Happy new Craftyear 2009! Ending this year with my flea market find from the Christmas trip up north.

Must say that I would have liked to craft more this year - It began okay the first 6 months when I still was on maternity leave and had time on my hands :) Unfortunately, after I began working again I didn't have the same possibility to craft. - I hate not having a craft project on my mind. This new year of 2009 I have to make a plan to be able to craft more again. Maybe I can book a meeting with my self in my calendar and write "Craft-meeting with Carina 6 hours" :)
It's a good idea actually. More meetings with your own creativity - taking it seriously.
I wish you all a
HAPPY HAPPY CRAFTING NEW 2009!
And thanks for all your encourageing comments and all your own inspiring work on all your great blogs!
Flea market find à la 65 Swedish kronor (approx. $8,4 or 6€)....mmmm..... red shoes MY FAVORITE.
This makes me want to do leather crafting - have all the tools but it was such a long time ago I workt with leather. Hm, maybe a project for 2009 :)
Big hugs and lots of love

♥♥ Inger Carina

My new re-upholstered heart-chocolate rococo dream sofa!

Couldn't wait until I got the chance to take a picture in daylight! I just had to post these rather yellow images of my newly re-upholstered sofa! I'm so excited. I had the fabric for several years and the rococo sofa was in really poor state - the fabric was torn and the stuffing was starting to spread in the apartment. I could never have dreamt that it would turn out this fabulous. I just screamed when I first saw it. It's so yummy. Like a big Christmas candy in our livingroom.
I left it with a proper re-upholsterer and I would never had been able to save that old wreck on my own. Money well spent. They found stamps inside that said that it was made in Sweden 1700-late-something and that it was made for export. I only know that my grandparents got it sent from the Swedish embassy in Moscow in the 50th.

On Saturday when I'm at home while it's daylight I will take some better pictures. (The latitude of Stockolm makes it dark when I leave for work in the morning and dark when I come home - in the summertime it's the opposite though which is nice)

Dress project - cuckoo clocks & chicken pox prints

It actually looks exactly like them - the cartoon kids :)

I guess you all know about Spoonflower by now. But if you don't - you have to visit them and start making your own prints! They have started their print-on-demand shop now and it's open for everyone. I was one of the lucky to be in the test group so I have already ordered two of my prints. I'm so excited because I have a lot of DREAM PRINTS in my head that I will never find in the shops and now I can make them!
My next Fashion project will be two dresses out of my prints. The beige one is a sketch of my girls when the had chicken pox. It's fun because if you see the print from a distance it looks like a kind of floral striped pattern - when you come closer you see the chicken-pox-girls :)
The Cuckoo clock fabric has always been a dream print for me but I have never found something like it anywhere - until now. (it's the same clock from the dress embroidery)
Can't wait to put the scissors in it. Unfortunately I have to start making the pattern for the dresses - pattern making is a bit time consuming... but it's more fun if you get EXACT the dress you want.
Cuckoo-clock parade

Dear friends!
I have had a longer blog-brake due to too much work. I've got a new job with a project at a wonderful place with super creative and talented people. This was decided very fast so I had to work nights finishing all my freelance work (& I have two kids....)
Have been thinking every day about crafting though :)
And now I'm back. This fall I'm going to concentrate on clothing because I really love clothes and I fancy some new fun garments to wear! My plans are to both sew new stuff from scratch and remaking old and boring new clothes to wearable garments.
Started off with a little "fixing the boring new dress"-crafting with embroidery. Drew some mushroom with bows (kitsch ♥), a cuckoo clock & a dear. Traced them with white tracing paper to the fabric of the plane button-down black dress from H&M - satin stitch with DMC thread.
A couple of mushrooms down the top and a couple more plus the cuckoo clock and the deer beside the buttons at the bottom of the skirt.
Didn't manage to take any photos of the whole dress, It's barely daylight here when I come home from work :)
Feels good to be back Crafting!
See you soon.
/Inger Carina

Two Molys on Key- words & dreams

I post two Molys in one post - was on a roll :)

Keyboard dreams (Lotta's Moly)

I don't think I need to give you many hints of what this sketch is all about :) Working a lot nowadays......dreaming of other things. is it textile or lettuce ?? :)

Keyboard Keywords (Lisa's Moly)

Since I'm on a roll with the keyboard keys. I zoomed in a bit and made my letters for Lisa's Moly. Notice that J has less keywords for me than the others...strange. But maby there are less words starting with J in Swedish.

