My Creative Space: Making Labels

A little ago someone asked me how do I make my fabric labels I sew on my purses. Here is the process with a few pictures for your inspiration.

I have this old rubber stamp where you can arrange letters as you wish

A while back I found this sweet and light fabric from a flea market
I need strong fusible interfacing to iron on the back side of my fabric

Water based screenprinting base and a few drops of pigment to make a paste

I cut reinforced fabric into long strips and attach them to my ironing board with pins. I place at least two pieces side by side to make a large batch of labels at once. You need a flat thick sponge or similar (sorry I forgot that picture!) Add a small amount of paste on your sponge and test your stamp (you need a very small amount only). Leave the paste to dry. Iron with appropriate setting to make the print permanent. Wash the stamp and the sponge for further use.

Here's my result. Now I can cut the labels with scissors as I need them

They give a nice finishing touch and emphasize the handmade feel I love.

I hope you got some inspiration to try this on your own. You can basically use any rubber stamp but those with very fine details may not work very well. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you give a try I would love to hear how did you succeed!

More creative spaces on Kootoyoo's blog...

Shop Update

I haven't been posting many shop updates lately. It's been busy times with craft markets and wholesale orders. However, I decided I try to keep my shop as active as I can during this summer. Here are three new clutch purses I finished and listed this week.

little birdie clutch with a hand drawn detail

black velvet clutch with sweet embellishments

sakura blooms clutch with a vintage cherry blossom print

We are planning a trekking trip to Lapland later in July. There will be some house renovation work during the holidays too. This means I might need to take a little break from my shoppe and blog at some point but will let you know in advance for sure.

Do you have plans for this summer?

ps. Thanks again for all your support and response on my Monday post. Means a lot to me!

Monday Moodboard

cotton skirt by thongbaitatong
felted pebbles by smika
buttons necklace by amoronia
blue bowls by azulado

It seems that a rainy weather we got on the weekend is here to stay. It must be good for the nature so I am not complaining any further! Perhaps these beauties in shades of turquoise will make our day a happy one!

I have noticed some of my Etsy friends, those who have been selling there for years have now decided to open independent shops and close their Etsy stores. I have also noticed it is so much harder to be seen on Etsy today. I have been doubting do I still have energy to make such big efforts for my shop there too. On the other hand I wouldn't like to quit the journey now because of a great and highly supportive community Etsy has to offer, I do love my customers and fellow sellers there! How do you feel about the current situation? Have you felt unmotivated to keep your Etsy shop active just lately? I would love to hear your voice on this matter.

More Monday Moodboards on Fleurfatale's blog...
ps. If you want to see what was my spring swap for her, have a look here!

Hello Paris!

Hello friends,
I just wanted to show the final pieces of Karuski clutch purses I finished this week. I posted some pictures of work in process on Thursday and got everything ready on Friday. These are now in the mail, arriving to Paris early next week, yay!

I decided to mail these via priority with insurance. It only added a couple of euros to the total cost and I believe it is all worth it as both I and the customer would be terrified if the package got lost in mail (not likely to happen but always possible). I know the insured package is not available to all countries but it is worth asking your PO whenever you are mailing valuable packages abroad.

Some of you have already asked me to show pictures of this Paris boutique. Myself I'm dying to see them too and I will be glad to show you as soon as I have some on hand. They will open after the summer so we need to stay patient!

Now I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

My Creative Space

This week has been dedicated to another wholesale order. I've been very pleased to work on it, the customer gave me free hands. She ordered 15 pieces of this design but I got a permission to choose the fabrics and button embellishments as I wish. All of them will be unique pieces of course. Here is a sneak peek to my choices. They include repurposed linens and recycled cottons.

These will be ready on Thursday and I will mail them out on Friday the latest. They will arrive to Paris early next week. I will tell more about this new shop for sure, hopefully get to show some pictures too!

Another good news: Between sewing these I just finished one new clutch for my Etsy. I will have a chance to make more for my shop next week again.

More creative spaces on Kootoyoo's place...

Sunday Trekking

We had a super sunny and warm weekend here in Southern Finland. It truly feels like the summer has now arrived, let's hope it will stay like this.

I spent Saturday at a craft event in Helsinki. Lots of good stuff was going on there: garage sales, live music and people having picnic in unusual places. And our small sales event too (not sure if I should call it a craft market or something like that). I enjoyed all happenings a lot!

