Christmas gifts made, part 4

Kävinpä kerran Zambiassa (monta vuotta sitten), ostin sieltä ihania kankaita enkä ole niistä koskaan mitään raaskinnut tehdä. Mutta nyt kun tuo muutto häämöttää, enkä voi millään kaikkia kankaita mukanani toiselle puolelle maailmaa kantaa, päätin uskaltaa. 

Tein kaksi pussuukkaa, toinen iso, toinen pieni. Ison ehtisin paketoida ja sitten vasta tajusin, etten ollut ottanut siitä vielä kuvaa (vinks vinks lahjan saajalle, että saa lähettää mulle kuvan siitä). Tässä siis pienempi niistä. Menivät ihanille siskoksille, jotka ovat Ghanassa asuneet ja Afrikka on heillä edelleen sydämessä.  Toivottavasti olivat mieluisat, sillä kangasta on vielä hieman jäljellä ja siitä saattaa jotain muutakin syntyä, ehkä.

I went to Zambia (a long time ago), bought some nice material but never did anything out of them. Now that moving to Australia is getting closer and I can't take all my materials with me, I decided to make something out of this material. 

I did two of these, the other one a bigger and the other smaller. But I wrapped the big one before I realised that I don't have a picture of it yet. So this is the smaller one of them. They went as presents to wonderful sisters, who've lived in Ghana and Africa has stayed in their hearts. I hope they liked these since there is still some of this material left and I might do something else of them, maybe.

Christmas gifts made, part 3

I bought these t-towels also (yes also, since I bought the doormat from there too) from Ikea. When I saw them I thought it would be a great present for my granmum if I just embroider some nice image on it. Well then I got home and started to go through blogs that I follow (it's become one of my favorite things to do at the moment, reading other people's blogs! Yeah! So thank you all of you who keep a blog) and I saw this idea in this blog (awesome blog! Love it! Go and check it out!). So I decided to do similar, I rounded both of the corners and tsadaa!! Two for my dad and two for my granmum. I love them and I'm gonna make these for one of my good friends too. Thank you Tanya for sharing!

P.s. If you wanna see pictures of our Christmas (especially Emma's so exciting first Christmas) go and check it here.

Ostin Ikeasta myös (siis sen ovimaton lisäksi) pyyheliinoja. Niissä oli vohvelikangas neliöitä ja ajattelin ostaessani, että tästä saan mummilleni hyvän joululahjan, kun kirjon jotain kuvioita niihin. No sitten näin täällä blogissa (taas yksi niin ihana blogi, suosittelen!) tällaisen mallin ja ohjeen ja mieleni muuttui. Päätin tehdä samanlaisia. Pyöristin vaan molemmat kulmat ja tadaa! Kaksi pyyhettä isälle ja kaksi mummilleni! Ihanaa. Pyyheliinatkin olis tietty voinut silittää, mutta siitä huolimatta, että ne ovat vähän ryppyiset tykkään näistä kovasti. Ja aion tehdä yhdelle ystävälle tällaisia myös joksikin lahjaksi (en vielä tiedä miksi lahjaksi, mutta kyllä aina juhlan aihetta keksin).

P.s. (suomeksi vielä sama) joulun tunnelmia voipi käydä katsomassa täällä. 

Christmas

Emma's first Christmas so of course Santa came to visit her. And she was reaching out for the presents! So adorable. And guess what was her Christmas present for mummy and daddy!! Rolling on her stomach! She's such a cutie don't you agree.

It was a lovely Christmas here at home where I'm from. My dad has saved every christmas ornament and decoration that we kids have made. And so it's become a tradition that every christmas we put them out on display. Then we can laugh at them during the christmas and hear dad telling all the stories he remembers from them. It makes you feel actually quite special and hopefully I can save many things that Emma is going to make later on.

On the picture above, the first one (on the left) is made by my brother, the middle one I have made (yeah you can see that I was quite the artist then) and my granmum has made the last one (on the right). I absolutely love how we've all done different elves and how after many years they are in a row next to each other.

I hope you all had a merry Christmas.

