Korukarnevaali-Jewelry Carnival

Hello You!

Planet Ida and Pinkkis share a table at some con. Ida's Alice and I'm Mat Hatter.

I'm very happy to announce you that I'm participating in a fair tomorrow -- Korukarnevaali! It's the first time for this kind of event here in Helsinki, so I really don't know what to expect. I hope there are a lot of customers and a lot of interesting small companies, too. At least one person I know is coming and I can't wait to see her! She lives rather far so we only see each other at events like this. If you like my colorful style you're going to love hers! I'll also have an "assistant," so I don't have to be alone. And it's a lot easier to use the bathroom if I don't have to take everything with me ;) (jk).

But before tomorrow there's a LOT to do. I'm one of those who leave everything until the last minute. So far I haven't really done anything for the event yet. I still need to go get my flyers from the print company and cut them. Sort jewelry out, pack them, make tons of list of things I still have to do, of things I'll need with me and so on. Oh, well, I'll survive! Actually I like it this way. I like a bit of stress, which makes me more effective. I'm really bummed that a package I ordered a long time ago didn't arrive on time. I ordered bunny and teddy bear shaped plastic bags and cute "Thank You" stamp that I wanted to have for this event. They will get used, no matter what, but I really wanted to have them with me tomorrow :(. It sucks when you order something and the shipping takes forever. It took almost a week for her to even ship it! Pinkkis would never ever do that. (Just so you know, I ship everything right away!)

I had to take all of my jewelry down at MadeBy, since they are closing in just few days, so why keep my items there if I can get them sold tomorrow? While I was doing that I took a look at the stuff I've sold over the couple years I've been there. We have a saying that goes something like this: "Self-praise stinks". Regardless, I still have to say that I've created some amazing things!! Of course it's due to me having amazing materials, like fabric and super cute miniatures, but still, I have made some really cute jewelry and pouches!

Seeing the old pictures, the ones I took brings me to this next subject. Pictures on Etsy. I've read so much about it, what is considered a "good picture" and what's not. A good picture has a white background. Period.

Some of my favourite stores don't have white backgrounds, they don't have super quality light boxes and all that. Some of their pictures might be even a bit dark, or somehow unclear, and yet they sell hundreds if not thousands of products every year. But everywhere I ask, the answer is: White background! Or at least calm, solid color background. Pictures have to look good in treasuries.

And then I saw my pictures on MadeBy, the old ones I took. My lighting sucks, I admit that, I didn't do anything afterwards to the pictures, just shot them and that was it, but to me they were really funny! Something I liked to look at. One time my hubby told me to use white background, so I did. A  picture of a white cat.    
                                              
This is a bit delicate matter here at Pinkkis headquarters, since it's my husband who has to deal with the pictures, everyhting about them, from the photoshoot to the uploading part. I just create the pieces and occasionally help him taking the dog hair off ;). He wants to take beautiful pictures, and has read up on technique and lighting (even more than I have). And on the other hand, I see Pinkkis as something freer, even a bit zany, and find the solid background very boring and somewhat fake. That's not Pinkkis. But hubby keeps saying he's more than happy to let me to take all of the pictures. And I don't want to do that. I want him to take the pictures that I want to be taken!

Oh, well! I really should get started! Not sure if I still need to make more jewelry or not, since I haven't sorted anything out just yet. Once I've done that I'll know how many pairs of earrings I have, how many pendants and so on. And hopefully will have time to do something if something needs to be done.

I found a quite-old picture of me and Risto sleeping. *heart*

I hope I have great sales tomorrow and that you have great weekend. I think we both deserve it!

xoxo,

Raisa

Vegans: What, where, when, why, and how much fun?

I guess I'm not going to answer all of those questions, but at least some of them and and a few others as well.

To me it's really difficult to think of this whole matter as an outsider, because to me it's so obvious. Like if I were seeing a painting, it would be right in front of me and I'd have to explain it to someone who wasn't able to see it, but would be interested in knowing more. And also my envolvement makes this more difficult. I put way too much pressure on this. (Maybe because I'm lazy?) So I will use several online sites to help me to explain veganism to you. With my own words, going vegan will take some effort, but after a while you'll notice it's getting so much easier and soon you'll realize it's giving you so much more than what it takes away. The feeling of not doing any harm to other living creatures is just so amazing. No more quilt, no more shame. But instead, a very happy feeling about yourself. You are doing something! Yay for being active!

