CREATIVE FLOWER WORKSHOP

A DAY WITH FLOWERS, PHOTOGRAPHY AND DELICIOUS FOOD

Welcome to see bits of last Sunday when we had our relaxed creative day with flowers at työhuone ovi 10. 

We made Creative Flower Workshop together with lovely and talented Laura Syväniemi from Lovejunedesign. A day was combination of making a flower arrangement, photographing it and having a delicious lunch and dessert by my dear workspace colleague cook and book author Meri-Tuuli Lindström.

Getting to know chicken wire. 

It's amazing how silent it can be when all the ladies are concentrating in creating the flower arrangement.

From the Laura's gorgeous flower bar students could take so many beautiful flowers. 

It has been super fun to plan and make the workshop happen with Laura. Here she is telling about roses. Flowers have their own nature. Some of them are very fragile, some very straight, some very difficult to maintain and the list is endless. There are lots of things to learn. I wish I had made my 10 000 hours already but no - I'm in chapter one.

It's amazing to see how different the flower arrangements are from same flowers. I have arranged already quite a few flower workshops since August 2016 and not in any of them people made the same. I think we bring a lot of our personality to our work and I think that is wonderful and THE thing. We can be creative in so many ways. In workshop we try to support students own creative process. For me one very important thing in creating is feeling relaxed. I sure you it makes things easier with better result. But we all have our own way to create so whatever works for you - use it.

Be never hungry when creating - that is almost my rule number one. I get easily distracted if I am hungry not forgetting I need a good music while working.

This pic above is a beautiful flower arrangement by it's creator. But when you bring it in front of the camera there are some things you see more clearly. It's different if this arrangement would be on the party table. It's backround isn't so clear and it's looked at from almost every angle. In photo you can see only one side. Together with student we made it ready for the photo. I try to help student to see the problems or the challenges in the arrangement when we are photographing it. We try to balance and shape the work as beautiful as possible.
 

See the difference?

This gorgeous flower arrangement is by Eeva.

I hope you enjoyed the post. Maybe even got excited about flowers? You are always very welcome to our flower workshops. We don't just make a flower arrangement, we want to create a full relaxed and creative experience for you. After the workshop you have a beautiful flower arrangement, a pic of it in your camera or phone, great experince of tasty food and hopefully your mind is relaxed and full of inspiration.

Quite nice don't you think?

Thank you for all our lovely students!

  
Have a lovely weekend <3

xoxo
Kreetta 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

WREATH LOVE

Time for peace and tranquility. A present for a dear friend.

Filling your soul with beauty. Nourishing your body with delicacies.

Memories to remember.

Dearest and beloved ones around.

 

"It's Christmas time, and there's no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and banish shade
And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy

Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time."

Band Aid 1984
Songwriters
Bob Geldof, Midge Ure

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Kreetta

FLOWER PHOTOGRAPHY

UPDATING PORTFOLIO

During the last two years I've been photographing more and more flowers. I've always loved flowers but somehow woke up and decided to go more that direction. First I started with natural flowers during summer 2014. Played a bit more during summer 2015. I've made ceramic flower frogs and used them with flowers and my blogger friend Igor Josif from the blog Happy Interior blog also blogged about my frogs last year before X-mas. You can find plenty of flowers in my blog very easily.  

Because I want to learn more I decided to do something about it. I have started to organize flower workshops this autumn. I have talented florist Hanna Piippo teaching the flower arrangement and I am teaching and helping students to take a good photo of their arrangement. When people takes the arrangement home it might not be in same condition anymore. A lot of people have only iPhone or other smartphone but you can make quite nice pic with phone too. The light and location just have to be very well chosen and light have to be quite soft.  

When you are making a flower arrangement it depends on the purpose how you should make it. For example if you only take a photo of it, you don't have to make it look good from every angle. You can cheat a bit but it is always good thing to keep in mind that you don't learn if you cheat. If you make it as a table decoration then you really have to think that it looks good from every angle. If the arrangement is in front of a wall you can also cheat a bit and not to use so many flowers in backside I think. So it is important to think where and how you are going to use your flower arrangement. Of course it is always better if you make it look good from every angle. Then you have alternatives how you want to show it. I made this arrangement to look good from both sides. It is my first one (I can show you) and managed to do so but this is very much learning by doing. Actually I like the second side (the first pic) better than the first side I made first. 

These photos I updated my portfolio. There are other flower photos too and you can find them all here.

Next weekend we are going to have Christmas flower workshop. It is already fully booked but you can follow how I build the photography backround and props for it in my Instagram @kreettakreetta and of course there will be #instastories and pics from the workshop too.

I hope  you a very calm and lovely weekend !

xoxo

Kreetta

MY DIY FROM A BOOK by Laura Iisalo and Melanie Dower

HELSINKI - PEOPLE MAKE THE CITY

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.

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.

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

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.

Mix your epoxy glue.

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.

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.

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

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

NATURAL DYE EASTER EGGS WITH RED CABBAGE

EASY EASTER DIY - BLUE EGGS

How are you? I hope you have had a very pleasent weekend and energy for coming week.  

