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

Recycled Crafts - Gift Containers

This post was first published in Finland Handcrafters Team blog, but I assumed not all of my readers read it. So I post it here as well. Since I think it's a great idea :D

 

It's always nice to bring small presents when we're invited to a party or event. But it's not always nice trying to figure out what to bring, especially if we're not into buying something useless, such as a decorative item that will end up in the trash, or if our host already has just about everything. Something edible is always a good choice -- everybody likes to eat! But we might not feel comfortable bringing food, as it might look silly. But! If you place the gift you are bringing into a nice container it's a totally new ball game!

What will you need:

Empty and clean cylinder shaped food containers

Old gift wrap and/or newspaper

Glue, brush and small container

Scissors and craft knife (optional)

Paper ribbon or twine

First you need to cut the paper to match the container size. It doesn't have to be exactly the same size, as you'll trim it later on. But make sure the bottom line is straight and that your piece is big enough!

Then we're going to glue it on. There are two methods to do this, depending on the look you want. If you want it to be smooth (good for smooth wrapping paper) use a glue stick. Spread glue on the seam of the container, and then around the top and bottom edge. Make sure you get all the edges covered, but don't spread the glue all over, since it will make the paper wrinkle.

Starting from the seam, wrap the paper around the container. Make sure you get the bottom part straight. Let the paper overlap a bit and secure with glue.

If you're after the more rustic look, use liquid glue and an old paint brush. Spread glue all over the container.

When wrapping the paper around the container, don't pull it too smooth. It's supposed to wrinkle a bit!

After the glue has dried, you can trim the edges with a craft knife. You can use scissors too.

Tie the ribbon/twine around the container. Now it's ready to go! Fill it with candy, nuts, muesli...just about anything you can fit inside. :)

 Happy Crafting!!

A week in the life of Raisa

What a great week I've had! Okay, ther have been some down's, too. But mostly up's and even higher up's! I did break my winter jacket. I'm not able to buy a new one right now. Not when I'm deep in the middle of saving money! And new jacket is not what I'm saving for. So that was very, very bad time for my jacket to break. Damn zipper!

Luckily while looking for my awful spare jacket I found almost brand new jacket that was purchased for my son but that he never wore which fit me just fine! Yay!

Soon I'll have a zoo!!

I've been feeling a bit tired lately and a bit down, too. But nothing that a little praise on FB or Etsy couldn't fade away :) I've made some new pouches, and they came out great! I've also been working on some secret project, which has been really fun. Except that I sew bunch of seams -wich I randomly selected, having two options only - in the wrong order. I hate when that happens. And I do it quite often, that I choose the wrong one. Well, it wasn't anything major and now I know how it's done :) I've had quite strict plan for each day and I've been following it very strictly :) No time to fool around! And I want to have new stuff available when hubby is done with my new website, which should be soon!! Exciting!

The best part is that I've been loving it. Seriously. I enjoy what I do. That is the best feeling there is! I'm still trying to figure out how to make it a serious business. But maybe I wouldn't enjoy it after that? Don't know.

Okay, my To Do -list for today is rather long, I better get started! (I have some amazing ideas I want to work on today! I found some latenight scribbles on my bedside notebook this morning and I want to try those ideas out :D

Miki and Alex.

Oh! One more thing! I "had" to debox my Middie!! Middes are the medium sized Blythe dolls. I bought one almost a year ago. And I kept her in the box. I just wasn't sure if I liked her, so better not lower her value, in case I wanted to sell her later on. I don't really like middies. But the I saw some really nice pictures of this particular doll (the same as I have) and I was very tempted. But no. In box she stayed. Until a customer asked for middie sized teddy bear sleepsack! Yay!! There was my reason! So off box she comes! And it was so exciting! She's so different from the dolls I was used to. The eye mechanic works differently, by rolling, not by pulling. And her head tilts!! Yay! Very cute. And the thing that I had feared the most did happen. I liked her. I think she's really cute and I think she deserves a friend. a real friend. Not just Kevin who hangs out with her just to see glimpses of her super beautiful big sister Alex (MUG). So Miki, the "new" doll (she's not new! I bought her almost a year ago!) has to have Puchippu Chappu Pepa as her best friend. And she has to have more clothes! Now she has just the dress she came with plus a dress from MLP Megan, that fits her pretty well. This is very dangerous hobby when one is trying to save money! But I have decide not to buy anything before the trip. If the Pepa girl is still available when I go to Japan I'll buy her, if not then too bad.

Sometimes I struggle with ideas what to blog about - if you have anything in mind, anything at all please feel free to contact me, either here or by e-mail pinkkisfun(at)gmail.com.

Take care and have fun!!

xoxo,
Raisa

We had our 4th Anniversary this week!

My new favorite!

A tiny surprise!

Rooms full of FUN!