Why vegan?
I will not share any horrible stories, that's not what my pink and happy blog is about. But just be aware that the meat and dairy industry is filled with them. Here's a link to Vegan Outreach's site Why Vegan?  My reason for being vegan is purely about animal rights. Even though environmental issues worry me a lot, too. (A vegetarian diet is a lot better for the environment.) I started out as a "pescetarian," someone who doesn't eat red meat or chicken, but eats dairy, fish and eggs, and I kept that diet for nearly a decade. I was around 11 or 12 when I started, and it was about not eating animals that were kept in captivity. As I grew older I dropped the fish off the list of things I'd put in my mouth. I started to become more and more interested in a vegan diet, but found that very difficult and expensive and everything. But then I ran into a vegan cookbook from Sarah Kramer and Sandra Barnard called The Garden of Vegan, and from there it took me about four months until I was vegan. The dairy and egg industry just isn't any better than the meat industry. I didn't want to support any of them with my money.

"Cheese"-pesto sandwiches. Nom nom. Fast and simple.

What do vegans eat?
We eat everything except for animal-based things! And most of my vegan friends are almost obsessed with food! There are so many blogs and websites about vegan foods. And very often when I meet my friends, we end up talking about some new flavored soymilk or new vegan products in "mainstream" product lines or just whatever is new and food-related. We love food and we want it to taste good. This is something that quite few (Finnish) restaurants know/understand. (Eating out is pretty much the only difficult thing for a vegan when it comes to food, but I know this is not the case in the States, where you have so many restaurants to choose from - lucky bastards!)

But to the actual things we eat. We eat pretty much the same foods everyone else does, too. We just use other ingredients. Some of them might require  little practise, some not. Here's how Vegan Outreach puts it: 

Many people believe that eliminating all animal products will greatly narrow their menus. But according to most vegans, quite the opposite happens. Once you start frequenting your local health/natural food stores and co-ops, perusing a few vegan cookbooks, or just following some of the suggestions in this guide, you’ll soon become familiar with the wide variety of options that weren’t a part of your previous diet. Over time, you’ll also discover you can follow almost any recipe – old or new – by substituting ingredients.

For those who prefer not to cook, vegan meals are usually offered at Chinese, Italian, Indian,
and other ethnic restaurants, as well as at many chains, such as Taco Bell and Johnny Rockets. Plus, there are lots of cruelty-free convenience foods to choose from: frozen dinners; canned and dehydrated soups, stews, and chilies; items of all sorts for quick and easy sandwiches like vegan dogs and burgers, deli slices, bacons, sausages, untuna and unchicken salads, and soy and rice cheeses; and delicious desserts including soy yogurts and ice creams. You may even find that your local health food store has its own deli counter, stocked with prepared foods.

The variety of vegan products is growing each year; and supermarkets are carrying more and more products that used to be found only in specialty stores. If meat and dairy substitutes aren’t plentiful locally, you can also order them through online catalogs, such as Pangea or the Mail Order Catalog.

Simple Meal Ideas

Here are just a few examples.

Breakfast

Oatmeal or cold cereal with fruit and nondairy milk
Toast, bagel, or English muffin with fruit spread and peanut butter or vegan cream cheese
Tofu scramble with hash browns and veggie sausage
Fruit smoothie made with nondairy milk or soy yogurt
Pancakes or waffles (many brands of prepared mixes and a variety of Van’s frozen waffles are vegan)
Fruit-filled toaster pastry

Lunch

Veggie burger or dog with fries
Faux lunchmeat sandwich with chips
Veggie pizza
Bean burrito
Falafel pita sandwich with hummus
Peanut butter and jelly

Dinner

Pasta with faux meat sauce, faux meatballs, or faux sausage
Veggie chili
Faux meat tacos, burritos, or enchiladas (click here for cooking tips on vegan tacos and chili)
Stir-fry with tofu, tempeh, or faux meat (see tips)
Faux meat with gravy and mashed potatoes
Vegetable tofu lasagna (see tofu ricotta recipe)

Right: Pasta and tomato sauce topped with Tofurky Italian Sausage (photo courtesy of Turtle Island Foods).

Snacks or Dessert

Nondairy ice cream or frozen soy yogurt
Vegan cookies, pie, cake, or pudding (see recipes)
Fresh or dried fruit
Nuts or seeds
Trail mix
Pretzels or popcorn
Chips and salsa
Energy bar (vegan Clif Bar)

Right: An assortment of delicious dairy-free desserts (photo courtesy of PETA). Keep in mind, though, many popular snacks and other convenience foods are also vegan – see “I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan!”

Going vegan is a project. You shouldn't dive in head-first without knowing anything about nutrition. But it doesn't mean you have to know everything before you start. You just can't omit meat and dairy and eggs and not replace them with vegan sources of protein and calcium. But if you eat a good variety of beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and grains, and don't stuff your face with too much sugars and (vegan) butter, I'm sure you'll be okay with your quilt-free diet! 

