28 Jul 2011

Retro underwear - forget it.

I went looking for underwear today and I was so very disappointed. If you want something fun and slightly retro it's not out there. If you step outside the black, white, skin coloured and those hideous whole sets with poor boning and too much ruffles of the wrong kind there's nothing. Oh, I need every day bra's, but today was the day when I was going to find something fun. It didn't happen.

After searching the net some I must say that I'm terribly disappointed. Not even the stores marketing retro and rockabilly clothing have any sets or bra's. The odd knickers, but that doesn't help me who is in dire need of new bra's.

27 Jul 2011

The words

Den dagliga kärleken

Kärlek
men inte den som springer
på glödande fötter
till och ifrån snabba möten
jagad och jagande
sårad och sårande
inte den som lever högt på ständigt
smärtsamma avskedstaganden
utan den kärlek
som ger trygghet och vila
som värmer och värnar
och endast har ett enda avsked att frukta:
dödens

Kärlek
men inte den som knappast hunnit stilla sin längtan
förrän en ny uppstår
inte den hetsigt hetsande
piskad av begärens krav
oftast mer plågsam än ljuvlig
inte heller den ångestfulla kärleken
som är rädd att bli bränd
och samtidigt rädd att inte få brinna
utan den milt flödande kärleken
den som vågar vila
och när tid är
störa den utvilade

Kärlek
som är att vakna tillsammans
och möta den blåögda morgonen
att utbyta leenden som värmer
och värnar om den nya dagens framtid
att på resan genom dagen
vila tillsammans på klockslagens små väntstationer
och intaga gemensamma måltider
upplysta av lingonsyltens röda glädje

De dagliga skavsår vi får och ger
den dubbelsidiga smärtan
som värker inom oss
och som vi övervinner hos varann
den osynliga skyddsängel
som kammar ut irritationernas snår
övermättnaden som hotar med tomhet
men botas genom att var och en
drar sig tillbaka till
ensamhetens nödvändiga oas
rätten att vara frånvarande i var sitt drömland
glädjen at vara närvarande i varandras liv -
detta är kärlek.

/Maria Wine

26 Jul 2011

We have a song!


Darling's kid brother will play the guitar and sing. It was an unexpected choice that I stumbled over when we couldn't think about anything and I was out cruising the net for ideas. It's catchy and happy and fits us really well.

18 Jul 2011

Registrar meeting

During the weekend we're going to see the registrar who is going to marry us. This means I'll have to investigate some more what we want, other that "do you take...". The legal part takes 15 seconds at the most so we should have something more. The officiant may have ideas of her own too, so we need to be armed for a discussion and find out what we're going to do.

It sure feels a lot more real when we actually will see her and talk about this.

15 Jul 2011

Scrap made pretty



This is the DIY'ed corsage I'm going to wear. All of it except of the felt in the swallow and the sugar skull are made from left over bits and pieces I had in my boxes.

It turned out better than I imagined and I'm quite pleased.

Robbery!

We need a loo. My parents don't have the regular water closet toilet so we can definitely not use the existing toilet. Not that it's a good idea anyway since our systems aren't built for 40-50 people using the toilet during one evening.

However, it has turned out that the region where I live is twice as expensive as the neighbouring one. TWICE. It means they want 2000 SEK/€210 for ONE DAY. I say it's robbery in broad daylight. Had we had the party in Småland it would have been 1000 SEK/€105. We could have had a trailer with 4 toilets for that price.

On top of that we're having an international scout jamboree beginning in 10 days in the neighbourhood and it ends less than a week before our marriage. There will be a shortage of portable toilets because of this.

It got me thinking. Maybe we should just build something. It's a farm and we have the means to handle shit, to put it mildly. I'm pretty sure we could get away with a lot less than 2000,- if we did, not to mention that it would probably look better too. I think I need to discuss this with mum and dad.

14 Jul 2011

Bettie bangs is going to happen!

Since I decided to go for this rockabilly-ish style on clothes I have been mulling over the hair. Dreads aren't particularly rockabilly, but with a fringe it would still work. However, they're a bit too pricey for comfort. What to do? Check Tradera of course. I managed to get hold of a fringe there for almost nothing.


I have only cut it a bit here. I'll need to style it some more on the day. With my dreads in a tail tucked in under a bandana the whole thing works just fine as a rockabilly hairdo.

The peasant blouse

I have finished the incredibly simple gingham peasant blouse I'm going to wear. Without further ado:


It's short because the jeans I'm going to wear are high waist. Feels great to have it done!

13 Jul 2011

Rock 'n' roll!

No bouquet. I'm combining the elements below in a wrist corsage instead.

11 Jul 2011

Moving forward

I was struck down by a cold 10 days ago which hampered my possibilities to DIY somewhat, but not entirely. The pre-cooking is slowly progressing and the coming week the gumbo base will be all ready. I'm halfway through the tortilla making and today I made the first pavlova base, the meringue on which the whipped cream and fruit will be.

I also discovered that I have calculated the fan bunting all wrong so I had to convert them in to long gathered flag buntings instead. Not a big deal and actually less work.

