience.

When I see these photos I remember the feeling. I don't remember what I did in those secrets moments, not clearly anyway. But I can remember the feeling. And it's a feeling that is so much harder to get to as an adult. Do you recognize this feeling?

I also found Giorgia Pallaro's photos on Flickr (her Flickr name is MistoAcrilio), and a few of her conceptual photos also reminds me of my childhood secrets.

Photo: Giorgia Pallaro (MistoAcrilico on Flickr)

In my Daily dose of quirkiness, something that could be taken out of a movie about a secret world for children...

Journey by Leszek Bujnowski, photomanipulation based on the photographers own photos.

Catch a dream with Geninne

2012-03-03T00:23:00.002+01:00

Dream Catcher by Gennine D. Zlatkis/Geninne's Art Blog

I just love this dream catcher that Geninne D. Zlatkis who blogs at Geninne's Art Blog made. She used these instructions from Native Amercian Technology & Art. Maybe, maybe I will try to make one.

There's so many pretty things on Geninnes blog, like these painted stones:

Painted stones by Gennine D. Zlatkis/Geninne's Art Blog

And this lovely painting has decorated my computers desktop for a while now:

"You Are a Part of Me 5/5" by Gennine D. Zlatkis/Geninne's Art Blog

I don't know if The Little Theatre Of Dolls still gives performances, but I had to post this photo of the artists and puppeteers Frida Alvinzi and Raisa Veikkola in my Daily dose of quirkiness. There is a puppet theater in their skirts! :-)

The Little Theatre Of Dolls, photographed by Felipe Pagini

Kim Welling's Instant Comfort Pocket Boxes

2012-03-02T01:00:00.003+01:00

In my second blog post ever on this blog, "Moving in", from October last year, I posted about Kim Welling's Instant Comfort Pocket Boxes. I've been wanting to order one or two since then, and yesterday I finally did. A fun way to stear myself into better thoughts when I have doubts. This is the two boxes I ordered:

You can also take a look at Kim Welling's blog if you like, where she often shows new illustrations that she made.

And in my Daily dose of quirkiness, a glimpse of how the pot hole gardener Steve Wheen brightens up inner-city London with colourful floral displays and lively model sets that fill in the gaps in the roads and pavements and add some intrigue to pedestrians’ daily commute. I found him via Lost at E Minor.

the pothole gardener

Do you still like maps?

2012-03-01T00:43:00.003+01:00

Are you tired of maps, or do you still like them even if they have been seen a lot in the blog world for a long time? I still like them so I gathered some inspiration from my Pinterest boards, to go with a quirky pic I found today - you will see it when you come to my Daily dose of quirkiness :-)

Mountains made of maps, by artist Louis Reith., via Fancy

How To: Make a Magnetic Map Memo Board at ManMade

Vintage Map Coasters from Etsy shop Carolina Cottage

DIY map coasters at Martha Stewart

DIY map trays at P.S.-I made this

Recycled vintage map bunting from Etsy shop moonandlion

Last but not least, in my Daily dose of quirkiness: What would you say about a pair of map tights for spring? :-) It's actually from the New Zealand brand World's Autumn/Winter 2011 collection, but can still be bought in their webshop.

Tights from World's Autumn/Winter collection 2011

Thinking about pink

2012-02-28T17:15:00.003+01:00

This lamp from Studio Snowpuppe has been seen on blogs a lot lately.
And I'm a fan too! Comes in diffrent colours and also as a floor lamp.

Still fighting the flue, with a pile of paper tissues beside my bed. I don't have a tv right now, so I'm watching series online and surf around to blogs, pinterest and webshops. And today and yesterday I've been looking at a lot of pink. Not cerise, not neon, not light pink with lots of blue in it, but kind of coral or salmon hues.

That's me, going from colour to colour, style to style and thinking about what I would like. And then I change my mind! But sometimes I go back to the same thing a lot of times, and then it's probably something that I reeeeaaally like, right? Very slow progress in my home, but I'm not standing still. I'm going back and forth. How do you decide what to do with your rooms?

By the way, Heather at Home again jog wrote a fun blogpost about what she calls Compulsive Containter Acqusition. About buying containers for organization, believing it will magicly solve the clutter problem. Read it here, and see if you fit into the description :-)

Puzzle cushion from Hay (to expensive for me, I want to find a simular)
and image from the home of Jen Gilpin and Maxime Bellesteros, featured at Freunde von Freunden

These pots are ugly-cute! Photo: SF Girl by Bay on Flickr

Necklace by Not Tuesday and Origami poster by dottir&sonur

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness: The Victorian Shoe Lamp :-)

Victorian Shoe Lamp

PS Is blogger playing games with your blog too? The colour of the headline and the links should be green, but it dosen't work as it should...

Influenza weekend with At Your Leisure

2012-02-26T15:10:00.004+01:00

Colourful, fun wall in Yoki shop, from At Your Leisure issue 3

Yesterday I didn't even realize at first that I had a fever, I thought it was just a cold. But I think it's the influenza - caughing, sneezing, fever, my body aches (especially the inside of my ears!) and my throat is sore.

I had planned to paint the table for my creative space this weekend and to take a trip to Ikea, but I had to stay in bed most of the time. My laptop kept me company, between naps.

Through Happy Mundane blog I found out about the zine At Your Leisure, and treated myself with the third issue, that will arrive by mail soon.

From At Your Leisure issue 3

At Your Leisure is produced by J3 Productions, founded in 1998 by creative director Jonathan Lo, who is also the man behind Happy Mundane blog. Jonathan and his team don't want to call At Your Leisure a magazine, they call it a zine "in reference to all those independent underground publications we loved in the late 80s and 90s".

From At Your Leisure issue 3

From At Your Leisure issue 2

From At Your Leisure issue 1

I drink a lot of tea for my sore throat (green tea with lemon and elderflower that my son picked out in the shop, really nice when you have a cold/influenza), so in my Daily dose of quirkiness I serve you these lovely Teapot lamps :-) Hope you all had a better weekend then mine!

Photo: _°•● ! ☺°ppomme on Flickr

Folk Art & Design

2012-02-25T12:41:00.016+01:00

At my new job at the museum Kulturen in Lund I have to get to know all the exhibitions and buildings (30 buildings!) and yesterday I went through the exhibition Folk Art & Design. I thought I should share some photos with you. (The lights are quite dim in some parts of the exhibition, because a strong light would ruin the objects = it effects my photos.)

The exhibition is divided into six parts, and the first one is Weddings! I think this is my favourite part of the whole exhibiton. It starts with wedding photos dated from 1910-2010 with stories about the couples, and moves on to wedding clothes and textiles and other objects from the 19th century. There's so many embroideries and beautiful details.

Wedding photo from 1922

Wedding photo from 1927

Wedding photo from 1939

Wedding photo from 2008

Bridegroom's shirt from 1844, embroidered with the initials of the bride and groome.

A dressed bride. Many layers of skirts was a sign of welth.

Bridal crowns

Bridal crown and a special embroidered cushion to sit on. The cushions were
used for feasts and maybe on Sundays, and to keep them intact they were
kept dark, often in a chest. It took a long time to make them. The women
weaved and then embroidered them with great care.

Another part of the exhibition tells about the people who made the folk art objects. Decor painters who wandered from house to house with paint and brushes in a basket on their back, the carpenter in the village, the women who weaved and sewed in the homes for the family or to make a little money.

This clock is made by Elin Roli in Wäckelsång. She was born in 1785 as a farmers
daughter and married a soldier. He was captured in war and kept for seven years,
and meanwhile Elin made money by making clocks and other handi crafts.

Decor painting

A third part of the exhibition tells about the tradition of marking objects with intials and year.

Handmade and handpainted chest, wall cupboard and little baskets.

