Karuski

May 17, 2009

Simple Things

After a rather difficult week it was nice to give room for thoughts and enjoy the weekend. We were lucky to have a beautiful weather so I spent some time outdoors too. On Saturday I had a little picnic with H. Nice sandwiches, coffee and sweet cherries tasted good.

From our backyard I found a big bunch of nettles. Nettle (Urtica dioica) is often considered a weed but did you know it's full of vitamin C and iron? They only need to be boiled or steamed for a little. I added some salt, white pepper and cream. The nettle stew was served along fried perch, boiled potatoes, green salad and dry white wine. Simple but delicious!

Pretty Cowslips (Primula veris) are blooming under the apple trees in our garden. They are among the first spring flowers over here. I did cut just a few and placed them in a glass. For some reason the kitten likes to drink her water out of this glass, I have re-filled it a couple of times yesterday and today. Even though the glass is high she hasn't knocked it down. A handsome young lady.

I just adore her ability to ignore the outside world. She sleeps so contently without fears or doubts of any kind. I do wish I could do the same. How much simpler the life could be that way!

Hopefully you had an enjoyable weekend too. I wish a good new week to all of you!

May 13, 2009

Baking Theraphy

I haven't been feeling very good this week, there are too many things bothering my mind. I hate it when negative feelings become so strong that they prevent me gaining daily happiness which keeps one running and ables focusing on essentials. After almost three days in a gloomy mood I'm now getting back to normal. As baking is something I find relaxing and rewarding I thought I would like to share this nice recipe of blueberry muffins with you. They are one of my favorites and so easy to make. And you can use any berries (rasberries are extremely good) if you don't happen to have blueberries on hand. Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

100 g (3.75 oz) butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 dl (2/3 cup) sugar
2 dl (1 cup) wheat flour
1/2 dl (1/4 cup) oat bran
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar/extract
200 g (7 oz) blueberries

Howto: Melt the butter. Beat together eggs and sugar. Mix the flour, oat bran, baking powder and vanilla sugar/extract. Add them into butter-sugar mixture. Add the melted butter and blueberries as well. Pour mixture into greased muffin pan or paper cups. Bake for about 20 minutes in 225 celsius (425 fahrenheit). Makes about 12 muffins. Shift some powder sugar on top if desired!

p.s. If you have your favorite baking recipe somewhere in web, please link me there:)

May 09, 2009

Weekend Read

Today I went to library to return books and get some new ones too. I was very happy to find a book about Finnish textile industry, focusing on printed fabrics, From Cretonne to Print (Kretongista printtiin), published by Maahenki Oy, 2008. Wide and proud history of textile industry started in Finland in 1820's. Finnish design started to florish after WWII, it pursued for functional, high quality items good for every day use right from the beginning. Textiles didn't make an exception. Happily this book is bilingual (in Finnish/English). It would make a great read to anyone interested in Finnish design! I'll read this book with a big enthusiasm!

I picked a few prints from the book, just to give the idea what the Finnish textile printing is all about.

1. On book cover Edward Terzibasiyan's printed fabric for Tampella, private collection
2. Kukka by Marjatta Metsovaara for Tampella in 1963
3. Metsänväki by Kristina Isola for Marimekko Oyj in 2008
4. Katve by Hanna Kerman for Fokus Fabric in 2006

All times Scandinavian designs have been inspired by nature and it's quite incredible how modern 50's-60's designs look. They could be made today. What part do you personally cherish in your country's design history?

May 05, 2009

Flickr Favorites

1. happy monday, 2. 183:365 Half Way, 3. Our more and more frequent guest ..., 4. WhoInTheWorldAmI?

I got a friendly invitation from Mitsy aka ArtMind to play a fun flickr favorites game. This is my first attempt to put a collage together by not using PhotoShop. Instead I used mosaic maker by bighugelabs. I have to say that after this first try I still find PS more convenient!

I'm quite new to flickr, I haven't even collected many favorites yet but I found these with a beautiful soft light after a little search. When I browsed around I was thinking whether or not people are at ease having their pictures put together with someone else's pictures. I had to go and check their profiles to find out if any of them had something against this. Maybe I'm just being too cautious but too many are using other people's pictures and other art work without much respect. I want to do my best to avoid any misuse.

If you wish to get a little inspiration, go and visit Mitsy's blog and maybe even add some of your flickr favorites there too. There are many beautiful mosaics to see and feel, enjoy!

April 29, 2009

Thank You

Happy news: My Etsy shop has reached a milestone of 1000 hearts. This is a good progress and makes me happy, giving confidence for my little business. So thank you all my friends and fans for your support!

Last weekend I participated with my friend Vietto at a craft fair in Helsinki. It was under a recycling theme, thus the name "Kierrätystehdas" (translates literally into recyling factory). It was a nice experience so thank you everyone who visited our booth. For my surprise I met some customers who had seen and even shopped at my Etsy shop. I can see that little by little Etsy is becoming more wellknown here too. I also noticed that many Finns find buying in USdollars somewhat confusing (which is of course not a surprise to me). This made me consider setting up my own little webshop for Finnish customers. It'll come, sooner or later! If any of you have suggestions what you would like to see in that shop, drop a line and tell me please.

And I can't resist telling you this: We got a new family member this Monday. She's Kiti who I introduced to you in my Easter post. Exciting!

April 27, 2009

Winner!

I'm happy to announce the winner of our team's weekly challenge...

She is BINKAMINKA with her lovely linen pincushion with turquoise lace as her entry. I just adore the sense of natural linen with the combination of delicate lace not to forget the beautiful color of turquoise. Quite perfect in my opinion so congratulations binkaminka! We should be getting a new theme announced by her soon...

April 21, 2009

Weekly Challenge - My Flowers

Last night I heard I had won the weekly challenge game of EuropeanStreetTeam hosted by Gaia. My challenge entry under the theme "delicate balances" was one of my new sakura clutches as seen in my shop. Thank you for this honourable mention!

Hereby I'm announcing a new theme for this week which shall be: MY FLOWERS! Feel free to interpret this as you wish. It's all about your flowers. Your favorite ones, your eyecandy in any form. Fresh, dried, real, fake, imaginative, dreamy, existing or non-existing, you name it.

The entries need to be sent to me via Etsy convo by next Monday at 21.00 Finland time (GMT +3). I'll be adding all entries to my blog as they're coming in. Happy crafting!

And the entries are (clicking the image takes you directly to the listing):

Spring is here-snowdrops felted brooch by ingermaaike