Happy Mail Day!!

I haven't gotten anything in th email recently. Mr C has gotten a lot more, which is really annoying! I'm supposed to be the mail order person in this household! Mail order bride. :D But yesterday this got fixed, and it got fixed good! Even the delivery guy said (to my hubby who opened the door) that this is like Christmas!
                                                             What do YOU think?

I got "rose fur" I ordered for a very VIP pouch/sleepsack, a book (I'm addicted to small/craft business books), striped fur (to make a tail to a lemur pouch which was requested, to make a bee and cheshire cat), zippers and alphabet beads. Very happy!! The rose faux fur is amazing! I thought the roses would be a lot bigger and that got me a bit worried if I was able to sew it. But they are rather small so sewing in the middle of one doesn't "ruin" the whole pattern.

Other than admiring my new supplies I organized the "package" closet. I really didn't do that much-no more taking everything out and sorting stuff and wiping the shelves and walls and all that. I just organized the stuff that was in there and that's it. It doesn't look very impressive, but it's functional!

I also did get a lot of sewing done! Everything that was on my to do -list! Good girl! And on top of that I cut at least four dresses. Hopefully the pattern will work! Also figured out my vest problem! Finally gave up on one vest I've tried to make to work for ages. I'll try something else!

I was supposed to go to school last night. But I forgot. Not sure if I'll take my biology test again after all. My grade wasn't really that bad, and I haven't read at all in two months, I think. So why bother?

Need to go, tons of stuff to sew!

xoxo,
Raisa

Packages, and the Project still goes on!

Hello!

Dunno why, maybe because of the spring? but I've been really tired lately. So annoying. I'm not into sleeping at all. I hate taking naps, I hate sleeping late. Id o like sleeping when I'm tired, at night. And funny thing, I enjoy sleeping while watching movies. Specially at the movie theatre! I do have a explanation to that: When you've paid to see a certain movie you really want to watch it, right? So, if you're so tired you are willing to miss the movie and waste your money then you must be really tired and the sleep is the sweetest ever. Logical?

So, I hate being tired during the day. That's when I'm supposed to be energetic and active and all that. Being tired is kind of like being hungry or cold. It takes over everything and that's all you can think of. Grrr! So annoying!

I hope it'll pass soon! I'm feeling just a tiny bit groggy at the moment, that shouldn't stop me from doing what I've planned for today. Maybe I need some fruits? I wanted to have fruits for breakfast, but we didn't have any. Just bread. Uh, I'm getting sick of bread.

Sorry! Enough about that! Yestarday was all about packages! I had a huge list of things to do, but I only managed to do ship my orders. It's insane how much time it takes! Seriously! Want to hear more about it? (If not the skip the following paragraph - I hope that's the correct term!)

First I write down the addresses and what they've ordered. Then I look for the ordered items, make sure they are free of wrinkles, dust, bunny/dog/faux fur hair. I wrap the item into a tissue paper (usually hand stamped by me. I stamp them while watching movies, if I'm not sleeping ;), also if needed I wrap some details or the whole product into (recycled) bubble wrap, write a Thank you -note, add some stickers or other "freebies", put the freebies in a small (recycled) and also hand stamped plastic bag, maybe add a brochure and/or business card. Quite often I wrap some sort of ribbon or yarn (from a thrift store) around the tissue paper, to make it look like a gift. Then I fill in the customs declaration form (so the ink has time to dry). Lately I've been using old wall paper I found while organizing the Tehdas as my wrapping paper. It's not the best thing to use, since it tears quite easily, but I'd reinforce it with tape anyways, so it doesn't matter. So, I roll open the wall paper on my handy packing table and stamp it with carefully chosen stamps. This is quite silly, but I actually try to match the stamps with the content. I was so bummed when I realised yesterday I had given away my bat stamp! It would've been perfect for the bat sleepsack orders! Last week a customer ordered a vintage horror movie themed pouch and I stamped the package with spider webs and such :).

Yestarday I used bird who "sang the address".