Translation: J - juggle, hunted, me, aha?, work, compare, YES!, jumbo jet, java/coffee, jogging, baby talk, Japan, S:t Jacobi (highschool/college), Earth, damnit!, hurray, tricot(fabric), jeans?(haven't worn any since 1998), fighter aircraft.
K - Coffee, cottage cheese, kiss, love, art, cookie dough, kids(children), driving licence, friend, career, money, maybe, capable, party, cross-stitch, cognitive, concept, catalyst, cramp, kitsch , cat.
L - read, Saturday, long, happiness, ridiculous, vivid, life, summer home, peace & quiet , fun, scarry, time of work, langett(stitch), lego, live, light, sound, lumen, temperament , learn.

If you want to check out our project please visit http://moleskinex16.blogspot.com/
and the project word wide at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/moly_x/

♥♥ Carina

My question about the English word for Monk's belt

If you wonder about me looking for the English names of two weaving techniques. (deleted the images I had here for a week) It was because I was working with this super talentded glass designer! Catarina Giarimi and her company Giarimi Design.
She makes crystal glass with engravings inspired of textile techniques - this decanter has the ingraving of Monk's belt. Lovely things...

Moly_x_16 (Maria's Theme climate Moly)

Maria's Theme climate Moly:
It's one part paper & one part fabric in this Moly. I worked from a couple of sentences. On the embroidered "drawing" it sais in Swedish: "Eating organic, recycles the morningpapers and buying fairtrade". Last sentence: "but it's still a rainy summer..."

The embroidery shows empty childfood jars with an organic brand from Denmark called Hipp, which you end up with hundreds when you have an infant (very environment friendly....not....and it has traveled all the way from Denmark to Sweden...).
Drawing of pills and text: "hight levels of anti anxiety drugs in the Stockholm tap water" and "are you feeling happier lately?"

Technique: drawing and collage. Pencil, Copic marker, white opaque, ink and Stabilo.

Welcome to follow this project on the moly_x_16 blog or the Moly_x_Exchange_flickrgroup.

Vacation in my summer home on the island Öland.
I'm going to bake large cakes, cupcakes and pies for my kids, make me some coffee and sit on the porch. I'm also going to bulid me a studio in the garden. Heavy duty DIY with flooring, walls and everything :)

Think I will manage some occational crafting, so I will post a few times I hope.

Soon my new Moly-project post.

Would love to make something new for starch it! :)

Otherwise I see you all in August!

Have a lovely lovely summer!

Yours

Inger Carina

Custom made flightcase sewing/work box

A little bit of DIY & remake.
Took a custom made smaller flightcase, normally used for fragile music equipment when you travel on tour.
Very good for my purpose! It has a padded interior.

Covered the foam with a colorful fabric. Used textile glue to make the fabric stick to the surface on the bottom part of the box.

Covered buttons in the lid.

Voilá - new sewing box! Heavy duty on the outside & cute on the inside :)

Starch it! Join me in new Flickr group!

You all know I have made 3D pieces with filetcrochet and sugarwater :)

Today I started a new Flickr pool called Starch it!
My plan is for you all to join in and we can explore what we can make with this technique together.
You don't have to crochet - you can use pieces of old Doilys, filetcrocheted bedspreads & other flea market finds. We can share recipes of starch (I only know about sugar/water but I've heard about glue and potato/water etc)
What do you say?
I would love if you joined me ! Just email me or make a comment here with your email and I send you an invite to the group.

Kind crocheted regards from Inger Carina

The Craftzine blog liked the idea. I'm so excited!!! :) > Craftzine blog

Floral USB memory stick

A little more flowers in your life can't hurt... can it?

Started out with a 2Gb Usb memory stick - boring boring... had to cut of a plasic bit on the end and smooth the edges with a file.