But in this part there are also some modern things, like a towel embroidered with authentic mobile phone text messages and a cushion for a wedding very much inspired byt the folk culture tradition.

authenic mobile phone text messages turned into embroidery

Wedding cushion embroidered by Therese Svensson Everöd for her sisters wedding in 2005.

A fourth part of Folk Art & Design is about modern days DIY, our need to make things. You can see fanzines, posters, embroidery, carved sculptures, knittings and all sorts of things.

Small DIY decorative wall cupboards

A fifth part of the exhibition shows examples of how new design and handi craft is inspired by old traditions.

Chandelier by Karin Ferner, inspired by old folk art chandeliers.

Detail of the chandelier

This is a chair made in the south of Sweden in 1878...

...and this is a modern chair made by Matz Nordell, inspired by old folk culture. The numbers 1,2,3,4 is reminding us about the folk culture tradition of marking chairs with the year they were made.

The sixht part of Folk Art & Design shows old folk costumes from Scania (the region of Sweden where Lund and Malmö is located, in the very south of Sweden) The traditional feast clothes were made in a very specific way for different parts of Sweden. Scania was from this perspective divided into many different parts. Still today some people use their regional folk costumes at special occasions. Our prinsess Victoria always wears her's on her birthday.

In this part there are also modern interpretations of the traditional folk costumes. Students from Sätergläntan, a school in Dalarna for traditional folk art handi crafts, came down to Kulturen to get inspiration, and then created there own designs inspired by the Scanian tradition. Sorry about the very dark photos!

One of the modern interpretations in the front, traditional folk culture
clothes behind it. There's chains on the traditional top in the back too.

Modern interpretation of traditional folk culture cape

In my Daily dose of quirkiness I move from Kulturen and the Swedish folk tradition, to a tradition from another part of the world. Maison Martin Margiela turned traditional carpets into boots :-) They are beautiful!

Masion Martin Margiela carpet boots, via That's Not My Age

Jylian Gustlin's Sketchbook

2012-02-23T23:39:00.000+01:00

When I was around twelve I tried to learn to draw, but then something else stole my attention. When I see Jylian Gustlin's Sketchbook I feel like trying to learn how to draw again...

All images from Jylian Gustlin's Sketchbook.

And in my Daily dose of quirkiness, another artwork. Also depicting the human body, but the inside of it - and up-quirked with a flower and a butterfly :-)

Artwork by Rebecca Ladds.
She also has an Etsy-shop, but this artwork was not for sale there when I looked.

Back to white in my creative corner

2012-02-22T21:42:00.002+01:00

Photo: Hallie Burton

Unfortunately, the table that I got for my creative corner does not look good in it's present brown wood colour when it's now in it's right place. The floor, oak laminate, is the problem, doesn't look good at all with the table. But since I live in a rental I just have to adjust. That means I'm going to paint the table white. And that means that I'm going back to the original plan for my creative corner = a white base. I wouldn't mind a nice collections of globes on my desk when it's ready :-)

I'm afraid you will have to be patient if you want to see the end results of the projects I'm thinking of. I'm really slow and it's difficult for me to make up my mind about what colours I want and so on (and my strict budget is also a challenge). Anyway, I'm quite patient myself at the moment, and I'm happy about that.

Affirmation banner from Secret Holiday & Co.

When my creative corner is finally ready to use, I might do a DIY to pretty up my new creative space. Mabye a fabric chandelier to hang from the ceiling...

Tutorial at A Beutiful Mess.

...or maybe a new garland. This simple one is made from the morning newspaper.

Peppar & Vanilj

If I'm going to buy more plants for my home, as I want to, maybe I need pots like the one in my Daily dose of quirkiness, to give the plants hope... :-)

via True Blue Me & You

In pairs

2012-02-22T00:51:00.001+01:00

Just pictures today...

Little Drifters project / Photo: Nika Toroptsova

Patrick Baillet / Paul Raeside

Model Malgosia photographed by Federica Erra / Michael Eastman - Cuba

Anthropologie's 2011 catalog via Compare Shops / Closet Case Vintage Winter 2011 Lookbook

photo: Martin Johansson/ photo: Shae Acopian Detar

Feije Riemersma on Flickr / Arterre: Ateliers d'Art, Ceramique et Creation Marrakech

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness, a pair of flower ladies... one real lady with a huge fake flower and one vase-lady to put real flowers in :-)

Ruche Enchantment Lookbook 2012 / Ladyhead vase from Mood Indigo

Fern and other green loveliness

2012-02-19T14:02:00.004+01:00

Plants. I haven't thought much about them for a few years, but now I want to fill my home with them! Well, one step at a time. At least I have bought a fern, my big favourite right now. I want more of them, in pots and in vases or bottles (like in the photo below). And I'm thinking about some sheere white curtains with ferns I saw in a shop, or the pillow with the same pattern.

Midwest Living

I posted the photo below before here, but with my current fern obsession I had to post it again. I bought a flora with fern illustrations in it from a thrift store in November, and I think I will tear out some pages and put them up on the wall.

Sköna hem

Now is also the time for grape hyacints, snowdrops. tulips, daffodils (soon anyway) and one of my favourites - buttercups. I wouldn't mind the arrangements in the photos from Ikea below :-)

Image from Ikea's Swedish blog Livet hemma.

Image from Ikea's Swedish blog Livet hemma. I would like that lamp, "Tisdag", for my creative corner.

Around Christmas I bought a couple of little hanging glass terrariums and I want to find airplants for them, for the look in the photo from West Elm below (but mine are from Serholt, bought in the Swedish shop Village).

Photo: West Elm. I posted this before, here.

But we don't have to make our homes into jungles, even one or two cut flowers or a simple little branch will make a big difference :-)

Le Dans La

Image from House Doctor, via April and May.

If you don't go for simplicity, you might want to try to transform a bonsai into a building sculpture, like the Japanese artist Takanori Aiba in my Daily dose of quirkiness. Not attractive in my eyes, but makes me smile :-)

Via Visual News

Inspiration for a small dressing area

2012-02-18T20:43:00.003+01:00

Since I share a two-room (rental) apartment with my teenage son, my living room is also my bedroom. Very limited space, but I'm happy to have what I have. But I want to transform it a little, to suit me and my needs better. I want it to be a room that I like to live in!

My new creative corner is on its way, and I will also change another corner of the room where I right now have my stereo on a chest of drawers - and not much else, except mess! I want it to be a dressing area.

I wish I could have a really big mirror like this,
but there's hardly room for that. Love the ottoman too.
Image from Real Simple.

I will paint the chest of drawers, organize accessories, nailpolish and things like that on it and in it, and put up a mirror on the wall. And on the other side of the doorway, next to the bed, I will hang the Leaf hangers that I won in December, to put my clothes on when I go to bed.

Image from the book The Find by Stan Williams
via The City Sage

I Might Just Explode

Design Sponge Sneak Peek: Caitlin & Erik Flemming

Design Sponge Sneak Peek: Jennifer Sarkilahti of Odette

Sounds quick and easy, but these things take time for me... And of course, I spend too much time collecting inspiration, instead of really doing things!

Small Notebook

The shoes in my Daily dose of quirkiness was worn by The Leningrad Cowboys, in the film "Leningrad Cowboys Go America". I wouldn't mind having them in my dressing area, just for fun :-)

Via Belt and Braces

Where I work - Kulturen in Lund

2012-02-18T13:59:00.004+01:00

Blekingegården at Kulturen. The house was built in the middle of the 18th century, the interior is based on how the well-to-do peasant Carl Olsson and his family lived 1815-1835. Photo: Maria/Jamie says dream.

I have worked my first three days at my new job at Kulturen in Lund. Lots of new information, new people and names to remember, new impressions. I have been really tired in the evenings to be honest, and that's why I haven't had any energy to blog.

I thought I should show you some snapshots from my first day at work, from Lund and from Kulturen.

