DIY _ ladder

 This is a tutorial on how to make your own ladder. Mine is only for decoration purposes but it could be used as a proper ladder if needed. 
What you'll need:
_ wooden sticks that won't break under the weight of an adult. Depending on what type of wood you find, they'll need to have various diameters. How many depends on how high you want to make it. I had 2 1,5m long sturdy branches, and 4 branches of the same length, about 40cm long.
_ String. I used natural string twine.
_ a hand saw if they're not already in the right lengths.
 
I often start DIY projects without actually knowing what I'm going to do exactly or how it'll turn out. The gardener in the park downstairs had just cut of some Birch branches (which happens to be my favorite tree after the olive tree). So I took some of them without knowing what I was going to do with them. This is what I came up with, and now that I have a ready ladder, I actually don't know what I'll do with it. Haha. Any suggestions?

1. Use your two most sturdy branches as your vertical ones. Hold your smaller branch horizontally and tie your string around both. Wrap the string diagonally and tie a double knot the first time and then continue to wrap it around: diagonally in front, behind and up diagonally, around the top, diagonally down, in front and diagonally up.
If you are going to be using this ladder for real, you'll need to wrap it around more times than I have done here.

The finished ladder, which I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it. But it looks good, doesn't it?
I'm either thinking to hang small pots from it, or photos, or actually, I have no idea!

Wedding Inspiration _DIY flags

 I started making some flags the other day and was overwhelmed by my intelligence! Why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before? Everyone seems to make each single triangle separately, folds the top side and sews it down, threads a string through it to attach all the flags...
BUT there is such an easier way of doing it, and this is where the "geniousness" comes into it.

• Usually fabrics are sold with a width of about 120-140cm. With 1 meter of fabric you can make 6 (SIX) lengths of flags 1,40. That's a total of almost 8,5m of flags with just 1 meter of fabric. How?
• Chose a fabric that you like. Either in one colour, multicoloured, etc. The important thing is that it's a steardy material and that doesn't fray. That way you can also avoid sewing around the edges. 
• Cut the short side of the fabric in 3 parts (this means they will be about 33cm high). 
• Each strip will become 2 lengths of flags...how?
• Start cutting zigzag and make sure you don't cut all the way through, leaving 2-3cm on each edge. This is mainly so you won't risk it ripping. 
• If you want a long length of flags, then simply sew 2 or more 1,40 lengths together. 
• At the end of your length of flags, simply attach a string so that you can hang it up in a tree, tent, room, etc.

There are many things you can do with your flags. Just leave them as they are for a cute decoration at your wedding, party, name-giving, etc. Write text on each triangle like: Love, Love story, Sweets, Mr & Mrs, thank you, etc etc.

Have fun!

Wedding inspiration _ DIY flower girl ballerina tutu

 I found some lovely (and very easy) tutorials on how to make a ballerina tutu on-line. There are many on YouTube, etc.. This is the inspirational photo with the look that I would like to achieve. Sadly I don't remember where I found these photos as I would love to give them the credit.
It's an easily accomplished look as the tutu is really simple to make and you can just put the skirt over a normal singlet or body.

So how do you make this tutu?
As I said earlier, look for "new sew tutu" on-line and I'm sure you'll find much better tutorials!
I chose a high quality soft tulle which is slightly more expensive than normal tulle, but still very affordable. I wanted the material to be soft at touch and not too poofy. I think it creats a beautiful soft feel.
All in all it took me about 1,5 hours to make the skirt once I had the tulle strips prepared and another 1,5h for cutting. So a total of about 3 hours. I got much quicker after a while and I'm sure that if I was to make a second one it wouldn't take me more than 2h.

I used:
* 5m x 1,4m off white/natural tulle cut into 80cm x 15 cm strips. You can even buy rolls of tulle that already have the right width which makes the whole process even quicker and easier.
* an elastic band 1,5cm wide.
* thread
That's all folks!

Start by cutting the elastic band according to the kids waist size. Overlap the elastic band 3cm in order to insure that it will be tight enough and sew them together.

Cut the Tulle into 15cm wide strips. The length should be double the length that you want the skirt + 3cm for the knot. For me I ended up with about 50 strips.

