Sashiko embroidery class

Are you having a good 2015 so far? I've had a busy first week of the year, packing away Christmas and sorting out all those things that tend to stack up after a two week vacation. I'm also still trying to sort out my goals for the new year, and planning for the next couple of months. All this while having a massive headache - Keith and I are doing a "Sugar Free January" challenge and for the first few days I was in complete sugar withdrawal! That means not to much crafting got done, but I did have something I wanted to share: Before Christmas, I took a class on Japanese sashiko embroidery.

Sashiko is a traditional Japanese form of embroidery which uses simple running stitches in intricate, geometric patterns on indigo cloth. I've long loved the look of sashiko, and I have made several unsuccessful attempts at this technique previously. This winter I thought it was time to do something about it and actually take a class! I was thrilled when I managed to snag one of the spots on the Stockholm County Museum's one-day class with Rieko Takahashi, textile artist and author of the first Swedish book on sashiko.

Photo by Rieko Takahashi, www.riekotakahashi.com

The course was lots of fun. Rieko was a great instructor, and once you got the hang of the basics sashiko stitching turned out to be pretty simple and very meditative - up and down, up and down... The class was almost seven hours long, but I could easily have kept going! We we're a pretty small group of stitchers and we ended up having a lot of fun, chatting and eating the tasty Japanese snacks which Rieko brought with her.

The most traditional form of sashiko uses white thread on indigo fabric, but Rieko showed us some modern pieces using blue, or even red, thread on white or cream backgrounds (you can see some of these in the first photo above). 

I started on a cushion cover, and even though it's not finished yet, I still went straight home to order some more sashiko supplies off Ebay. You can't really buy proper sashiko thread in Sweden, so I got a couple of different colors to experiment with.

I also bought a copy of Rieko's book. At around 40 pages it's pretty brief, but it's a good introduction if you're looking to try sashiko embroidery (only available in Swedish, unfortunately).



Have a great second week of 2015!

Happy 2015!

Fireworks, public domain image  from www.pdphoto.org

Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping that 2015 will be the best one so far!

I'm working on list of craft projects I want to do in 2015, but it's not all done yet. I'll share it later on in January, maybe it can serve as some inspiration for someone. I generally don't make New Years resolutions (feels like I'm just setting myself up to fail...) but I do hope 2015 will be a crafty year for me. Do you have any resolutions or plans for the year ahead?

Smash Book Sunday: Summarizing 2014

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! We're still at Keith's parents' house having a nice quiet time. I'm thinking a lot about the past year and preparing for whatever 2015 might bring. In that spirit, I thought I'd do a post showing some more of my 2014 smash book. I've been smashing regularly all year, and I'm just finishing the last spread of my 2014 book.

The K&Company smash books have the perfect amount of pages for me to record one year - I usually do 2 or 3 spreads per month, or more if something particularly exciting happens. As I write this I'm finishing my third book, and I'm considering what type of memory keeping to do for next year.

So far, I have used the Mod, Doodle and Simple smash folios - I like simple smash books where the pages are not too full of illustrations and other distracting stuff. For next year I have ordered the Eco smash folio as well as the Pink folio gift pack bundle, which includes a new elastic band and a really neat pocket smash book which I think could work well on vacations or trips.
  

Pink Folio Gift Pack (image by K&Company)

But I'm also considering keeping a more traditional journal this year. Sometimes I feel like doing longer, more personal journal entries, and I don't think Smash books are the best place for that - if nothing else, I want to be able to show off my smash book here on the blog or share it with friends and family without having to "hide" those more personal pages! This summer, I got a fantastic Paperblanks notebook which would work well as a journal - if I can bring myself to actually write in it, that is. Still debating with myself, we'll see what I come up with.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

I hope you all have a lovely holiday with lots of good food, friends, family and maybe a little bit of snow. The ground is still bare where we are (south of Stockholm) but I'm still hoping! All the best!

- Karin

Wreck this Journal, NordicCraft style!

There's still one thing from my London trip I haven't blogged about: I finally got a Wreck This Journal! I've been eying these creative journals by Keri Smith for years, but I always felt that it seemed frivolous to spend money on something I knew I would "wreck" in the end. But on our London trip I finally broke down and got one. And I know I'm a bit late jumping on the bandwagon, but I LOVE it!

Wreck This Journal is a best seller in several countries from what I understand, but if you've somehow managed not top hear about them before, here's the lowdown: WTJ is a prompt journal which fuels creativity and challenges your inner perfectionist, forcing you to do lots of things you've been taught NOT to in the process. Each page contains a prompt, and examples include "Spill your coffee here", "Tear out this page", "Write backwards", and (this was one of the worst ones for me) "Color outside the lines". The idea is to get rid of some of those inner "controls" which temper your creativity and make you second-guess yourself. And it really works!