Lund is belived to have been founded around 990, when this region of Sweden, called Scania, belonged to Denmark. Along with Sigtuna, Lund is the oldest city in Sweden, and the center of Lund is full of old buildings. Quite picturesque. Already in 1666 Lund University was founded, and is now the largest university in Sweden.

LUND The Cathedral of Lund, Kungshuset (university building where I
studied Philosophy), the street outside Kulturen and the oldest university building.
Photo: Maria/Jamie says dream

Kulturen is a big museum where you can walk around outdoors and indoors and see buildings, invironments and exhibitions that show how people have lived and worked in Sweden through different ages and in different social classes. The museum was founded in 1882 and has grown more and more, when old buildings have been moved here. Kulturen has a great collection of artefacts from Sweden but also from cultures around the world, and they have both permanent and temporary exhibitions.

KULTUREN: pearl emboridery, Vita huset/The White House, the house where I work
(Locus Virtutum), and Herrehuset/The Noble House. Photo: Maria/Jamie says dream.

You have to bend down and watch your head when you
pass through this door... Photo: Maria/Jamie says dream

I'm back - thank you friends!

2012-02-13T21:10:00.001+01:00

Photo: Tereza Vlckova

I'm back after my break and I feel soooo much better now! I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to my sweet internet-friends who have left comments during my break, it really means a lot to me! I haven't responded, so you might think I didn't care, but I really did! I just needed all my energy to get going with my life outside the blog world.

A little update:

I'm starting a new job on Wednesday, at Kulturen in Lund (Kulturen is a big museum and Lund is the nearest city to Malmö, where I live).
I've started to excercise a little (small steps and patience) and it feels soooo good!
I adjusted a medicin I take every day and it helps me a lot more now.
I'm sleeping during the nights again :-) I used to be tired all the time before, with very irregular sleep. It feels fantastic to have a good rytmh again and I'm not tired during the day anymore.
The creative space I want and need to have in my living room is on it's way. I cleared the space and painted some shelves yesterday, and tomorrow I will put the new table in place. I will show you when it's ready.
My sweet, dear friend Anna is helping me with decluttering and organizing. It will take time before everything is ready, but it's so much easier with her help. She was here yesterday, and we worked for a few hours and then had a nice dinner together.
I'm ready to take on the world again! And to blog!

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness, a little lady on top of things (like I feel right at this moment) knitting a bright and fun yellow doily:-)

Rosa Marrero

Taking a break

2012-01-30T06:51:00.000+01:00

I'm taking a break from the blogworld for a couple of weeks. I got things to take care of that needs my full attention. See you when I come back!

Photo: nikaa on Flickr

Photo: artsyevie on Flickr

"Sending our memories off by candlelight" by David Talley on Flickr

Icy White

2012-01-29T09:41:00.004+01:00

There's finally some winter feeling in Malmö where I live. The temperature has been below zero for a few days, right now I think it's -3 degrees Celsius. No snow, but at least some ice. I collected some icy white beuties for you :-)

Kirsty Mitchell made her dream of a spectacular photo project come true - and she made all of the costumes herself! You can see more of "Wonderland" and other Kirsty Mitchell photographs on her website.

Wonderland "The White Queen" by Kirsty Mitchell

Wonderland "The Queen's Armada" by Kirsty Mitchell

Vee Speers

Photo: Lori Dunn

Hviit

Barbra Streisand in clothes designed by Cecil Beaton for the movie
"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever". Photo Cecil Beaton.

Chris Nicholls photographs Hyoni Kang for Flare, Dec. 2011.
Found via Modette.se

Photo: Jacob Watson on Flickr

And in my Daily dose of quirkiness, something that might just look like and editorial photo...and it is...but look what she's got on her head :-)

Photo: Tomaas, details about the editorial here.

Don't forget to give credit!

2012-01-28T22:42:00.001+01:00

There's a lot of blogs I would like a lot better if they always gave proper credit when they reblogg photos or illustrations. And there are a lot of blogs I don't even look at, because they are just full of photos without ANY credit.

And if you write Pinterest or Tumblr as a source...well, you could as well write internet or nothing at all. How can that help me to know anything about the source???

Please bloggers, try to give respect = try to make an effort and give credit and link in a way that will make the readers able to see who the photographer or stylist or illustrator is, or at least where it was originally published. If you were that photographer/illustrator/stylist/blogger that you reblogg a picture from, I think you would want to get credit... Read more about why you should "Link with love" here.

What do YOU think about giving credit and linking?

Must buy a zebra

2012-01-28T03:19:00.002+01:00

I went out for the first time in days today, after having an allergic reaction to a medicine a few days ago. It was so nice to get out, fresh, clear air and just at the freezing point. I finally bought a frame for my Henning Trollbäck Bear illustration, and a new alarm clock for my teenage son (he needs it!)

Today (Saturday) I think I will look around at thrift stores. I hope to find a cheap lovely couch, but I don't really think I will find one... but scanning through thrift stores without any stress is what I consider fun and relaxing, and I think I will find some little fun thing. AND I want to buy a zebra!

Zebra III, photography by Nicolas Evariste

Photo: Scotch Macaskill. Zebra in Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia

Gap Interiors, photo: Costas Picadas, found via Creative Living

Teacup model "AU" from Gefle Porslinsfabrik,
pattern "Zebra" by Eugen Trost, made 1956-1962

"Laughing Zebra" photo by August Jennewein

No, I don't want to buy a real zebra, or a photo or a rug with zebra pattern or even a teacup (well I would like the teacup, but I'm not going to buy it today) I'm just going to buy a little toy zebra...

Mr Jason Grant Blog

...to play around with, like in Jason Grant's anmimation above. :-) I really want one on my desk (and I need to put my new table where it should be, and organize things around it a bit!)

In my Daily dose of quirkiness I return to Charlotte Cory, who's montage art work I showed you yesterday. This time a lovely zebra lady - of course :-)

Charlotte Cory
via Creative Living

Feathers

2012-01-25T18:09:00.004+01:00

I saw this feather mobile (in the photo below) at Pernilla's blog at Plaza interiör today, and then I just had to look at more feahters, from my own Pinterest boards and others. Hope you find something you like :-)

Feather mobile by Cori Kindred, via Poppytalk, found by me via Plaza interiör
Easy DIY, I want to make one! Just have to find a twig...

Bluejay Arrow Necklace from Digby & Iona

Annie Lennox by Satoshi Saikusa, 1991, via Victoria and Albert Museum.

Photo from model Smita Lasrado's portfolio.

Feather", photography sold on Etsy by GraninnePhotography

Northern Hawk Owl photographed by Alfred Forns, originally in colour

Image from the film Kes (1969) by Ken Loach.
The boy was played by David Bradley.

Jennifer Worts Design

The Knotty Bride

Dogeared jewels & gifts

Feather hair extensions from Boho Feathers

Barn Owl Mask from Savagedryad on Etsy

Paintings on feathers by Featherlady Studio/Julie Thompson

We dress ourselves and our home in feathers and in my Daily dose of quirkiness this bird dresses up in clothes :-)

Montage by Charlotte Cory

Styling and cleaning inspiration

2012-01-24T10:09:00.004+01:00

I feel awkward again. Slow, not keen on anything really, tired. But I found some inspiration on the web that made me want to share with you.

First up, finnish stylist Jenni Juurinen. She made me pinn like crazy this morning, when I was looking through her website.

Stylist Jenni Juurinen, photographer Kristiina Kurronen

Stylist Jenni Juurinen, photographer Jorma Marstio

Stylist Jenni Juurinen, photographer Pekka Holmström

Stylist Jenni Juurinen, photographer Mirva Kakko

All photos found on Jenni Juurinen's website, where you can find even more loveliness :-)

The second thing that inspired me was Conversation Pieces last blogpost about a spring cleaning. I try to get around to start some serious spring cleaning and organizing and decluttering and this post inspired me a little bit.