I belong to this Etsy Team called Finnish Handcrafters Team, FHT. I met some of these talented girls (gosh, did I talk about this here already? Having two blogs does not make your life easy!) couple weeks ago and ever since I've been really active with all things Etsy and networking and all that. (Sometimes I feel it's all out there just to keep you occupied, to give you some sort of [false?] hope, like the stuff they do at the unemployed office - all these classes and courses and meetings. And then again I love the energy it gives me. I do get the feeling that "I can do it!". And I like that feeling :D )

As one of my dreams is to be the fly on the wall, just to see other peoples homes, the way they live and most of all to see where they do their magic. So I asked my group members to share their craft rooms with me and well, you :) Here we go!

 Dimitra, from LooneyDimitraCrafts. This is what she says about her craft space:
Living in a small apartment in Helsinki may create problems in keeping up a small crafting business, but good storage solutions help.
My yarns are stored in bags in the closet, other supplies are kept in drawers and boxes and the coffe table is covered with colorful creations every evening.

 I am using the coffee table as my work space while Iraklis (our black cat) is taking naps or observes me carefully.

I photograph my products on sunny days by the window.












Here's Alba, from  MadeOfSundays! Alba makes very cute wall decals and stickers.

"I combine Made of Sundays work with my projects as a graphic design freelancer.

What I like the most about my “office” are the outside views (I can see squirrels jumping around that tree!) and my green mint wall. It is really important for my creative process to be surrounded by color and cute stuff. 

Gary Cooper takes care of the Quality Assurance department and my good friend Totoro makes sure that I do no miss any deadline :-)"

 Here's Yini, from Kotona. This is where she creates her handmade bath acessories and home decor.

Firstly I do my crocheting and computer stuff on the couch as my husband has completely taken over the dining table. Also I found I work better this way. In the day I'll me on my comp and at night my comp is used to watch movies so I will crochet then.

Next is my sewing and cutting station. I only cut small amounts here and do the bigger stuff on the floor. It is actually suppose to be a breakfast table but we eat breakfast somewhere else. It's a bit uncomfortable as only my toes reach the paddle when I'm sitting on the stool, but it works.

Last is the make shift photo area. It is a small kitchen caddy which I pull closer to the window when I need to take pictures. This window is southwest facing so it doesn't get hit by direct sun in the day time.

Lucky my husband doesn't mind my mess, but it becomes a problem sometimes.

Here we have Sasha, from PaperPlaneStationery. 

Sasha makes very beautiful notebooks and other paper goods.

"I work from a room in a tiny student apartment I share with my husband and our cat.

The extra room we have is a combination of a guest room, a storage room for our small record label and my craft space.

The long white table is my favorite piece of furniture as it works as a working surface, supply storage space and photography studio at the same time.

 I also use a vintage table-type Singer sewing machine I got from my mother-in-law (not shown in the pictures unfortunately).

It's not a big space, but I'm really happy to have it as it inspires me to create.

Last, but not least we have Simona. Simona has two shops,  ColorfulSimone and SEscarves.

"Here is my studio! I paint my scarves on one high table in the kitchen :) And that`s it.

We live in a really small apartment, so this is my only place to paint during winter. During summer I paint on the balcony! :)

 Since I just got a new doll and I want to show her off here's the most recent picture of my favorite work place.Virginia, the new girl in the one on the right.

 I hope you enjoyed this little tour on some of my most favorite crafters' magical places!!

xoxo,
Raisa

Vegan food

Yesterday I was asked about the things vegans eat. I'd say everything except for meat, milk, eggs, honey etc. But I guess that's not what she meant. :)

After you get into the vegan world it gets very easy. But in the beginning it can be quite complicated. And being the "weirdo" or the "difficult one" never gets easy. But I guess you get used to that as well.

But lets talk about the food. We eat pretty much the same stuff the average omnivore eats: pizza, pasta, sandwiches, gravy and potatoes, fries, burgers, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, sushi, misosoup, African Peanut Soup and so on... ;) It's all about the ingredients. You make your pizza with vegan cheese (in Finland that would be either a) homemade or b) store bought). The store bought works best if you melt it with a carton vegan cooking cream and then spread that on top of your pizza. And for the topping you can use pretty much everything. Our favorites are fried tofu, fried smoked tofu, onion, pineapple, seasoned TVP, etc.

Pasta is great with sauces made with vegan cooking cream, or tomato sauce and seasoned TVP.

Sandwiches with vegan butter (in Finland sininen Keiju, in the States it's Earth Balance), the best cheese in the world (= Wilmersburger), some seitan slices, bean spread, Tartex pate, sun dried tomatoes, anything. There's even cheap vegan mayo at S-market.

Gravy is easily made with vegan butter and veggie buillon/cubes. Just add TVP for protein. Burgers with vegan cheese and either homemade or store bought bean/veggie patties. Okonomiyaki and many other Japanese foor are quite easy to make vegan as well.