Christmas gifts made, part 2

Ja sitten tehtiin korviksia. Kokeilin päälystää puuhelmiä (sellaisia puolikkaita), oranssi kangas onnistui vielä ihan ok, vihreä oli vähän liian paksua ehkä. Napeista tykkään eniten. Niitä ovat muutkin täällä blogi maailmassa tehneet. Hippu ainakin muistaakseni (ihana blogi, menkää ihmiset katsomaan). Kuvat kertovat, ehkä kaiken, ei muuta lisättävää siis.

And then I made some earings. The orange one worked quite well, but the green material was a bit too think in my opinion. The buttons work the best I think. Other people have been making these sorts too, Hippu I think at least (you should go and check her blog if you haven't yet, I love it!) Anywho the pictures tell it all so I've got no futher to add.

Christmas gifts made, part 1

Nyt on aika lähteä esittelemään tämän vuoden joululahjoja. Siis niitä, joita itse tein. Eihän niitä sopinut ennen joulua tänne laittaa, koska sitten mikään lahja ei olisi ollut saajalleen mikään yllätys. Lisäksi suurin osa lahjoista tehtiin pari päivää ennen joulua, joten en olisi edes ehtinyt niitä tänne laittaa.

Tässä ensimmäisenä esittelyssä ovimatto, jonka isäni sai lahjaksi. Idea ja ohjeet löytyvät täältä. Mulla oli tuhat ja miljoona hienoa kuviota mielessä, mutta koska aikaa oli rajallisesti ja jouduin pistämään mieheni hommiin, niin tyydyin hänen tekemään ehdotukseen. Ja hyvä idea se olikin. Isäni kun on kuitenkin talonsa kingi. Tätä ei siis ihan toteutettu ohjeiden mukaan, vaan käytimme sapluunaa. Matto on siis ikeasta ostettu ja spray maali honkkarista. Hyvä tuli ja lahjan saajakin oli mieltynyt.

Now it's time to start showing the presents I made for people this year. I obviously couldn't put them here before Christmas because then people would have known what they are getting. And also because most of the presents were done couple of days before Christmas, so I didn't even had time to put them here.

The first present I'm going to show you is the doormat we did for my dad. The idea and tutorial are found here. I had thousands of ideas in my head of what to do but because I had absolutely no extra time I had to put my husband to work. This is his image and what a great image it is. It suits my dad very well, after all he is the king of his place. The doormat is bought from Ikea so it ended up being pretty cheap present. Dad loved it so goal achived.

Men's park

I haven't had any time to do Christmas shopping this year because of all the uni work. Nevertheless I know that shopping with men can be a bit difficult sometimes. My husband is pretty good to go shopping with but sometimes you just wish that you could go alone. For example if you're walking in a clothe shop, you have a shadow who's walking right behind you and comes everywhere you go. Every turn you make and every little thing you look at even though you have no intention buying it, the shadow is there. 

The reason I'm thinking of these things is because I got the coolest idea the other week. We went to celebrate one of our friends birthday to a climbing hall. (You can see where this is going, can't you) There were two wives (me being one of them) and the rest were the manly kind of humans. And the men, they loved the place. We liked it too, but when we thought we were done, they would have just wanted to keep going. 

So.. wouldn't it be a great idea to create a little men's park into the shopping centers. Just like the one's they have for kids. But next to it one for men! See how much fun they had.

And yes it was like being little children again. "Can't we stay more minutes longer, just 5 more minutes. I'll go only once more."

Pienelle tytölle - For a little girl

Parhaan ystäväni pieni tyttö sai nimen viime sunnuntaina (ja mikä ihana nimi se onkaan). Tietenkin minun piti tehdä jotain hänelle. Päätin tehdä jotain lämmintä nyt kun talvi vaan tuntuu kylmenevän ja kylmenevän. Tein näitä hieman kiireessä ja ainoa mikä onnistui oli tuo ristipisto ja kirjonnat. Jos katsot oikein tarkkaa seuraavaa kuvaa (eikä välttämättä siis tarvitse) niin huomaa nuo virheet. Huh huh, kaikki siis vain sen takia, että en osannut tehdä päätöksiä ja sitten kun olin päätökseni tehnyt, päätinkin muuttaa ideaa ja kaikki meni mönkään. Joka tapauksessa pipo ja tumput silti toimivat ja pitävät pienen tytön lämpimänä ja se on tärkeintä.