Photo: Zoë/Conversation Pieces

Today I will clean my fridge, and here I found a tip about using either freshly ground coffee or used grounds to deodorize your fridge. I will try it :-) This is a part of a collection of tips on Apartment Therapy: "How to Green Clean, Declutter & Refresh Your Entire Home". Stop buying expensive and environmental evil cleaning products and use the articles "husmorstips" (as we say in Swedish) instead.

For my Daily dose of quirkiness, something to illustrate my posture today... Hope I will straighten up and cheer up during the day :-)

From the french photographer Marc Da Cunha Lopes' Vertebrata series, found via Lost at E Minor

Best of Louis Armstrong

2012-01-23T07:52:00.001+01:00

Louis Armstrong, World-Telegram staff photographer via Wikiepedia

I've been listening a lot to "Best of Louis Armstrong" lately. Lovely! You can listen to it on Spotify here.

I hope you will all have a good start to the week today! My Daily dose of quirkiness is ment to remind you to relaxe a little and have fun. As someone who pinned this photo on Pinterest wrote: "You can choose to live your life with the joy of the front row or solemness of the third row. The choice is yours. // what a HUGE contrast."

Photo: Grace Robertson

DIY cake stand and washi tape antlers

2012-01-22T08:00:00.039+01:00

I enjoy making cake stands out of china from thriftstores and I have made several, both for myself and as presents. But I have always just had a foot (porcelain candelstick or something else that fits) and a singel plate. Now I'm making one with three plates and a figurine on the top :-) It's not glued yet in the pictures, but I will do that this evening, after cleaning the china carefully. .

I don't know yet if I'm going to use it for cakes or for jewelry...or something else. It's kitsch I guess, but I think that's fun. Have you made any cake stands?

I also borrowed an idea from Stylizimo blog - to make washi tape antlers. I just looked at her photo and started taping. It took less than 10 minutes.

This is what the antlers look like on Stylizimo blog...

Stylizimo blog

And this is what my antlers look like on my wall... can you see the similarity? Ha ha, my deer is a bit more long-faced...

I wanted it to peek under the clock a little bit, but I miscalculated and now a little too much of the antlers are hidden... Sorry about the crappy photos. I must take some time to learn to take better photographs. And try to use the daylight instead of shooting in the evening... :-)

Anyway, know that the deer is there I guess I will let it stay a little while. Did you do any DIY or home projects during the weekend?

In my Daily dose of quirkiness the deer theme goes on. This is a poirtrait of tattoo artist Liam Sparkes by photographer Emily Hope. I love it!

Photo: Emily Hope

Longing for nature's green

2012-01-21T03:25:00.001+01:00

I posted green inspiration here earlier in January, and here we go again with this lovely colour! I'm longing for plants in my home, maybe you will notice...

Photo: Dream Beam on Flickr

Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture 2010

Deep Valley of the Mills, Sorrento, Italy. Abandoned in 1866.

Begoinia leaf. Photo: Dan Taylor on Flickr

Photo: honeypoo on Flickr

Photo: Terrain via Poppytalk

Styling Amy Merrick, Photo Bryan Gardner

Train tunnel in Ukrain photographed by Oleg Gordienko.
Found at My Modern Met via Honestly WTF

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness: embroidered car parts by Lithuanian textile artist Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene. Beautiful and quirky :-)

Found via Harriet Goodall

Comments make me send on a blog award

2012-01-20T21:31:00.000+01:00

giving, 2009, hand appliqued re-appropriated linen
by Joetta Maue

Comments is the thing that makes me blog on. Not only do I get encouragement from it. When we share little comments on each others blogs we learn about a lot of things. What it looks like in other parts of the world or different parts of my own country, what the bloggers do in their everyday life, what they think about, what they read, how they decorate, what they eat and so on.

Lissen is a very sweet lady from Sundsvall in Sweden, who blogs on Lissen To. Since a while back she is one of the people who comments most regularly on my blog, and I comment on hers. She gave me the Liebster Blog Award the other day in this post. Liebster is German for dearest, beloved or favorite.

Thank you so much Lissen! I enjoy visiting your blog with your beutiful photos and I really appreciate the communication we have via our blogs :-)

Here are the rules that come with this award:

Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
Link back to the blogger who awarded you.
Give your top 5 picks for the award.
Inform your top 5 by leaving a comment on their blog.
Post the award on your blog.

I choose to give the Liebster Blog award to bloggers who, like Lissen To, comments most regularly on my blog - I love (Ich liebe) your comments! But I have to cheat and include 6 blogs instead of 5! And I really appreciate every comment on my blog!

Home Again Jog - Heather lives in New England, USA. She knows how to write a funny blogpost :-) She is in the process of transforming her home on a limited budget and she likes to use her new camera.

Sang the Bird - Leah lives in New South Wales in Australia. A poetic soul with a big heart. The word "simplicity" comes back in her blogposts. She also has an online shop.

Melanie Sherman - Melanie is a ceramist who just moved to Kansas City, USA, to pursue her BFA in Ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute. On her blog she shares about her life and work, and she also has an etsy shop.

Creative Living - Lisbeth lives in the countryside in the west part of Sweden and she is an interior designer, educator, writer and artist. She also blogs at Wabi Sabi, and I posted about her blogs here.

Bringing up Emilu - Patricia lives in Washington, D.C., USA. She is a writer and a former political blogger and also a new mum - Emilu is her daughter. Her parents live in the Dominican Republic, so she also shares about her visits there.

Beauty of everday life - Noreen lives in Newport, Kentucky, USA. She runs at 7 a.m. and takes photos at the same time :-) She is a teacher who shares about her life and her visits to different places.

Thank you to all of you, lovely bloggers!!!!

Go and organize!

2012-01-19T17:54:00.002+01:00

theholidaygirl928 on Flickr

I reeeeaaallllly need to organize my home! I'm not chasing perfection, in fact, I want my apartment to look lived in. But. It's been a mess for some time now, and it's hard to find things and it's hard to know where to put things. And I can't do what I want in my home when it's in this state.

I have read a lot of tips about this process and I have looked at lots of inspiring pictures. I even started this blog to get motivated to DO things. The problem is that I haven't yet DONE much. I need to DO and not just gather inspiration. It's just hard when you have allowed it to get really messy, because it's hard to know where to start. I get overwhelmed.

Well, I just have to keep trying, and today I share some tips and some inspiration. There might be someone else that needs to get going with decluttering and organizing...?

Illustration by Ann Shen

Pretty, fun and organized closet, A Beautiful Mess Blogg
This is just a glimpse of this girls huge closet room though...

I love vintage cups and there's a lot of them in thrift stores. Why not use some
for organizing jewelry in a drawer? Image from Martha Stewart.

At Apartment Theraphy I found 5 Simple & Smart "Get Started" Tips for Home Projects:

1. Focus on one room or project at a time.

2. Discover what you have.
3. Think function first.
4. Shop prepared.
5. Evaluate each addition along the way. Read the whole article here

I think it's sensable tips, and I think I will try to go back to this article every now and then to remind myself. Except, as my first step I think I need to do a quickstart in all of the rooms, and then focus on one roome at a time.

Different doorknobs or drawer pulls on the wall combines decor with storage.
This and more ideas for creative home organization at Home Made Simple.

I don't want a strict look, I just want to know where to find things and where to put it when I clean up. "Collections can be art not clutter when well arranged" as they say in the article How To Declutter Your Home at Apartment Therapy.

Apartment Therapy

That's it for today, but I will surley do more posts about my organizing struggles...

Today, for the first time this winter, it snowed in Malmö where I live. The snow melted on the ground, but it looked beatutiful coming down. Therefore I give you a Lego Star Wars snowball-fight in my Daily dose of quirkiness. Lots of more Lego scenes in Ken Gillies' Flickr photostream.