Then I reinforce the paper with clear tape. And then wrap the order in it. And that's about it :D. I know it's silly, but guess what! I like doing that! And I also like to think it makes the receiver happy! Most of the mail I get makes me mad/sad/poor, so when ever I get something "special" in the mail it makes me super happy. And since I'm using quite a lot of recycled/upcycled material on the packing I feel I "have" to make it look nice. It would be so easy to buy pink bubble wrap envelopes and just slip in the product in and print out the address and call it done. But oh! That's would be so boring!

After all that I usually beg for my hubby to walk the dogs to the mail box, but sometimes I have to walk/ride my bike to the post office, usually if I miss the four pm deadline.

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from my packages! So it's really worth all the trouble!

I love Mondays!

My project is not doing as well. Well, I don't know. Maybe it is. I still have two closets to clean up and declutter and organize. That's not that bad. But I don't feel like doing those at all. I enjoy the room the way it is right now, I'm getting used to the new places for certain tools and supplies. So it's kind of done, but then not really. Two more to go!

The last two pictures are of the doll closet. I can't even open the door anymore. Mainly because of the boxes in front of the door, but also because of the mess that's about to fall all over the place if the door is opened. The other closet is really not that bad at all. I know it looks like a mess, but actually it's just the bottom shelf that needs to be organized. Maybe I'll do it today!

Here's what I did recently. Dusted Kitties and the top of those cabinets and also the dish drying cabinets organized.

Four weeks until my trip!! I'm so excited!!

Take care! Oh, also would anyone of you have any ideas how to organize the doll closet? I don't! I have doll clothes in two suitcases, boxes and boxes full of furniture that I MIGHT need, bags full of food items, Barbie's dogs, cars, a boat, fake grass, rolls of fake dirt and so on...too much everything. But I'd use quite many of them, if I just could open the door without fearing getting it all all over me.

Okay, take care!
xoxo,
Raisa

The organizing project, what ever it was called of. Day xx

It's all my hubby's fault - He told me not to write my blog since he's about to move it to somewhere else. And it's taking forever. A month ago I asked how long the whole new website thing is going to take, and he said two to three weeks....yeah right!

Well, my project is not doing any better. But I have a real reason for that:  I've been really busy with sewing! Sewing and drawing patterns and all that. I've managed to organize a "bunny room closet". And that had a huge impact on the whole room, since I got all of the boxes that were lying on Tehdas floor put in it! Awesome!

I know it doesn't look that great even after I cleaned it, but at leats I know pretty well what's in it. The bottom shelf, the one on the floor, I left that for the bunnies. I rarely keep the door open, but when I do Hyrrä, our other bunny likes to go in there.

I've also organized few smaller closets. Not sure if I've shared the first picture already. 

I kind of feel embarrased of showing this stuff to you. I've seen too many picture perfect craft spaces and then seeing these pictures on the screen....not so cool. Pretty much everything I have is from thrift stores and flea markets. I just don't like matching furniture and clean white surfaces that much. It's nice in the pictures, but I need more "action" in my surroundings :) Maybe I should pay more attention to the pictures I take, try to make them look prettier.

My next mission is to organize this:

It's not that bad, at all. But the shelves themself are a bit of a struggle. It's actually dish drying cabinet (fab Finnish invention ;) and the shelves are a bit weird. It's got quite a lot of space, so it's quite valuable. I wish I was still making soap - it would be perfect for drying them! :D I've empitied it quite a lot already, it used to store my glitter, plastic animals, fabric for doll clothes and some unfinished projects.

Uh! 10 o'clock already! Need to go!! The sun is shining and I have pack of bats to photograph!!

I'll try and write more often!! One month and two days till my trip!!! Wohoo!!

xoxo,
Raisa

No post today. Well, a short one.

Sorry. I don't have anything to post. I did manage to clean and organize the closet I was supposed to but didn't enjoy it at all. So I don't feel like posting about it.

I want to sew and I just want Tehdas to be clean and the whole thing to be over already. I've noticed that all the things that are without a proper place at the moment are really killing the creativity in me. I don't want to finish the Totoro, since that would mean I'd have to sit down by my desk. And my desk is a mess, not a  inspiring mess, but kind of like an empty mess. The mess boring people make. I want to start making my own messes! I'm starting to hate all the new places where I've placed my items, to make make more sense to the whole room. I know I'll get used to the new places and it's handy to have it more organized, more concentrated. But god! I don't know where anything is anymore. You know those automatic moves you do to reach for a pen or scissors or whatever - I do that and what I get is something totally different. I guess it's good for my old, senile brain to get some excercise like that.