Cinnamon buns baked for Vegan Bake Sale

Veganism is not just about food--it's a whole new way of living. Sooner or later you'll probably want to start using only cruelty-free cosmetics, cleaning products, clothes and so on. And all that adds to the great feeling of cruelty-free lifestyle! And you might want to do more--you might want to participate in animal rights events. Or you might not. Anything goes. Some of us don't want to make "too big a deal" about our diet, and some of use want to dedicate our lives to animal rights. Whatever makes you happy :)

Vegan Rocky Road Bars for sale

I hope this helped to "clear the smoke curtain" away from the intriguing way of living known as veganism :)

Hop in, you'll love it!!

xoxo,

Raisa

 

A message from Ryan Gosling

I got a message from Ryan. He's so sweet.

Post Birthday Withdraw

Yesterday was my birthday and I was the center of the attention. My hubby made me breakfast according to my instructions, I got tons of presents and about a million people wished me happy birthday on Facebook and I got phone calls and I felt really alive and happy. And then came night. I had to give up my day. Now somebody else is celebrating and I have to step aside and wait for a whole year for my turn again. :( I don't even have any late presents coming, since I got everything on time. Well, my mother said she'll take me to the movies. Does that count? Thank god the mail is here and in the mail was a package from Japan. It's something I've ordered, but it's better than no packages at all :).

I had my party on Sunday, a day early. I had invited bunch of friends over, and we had fancy tea party. And we discussed grown up things, like seasonal decoration for your bathroom and dinnerware. (We also talked about dolls and stickers, just to keep the balance.)

I had made tons of food! Way too much, and now we have to eat cupcakes and raspberrybars for breakfast and peppermint-chocolate and pasta salad for lunch for the whole week. Life after birthdays suck. I had ordered some Marie Antoinette themed cupcake wrappers from Etsy and they were just perfect for my sophisticated party. Also, the party favors were just great for my elegant guests. I had so much fun making those candles. First I had to go to a thrift store (what an awful task to do!) and choose pairless tea cups and plates. Then, glue the plate to the cup, fill them with melted stearin and let them set, and then fill in the deep hole that gets there when it's settled. I then attached cell phone charms: masks painted with glittery black nail polish.

I need to cut it short, since I have to sew! I have a custom order on Etsy (yay!) and some other projects I need to work on.

But before I go, I want to share a little gift with you :) Since it was my birthday, I'm offering a coupon code for Pinkkis Etsy customers!! 10 % off with code PARTYON. Code is valid for the whole week!! Lucky you!!

This package came last week. I like little things.

Pinkkis' newest creation!! Quirky pouch for Moon cup (or Diva, which ever you prefer)

 Okay, take care and have super fun day-after-my-birthday!!

xoxo,

Raisa

Happiness Project

I'm reading a slightly silly book from Gretchen Rubin called The Happiness Project. It has some good stuff too, but I'd have to admit it's a bit shallow. Anyways, I've gotten one really good piece of advice from it: If it's something you can do in one minute - just do it! Meaning if you have something on your hand and you don't feel like putting it back in its place but feel like leaving it on the counter or where ever. If it takes a minute, just put it where it belongs. I'm a master of creating chaos. Just because I leave everything unfinished, hanging around the house. But fortunately I'm also the queen of taming chaos. But this new "rule" has really helped me a lot. And it doen't feel like something I couldn't follow for a long time, maybe even the rest of my life :).

Anyway, the point to this post is happiness. What it is? Where does it come from? And how to keep it? In the book Gretchen says there are three kind of fun (and fun brings in happiness, right?): Challenging fun, accommodating fun, and relaxing fun. Challenging fun is the most rewarding (I can still remember the "high" after super amazing and challenging jumping (horseback riding class), but it's also the one that requires the most. The second is accommodating fun, something you kind of like do for others. Like taking the kids to amusement park, it's not something you'd do just for yourself, but you do it for others and that makes you happy. And the last one, relaxing fun, is the most common of these three. It's a bag of chips and no-brainer movie. It's fun, but it won't last long (unfortunately this chips last long on your butt/hips). And it's the last one we most likely go after. Why are we so into easy, but not so into rewarding fun? I guess because we are lazy. Whatever we want we want it now, as easily as possible. When the happiness is still in the things we need to achieve.

Like my kids -- they need to save money for our trip to the States this summer. I'm not paying for their tickets. (Though I guess I would if I could afford it.) The poor things have to save months and months to get enough money for that. But in the end there will be the reward, and I'm sure it tastes sweeter than anything they could've gotten for free. This will make them appreciate and cherish the trip so much more!

