Only cat lovers know the luxury of fur-coated, musical hot water bottles that never go cold.
/Susanne Millen

I have the privilege to share bed with this one beautiful cat lady. As a crafty blogger I feel it is my duty to share her with you all, hoping you know the joys of having an animal in your life, or that you one day will. I can’t remember who said it but it’s true that once there is a cat in the room there is no need for any additional interior design. Since it was a while since you saw new photos of miss Smilla I thought I’d share these today, where she is resting on my bed. Quite shabby chic if you ask me…

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Lately I have read yummy books and taken pictures of the garden (mostly the pink buds and then flowers of the Magnolia Tree - will make a post later). I’ve been lazy in the sun most of the time because it was a great hot weekend with birthday party, wine, BBQ, boat ride, friends, eating candy, a new Moleskine diary and movies.

I’ve taken some photos today of the mosaic table I made for my parents last week. It’s blue for mom and made together with and for my dad whose birthday we celebrated this weekend.

My blue mosaic table fits very nice in this cozy corner of the garden, just by the entrance of the house:

Mom’s blue outdoor pots and it’s a match!

I scored a giant box of mosaic tiles in different shapes and colors at a flea market two years ago, and this is the first project with some of those tiles! Dad fixed and painted the board and I did the mosaic part, using both small, medium and big tiles in different shades of blue. Plus a brown border to kind of frame it. I think it turned out okay.

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My wee cousin Charlotta always say that she is not creative at all, but I know that isn’t true. Not for her and not for most people who claim this. It is just a matter of thinking. She might not knit as I do, but she does a lot of things I don’t that are also highly creative. She cooks, bakes and is great at interior design for example. And she is so much fun to be around!

Right now she is on her first year on the road to becoming a garden designer and will have the cool title Landscape Architect when she is finished.
Landscape architects make outdoor places more beautiful and useful. They decide where to put flowers, trees, walkways, and other landscape details. They keep sports fields from getting soggy, finds the best place to put roads and buildings and work with environmental scientists to find the best way to conserve or restore natural resources. A diverse and fun job I would guess?

And while in school she is drawing, sketching and walking around in parks identifying plants and flowers. I think it sounds like a fun place to be and I’m jealous of everyone who gets any kind of art education. I wasn’t as arty-crafty when I choose schools so I never went down that road. That’s why I’m experimenting so much on my own.

Anyway, I wanted to show you her cool lamp, or at least some blurry photos of this sculptural tree looking lamp my cousin made in school! It looks organic but is made out of paper fixed with hairspray and arms weaved with wire.

I just swoon over it!

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I keep looking at this magazine spread over and over again:

This is the bedroom I want to sleep in. I’m dreaming about dreaming in this bedroom. The wallpaper is just amazing, don’t you think? This is how I want to live! The only one stopping me from having it is - me!

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Creating is about transformation. Take one or a few objects and put them together in different ways - and voila! You have created something new!

Take this wood tray for example; yellow with age bought in a second hand shop for almost nothing. I painted it a couple of times with white paint and then I decoupaged it with vintage papers that I punched out circles from. I love it. So simple and yet nobody in the whole wide world will own something similar.

Sometimes it just have to be this easy, so light and so freeing. Writing a book is hard work, but creating doesn’t always have to be work at all. Most of the time it can be play. New things (ideas!) come out of play, when you leave the old way of thinking behind. When you embrace what you don’t know and what you have never seen. when you do the opposite of what your teachers at school have told you, you are free.

Free to fly from one material to the next. From one medium to another without letting your worries hinder you. I have so many worries in my life, in my non-existent job and living situation - so I’m glad to say that I feel free when I sit down with my materials to play. Not totally free, not at all, I have fears like we all do. But I think I’m playing more than most. I allow my self to embrace the ugly and not fear imperfections. I let the child out. I don’t worry to much what “others” might say and I don’t judge what I have created even when others does. Maybe I have my own kind of astetics? Maybe I’m just living in my own world where coffee for breakfast is a necessity that I can sit with for hours and a glue stick can save the day…

Decoupage, by the way, is a wonderful way to express yourself artistically without being artistic or even able to paint! Just a tip, though I will be blogging more about decoupage another time.

Take care!

If you are a visual person (like me) you absolutely need a inspiration board in your home, maybe several?! If you don’t have one already, follow along in my tutorial on how to make one! It’s very easy and you need very few supplies!