Then I crocheted tight around it in two pieces, one top & one bottom. I used embroidery yarn (Perl) multi colored green. A little bit of what I fancy = flowers. I took linnen embroidery yarn and made random tiny leafs and flowers. (click on the image for a better view).

Sewed them all on the crocheted USB cozy cover.

It's working well and it nearly blends in to the floral background here on my work desk at home.

Sorry, I didn't mean to disappear

Hello! I'm still alive :)
Unfortunately I have to many things to do right now.. But I'm working on two mini craft projects - hope to finish and post them this week.

Hope everyone is having a good time in the summer weather!
♥
Inger CarinaSold our beloved retro pram this week - goodbye farewell lovely pram! - go and nurse a new cute baby.

Making the stuff in your home your own style

Sometimes you don't want the stuff for children (or other products) they sell in the stores because it has A LOT OF strange prints that you don't like :)
My quick tip for today is: Unpick the seams, save ribbons with buckles, elastic ribbons etc cut out new fabric from the pieces and sew it all back together again in a fabric that you like.
Maybe you have a nice fabric -- make a remake.

A pram for the dolls and a bouncy seat that I've made new fabric for that suits better with our style & taste.

Exhibition - A state of content

If you are in the Stockholm area please come by and visit this exhibition at Gallery Operatingplace at PUB floor 3. I'm Carina Bergholm Sundén (alias Inger Carina) :-)

Gallery Operatingplace
New Exhibition fr 29 maj - 23 juli

A STATE OF CONTENT
- A SELECTION OF EXTRA ORDINARY SCANDINAVIAN ART

Marianne Lindberg De Geer
Carina Bergholm Sundén
Lukas Göthman
Vanna Bowles
Helena Mutanen
Peter Svedberg
Heinrich Müllner
Filippa Barkman
Marcus Bjernerup
Hanna Beling
Lars Hammarström
Kjartan Slettemark
LOD
Tanja Malo

Opening Thursday May 29, 17-20 GalleriyOperatingplace, PUBs floor 3, Hötorget, Stockholm. Other days open Mon-Fri 10-19, Sat 10-17, Sun 11-17.
Gallery Operatingplace
PUB Floor 03
Hötorget
Stockholm

Moly project - Now with beaded sushi rice

My moly has two parts; one part with the normal paper to drew on and one part with a long piece of fabric to make something textile on. I have started with a comic type drawing of my "not so glamorous week" with title: "En diskbänksrealistisk vecka". If I translate this Swedish expression to English it would be close to: "A kitchen-sink-realistic week" :)
I scanned the images rather big so you can click on them to read the text. This one here has an English translation:

Here is my embroidered image on the fabric part of my moly.

now with beaded sushi rice...

It turned out fat... I'm super curious what it's going to look like when it comes back to me after my four other Moly_x_16 group friends has contributed their art in it!
More detail images on my flickr

Sunday afternoon in the studio

The view from my studio window.

It's not often these days that I'm entirely on my own. I'm on maternity leave (most days of the week) with our second girl now 10 months. She is with me in the studio but she is the impatient type and doesn't let me work much :)
Yesterday I went to the studio by myself for a couple of hours. Brought a bag of goodies (old colorful vintage finds that has been hanging in the wardrobe for a while) - maybe I could make something with it...
Have a lot of Copic markers that I love to use all the time while sketching - I needed something to bring them in, going back and forth from home to my studio. Cut up one of the blouses and made a pouch out of it. My small digital camera also got a cozy from a nuno-fabric.
I used a super good tutorial from Three bears for the pouches!Colorful goodie bag

Copic marker & digital camera Cozys

All of them actually fit inside . I love my Copics!

I'm a ribbon junkie

LOVE ribbons! - especially vintage. Want to put ribbons on everything.
Tried to come up with new things to make with ribbon.............but only the same-old-same-old came to mind :)
Flowers, like they had on the rococo-dresses in the 1700's. I want to make a copy of a dress like that sometime - and one for my 5 year old daughter too.
( :-D I saw a picture in my head of my chubby 10 months girl in one of thouse frilly dresses!)

Velvet ribbon makes great leaves!

Roses on a stem...