Everybody needs to get lovely mail every once in a while

I've been really lucky to get lovely mail really often recently. Now I got Jesse's book I don't like chocolate (I haven't had the time to read it yet!) and a amazingly beautiful brooch that I bought from Karen's Etsy shop (and she's just updated it, I'm particularly fond of this piece!)


Boxes have taken over our home, so they were the most appropriate background for today's photos.


This is even more beautiful in real life! I'll wear this when I want to feel girly.


I just finished my competition book today, only to get an email telling that the deadline has been postponed by two weeks. I really think it's unfair to change the rules just because some people can't make deadlines... Hmph. I probably wouldn't be this cranky about it if I hadn't spent the last weeks worrying about finishing the book before moving. Maybe it's all right to be cranky about it anyway?

Drained but happy

I wish I could stay in bed for some weeks. I love our new apartment, but I most certainly don't love moving house. We're still at early stages with packing, and the new home doesn't feel like home yet, for now it's just the place to paint some furniture.

I cut my finger with a cardboard box and now I'm typing every word wrong at least once. No long stories today. I try to keep you updated, but I think I won't be returning to my regular blogging routines until in March. We'll be without internet connection for some days after our move, but otherwise I'm just an email away!

I miss you already!

And the winners are...

I wanted to give a chance to all last minute Hawaiians (they didn't show up!) and the lucky winners were drawn at noon my time when it was Thursday everywhere. Thank you all for participating and leaving such lovely comments! I wish everyone could win! (not really, it would take all my time and money...)


And the winners are: Sarah & Starashan! Please contact me with your addresses :)


Lighting was hardly any better than last time I tried to take pictures of the cards, but here are some more photos of the same old stuff... I've been working hard on my competition book and I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the week! That means I haven't had much time to make anything pretty to blog about. And we haven't even started packing. We'll be moving Sat 23rd... I think I'm going to be pretty busy for some days, but I promise I won't be abandoning you for good!




Happy Valentine's Day! I just remembered that today's the day. We don't celebrate it much in here. Shops are full of Valentine's Day stuff, but it's not a Finnish occasion in any way. I'm trying to stay away from the commercial side of the day. I hope all of you celebrating are having a great time!

Giveaway!

I think giveaways are great. So now I'm having one :) This is a lot nicer giveaway than what the following pictures let you assume. It's so foggy in here that I can't even see the church tower right near our house. I thought something was missing from the view when I opened the curtains... (I'll try and take better photos tomorrow, that is if it isn't foggy anymore.)


I spent my Friday evening making gocco printed mini cards. (These are half the size of a postcard.) It was my reward after working hard with the competition book. Then I goccoed, and goccoed. And I then goccoed myself in the corner of our living room. At least I got a good laugh out of it.

Details of the kraft cards (these were the only ones that had the pictures about right in the photos):



And the giveaway part of this post! Leave a comment to this blog post by the end of Wednesday (whatever timezone, I'll write down all names on Thursday morning) and you have a chance to get a set of eight gocco printed minicards with envelopes, 2 brown kraft, 2 off white, 2 gray and 2 white handmade paper ones. I'll be giving away two (2) sets to randomly chosen people.

I had trouble deciding how many sets to give away, but as I'm trying to step out of my little box every once in a while, I chose two. Although 1 and 3 are better in all ways. Two is too much of an in between number. But two sets it is!

Don't forget to leave a comment!

Secret things revealed on Flickr!

Ha! I realized I can show you pictures of my competition book and the work in progress! If you've got a Flickr account and would like to take a peek, drop me a line and I'll add you as my friend. Then there's this set filled with photos for you to see!

Edit: Flickr lost that set! All the photos were gone this morning, so were comments and notes! I don't know if they're ever coming back, so I uploaded the photos again. Photos are back, but some notes etc. still need to be re-written. If you suddenly couldn't see the pictures and thought I didn't consider you my friend anymore, you were wrong :)

Here's something I can show you: My fancy Swedish leather paring machine! Ignore the book on the background ;)

Aaww!

I was delighted to find out that I make someone's day! I got the You Make My Day award from Mirka (Oprikka) and Danielle (of paper & thread). Thank you both so much!


The award rules:
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs (or 10 according to some) that make your day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Tell the award winners that they've won by commenting on their blogs.

I try to give this award to blogs that don't already have a bunch of this particular award. Spread the love.

Ulla, my mom - kotkarankki
Milla - karhupuku
Jesse - jezzeblog (I just ordered her brand new graphic novel!)
Karen - contemporary embroidery
Sarah - little paper bird



And this is what Deanna sent me (remember the PIF?)! A small and lovely encaustic painting! I'm so Finnish that almost all colorful birds are parrots to me, and it happens to be so that a parrot is papukaija in Finnish. Ha, a bean Kaija, because papu is bean. (I have no idea why papukaija is what it is.) I've been hearing a lot of parrot jokes throughout my life, and this was probably the first time I was really happy because of the name coincidence!

I wish we could move house already! I have so many new pretty things waiting to be a part of our new home...

I'm making progress with the book, but there's still a whole lot of work to do. I think I can finish it in time. In fact I'm so sure about finishing it that I feel like taking a little break... Bad idea. Now I need to get back to work.

Birdy pouches and deadline angst

Finally the other batch of linen pouches is ironed and photographed. I've had a ton of things on my mind, and a little boy running around the house last weekend. It was great to meet an old friend and hear her son's monster sounds. That boy is definitely a dancer, too.

Some months ago I mentioned a secret project that I couldn't show you until next summer. Well I just started it yesterday... There's a bookbinding competition with a Feb 29th deadline. And now I'm getting started. Oh my. I doubt nothing good comes out of this. In real life I need to finish the book on Feb 22nd at the latest as we're moving on the next day. How come I never learn? I thought this was the time I wasn't leaving things last minute. I do think it's possible for me to finish the book in time, but that means that I'll probably have a lot less to show you in the near future, as I can't show you my leather parings. I guess the jury doesn't read my blog, but why take the risk :)

I'm not into pink, but for some reason I really love this.

There's an oak leaf if you look carefully enough...