Maybe I should throw away my plan to organize everything in an order and focus on my craft desk instead. To get that functional might do a lot of good for my lack of will to do something other than just sewing (my sewing desk is clean and uncluttered).

Well, it's 9.30 am and I want to get some serious progress done today so I better start working!

Take care! And take it easy.

xoxo,
Raisa

Still working on my One Month Project :), Day 5 (spell checked, safe for Finnish Rock Stars and alike to read)

Huge Celebration! Pinkkis has 300 sales on Etsy!! What do you think of that? I think it's amazing!

I've had that store up for years. I think I started in 2008, but I'm not sure. The sales were so slow and it was quite frustrating, so I focused on Finnish markets only. I emptied the whole Etsy store for years. Until the online store in Finland had some major changes. Then me and my hubby decided to try Etsy again. And I'm glad we did. :D

However, I don't want to celebrate alone! I want you guys to have some fun too!! I'm feeling really generous so I'm giving you a coupon code for 30% off of your next order! That's an awesome sale, I think!! This offer is valid until Monday 24th of February. The code is PINKKIS300. It's never too early for Christmas shopping. ;)

Enough of that!

My organizing project is going great! Last night I calculated that I should be done in two weeks... hmm... what should I do with the rest of the time? Or maybe I shouldn't be this effective. Maybe I should take baby steps?

Yesterday my main project was the small blue shelf. It took quite a lot of time to get it right, but I'm pretty happy the way it is now. :)

I also gave one of my tiny display sortcases (god! what are they called? the wooden thing on the wall with lots of small items in it?) to C and replaced it with bigger one that was hidden behind a door. I'm so happy to have San (Princess Mononoke) where I can see her. She was a bit too tall to fit on my other display cases, so she had to be on the one that was placed behind the door. Not that it's a lot better place. (I'm sorry I'm talking about it since you can't see it from the picture.)

And behind the door I placed two Pippi Longstocking collector plates. I'll take pictures when the whole thing is done.

Last night I got bitten by a sewing bug and I didn't feel like stopping at all. But sometimes Mr. C is quite persistent... so I had to come downstairs to help him cook. And then we watched the last episode of Sherlock Holmes and also the Wikileak movie. For dinner we had popcorn and smoothies... (kids are with their father). But as soon as I'm done with this post and then one email, I'll rush back upstairs to finish what I've started. I'll give you a hint in Japanese: Tonari no Totoro. ;)

For today I have decided to clean up my sewing area. It doesn't require that much organizing, mostly just dusting. All those small Japanese figurines on the wall...

Off she goes! Bye! Stay sweet!

xoxo,
Raisa

One Month Project: Organize Tehdas, Day 4 (?)

Enjoy it while it lasts! I'm still writing every day!


I'm still sick, but I managed to go to the post office to collect my two dolls who had been in a spa, in Spain. I wouldn't have done it but I had to mail few packages and I had missed the four o'clock pick up, so I had to go to the post office for the five o'clock pick up.

I also walked my daughter to the train (to go to her father's) and pre-paid my son's hair cut he's having today. So I had my daughter with me. We were waiting for the train and I just couldn't wait to get to home to see the dolls, and of course I had to show them to her as well. So I unwrapped the pretty box right there, in the middle of everything.

The dolls were amazing! Magical! And the package didn't just contain the dolls, it was filled with gifts! And I love gifts! But the train was arriving so I had to wrap them up and kiss my daughter good bye. And go home to play with my dolls. This is what I got

 She had even taken pictures of my dolls and printed them - real photographs! And the hat!! I got the hat, too!! Isn't she amazing?! Most amazing of course are the dolls! She did such an amazing job on them. The pink haired is my mini me. She used to be called Sugar Kane, after Marilyn Monroe's character in "Some like it hot" (feel free to correct if it was some other movie instead, I'm really bad with titles.) But now I see her more as Cherry Fox. My middle name is cherry (in Finnish) and my last name is fox (also in Finnish)

 Isn't she amazing! Even all the "beauty marks", actually moles, match!

