Sunshine, finally!

So far the whole winter has been so cloudy! Awful! And now that we're having few sunny days it feels like the whole world is smiling. And I feel like smiling as well.

I've felt a bit low lately. Usually I don't envy other people, but recently that feeling has been driving me crazy. It looks like everyone else has their shit together and I just can't figure out my life. I'm getting older every day and I don't have a clue what I want to do with the rest of my life. I thought I wanted to be a nutritionist, but now I'm having doubts about it. I'm much more interested in ecological stuff, like consumerism (don't laugh! I didn't mean in the shopper's point of view, but the consequenses of our extreme consuming, and stuff like that). So I might aim at that. But for how long?

Oh, yeah. About the envying part. I don't envy anyone particulary, but just everyone who seems to have stable, balanced life. People who'll stick to their plans, who can save money, have routines and you know, all that normal stuff. Like excercise! I go running for two or three months, and just when I'm about to see some progress I stop. Way too boring. I'd rather collect stamps than run one more meter. So I quit. And try to find "a new love." Even when I'm super bored and down, I can get a kick from the idea of knowing that something new will come up. There will be something I fall head over heels for. I just wish it would be something smart, something useful. So far the good, smart things has been losing weight, saving money, and obsessing over Martha Stewart. Just to name few. (But I never really do even these "the smart way" --> I lose too much weight, I open up too many bank accounts, I order too much MS crap.)

But when I'm not into something I get very bored, I eat too much (candy and other treats), I watch stupid movies, I read stupid books, I don't get things done, I don't study, I don't sew or do crafts. I just suck when there's nothing sparkly in my life. Oh, well. Anyways, I've gotten the envy thing chopped into smaller, bite size pieces and I'm able to understand it more and maybe even use it to make myself feel better. And so now, also thanks to the sun and all, I feel a lot more energized and I feel like doing something, like maybe even studying. That's always such an energy boost if I manage to do something like that, something like homework for chemistry. It's so silly. I know so many things that would make me a lot better, but I just can't get myself to do those things. Instead I make things that make me unhappy. Like being on the computer for hours and watching stupid movies. I hate wasting time! I like being useful.

Enought of that already! So the sun is shining, I got some energy to actually do something! I've ordered a lot of (way too much, actually) jewelry parts for my PINKKIS projects - can't wait for them to arrive! When they come I'm sure there will be a lot of creative energy around the PINKKIS Factory! But meanwhile I need to focus on the materials I already have. 

 What I'm trying to say the spring might be coming and she's seems to be carrying a bit of restless energy in her arms. Please, stop by! Share some of that with me!

Had fun day at a fleamarket yesterday w/hubby! I bought a car for my dolls!! A very nice car! Pics coming soon. But before that I'll share some pics I took this morning!

 Have a great start for the week!

xoxo,

Pinkkis

Pinkkis Etsy Store!

Ladies and gentleman, it's here! My PINKKIS Etsy store is back in business! And you are among the first people in the world to hear about it! Woohoo!

***Pinkkis on Etsy*** Check it out! My husband has done a great job picturing the uniqueness of my creations! Hopefully a lot of people will find my store, and most of all will like what they see and maybe even purchase something!

Please help spread the word: share pictures of my jewelry (and eventually pouches) and link to my store on your blogs, Facebook pages and where ever else :). All help is highly appreciated! Etsy is a huge place and my store is still a tiny place, so I need you :).

I'm not sure if I have even shared pictures of my newest creations yet. I have gotten really into making miniature scenes in pendants. I think they are just amazing!

So far all of my information and thank-you notes are in Finnish, so I need to work on those, too. But that's something I really like doing paper: crafts, adding stickers and stamps, etc :)

Hubby and I went to the post office to check all the shipping options and prices. What a bummer! Finland is a much more expensive country to ship from. Hopefully that won't scare customers away!

Yesterday I ordered some new fabrics, even though I don't really need more, but there were so many cute ones I just couldn't resist. And I'm running out of Blythe fabric. Too bad I'm also running out of zippers and don't feel like ordering more right now. I'm trying to leave it to when we go to the States and order them to my mother-in-law's in order to save on shipping. We'll see. I also ordered some stickers, which is super silly. But I want to be able to add something cute to all of the packages and letters I send out. And I was running out of stickers. So it was okay. And they were rather cheap.

Dollhouse's getting a lot better, too! Pictures? You bet!