Ken Gillies' Flickr photostream

New table - new inspiration

2012-01-17T23:37:00.004+01:00

I collected a table today, that I got for free :-) This will be the table for my creative space that I wrote in my Twelve for 2012-post that I would create. The table I had was far too small, but originally I was thinking of getting a larger table top and keep the legs, but when I saw this table...well, it reminded me so much of a table we used to have when I was a child (before our house burnt down). And when it was free of charge too...

Here's a peek of the table (and yes, it's before it was cleaned, and yes the photos are crappy).

This means I'm changing my inspiration from white and light wood to....well, something that includes this table.

This is some of the inspiration photos I have been looking at today:

Design Sponge Sneak Peek: Nicolette Camille
I like this whole apartment a lot!

Design Sponge Sneak Peek: Nicolette Camille

A Beautiful Mess Blog

Apartment Therapy House Tour
Jen and Nate's Upcycled Mix

From Emily Henderson's portfolio

Geninne's Art Blog

HouseBeautiful
Kathryn Ireland's Bold and Bright Ojai Home

Photographer: Simon Upton
from Elle Decor

And for my Daily dose of qurkiness - "Fragmented Chronicles", a collection of rings, each with a landscape/scene frozen inside. Made by the Hong Kong-based design duo Chan Oi Yau Riyo and Kwong Ho Sun Howard = Shannam, and exhibited at Tokyo Designers Week 2011. I would love to wear one :-) See more at Designboom.

"Fragmented Chronicles" by Shannam

Melancholic beauty

2012-01-16T16:31:00.000+01:00

I feel uneasy today. There is so much I would like to do but I'm just blocked and unable. I think these photos are really beautiful but also melancholic, so they match my mood a little bit.

Photo: Marie Hochhaus on Flickr

Photo: Emma Östergren

Photo: Esther at Cat Hair in My Eye

Photo: Tweedosaurus on Flickr

Photo: shannie57 on DeviantArt

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness - have you ever thought about hugging a cloud? This is from Barbara & Michael Leisgen's project Mimesis (1972-1973), found via Stine Vikne (You can see more photos from Mimesis on her blog.)

Street art made with tape and scalpel

2012-01-14T15:49:00.003+01:00

You have to watch the video of this guy at work - Max Zorn! His method is fascinating! He uses packing tape and a scalpel and creates awsome street art that he often puts on street lamps for a nice effect. See more of his work at his website.

"Ankes Revenge" - Tape on Glass - Max Zorn

"Later that night" - Max Zorn - 2011 - Tape on Glass - 50 x 70 cm

Madrid 2011 - Max Zorn - Tape Art

"4meer" - Max Zorn - 2011 - Tape on Glass - 40 x 40 cm

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness, another way to pimp street lights. An installation by Werner Reiterer.

Werner Reiterer

on the wall part II

2012-01-13T01:00:00.005+01:00

One thing that I have seen a lot of on walls lately is old tennis rackets. In this first photo it's used for hanging earrings. I really like the cute portrait with a painted mustache as well :-) and cute clothes always looks good on walls. I borrowed this pic from a blog that is new to me, but seems to be great: Love made me do it. Take a look at some more of the bloggers home here.

Love made me do it

And here, the rackets are turned into mirrors. Tutorial at Country Living (Trash-into-Treasure-Crafts).

Country Living

There's a lot of great prints available from small indie businesses out there. Often quite cheap, so you can build a whole wall of prints...

Trendey

Urban Outfitters

Botanical prints are nice, and this can be done very cheap and easy: buy a flora or two at a thriftstore, tear out pages and put them up together on the wall.

Sköna hem

You can also use wall stickers or paint on your wall. In the two photos below you see wall stickers from Mikado. Gives inspiration for painting too...

Mikado via Love made me do it

Mikado

Many of you might be tired of letters on the wall, but when you blow a letter up really, really big, it feels new.

Mega letter vtwonen

This is more advanced, but doable for a lot of people anyway I think: an embroidery owl, but painted, by Eline Pellinkhof.

freshome

These cloud stickers from ModCloth are out of stock, but I think painted clouds would go really well with a cute animal painting as well.

ModCloth

Sometimes a painting is more beautiful on it's own, especially when it comes to portraits or big scale photo art.

babble

Painting by Elizabeth Peyton in Sofia Coppola's home,
from Home and Garden Magazine via Design Sponge

Photographer Lori Andrews has taken a photo of her own photo
on a kitchen wall, via Poppytalk

Design Sponge Sneak Peek: Ivan Hvam Hvam

This is a really calm space, and the single sheep photo looks just right...
from the blogger Eldrids' home

And you can use a frame in an unexpected way...

By Monja Gentschow, via April and May

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness, a creative way to use an old tv. There is even a tutorial for this fish tank. Very quirky :-)

wikiHow

On the wall

2012-01-12T11:54:00.003+01:00

It's very hard for me to decide what to put on my walls. Because of that I don't have that much right now, but I want to have. So I must decide. I have collected some inspiration :-)

Today I will give you some vintage/thrift store mixes. Collect whatever you like and arrange it in a great mix, or collect from a theme, like flowers or ships or animals... I also posted a couple of great vintage painting collections here. Tomorrow - lots of more wall decoration ideas!

homelife via Decor8

houzz

Simply Grove

Design Sponge Sneak Peek: Elisabeth Dunker

Photographer Douglas Friedman

Tara on Flickr

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness - fun street art :-)

Street Art Utopia

A story?

2012-01-11T07:00:00.002+01:00

One of the things I put on my Twelve for 2012 list was to put aside time to write. To start this I put together a little writing exercise for myself: I will write for 30 minutes with these photos as an inspiration. A scene or a little story or a poem, it doesn't matter. I will NOT publish the outcome :-) it's only an excercise. What do you think about when you see these photos?

Photo: Bhumika Bhatia on Flickr

Photo: Noreen at Beauty of everyday life blog

Photo: Olga Pogorelova on Flickr

Photo: cuentodepaapel on Fotolog

Photo: Digit AL on Flickr

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness: 100 years of style in 100 seconds, created by The Viral Factory for the opening of the Westfield Stratford City in the UK. Very cute and fun and it includes the last decades too, so look and see if you can spot a look that you have worn :-) More details about the video here.

Make a necklace

2012-01-10T07:00:00.004+01:00

I'm in the mood for making a necklace. Here's some tuturials and some inspiration for necklace DIY. Maybe you feel like doing one too?

Stitched chevron necklace
tutorial at A Beautiful Mess

Friendship necklace
Tutorial at Honestly WTF

Necklace from recycled scraps
Tutorial at Cakies

Another neclace from scraps by Cakies
but this time no tutorial

Scarf necklace from Antropologie
DIY inspiration - ribbons or fabric scraps

Necklace that Anna Malin at Helt Enkelt sold last Christmas
DIY inspiration - wire, black ribbon, pearl and leather string

Necklace by Sachin + Babi, from Task New York
DIY inspiration

Recycled vintage necklace by Karen Craven
from Task New York, DIY inspiration

Necklace from J.Crew
DIY inspiration - pearl necklace and striped ribbon

Learn to make different knots and make necklaces out of rope.
This is a cloud knot. Instructions at Fusion Knots.

Circa 78 Knot Necklace from Urban Outfitters
DIY inspiration - t-shirt yarn or really bulky yarn

Leather stripes necklace
Tutorial from P.S. - I made this

The island and indigenous art - Lucas Grogan

2012-01-09T18:47:00.005+01:00

Artworks by Lucas Grogan

My current love for blue led me to an interesting artist in Australia - Lucas Grogan. He is inspired by indigenous art and has been both praised and criticised for - as a white austrailian - appropriating Aboriginal techniques, traditionally reserved only for those descended from the tribes from which they originate. Lucas Grogan is also interested in for example islamic patterns.

"I’ve always been interested in the ‘other’ and pushing the limits of what is socially acceptable. Maitland and Newcastle were pretty ‘white’ places, so as a point of difference, I was always researching different cultures and different places. I was interested by the demarcations, prejudices and collisions between competing and/or colliding cultures, and knew I wanted to create work about these problems." (Lucas Grogan in an interview at The Design Files, read the full interview here.)