The tin cans that will become lanterns are in the freezer with water/ice. It has turned to ice but I'm going to wait another day just to make sure they're really frozen. Later this week I'll start making patterns on them with a hammer and a nail.

The one big thing left is the clothes. They lie in the storage room watching me every time I go in there. Once I'm dealing with that I'll be done in two days (giving some time for error here) so I shouldn't be bothered but I am, for some reason.

Yesterday I got myself a fake fringe for next to nothing which I'm hopefully will get tomorrow. The 40's roll fringe will happen, so now I'm officially a rockabilly bride! I'm silly exited about that, because the hair have been a huge issue for me. I wanted to do something different but it's a bit difficult with such a fixed hairstyle as dreads, but with the fringe I'll be able to keep my hair in place and have a great look, all going well with the style of the clothes. Now all I need is a bandana, and that may be more difficult than anticipated. I don't want to pay a ridiculous p&p for one bandana, but it may be a bit tricky to get hold of one in my home town since it's not exactly hip to be wearing bandanas right now.

30 Jun 2011

DIY blankets

In this northern part of the world we always run a risk of getting cold evenings, even in the hight of summer. If we're lucky we get a heatwave with tropical nights, but that rarely happens in August though.

Since we're having an outdoor lounge I figured some blankets would be a good idea in case it gets cold. 8 blankets is the plan. There are more blankets we could use too if needed.

It's the cheapest blanket available at IKEA with the cheapest quilt cover available at the same place. Two blankets and one quilt cover makes two swanky shabby blankets.

Now I have 6 more to make.

29 Jun 2011

Romania? Not quite.

I have 20 fan bunting flags I need to make as decoration for the barn walls. I'm now halfway through the project. The "flags" are sewn together and pressed, ready to have one side gathered and a strip of fabric finishing off the upper side of the flag. Tomorrow I'll start with the gathering which will have to be done by hand because the folds need to be in a certain width for it to work. The hand basting will slow things down a bit. I have no idea how many I can make in one day, but I bet it won't be 15, as I did today.


There they are. All nicely pressed and folded. A good day's work indeed. And I'm blissfully ignoring that it looks like we're celebrating the free Romania. It is the colours of Sweden and Skåne. It'll look less... Romanian, when they're done I'm sure.

28 Jun 2011

I'm done, in several ways

Second day of IKEA shopping and I'm done with it. What a relief. I also went to the textile store next to IKEA in Malmö and got myself some denim fabric and red gingham cotton plus thread, buttons etc. etc. and as I write this the fabrics are being washed so I can start sewing the clothes. Yay! I feel accomplished. And exhausted.

Time to start cutting some fan bunting fabrics!

27 Jun 2011

A bit daunted

After actually calculating how much fabric I now have, I've realised how much I have to do. 20 fan buntings flags (70x125 cm) and 8 blankets. On top of the clothes. And the rest of the DIY. And the cooking. Sigh. I have 47 days left until the event but in reality I have 39 days.

I'm glad I'll be done with the shopping the coming days.

25 Jun 2011

Hairdo musings

I have been messing with my dreads today. I don't have a fringe, something I have regretted not saving when I got my dreads every now and then. Right now I regret it a lot.

Thing is, since I've decided to head in the general rockabilly direction it'd be cool to have a fringe. I can make a back rolled fringe with my dreads, but dreads behave a lot different than ordinary hair does so I'm not sure it will be a good thing to do in the end. A normal fringe would be so much better. Problem is, I don't really want to buy an extension for just one day, and I'm not keen on cutting the dreads around the forehead to get a real fringe.

I like fringes, it's not that, but I've had these dreads for 5 years now. They've been my saving grace when my illness has caused my hair to fall out. I've grown very attached to them.

I'll think about it for a while.

22 Jun 2011

How impossible can it get? Very impossible.

Finding dungarees/bib overalls has turned in to a challenge I didn't foresee. I'll have to abandon that idea unfortunately. They're either ridiculously priced at €315 or too large. I'd drown in loose fit 32', which seems to be the smallest size available.

I'll need to figure out something else obviously. I still don't want a dress. The most offbeat kind of clothing reasonably readily available is rockabilly style clothes, so I've been thinking I could perhaps head that way. I've also decided to go back to sewing again. It takes me about 2 hours to sew a pair of trousers and a peasant blouse takes a lot less. I think I'm going to wear a bandana in classic rockabilly fashion, because I want my hair up and out of the way. Just trying to pin it in to place is difficult because my hair is so heavy. Dreads tend to be. I'll come back to that later.

Jeans in dark indigo with yellow thread seams, higher waist than normal and cowboy style at the back and a gingham peasant blouse (haven't decided whether I should wear navy blue or red), that's what it looks like right now, and considering how close we are, it's got to be the final thing. I'm wearing flip flops or red Converse to this outfit, depending on weather. I have red wellies too if it really gets bad.




It's fairly close to what I had in mind at first. The trousers basically lack the upper part of bib overalls really. Now I only need the patterns and fabrics. Easy peasy.