 

These two are both Disco Boogie's. I'd say DB is one of the least liked dolls out there, but she makes such an amazing custom! The one on the left is made by Friends with Blythe and the other one is the one I just got. I asked her (Dafnery, who customized my two dolls) to make her look like the other doll's sister, but not a twin sister. I didn't want her to copy the work of FWB, and I'm sure she wouldn't even be okay doing so. Pola, who's also named after MM's character (on How to marry a millionare, I think) is now Astrid's big sister. And I love her to bits! Before she was like this :

Lol! So, if you are into dolls and would like to get a really great talent to customize your doll/s, I'd suggest you contact Dafnery. She was amazing to work with, her prices are very reasonable and most of all - her dolls are pieces of art!

Okay dokey, back to more serious business. My craft space. Even though I'm still sick I've gotten somethting done. All of my fabrics are now organized! I'm still short of two shelves, one is enough for doll clothes storage, and also one's not enough for unfinished projects, the one's I'm more likely to finish. I do have two shelves for unfinished projects, but the one at the botton of the closet are less likely ever to get finished. But I work on them if I feel like it. So I can't really put them away, either. Maybe a better solution will come up along the rest of the organizing. 

I got some great progress yesterday, other than finishing the fabric closet. I got all of my scrapbook stuff in a closet, and it wasn't the doll stuff closet. I'm pretty sure this will be their permanent storage place! I also got all doll stuff stuffed in the doll closet. It's not a pretty sight, not at all. Actually I'm afraid to open that closet door at the moment. But at least everything is in one place and my floor has a lot more space and rest of the cleaning and all will be now a lot easier! I might save the doll closet for the last. 

For today I have this small shelf to organize. I know it doesn't look that intimitading, but it's actually worse than it looks. It's the shelf I use when I don't know where else to put stuff...and it's also serious storage for items I use on daily basis, such as zippers and ribbons.

I also came up with (maybe) amazing solution for my lack of proper cutting space. I use this white smooth piece of coated wood (actually a shelf from a wide closet) as a base for photographs. It used to be downstairs, but I brought it up when I got mad at the person who used to take my pictures so now I do the pics myself and I do it upstairs. I had the piece on top of my ironing board for some reason and it was great extra desk for packing. So I might use that when ever needed. It should be easy to store between a wall and the doll house. If I can fit it in there. I emptied that space yesterday, but also found out it was a great way to store my bigger papers. So, well see. And if it turns out to bee to much trouble I'll keep cutting my fabrics either on my too low desk, or on the too narrow ironing board. 

That's it for now! I hope you all have a mazing weekend ahead of you!!

xoxo, 

Raisa

One Month Project: Organize Tehdas, Day Two

It's actually day three, but since I'm writing about day two then why not name the post according to that?

Like I said yesterday, I'm sick. And that sucks. I can work full speed for a couple hours and then I'm done for the rest of the day. I also walked to a thrift store, which didn't help either. But I bought a super awesome letterpress printer's tray. Like the one in the picture. Mine is huge, with tons of different size compartments, and it's painted blue. When I saw it I decided I wouldn't pay more than 20 euros, and then I saw the price tag and yelped a bit -- FOUR euros!! I also bought really cool deer sweater, for 3.5 euros. :D

I know it would be nice to share pictures, but I've lost my camera! I mean it's not gone, but it's buried somewhere in piles of crap at Tehdas... not funny! The room is an awful mess at the moment. It has never, ever been this bad. But! I have almost all of my fabrics neatly organized not by colors, but by use. Now I have all of my fabrics in three places: two closets, one for cotton and one for the bulky fur and fleece; the third place is an old pull out box that was meant for wood (to heat the house). Now it stores the fabrics I don't really use, but you'll never know when they might come in handy... and also all of my stuffing. I'm planning to make more decorational pillows for our living room, and stuff the pillows with all the clippings from Tehdas. And there are a lot!

I've been focusing on the fabric storage, but also cleaned and decluttered other places as well. At the moment I have piles everywhere, and even the piles have other piles on top of them!