Even though I'm this smart (like I know all these things) I still go for the fast satisfaction. Why???!!!

There's one more thing, that's really hard to swallow. You can't keep/own happiness. It comes and goes. It's not your to keep. That sucks. I don't even like sakura/hanami that much, because it's just temporary. I want things to stay!! I know that's the beauty of it. I know I should learn (I'm trying!) to like things like that. I mean I do like things like that, I love rainbows and birds and squirrels, and they are something you'll see for a moment, and then they are gone. But if I could I'd take the rainbow and put it in my pocket and take it out when ever I needed to look at it... Same thing with the squirrels in our yard. I wish they were my friends and would come inside and drink tea with me and then we'd cuddle all day long.

Oh! There's a magpie nest on our hedge! We had one last year, too. They made a little baby magpie, but she/he died :(. Heartbreaking. This year it'll be different. The little baby will grow into a beautiful grown-up magpie :)

Okay, I need to go. I have a life to live, you know.

Watching these two napping dogs makes me happy.

What makes You happy?

xoxo,

Raisa

Cupcakes!!

Howdy! (I guess that's my favourite way to say hello!)

I've been obsessed with building up a life on-line, which is really annoying. I mean it's fun, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it, but I hate to spend hours and hours attached to my laptop. I have a life, don't I? And when ever I see something nice, something inspiring I feel like going upstairs, to the Pinkkis Factory (to check on my sweaty workers ;) and try to create something equally as wonderful. But no, my days are spent on-line. And at school. That sucks! I want to be doing something with my hands! And I don't mean typing new web addresses over and over again, commenting on stuff and so on. I want to create!

My newest obsession is Etsy. I mean it's not really that new, but now it has become an obsession. To get views, to get something going on. Just a day ago I learned about the treasuries. And already I've made three. Check them out. I think I'm brilliant. Which is of course something that should not be said out loud. But my doctor said I might need medication, so I guess that means I'm a bit cuckoo, so I might say something inappropriate ;) My Pink Treasury, my Craft Treasury and the latest, Magical Forest. Click click!

I also was invited to a Finnish Handcrafters Team, I joined right away and have been addicted right from the start. I need to be somebody at least somewhere! I need people to know I exist! I enjoy the group a lot. It's very active and it's still small enough to have that cozy feeling. It's not just promotepromotepromote. It's more than that. But it takes up a lot of time. I've already "liked" many stores on Facebook (oh! btw, Pinkkis has fb fanpage as well, so if you are not my number-one fan just yet, maybe you'd like to do something about it... I'm sorry I'm feeling a bit silly today!) and also started to follow many blogs. And I noticed I have a new reader! Welcome! I hope you like it here!!

I'm not that active on Flickr, but still try to keep up with my contacts there. I still enjoy pretty pictures and most of the Blythe stuff  :) But what is getting more and more of my attention again is shopping. Bad, bad, BAD! I've tried to be reasonable, like only ordering stuff for Pinkkis, and just teeny tiny amount of silly billy stuff. And every now and then I've asked my hubby's opinion. Which is always very grown up and responsible thing to do. He always says no to everything, and then I order them anyways. At the moment I'm waiting for some fabric (did I tell about that yet? The Barbapapa, Lego and Mario Bros. fabrics? I guess not). I think they were the most expensive fabrics I've ever bought. But they were wonderful and I couldn't find them anywhere else (I really checked!). And also some washi tape, address labels for Pinkkis, stamps for Pinkkis, shopping bags for Pinkkis (yellow and pink, they look like bunnies and bears - super cute!) and what else. Little knick nacks. I really should not be ordering anything for a while. Maybe I wont. I'll do my best! (It's part of my illness, so I can't really help it ;)

Oh boy! To the topic. It is related to all this! Trust me! So now you know I've been online a lot -- way too much! And not really doing anything that makes me happy (except for shopping!), but yesterday I had to get off of the computer and do something real. It was my daughter's BD party, so I had to bake. And bake I did! For the first time I made rainbow cupcakes. I had no idea how they were done, but I thought it would be pretty easy thing to do. And in a way it was, just a lot of slow work. And they came out great!!! What do you think?

I'm glad I was "forced" to bake! My daughter helped with "mokkapalat," mocha flavoured thin cake with glaze. We also had some vegan candy and other treats. (I will make that food post soon!!)

I've been sewing sanitary napkin pockets, they are so much fun to do!

 Have a sunny and awesome weekend! Hubby's taking me to the movies, maybe I'll even wear a dress!!

xoxo,

Raisa