I've spent my day making things I haven't had time or things I've been too lazy to do before...I read a book. Made finally a bird house from recycled wood. It's very bohemian looking, I have to say ;) Played with red cabbage and eggs because during this weekend I found a very beautiful pic of blue colored eggs in Instagram @minorgoods. They had made many shades of blue but me - usually I go with the flow and want to have things ready - so mine are just same blue. Although I left two of these eggs still in colored water. I will see how they look tomorrow. 

But this is the blue you get when you natural dye your white eggs with red cabbage. Isn't it amazing?

HOW TO 

You need white eggs, red cabbage, water, salt and white wine vinegar. 

First cook the eggs. I made 4 eggs 

Then I make the color water. I used 1 litre pot and used a bit less water and filled the pot with red cabbage, 1-2 tbsp white wine vinegar and one tsp salt. Let it simmer for 15-20 minutes and after that let it be for awhile like 10 minutes.

Meanwhile decorate your eggs. I used candle wax to make the pattern. I used those small birthday cake candles, they are great to draw. I also used lace. I wrapped it around the egg and sew it enough tight that the water can't get under it and one without masking.

I put the eggs in colored water (it looked strong purple) for few hours and look - they are all blue. 

Take them away when you are happy with the color. Deeper color needs more time. 

That's about it. You can eat the eggs even though the color is maybe reached the inside. All is natural. 

What do you think? Are you making these for your Easter dinner table?

xoxo

Kreetta

HOW TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL FLORAL PARTY DECORATION

FLOWERS IN THE JAR

Phew, this week has been so busy with 4 photoshooting days. We used flowers with all those  cookies, desserts, chocolate. I decided to make a blog post about one flower decoration we used. Actually this idea was born a bit before Christmas with my sister Kristiina at their beautiful Ryti-talo. There were Christmas handmade market and I needed decoration for my table and then she brought a very big class jar. I had been making flower frogs during the autumn and we got an idea to use them in the glass jar and I really have to say that way you can make magic with flowers and glass jar. 

It's very simple. You need a big glass jar. Mine were at least 20cm high but still I think that was too small. The other one - you can see above - is 30cm high. That was ok but I love to use bigger one! It's a lot of easier to put your arrangement in the jar if you have a bigger one or very small hands. I bet we all have a lot of glass jars and I'm quite sure that some might be quite big like those very old ones you've got from your mom, grandma, bought from antique shop or flea market. 

You need a flower frog. There are many kind of flower frogs but for example I have made mine from ceramics. You don't have to make, you can buy one. I have some vintage flower frogs too but this time I used my own design. You can find frogs from Etsy, vintage shops, flower shop or you can also use metal ikebana flower frog if you don't mind the look. Then you need flowers and water of course. My flower frog is open underneath so the flowers get the water.

This flower frog is my raku ceramics. The holes are too big for one thin waxflower  (it's one of my favorites!) but you can put several different kind of flowers in one hole. If you like my design, please don't hesitate to ask me if you want have a unique handmade ceramic frog. Usually I make normal ceramic - not raku. But this one I made last autumn in raku course. 

It's all about imagination. You might have plenty of ideas but you can also go through Pinterest and look for arrangements that inspires you or you can go and see beautiful floral feeds in Instagram like The_Greengallery, Joflowers, Hattieflower, Stilzitat, Flowerona, li.sense.a and many more. I had a lot of pink ranunculus so my arrangements are very romantic and a bit slavic this time.

When you get your arrangement ready you can put it carefully into the jar. But remember to put enough water. Or if you want them as wilted and enjoy of dried flowers  - forget the water.

These flowers are a promise of a spring. Hooray! Light you are so welcome! If you make a flower arrangement in the jar, love to see it! You will find me in Instagram @kreettakreetta just tag me and I'll come to see  your flower jar :)

Have a lovely Sunday!

xo

Kreetta 

ps. Happy Interior blog by Igor Josif made wonderful post about my ceramic flower frogs. 

Go and see his blog :)

HOW TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER ARRANGEMENT

CERAMIC FLOWER FROGS

How are you? It's been awhile I've been blogging here. I will show you this time my ceramic flower frogs I made before the Christmas. You can use them in making a beautiful flower arrangement. I was also honored to be featured in Happy Interior Blog by Igor Josif. Go and stop by his lovely blog and read the story about these flower frogs. I won't write the same story here.  Instead I write something very personal. But Igor wrote a very nice story. Thank you so much Igor!

You might know that my mom has suddenly past away two weeks ago. I'm feeling a bit better but still I am in the middle of mourning my mom. It's amazingly difficult to accept to losing her. I'm also sad about her life - not continuing. It is still unreal and somehow I only see her smiling in my eyes and I almost wait to see her when I go to her home. But no, we are going to have her funeral on next Friday. This time has been hardest ever for us. I love her so and I have decided to make funeral flower arrangement for her by my own hands. I'm sure it helps me on the way to accept that her death is part of life. We all have our own way of dealing with sorrow. I have to make things to feel better. I'm going to bake too like she did a lot because I feel I got my talents from her and I will use them to make her never forgotten. 