Today I have to clear off my work space. I have to get back to sewing! I have to! And also I want to. I've had customers asking for new animal shaped Sleepsacks and I absolutely love trying to figure out how to make them work! Which is kind of weird, since I'm not big fan of solving problems and learning by "trial and error." But this is fun. Until I encounter the first animal that I can't recreate as a Sleepsack. :)

It's Wednesday! Yay! Enjoy it!

xoxo,
Raisa

One Month Project, Organizing the Tehdas (Factory), Fabric

Wow! This really is a great start for this project, third post in a row! Good job Raisa! But still, don't get used to it. I can't keep up with stuff, I'm like that. I get excited and then the excitement dies and I no longer care. At all. But now I do care, so lets enjoy that! :D

So, yesterday was the first day. I paid my son 2,5 euros to move all my craft related things from downstairs to upstairs, to Tehdas. So now my room is even biger mess than what it was before I started...

But that's a good start. Now I have everything in almost one place. At least I have everything upstairs! In the attic,in the bunny room, inthe kid's room, in a small foyer, but hey! I do have a lot of stuff!

Okay, so I was supposed to start with the fabric storage. I did a lot yesterday, shipping and finishing orders and so on, but I kind of forgot or maybe it was me running out of time? I didn't get to do any organizing, until late at night. Hubby, who wanted to watch True Detective, gave me 15 minutes. So I ran upstairs, emptied the top shelf of my main fabric storage closet. I decided to dedicate that shelf  to lining fabrics. In my case that's thrifted kid's bed clothing (is that the correct term for sheets and stuff?). So now I have one shelf all nice and organized. And then the timer went off. I had to leave.

Today I have to do some more packing and shipping, and sewing, too. To get some action going on in Tehdas I really have to clear my desk off the junk that's on it. I also want to get at least two more shelves organized.
I also have two boxes set aside, one for items I want to keep, but stored away. Like keepsakes. And the other box for donations. I gave away my thread spool collection! I've been collecting empty spools forever, thinkin one day they'll be used on some amazing project. I think now is good time to give them away, since I can't think of anything to do with them, other than this.

So off they go! Along with some fabrics I definately won't use, or shouldn't use since they are not my, or Pinkkis style at all. So bye bye clutter, welcome room and space for more important stuff! Did I mention I'm going to Japan in one month and 21 days? With one extra luggage ;) No more space to spare after that :D

To make life more complicated I'm getting sick. Being sick sucks if you work at home. If you work for somebody you don't like it's sometimes fun. But when you are supposed to get shitload of stuff done...no fun at all.

Must go now. Be good!

xoxo,
Raisa

One Month Project: Organize Tehdas (Factory) Day 1, FABRIC

Not that I'm able to write this every day, but here's a good start anyway. Day One.

This is silly, and so like me. I took tons of pictures yesterday and now that I'm uploading them I can see that I didn't have the autofocus on and most of them are really blurry. I switched it on after taking few pics of the bunny that I noticed were really unfocused. But I thought the Tehdas pictures were okay. Until now. Now I know they were not okay. And I don't like doing things twice...so I have the blurry pictures to share. Maybe that's for the best ;) The room is quite messy at the moment...

So, I took the pictures yesterday and tried to make some sort of a plan. I'm still in the process of trying to figure out the plan. I just don't know how to do it. I do have this book called "Inside The Creative Studio," but so far it's been more like inspiration and not really helpful ideas. But there are still few good articles for organizing, too. The first one was about fabric.

And fabric will be my starting point! I think it's the most difficult part of this whole project, the most time consuming, and funnily - also the one I'm looking forward the most. I love fabric! And it's always fun to learn about all of the fabric you actually own! There must be many I've totally forgotten about. Yay! So exciting! But uh! So much work!!

Should I have all of my stashes at the same place? One closet won't be enough, so should I have less-used fabrics somewhere else? Should I bring my Elna Press iron upstairs, and bring all fabrics from downstairs to upstairs? So far I've been doing the pressing (attaching interfacing to small pouches) while watching movies. But then we have to have the lights on and sometimes I don't get to focus on the movie if I'm working at the same time. Should I stop doing this and focus on relaxing while I'm supposed to relax? But working relaxes me. I think. I enjoy getting things done. If I brought it upstairs then what should I do while working on the interface? Maybe I could focus on my Japanese lessons. I listen to a Japanese Language Course on CD while I work, and when sewing I miss most of it. Maybe I should start listening to music again and leave the language studies for when I can actually hear it?

