My Creative Space

Today I worked with my giftboxes. I gave them a finishing touch by adding those lovely little vintage scraps on them. They are a little bit kitsch but oh, so sweet and compliment my girly jewelry pieces nicely, I think. We used to collect these scraps as kids so I have some emotional connections to them too. Next time I visit my parents I hope to find those original scrap books of mine, real treasures.

Each gift box is now unique, that's the greatest thing of all. I will just add a little ribbon and voilá! I hope my project inspires you to embellish your gift boxes in a beautiful way. There are so many possibilities, choose the one that suits your style the best. Use scraps, die cut figures, pieces from an old news paper or a magazine etc. You name it!

Would you like to see a bunch of other creative spaces, hop over kootoyoo's blog...

Flickr Favorites

1. autumn morning dew, 2. a visit, 3. Olivia Hat, 4. x

Today we have a very rainy day, in fact it's pouring right now! I wish it changed soon because I would need to run errands in town. I don't really feel like taking a bike ride in a rain... H took the car when hurried to the train station in the morning. Not that I need to stay unoccupied though. I started to edit new pictures yesterday and managed to make a few Etsy listings so I can keep on working on those. A perfect rainy day activity, I think. What do you like to do on a rainy day? Please share!

Would you like to see my newest earrings, follow this link here.
And to see more flickr favorites, check the link list on Mitsy's blog...

Monday Moodboard

felted collar by vilte
purple lilly by vadjutka
decoration maple leaves by fleurfatale
iris in brown by milloo

Monday Moodboard was the idea of fleurfatale, it's a kind of weekly Euro Gift Guide made by members of European Street Team on Etsy. I wanted to join too so here comes my first collection!

It's all about accessories in autumnal hues; warm brown with shades of purple and little turquoise accents. You can find a whole bunch of lovely collections linked at Greet's blog. Wishing a great new week to all of you!

Happy Weekend

This is the first time I'm posting a whole bunch of pictures from a single artist on my blog. The reason for this is that I just can't keep this to myself: I made a purchase from this amazing Portugese fiber artist: Maria João Ribeiro. She was the featured seller on Etsy this week too. It's the ring in the last picture I bought from her. In fact this ring had been on my favorites list for a long, long time already. I can't wait to see it person, such a lovely and unique piece of wearable art, don't you agree?

Today we are going to visit H's nephew and niece, they have a birthday party todayl We will take the kitten with us. She will stay over night at their place and we'll continue to Helsinki. We've got tickets for Helsinki International Film Festival tonight and tomorrow. I will also go and visit Helsinki Vintage tomorrow. Have a nice weekend, all of you!

Hello Mr. Mail Man

I love my mail man! I was brought a lovely little package this Monday, this is what was inside there. A set of three quirky butterfly hair pins made from lovely recycled fabrics scraps! These came from bebe & alice, Colorado, USA. It's so sweet that this cute birdie sachet was tucked into package as a surprise gift. I have a thing for birds, as you might have guessed...

If you feel like wearing something unique and fun in your hair, go ahead and visit bebe & alice's shop. These are great for any girl, big or small. I requested custom colors and Heather was happy to make those for me. I couldn't be happier! Thanks my dear friend!

p.s. Her shop is full of many, many beautiful eco-friendly goodies... you've been warned!

Flickr Favorites

1. close - up, 2. nham nham*, 3. Fall Fire Earrings, 4. carpe diem detail

I feel quite cosy now. It must be because a busy weekend is behind and now I have a chance to take a little break. This is not a holiday though! I just sold a made to order handbag through my Etsy shop so that is the first thing to be finished. I have also been busy taking pictures and listing new stuff in my shop (it's good I didn't sell out at the craft market, right?!), it's a constant and time consuming process as every Etsy seller knows so well. But there are also moments when I'm enjoying the silence, forgetting all worries and feeling content.

This week's favorites I collected from my Flickr's contacts. I hope you find them cosy too!

And more on Mitsy's as usual...

From The Craft Market

So I spent a weekend in Turku and returned home on Sunday evening. First of all BIG thanks to all sweet people who visited Karuski table! I was very happy to meet many, many friendly customers there. Besides people, the weather was so nice too. We were lucky to get sunshine on both days.

I shared a booth with VitiDesign which is a label offering tees, panties, boxers & jewelry for gals and guys. Textiles are made locally by using certified ecological cotton. Too bad my friend Mari (designer and owner of VitiDesign) wasn't able to be present, she was celebrating at her sister's wedding on Saturday in other city. We need to arrange a get-together another time!

Next to me was Reetta of Joutomaa. It was great to hear she's opening a b&m shop + atelier late October in the centre of Turku. Some Karuski items might be found from there as well. Stay tuned! KUIdesign girls were also fun to talk to. I've been doing consignment with their shop for quite some time already. Their shop is so very cosy, I love its atmosphere! They made some new orders from Karuski too.

The weekend was really good, I'm feeling tired but happy. I'm already looking forward to visiting Turku soon again!

This Weekend...

I will drive to Turku tomorrow morning and participate at a craft market there. The market will be open both Saturday and Sunday from 12 - 18 so if any locals are reading this, please come by and have a chat!

