New pictures

After all my moaning about the weather, we've now got lucky and enjoyed glorious sunshine and warm weather for 4 days! 

We've buried all our winter clothes into attic for good, and jumped into shorts and t-shirts. Thankfully I've had 2 days off to enjoy all of this. I've also taken my chance to snap some new pictures of my new listings, two of my friends were brave enough to help me and don't they just look beautiful!

Black cardigan is hand knitted with silk mix yarn; cardi is soft and glorious on skin.

Purple is vintage style cardigan, one of those which will make any girl look like a queen, as it's designed to enhance your figure.

Light grey is more braver style, different lace styled top for summer.

You can find all these at my shop:
www.knitkitbox.etsy.com

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter time is important celebration for us Christians, and during the celebrations one tries to think and ponder about Christianity and the mercy of God. There are parts of bible that are difficult to understand, so difficult questions to answer that when humans have tried we've only managed to split the churches up to different houses, to different sides of Christianity.  In a case we can not figure something out we should remember the simple fact;  the truth comes from child's mouth! 

I got an email from my dear friend few weeks ago, and it still gives me giggles. It is the 10 commandments from the child's mouth. There used to be series of books where teachers collected information from school tests from their students, and I do have a hunch this email could be part of those books. As this email have now travelled around the world, I took the opportunity to introduce it here, unfortunately I do not have details of original source.

Here are the 10 commandments from child's point of view:

1. Do not steal from poor people if they notice it. (Frida, 6 years)

2. Do not give onions to little babies. I've tried once. (Thea, 7 years)

3. You can only hit someone when you really have to. (Henriette, 7 years)

4.  Do not bad mouth anyone when standing next to them. (Oscar, 7 years)

5. Try to be as nice as you can be, you can do everything else after. (Glenn, 6 years)

6. Always listen to your mother, especially the tone she uses. (Thomas, 7 years)

7. Protect yourself.  (Kristin, 8 years)

8. If someone hits you, pretend you didn't hear it. (Sebastian, 6 years)

9. Love God very much, even when it is difficult and he does not show up when you shout "Come and show yourself"! (Robin, 6 years)

10. Do not lust after your spouses things. And you have to sing on Mother's Day, other wise there'll be unbeliavable row. (Tom, 9 years)

ON SALE PERFECT GIFT Long-Sleeve white bodysuit - By Helens Corner   

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40000507

               “Every good and PERFECT GIFT is from above…” 

                 James 1:17 

Breath of fresh air

Recycling is a trend. Unfortunately trend is starting to turn against itself, as recycling and enviroment friendly are terms easily and light heartedly used in any marketing and advertising. I tried to make Real Finds in Etsy as well as from web, and 80% I managed to come across was something from the grey zone- something which possibly was recycled, but most likely not, word has just been tagged in to create traffic. Other option I found in my travels was recycled odd items- purely recycled but with no usage purpose, something to purchase to be ecofriendly (but how ecofriendly one can be just by purchasing something with no use or need?) My personal red flag also is too expensive upcycled items- why would I want to pay more for a recycled button ring (plastic button attached to a kinder egg ring) than for a truly handmade silver ring?

Thankfully I found some true crafters! There are still some clever ideas around and clever crafters to make them. This week I chose some of my favorites, have a look and be surprised what can be done!

 

 Bird cage by Paperleaves

This is a blank pop-up greeting card made from recycled and repurposed paper. A tiny red bird sits on its perch in an open cage.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/paperleaves

Rug like my grandma used to make- by Emmeli Works


Do your fitted sheets wear out faster than your top sheets? Mine do. The good news is that I am left with high thread count sheets that have past their prime for my bed, but still have a lot of love to give. I add all the used fabric I can find that matches (in addition to sheets, this rug contains some shirts, pants and even a poly/cotton shower curtain) then I render that fabric into strips and knot them together using the toothbrush method. A beautiful, soft and durable rug is created!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EmmeliWorks 

Recycled rice sack by Panbeh


Recycled basmati rice sack shopping bag . Burlap outer shell and red cotton inside. Great for shopping and going out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/panbeh 

Piano Key Belt Buckle Recycled Licence Plates -


These little baby piano keys are cut from license plates so you can walk, dance, or drive to your own music!
I've designed these buckles with bits of vintage, retired, and found-alongside-the-road vehicle license plates, mostly from the state of Michigan [although Ohio has worked its way in here and there]. These plates have traveled places, and now they will again! 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vintageinretrospect