I'm going to start with just one shelf, and continue from there. I can't have all of them piled in the middle of the room. Even though I kind of like the idea of Mount Fabric. :) I'd be the first one to counquer it. :) And I could make my own flag to declare it's mine! All mine!!!!

I guess the most challenging task will be parting with the less appealing pieces. I have many of those, too. It's fabric, and I just can't throw it away. Don't worry, I'm not actually throwing anything away, but donating it. But what about the old, torn apart clothes I've saved for project X? Gosh! This will be hard!!

To get it done, and also tons of other stuff, like mailing my first order to Brazil (yay!) and finishing five Sleepsacks, I should get started!

The main fabric storage

New shelves, stuffed with "everything"

Messy cabines above the sink

Less messy cabinets below the sink

Side view of the sink counter

It doesn't help to have a bunny eating the walls...

Sorry for the awful pictures! I'll take better ones along the way. In a month I should be able to show really nice pictures!!

Have an awesome Monday!

xoxo,
Raisa

One Month Project: Organize Tehdas (Factory)

As some of you know I have my very own craft space -- a whole room dedicated  to my crafts. It's a luxury, I know. I used to dream of my own space, where I could leave my unfinished projects safely, knowing they'd be there when I get back to them. But what I didn't dream about was the constant mess, the lack of space (how can that happen when you have tons of closets  and shelves??!) and the endless piles of just about everything.

I know I'm not the cool minimalist with white walls and three super awesome pieces of art on my desk. I'm messy, loud (but only around people I know and trust), chaotic, and most of all, I'm the opposite of minimalist. I'm hoarder. I love stuff. Having a lot of stuff around me makes me feel safe. And beautiful things are, you know -- beautiful things and the more the merrier.

I've gone through phases where I want to get rid of stuff and I still think that's very important, even though in my case it always ends with me buying even more stuff to replace the things I gave away. But at least I go through my closets and then have better knowledge of what I have and what I don't have.

As a crafter it's okay to have big stashes of everything. You'll never know what you'll get excited about the next day! It could be something totally different from what you've been working on for weeks. So it's vital you have all the right tools and supplies ready.

I think all this is okay. It's part of my nature to be hoarder. But what's not okay is to have fabric around the house (mostly in my room, but I have stashes downstairs as well). Actually I think I have fabric scattered in six different places. And that's at least four too many. I don't have closets big enough to store them all in one place, but six is too many!

I have packaging material (bubble wrap, padded envelopes and so on) in four places, ribbons in four I think, doll stuff all over the place, beads and stickers everywhere, jewelry parts here and there... I might look like I'm well organized, since the room is quite small and I have so many drawers, some even labels on them (but the labels don't make any sense anymore). But what friends and visitors don't see is how everything is everywhere. Like I said, fabrics in six different locations.

I pretty much know where to find what ever I'm looking for, but to save time and to be more efficient and to get more space I have decided to organize the whole room all over! Everything! Hubby said I should take some of my toys away and use the space for my craft stuff, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to go to such extreme measures. But we'll see! I might even do that! Not all, but some. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. Most likely not, but I'm not saying definately not. Not yet. :)

I don't have any pictures just yet, but when I go upstairs I will photograph every single closet and drawers and everything. The way they are now, so you'll now what I'm talking about. Let me warn you, it won't be a pretty sight! I have at least dozen (ha! Who am I kidding! At least two dozen!) projects going on over there and everything is just scattered around my room. I had to do some cleaning before my hubby came in to help me with some cutting, but there's really not that much I can do in just few minutes.

So, my goal is to organize all my storage space, desks, cut down on toys, get rid of unused stuff and clean up the whole dusty room (even my Hello Kitty plush toy collection!,

Here's some old pictures to give you an idea of the hoarder I am.

Have a great and organized Sunday! It's Ravintolapäivä (Restaurant Day) here in Finland and I'm in charge of Vegan Restaurant Tour, so I can't really start organizing today. Or I could, but I HAVE to sew. Seriously. Don't know what's happend but I haven't gotten anything done lately. I've sewed a lot, I think, but I can't seem to finish anything.

xoxo,
Raisa