Okey dokey, gotta go! Take care!

xoxo,

PINKKIS

Pinkkis Factory

We've had quite a lot of renovation going on in our house recently. We've redecorated the kids room walls and all of our old floors, except for one room. And that one room is my Pinkkis Factory. I think our house is starting to look the way it's supposed to and it feels really nice. Of course all of the walls downstairs are really crappy, but we're so used to it so it doesn't bother us that much.

But back to the Factory. Now that everything else is starting to look a lot nicer, and after my husband moved his computer downstairs (we used to share a room), and after I gave his old desk to my son, my room started to look really awful. I'd post pictures if I wasn't so embarrased.

I didn't even feel like doing anything in there, 'cuz it was such a sad, messy place. But then few days ago I decided to do something about it! Hubby helped me to move the heavy furniture back and forth (I just couldn't decide! So many options!). Finally  I got it all settled so I could start the annoying/lovely part - putting everything in its place. I'm still kind of working on that. But I got a really good start. I'd say 90% of everything is in their own place now and I got a lot sorted out as well.

So now I just can't wait to go upstairs to either sew, cut some Barbie dolls into pieces or play with my lovely dolls!

Here are pictures of the new, improved Factory!

Crafting desk, now facing the window. I'll definitely get a new mat (pink from Fiskars) for the desk.

Details

Sewing desk

Sewing corner. Will add some pictures or something to the wall.

Details. Above craft desk.

Framed postcard from the amazing Mab Graves. If I just could find more of these frames I could frame the two other postcards I have from the Dolly Collector series.

Old Lego animals that I collect.

Just some misc. toys and stuff.

My Hello Kitty plush collection

Some of my collections (I collect pretty much everything)

Hello Kitty and some other plush toys I also like, plus my one and only Monster High doll. I do NOT collect other dolls other than Blythe. So I do not collect MH's, Barbies or anything else. Sometimes I forget and buy them anyways : / .

I've sewn a lot of the new fabrics I got before Xmas, and I have some pictures to show you!  I've also made some new earrings and have plans for new stuff so I guess I could say I'm having a very good phase with Pinkkis right now. I've also asked that main squeeze guy if we could re-open my Pinkkis store on Etsy. Madeby, where I have a small store is completely dead, has been for ages. So I'd be more than happy to move back to Etsy. It's just that the competition is so hard there! But at least it's not dead!

Okay, here are some more pictures and then I want to go create something!

I hope you enjoyed them!

xoxo,

Pinkkis

Saving the World with a Toothbrush

My hubby started complaining about how I don't write my English blog more often. I think it's because for some reason I think I need to make sense here and since I don't make sense in the real life either, it's kind of hard to try to do so online. Not sure.

Anyways, today I'm going to tell how I'm about to save the world just by choosing the right toothbrush. I used to have the same toothbrush for a decade, just replacing the head every three months. And then they stopped making them! A year and a half ago I found a store that still had the replacement heads, so I bought up all they had left. But now they're all gone. And since I use my plastic quota on dolls I needed to come up with a new, eco-friendly tool with which to clean my teeth.

First I found a toothbrush that was made out of recycled yoghurt cups - pretty impressive, but still not good enough. Especially after I found out that the pink one only came in medium. It's really harsh on my super sensitive gums :( . It also came with a travel case for the brush, which is kind of silly since you need to replace the brush every three months and you get a new travel case every time.

So I kept looking for something better. And better I found. I found a new brand that also has replaceable heads! Yay!!! No fancy colors, but they were still okay. So I bought one brush plus one set of heads. You were even able to choose from natural to synthetic heads - of course I chose natural :)

I took my brush home, and got curious about what it was made of. And guess what! My new way to save the world wasn't vegan!!! The bristles were pig hair! I was so upset :( So I returned to the store and got new, vegan brushes instead. Whew!

I think it's funny how serious matter this is to me. I was seriously really upset when I found out I couldn't get new replacement heads for my toothbrush and the idea of being forced to buy a new piece of plastic FOUR times a year was just too much! What a waste!! To calm my self down I had to buy me a new Blythe -doll! (made out of plastic, obiously).

It's funny/silly how we decide that this is important and the other isn't. This makes difference and the other one doesn't. Like me stressing out about toothbrushes and at the same time planning our trip to the States. Washing ziplock bags and buying new plastic toys the next minute. Buying only Fair-Trade chocolate and making sure everyone else does the same and then ordering dolls on line, made in sweatshops.

