Monday, June 13, 2016

STILL LIFE SERIES 2

GARDEN FLOWERS IN JUNE

still life series 2 photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

I'm totally in love with these beauties. The scents, the way they look, how they show their nature. I planted a lot of anemones in spring and finally I have one blooming and you can find it from this arrangement. So happy about it. This is second post of my summer still life series. I will make flower arrangements from the flowers and plants in our garden. 

still life series 2 photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

On Wednesday I will travel to Gotland. My dream comes true and I will take part in Dietlind Wolf's workshop. I love her work. She is THE stylist I've been following and I just can't wait to meet her and be her student. This is something I have waited for so long. If you don't know her work, please go and see it - right now ;) 

I will be posting IG pics from the workshop. You will find me @kreettakreetta

Have a lovely week! 

xoxo 
Kreetta

Saturday, June 4, 2016

MY DIY FROM A BOOK by Laura Iisalo and Melanie Dower

HELSINKI - PEOPLE MAKE THE CITY

a book photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

A very new book of the local life in Helsinki. There are lot of interesting places, people and their stories. I was interviewed in January among other makers and doers.

diy photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

Laura asked me to make a DIY for the book and so I did this: a keep-safe for small metal things - that are always lost like scissors, needles, vintage wine bottle opener ( surely you have one) pins and what ever you can imagine - the keep-safe made from a traditional wooden distaff.

When people got married around 200 hundered years ago, grooms had to carve this kind of wooden precious item to demonstrate their skills to girl they wanted to marry. Well nowadays the meaning is purely decorational. But I guess they aren't so hip at all. That's why I got the idea. They look beautiful but still would you hang it on your wall? I thought these handmade beauties needed a second chance - or life. So I made my magnetic keep-safe DIY.

orange tree photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

Before I go to the DIY I want to tell you a bit of the pic above and my January. There you can see a huge plant and it is from my mom's home. It just arrived few weeks ago to our workspace Työhuone ovi 10.  It's an orange tree she planted in the 1965. She had bought an orange from a grocery shop and thought why not to try to grow an orange tree from its seed and well, here it is - still after almost 50 years. It has always been at our childhood's home and now it will be with me. It's over 2 meters high and I hope I don't kill it. It's my mom's legacy and I really hope I can keep it alive at least another 50 years.

But why I have it?

My mom died suddenly in the beginning of the year and I'm still having a hard time but January was the hardest time ever for me. Unreal, sad, unbalanced and hopeless. So it was wonderful to have a short joyful photography moment with Laura. Most of these photos in this blog post are photographed by her (...and yes I've cropped them, sorry Laura ;) But you have to go and see the whole book - maybe even buy one! It's just lovely combination of interesting stories, places in Helsinki and great photography and it is in English! You can find it here. I can notice I've missed writing - so much to say ;) but now let's go to the DIY.

MAGNETIC KEEP-SAFE DIY

You need: 

a wooden distaff or other beautiful wooden item
a drill - a bit with the flat head with same diameter as your magnet
epoxy glue
piece of leather or thick fabric
something for hanging like metal hanger, hanger made of the leather - use your imagination

photo by Laura Iisalo

First drill the holes. Be careful - measure how deep you can drill without going through the wood. Holes should be quite close to each other.

photo by Laura Iisalo

Mix your epoxy glue.

photo by Laura Iisalo

Put some glue in the hole and put the magnet in it. It doesn't matter which side is up or down - negative or positive. They will try to stick together so take a piece of cardboard or something else to cover those that are drying in place. You have to be quite quick because epoxy is ready in five minutes. So plan first - then do.

Kreetta photo by Laura Iisalo

After magnets are dried in their places glue a piece of leather or fabric on them because small magnets are dangerous for animals and small kids. Magnets stays under the leather if any of those magnets got loose.

Then the last task is to make hanger for your keep-safe. You can make one from metal wire, leather, strong cord or just buy one. Use epoxy to glue that also and after that keep-safe is ready. Time to have a good cup of coffee and let the piece of art dry.

coffee at työhuone ovi 10 photo by Laura Iisalo

I wanted to make this magnetic keep-safe for my favorite scissors because they are always lost. 

DIY photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

I hope you got a very good creative ideas from this. I love to see if you make one. You can find me in Instagram @kreettakreetta so it's easy to just tag me when you do this.

Let's enjoy the moments we have now. Have a creative weekend!

xoxo
Kreetta
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