I already bought the base for the flower arrangement and next I will go to Pinterest find the flowers I want to use in my arrangement. After that I will order them from florist and of course because it's the winter time there might not be flowers like peonies. Peony is one of my mom's favorite flowers but also roses were deeply in her heart. I try to make a photo of the arrangement and show it here but I don't promise anything because it might be too hard task on the funeral day.

I want to make a flower arrangement to be a bit like poem. I've never done one before so it will be my first one. But it is the most important one too. This pic above is from my mom's hands in August 2014 when I had my birthday party in our garden. I invited women from my family and friends to make a flower garland with me before the party began. It was great fun even though I was so so excited that I could not concentrate to make it myself, funny. But I enjoyed a moment with my dear people around. That was enough for me. Also the birthday party was very lovely and I have very good memories of that. We danced the summer night away in the garden - my mom, me and all the lovely people.

I wish you a very cosy and happy Sunday!

xoxo

Kreetta 

ps. If you want to see the blog post about the flower garland you will find it here.

EASY CHRISTMAS DECORATION DIY - SIMPLE WHITE ORNAMENTS

HO HO HO BAKING SODA DOUGH!

I saw this DIY in Facebook by Kodin Kuvalehti. It is really simple and easy. I don't know if you are a bit like me...I have always a bit hurry before Christmas when I start to get these crazy ideas what I like to do before and for the Christmas...this time I got plenty of time to make these because they are so easy. That is a very very good thing, I think. Photographing them today was the hardest part. We have sooo low light at the moment but luckily I have a tripod.

First you make the baking soda dough. This recipe is from Kodin Kuvalehti.

INGREDIENTS

1dl corn starch

2dl baking soda

1,25dl pure water

Combine ingredients in the pot. Boil over medium heat until the mixture starts to thicken into the smooth texture. Remove from the heat. Put the damp cloth over it. Let it cool for awhile. The important thing is to have enough moisture in dough. It's hard to make pretty ones when the dough is too dry. So keep your dough moistured. I kept mine in damp cloth and in a plastic bag waiting for baking. But this dough is the easiest ever to bake. Thickness of the dough should be about 5 mm and use spatula in lifting your pretty ornaments on to the baking sheet.

MAKE YOUR ORNAMENTS WITH

rolling pin

cookie cutters

plastic or wooden board (you can use plastic wrap around the wooden board like I did)

stick to make holes

spatula

baking paper

texture from different kind of things (this part is my favorite!) like I used dried poppy seed pod and pearl necklace. Never ever use the most obvious - that is my motto, I admit.

There have to be also a reason why to make a DIY. I need these ornaments for the Christmas present tags. We have made some homemade preserved ginger pears. Some of you are going to get them - some not. This is our first year with these so either other way you might be lucky.

After you have baked your ornaments, they go to oven or you can also let them dry over night in a room temperature. But as I said I'm always a bit hurry (and impatient) to wait for the result so I baked them in oven in temperature 75 C degrees about one hour. Depends on how thick they are. I guess that's about it. Of course you can play with colors from spices or water colors or proper food coloring but I liked pure white. Simple.

So off you go and have fun with your family and friends! Make many beautiful ornaments. 

It's time to Wish You A Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Kreetta

ps. You will find me in Instagram @kreettakreetta

 

NEW CERAMICS + iPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS MARKET AT RYTI-HOUSE

Weekend is here. So great. Tomorrow I will be at Ryti-house in Huittinen. It is my sister's family's place. I have all packed and hope we are going to have a great Saturday full of Christmas feeling. There will be traditional Christmas Market. I will be selling ceramics like flower frogs, vases, pendant, small cake stands and bowls and small paintings and small prints of my photos taken by iPhone. They are super cool :)

I wish you a beautiful weekend and maybe we see at Ryti-house tomorrow!

xoxo

Kreetta

ps. Christmas Market is on Saturday 11.12. from 11 am to 17 pm address Raskalantie 218, Huittinen. See the FB event here.

FLOWER CHANDELIER DIY

MAKE A BEAUTIFUL PARTY DECORATION

New summer is here. There are flowers everywhere. I truly have waited for this. Let's make something very beautiful! But before that I tell you a bit how I got this DIY idea. For sometime now I've been following in instagram one talented lady Juliane who makes #onebouquetperday - Fröken Skicklig. 

Once again she makes her sweet and delicate bouquets. Everyday there is a new one and so many different kind of flowers. She made a challenge in IG to join her and I decided to take the challenge and begun my #oneflowerchandelierperday for one week. But I thought I want to make also a blog post for you to enjoy. So here comes my flower chandelier DIY.

You need:

unadorned lampshade, size is up to you like amount of them
flowers
string/thread/thin iron wire
scissors
clear floral plastic water tubes for flowers/floral foam if you choose to use them