.. a secret message!

Invitation cards

Oh, I just realized I had forgotten to show you the invitation cards I made for my sister's wedding. I wanted a simple design with a "clean" look and since they had a "sea theme" on their wedding my sister found this light house which I stamped and embossed. White on white. (And a little blue for a water feeling.) If you "click" the picture you can see a bigger version of it where you can see that the paper was of a good quality and with a nice structure :-)

And don't forget about the contest. I'll pick a winner this weekend, so come on, comment! (I know I have quite a number of visitors so don't hide out there *blink blink*) ;-)

contest

I've catched a cold and it's so boring because there were so many things I wanted to do, and had to do, this weekend. And I'm just tired ... But I've been playing a little with flickr (I'm new in the flickr world ;) ) and here are some pictures that make me happy :-)

But now ... a little contest for you. Answer those two questions and I'll send one of you a little secret gift.
1. What makes you happy? Small things in daily life that make you smile ...
2. What would you like to see (more of) in my blog? It can be something that's already here or it can be something new.

So, come on! Comment, comment! *smile*

Another photo from my sister's wedding (photographer is Sune Olsson). Beautiful, right? :-)

Door sign and round robin

Here are two "pictures" that I made for a round robin a little while ago.


And here's our door sign :-)

Me & Oskar

Maddi Oskar
Originally uploaded by maria nenita.

For Christmas and for birthday I have asked for money instead of other gifts because I've been sawing for a camera, a digital camera that I've wanted to buy for so long ... And now, finally, I had the money ... And I've bought the camera and will have it here towards the end of next week, I think. Wooohooo! So, I decided to create a flickr account (and I did). This is my first try at posting a blog entry from flickr! The photo is of me (some years ago ;) ) and our dog Oskar.

Windy ... everything moving in the wind, except my sister's hair because the hair dresser put a lot of things in it ... ;) I�m the one in dark blue. My sister (the bride) made her dress by herself so I'm definetely not the only creative one in the family. (And no, they didn't get married by the sea, this is just one of many after-the-wedding-photo.)

Tomorrow we're going to the west coast. On Saturday - my sister's wedding. On Sunday - my birthday. It's going to be a beautiful weekend by the sea :-)

A birthday card for my friend Martina (3 May).

A birthday card for my aunt (2 May). She loves cats, she lowes sewing, she loves blue. Actually, kind of everythings she makes is blue ;)

Tadaa! The necklace, bracelet and earrings I made for my sister to wear at her wedding (on Saturday).

I got a job!!

I got a job! A good job, a fulltime job! (Until 31 Dec.) However, it's in Stockholm. It takes me one hour and 37 minutes to get there (if there are no troubles with the bus, the train or the metro ...). And a little longer on my way home. I hope I'll get used to spending so much time travelling every day ... But there's just no time for crafting, and no energy. Maybe later I can knit on the train, but I need something small then because the train is normally full of people ... Having a job is good because I have more money for buying craft related things, but bad because I haven't got so much time to use those things ... *laugh*

This morning I finished this necklace that I've been working on for a week now. It's rather long even if you can't tell by looking at the photo. It's inspired by Marta's lovely necklaces.

Another necklace

A necklace I made for Hel�n to wear at my sister's wedding.

Mini journal

From Coops (I'll go looking for the link soon) I got those two handy little books. Both were looking like the one to the right (but the other one was red instead of black) and I decided to decorate them a bit. So, the one to the left is decorated. I've decorated the other one too now, but I have no photo yet.

Cards with hearts ...

The photo isn't good at all (I know I say that often. And yes, I'm planning to buy a new camera), but, um, it's two cards ... with hearts ... They're part of the gift for my sister and her husband 2B.

Crazy Crafting

I've reached a crazy crafting mood again! Finally! However, so little time, so little time ... I've made a couple of necklaces, a door sign and a few more other things. I'll show you. Later.

ÄrtanPärtan

Check out the bird nest necklaces over at Ärtan Pärtan (www.artanpartan.se), I really like them since they're both so simple and yet elegant.

From our new home

Now we have moved ... This is a flower I bought today on my way home from school.
Tonight I'm going to a "craft meeting" with two or three friends and we're going to craft and to fika. I've been baking muffins with lemon and marzipan. They didn't really came out as I had planned, but I know what I want to change if I make them again. They definetely need a bit more lemon. This evening I'm going to begin making a necklace and a bracelet for my sister for her wedding. It's soon ... 6 May. The following day is my birthday, but I'm not going to have a cake party as I had last year :-)

Package from sweet Francesca in Bologna :-) There are small and very cute beads in the black container but it's hard to see in the photo.

I don't have time for writing anything more because this is what my home looks like today. Tomorrow I will have about the same mess, but in another flat ;)

Scrap bag

Today I went to Ljunggrens in Stockholm (www.ljunggrenspapper.com), it's a little shop full of high quality paper and everything you need for card making. It's not the most cheap place but everything is oh-so-beautiful :-) At the moment it's their 15-years anniversary and they had many nice offers ... I could resist most of them ... *good girl*. I bought some cards and envelopes etc for my sister's wedding and for myself I bought this "mini scrap bag" with japanese paper. I don't find it so "mini" actually ... there were A LOT of goodies. But since we're moving on Friday there'll be no time for crafting for a while.

