Last day off November

Yes, today is the last day of November! I'm planing to post everyday until the 24th off December since that is the day that we celebrate Christmas. But plans don't always work out the way you want them to...Since I'm going to be in Copenhagen all weekend, I won't be posting so much on the actual day but before the 24th there are going to be 24 posts in this months' archive.

Today I received my very first Christmas greeting card, from Gunnel! Her cards are beautifully handmade. Thank you!

I'm also writing in another blog but only in Swedish, I haven't talked much about this but it's all still very new. We are about six Swedish bloggers writing here. So, if you are a Swedish blogger interested in writing or reading about something creative, go over and have a look or even join us!

On Sunday we light the first advent candle and start the count down for Christmas. I LOVE this month and all the preparations leading up to the big day. So have a nice cosy weekend and light lots of candles! See you on Monday again!

A Christmas marked in town

This Sunday I went to a Christmas marked here in town, it was dark and cold just like a Christmas market's should be! I got a whole lot inspiration to this years Christmas decoration and to show you I used my phone camera, so sorry about the blurry pictures:

I plan to have at least one amaryllis in my home this December!

A Swedish Christmas tree from the 1900, very pretty!

Hyacinth bulbs wrapped in sheets of note paper. I took to this idea immediately as you cab see the picture on the Ceramic Tuesday post.

Red apples, very Christmasy!

Hyacinths on a silver tray, love this green, silver and nature look!

Since it's so dark here now, we can never have to many candles in our homes!

December is approaching

There is so much to do and it's soon December! I have so much stuff going on and writing my thesis takes up a lot of that time...On top of that I'm in other places on internet too! Here & here

If you are interested in buying this thingy, you can go here:-)

Have a good night!

Ceramic Tuesday

It's so dark here when I get home nowadays, so I haven't been able to photograph some of my latest things. Ceramic Tuesday today consists of links to others:

• Karin's Style Blog
• Casalinga
• Flickr: Pottery, ceramics and dishes

I'll be back with more from the weekend tomorrow!

Crafting in Japanese

A big trend in blogland for a long time now has been Japanese crafting. I have been really inspired by the use of linen fabrics in muted pastels and nature colours. So this weekend I had a date with my mothers sewing machine. Out came these two:

For more inspiration on the Japanese theme:

• Flickr group Crafting in Japanese
• People over at flickr
• Esty sellers
• other blogs
• Or Buy your own crafting magazine like me!

Happy browsing!

Ceramic Tuesday

Remember the sad swan story? That swan now has some company but the friend is attached to a vase?! This took me a long time to make, first it had to dry for a long time then I had trouble attaching the swan. But then finally, it turned into this vase/jug where the swans is the handle.
I love this bronze coloured glaze and I have been using it a lot this semester. You can also see it on my Christmas ornaments here!

Take care, now I have to go back to making soap!

Pay it forward

I saw this on my blog friend Gunnels blog and quickly made a comment on that post:-) She makes the most wonderful things with fabric!

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

So, hurry up and write a comment and sometime next year I'll send you a handmade gift!
Enjoy your Sunday afternoon!

Cards!

To see your own work in print is a special feeling. I have just recently ordered prints from flickr again, this time postcards made from my own pictures of my Late summer ATC's. I love them so much I even dream about them:-) 20 cards for 15 Euro is not bad and now I'm thinking of doing it again but as Christmas cards. You can do it too!

Here they are, and if your order something from my etsy you'll get one too!

My first etsy order wrapped and ready to go out into the world!

Tomorrow it's Friday! :-)

Ceramic Tuesday

For this Ceramic Tuesday I'm giving you mushrooms! They are all over flickr at the moment and they are fitting for the season!

These are chanterelles:

Happy Tuesday!

Ps. I had my first costumer in the shop!Many hugs and kisses for: Felicia over at Fluffy Flowers!

Etsy opening!

Yes, it's true I have finally manage to open my little etsy: Niftycrafting.etsy.com! It took some time and I'm still uploading pictures to it, so over the next coming weeks there will be more updates in the shop. If you live in Sweden shipping is free and I'll be wrapping your order in a lovely little parcel. If you live outside Europe it will take about 7-8 days for your order to arrive.

Here's what's in the shop right now:

Tell your friend and family!

Get one of my own postcards free with your first order!

Knitting a shalw?

This is a quick show on how to make a easy shawl for yourself or someone else.

Start with two stitches on your needles

Increase one stitch on every row. You increase by knitting the first stitch as normal but then you knit the stitch from the last row. See were I'm pointing with the needle, this is the stitch I'm knitting.This is a fast knit, I'm using size 20 (European size) the bigger your needles are the faster it's knitted...

To embellish the shawl you could thread pearls on your yarn before you start and then evenly thread them on to your knitting.

I made this mini shawl in about 10 min so you could also made one for dolls ;-)

As an other suggestion I also made an example on a traditional yarn trim, like this:

This was all:-) Hope you got something out of this!

Happy Friday!

Some up-coming tutorials

As I said, this month I'm planing to do a lot of easy tutorials on how to make your own Christmas gifts. Today is just a little pre-post of what I'm making!

How about a gigantic shawl for one of your loved ones? This is so easy to knit, you can do it while watching TV every night for a week and then you have a finished gift!

Do I sound like a salesman, or what! :-)

I also planed to show how easy it is to make these snug booties? (Do you call them that?)

This was all for today, be back with the shawl tomorrow!

Ceramic Tuesday

For ceramic Tuesday I'm playing with letters. I've made some letters that form the word Creativity. They are going to hang on the wall of my new craft room! And hopefully I'll be inspired to making something in my class on Monday nights.... We are only women in my ceramic class (surprise surprise) and when I'm not occupied with a project I sit there and listen to what they talk about and there's a lot of different experiences in that room! Yesterday one told me about her very exiting backpacking trip in Africa fifteen years ago. I too would love to visit that country one day...

Eat your car?

Well, well happy Tuesday!

Etsy o my love...

I'm loving etsy right now and spending a lot of time there. It's inevitable not to buy something when you see what all the talented people are making over there. Here's my latests purchases and there's more coming my way:-)

These silver earrings are from the little llama Shop go over and see all the other nice jewellery she sells!

I also bought some lovely wool yarn for a scarf for J and maybe a pair of wrist warmers for me? I got this from The plucky knitter

Happy browsing over there!