Wooden Noah's Ark - night stand lamp - a NURSERY gift

Recently I had a babyshower in my place for three of our friends-soon-to-be-moms. We made ONE common celebration for three of them on one day, because they are going to have their babies in summer, and many of us are making holidays sooner or later, not all at the same time, so finding three different dates for moms, and friends, AND making three planning lines AND crafting would otherwise be tricky, if not impossible.

Yes, we had different themes but they worked well with each other. As to me I was in charge of crafting a part of gifts and particularly to ONE theme – Noah's Ark.

I've seen one interesting wooden Ark on Pinterest, a simplistic one, stained and with blueish patina, on wheels. That gave a kick of inspiration like yes, I could give it a try.

Truth to be told, the more I thought the more I realised, just copying woud be boring, but that Pinterest Ark had a nice feel, that means we needed something same, same but different. 

Re-create the feeling, but with another object, a new one - that's where the most sleepless hours have gone. Some other Pinterest models had an opening to maybe put a bunch of animals. That was a stumbling point for me and a lot of time was spent figuring out how to make the body of the Ark, so that it looked like a boat, like a real boat, all rounded, but massive and bulky in a good way. Because Noah's Ark had to be bulky.

What I came up with finally was making a sturdy boat body, not a hollow one. I put four pieces of wood, glued together, got one piece 14 x 14 cm square, and sawn the edges off so that a boat shape came out. A nice edgy rounded shape.

The upper part was inspired by another Noah's Ark, an old german shelf in a shape of Ark, looking like an old farmstead. Yes, I did some research on Arks, I didn't expect it'd fall into my lap, and most helpful results were the old documents, found on Pinterest, like illuminated manuscript pages, old models with particular, as I said, feeling around them, old illustrations. They all had something special, like details, harmony between elements and the main shape, it's difficult to describe, I repeat, it's a feeling.

Last but not least – at some point, almost finishing the cuts I was thinking how to fill it or not (Playmobil, Lego Duplo animals), because the simple shape of those ones would suit the Ark the best. And that's how this Ark got a light garland. And turned into a night stand lamp.

It's possibly a bit too bright for a baby night stand, looking more like a boat on fire than a soft night light. And actually my friend-soon-to-be-mom needs to find another safer solution, because this garland is getting warm, and that's not great. Lets say, this garland was merely for gift presentation and to give some thought/visual stimulation how to use this Ark on purpose, or leave it as nursery deco. As to me, I would maybe try to find the weakest lighting garland and leave one or two bulbs on it, so that it gives only some hint of light, creating a cosy and softened light.

Mosaic magnets - DIY with kids

This sunday was Mother's Day in France. We're not in France, and my kids are small to recall of the fact (6 and 2 y.o) AND my husband deployed (not in France, because otherwise he'd take note. As long as he's absent I'm not watching television, and stay much less online, otherwise I would take note). Long story short - we all happily forgot it. Until yesterday a friend of mine asked me. Her daughter came for a sleep over at our place, and this project fall quickly in place - the little girl and my little girl made both those mosaic hearts as fridge magnets. I am only sharing it almost as the Mother's Day has gone over - sadly. But you can make those magnets without any special Mother's Day notion, right? Let's move!

I've spent half an hour drawing, drilling and sanding. And we spent all together half an hour choosing mosaics and putting them together - fun part. Mosaics was very free style, because it was late evening and last thing I wanted was to art direct anything. I was simply happy sitting nearby and listening to their thoughts on subject: like, "Look, I'd like to make eyes here, and a nose". "On a heart?" "Well, yes, see, it's coming out nicely, isn't it?".

Next morning I've put plaster and varnish - another quick-n-easy step, better without kids, because you have to be quick, precise, and careful. Please meet the happy magnets with candy colors!

And happy Mother's Day for those celebrating it to french calendar!

A wooden elephant stand for a card

Let's get back to making more detailed DIY posts, right? Though my internet connection is still poor, and there's no amelioration in sight (yes, believe me, though I can hardly believe myself as I'm writing those lines), and the DIY's are longer, picture heavy, and hence demand more upload time, let's take a risk!

That elephant from the previous post - he needed a card, and he got one. Here's the break down.

That's not an ordinary card, all together that's looking more like nursery deco. It's a wooden elephant, made of three parts - equal in outline, and one of three (the middle one) is cut so that there's a slot when I assembled them. In this slot we put a card.