Journal

Next week, on Friday, we're going to move (only a change of flat, still in the same town) so I don't create so much. I decorated this journal the other day though, inspired by a feeling I got by reading a novel.

The necklace is made by my friend Martina.

Spring was on its way - finally! - and it was raining for a couple of days, but before all snow was gone ... it begun snowing again. I started to read Joleen's blog because it's so colorful and cheer me up. It's like spring feeling on the internet :)

Lübeck

This weekend Magnus and I went to Lübeck, Germany, since I had found a cheap trip and we wanted to relax a bit.
I did see one or two craft material shops there, but unfortunately (or luckily - for my economy) they were both closed when we passed by.
There was also a puppet theatre museum in one of the old houses and we stopped for a little while in the museum shop to look at the puppets that were for sale. So beautiful and inspiring. I think I'll try to make one myself one day.

Except for the puppet museum, Lübeck is famous for "crafting" in marzipan. They make amazing fruits and animals and ... "statues" etc out of marzipan. It's hard to eat something that's looking too nice ... ;) So we went to a café to have marzipan cake!


In a book shop I found the most beautiful journals and I fell in love ... So nice design, so good binding, so nice and high quality of paper ... aaah! I bought one with an interesting binding and a chinese painting and blank pages. It'll be a book for drawing etc. I bought another, smaller, one which is lizard green and almost magic in its colors, pattern and design. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Have I always been crafting? ;-)

Since I a) had a lot of magazines with inspirational pictures and b) am going to move and don't want to carry too many thing I decided to cut out the most inspiring/nice/etc from the magazines, glue them in an "inspiration book" and through away the rest! At the moment I'm working with the flower/gardening section in the book. I cut very fast, I don't have time for details now, but I still think it turns out pretty nice. I hope to show more spreads later on :-)

Beautiful necklace from Erin (junk drawer) that I recieved in purplepinkandorange.com jewelry swap in January.

Can someone *please* send me some spring weather? With an exception of a ~two days in the end of January we've had snow since December!!! Guess if I'm fed up with it ...

The other day I made some body cream to add to my shop (sweetdaisy.se) and I also tried making a bath oil with different colors.

Stephanie (from Nifty Tifty blog) sent me this the other day. I love Stash Tea (except for the decaf ones), but cannot buy it here and it was very sweet of her to send me so many kinds of tea + some material for crafting :-)

Francesca has sent me a lot of lovely things, but I was lazy with my camera and now I've spread the things all over the flat. But here are some of the things she sent me :-) (She also sent me candle lights, glitter confetti, nice paper for crafting, tea etc etc.)

Beautiful and inspiring things from Carrie at Believe magic.

Back home

I've just come home after being two weeks in a small village about 2-3 hours from here. I've been knitting a little, but most of the time I've spent working/studying.

On the photo (taken by Sune) is Zam playing in the snow with his friend Cilla. He's so happy when he finds someone to play with since Ia (my miniature schnauzer) is 13 years old next month and not at all in a playing mood :-)

A is for age: 25. (Until 7 May ...)
B is for book of choice: I love reading children's books and my favourite is Ronia the Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren.
C is for career: I'm still a student for a few more months ... At the moment, I'll be happy if I get a job connected to my studies :)
D is for your dogs' name: Ia and Zam
E is for essential items to bring to a party: A couple of friends :-)
F is for favourite song at the moment: I don't know ... but today is the day of birthday songs ;)
G is for favourite game: As a child I loved Pictionary, but I don't know which one is my favourite now.
H is for home town: Växjö
I is for instruments you play: I've played the piano.
J is for jam or jelly you like: Strawberry. Hjortron (vad heter det på engelska?).
K is for kids: No.
L is for living arrangements: In a small (but not too small) flat with Magnus.
M is for a movie I like: There are so many I like, but at the moment I cannot remember any titles in English!! Gah!
N is for name of your crush: Magnus!!
O is for overnight hospital stays: 1.
P is for phobias: I don't have any.
Q is for quotes you like: This isn't really a quote, but ... When I was a child I used to lay down on my parents bed and read the names of all the books in their bookshelf. One book was called something like "Feel the fear but do it anyway" (I'm not a good translator, but I think you get what I mean). I often think of that book title when I'm a little scared of something and want to escape it. Doing it, instead of escaping, makes me feel good. And the title reminds me of that.
R is for relationship that lasted the longest: The longest one is the one still going on - with Magnus :-)
S is for sweets you like: I'm addicted to chocolate ;)
T is for time you wake up: Since I'm a student ... it depends. But never after 9.00 (with an exception of when I'm sick or when I've done something special the other night, like being to a long lasting party).
U is for underwear: Simple and not too much decorated.
V is for vegetables you love: I love so many vegetables ... it's hard to choose.
W is for weekend plans: It's Sunday afternoon already, but for the rest of the day ... I plan to relax, eat good food, have fun.
X is for x-rays you've had: Teeth.
Y is for yummy food you make: I love cooking and trying many new kinds of food, as well as the grandmother kind of food. Especially I love vegetarian food.
Z is for zodiac sign: Taurus? Is it called that? I'm not sure ...
Å är för åt dem som du vill skicka listan vidare till: No one special.
Ä är för älsklingstrend: Pysseltrenden är bra för det ökar tillgången på pysselmaterial ;)
Ö är för en önskan just nu: Att få ett jobb. Att Magnus får ett jobb. :-)

Today is Magnus birthday (32) and we'll go to a restaurant and maybe also to the cinema this evening :-) Grattis på födelsedagen Tok!