My best friend's little girl got a name last Sunday (and what a beautiful name it is). Of course I had to make something for her and as the winter seems to be getting colder and colder I had to make something that will keep her warm. Pretty much the only thing that was successful was the cross stitch and embroidery. I was in a hurry to make these so i stuffed up because I couldn't make decisions. So if you look at the next pictre very closely (no need to necessary) you'll be able to spot the faults. Nevertheless they still work and fit and will keep her warm which is the most important thing.

Onko jo joululahjat tehtynä? Itselläni taitaa tulla kiire, kun en ole ehtinyt aloittamaankaan. Kymmenen päivää enää.

Have you done all your presents already? I know I'll be in a hurry, because I haven't had time to start yet. Ten days till Christmas.

Christmas cards, the ones Emma made with me

I love things that kids make (unless if they are made out of macaroni and it's not eatable) so now that I have my own, I obviously want to involve her in as many things as possible. So this years Christmas cards look like this. Emma liked when I painted her foot and I liked making trees out of them. Then my husband was so effective (too effective) and put almost all of them into their envelopes before I got to take a picture. I was left with only the dodgiest ones but oh well such is life. You get the point anyway.

I am so horribly busy with my masters thesis in uni at the moment that I feel like crying. I have hardly any time for anything else. So of course we were almost too late to send these cards (yes today was the last day) but they are on their way. I also made some more artistic ones (if you can call them that) and they are found here.

10 days till Christmas. Are you ready? I know I'm not, so better get started.

P.s. go and check this blog out (if you haven't already). She makes everything with her kids. Love it!

Joulukortteja - Christmas cards

Tänä vuonna (niin kuin kaikkina muinakin) ideoita joulukorteiksi oli useita. Kaksi ideaa kaatui siihen ettemme omista tulostinta ja lopulta päädyin piirtämään näitä puita. Tykkään toki näistäkin kovasti. Pinkki ja sininen ovat omat suosikkini, vaikka eivät ehkä ole kauhean jouluiset. Mikä väri on sinusta paras?

This year (like all the other years) I had many ideas for Christmas cards. I had to abandon two of my first ideas because we don't have a printer and in the end I ended up drawing these trees. I like these a lot, the pink and the blue are my favorite even though I don't know how Christmassy they are. Which colour tree is your favorite?

Itsenäisyyspäiväksi - For Independence day

Tässä täksi itsenäisyyspäiväksi valmistunutta. 

Tykkään näistä kovasti!

Muita perheemme itsenäisyyspäivän toivotuksia löytyy täältä. 

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää kaikille!

Here done for this Independence day.

I love these a lot!

Other Independence wishes from our family are found here.

Happy Finnish Independence day for everyone!

Team Finland wishes happy independence day

This independence day we made Finlands.

Mummy has an Australia shirt so she wasn't allowed in the picture.

True Finns own a Finnish shirt.

Happy independence day to everyone!

Talvi kylmenee ja me tarvitsemme lämpimämpiä pipoja. Kotona ei ollut kuin mustaa ja sinistä fleeceä, enkä viitisinyt lähteä tätä nopeaa pientä pipoa varten ostamaan muutakaan. Koska musta nyt on vähän synkkä pienelle neidille, niin päätin piristää sitä pienellä kukkasella. Nopea ja helppo tekoinen, kuvattava ei vaan edelleenkään osaa pysyä paikallaan kuvissa. Tai ehkä se on kuvaajan vika.

The winter is getting colder and we need more warm beanies. I had only black and blue fabric and I didn't want to go to the shop to get some other colour just for this little beanie. Because black is pretty dark for a little lady, I decided to chear it up a bit with a little flower. Isn't it lovely, and so easy and quick to make. Unfortunately my model can't stay still.

Jotain itselleni - something for myself

Näin tämän ihana pannan ja päätin tehdä itselleni samanlaisen. Taas näitä nopeita projekteja, mutta kiva on.

I saw this wonderful thing and decided to one for myself. Again one of these quick projects, but it's very nice.

First snow

Isn't it funny how you forget almost all the feelings to do with winter during the summer and autumn. I do at least. Then when the first snow falls on the ground it looks so magical everywhere and you can't wait to get out there to enjoy the beautiful snow. But pretty soon after getting out there it reminds of it's dangers. I almost fell over 8 times with 1km distance to univesity, I felt absolutely freezing and got cold couple of days later.

