Sunday 31 October 2010

Look What I Won

I must be the luckiest girl in blogland. I entered the giveaway from Craftymoose. I won Debbies giveaway - the halloween necklace. It´s so fun to recieve something from another country that´s part of a culture.

Look closely and you´ll see the bat in the necklace of polymer clay and beads.

Halloween has arrived Norway but it´s more commercial than anything else. So dear Debbie, thank you so much for sharing your art this way. And I can´t say how thankful I am for this.

And I got tears in my eyes when I saw what you made especially for me. A rose made of tiny beads.

I love this kind of bead work. How did you guess that??

The rose is so so beautiful and delicate. I can´t stop looking at it.

And it´s some of my favorite colors. You really touch my heart, Debbie.

Together with the gift wrapping, your card and your lovely words you put christmas into daily life.

Visit Debbie in her blog. You won´t regret it.

Saturday 23 October 2010

Worlds Largest Selbu Mitten


If you don´t know what to do one day you could always start knitting on a mitten that would hold several persons. Or maybe you need a new sleeping bag? The woman in the photo is Kristin Hoem. She´s the leader of Selbu Husflidslag.

Women in Selbu in Norway found out that they would knit the worlds largest Selbu mitten. And they did.

Check out the statistics:
The mitten is 247 cm long
It weighs 5.5 kg
It took 45 persons 3 years to knit it
The mitten were sent around to the knitters in Selbu by car
Every knitter had to knit 4 rounds to get in the project book
Started as a celebration of the Selbu mittens 150 anniversary in 2007

You can see the whole mitten here. Now the women are knitting another mitten - they always comes in pairs. I salute you - the world would be a better place if we could work together as you did!

Thursday 21 October 2010

Nutty Bracelets And Tagged Nuts

There´s no doubt about it: Nuts are some of my favorite items. I had a walnut made in silver and I just wanted to show you more of this madness.

That would be my bracelets with faux walnuts and almonds. They are such a joy wearing. People are just staring at them without saying anything. Nuts, maybe that´s what they think.

Well, last christmas I made tags for the gifts of faux walnuts in polymer clay.

The year before it was biscuits. Everyone thougt they were real and we had a great laugh about it.

It´s always fun to surprise others with these kind of strange things.

Out of the ordinary, must be the thing.

Don´t ever be scared of trying something new and different.

We grow if we think outside the box - even if others think we´re nuts.

Better beeing nuts than unhappy!!!

Saturday 16 October 2010

Gone To Heaven

These red guys are no longer with us. First they got boiled and then eaten. Now they are in lobster heaven. Or in fact in my stomach.

I have this lovely boyfriend who go lobster fishing every autumn when the season starts the 1st of October. In all this mystery and secrecy he dissapear off to the sea to fish for lobster.

This is photos of our first lobster meal - well a bit arranged. I love lobster - and would´nt be able to buy it from a store. Way too expencive.

It would cost about 600 norwegian kroner, and it´s about $105 for one kilo (2.2 pounds).

The rules for fishing is very strict so every lobster is valued a lot.

This luxury is added with my homebaked bread which takes four hours to make: Even more luxury.

Thank you Geir for making us enjoy this. And for taking all the time, effort and love to make me so happy.

Lobster hugs!!!!!

Thursday 14 October 2010

Completely Nuts

A couple of years ago I was almost diving into a big box of walnuts. Well, it lastet that long that it made the staff looking at me. I picked up one walnut after the other to find the perfect example. And I did.

I had this idea about getting a walnut made in silver with a secret compartment. Since I don´t work in silver (wish I did) I contacted Totto Eide in Mandal where I live.

He is melting and casting base and precious metals in sand and soapstone forms.

His occupation is brazier.

Anyway, he took the challenge, sort of finding it quite fun to make this for me. He´s never had such a strange request...

But I was so happy that someone would help me with my idea.

He used the real nut and some polymer clay to make it a little thicker. He has used sand as a base for the process. 

The nut is in silver made from some of my old jewelry and some he added. To prevent the nut beeing too fragile he made it rather thick.

Well, in fact it weighs about 115 grams (about 4 oz). So if I move too quickly I will kill anyone near me. It´s heavy!


I love this nut - it´s so special and made from a real walnut.

I wish I some day get an almond made as well. I don´t know why nuts are so fascinating to me.

But there´s something about their hard outside and the soft inside.

And of course the fact that they have the secret compartment.

Maybe you´ll like to take a look at the polymer clay walnuts I used for an exhibition about hope?

Thank you for reading - I hope you´ll get a day with a lot of light and hope!!!

Monday 11 October 2010

Word For A Pencil

When I saw the tutorial by Xanthe Walker in the autumn issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry I knew it. I had to make something similar. She uses thrown away pencils, cover them in clay and stamp words on them. They end up as fun and lovely pendants.

I dropped the pencil and went for using polymer clay to create a pencil like form. I stamped words on them and antiqued them with paint. I´m happy about the way they came out. And they are so fun making.

Letters are a powerful tool to use. In fact letters that form words can make peace in the world.

The way we use letters to form words tell who we are and what we value. To me one single word can mean a lot.

The pencil is therefore a symbol to me: They can write words and make a difference to the owner or to someone else.

For this pendant I chose HOPE. The word means so much. It´s what keep us going, what make us creative and can be a precious gift for the people we meet.

Saturday 9 October 2010

Growing Up

Well not me, but my knitting project is growing every day. I love this pattern and that it´s so easy to knit. Can´t wait to see when the seahorse designed by Tori emerges later.

Read more about the seahorse and this sweater project here. 

I´m off knitting some more. Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Welcome To Norway

I live in the most southern part of Norway in a little town called Mandal. The town is by the wonderful coast of southern Norway. Make a cup of coffee and take a trip along the coast in my area. Mandal is shown in the film too. I hope you´ll enjoy it.



Here´s a little map from Google:

Sunday 3 October 2010

Some Chunky Business

The rain has been teeming down and the fog has left the day almost dark. So I got into urging for some colors to make me smile.

So I made this chunky bracelet to remind me that it´s important to keep the summer inside despite the winter is on it´s way.

This bracelet is really not a big thing.

But it´s sometimes so wonderful just finding some bright colors and make something easy to let myself know that I actually made something today.

In addition to the knitting that is.

And it´s easy and nice to make the chunky beads. They don´t have to be alike and I can enjoy that they become beads between my hands.

I love contrasts and put an orange bead into the bracelet. The rest are turquoise, green and purple.

The orange bead reminds me of the moment of making it and that there´s always something positive to see every day.

Even if it´s just the smallest thing: It can make the difference.

Friday 1 October 2010

The Colors Of A Weekend

I wish you all a very happy and colorful weekend. This photo is taken from my veranda - a wonderful rainbow.

I found this qoute I think says it all:

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain there will be no rainbow.
Jerry Chin