20 Jun 2011

Spending money

So today I got most if the things I still haven't bought which we need aside from the IKEA stuff.

  • iron thread - for hanging the glass jars
  • brick layer thread - for hanging fiesta bunting and balloons
  • globe party lights
  • wash line - for the ceremony and lounge
  • schnapps glasses
  • coffee cups
  • gunny thread - for the name tags on the glasses
  • plastic tablecloths
  • paper runners
  • plastic forks
Still to go are
  • teaspoons
  • bamboo torches
  • plastic taps
I'm going to get the torches and teaspoons tomorrow and I'll order the taps next week. The first weekend of July I hope we can go to IKEA and get the stuff we need there.

This week we'll finish the cleaning of jars, making dahlia flowers and cutting the bunting. I'll be cocking some more gumbo of course. After the IKEA trip I'll need to sew the flag bunting and the blankets - and continue with the cooking. By the end of July I want everything do be finished, the DIY and the preparation cooking, so there's nothing hanging over my head. I'll need to be able to just clean and put everything up the last week before the big day. I want this to be a good time for everyone and I want to be able to enjoy it.

But oh, am I going to scare the teenagers doing the waiting? Yes I will. But it's not that bad. It's all a rather laid back affair and we could have pulled it off without the 4 or 5 teens we now have. They should be able to handle this without any problem at all. After all, we'll probably only be just over 40 in total without the teens.

15 Jun 2011

I've really started

I have decided to make sugar skulls as cake toppers, but I'm not making it easy for myself. There are no moulds to be found on this side of the Atlantic and we don't have meringue powder either. While trying to figure out just what meringue powder is I stumbled over some sites (selling products naturally) stating using caps lock, YOU CANNOT MAKE SUGAR SKULLS WITHOUT MERINGUE POWDER. Fine, I get it, you need something to bind the sugar.

However, there are other things you can use to bind sugar so meringue powder isn't necessary. It's one thing to want to do it the way they're made in Mexico, and another thing to make a sugar paste so you can make a sugar skull. The key is the sugar and the skull shape, the rest is just... superficial. I'm going to make a sugar paste the way we make it here in this nook of the world and use it to make the skulls. No one's going to eat them or notice the difference anyway. It's going to be interesting.

I've started the cooking as well. The gumbo can be pre-made and kept in the freezer for up to three months, so it's time to start. I'm going to cook another 5 batches the coming weeks and then I'm done with the gumbo. Next thing is the tortilla bread. In July I'm going to make the meringue for the Pavlova cakes we're having and freeze them. The rest is going to be cooked the day before the wedding. It's not that much cooking to be honest, but a lot of dicing, cutting and mashing. In the morning on the wedding day cream will be whipped up for the Pavlova and we're also be making the drinks for the day.

I'm contemplating getting large plastic containers to keep the drinks in until it's supposed to be poured in to the dispensers. They are easier to store that way until it's time to drink them.

Well, it's slowly coming together with two months to go.

8 Jun 2011

New dessert

We have gluten and lactose intolerance among our guests. I knew that one invited person, who have declined, have lactose intolerance but a mild kind, but it turns out that we have more people with these problems.

The dinner isn't a problem. I can make gluten free tortillas and use lactose free crème fraîche and everyone will be happy. The dessert however is a different story. The rocky road I was going to make contains both gluten and lactose. The gluten can be excluded but there's no such thing as lactose free milk chocolate.

Personally I don't like gluten free flour. I have been without gluten for two weeks to check if I had celiac disease and it was a horrible discovery. Baking with gluten free flour is baking concrete. Trying to mimic something for what ever reason, is usually not a good idea, and that's as true with plastic trying to look like wood as gluten free flour trying to be ordinary flour. It's a lot better to embrace the non gluten plants we have and adjust accordingly.

This means I will not make anything containing flour, so no cakes or pies of any kind. And when you think about it, there's a lot of flour dependant desserts out there. Since we have excellent lactose free products these days thanks to Valio, I don't have to exclude milk products as long as it's not milk chocolate.

I still want to make it simple, possible to pre-make and put in the freezer, so what are the options? Meringue can be frozen for up to a month actually, if it's the kind of meringue that has a sticky core, to preserve that chewiness. This means I can make them well in advance and take them out in the morning on the big day.

So what do you get if you combine meringue, whipped cream and fruits/berries? You get Pavlova. Not very southern, but it's a dessert everyone will be able to eat and it's always a huge hit. I still haven't met one who doesn't like Pavlova.


I'm relieved to have found a simple replacement (which actually is cheaper too) but now I have a plate related problem. Need to think about that.

7 Jun 2011

The surroundings

After having the two main problems settled for real, the barn and the ceremony, I have turned my attention to the rest of the space. It's got to have some sort of festive feel to it too.

In front of the barn there's a farmyard (obviously) where people will spend quite some time. Especially the smokers in the congregation, but I suspect everyone will hang out there from time to time.

The plan has all along been some sort of a lounge next to the entrance of the barn. It's going to be quite simple, with a thatched roof of twigs, back against the barn wall, a cast iron sofa, a rattan lounge chair, some blankets, a chiminea, cushions and some rag rug. It'll be decorated with lanterns basically.