Still winter is beautiful in the pictures. I'll also participate in this weeks photo challenge with this photo. The heart shape edges to the picture are done with a toilet paper roll. Have a great coming week everyone.

Väriä syksyyn - colour to the autumn

Syksy pimenee pimenemistään ja minä yritän pysyä pirteänä ja iloisena kaiken kiireen keskellä. Nämä värit ovat vähän liian räikeät silti minulle, mutta onneksi ne tulevatkin lahjaksi yhdelle värikkäimmistä ystävistäni. Kuvassa värit ovat hieman liian laimeat... Tuo vihreä varsinkin on ihan väärä, se on nimittäin aivan kirkkaan vihreä! Päätin tehdä nämä perinteiset palasukat, koska halusin tehdä nopean yhden illan projektin, eli nopeaksi työksi suosittelen. Helmineuloksella neulottu muuten. Meidän syksy löytyy täältä.

Autumn is getting darker and darker and I'm trying to stay cheerful and happy among all the rush. These colours are a bit too bright for me but luckily they are for one of my most colourful friend. The colours aren't as bright in the picture as they are in real, especially the green is totally different in the picture. It's actually really bright! I decided to do these traditional square socks because I wanted to do an one evening project. Our autumn is found here.

Autumn

Over too quickly.

I don't know if I'm really ready for the winter yet.

I would like autumn to last a bit longer,

but the leaves are all gone.

"I love my dad" - Emma 2,5 months

I'm sure that is what she would say if she could talk. She's such a dad fan, adores him really. Everytime she sees him she gets a big smile on her face. With me she sometimes thinks for a while before smiling but with dad it's a smile straight away. So of course we had to make a present for dad with her. It wasn't the easiest job but if you want to see it go and check it here (yes you can see it in the picture top but there's also the awesome card that we made for him in the other place).

We have this tradition (or we are trying to make it a tradition) that everytime it's someone's birthday or nameday or some other special day like the Fathers day today that we make breakfast in bed. This tradition has originated from my friend Suvi's family who've done it for centuries (thank you Suvi for making it my tradition too). The breakfast is not just any type of breakfast; you put things on bread that you normally might not or then you make them somehow else funky. Should have taken a picture to explain, maybe next time. Do you have any traditions for Fathers day for example? Or any other traditions to that matter?

Ensimmäinen isänpäivä - first Fathersday

Ensimmäinen isänpäivä ja totta kai lahjan täytyy olla itsetehty tyttäreltä isälle. Kuitenkin tuo neidin nuori ikä asetti jonkinlaisia rajoitteita sille, mitä hän voi tehdä. Niinpä äidin avustuksella painoimme Emman kädenjäljet kankaalle (joka on muuten siitä vanhasta t-paisastani), leikkasimme sen sydämen muotoon ja ompelimme t-paitaan sydämen kohdalle. Isi oli ikionnellinen!

First Fathersday and of course the present had to be self made. It's just that there's only so many things you can do with a 2,5month old. So with a little help from mum, we pressed Emma's handprints on fabric (which by the way is from my old t-shirt again). Then we cut it in a heart shape and sewed it onto a t-shirt where the heart belongs. Daddy was very happy.

Ja tietenkin vielä kaunis kukkakortti lahjan kanssa. Pappa sai samanlaisen. Ei muuten ole helpointa hommaa tuo 2,5kk käden painaminen. Ehkä jalka olisi onnistunut paremmin... Täältä läytyy meidän perheen isänpäivästä enemmän.

And of course a beautiful flower card to go with the present. It's not the easiest job to paint that little hand and get it onto a material or paper. Maybe a foot would have been easier... Here you can find more about our family's Fathersday

Some nights...

...are not as good as others. Last night was one of those nights when Emma didn't agree with mummy and daddy about the time to go to bed. Or then she just prefered dad over the bed. Even though the days are getting darker earlier and our family is not too happy about that, I still love the mood that having only one light on creates in our little appartment. I think this picture shows that mood very well; everything is quiet (for a moment), one light on in the dark evening and one dad going up and down trying to make one little girl to go to sleep.

I also thought that this photo is good for this weeks photo challenge which was to capture movement. I've been trying to get those type of photos all week but my camera hasn't really been co-operating. So I think this is the best I got.

Then I told them to stop moving and look at the camera.