It's hard to be parfect when you have so many things you like. I still think there's hope for me, and others alike. Maybe this is a beginning, and a better me will follow. Later on, maybe after I've got enough dolls?  (To be honest, most of my dolls are bought used. So I'm not really that bad, after all.)

xoxo,
Pinkkis

Doll Madness

I know the few posts I've written have been quite serious. And I do have my serious side, but that's not all that I am -- there's also the crazy side. The part that LOVES plastic. The prettier-shaped the better. And Blythe dolls are at the top of the Pretty Plastic Objects list.

I got my first Blythe just twenty months ago. I had already made her small "apartment," and now just needed to have a doll to live there. So when I saw this red-haired cutie in a toyshop in Tokyo, I knew she was the one. I took her out of the box, took few picture, cut her hair, put her on a shelf and kind of forgot all about her.

Bambi, Simply Bubble Boom

Weeks passed, and then I felt like playing with her a little. I put her in her apartment and played with the string that was attached to her. And boom! Her eyes changed! She was now gazing sideways with totally new eye color! I didn't know they did that! I tried to ask the Japanese woman who worked at the toy store about the eyes, but she kept saying no, so I thought I couldn't get one that was gazing sideways (when Blythe is looking straight, she looks a bit blank; but sideways -- a whole new ballgame!). I don't know why this was so important, but somehow it changed the whole thing. I was hooked. I couldn't help but take her to work, since I just had to show this miraculous doll to everyone.

Bambi's home and a candy store

And I had to get more. So I placed my very first (but not last!) doll order online. Mimi came from Osaka, if I remember it correctly. I also started looking for old Bratz clothing and got seriously into Re-ment miniatures (I had tons, way before I acquired my first doll.) So it wasn't just about collecting dolls (well, having two dolls isn't a collection anyway)s, but about photography, sewing, building miniature rooms. Later on came connecting with other like-minded people.

Mimi and her home

So now I had two dolls and was really into working on their "apartments." I kept ordering more and more Japanese dollhouse furniture, and also made my husband build me bunk-beds. Soon I needed more beds, since the doll bug had really bitten me. I ordered twins, Nicky and Vicky. And then I got my "special" girl, Lola, a.k.a. Ribbonetta Wish, made for Hello Kitty's 35th birthday! (I also love Hello Kitty -- the reason I got hooked on everything Japanese). She was supposed to be my last doll. For a second I felt the family was complete. I had five dolls, all of them very dear to me. And then I realized I could also buy used dolls. So I bought three used dolls just like that (for the sake of enviroment).

My eleventh doll was a "mistake." She wasn't all that charming and special and somehow kind of broke the charm. I didn't feel like buying anymore dolls, since their house was way too crowded anyways. At that time I thought it was very important that all girls actually had their own beds and spots around the kitchen table. And that made the whole dollhouse a one big mess. So I put them aside.

Months went by. I kept thinking I should do something for them, but there was so much going on and I didn't feel like taking them out... until a blog reader asked for pics of my dolls. BOOM. I was hooked again. And this time it was really bad. With in six weeks I was the proud owner or seven new dolls and tons of new clothes, miniatures, shoes, etc. I tried to keep it all a secret to my husband, who wasn't very supportive about my insane hobby, but then I started feeling sick every time the mail came. I was worried that something would arrvive and he'd see it and complain. New dolls and clothes didn't make me happy anymore. Just the opposite. So I had to tell him all about my dolls, how many where there and how much they mean to me. I know he still doesn't like them at all. And that's not what I was asking for, either. But now he understands they make me happy and what makes me happy makes him happy :).

Recently I've noticed the insanity around dolls have been fading away. I still do organize their apartments. I'm planning on making new clothes, but I don't really spend money on them. Except for one big exception. I finally was able to buy my "Holy Grail", Margo Unique Girl. Can't wait for her to come home!

Will it be a complete family now? Time will tell.

Have an insanely dollfully happy week!

xoxo,
Pinkkis

Naked Truth

Long time no see!

I've been busy with studying and sewing and stuff, and I guess you could say I'm not that efficient now that I'm not working. I used to be able to do million things at once -- I worked eight hours a day, wrote two cookbooks, baked for events and parties, ran my own business (PINKKIS), took care of the kids, dogs, bunnies, house, rode horses, took cardio-boxing lessons, Japanese lessons, scrapbooked... now I barely have time for the basic stuff and some studying. I do have to admit that I've never studied so seriously than I do now. I mainly study biology and chemistry and for a pink-haired airhead like me, it's not that easy. But I try hard, even though it's just to get into the school at which I really want to study. My main goal (my only goal) is to get into Helsinki University to study nutrition. So I'm motivated. Otherwise, I couldn't do it.