Artwork by Lucas Grogan

In this video you can see Lucas Grogan at work, when he was painting a wall in Melbourne comissioned by Citylights Projects for Movida. In "You look terrific babe!" (2011) he combines references to Moorish pattern making with both inviting and provocative texts.

One of Lucas Grogan's themes is "the island", that he thinks of as both a paradise and a prison. His theme references the John Donne quote “no man is an island entire of itself”.

Interesting, especially in our time of internet, comfortable and quick travel possibilities and urban multicultural enviroments. Should we protect and preserve our unique cultures, or should we share and mix? If we should preserve some parts of a culture, what parts? Who should decide? And are there any unique cultures, or can we always link back to a source of inspiration? Who is entitled to embrace a culture? That's is part of what I am thinking of when I read about Lucas Grogan and look at his art. But also more personal thoughts about my privacy and what I want to share with friends, family, a partner, acquaintances, the blog community, colleagues, a therapist, neighbours...

Lucas Grogan, from the series Lullaby Island

More about Lucas Grogan:

Lucas Grogan's website

Interview with Lucas Grogan at The Design Styles

I found Lucas Grogan via The Jelaous Curator

From Lucas Grogans street art inspired by Moorish patterns, to 3D Street Art that fools the eye in my Daily dose of quirkiness:

Via Street Art Utopia

Photographer Anders Petersen

2012-01-08T02:15:00.005+01:00

Photo: Anders Petersen, from the book Café Lehmitz

Anders Petersen is a Swedish photographer born in 1944. He started his path into photography when he met (the late) Christer Strömholm in 1966 and became his student and friend. Anders Petersen has won a lot of photography prizes (read more about that here), he is well know and respected and have been called "one of the most important European photographers living today" (quote from here).

The photo above is from his first photo project, from Café Lehmitz in Hamburg 1967-1970. This was a place where prostitutes, pimps, transvestites and criminals gathered, and Anders Petersen spent a lot of time with the people there. The woman in the photograph above has fascinated me for a long time. The pride posture, the rough beauty. Anders Petersen has moved in the outskirts of society with his camera, and there is a lot of black in his photos, metaphorically and literally.

We as humans have a need to belong, and we have dreams, both nightmares and dreams of a better life. This is portraied in Anders Petersens photographs I think, but also the uglyness and the struggle. He doesn't want to create art photographs, but I'm not sure he succeeds in that aspect. I think his photos tell us about the reality but also shows us the beauty of decay. A beauty that may be more present in his photos than in the reality he documents? Maybe.

In this interwiev (in Swedish) Anders Petersen says that the person behind the camera, the behaviour and way he (or she) approaches the people he wants to take pictures of, is much more important than professional cameras and technique. But he adds that afterwords, in the darkroom, he works a lot with his photos.

Photo: Anders Petersen, from the book Café Lehmitz

"Black and white has more colours" (Anders Petersen)

Photo: Anders Petersen, from the book Café Lehmitz

"It's all about longing. Without longing, no picutures at all" (Anders Petersen)

Photo: Anders Petersen, Paris 2006

Photo: Anders Petersen, from the book Close Distance 2002

Photo: Anders Petersen, from the book Roma, a diary 2005

"I want it to be as true as I can do it, organic almost" (Anders Petersen)

Photo: Anders Petersen, from his book Photographs 1966-1996

More about Anders Petersen:

Anders Petersen's website

Video interview from 2011

Interview in Swedish by Louise Qvarfordt from 2011

Audio interview from 2007

Photos published with permisson from Anders Petersen.

Sodalite Blue and Cookatoo for Spring 2012

2012-01-07T20:45:00.001+01:00

My last post was about blue colours and now I found a post about Pantone's Colour trends for Spring 2012 at Creative Living. I looove Sodalite Blue and Cookatoo - spot on for me! I like a wide range of blue colours, from turqouise to dark thunder blue. Blue on the scale from blue to green and blue to grey, but not so much on the blue to red scale. Turqouise has been "my" colour since the 1980's, and it's a colour that suits me well in clothes and accessories.

You will find three posts about Pantone's colour trends for Spring 2012 over at Creative Living, check it out and see what colours you like!

Creative Living

Blue is on my mind

2012-01-07T03:54:00.001+01:00

I have been thinking about blue for quite a while, but right now I'm really, really into it! And there is so many shades of blue! I think I will take out/make (and mabye buy) a lot of blue things in my home this year, and I have already started to wear more blue. I'm sure there will be more blue posts too :-)

Handmade paper by Mary Hark
Hark! Handmade Paper Studio

Photo: Jonny Valiant

Living Agency

Robertson #2 by Guy Maestri, oil and enamel on canvas

Photo: Mich Kimball on Flickr

Japanese "Boro" = patchwork of recycled indigo hemp or cotton fabric.
This peace is more than 100 years old. Image found on Orime blog,
where you can also read about this peace. More about Boros here.

I think this is from Japan too. Photo: Chris Court

Photo: Chris Court

Steller's Jay, photo: Walter Amman, via The Birder's Report

Photo: Ditte Isager, Day Birger Mikkelsen AW2010

From Sweet Paul Magazine issue 2, Fall 2010

Styled by Mary Norden and shot by Polly Wreford on location in Greece for Red
via Bright Bazaar

Photos Marie Tailleferm styling Sergio Machado
via Trend Tablet by Lidewij Edelkoort

Styling Gozde Ekner, photo: Emre Dorter

Print by Laurie May Coyle

Painting by Lecia Dole-Recio

The fish in my Daily dose of quirkiness swims around in the blue waters surrounding Australia: a Napoleon Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus). This photo was exhibited at National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. November 2008 - May 2009.

Photo: Gary Brennand

Inspiring online magazine

2012-01-06T02:16:00.001+01:00

In Sweden, and I guess in a lot of countries, today is a red day (Trettondagen in Swedish. Twelfth day in English?) = a long weekend. Time to read and be inspired by an online magazine perhaps? Check out the latest covet garden - and don't miss to check out the past issuses too!

From the latest issue of covet garden, via SF Girl by Bay

Tell me about you!

2012-01-05T02:07:00.001+01:00

According to visitor statistics for my blog there is a lot more people who visit my blog than people who comment. I don't know anything at all about the majority of you! It would be so fun if YOU who read this would like to say hello and maybe tell me something about yourself. I am so curious :-)

Take off the mask of anonymity and post your first comment this time! :-)

Mask - embroidery on hand-punched cardbord from used boxes, by Karen Barbé

Emotions become sculptures

2012-01-04T21:00:00.000+01:00

Image from Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Misstress and the Tangerine , copyright Art Kaleidoscope Foundation.

Louise Bourgeois' sculpture Maman in Wanås sculpture park in Sweden. Photo: Anders Norrsell.

If you are intrested in art I think you would really like the documentary that I saw on Swedish Television tonight: Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine. 99 minutes of interviews, background and of course a lot of Louise Bourgeois' intriguing work.

"Maman", the huge spider sculptures which are a tribute to her mother, are most famous among her work, but there is soooo much more! Like the nine meter high steel towers I Do, I Undo and I Redo that was exhibited at Tate Modern in 2000. See it in the documentary and you will understand (I think) why I wish I could have been there! At least I have seen one of her exhibitions, here in Malmö in 1998.

You can see the documentary online here , on the Swedish Television website, until 3 February! (In English, subtitles in Swedish.)

Aki Kaurismäki makes me happy

2012-01-04T14:05:00.002+01:00

I saw Aki Kaurismäki's film Le Havre yesterday, and I just loooooved it! The characters, the light, the colours, the warmth... In a cinema near you? See it!

