This month on emuse

This month has been all about Nordic inspired crafts!

I started off by telling you a bit about my obsession with Nordic knitwear, and showed a card based on this.

Then came a whole week of Dala horse posts:

My Dala horse collection

Staining a Dala horse

Hexagon saddle for a Dala horse

Dala horse cards

Felt Dala horse hanging ornaments

Dala horse brooches

Dala horse carved stamps

I showed you some of my recently thrifted items including a Norwegian dish, I made a picture with my knitwear-inspired carved stamp, I reviewed a sewing book, talked about Moomins (and showed some fun photos of my Moomintroll toy). I talked about Swedish and Norwegian painted designs, and about my trip to Norway.

I showed how to make a fun Tufty ornament, stamps based on the Bergen street Bryggen, some Hama bead Christmas ornaments, some painted wooden hearts inspired by Swedish painting designs, an Ikea based pattern, and a doll's bag. I also showed some random Scandinavian stuff I have, and my display at the end of the month of some of my Nordic crafts and other items. I also showed my delicious lingonberry cocktail!

My non-Nordic posts this month have been about my porch makeover, and how to make a Remembrance Day poppy for a doll.

This month I have been mostly…

Listening to:

I love my Scandinavian Melancholy playlist, and it's been getting listened to a lot this month! It includes the theme tunes of The Killing, The Bridge, the UK version of Wallander, Broadchurch (not Scandinavian but inspired by the Killing and the theme tune is by a Scandinavian), some tracks from Wallander, a cover track by Norwegian singer Ane Brun, and another track by her that was played a lot in the final series of Wallander. This is actually a cut-down version of the playlist I have on my phone, which has much more.

And, I've got hooked on Serial! For those of you who don't know, this is a podcast presented by an journalist looking into a murder that happened in 1999. It's really fascinating, and really seems to have become popular by word of mouth. I binge-listened to eight episodes in two days, and now I can't wait for Thursdays when each new episode is released! It's also given me an interest in listening to other podcasts (I find they are great when I'm doing my crafts, easier to follow than a TV programme would be when I'm doing something like that). So I'm trying out a few other podcasts too.

Selling:
Lots of my craft items at a little craft fair I organised at work!

Reading:

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, though)

The Moomin books by Tove Jansson (which I love as much as ever!)
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (enjoying it a lot so far)

Wearing:

My collection of Nordic knitwear!

Nordic display

I put some of the items from this month together into a display!

Here is another little display at the other side of the room too!

Painted hearts

When I found these wooden coasters at a car boot sale, I beat Mum to them by a second! Here's what I did with them. The design is based on traditional Scandinavian paint techniques.

1. Draw round a coaster and work out a design.

2. Cut out the design and use it as a stencil.

3. Drill a hole in the top of each coaster.

4. Paint the design.

5. Add a ribbon to the top. 

These hearts were a real hit at a little craft fair I had at work! It's a pity I only had four of them as I could have sold twice as many!

 

Scandi miscellany

Here are all the random things I didn't have time to fit in anywhere else this month! Above you can see some cool things from Mollie Makes magazine, including an article about collecting Dala horses, and a Scandinavian cushion. The Dala horse cake is in the calendar that was in the latest magazine I bought, and that issue also had a lot of folklore themed items that would have fitted in well with my Nordic themed month.

This little wooden pot from Alesund in Norway was found on the 50p table at an antiques market. I can see that it originally had a painted design on the top which I would like to try to restore. The little dish by Royal Copenhagen of Denmark shows Arhus Town Hall (Arhus Radhus). I bought it because the building reminds me of the clock at the town centre of my town!

This is a gorgeous little retro craft book that I picked up at the Christian Aid book sale in Edinburgh. It's in Danish, but the instructions are fairly easy to understand. The projects include an embroidered horse, an elephant cushion, a fuzzy knitted Scottie dog, and a cat money bag.

I really meant to make some recipes from these cookbooks this month!

This book isn't really Scandinavian, but the cut paper designs in it have a very Scandinavian feel to their designs.

Kurbits and Rosemaling

This week I’m hoping to show you a few projects based on the traditional Scandinavian designs of kurbits (from Sweden) and rosemaling (from Norway). So first I thought I would show you some items from around my home that illustrate these designs.

The little bowl was one I bought when I visited Norway in 1992. It’s a lot more simply painted than most of the items I saw in Norway, but I couldn’t afford anything bigger or more elaborately painted at the time!

The larger bowl is one that I found in a charity shop a few years back, and it has a lot more detail in its design. I love the teal and orange colours of it.

This heart hangs in my bathroom, and was a cheap find at a charity shop. I don’t think it’s Scandinavian, but it has a similar design.

Lingonberry cocktail

Here's a delicious cocktail that I made ages ago! It uses lingonberry syrup which can be bought from Ikea. Lingonberries are very widely eaten in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries.

It was also one of the first cocktails I made using Hendricks Gin - I must admit that I was mainly attracted by the gorgeous bottle!

Ingredients:

Gin

Lingonberry syrup

Raspberry lemonade

Ice (I used heart-shaped ice)

Mint leaf

Doll's bag

This bag has a touch of Nordic simplicity in its design, but it's actually based on a full-sized one in the book Zakka sewing by Therese Laskey and Chika Mori.

1. Cut a piece of felt, about 10cm x 5cm

2. Cut a cross shape from white felt and sew this in the middle of one half of the felt.

3. Fold the felt in half (with the cross to the inside) and sew up the sides. Turn the right way out.

4. Cut two lengths of leather thong.

5. Pierce the leather with a sharp object.

6. Attach the leather straps to the bag with small paper fasteners.

You can make another style of bag by sewing felt flowers and a bead on the front of the bag, and gluing the straps to the inside.

Fun with Moomintroll!

I've been having a bit of fun with the Moomintroll toy I bought on my 40th birthday a few years ago - he's been wearing a few disguises!

The Snork Maiden!

Moominpappa!

Moominmamma!

Snufkin!

The Groke!