Spring

Snow, snow, snow ... I want spring! I want green grass, tulips, birds singing!

Luckily I've got a boyfriend who's giving me tulips in various colors. I love tulips and I love the sound when I touch them *smile*.

Crafting at the moment: I'm working on the gift for my sister and her husband 2B. I cannot show you any pictures because I'm not really sure of whether she's reading my blog or not ...

Sweet Daisy

My new webshop is now open! www.sweetdaisy.se

I wanted an opening with a lot of nice handmade things, everything working perfect ... etc ... and weeks went into months and I realised it's better to open the shop even if I'm not really satisfied yet because me knowing people are looking at the things might make me work faster *lol*

There aren't translations into English everywhere yet ... and also I will add prices in USD. But if you have any questions you can always email me at my webshop address: info@sweetdaisy.se

Oh, and there's a kind of lottery going on in the shop as well, with a secret handmade gift! Check it out ;)

knit, knit

I haven't been very creative lately. I've made a couple of necklaces, a few simple cards, sewing a little, the invitation cards for my sister's wedding ... but not so much more. However, the other day I felt my creative mood return! :D I knitted a bit, made a new necklace, bought material for the gift for my sister and her husband 2B and begun working with it, finished a spread in an altered book etc.

Have a look at the craft challenge

I've been busy ... good things, bad things ... Well, I'm back now :-) And I'll try to update more often. This morning it was sunny, snow outside and - 19 degrees Celsius. A perfect day for ... being inside creating, right? *lol*

And have a look at the Craft Challenge! (The headline is a link or go to http://craftchallenge.blogspot.com)

Some lovely things Mafalda made and sent me in the craft swap at purplepinkandorange.com

Two hearts, one with lavender in and one with cloves.

This is what I recieved in the secret santa swap on the soap list. Beautiful and good smelling soaps, tea and candy/chocolate <3 The brown soap to the right is with a dog on it and it smells ... chocolate mousse!! I love it :-)

This is what I sent to San in a secret santa swap in a soap list. It's mostly "soap things", but also a candle, chocolate, cards, tea and christmas stickers.

Vintage/60s and 70s Swedish Christmas gift tags (stickers) and Christmas stickers. I found them at a thrift store, more than I could ever need, so if anyone is interested I've made some bunches of them that are for sale. 20 SEK (porto inkluderat) or 3 USD (postage included) or something (you suggest) in exchange. There are 18 gift tags and approximately 6 stickers in each bag. The motifs might be a bit different, but very similar to the picture above. This picture was scanned and my scanner takes pictures just a little bigger than A4 size so then you can figure out approximately the size of the tags and stickers :-) If you are interested, email me at info@sweetdaisy.se or leave a comment here (with a way for me to contact you).

In action

I'm home and I'm sooooo tired. This weekend I've been in Stockholm selling my crafts & soap etc :) It was so much fun, although I really didn't sell so much. I'll tell you more later, but now I really have to sleep.

I'm to the left and AK from imoku.se is to the right.


(Ps Mafalda, if you see this, I had the box you sent me for keeping the money in. Several persons said it looked so nice, and one even asked if it was possible to buy it! - and ofcourse it was not.)

Winter, winter

I'm back. And I'm sorry I haven't updated here or in the Craft Challenge blog, but a lot of things have happened lately, both the really good ones and the really bad ones. I simply didn't have any leftover energy for blogging :-) Well, I guess that's life ... ;)

Winter is here and this morning is about -8 degrees Celsius. The photos were taken yesterday between two and three in the afternoon.

On Saturday and Sunday I'll be selling my crafts (mostly soap and other bath products) on a christmas fair in Stockholm, Street (http://www.streetinstockholm.se). I will share my table with Imoku (http://www.imoku.se). They have really cool stuff, I will show you photos later! In any case, I have a lot (I mean A LOT) of things to prepare for this weekend, but hopefully it's going to be so much fun!

When I'm back I will continue updating with pictures of crafts. And again, I'm sorry for the silence (but believe me, I had good reasons). And I also want to say THANK YOU for all the kind words about our engagement.

Engaged

Magnus & Maria. Rånäs castle 5 November 2005.

Craft Challenge

Well, have a look at this:
http://craftchallenge.blogspot.com

I decided to use a blog since I'm in the middle of changing webhotel at the moment. But it seems to work pretty well so far :-)