Ok, onto "the naked truth." It's kind of funny, and then again, not funny at all.

I've been thinking about how it would affect everything if ads and commercials, product packages -- everything related to the things we buy -- would have to show not only the good sides of the products and services, but also the not-so-nice ones. What if the next time you bought a t-shirt there weren't pictures of super perfect people wearing the clothes, but underpaid Indians, Pakistanis and Moroccoans spraying the cotton with poisonous chemicals, young women working in sweatshops and big fat white men grinning with pockets full of money?

What if the meat section didn't have pictures of ready-cooked foods, but very graphic images of slaughterhouses, factory farms and underpaid immigrants taking their frustrations on animals? What if commercials for candy bars didn't show the velvety texture of the soft chocolate, but little children climbing on cocoa trees with machetes, with cuts on their hands and legs, working for hours under the hot African sun, or being beaten by their employers?

What if pet stores showed you images of all the casualties -- all the dead animals in the trash cans, the ones that didn't make it due to lack of water, heat, food, etc.? What if the milk carton didn't have a drawing of a cow in a pasture, but pictures of cows with serious udder infections (cows are milked just twice a day, which is insane! It hurts like hell when boobs get too full of milk!), or even better pictures of veal crates?

What would you buy?

http://thefrogblog.org.uk/tag/child-labour/

We CAN make a difference! Buy Fair Trade, go vegan, buy local, spread the word, contact the big companies, tell them why you don't want to buy their products anymore, tell your friends to do that as well. I know it might sound naive, and it probably is, but I really believe that what I put in my shopping cart will make a difference, for better or for worse.

More horror stories next time! (We're having a Halloween Party Saturday ;)

xoxo,

Raisa

Simplyfying our food closet

Variety is the spice of life, right? We deserve all the yummy things in the world, right? We work hard, we party hard, so we need our rewards, right? Especially if you follow a certain diet, like veganism, where you cut out animal products. That alone is a lot of  "no thanks, I don't eat/can't eat that." Or consider those with allergies, religious diets and so on. So why on earth would you cut out anything from the foods that suit your diet?

Being a vegan is a great thing. And I don't just mean the ethical part of, the clear consience, but also the surprising impact it had on my diet. Now that there are fewer choices for what to buy and eat, I cherish the produtcs that fit in my diet a lot more than before. There actually has been small hand-clappings and jumping-up-and-downs at a grocery store when I've located new yummy things to eat.

If you eat treats every day, you won't be able to enjoy them as much as if you only eat them once a week or so. Same thing with food: if you eat your favourite foods every day, how are you going to reward yourself?

I think we should take one step backwards when it comes to eating. We should eat more simple, locally grown, in-season foods. The majority of our diet should be based on that, while treats and sushi should be saved for the weekend :). I'm quite convinced that this would save us from a lot of food waste, too, if we mainly bought items we will actually use, instead of buying things we'd like to use but that end up in our compost heap. Women are said to do that a lot -- we buy healthy fruits and veggies, and end up throwing them away because they go bad. But I'm not saying we shouldn't buy fruits and vegetables either! We should simply buy only what we need, even if it means more bike trips to the store to get that last lemon.

So I'm trying to simplify the way we eat. We don't have to have nine different kinds of legumes in our closet the way we do now (soybeans, broad beans, peas, black eyed peas, black beans, green and red lentils and mung beans). Three to four would be enough. But then again, I love having full dry food closet. It makes me feel safe. And by eating a variety of foods, I'm making it more sure we get to have all the nutrients we need. And it's really hard not to buy interesting looking novelties, like purple cauliflower :)

Other than being obsessed with food, I've been working on one of my doll's bedrooms. Here's the result. I think it's really charming!

 And here's how it was before.

Quite an improvement, huh?

I've also been sewing a lot, and just finished a Halloween-themed triangle-banner for a kid's room. I guess my kids are a bit too old for that, but I actually thought of putting it up in our bedroom. No picture of it, since the kids room is not very photogenic, with too many unfinished remodeling projects in there. I also sewed a lot of Pinkkis pouches. Need to have a lot for the upcoming X-mas season! And some more Blythe stuff under constraction, pics later.

I guess that's all! What do you think about my plan to simplify our diet? Pure madness, or is there a way to achieve some balance with it all?

xoxo,

Pinkkis
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