Jewellery trees

Went mushrooming last weekend and found some cool branches.

1. Collected pretty branches and took them home

2. Cleaned them and snapped off any brittle bits

3. Drilled and glued a few together

4. Slapped on a few golden paint highlights

5. Popped some wooden beads on the ends of a few branches

6. Hammered to a painting easel 

(long story involving some very slow drying clay and a failed attempt at making a clay stand) 

7. Hung some bracelets and necklaces from it

It would look really cool on a wall as well, 

but I have no available wall space on walls that aren't rock hard cement..

Here's a ring holder I made a few years back, also added some beads to it yesterday:

And of course this would look really cool au naturel, sans paint and beads!

Plates, teacups and candle sticks have many uses!

Plates as candle holders

Plates + candle sticks & small vases as earring holders

...and they can hold other stuff as well:

Plates + candle sticks as cupcake and treat holders:

Teacups and pots as planters:

Teacups and bowls as bits-n-bobs holders:

And plates, cup and things just looking pretty and having no particular purpose:

Bookworming part deux

Books glorious books!

As much as I love reading them, I also love decorating with them.

My level of skills in this latter department is still in it's baby shoes, but for example the table I saw at Habitare sparked my old book hoarding again!

In my apartment as it is the book table (literally) would look a bit cramped and in want of a better word, fuddyduddy, but maybe in some more open space (i.e. less clutter) it would look really cool!

But I might sill give it a go, if I find enough pretty books to make it with.. which shouldn't be a problem with Kierrätyskeskus close by...!

Here's where most of my pretty old books are at the mo:

I found another old school book (similar to these ones) from KK as well, check das aus:

Kasvioppi (= plant study) from 1959

Previous owners:

Dinosaur ferns, dryopteris:

Ornamental plants:

Waterlily:

Wood anemone:

I've never thought of potato as a particularly pretty plant, but look! 

I think I have to frame this and have it in my kitchen, so pretty:

What humans see as a weed, dandelion:

 Peas in a pod:

And last but not least, build me up buttercup (our theme song during fieldwork periods in Lapland)

I love the dainty colours and nature theme combined with the schematic way of drawing. 

And the font is really nice as well.

Lovely!


+

hilarious (well, I thought so...) picture from the same book:

It reads: What a school boy would look like if he was offered plant nutrients instead of a meal. 
And there's a bottle of carbonic, a glass of water and a plate of salt in front of him.

Snorty guffaw!

This pokes my dorky-science-humor button.

Habitare

Went to the Habitare show yesterday, a furniture, interior decorating and design fair, 

and I found some inspiration for future projects and just fun ideas in general: 

there are some very creative people out there!

A lamp made out of light bulbs. 

Which doesn't sound ground breaking, and it's not the first lightbulb light I've seen, but still fun:

 I've got a (growing..) selection of pretty old books myself, here's a fun way of utilizing them 

(the button wall is a cute idea as well):

I could live in this bed. So comfy looking. 

And I love the braided pillows on the wall, 

the big is is cool too, but kind of looks like a... well, a braided turd. 

But an awesome braided turd at that:

(they also look like giant, fat tentacles waiting to choke me when I fall asleep.. well, at least they'd be soft..!)

Boxes on walls is always cool:

A different kind of wooden floor:

Love love love this idea: rakes as hangers! Want.

This room was super cute.

 Love the white tree, love the pillow made out of a rug (on the floor) and the closet in the corner has a cool idea behind it (and foxes are the best!):

Hardware text:

There was also an interesting exhibition in the show area:

 time traveling from the 50's to the 00's in Finland:

 Designer wallpaper from the 50's, I thought the birds had really funny expressions...

Finnish design: chairs from the 50's!

A living room from the 50's, me likey:

...and one from the 60's. Love the vinyl holder!

 Pretty glassware and others things:

I'm hoping to bump into this print sometime at the Kierrätyskeskus:

 Cassiope tetragona, Vaccinium vitis-ideae and Trientalis europaea, awesome!

 Prints! Colours! Seventies!

A hip and happening 70's room, check out that white chair thing! 

Cool idea with the clips and lp covers on the wall as well. 

80's. Wow. What a decade.

....

What a Fatboy is doing in a 90's Finnish design room is a mystery to me..

at least there's a brick of Nokia on the table!

And the final room, a room from the 00's. Meh.

Cool show and cool ideas. For dessert, (real) birch wallpaper from the 00's

Vintage, man.