I've been working on my journal on and off over the past two weeks. It was really challenging at first, forcing myself to do all sorts of destructive things to the journal. But once I picked up steam and managed to let go of my inner perfectionist, I really got into it. I think I've probably done at least a fourth of all the prompts already. I've jumped on my journal, brought it into the shower with me (yes, that's one of the prompts) and slept with it under my pillow.

I love my new journal and I'm sure I'll be spending lots of time with it in 2015. And as I had hoped, working on the WTJ has really made me miss writing more regularly - I'm thinking of starting a "normal" journal this year as a result.

So if you'd like to get those creative juices flowing in 2015, I'd highly recommend getting a Wreck This Journal for yourself, too!

The London Report, part two

No London trip is complete with at least a little bit of shopping. And while shopping wasn't the primary goal of our trip, we did manage to stop by most of the stores I was hoping to visit. The Cass Art flagship store was great, as was Foyles and Forbidden planet (geek heaven!). And of course, the fabric and haberdashery sections at Liberty was fantastic as always. Above are my Liberty finds: gorgeous washi tapes, a pretty lavender sachet, and... What's in that white package, I wonder?

The above is a phone picture I snapped as we were unpacking our bags on Sunday. With the exception of apparel (because really, this is not a style blog - I doubt you'd be interested in a couple of Primark cardigans) and a few gifts, this is everything I bought on our trip. Of course, leave it to the librarian's daughter to pack her suitcase full of books she could just as well have bought online from the comfort of her living room... I can't help it, books just call out to me! But I also happen to think that books make great souvenirs - every time I pick up a particular book I'm reminded of how and where I got it, and that's the whole point of souvenirs, isn't it?

As you can see these books are mostly my regular brand of non-fiction, but there are a couple of craft/art books in there too. My plan is to learn how to draw faces and draw people in 2015! I also got some postcards, brushes and art masking fluid for a watercolor project I'm planning. And of course there are a few geeky things in there too - the Deathly Hallows key ring has since been turned into a necklace, and the chocolate frog has been devoured.

But now, for the all important fabric reveal. Get ready to drool!


Seriously, how amazing are these?? I've been trying to pick a favorite but it's just too hard! I love the Kayoko Tana Lawn, I bought it in red this time but I actually have it in another colorway (pink/cerise) as well. But I think my favorite of these is actually the red and green print at the top of the stack, I can see myself using that a lot next year. The only problem with Liberty fabrics is that they are so nice, you almost have to force yourself to cut into them. But I wan't these fabrics to be used, not just sit around, so I will have to get over that. Any tips on Liberty-worthy projects I should add to my list?

The London Report, part one

My one week blogging break somehow turned into two - my apologies! Things has been a bit hectic since we got back from London. The past week has been all about job hunting stuff, Amnesty activities, Christmas prep, and hosting a Glögg get together for most of my extended family. It's been a great week though!

So, time for a report from our trip. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and left Sunday morning, so in all we had three and a half days in London. It felt like a lot of time beforehand, but of course time flies when you're having fun! Still, I do think we managed to find the perfect mix of shopping, sightseeing, good eats and just hanging out with friends.

The most time consuming (and fun!) thing we did was the tour of the WB Harry Potter studios in Leavsden - our bus left at 8 am Thursday morning and we weren't back in the city until 3 in the afternoon. It was totally worth the time though, there's so much to see! I loved the whole experience, but some favorites included seeing the Diagon alley set, the Great Hall and the amazing set of Dumbledore's office which had SO much detail. We spent about three hours going through the exhibit but you could easily spend another five I think!

My birthday on Friday started with a huge breakfast at Pret a Manger - I used to work at Pret when I lived in London so I am naturally biased, but I just LOVE Pret sandwiches. Then we spent a couple of hours exploring St Paul's cathedral - despite living in and visiting London a ton of times, I had never been up in the dome before. The last part of the climb was a bit nerve-wracking, but the view from the top more than made up for it. If you're curious, there's a virtual tour of sorts on the St. Paul's website. After a bit of shopping and a change of clothes at our hotel we headed out for an amazing dinner and cakes with our friends Johanna and Marc, who had booked a fantastic indian restaurant (I love indian food) for the occasion. A great time was had by all!

On Saturday we did a bit more shopping, and then headed to the V&A museum for the necessary dose of culture (my dad the librarian would be disappointed in me if I spent all that time in London without visiting at least one museum). V&A was fantastic, even Johanna who is not usually a museum fan was swayed. The evening was spent at Johanna and Marc's place in Wapping, enjoying some excellent vegetarian shepherd's pie (beer might have been involved as well) and talking. And then on Sunday morning it was time to check out and head back home. I can't believe how much fun we managed to squeeze into those four days, but it was tough to go back home again. Can't wait to come back again!

