Swedish Blogs

Oh Scandinavia, what's not to love? The landscape looks like Canada, but with cuter houses. Last spring my daughter Kate visited Scandinavia when she was doing her study abroad term in the UK (that's her photo above of Copenhagen). She fell in love with Scandinavian style. I have always loved Scandinavian interiors and Kate introduced me to their streetstyle. 

Scandinavian design is famous for its simplicity and use of natural elements. Their interiors tend toward light neutrals. In particular, you see lots of white with a subtle use of colour in their homes. The clothing also tends toward neutrals, but usually more the darker colours. They also embrace function both in interior design and fashion - flats and Chelsea boots prevail rather than sky-high heels and minimalist, well-curated, organized collections on open shelves rather than cluttered sideboards. It is a look I love (although not necessarily one I can master - especially the organized, curated, minimalist part).

Kate asked if I knew any good Scandinavian lifestyle and decor blogs so she can continue to be inspired by their style. I have been doing a little digging for her (I mean what's a mother to do) and have come up with some, but I was wondering if anyone else had other Scandi blogs they could recommend. 

These are the ones I found that appealed to me - some traditional and some more modern; some home decor and some lifestyle (click on the name of the blog to check out the blogs themselves):

My Scandinavian Home - written by a British woman living and raising a family in Sweden. I love her style and her choices of homes that she features. 

My Scandinavian Home

Live Like You - written by Jill Sorensen, a Swedish decorator who now lives in California, but returns to Sweden every summer and is decorating a home in the country.

Jill Sorensen

Vibeke Design - a Norwegian blog (written in Norwegian) which focuses on more traditional Scandinavian decor including her own home in the country.

Vibeke Design

Flying House - a blog written by an American mom of three living in Denmark (although they are in presently in the US for six months).

Flying House

Design Attractor - written by a graphic designer from the Czech Republic who loves all things modern Scandinavian.  He features home after beautiful minimalist Scandinavian home.

Design Attractor

Love Nordic - written by a British woman who loves all things Nordic (do you see a theme here of some of the best Scandi blogs written by people who don't live in Scandinavia).  This blog leans toward modern interiors and features Scandinavian industrial design.

Love Nordic

Marsipan og Smilefjes - a Norwegian blog, written in Norwegian, which features more simple modern country design with lots of natural elements mixed in.

Marsipan og Smilefjes

Emmas Designblogg - her byline says it is Scandinavia's oldest and most read design blog. So there you have it. She writes in English which is helpful to me as my Swedish is nonexistent and she is the author of the bestselling book Northern Delights about Scandinavian design. She favours minimalist modern designs. 

Elisabeth Heier - a Norwegian blogger, writing in Norwegian, with some English at the end of each post and lots of photos of her beautiful modern white home.

Elisabeth Heier

Decordots - a blog written by a woman from Estonia who loves all things Scandinavian.  She has a good design sense and features beautiful homes.

Decordots

Nordic Bliss - A Norwegian woman living in the UK (now there's a twist) and writes about Scandinavian design.

via Nordic Bliss

Scandinavian Retreat - a design blog written by a Norwegian blogger who writes about how they transformed their seaside cabin and are now building a home near Oslo.  That's her gorgeous cabin in the photo below. She also features other Scandinavian homes and design.

Scandinavian Retreat

Stylizimo - a blog from Norway (just guessing by the tiny Norwegian flag on the header) with tons of inspiring home design articles.

Stylizimo

And finally, I wanted to show you another photo taken by Kate in Copenhagen. While it isn't a Scandinavian interior, it is a good example of their ingenious design sense in an outdoor space. It is a wall with hinged boards that are black on one side and coloured on the other. People can come by and open select boards to create interesting designs on the wall.  So creative and so fun, right?

Please feel free to add any suggestions of great Scandinavian blogs in the comments. There are never enough blogs on my favourite's list.

Personalized Advent Calendars

I like to make advent calendars for my kids ... and by kids I mean young adults who are 20 and 22 years old. Crazy, I know. I can't help myself though. I really love being creative and especially when that creativity means giving little treats to younguns that are off at university and working hard. 

Every year I think of a new advent calendar to send them.  I could make the same one every year, but where would be the fun in that. So I thought long and hard about what to make this year. The few non-negotiables were that the advent calendar must be able to be mailed since both Kate and William are away at university; the treats would be chocolates because in our family treats=chocolates; and it had to be suitable for someone in their 20s.  

After some thought I came up with the idea to make personalized advent calendars so they would suit the individual child. I used toilet paper rolls cut in half for both advent calendars. They were the perfect size to hold the chocolates and were the right price. 

Personalized Advent Calendar #1
Kate was overseas for the first half of this year studying at the University of Bath and doing lots of traveling. I decided to make her advent calendar with little sketches illustrating her year as it unfolded. I started off with our home with the Christmas tree up and then her flight to the UK and then her time in Paris etc. I cut out small rectangles the size of the half toilet paper rolls and sketched and then painted the little scenes to fit.  I either used Kate's photos or searched online for some inspiration as to what to draw because believe me I'm not able to draw without looking at a picture.  I then glued the little scenes on the toilet paper rolls which contained the chocolates. The little chocolate packages were then taped to three rows of ribbons which were attached to a branch.