Actually why not make a simple double folded one, with an elephant on a cover and call it a day? Too simple, right? Yep - actually this card had to give place to eight or ten inscriptions, and in a double folded one that would look messy, and nobody would probably bother writing more. Keep reading - that's fun, and great, when people take time and write more - jokes, thoughts, comments, tipps, own souvenirs, anything that's longer than two lines. Hence this card would (and I'd outline and insist while giving it for inscriptions) to take time and write. Something special. Everybody can write something special if he/she takes time, I believe.

I wanted to make a folded card - sort of dividing it all in pages, yet being all on a one piece of paper. There're fabric inlets to divide, create some visual interest, and match the stuffed toy I've made previously.

Well, back to the elephant - it's a sturdy one, my plywood was 9 mm thick, threefold it brings to 2,7 cm, slightly over 1", so it stands pretty well. This elephant wasn't initially planned. It came as an answer to the question - how to make a folded card look nicely and not fall apart without any ribbons of other closing/holding together fussiness. The elephant was the answer, made as a stand, to slip the card into and hold it perfectly.

That's all, try it out, it doesn't take long if you have some basic sawing experience, pay attention to exactly where you cut, and have some patience for sanding. Mines weren't exactly perfectly equal, so yes, I've spent one evening watching a movie and sanding - but that doesn't sound that bad, right?

An elephant - stuffed toy for a newborn

A quick project to accompany a gift for a newborn girl - we had a ruffled gingham dress as a gift and that was a starting point to make a stuffed toy.

I had a piece of pinkish red gingham cotton, but making a stuffed toy mostly of that fabric perfectly according to a dress, would be neither fun nor challenging. The dress was just very pretty, but classic, maybe a bit too classic, so that was also a point - to find something to shake it up, and make it a bit more edgy, add a colorful and bold touch, maybe mix in other fabrics, and create more visual and haptic interest.

That's sometimes a bumpy road I mean, if you take a risk of making a doudou (stuffed toy)  by yourself - what kind of animal would please, or wouldn't, can there be any hidden associations I'd possibly overseen? Will they like colors if I choose them like I feel and mostly if I have choice, neutrals are not on the plate, except the linen.

This one is double sided, with a day side and a night, sleepy side - it let me use more different fabrics on a relatively small and compact surface.  I've taken neutral and black linen, a piece of wool, corduroy and cotons and also a piece of furry plush cotton for inner surface of ears.

Here we are with the mix and how it feels like  - there are soft corduroy strips, bold color accents of Marimekko flowers, cooler linen and warm wool, and very cuddly plush ears in this elephant, some appliqué (eye, feet and trunk), and embroidery - all in all it's a piece pretty rich in texture and color. I will possibly sew a couple more of them.  Let's see if this new thread Stuffed toy will get any other additions.

A teddy bear house

Those bears would happily live somewhere in Andalusia. Maybe. Or maybe not. Anyway they have this tiny home (35 cm x 20 cm in floor plan) for their family soon-to-be-of-four.

I've already talked about them - as a gift for friends (who loved Andalusia a lot), which made a loooong way from the initial idea into the realisation. And I'm happy those bears have been insisting enough to stick to me and wait until I got them alive and made the house, filled with furniture, art, leisures and toys.

I really, really love them and it was hard to make them go, honestly. But I'm happy - happy they turned out like I felt they had to be, and that the house feels like home and it's just a happy and welcoming place for them.

Two days ago, as I was preparing this post for publishing for the first time, I've written a long story, with lots of me thinking, me doing, me trying, me asking, and other me's - it felt a bit over top. Now I just want to share those pictures with you and let them speak for themselves. Yes, it was a challenging, many times frustrating, very inspiring, instructive in so many ways, and finally fun process.

Look at them and enjoy. Right now I just focused on showing an overview, and bears themselves - they are pretty small - about 10 cm (4 ") as you see on a picture in my hand. Made in almost (because of felting) classic technique of teddy bear making - hand sewn, fully jointed, with needle felted muzzle, and glass eyes.

Everything in the house incl. the house itself have been DIY-projects, except of a toy train. Plywood, fabric, felt, prints, paper collage and paper napkins - more detailed posts and some tutorials are upcoming.

I'll come back and zoom on furniture and other pieces. Stay tuned!

A room corner REMAKE: kitchenette & Co

Hey there, here's another post about woodworking. In sad corners. I could have re-made it completely, but I thought more like of a challenge, and more of trying to develop/re-use the existing pieces.

See the first BEFORE-picture? That's what's a sad corner means – randomly placed dispatched items, lots of white space, not functioning with the rest, some other useful things (world map) sloppily fixed, and generally a magnet for all kinds of clutter. Just not a happy spot to look at in a rather getting to be pulled together young girl's room - that's a sad corner. Do you have those guys in your place? I have a LOT!