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- Hands up, I’ve got a glue gun now! Ho-ho-ho!

Ingredients for this craft;
Candle holders in glass from IKEA that I found in a thrift shop and buttons, also bought at a thrift store.

Tool;
The amazing glue gun! I haven’t used one of these before but to glue all the buttons on the glass I borrowed a glue gun and had fun!

Result;
As you can see pretty special candle holders! I like em’! You could embelish further with beads, glitter glue or anything that will stick on glass, but I liked them with just the buttons. They shine beautiful through the semi-transparent buttons!

Todays inspiration;
a craft set, these journals and the wonderful artist Elsa Mora’s blog. Enjoy!

A bunch of us were invited to a Craft Night at my friend Sandra’s home last month. It was my first visit to her apartment and I really liked her style. It is not my style, but very much hers and the mixed autumn colour palette fits her perfectly.

What about a green bedroom, a purple sofa with a crocheted granny blanket in pink and purple on top? A yellow living room with a blue book shelf and finds from the forst everywhere. Big candles imbedded in moss and that yummy yarn basket filled with alpacka and wool for her beautiful hats and other creations?

Most of the furnitures were thrifted and handpainted by Sandra.

There is something special about a creative persons home. The home is like a shell of colours that shields you from the world when you need to be alone, but also a place to have Craft Nights and gatherings. Fika and serious talks, browsing the book shelf, getting reading tips and finding out a bit more about the person living there.

I could probably make a post/article about all homes I visit. All of my friends have beautiful homes, very different but filled with evidence of their interests and passions.

Do you really know a person until you’ve visited their home, seen their book collection, checked out their comfort zone? I don’t know. I’m just grateful that I got to see this little nook of the world.

I’ve been sorting through everything. My life!

Throwing away, saving, folding, browsing, sorting. For weeks now. I’ve realized I’m a horrible pack-rat and I shouldn’t buy anything for the next three years or so. I’ve given away books, sold papers at etsy and gone through piles of magazines and only saved the images that I want for collage. The rest went into the paper recycle bin! Off you go, paper trash!

I can’t belive this is my life, this messy, dirty, dusty life?

The entire apartment makes me dizzy right now. Boxes and stuff everywhere! I’m glad I got the chanse to sort through my papers before the piles grew over my head, but I can’t understand how it got this way? It’s like something (me?) exploded in here. And so you know; when you find rolls of wall paper don’t store them in the basement. Then they will never be used, only take up shelf space and collect dust. Take what you need and move on! And if you buy second hand books because you like the covers and want to turn them into notebooks, don’t put them in a paper bag behind the arm chair. Then you’ll forget you have them and go buy even more vintage books! Cut them up and make a book - then sell it! Books will be up at the shop soon too! Plus more collage packs of vintage book papers! Nag me if I don’t put it up for sale soon!

From this day forward I promise to only buy things I think I will use in the following couple of days. Books I will read now, or else not buy them.

And I found three collage prints that I’m putting up in my Etsy Shop now! Check them out, they are some of my favorite ones. There is Cat Owl, Extra glans and Tea Party! They will look great in a frame on your wall. Special price: If you get all three at the same time I’ll give you 5 dollar off! Just let me know you are a blog friend before you pay.

Link inspiration
I found the most adorable girl/video/art at youtube. Go watch You Are Deeply Loved now!

Learn that “you might not have a lot going on in your life (which is sooo true about my life), but in your notebook/on canvas your life can be wild” or something like that. I don’t know about my canvas, but I like the message. And Suzi who made it has a whole set of cute stuff over there; suzieblue. I didn’t even know you could have “a page of your own” at YouTube! Cool stuff!

Watch the video, her style and art is so cute!

What is on your TV tonight? This is what is on mine! My beautiful white H that is specially made for me by my wood crafting friend Maria. It has been in a craft exhibition at the library for a while, but now it is finally where it belongs, with me in my home.

And next to my H is my white knitting basket (filled with wool) that has been stored in the book shelf for a long time now. I can’t put it on the floor because my cat, Smilla, is a yarn killing cat. She hates that stuff and tries to eat it!

I painted the basket years ago, and always thougt I’d decoupage some roses to it. Now I’m glad I didn’t. I like it white.

I like white!