Put the elastic onto something relatively sturdy, such as a bucket, a box, a roll of household tissues...

Fold the Tulle in half and place it in front of the elastic band, then pull the both ends through the loop. Make sure it's not too tight and doesn't crunch up the elastic band.

Repeat 40-50 times until you have a skirt that is as full as you want it.

Wedding inspiration _ Hair II

 This is the second edition to hair inspiration for your wedding day. The first one can be read by clicking here. I am planing my own wedding and trying to decide how to have my hair.
I know I don't want a full on veil, but I am considering wearing one of these small birdcage veils during the ceremony itself and then taking it off during the dinner. They can be easily made yourself by buying some large scale netting, a hair comb clip, a flower (or you can even make this yourself as well out of organza or tulle). I'll make a proper tutorial if I get around to making it myself!

This is not a full birdscage just a piece of netting covering a part of the face, but I really like the effect. 

These unique handmade hairpieces are quite sweet and give a bit of a relaxed hippie feel. 

Birds cage nr.2.

Birds cage nr.3

Birds cage nr. 4. 

Birds cage nr. 5. 

Real flowers in the hair creates a Hawaii beach wedding look.  

Organza hair clips

Organza hair clips with some netting.

A flower hair clip with feathers.

Architecture doll house

I decided to re-new my doll house. I have lovely porcelain dolls that my grandma hand made! I also have some beautiful wooden furniture that I was givien to by my grandpas syblings when I turned 12. I used to love playing with doll houses when I was a kid and perhaps that was the begining of my architecture career? I also played with Lego, so I'm thinking that these two things combined were good for developing my creativity. This isn't actually a complete doll house but more like a "show room".I started looking at modern furniture for dollhouses this Christmas and realised that they are extremely expensive! The mini models of famous furniture such as the Myran chair, cost the same amount as a full-sized one. So that's when the thought came along that I should make my own mini-furniture. I had already made a Mies Van der Rohe chair for a university model so I knew that it was possible. That chair was in a smaller scale than this room will be but at least I knew it was possible. All the furniture won't be copies of famous furniture. So far I only know I'll make a "Moooi Random light" and a Benjamin Hubert light. There'll be a cement kitchen with a rustic dining table. And maybe a library area in the oposite corner with a bookshelf (have to deside which one in that case). So far so good. I will post another entry later on with the updates!

Creative sewing_penguin jumpers

 I finished making the Christmas presents for all the kids about a month ago! They took a bit longer than I had expected to make so they got them a bit late. But at least then they don't get all the presents together, hey? They're all unisex using a brown velour fabric and details in a olive green jersey fabric with brown and white penguins!
The velour fabric is so soft and cozy!
I started by making the largest one for Lava (4) and worked my way down. The second two were for Tova (3,5) and Johannes (3) then for William (1,5) and Lima (1,2) and the last one was for Vida (0,5). I'm going to make one more but since the baby will be born in the middle of May so I still have some time! 
It was a lot of fun and very satisfying at the end, but I think next year I'll just buy the presents ready-made! :)

 Jumpers for Tova (3,5), Johannes (3) and Lava (4).

 The largest of the jumpers for Lava, age 4, is a bit more "mature" without the penguins on the pocket.

 Close-up of the hood.

Detail of the penguin fabric on the sleeves.

Adorable Lima (1,5). Could you ask for a cuter model? A quarter malaysian and 3/4 swede. SO cute! 

Lima, 1,5, modelling the penguin jumper.

My cousin Jenny's beautiful daughter, Tova (3,5).

Cutiepie Tova (3,5) modelling.

Sweet Tova (3,5).

 Lava (4) and Vida (6 months).

 I love this cheeky photo! Sweetest sisters in the world! Lava (4) and Vida (6 months).

Here's Johannes eating a yummy ice cream. Isn't he sweet? It seems like I made the sleves too long for everybody.. 


Just waiting for one more photo (william) and the collection will be complete. I also have to make one more jumper for my boyfriends sisters baby-to-be, which will be born in the middle of july (can't wait!).

Valentine's day card! Make your own!

Then write personal love poems or quotes for your loved one on the inside. One on each heart!