Christmas cones

Its been a few busy weeks, but things are finally slowing down. I attended 4 Christmas fairs this year and one of them lasted for 5 days so I didn't have time to do much else.

Something that's both fun and easy to make are there cones. I prefer to make mine of fabric so that they'll last longer. I used some old christmas tablecloths with stains on them and combined that with some new fabrics. I cut the pieces out avoiding the stains, decorated some of them with lace and sew it all together. I tried finding a proper tutorial online to show you but the closest thing was this
Maybe I'll make one myself next year.

What was left after the markets I filled with candy and gave to friends and colleagues wishing them a happy Christmas. 

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Subversive Christmas cards

Christmas is fast approaching and because of the Christmas fairs I'm attending I have been trying to get into the spirit a lot earlier than what is normal to me. You might say that my attempt wasn't very successful because the result were these Christmas cards. 

This type of embroidery is called guerrilla embroidery in Norway, but that name is a protected title here in Norway so I call mine irony or provocative embroidery. I think the english term for this type of work would be subversive embroidery/cross stitch.

 "Find your own way"

"I want, I want, I want"

This one was not easy to translate. "Fjompenisse" can be defined as a goofy person that speaks without thinking. Part of the word "nisse" means Santa. So this will be: No, you're a "fjompenisse"

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Cartoon wallets

This year first fair is fast approaching and I have very few things left to sell so I feel a little stressed at the moment. 

 I decided to start by topping of my stock of cartoon wallets and first out is a very popular Norwegian cartoon, Nemi.  Combined with Calvin and Hobbes these wallets are always the first to go.

 I might be adding one or two to my Epla shop, but most of what I’ll be making the next month will go directly to one of the 5 fairs I have signed up for.

The wallet  is simmilat to the milk carton wallet you can see all over the net.Its big enough for you cards, has two rooms and closes with a push button.

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Back to the 80s - Hair scrunchies

I have been doing a lot of crocheting lately. Probably because it very compatible with "doing nothing" like watching TV or waiting in a doctors office. And a little while back I fond the perfect project to just keep in my purse in case of a boring moment... hair scrunchies. Just the word takes me back to the fabulous 80s.

I found the tutorial here, and its perfect for putting all the little bit of leftover yarns into good use.
But most of all its the perfect project for those that are inexperienced and a little bit inpatient like me.

It takes me about one evening to finish one. (I'm sure of you have been crocheting for a while you could manage both two or tree  in the same time :) I've used a size 2 or 3 hook depending on the thickness of the yarn

I use elastics from H&M on the inside. They come in packs of about 15, and a girl do only needs so many scrunchies, so I'll bring the rest to all the Christmas fairs I signed up for this year.

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How to find an image scource.

Today I thought I would share a little tip with you.  Maybe this I common knowledge, but I just learned about it a few days ago. 

I like this page called 1000 kreative ideer - One thousand creative ideas on Facebook and they post a lot of very inspirational images every day. But they do not add a link to the original source which is very irritating when you want to learn more about the artist or the project.   This method I'll show you is also very helpful for those times you find a good pin on pinterest that’s not linked to the proper source or if your just curious to see if some of you personal pictures has been posted by someone else.

All you have to do is open google images in a new page or tab. 

You then go back to your image, left click and drag it over to google. Don’t let go of the mouse button until the image I over the box that helpful enough says “drop image here”. 

Then you do just that, end viola a lot of links appear. 

Hope at least some of you will find this little tip helpful :)

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My new hallway

Things are finally coming together and even if there are still a few finishing touches left I thought I would show you my new hallway.
It had yellow walls that I tried to hide behind colorful storage and lots of pictures. The storage has been replaced by these crochet hanging baskets. I found the pattern for these the same place as the plastic bag dispenser.

Under you see a before picture of my hallway, and even if i did do some reorganizing after this picture was taken it still looked horrible.

To most of my friends surprise i decided to go all white with this makeover. The reason is because there are very little natural light coming inn so I had to do everything I could to compensate for that.

To get the shoes away from the floor I got some cheep shoe boxes from IKEA and the coats are hanging from a curtain rile from the same place. I put black vinyl on the floor to ad some contrast and changed the fabric on my stool to make it fit into my new scheme.

On the other side of the room I have even more shoe storage (you would think that was enough but I still had to donate two bags full to my local charity shop. :) The mirror used to be silver so I gave it a little facelift with shiny black spray paint.   

The wall up the stairs is still a work in progress. Its going to be a display wall where I put everything that can be put on a wall. There will be a mismatch of both colors and shapes that will cover the wall completely. 

The one element that has been left untouched is my hama/perler image. It took me ages gluing in one bead at the time so I decided to use it as my color inspiration. So far I have only added the purple elemenst but I will try do find somewhere to add a little yellow and red as well.

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Plastic bag dispenser

I’m finally seeing light in the end of the tunnel regarding my redoing projects. But it sure has taken a lot longer than I anticipated. It’s difficult finding a balance between my day job, looking after my daughter and keeping a steady progress on the project.  But finally all that’s left are finishing touches.

To take my mind of things ones in a while I have been crocheting. It’s quite new to me so I don’t have the confidence to take on to advanced projects.  But I found a this blog with patterns on useful objects that were easy enough for me to follow. 

 

My first attempt was this dispenser for plastic bags. I used t-skirt yarn and followed the instructions up until the end, then I decided that I wanted the opening a little smaller so I crochet a few more rounds while reducing it.

It feels a little bulky now, but I think it will smoothen itself out after being used for a while.

If anyone wonders why the cats for sits high up on a shelf I could assure you that there is a very logical explanation for that. I used to have a dog, a very well behaved one. She would even leave dinner leftovers alone until it was served to her in her bowl.  So with the dogs bowl on the floor and the cats on the shelf all the food got it its rightful owner  :)

 

This is an old picture of my lovely daughter  and the best friend I ever had. (My daughter is 13 today) The dog, Bambi, is waiting for my her to say værsågod/you're welcome. This caused a lot of frustration until my daughter learned to talk :)

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New cake stands

I don’t have access to my craft area and sewing machine at the moment. So when I need a break from work and doing up my house what I have left is my collection of china plates.  So I have been playing with patterns, colors and drilling holes. So far that has resulted in 3 new cake stands and one candy dish. All of them will eventually find their way into my shop.

 

Also I now have a new all time favorite stand, the blue with flowers on the right. I was considering keeping it for myself for a while, but this house makeover has made me realize that I already have way to much stuff, so what I need is to downsize not add to my collection.

I have been getting a lot of email about where i get the supplies to make these stands so I thought I shold add that information to the post. 

I buy all my supplies for E-bay or Etsy but here is no point of me giving you the name of a specific seller because I need them to ship to Norway so I'm not getting the best deals. But if you search for: "tier handles" you should get some results to choose form. 

I use a 6mm drill bit and it did take some practice. My best advice is to be patient because if you speed up the drill to much its very easy to break the plates. Te drillbits can also be found at E-bay or Etsy.

 

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