There's another spot on this yard where people potentially will sit and that's where the current garden furniture are. With some lanterns hanging from the branches of the chestnut tree in that corner it'll be a bit more festive. Some blankets would be needed as well.

We'll have to have a portable toilet here too, but where it's going to be located isn't decided on yet. There are two possible locations but either way it's going to be somewhat hidden. Not sure how that's going to be solved.

I'm thinking we might need some fabrics and hang them from clothes lines just like for the ceremony on strategic places, but I also came across an image with an idea I liked a lot.


Yeah, the truck is cute, but it's the flags I liked. We don't have a fence like that along the road past the farm but perhaps it could be solved anyway. There's a phone line along the road and the poles can be used and incorporated on the decoration. Not quite sure how yet.

5 Jun 2011

Change of plans

We were at the site where the wedding will take place today. For the fourth time I went up on that field where I thought it would be best to have the ceremony.

The barn is a perfect place to have a party in but there aren't really an ideal place to have the ceremony. The garden had been perfect had the old beech still been standing, but some five years ago my dad cut it down. It was just as well, because it had a rotten core, as most beeches tend to get at old age and they didn't want it to end up on the house.

The field on the other side of the yard opposite the barn was the next place that came to mind. I wasn't very happy with it though. It's vast, and the backdrop isn't stunning, and today when I was out there I kept thinking about that it's a long walk to the best point on the field so the entrance would be very long, plus the fact that people will have to park on the field and also put up their tents there.

I went back to the garden and looked around. It still misses the large tree, but it is well kept by my mum and it has a natural slope and a large lawn. We could put up a backdrop at the lowest point on the lawn to draw attention from the kitchen garden there in the background. Behind the kitchen garden there's a wall of trees so it's all green, which is nice.

This would give us the opportunity to make a good entrance, the people have ample space for the ceremony and the drinks later, and since we have the house on the opposite side of the potential backdrop place in the garden, we can have music without a boom blaster.

So, suddenly it's a garden wedding, not a field ceremony. The backdrop will be different than the one on the field would have been, but at the same time it's more simple.






We'll set up a clothes line, use the table cloths we can find, a small table in front of the backdrop with room for the certificate and some decoration and we're good to go.

4 Jun 2011

Party space

We've got 600 m2 air to fill up in the barn where the festivities are held.That's an awful lot of space and you really have to think big. It's a challenge to make it feel festive without looking silly and tiny and to a very low cost. So, what can you put up there in abundance that hardly will cost you anything? The answer is fiesta bunting and balloons.

When I was in a toy store yesterday they had bags containing 100 balloons for €4.20. I got one bag, then went over to a hobby shop and bought a big pack tissue paper for €10.55. Balloons hanging in string and Mexican fiesta bunting on strings along with some globe string lights will ensure festive light and colour. I have enough tissue paper to make pom pom flowers too for the table decoration, which means we can finish the barn a day or so in advance and concentrate on food the last days instead.

Skulls?

I really like Dia de Muertos. I live in a country where Halloween really isn't celebrated, though the stores try to promote it, and it's damn cold and rainy in October/November. To me the bright, sunny and colourful celebration of your ancestors as you see in Mexico is fascinating and also something to be envied. What's not to like? Colour, celebration, warm weather and skulls?

There are of course cake toppers in the Dia de Muertos theme. I'm seriously tempted.


Sugar skulls like the one above can be found on www.artfire.com.


I like the elaborate ones above but I also like the second one, which isn't a cake topper obviously. I've used her as post card motif for Dia de Muertos the past 6 years. If you pimp her a bit more she'd work really well.

Since you really can't get hold of moulds here I guess I'll need to either make a skull and make a mould or find a suitable one and make a mould. Making the sugar skulls is in itself not difficult, it's getting hold of a mould that's difficult. Well, it can be done by ordering from the US but I have a hunch that the shipping will exceed the price for the moulds far too much.

If you're in the US you can use this internet shop: www.mexicansugarskull.com.

1 Jun 2011

I had the, what I thought, perfect idea for a dress. I designed it and decided on fabrics, ribbons, the lot. Then I left it for 3 months. When I came back to it I realised that though I think it's cute, it's not exactly what I needed nor really wanted. The original plans was a bash. Not a WEDDING. There's a difference there. Actually a huge one.

I don't mind dresses or skirts, so it's not that, it's just that I've left fancy schmancy behind. If I don't have to do dress up, I don't do it. This party was meant to be come as you are. No fancy clothes. And definitely no petticoats. High heels is just plain dumb on a farm and out on a field.

I'm quite simply not going to wear that dress. I will try and find loose fit dungarees, a nice top, sneakers or flip flops if it's too damn hot, and wrap my hair the way I usually do it, and wear some ridiculously large blingy earrings, just as I like it. I can wear that and prepare, get hitched and dance away through the night, which this is all about.