Here are just a few pictures of my newest items. I think I need to take some stuff from my Etsy with me. But I promise I will have something new to list right next week. And those stud earrings are now available in my shop! What do you think about the earring pictures with paper tags? I received those tags from Greet just yesterday, she sent me a whole bunch for free. Thank you friend!

Happy weekend to you!

Flickr Favorites

1. Summer blues, 2. Red Arrows, 3. Grey Wolf : Yawning, 4. sunset sky

I'm feeling fragile. It is because of a shock I experienced yesterday. I had been supply shopping on Etsy and unfortunately faced a seller whose product didn't meet my expectations. So I had to leave her three feedback: one positive, one neutral and one negative. What did I receive in return? Three negative feebacks. Yes, this really happened. I have contacted both the seller and the Etsy admin but so far there is no response from either one. I keep on waiting. And what really makes me mad, is that this seller's product was really poor, some of them fell to pieces just too easily. How could I sell items further made from this crap? On top of this she's not accepting returns. This should have been a warning sign to me right in the beginning! A reputable seller accepts returns, no matter if the item is perfect or faulty.

It is so sad the Etsy buyer cannot leave an honest feedback in fear of getting abused. As far as I have understood these issues have been solved on Ebay. The buyer protection is so much stronger there. I think I will refrain from buying supplies on Etsy until the feedback system has changed. It has to change! If you want to avoid a disappointment, please go and look through my feedback so you know who I'm talking about here.

More mosaics on Mitsy's blog...

It's The Weekend

This weekend I'm in love with
- remains of summer flowers in the window box!
- apples in the garden, the first apple pie is ready!
- sunny autumn days!
- berry smoothies, so good and healthy!

Today we had a pretty day with lots of sunlight, a perfect start for the weekend. This week was so windy, our apple trees had dropped some of their fruits on the ground. But not even half as much as I saw on Moonika's blog. It looks like our apple trees are not doing enormously well this year. Enough for our needs anyway as last year I was almost too busy making jam and juice. It's hard to consume them all at our two persons household. I gave jam jars even as a gift for friends but there is still one sitting in the fridge.

And I took pictures of those little pouches I made yesterday. I like their autumnal shades and plaids are quite nice too. I'm about to make a bit bigger batch of them for the craft market. I'm doubting should I list these on Etsy too?

Craft Market Preparations

I mentioned a new craft fair in my last week's posting. Well, it is more like a craft market this time, Aura Street Market involves lots of cultural activities in town: design workshops, guided tours in boutiques and galleries, fashion shows and live music too. All this will take place in Turku September 19-20 so it's only a week away!

Here's a sneak peek into my new jewelry I've been making this week for ASM. These earrings have a berry theme, I paired old and new wooden and glass beads with antique bronzed filigree caps. Necklaces feature vintage bead chains and little charms & sealed vintage paper in brass settings. Many people liked these in Lasipalatsi Design Markets so I hope they will be a success in Turku too! Oh, and I also stamped paper tags I received from Greet this week, they look pretty cute, no?

Today I hope to get done with a new pouch design. It's been in my mind for about a week and needs some experimenting now. If I succeed you will see more prep pictures soon. Wishing a creative Friday to everyone!

Happy Package

This pretty little paper bird flew over me this week! She's from Astulabee and I already love her. She is now sitting by the fireplace, I think it's a perfect location with its light background. I just noticed that Astulabee's shop still offers end of summer SALE -15% off everything so you might want to take a look... but please be quick!

Thank You Greet!

Just about a week ago I made a purchase from my fellow EST team member Greet of FleurFatale. Today I received my little brooch and so much more, oh dear! I can't express well enough how surprised I was while opening my package. She had included another sweet brooch there along many cute paper tags, post cards AND a gift certificate AND a collage made by her! By the way, I just love the title of the collage "talking teapots", isn't that cute?

All those surprises were part of Greet's celebration for reaching her 1000th sale. She wanted to send away five goodie bags, two of them with 20 $ gift certificate to her shop. So I was one of those lucky ones!

My order and lovely surprises in their pretty packages

Endless Summer Brooch, sweet as a cupcake!

Lovely Water Lily Brooch little & paper tags Greet included along my order

Gift certificate will not be wasted, that's for sure!

The biggest surprise of all, "Talking Teapots" collage, I love it!

Thank you Greet, I'm sure you will soon double your sales, so great and beautiful handmade jewelry you have in your shoppe! You are such a sweetheart!!

Flickr Favorites

1. acorn, 2. Chubby-Butt!, 3. Squirrel on railing., 4. WIP Acorns

Today I felt like mismatching nature photos with hand embroidery, a new way to make a mosaic for me. They do have something in common though: squirrels like acorns. And autumn is here, this is the season.

I hope to continue my learning process in hand embroidery again. It would be fun but I think I have to postpone this plan just a little. Another craft market is coming up in September and I need to get prepared for that.

I'm sorry for a short post today, I feel so tired. I took a cat to the vet today. We are both exhausted now. She from recovering from narcosis and me from not sleeping enough last night.

Feel free to hop over Mitsy's blog to enjoy of more mosaics!