Looking for inspiration?

In a crafty rut? Blogs, Flickr and Craftster are all great ways to find crafty inspiration, but to me there's nothing quite like looking through a really good craft book. It might have something to do with the fact that my dad is a librarian, but I'm a total book nerd. I just love the look and feel of a nice book!

Here are some of the craft books I'm coveting right now:

Art Stamping Workshop by Gloria page. I would love to take my stamp carving to the next level, and this looks like a book that could help me. Lots of nice images, ideas and techniques!

Pretty Little Presents from Lark Books. The latest from the "Pretty Little" series, this little book caught my attention because I like making things for other people and I would love some new gifts ideas!

Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray. I love Aimee's style, and as I am always doodling on scrap bits of paper, I think this type of embroidery would suit me!

Warm Fuzzies by Betz White. I've been following Betz's blog for a while, and she has a really unique style. I have a bunch of felted sweaters that I have been meaning to play around with, and there are so many ideas in Betz's book!

Family fun at the fair

I just wanted to share some pics of what I have been up to this week... It was so much fun having Stella and her parents here! The Molly doll seemed to go over well, too:

Kisses! Stella loves softies, so I have a hunch I'll be making a few more for her over the years! :-)

We had a great week. We spent an entire day at Liseberg amusement park, going on all the kiddy rides and winning a huge prize on a chocolate wheel! We also spent a day in Haga, a lovely historic neighborhood here in Göteborg with lots of fun shops and nice cafés. Here's Stella and me hainging out by a fountain at Järntorget:

I hope you all had a good week too!

Molly Monkey Doll

Hi all! This is a scheduled post, because I am way too busy this week to find time for blogging... Baby Stella and her parents are in town visiting us for an entire week! Yay!

I decided it was about time I made Stella a nice doll (she's over a year old now you know!) and I decided on this pattern from the talented mmmcrafts. It came out so well, I might have to make another one!

The little monkey doll is a free pattern on the mmmcrafts blog, and it was just a joy to make! Really clear instructions, even for someone with limited sewing skills like me! :-) And I just love the pattern, the proportions are perfect... Those long skinny legs are too cute!

Here is Molly packaged up and ready to go to... Along with some more goodies for Stella. Being an auntie rocks, I love making toys and playthings and now I have the best excuse! :)



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Artist Trading Cards

These are some of the ATCs I've been making in the past months. This first one is a replacement for a card that got lost in the mail, grr! I've never had mail go missing before so I was a bit upset. But I quite like the replacement!

These next two are zetti themed. I've been playing around a bit with the zetti style, but I still feel like I don't quite "get it"... Do any of yoy ATC makers out there have inspiration tips?

And this last one was for a feminist ATC swap, it was great fun! I love the quote, it's from a feminist website.

Meet mr Raccoon!

Keith and I have a wall in our living room that has been almost bare ever since we moved into our apartment two years ago. My plan has always been to arrange photos, prints, and some of my embroidery there, I've just never get round to it. But last week I bought some wonderful wall art on Etsy, it'll be perfect for this space!

Meet mr Raccoon and mr Cheetah! These prints were bought from Berkley Illustration, a wonderful Etsy shop which sells the most amazing animal portraits! I wanted to get them all, but in the end Keith and I chose one each.

Aren't they great? They're so realistic, and there's so much emotion in those eyes! Next on my wish list is White Rabbit or Crow.

Check out the Berkley Illustration Etsy shop and blog! You can even buy their art at Urban Outfitters now!

Simple sewing for Stella!

I have some sewing to show you - about time isn't it! Last month I received some lovely fabric charm squares in a a swap, and I knew at once what they would become. Here are the squares, along with some very pretty buttons:

Here's an in progress shot. As you can see, my kitchen table is where I do most of my crafting! :-)

And here is the result - a doll quilt for my niece! Stella turns one in a couple of days, and she had her birthday and namegiving party last weekend. My mom bought her a really cute little dolls bed, so I made this little quilt to match.

I matched the charms with some fabric in my stash, and I think it turned out quilt nice. I really like this color combo!

Sleep well, honey

I wanted to show you the first thing I made with my new fabric. It's not the most colorful, but still useful! Keith had been asking me for ages for a sleeping mask, so I thought it was about time.

Keith helped me draft the pattern - we had to change it a little to accommodate his larger-than-average nose. ;-) Here's a shot of the super soft flannel we found for the inside of the mask:

I love that it has little ghosts on it! :-D

Fabric shopping again

If you've read my blog for a while, you'll know that I frequently complain about how expensive fabric is here... Compared to the US, prices are ridiculous! For this reason I spent 3 (!!!) hours in a boiling car today, just to visit my favorite discount fabric store. And it was SO worth it! :-)

Look at those lovely colors! I found lots of nice solids, stripes, gingham and polka dots today, but also som fun prints. These cute mushrooms, for example:

Unfortunately I didn't have enough money to get yards and yards of each print (who has these days?) so now I'm looking for fun and usaful projects that use a half yard or less... Any ideas would be appreciated!

Last but not least: Owl buttons, anyone?

Sugary sweet

I've been doing a lot of baking lately. Keith's dad requested 200 (yes, 200) cinnamon rolls for an event that he was hosting, and I happily agreed... 200 cinnamon rolls takes a lot longer to make than you'd expect! :-)

In this pic you can see some of the rolls cooling off, and in the next one they are packaged up and ready to go. I'm happy to say that they were very well received by all the guests!

My recent adventures in baking has also included these pretty chocolate cakes, though I must say they were not quite chocolatey enough for my taste! They are pretty to look at though, I do love sprinkles!

Small packages

Not that I don't like doing large swaps and crafting bigger things, but there is something special about small packages and tiny things... I've been doing many small swaps over the past weeks, and it's so much fun to pack up the little gifts and send them off - not to mention the fun of receiving tiny treasures!

This is a fabric covered matchbox I made for a swap-bot swap, it's filled with buttons, charms, ribbon as well as a few handmade things; a magnet and some button thumb tacks. It's amazing how much you can fit into a tiny matchbox!

This second pic shows the lovely package I received for another Swap-bot swap, the Button Swap #2. A great mix of new and vintage buttons, all in my favorite colors! My button stash is growing all the time, I'd better start making some more button-themed projects! Any ideas? :-)