After coming to that decision I felt a lot better about things. Now I only need to find dungarees, which has proven to be difficult. I prefer to try on clothes before buying them but none of the local stores have jeans dungarees. I can only find them on the net. There's no dungaree related crisis just yet though. I'll just keep looking.

31 May 2011

Invitations are out! Printed them on Saturday, wrote addresses on Sunday and yesterday I put them in the mailbox. It feels so official now!

30 May 2011

On it again

Slowly coming back. Last week I realised that we're less than 3 months from our date and it's time to get on with the preparations for the wedding.

It's been a bit painful actually. I was so very content with not having to do anything - yet. But now it's time. Today the invitations went out. RSVP is in two weeks. After that I'll need to start chasing people... There are always some that don't reply but hopefully most will so I don't have to hunt too many down.

The site has been up a long while so no headaches there. The most pressing concerns now after getting invitations out is the paperwork, then I need to take a trip to IKEA. I need fabrics. Then the DIY projects will start. And hopefully we'll be finished in time!

20 Mar 2011

Not. Dead.

I've been super busy with a project and I had to let this planning rest for a while. At the moment nothing much is happening either. It's too early for doing much, aside from what I'm already doing. I have now half the number of small glass jars for drinks that I need and in another 2 months I'll have all (130) of them. Some time in May it's about time to start with the invitations and the dress and from there all the other things will fall in to place.

So right now I'll just keep collecting those jars and cans.

28 Feb 2011

Camping native style

Some of our guests will have to sleep outdoors and somehow we need to solve this. Racking my brain I realised we could use a very simple solution, the teepee. I got the idea after finding a site about a Scandinavian version of the tipi, a dwelling used by the native people of northern Scandinavia. The simple tent version is very similar to a teepee and the suggested materials are easy to find and work with. I think we may have a solution to our housing problem.

25 Feb 2011

Walking down the aisle

We're having a secular ceremony on a field. It's quite open too so you can't really hide when approaching the place where it's supposed to be. It's an awkward and slightly silly situation to have people seated and then having to walk from the farm - alone - while people are looking at you.

There are several solutions. It could be a procession like event when everyone is walking together with music to the ceremony spot. One could also surprise everyone. It's entirely possible to build something that partly obstruct the view and have someone to distract people with some petal throwing and once you're there you blast some music that is dancing friendly from a boom blaster and make your entrance dancing.

The trick is to find the right music.


I love Säkert! and this one would be so right.

24 Feb 2011

The batcomputer is none too frisky today, Batman.

This evening I have been working on Batman and Robin outfits for lollipops. As I mentioned the other day I was thinking I perhaps should have Chupa Chups, mostly because they're so simple and the bright colours go well with the theme in general. Then I spotted the idea to give lollipops superhero looks and decided to make a Batman and Robin outfit for those Chupa Chups. It's of course with the small ears on the mask and the less pointy black bat against a larger yellow background, just as in the original series.

23 Feb 2011

Fake dreads

Some warn people that they shouldn't use wool dreads because they smell like sheep. They may or they may not depending on what kind of wool you use. The more lanolin left in the wool, the more sheep it will smell, especially when wet. The best thing is to choose a yarn which is well processed and with a fussy structure to it. This means a 1 tread yarn very lightly spun. If you use this your wool dreads won't smell more sheep than natural human hair dreads.

I have been making dreads today and I got 6 double dreads out of 1 skein. I have 1 left so I'll get 12, possibly 13 (there were some left on the first skein) 4 ft dreads. Folded in half they will definitely add length (and volume). Once they're all finished I'll fold them in half and sew on hair clips to keep them in place.

Me working on one dread.

For tutorial go here.

22 Feb 2011

Here be dragons - some other day

I have been battling with the little cake topper dragon most of the evening and it's not really a success. One problem is that there are very few free patterns out on the net, so I decided to go for trial and error. It's been mostly error so far but I'm slowly making progress. I will eventually solve this.

I have also bought the wool yarn I'm going to make my fake dreads from. Or some of the wool dreads at least. I haven't decided if I'm going to have some brightly coloured dreads or not. Maybe I should have ribbons instead in bright colours. The yarn I bought today is dark brown and will blend in with my own hair colour. These fake dreads are meant to add more length because though I don't have any real plan yet, I want to have them tied up somehow.

Something like this I think.


Via Offbeatbride.com.

21 Feb 2011

Outdoor inspiration

I have a vision of course. I am a designer so of course I have a vision. It also means I'm constantly looking for pictures that can explain my vision to people around me who are involved in this. Today I found the outdoor inspiration pictures.

This comes from the blog Bohemian Hellhole (a really nice blog if I may say so) and is about the person behind The Custards and her style. And it's spot on, with the colours and the atmosphere.

I won't be able to create that lushness because it is a yard after all, but the flowers will be there. As will the mismatch furniture and colour. I will do my best to make it look as inviting as I can and this picture above will be a great help to explain what I want to accomplish.

20 Feb 2011

Superhero lollipops

Cuteness overload. I was looking at Chupa Chups lollipops the other day thinking it would make a fun little extra treat for everyone. Customizing them would make them even better.






Of course it's entirely possible to do something else, but I really like this one. Or Batman and Robin. That would definitely bring out some laughter.