If you need eggs for baking you can substitute it quite many ways. I will not list them here because different methods work for different recipes. You can make omelettes with tofu and chickpeaflour (gram flour), you can make super delicious steaks with seitan flour (seitan is wheat gluten).

So many things can be made vegan, even the most basic and common things you are used to eating. And that's really good way to start, by veganizing your favorite meals. 

The are tons of subsitutes for milk, pudding, cream and ice cream. And they are so much better than the cow milk products. These are usually available at your basic grocery store, but seitan and egg replacer and other specialty products you can find from health food stores/eco stores like Ruohonjuuri, Ekolo, Vegetukku and Runsaudensarvi.

Very good website for beginners and also seasoned vegans is Vegaanituotteet. On that site is listed tons and tons or regular products that happen to be vegan. Products you can easily find anywhere.

Also a good way to start is to borrow a good vegan cook book from the library, like Puputyttö ja Vohvelisankari (for baking), Puputytön Juhlakirja (for all sorts of cooking) or Kasvisseikkailu (simple, child friendly recipes). If you want you can also buy these books, from me :)

Rainbow cupcakes

Chocolate pudding

Japanese cooking

Easy wrap

Dinner at Soi Soi

Home made beer battered onion rings

I hope these helped! Lets get cooking!

xoxo,
Raisa

I will conquer the world!

Well, maybe not during this lifetime, but maybe the next one. Anyway, I've had such a great week so far. Actually it has started last Saturday, if not even before that. On Saturday I took my hubby out on a date. This is something that amazes my son, who doesn't understand why we go on dates since we are already married. We do it for fun, to keep our relationship fun. :)

But that's not what I'm writing about. I'm writing about my business, my passion, my funtime. So, before meeting my spouse in the city I went craft supply shopping. I got some miniature wood for my dreamhouse (it'll be awesome once it's finished - dunno when that's going to happen though), ribbon and fabric for my sleepsacks. And I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. Even the cold weather and other Saturday shoppers.

The rest of the day was very pleasant as well, with nice dinner in a nice restaurant and then to see my daughter's band performing for the very first time! So awesome!

Sunday I sewed. I had to stop occasionally to cook, since weekends are my turn to feed the family. But since I made a list earlier during the week, even the shopping list was done according to what I planned to cook, which makes it much more pleasant. My daughter made muffins, I made macaroni cassarole and a huge loaf of bread. And then back to sewing.

All pictures courtesy of Nelli

At the moment I have such amazing fabrics it's been difficult not to sew! I had eight sleepsack I was working on, and finally a couple days ago I got them finished. Then we took pics of them and uploaded them on the store and enjoyed the sound my hubby's mini computer makes everytime I sell something. :D It's like an old fashioned cash register. :) I sold everything in less than 24 hours! Except for one that was reserved for somebody who can't buy it just yet. And now there are three people on the line for new pouches.

The whole week has been like this. Not that I've sold like a pro, but I've had this weird sense of confidence or something. Like I can make it. Even though I know I can't with Pinkkis. It's just not possible in Finland, with the products I have. But still. Maybe if I combine all I make and know and use that?

The main reason for this post is still yet to come - Etsy Meet! I'm a member of Etsy Team called Finland

Handcrafters Team. I used to be quite active on it, but then I got really busy with school stuff and all. So I became less active. And then I felt so left behind I stopped checking the new stuff all together. But maybe a week ago or so I got an invitation to this meet and I felt like going. Now that I don't go to my Spanish class anymore I even had a chance to do something else during evenings!

I met 8 other Etsians in the City. I was late, as always. I was supposed to be early to go to the fabric store (= my fave hangout), but life happend and I ended up running and sweating. Everyone else were there already. But I wasn't too late to miss the introduction or anything really. All the girls seemed so nice and so talented and so ready for success. :)

Big Goals!

I missed almost half of what was said, thanks to my lousy hearing and the noisy location, but what I heard was very inspiring. We made all sorts of open plans, nothing too strict yet, but discussed some ideas for workshops and so on. But the best part was really meeting all these amazing people. I also got my first "Pay it Forward" present. :) Very nice soap from Paloni. Thank you Nelli!! I will pay it forward!

After the "official" part of the meet we went to a cafe. I had quite a nice cup of Fair Trade Jasmine tea. I hate being fussy about my food and drinks, since I think I'm very easy to please, but I guess in the real world I'm a nightmare.  Being vegan and only liking Japanese green tea, preferably organic and fair trade... But this tea was really nice. We were at Coffee House on Sokos.

From there I had to leave early to go to the fabric store. Once again I had to run. Eww. I don't like running with all the heavy clothes and shoes and the air being so goddamn cold and dry. I found a piece of fur I liked but not the one I was actually looking for :( I had a piece of it with me so I was able to ask for help, but even the two women I asked from didn't know what it was called or where to get more... great!

Oh well! I must go. I have some biology to read and pouches to sew.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend with full of nice surprises and magical moments!!

xoxo,
Raisa