On Sunday I went outdoors with H. We headed to a new area to us, Lohjansaari which is about 30 minutes by car from our place. There was really beautiful scenery with apple ranches, fields and forests which were kind of surrounded by a big lake making it like an archipelago. We took a trekking path through an enchanting forest and I was amazed that there were still large fields of wood anemones everywhere. We also found fungi, false morels (Gyromitra esculenta) which are well known for growing in spring and early summer.

We heard lots of birdies chirping all around the forest. Very relaxing!

Little ferns have beautiful leaves

Best part of a trekking trip? A coffee break with sandwiches!

I love mossy forests. They remind me of our childhood playing places.

Bunches of wild chives growing on an open field

Here and there I saw wood anemones in pink. It's very unusual I think.

We are already planning our next trip to a place near this area. I wish we could make one every weekend. I hope to take pictures and show you my newest wholesale order before packing it for Paris in a few days. Wishing a great new week to you!

My Creative Space: Sending Away

On Wednesday I shared a few pictures of my newest clutches. They are part of my wholesale order for a boutique in North Finland. So are these bags you see below. I'm going to pack everything carefully and mail them away on Friday afternoon.

Shoulder bag with a bow embellishment

Another one in floral print

Granny chic frame bag in soft rosa satin

... and one in classic black cotton with a Karuski bloom

Here's a peek into the interior. Label is handprinted and lace is a flea find.

I'm so happy this order is now ready!
I will start with a new wholesale order in a few days time. It will consist of 15 smaller Karuski clutches. I'm pretty excited to tell you those little purses will fly to PARIS. Qui, this is true. A completely new boutique will open in Paris after this summer and we made the first deal some time ago. I am so very happy!

More creative spaces on Kootoyoo's place...

ps. If you're in Helsinki this Saturday, meet me at this recycling event

Getting Ready

This always happens whenever I get busy with wholesale orders, I simply cannot keep up with my blog. Today I took some pictures of my new pieces before sending them off. A few more purses are waiting for finishing touches so I will take and share pictures of them before packing everything up.


I came up with this bigger clutch purse some time ago
So glad this reseller of mine wanted to give it a try!


I especially love this one made with earthy raw silk

Smaller clutches with removable accessories

These two would make a nice company for a happy summer day party

Tomorrow we have a national holiday here. Once I get ready with this order I hope to spend some time in the garden. Today we already had such a lovely and warm day so I'm hoping it would continue like this. How about a picnic if the weather allows?

My Secret Gift Arrived

Yesterday was such a beautiful day: Sunshine and a secret package in a mailbox!

This spring EuropeanStreetTeam's secret swap was organized by Judit. What a big, big job to make pairs and keep on track of all mail related things. She did it so well. And who was my secret swap partner? Nicole of Ultimate Organic Soap in Norway. Look at all these gorgeous soaps she sent me, I feel totally spoiled yet thankful.






What I love about her soaps is the fact she doesn't add any artificial ingredients on them. The scent of these soaps is very delicate and natural, not overwhelming as often happens on industrially made soaps. They are all handmade with care and look like candy to me. I must say Judit knew exactly what I'd like. Thank you Nicole and Judit!

ps. If you like some nice read, have a look at our team's blog. We have a new guest there.

My Creative Space

This is a busy week. I started to cut fabrics for a wholesale order for Non Boutique in Oulu (located in north Finland). Here's what is going on in my studio right now.

Light yet colorful cottons in pink and shades of orange...
...are for shoulder bags like this

Delicate natural tones, beige and whites with little rosa...
...will make big clutches like this one here

Various cottons, some with floral prints...
...will be embellished like this smaller Karuski clutch

Classic black and sweet satin in soft rosa......are reserved for granny chic purses similar to this piece here

So these will keep me busy the rest of this week. I have another wholesale order to be begin with right next week. I'm pretty excited about that project too but cannot tell more about it yet. Stay tuned if you feel curious now!

More creative spaces on Kootoyoo's blog...

Sunday Walk

We had a sunny but windy Sunday up here. I'm so glad we decided to take a short trip to a lake nearby despite the heavy wind. The forest ground was full of kidneyworts (Anemone hepatica) and wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa). Seeing the sea of wild flowers is definitely a proof of spring to me!






To celebrate the spring we cooked asparagus with hollandaise sauce, it was as delicious as you can imagine. To make a hollandaise sauce you need the egg yolks only. I didn't want to waste the egg whites so I baked meringues. This was my first try with meringues and they turned out just nice ( I whipped egg whites and sugar by hand and baked the cookies in 100 celsius for about 1 hour 10 minutes). Next time I would love to try a lemon meringue tart. I just found a recipe for this on Mitsy's blog, fun! Have you ever baked one and how did it turn out?