Go to zakka life for the template.

19 Feb 2011

Long term decoration project

We're fortunate to have a place to celebrate the wedding where we can have slow growing decoration. We will have some summer flowers like sunflowers, marigold and Indian cress among others in borders by the barn, but if you're in a woodland environment moss graffiti might be really cool, and it fits better in that environment than sun loving annuals.


The recipe I was taught when I was becoming a gardener was moss, some soured milk/yoghurt and some water. Whisk the moss and yoghurt well and add water until you get a paint like mixture and use an ordinary paintbrush to paint the surface you want to have moss on. If it's dry you might need to spray it with water. Quite soon you'll see the result of your work.

There's also a beer recipe where you whisk moss with beer, buttermilk and sugar and paint it the same way as with the recipe above. Some recipes say you should use a mixer, but I personally care too much about my mixer to do that.

More pages on the subject:
Stories from space
Inhabitat
Apartment Therapy
Craftzine

There are many other sites out there writing about this. Spreading moss by painting it on objects isn't exactly new knowledge and gardeners have known about this for very long, though it wasn't called graffiti (I dare to say centuries here) but it can never be repeated enough. Go forth and spread the knowledge!

Impressive DIY

Want to try to remake a pair of wedges? In particular a pair of perspex wedges? This is certainly a reminder that even shoes can be seriously DIY:ed, so if you stumble over a pair of sort of cool shoes that could be even cooler with some changes, just do it!


Go to (IN)DECORIOUS TASTE for tutorial for the shoes above.

18 Feb 2011

Dear internet services

Technology is supposed to be useful. When I want to do a headdesk it's not useful.

No love.

Nerdy and absolutely lovely cake topper

It is the cutest topper ever. It made the Offbeat blog today but have been on the tribe for a week or so.

Click on image to go to the blog post on OBB.

And for those who have no idea why this is nerdy I suggest you start watching some Monty Python, especially the Holy Grail one. ;)

16 Feb 2011

Propaganda invitation

It's funny how my mind works. I posted the picture of the Hong Kong couple wearing Red Army uniforms and that got me thinking about classic communist propaganda posters. The Chinese had a certain style on some of them that I really like. Considering our political past, it works too. I chose one that is very typical and copied the worker and the farmer, cut out the soldier (we are only two after all) and gave them our faces (and hair). Done!


I love the little subtle hint with the hammer and sickle! It's also incredibly simple graphically. All I need to do now is to find a good paper! (And have a fight with the printer.)

Invitation inspiration

I'm still looking at invitations.

Click on image to see the full story.

I love this little story of how these two got together. Problem is that it'd be incredibly expensive to do something similar. Not when it comes to making it. I'm a decent illustrator and can finish something like this and print it myself, but the cost of stamps would ruin us.

So, still looking.

Confession: I love flamboyance

Sometimes when I look through the various weddings out there, I get the urge to do something really flamboyant. Crimson dress, feathered headpiece with LED lights, fire show, circus performance... and it would have been great! It's just that I don't have the money to really splash, and since this is DIY from start to finish, I really need to be practical.

I also know that though all of the above is cool, the most important thing is to have people you care about and love around you and to have fun. In my job as a restaurant manager I learned that what matters is the people. The most interesting wedding we had was at the same time a very awkward affair. In the beginning it was stylish and rather stiff but in the end, when the dance started, the South American guests (her side of the family) decided that they'd had it with the stiffness and the stylishness and it became the party it should have been from the start.

I'm actually quite happy we're doing what we're doing. It's just that I'm awed by what some people have accomplished, that's all.

15 Feb 2011

Comrade, lets get married

This is Jordan Chan and Cherrie Ying, a celebrity couple from Hong Kong and this is also one of their wedding pictures. This is nostalgic for sure. In the early 1950's this kind of a portrait of newly wedded communist couples were not unusual in China (one such rather famous one is in the book "Wild swans" by Jung Chang showing her parents in such a photo). 

It's refreshing to see something else than the traditional white dress/suit/lets try and look cute thing.

Via China Daily.

More on light

The other day I posted that I had decided on what sort of light we should have in the barn. Great! I have found a variation on the wheel chandelier idea.

Small ladders are sometimes used as pot racks. Larger ones could be used as lantern holders. I could mix having wheels and ladders, or just having ladders. We'll see what we can find on the farm.

I'm very tempted to get plastic ribbons in various colours and tie in the ladders/wheels too. If I tied them on the wheels on the edge and had the jars inside hanging from the spokes it'd become a really cool lamp/chandelier.

Blankets

We have no idea what the weather will be like in mid-August. Statistics tells us that it should be sunny and warm, but we could have rather bland weather too. The risk of rain is always present but August is usually the best time of the year for planning an outdoor event in southern Scandinavia.

I'm planning for chill at night anyway. Even if it's a warm and pleasant evening and night it's rarely as warm as in July when we can have tropical nights. Inside the barn there will be no need to for something to keep warm, but I'm planning for a lounge area just outside of the barn and some blankets might just be a good idea. These blankets can also be used for the ceremony to sit on.