In my next post I thought I'd show you some of the shopping I did. I didn't buy too much in the way of clothing, but I did get a lot of books, craft supplies, and of course, fabric! We didn't make it to Goldhawk road for fabric shopping in the end, but that was probably just as well since I already spent a ton of money on fabric at Liberty. Lucky for me, Keith's parents had made a secret deal with him that if I found something I loved that they would pay for part of it as their birthday present to me. A big thanks to Maria and Dennis! Anyway, more on that later. I'm off to start wrapping the Christmas presents!

ETA: I almost forgot to mention: I'm guest blogging today over at The Pickled Herring today for Kathryn's Scandinavian Christmas series! My post this year is about making pomander oranges, one of my favorite Christmas decorations. Head over there if you's like to read my tutorial!

December is here!

I can't believe it's December already! I'm already starting to feel the holiday cheer, and since this weekend was advent first, I don't feel guilty for getting started on the Christmas decorations. But before I go into full Christmas mode, I have something else to focus on: This is the week we are going to London to celebrate my 30th birthday! I've been looking forward to it for months and I am thrilled to finally be going. I will be taking a blogging break for the rest of the week, but I hope to be back next week with lots of pictures from our trip. Have a great week!

Super simple Nutella cupcakes

Today I'm sharing a quick and simple recipe that I really love. I like baking, but I rarely feel like I have the time to, especially if I'm just making something for Keith and me. That's why I like this recipe - it only takes three ingredients and very little time!

These Nutella cupcakes have a more brownie-like texture than regular cupcakes, which I appreciate. I made them several times over the summer, and they usually go over very well. If you want to make them really decadent, a coconut or cashew cream frosting should work well with the Nutella flavor - I usually just powder some icing sugar on the top, since the cupcakes are so rich as they are.

Three-ingredient Nutella cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup Nutella
2 eggs
1 cup flour

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 175 C (approx. 350 F). Put cupcake liners in a muffin pan (this recipe will make around 12 cupcakes). Whisk together Nutella and eggs in a medium size bowl. Add the flour, and whisk until blended. Spoon batter into the pan, filling the liners about half-way up.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, just until the tops have set and cracked slightly. Test with a  toothpick in the middle, the toothpick should come out wet and sticky. Allow to cool.

Enjoy!

Crafty London

Exciting news: I'm going to London in less than a week! It's my birthday next week (turning thirty - eek) and we're flying over to celebrate and to spend time with one of my closest friends, Johanna, and her boyfriend Marc. I used to live in London when I was younger and I absolutely love the city - and the last time I was there was in 2011 so it was about time for another visit!

Now, we only have 3,5 days in the city and we want to have as much time as possible to hang out with Johanna and Marc, but I couldn't resist putting some crafty things on the to-do list as well. I thought I'd share them here as inspiration, if you're planning a visit to London anytime in the future.

Image by Gryffindor (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0] via Wikimedia Commons

1. Liberty of London. Of course, no visit to London is complete without a trip to Liberty's. This department store has an amazing fabric section selling (among other things) the signature flowery fabrics. I plan to stock up on some Tana Lawn and soak up the atmosphere before taking on Oxford street.

2.Cass Art. When I started looking around for the best arts and crafts shops in London, this one kept popping up in all my searches. Looks like they have a great selection of paints and tools, can't wait to visit!

3. Paperchase. As a stationery nut I LOVE Paperchase products, but unfortunately they don't ship to Sweden. So I'm planning on stocking up during my visit!

4. IF we have the time, I would so love to visit the fabric shops on Goldhawk Road. Apparently, this is THE place to shop for fabric at reasonable prices. It is going a bit off since we will be staying in and spending most of our time around Shoreditch, and I'm not sure whether we'll find the time. If we do go I promise I will update you on my loot!

Image by Karen Roe, The Making of Harry Potter 29-05-2012 [CC-BY-3.0] via Wikimedia Commons (image has been cropped)

We have lots of not-so-crafty plans as well, for example we will be spending almost an entire day at the Harry Potter Studios outside London. What can I say, I'm a geek! Also, Keith has only visited London once before so some touristy stuff is a must. A lot of the "standard" sights we did last time he went, like Trafalgar square, Parliament, that sort of thing. We've done the London Eye and visited Tate Modern, so this time I'm thinking the St. Pauls whispering gallery, the Tower (I loved it when I visited as a kid!) and the V&A museum (I've never been!). And I'm also considering booking a Jack the Ripper tour of Soho - a fun way to introduce Keith to some of the history of the city.

I can't wait! I promise I will share some pics of the trip once we're back home again.