Personalized Advent Calendar #2
William has been studying hard and learning not one, but two languages - both French and Chinese. I really admire his perseverance. He has taught himself enough that he has read French philosophy and the Tao Te Ching in the original languages. So I thought his advent calendar could help expand his vocabulary to include Christmas-related words, you know words like 'candle', 'joy', 'sheep' - things that might not show up in a philosophy book.

Fortunately I had the help of our eldest son (who is also learning Chinese and French) and our daughter-in-law. It actually took some managing to get the Chinese character drawn with the corresponding French word (done the right way up) on the back. I was the translator and director (and photographer) and Malcolm drew the Chinese characters and Christie wrote the French word in calligraphy. It was definitely a team effort.

I assembled the calendar by putting the chocolate inside the half toilet paper roll, stringing a piece of twine through it, and taping it shut.

And then I packaged them up and sent them off to the hard-working students. The countdown begins!

Linked to Home Stories A to Z Tutorials& Tips Link Party,
All Things Heart and Home Twirl and Take a Bow Party

Fall Meets Winter

My mother and I went to the cottage this past weekend. It was a weekend with a few chores and lots of relaxing.

When we first got to the cottage we pulled our chairs up close to the fire to stay warm while the cabin heated up. We even ate our soup in front of the fire. And drank tea and ate cookies in front of the fire. And read decorating magazines in front of the fire.

We raked the driveway because the leaves get slippery when they compact.

We collected twigs to make a craft at our art groups annual Christmas craft party which is coming up at the end of November.

I know it looks like mom did all the work while I took photos, but I did help. Honest!

And we admired the changing seasons. It was definitely fall meets winter (poor flowers).

I've always wanted to get a photo of leaves falling from the tree. I'm not sure this photo is exactly what I envisioned, but I was still happy to be able to snap the oak leaves falling against the deep blue sky.

I had never been to the cottage at this time of the year so it was my first time seeing the tamarack/larch trees in their fall glory. They were spectacular with their needles turning a beautiful golden colour against the green spruce and fir trees. 

By the way, do you call them tamarack or larch where you live?  My understanding is that out west they are larch and in the east they are tamarack, but growing up with a father from British Columbia and a mother from Ontario I heard both. I have always liked tamarck/larch as they are so unusual. They are one of the few coniferous trees (meaning they have cones and needles) that shed their needles in the winter. I love that they seem a bit mixed up ... that and their soft pretty needles.

It wasn't just the tamarack trees putting on a show though. I found this tiny oak tree growing at the side of the road with the most gorgeous neon red, orange, and maroon leaves. They honestly looked like they had been painted.

  

While most of the trees had lost their leaves, there were a few hold-outs.

I'm always surprised by how little colour there is in a winter photograph. Don't they almost look like they are black-and-white (especially in comparison to the golden larch trees and crazy neon oak leaves)?  

Something tells me that we will be seeing a lot more scenes like the ones below.

Hello winter!

4 Fun Fall Facts

Fun Fall fact #1: 
Did you know that the stem on pumpkins has a name (and it's not stem). It's called a peduncle. I only recently learned that peduncles are five-sided. Who knew? 

Fun Fall fact #2: 
Did you know that the contents of the cans of pumpkin puree that many of us use to make pumpkin pie is really squash, not pumpkin. Of course, pumpkin and squash are in the same family, but squash has a firmer consistency that is better for making pies so that is why it is sold as pumpkin puree.

Fun Fall fact #3: 
Did you know that the best conditions for producing the most spectacular fall leaf colours are a wet spring and summer followed by a sunny cool fall. Having lots of sunshine in the fall encourages leaves to produce more sugar. Cool (but frostless) nights cause the veins in the leaves to close, trapping the sugar which promotes the formation of pigments that give fall leaves their colourful tints, especially reds and purples.

Fun Fall fact #4:

Did you know that there are only two days of the year when you can stand an egg on its end - the fall and spring equinox. Since we've missed the autumnal equinox, the hardest part of getting an egg to stand on its end will be remembering to do it on March 20, 2015.

And speaking of fall, we made our carved - or maybe I should call them etched pumpkins - again this year in art class. They are always so much fun to make. If you look closely at the first photo in this blog you will see that I carved five vines coming from each of the points on the peduncle (as per fun fact #1).

I love that the etched pumpkins add a little pretty to the front porch. I'm really not into scary so this suits me much better. You can see below the other ones I've made in previous years.

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And in other news - did you see the photos from my instagram account on my sidebar. I finally joined yet another form of social media. Actually, I've had an account for awhile (and even a few followers), but never posted anything until now... Anyway, it is a bit lonely out there right now so if you want to have a look I would love to see you on instagram. Let me know if you have an account as I'm looking for friends too!

Yummy Mummy Treats

Hallowe'en is in just over a week and I know that our two kiddos off at university are working super hard right now so I thought that a little treat would be appreciated. It's a miracle of organizational skills but I actually got these mummy treats made and mailed off last weekend. I know, I know - amazing isn't it. 

I thought I would share the idea with you because, friends, these couldn't be easier to make and yet you look like you put some effort into the gift. To make the mummy treats you just wrap a chocolate bar in black paper. Then you wrap over the black paper with toilet paper (white crepe paper might have been better, but I didn't have any) and add a pair of googly eyes.

It's all about the eyes don't you think! 

Linked to A Pretty Life in the Suburbs Halloween Link Party