In my Daily dose of quirkiness, another story that makes me happy: Sacha Goldberger's story about Mamika, that I found via the blog Honestly WTF:

"When French photographer Sacha Goldberger realized his 91 year old Hungarian grandmother Frederika was lonely and might be suffering from depression, he proposed an unusual course of therapy: a superhero photoshoot."

Mamika - photo book by Sacha Goldberger

Green winter and green inspiration

2012-01-03T12:27:00.000+01:00

Here in the south of Sweden it's still a green winter, no snow in sight. And just beacause of that I collected some mixed green inspiration...

The road to Marysville, Australia.
Image published in Australian Traveller Issue 20

Moby Dick - The White Whale by Rachael Shankman

Flower Couture by Franz Grabe

Photo by s.e. on Flickr

Image from Domino Magazine, found here

Photo by Hilda Grahnat on Flickr

Sneak peak: Erin Austen Abbot & Sean Kirkpatrick
at Design Sponge

And for my Daily dose of quirkiness, yet another Tim Walker photograph :-)

Tim Walker Photography

My twelve for 2012

2012-01-02T14:58:00.005+01:00

I want to make 2012 a good year, so much better than 2011. When I read Leah's post on her blog Sang the bird about twelve things she will do this year I started thinking about my own goals. As I wrote in my last post, balance is the overall goal for me, and this is how I will try to achieve that:

Noodlesndoodles on Flickr / Björk photographed by Glen Luchford

1. I am going to be myself. I can be inspired by others, but I have to be content with being who I can be.

Photo by sholgk on Flickr

2. I am going to get my body moving. Dancing, exercising, talking walks, doing yoga - move my butt!

Photo: Smith & Ratliff

3. I am going to eat helthier food, and cook even when I'm stressed and tired. And I will collect recepies to inspire me, like this Ravioli with apples and walnuts from the A Daily Dinner series at Smith & Ratliff blog. Mmmmmm, looks good :-)

Anthropologie via Anthology

4. I will - one step at a time - organize and cosy up my home.

Photo: Jamie says dream

5. I will spend more time with family and friends. The photo above shows my son when he was 10 and was skating almost every day. That was fun for me too (not to do, to watch!) but it only lasted for 1,5 years. Now he is 15 and I want to come up with ideas of fun things we can do together. I also want to see my friends more often, if only for a quick coffee or a walk togehter. And I would like to see my siblings, who live in other cities, more often than I did last year.

Everyday people

6. I will create better routines. I guess many of you are bored with routines, because you have to many of them. Well, I have to few, so I need to create some more to save time and effort. It's exhausting to think of what to do next all the time. (Not all the time, but to often.)

fond here (I'm not sure this is made by the blogger but I think so)

7. I will try to be more disciplined and patient, to get what I really want and not only what I want in the moment. Some people need to be more spontanteous, but I am already.

Gold paper bowl by up in the air somewhere (I want to do a simular bowl) / DIY hanging plant

8. I will organize a creative space in my livingroom. I want to use my hands and my creativity more than I do.

Siri Derkert, Mauresque I, 1914. Can bee seen in the
exhibition Change of Scenes at Moderna Museet
in Malmö, Sweden, until 5 February 2012.

9. I will try to go to art galleries, exhibitions, theatres and other cultural events more often. It gives me so much inspiration!

One of my favourite Swedish novels:
Kungens komediant by Agneta Pleijel

10. I will keep on reading, and read even more. I love Swedish novels, I will give you some tips some day. Some of them are also translated into English... I read other novels too of course, and other books.

Constructional Architecture from Iceland by photographer Rasmus Norlander

11. I will set aside time to write. I want to write a book eventually.

Iris Palmer and her suitcases, photograph by Tim Walker
published in the book Tim Walker Pictures

12. I will try to travel, at least go away on a weekend abroad. (And I will continue with my Daily dose of quirkiness, where I think Iris Palmer and her suitcases belong :-) )

Happy balanced 2012!

2011-12-31T15:47:00.000+01:00

Photograph from 1904

I'm really looking forward to see what 2012 will bring, and I will try hard to make it better than 2011 was for me. But there was good things about the past year as well, one of them that I started blogging in October. It has been a lot of fun to interact with lovely people from all over the world, thank you all!

The most important thing for me to accomplish in 2012 is to find balance in my life. Balance between using my brain and using my body, balance between beeing spontaneous and having routines, balance between full gear and slacking. Just to name a few of my balance challenges. What will be most important for you in 2012?

Happy New Year to all of you!/ Gott Nytt År allihop!

I'm not gonna be scared...

2011-12-30T17:14:00.002+01:00

Marilyn Monroe in a Milton Greene photograph, 1953

"Not a scared

lonely little girl

anymore"

Marilyn Monroe

quote found here

I didn't do it in time

2011-12-28T21:51:00.004+01:00

I bought some moss the day before Christmas Eve, to put under my glass bell with some christmas decorations. But, as I am really slow right now, I didn't really do it until today = I made it less christmasy. It was fun to cut out another cute girl from a vintage magazine :-)

Some more cut-out in my Daily dose of quirkiness, with one of Lynn Whipple's "ninnies": Fred was never late for happy hour. Cheers. This also serves as a reminder that New Years Eve is coming up shortly! Lynn Whipple has a website, a blog and an Etsy shop.

by Lynn Whipple

Springy colours after Christmas

2011-12-27T01:46:00.006+01:00

Directly after Christmas I get quite tired of all the christmasy decorations and colours. Well, it's still nice with lots of candles and light garlands since it's so dark here in Sweden, but right now I just wanted to look at some springy inspiration in light colours. Maybe you feel like it too?

Weekday Carnival / Word art by Mati Rose McDonough /
Urban Outfitters / Photographer Jennifer Causey via SF Girl by Bay

A couple of years ago I wanted to collect old flower paintings, and started looking in thrift stores and flea markets. But I only got until three paintings... The pic to the right below reminded me - I would like a flower painting wall! And that throw on the bed on the pic to the left shure looks cosy. I can't really decide if I like the colour combination or not...

Home in Berkeley, California via re-nest / Isabella van Reeuwijk for HK Living via Decor8

Better Homes and Gardens / Tim Walker Photography

Elle Interiör / Geronimo balloon-troopers

Back to winter in my Daily dose of quirkiness. I love the old lady in this manipulated photo, and I must say I miss the company of old people.

By Platinum FMD

My Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T16:04:00.000+01:00

I said in my last post that I would lit a sparkler and think of all the sweet readers
who leave comments on my blog, and I did... :-)

Some snapshots from my Christmas Eve with my son, his father/my exhusband Charlie and his wife Kristina, and of course Gustav, the cat. Very cosy evening with really good food, nice presents and good company. I hope that all of you who celebrate Christmas Day today will have a really cosy and good evening!

My son Axel and his father Charlie

My son Axel in one of his Christmas gifts - a poncho

Axel

We like tomtebloss/sparklers!

Gustav

The cat found a cosy place on a soft
Christmas gift, in front of the fire :-)

Kristina and Charlie

Kristina

We tried to send off an "airballon-lantern" up into the dark sky, but it got stuck in a tree :-)
Luckily it didn't start a fire in the tree...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T23:51:00.001+01:00

Photo by Teresa Q on Flickr

I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I will lit some sparklers (in Swedish Tomtebloss) tomorrow on Christmas Eve and think of the nice people who leaves comments here on my blog. Thank you! You are a sparkle in my life!

Christmas gift for me :-)

2011-12-23T19:30:00.001+01:00

Leaf hanger in five parts - soon on my wall :-)

Just in time for Christmas I got a mail telling me I have won the Leaf hanger from the Swedish designers LagströmWiktorsson, that was one of the amazing giveaways at emmas designblogg this December. Thank you Emma and thank you designers!!!

The Leaf hanger consists of five laser cut steel rings where you can hang anything from clothes to magazines or jewellery. It's made of left over materials from the production of Tree towel-/clothes stand - I like that kind of thinking a lot! When it's empty, shadows from the rings are playing on the wall. I will hang it beside my bed and hang my clothes and accessories on it in the evening.