I'm going to buy cheap fleece blankets from IKEA, and some quilt cover sets, cut the quilt covers so I get two sheets of fabric, sew one fleece blanket together with one sheet and give it a final edge finish with zigzag shears. Quite simple and perfectly in-theme. That's always something to look in to, quilt covers (or sheets). Really cheap ones are often cheaper than buying the same amount of the same kind of fabric per yard, and if you just need fabrics for simple things such as this, it's a good idea to check quilt covers first before looking at other fabrics.

14 Feb 2011

Problem solving - beverage

I have been mulling over how to serve the drink after the ceremony. It's 22.5 litres (5 UK gallons) we're talking about and it needs to be mixed easily, kept cool and be easily served. Jugs? I'd have to have 12-14 (depending on size but extra large) just for the cosmo alcohol drink. That's not practical.

I started looking for dispensers but the only ones I could find were fancy restaurant ones and they're also quite small. 2x8 litre (2x1.75 UK gallons) is the usual size. Too small. I could find larger ones - in the US. And they weren't cheap either. I'm not buying stuff from the US because of taxes and p&p which bumps up the actual price even more.

The home brewers tend to have barrels and plastic containers with taps but though something like that would work, it's not exactly pretty. Sure, I could refer to the moonshine tradition on the countryside, but really, I'd rather not.

However, you can buy the taps separately with nuts. If you can find a suitable container, all you need to do is drill a hole and put the tap on place and you've got an instant beverage dispenser. I'm going to use two 16 litre (3.5 UK gallons) metal trash cans with lid from IKEA. To keep the beverage cool I'm going to throw in freeze packs. This way I'll have fancy looking beverage dispensers with cold cosmopolitan for a fraction of the prices I've seen.

A very important part of a party: food

After eating ourselves through the potential food I can honestly say that we're serving bulk food. The bean gumbo in itself would be enough, but we're also having vegetarian burritos, corn dogs and corn cobs. On top of that it's rocky road. You don't need much to get full. It's good though. Food should not only taste well, but no one should leave a table still hungry.

From the start we had decided on beer, but it's so much trouble with beer. You need so much and somewhere to cool it and it turned out both expensive and difficult to store cold during a party. Wine is easier that way. We're having one simple red and one white, both in bag-in-boxes. Right after the ceremony we're having a jug drink with white sweet sparkling, cranberry juice and Cointreau. It's a lovely raspberry red drink with a cosmopolitan feeling to it, albeit more laid back.

There will be drinks for those who don't drink alcohol. After the ceremony I thought a fitting substitute would be sprite, cranberry juice and some lemon. As for dinner drinks, I'm not sure. We really should have Coca Cola considering the theme, but I suspect Darling won't approve. We'll see. Water must be available at all times of course. You shouldn't have to drink alcohol or soft drinks to quell thirst.

Mushu and piglet

We're not religious and we don't believe that stars decide our personality and what will happen in life. However, it was rather funny to realise that the key personality traits we have, are the traits we should have according to our Chinese zodiac signs.

I'm a pig, homely, crafty, creative and a rather kind and gentle individual who likes to care for people I love with treats and little presents. I really am that way! Darling is a fire dragon. Bold, dominant, brave and passionate, with an air of a male lion in public. He's even up-scaled in size, 6'5 tall and nothing but muscles. If he only was the show a fire dragon can pull off I wouldn't been interested, but he has other, more gentle sides and we have many interests in common and think alike in many areas.

We've been joking about our signs since we found out, which was shortly after we became friends. I call him Mushu sometimes, and he calls me his little piglet.

Today I realised that toppers based on our Chinese zodiac signs would actually be rather fun. I made the little piglet today and will try and make the dragon in a day or so.


12 Feb 2011

The light at the end of the tunnel

I have been going back and forth about how we're going to light up the barn. I've been thinking about party lights, but to get the desired effect we'd have to get quite many and though we have electricity, it'd be a big job solving the cable issue.

Then there's the crafty mason-jar-in-plank solution.


Pretty, but I'd need to get planks and a lot of rope too. And I'd have to saw all those holes. Quelle nightmare. For real.

However, today I saw the perfect solution. Wheels plus mason jars and any other kind of décor I'd like to add.


I very much doubt that I can find wooden wagon wheels on the farm, but I know that there are metal ones from old machinery with decades of patina. I only need to get some wire for the jars and something to hang the wheels in and we're done. I love simple solutions.

11 Feb 2011

Browncoat invitation

I have been working on the invitations. I had decided on the polaroid kind, but there's still time to toy with ideas. Yesterday I crashed my computer working on this:


I embraced my inner nerd. If there's any sci fi series that would work with our theme, it's Firefly. I also made it in English. Thing is that we're inviting a bunch of people who don't speak Swedish and though I've made the site in Swedish and in English, I'd rather not have two different invitations. Everyone knows enough English to understand what the invitation says after all.

I'm going to think about it for a while. I might change my mind again.

9 Feb 2011

Live music

If I could afford it I'd have these guys coming to play at the party.

