Back in Ottawa, sorting through mail

Okay

i'm finally back home. But it will take me some time to find my groove (and craft supplies) 

And I have 5 months mail to go through and file too!!

And it seems my craft space has been invaded.....

So once ai get this sorted, expect to see some more postings (crafting related) here ;-)

Birch bark basket

We are enjoying the heat wave at the cottage. It is just too hot to stay in town.

While here, me and my mom have been crafting with burlap and birch bark.

Here is a basket I made with birch bark.

Don't let the image fool you. It's only 2"x2"x2" 

I think it actually was harder to make in this size (larger would have been better), but I didn't have enough bark at that point to make it any larger 

I have now done some wider straps, but hurt my fingers in the process so could not do the weaving yet :-)

Here are the burlap flowers we made for my mom's wreath.

Today we are heading back to town. Next task is to plan my sister-in-laws baby shower!

Sending Good Thoughts

I have to say, one of my favourite sets for greetings is the Perfect Pennants set. It has this "sending good thought your way", which works for any occasion cards perfectly and it also has the "life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful".

I used the first one on my card which also features the World Map background stamp and designer series paper from Moonlight paper stack behind the Lost Lagoon banner.

I also used some birch bark on this card. I was working on some birch bark baskets at the cottage and had these little pieces lying around so I figured they would make perfect accents for my cards. 
And it kind of gives this card a "driftwood" feel *LIKE*

I also used some of the thicker bakers twine behind the banner and around it.

Just' Sayin'.... it is SUPER hot summer

We are enjoying (???) the hottest summer in 50 years here in Finland. And let me include, that the houses don't have AC.... that's why the ?-marks after enjoying 

June was kind of rainy and very cold at times but since Tom arrived at the end of June, it has been above 20 degrees ever since. This past week we have had +30 and it's supposed to continue this way for the next week. 

We are planning on going to the cottage a bit earlier - there we have a heat pump that also acts as an AC unit PLUS there is the lake... although after this heat wave the temperature in the lake is probably around +25

So, what did we do today - NOTHING!!! it was just too hot to do anything else than work on our computers and I created couple of cards.

This one is using Hardwood background stamp on Naturals card stock and designer series paper from the Moonlight stack and the new in-colour Lost Lagoon card stock.

The burlap ribbon is a retired one, but you could use even card stock or designer series paper for this. Or any of the current wider ribbons would do also.

The stamp set used is Just Sayin' 

So, just sayin'... enjoy the heat :-)

Viking Centre and Bengtskär lighthouse

Some pictures for you from our recent travels to Rosala Viking village and to Bengtsär light house

My brother Aki

we didn't know we are taking pictures of us taking pictures :-)

Kinda Eclectic summer

This summer surely has been eclectic. All kinds of things happening. Tom and I travelled to a Viking village and a light house in the middle of the Baltic Sea. Then we visited a KGB museum in Tallinn, Estonia. and now we are in the middle of heat wave!

But my most favourite eclectic thing is the 'Kinda Eclectic' stamp set ;-)

This one is on a crumb cake card base. The butterflies have been punched out from one of the new paper stacks and the stamped leaf is cut out free hand

Both cards have the banners from 'hip hip hooray' card kit but you can easily use any designer series paper to create your banner 

Zentangling, take 2

Okay, the first attempt was not that great. Pune marker I was using, was too thick. So this one is done with a thinner marker and the result is much better (still not great)

I also mad a flower with lighter tone marker. I will post the card later.

This one is using black and the new Hello Honey. The paper is from the Moonlight Designer Series Pack   

The background is stamped with Memento Black Ink using Corgeous Grunge and Kinda Eclectic stamp sets.