I'm sure a lot of you already now about emmas designblogg, because the photos she posts often go around and around in the interior blog world. A recent and very good tip from Emma's blog is about the first English edition of the Lithuanian online magazine Llamas' Valley. Very inspiring when I went through it the other day, and during the holidays I will take time to read it properly. In this first issue there is an interview with Emma Fexeus from emmas designblogg :-)

Read it here

There will be no small children where I celebrate Christmas, so therefore I chose a beautiful face of a child - with a twist - for my Daily dose of quirkiness :-)

The Last Girl by Gottfried Helnwein

welcome paper Santa

2011-12-22T16:42:00.000+01:00

Tonight I lit the candles in my hall and say welcome :-) This will be the first thing you see if you step in to my apartment right now. I took out the old paper Santa tonight, some other christmasy things and a brass candlestick I bought at a thrift shop when I visited a friend in Växjö in November.

Tomorrow I will have to buy a couple of more Christmas gifts, Saturday = Christmas Eve is THE day here in Sweden.

Love the Bear illustration from Trollbäck

2011-12-22T12:17:00.010+01:00

Bear illustration by Henning Trollbäck

My order from Henning Trollbäck has arrived, and I'm so happy - his illustrations looks even better in real life than in the pictures :-)

I got a Bear illustration (mother bear with two cubs) and a set of Nativity matchboxes with Henning Trollbäck's illustrations. I will frame the illustration, but for now it's washi-taped on my wall.

There is eight illustrated matchboxes in Henning Trollbäck's Nativity set, here are the three wise men.

I was very happy with my order when it arrived, but that is not always the case when you shop online...as you can see in my Daily dose of quirkiness :-)

By Aled Lewis

Clean up some mess and make it christmasy

2011-12-20T12:22:00.001+01:00

Today I need to clean up some of my mess at home and make it a bit more christmasy. That's why I only have time for my Daily dose of quirkiness today, but enjoy photographer Christian Metzler's interpretation of christmas decorating :-)

Christian Metzler

Forth of Advent - DIY hostess gifts

2011-12-18T21:07:00.004+01:00

It's the fourth Sunday in Advent, and I am invited to a before-Christmas-dinner at my dear friend Maria's house. She is going to work in Stockholm on Christmas Eve and wanted to have a Christmasy dinner with her family and a few friends before she leaves for Stockholm on Wednesday.

I started my day with a looong breakfast, preparing for some DIY with an old magazine from 1949. My kitchen table was quite messy, with yarn and string and paper and other things laying around. I had decided to bring a few DIY-gifts for the hostess.

I made an angel, using a paper doilie, a music sheet, a face from the old magazine, glue and string. The idea comes from here, and I posted about it earlier here.

And then I made a very simple red line embroidery on a map, to remind Maria about the way home to Malmö. She started a new job in Stockholm a couple of weeks ago, but she still lives here in Malmö. She works for a few days, comes home for a few days, back to work and so on. The red line is the way the train goes from Malmö to Stockholm - and back. The idea of embroidery on a map comes from here. I put the map in a vintage frame from a thrift store, that I had forgotten that i had.

I also gave her a cake stand made of a Berlin souvenir plate and a goldy thing (candle stick?) from a thrift store. She got married in November and they went to Berlin for their honeymoon-weekend. I posted about the cake stand here.

We had a lovely dinner at Maria's place, with both traditional Swedish Christmas food and some new and fresh addings. (Among other things a salad made with ruccola, kale (grönkål), orange cut in pieces and smoked almonds. Simple to do, was very tasty with our usual Swedish Christmas food. I think I will make it on Christmas Eve.) And we had home made Christmas candy too of course :-) Maria was happy about the gifts, especially the embroidered framed map.

I hope you all had a nice forth of Advent Sunday! Next weekend Christmas is really here. Rapidly approaching! So for my Daily dose of quirkiness I chose a Christmas couple :-)

Illustration "My Deer" by Ahmet ÖZcan

Etsy loveliness

2011-12-17T21:05:00.002+01:00

I wish I could click and order some of this loveliness from Etsy shops right now. I was expecting a refill in my purse on friday, but it looks like I have to wait until monday, and I'm so impacient to click home some favourite things. I will not be able to order all of this, but maybe I will order more another time... Find anything you like?

Citoyennes de Berlin

2 paper lanterns "Winter Animals"
$7.50 USD / 54 SEK

Wall Decals "Forest Friends"
$17.00 USD / 121 SEK

6 rubber stamps "Clouds"
$16.00 USD / 114 SEK

Quill and Fox

Terrarium Postcard Set, 8 cards
$12.50 USD / 89 SEK

Typewriter Hello Card, pack of 10
$11.50 USD / 82 SEK

Corium

Navajo Printed Leather-Suede Pouch native aztec
$52.00 USD / 370 SEK (found via Creature Comforts)

Wicked Paper Co.

Where You Love Art Print
$16.00 USD / 114 SEK (found via Creature Comforts)

Etco

Paper Mache Vessel Black and Gold - The Wavy
$25.00 USD / 178 SEK

Smeurer8

2012 Crested Shield Calendar
$29.50 USD / 210 SEK

And with the big family holiday coming up, let me show you the Storytime Rocking Chair for my Daily dose of quirkiness :-) Reading a story for three children, how cosy!

Rocking Chair by Hal Taylor

Make it a playful weekend

2011-12-16T15:04:00.000+01:00

Maricor/Maricar

It's friday again. It seems like time is on fast forward and I'm on pause. And I think the mood that I'm putting myself in is making me even slower. I procrastinate because I worry and things get messy. Better to try to have some fun, even if the worries aren't solved. Worrying isn't getting me anywhere.

Have a great, playful weekend everyone!

Henning Trollbäck

2011-12-15T02:15:00.006+01:00

Dalahäst by Henning Trollbäck
Can be bought as poster or postcard at Hoppa hage webshop.

Last week I found the Swedish illustrator and graphic designer Henning Trollbäck's beautiful Dalahorse poster (above). Since I liked it I googled his name and found the artists website and blog, and now I have ordered his matchboxes with Jesus in the manger (Mary and Joseph, baby Jesus, the star, the three wise men and the donkey) and also an illustration with a bear and it's two cubs. I like his work a lot, and it's extra fun to buy something from a young Swedish artist. I recommend a look around in his blog :-)

As you can see above you can buy Dalahäst poster or postcard at the Webshop Hoppa hage. If you are interested in other illustrations or the matchboxes, you are welcome to contact Henning Trollbäck by mail: henning@trollback.se (I ordered the matchboxes and bear illustration that way).

Matchboxes with illustrations by Henning Trollbäck

Cut out by Henning Trollbäck

The cat in my Daily dose of quirkiness has cuddled up in a warm and cosy place...

Found via Curious Work on Pinterest.
Very old photo, I don't think I have to worry about copyright.

I want to fly

2011-12-13T20:30:00.001+01:00

Quote via CPHNEST
Photo: Hide Under the Shadow of your Wings by Number 5 Studio

Life in a catalogue & Lucia

2011-12-13T00:56:00.015+01:00

This short film is so fun! It's gonna be hard not to think about it when I go through an Ikea catalogue next time... Pagina 23/Page 23 won the jury prize and audience award at the 48 Hour Film Project in Utrecht, The Netherland. It's made by Jeroen Houben, Tim Arts and Stefan van den Boogaard. Found via Lost At E Minor. More about the short film and the creators here. My Daily dose of quirkiness at the top of my blogpost this time!

Today, on the 13th of December, we celebrate Lucia in Sweden. More about Lucia over at Wabi Sabi blog if you are curious. I borrowed this pic of Carl Larsson's painting Lucia procession in the home from Wabi Sabi too.

Traditional broadcast of a Lucia konsert on Swedish Television in the early morning of the 13th of December.