 

Lady Liberty -Hand painted upcycled decoupage decorf art canister

The eco-friendly recycled materials used in this item are: a tin can, magazine clippings, recycled paper, and yogi tea tags. This lovely, symbolic piece displays a silver 1890 coin with Lady Liberty upon it and then an illustration of Lady Liberty in her flowing white dress nurturing an injured dove (symbolizing peace); pink tulips and exotic flowers surround the dove. Lady Liberty's hand is also depicted pulling a white rope which represents the strength of liberty; as well as her delicate smile of hope.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ecofriendlyfreckles

Team CAC

All these following beauties have been collected from the Team CAC's production. (You can find more info about our team also from Facebook, from our newly created pages at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Etsy-Team-CAC/101781875105?ref=search&sid=601218211.1950546945..1)

Isn't it fairly amazing what people can create?

I'll quote words of Andre Gide, the French author and Noble Price winner:
"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better".

http://www.crochetedwithlove.etsy.com/

http://www.sewfaithful.etsy.com/

http://www.mysaviour.etsy.com/

http://www.delightedhands3113.etsy.com/

http://www.fallingstarlane.etsy.com/

Gingerbread men

I had a panic attack; Christmas is only 5 weeks away! In my mind I'm still living in October...hmm... This also means I'm only 5 weeks away from gingerbread men, cinnamon buns and chocolates...You can not eat them before, as it only spoils the Big Days! So on 24th (yes we celebrate Christmas for 3 days by Finnish tradition), on Christmas Eve, one starts to enjoy, and by 26th one can not face another gingerbread man for another year!

Hereby I offer our family tradition for your service, make them and enjoy, just follow the lead of Lukas (shown on picture making them)
The Recipe for the Best Thin Gingerbread Men

You need:
200 g butter
2.35dl of sugar
1.5 dl of syrup
1 dl cream
7.5 dl of flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of cloves
1 tsp of allspice
0.5 tsp of ground ginger

Melt the butter in the same bowl you'll mix the dough in. Mix the baking soda with small portion of flour. Add the seasoning (ginger etc), sugar, syrup and cream to the cooled down butter. Mix the ingredients well together, to make sure none of the seasonings are clamped together. Add the baking soda mixture, as well as rest of the flour by gently mixing or even rather spooning the flour in to the dough. Cover the dough and the bowl with clean towel and plastic bag and leave it in a fridge to set until following day.

Day 2: take the dough to room temperature, put oven on to 190 degrees. Start moulding the dough, portion at the time with rolling pin, to a thin flat disc, press gingerbread men out with the mould of your choice, add men on oven tray and bake for 5-10 minutes until dark golden brown. Decorate if you wish, with icing sugar mix when men have cooled down.

Hint: moulding is easier when the dough is still cool

Hint 2: once baked, lay the hot gingerbread men on flat surface, on uneven surfaces like plates etc they’ll just turn wonky...

Hint 3: Eat plenty and enjoy!

Also, some knitting pictures as attached- latest customer orders, skull mittens and pink slippers.

New orders

This is my latest handy work, a pair of felted slippers which were made for my good friend Sirpa, as a birthday present. My plan was to decorate these orange beauties with gold, silver, and diamonds (all mentioned being authentic materials of course….hmmm in my dreams…and hers…) to match her beauty queen like appearance, but after a thought I decided to stick with more common material, wool instead, to match with the real world. She did like them, so mission accomplished!

I also received my first Alchemy requests-custom made requests, via Etsy. Hooray! I’ll keep you posted, but so far requests include gloves, mittens and few slippers. Brilliant! I’m also waiting for new stock to arrive. There will be new yarns like Puro, Huopanen, and Luxus Cloud to arrive to my shop listing!

I love making presents and orders, as whilst knitting stitch after stitch I also weave part of myself to them too. Orders are also fun in a sense, that the requested item my not match my taste and style at all, which sometimes is like opening my eyes to the world I did not know existed. One becomes so accustomed to daily routines and colour schemes one is used to, that getting an order with different view, with new colours and shapes becomes a learning curve. I also believe that in a process of doing anything artistic, hand made items, writing etc one becomes blind to the results and therefore to make the item, it’s better to stand away from it, so one can clean the act and open the eyes again for finishing touches. These are my words of wisdom for this week, take care and God Bless!