So here're the consideration points:

• a thrifted and still cherished cupboard definitely too large for a re-painted BRIO toy stove;
• the greenish teal of a BRIO stove not working anymore – too dark, it makes this smallish stove look even smaller;
• world map too high and seemed to need a wooden support to live longer and not to peel off the wall every couple of days;
• some plants here and there wouldn't be bad;
• this wall would be a good place to display some nice treasures that don't need to be played with.

I have pinned some inspiration pictures on one of my Pinterest boards (House living ideas), among others the original picture of what a stove looked like – a red BRIO stove. Skip the next paragraph, or keep reading if you have a BRIO toy stove. A lot of details bummed me about this stove, and I need some more lines to make it clear. On the other hand, the imperfections of that monster made me create a nearly perfect kitchenette which my kids are happily both play with - now there's enough space on top surface and around. WITH storage.

So, dear BRIO - here we go - I guess on that Pinterest picture, the same as at our place, and this is the general problem of that BRIO stove – it's way too small to look good with anything not-too-toy'ish. Try to pair it with anything else that is not a toy, like a thrifted cupboard (our situation), or other neutral shelves (you'll find many examples on Pinterest) and this stove instantly looks tiny. Very tiny, and disproportional. 

This cupboard is the smallest I've found in a thrift shop (only 50 cm large), but it's looking huge, next to the BRIO (only 38 cm). Another question – finishings – cheap, white plastic, cut shorter as the main pieces, hence looking very imperfect. AND there's simply not enough space to move around, let alone the storage question.

All that being said – I took the front piece of the bespoken stove, I like it, and off it went into creating a larger version, integrating a DIY-sink and offering some more top space.

Other inspirations I wanted to make work together were:

• a mirror, with a frame imitation old silver (had one, it spent six years waiting for a come back);
• a box underneath it to put small bracelets, silk butterflies, and other precious embellishements a little soon-to-be six years old girl keeps loosing everywhere otherwise;
• a floating shelf to display some nice paraphernalia;
• cacti and/or other indoor plants.

Floating shelf has been made, a jewelry box is another 100% DIY because of the mirror measurements. I've also bought a small cactus and a plant.

I will come back one more time and show you the corner one more time. It's getting happier, and the new-old BRIO stove will get a light paint soon. Stay tuned.

A wooden house

Hey there! Lately I've been permanently talking about woodworking. Now it's time to share some peeks, right? And make a new tag here on the blog. Well let's go then!

That's a wooden house, a very simple one. Yes, I could have bought it ready-made, but I find them a bit overpriced (at least here, in Finland), and then a ready-made wouldn't quite perfectly fit the inside I was going to make (neither measurements, nor in character/appearance). It took me one year longer as expected (mostly waiting time). You'll see more of this house later, as soon as I have better pictures. It's been made of plywood, and it'll be a home for three teddy bears (stay tuned, another post is coming soon).

This is a custom order, which influenced what is inside: my friends' reading/studying preferences, their favorite leisures, arts, travel "coups de coeurs", and a such. They moved in a new house and that is going to be kinda gift for them. They moved in last year by the way, and at that time back then though I knew I'd love to realise the idea, or sort of vision I had for them -  a teddy bear house, - I had no clue how to pull it all together. That's normally not bumming me, but last year as I started, I had made really, really bad pieces.

Turned out woodworking was a bit trickier to learn, and it took me some time to find out techniques, feasibilities, source out the tools, better organize my smallish work space so I'd be able to work efficiently. I put this project on hold , yep, for almost one year, that sounds crazy, as I'm writing those lines, but this year went fast.

And then came the moment last month when I knew I could make it better, faster, and actually bring to life what I had vaguely in my head. I've been working with my simple wood processing tools (a jigsaw and a router) since a couple of months, preparing my crafting class for kids, making shelves, boxes and a such for our home, it was getting more fun than frustrating/painful, and there was some sort of confidence though still a weak one that this project could finally work out, leave my head and live out there on its own.

All in all I had a carte blanche about this house. I asked a few questions about the above mentioned leisures, readings, travels, got some good responses with additional options and off it went into a very busy and fun creative research trying to make all those particulars work on a very reduced space (appr. 35 x 20 cm surface).

There're some fun things I've tried out at this project and I'm going to come back and show you more of that, with some tutorials and more details. This house is almost ready now. Come back next week to see more!