They're called The Coffinshakers. If you want to know more, go to their website.

8 Feb 2011

Quickfix when the wallet is empty

I would really like a sleeve. Or two. Well, I have two arms after all. However, money's tight so I'd never be able to pay for something like that before the wedding. Besides, it takes some time to make one too and I don't feel like stressing about it either.

There are solutions though. There are henna tattoos, an ancient way of decorating skin. I won't call it mendi because this technique is found from Morocco to China, and it's called differently depending on where you are.

There are also fake tattoos in the shape of polyester/spandex sleeves. I'm seriously tempted to wear that. If I did get those I'd have to reconsider the sleeve I was going to have on the dress because the tattoo sleeve will end somewhere just below that dress sleeve and that's not very pretty.

The only on-line store I've found in Europe who sells these is found in the UK (of course) and is called Space Monkeys.

7 Feb 2011

Cool shoes

Shoes are evil.


I want these. Iron Fist Oh No Wedges. They're on sale on a UK site in my size.

5 Feb 2011

The final version

I'm going to wink at Star Trek. The yellow dress I found is typical for the late 60's with it's experimental cut. The Star Trek uniforms are equally famous for original cut. Well, not the Star Trek Enterprise then. I don't want people to think "oh, that's a Star Trek dress" so I have decided to not do the two colour thing in the dress. I'm choosing a yellow fabric, but I'll cut the neckline in the asymmetric way Uhura and nurse Chapel's dresses are cut. I think that's the only real detail I need for those who knows their Star Trek to squee. The dress itself has a cut reminding you of a Star Trek uniform tunic from the early The Next Generation era so I really don't have do anything else.


I also found the colour scheme for the petticoat. It'll be a strong pink/raspberry red kind of a colour in soft tulle. I think I'm going to nick the idea to tie small strips of aqua tulle to the pink tulle, just like this tutu I spotted on Etsy. Without further ado:


I found the image below as a colour inspiration. I'm also wondering if I should find a polka dot ribbon, a rather wide one, to add to the tulle. I have to be careful though so I don't make it too full, because I'm not making a squaredance dress. I just want some ruffles because it's candy fun.


4 Feb 2011

Sleeves! And a complete design.

I think I have the design now. I only need to decide on the colours. Yellow is wonderful. Do I use it alone or do I add another colour? Navy? Cerise? And that crochet I was thinking about, will I use that idea? I'd rather not think about that now. But having decided on the design is a great step since I can now go ahead and make the pattern and make a dummy.


I'm going to use the sleeve design above. This is a top from Banana Republic which they sold in 2008. Those along with the cut on the vintage 60's dress from this post and some tweaks on width, length, and neckline and adding pockets will be the final design.

3 Feb 2011

Back to the food

I have worked on the menu some and cooked one course. I found a vegetable gumbo with rice that sounded tasty and tried that one. After tweaking the recipe some I must say that it's a winner. Problem though is that okra isn't easy to get hold of here. They're not spectacular in any way and I don't need it to thicken the gumbo so I could leave it out. The thing that gives it the gumbo taste is the roux after all. IMO anyway. We'll see what I end up doing.

We're still having the corn cobs and the corndogs, though I haven't made a trial of those yet. I've caught a cold and cooking isn't a high priority right now. The rocky road is still on. However, I kind of want something more for variation. American food is generally not very vegetarian oriented, it's basically all about meat, meat, meat and some seafood every now and then. However, it's a different story south of the Rio Grande. Burritos? I think so. It's something people eat all over the South too, though it's imported from Mexico.

Tortillas are again easy to make and keep in the freezer. They cost very little when you make them yourself too. Fried potatoes with a chilli sauce, tomato and onion salsa, guacamole, cucumber sticks and kidney bean salsa were the things I was thinking about having to fill the tortilla bread with. In the gumbo we have black beans so I'm trying to vary the bean assortment here. The one thing that has to be made the same day is the fried potatoes, but that something anyone could do. The other things even get better if they're kept cold over night. Well, the cucumber is best cut up the same day too. I think this will have to do actually.

Original gumbo recipe can be found at Meatlessmonday.com

2 Feb 2011

Sunshine!

I think I may have found the dress that will make the foundation of my design.

I'm not going to buy this one though it's a lovely dress. It's too short, and the skirt isn't wide enough IMO. But I love the cut and I can see myself adding pockets to it. A girl has got to have pockets! I'm not going to keep the sleeves and the neckline needs to be lower, but not too low though. Not too long, too short, no décolletage, easy to move around in.

The colour is lovely. That navy is getting more and more difficult to justify. I could have the bottom part of the dress in navy, but the problem is that it might look like I'm wearing an apron. Or possibly too Star Trek-ish. I'm NOT doing geek things here. I'm such a sci fi nerd but star Trek just don't belong in this.

Dress from Beautvintage.com.

1 Feb 2011

Colour!

I've been looking a bit on Etsy.com today, mostly because I'm in need of some inspiration. There are many pretty things to look at over there. For a splash of colour (and things to pull inspiration from), have a look at these! Click on images to go to the shop in question.