August Tea Swap 2013 - Part 2

Ever tried to photograph a creation, where you have partly used glitter paper? Got any tips not to have shiny spots on the photos? This card and teapouch drove me nuts while taking soo many photos from several angles, so these are the best ones *sigh*

 

Used a freebie stamp from Bugaboo Digi Stamps as I thought that image perfect for a child's birthday - there is just something about balloons...... Hope Mary is smiling just as I did, when I received her swap as we both have banners on our card.

 

Pouch and tag, so pull up the two teabags enclosed with this swap - again using the same Bugaboo stamp and banners.

The pouch hiding the two teabags - took a while to reach Mary, but finally arrived safely.

September Tea Swap 2013 - Part 1

I can not figure out the way the postal transit routes work between Denmark and North America, as a swap sent weeks ago does not seem to have reached the US - whereas a swap sent this Monday reached Canada yesterday?! 3 days transit time -  surprised when my swap partner Susan emailed me saying, that it has already arrived

 

I already had the general idea wheb Fran assigned the partners to us: fall theme with fall's traditional colors. I did not sign up until the day before the deadline, as I wanted to be sure, that I actually had the time and energy to create it and upcoming months looks hecting when browsing my calendar.

A good friend had tipped me regarding the fall teapot image from KaDoodle Bug Design which I decided with paper pieced orange handmade paper from India, leafs punched with a punch from EasyPunch.

Used the image again on the pouch to contain the swap's 2 teabags - colored with COPICs - one side of the tag to go inside the pouch (when you pull up the tag from the pouch, the teabags will surface) decorated with leafs punched with EachPunch'es.

Opposite side of the tag is a freebie paper pattern from Spyder's Corner

 

Voila the finished teapouch.

 

Ensured just a little extra spark/feel of fall, as I included a lot of leafs in autumn colors. The paper used is recycled paper from paper bags (purchases done in India and China): the brownish and red/brown leafs - and handmade paper from India: the orange leafs.

 

Bon appetite with the tea Susan - hope you enjoy it.

August Tea Swap 2013 - Part 1

The swap partner in August was Mary, she was also my swap partner in September 2011 - so nice, that Fran is able to attract the same participants for this long period of time, showing that a lot of us appreciacte her efforts to host this swap :o)

Optional theme this at the August swap was a child's birthday with primary colors as optional colors to use - just look at that technique used on that stamped image. Had to ask Mary, and it is a double stamp technique called kissing - amazing effect, have to look into it.

Two teas that I have not tasted before were included in the swap: Bigelow's Raspberry Royale and Twinings' Fresh & Fruity (raspberry, strawberry and loganberry).

The tea bag's satchets are both pink and thinking those would be very suitable if one were to sent out cards with breast cancer ribbons etc during the month of October (breast cancer awareness month) to include some of these teas, as October is implies fall a lot of places. Grinning wide here when realizing that the enclosed tea fuelled creative ideas even before drinking them :o)

Mary, thanks for being my swap partner this month.

Zoetropes - Trylletromler

10 carpenter apprentices from Copenhagen Technical School have build this Pavillion MAA 1:1 Zoetropes (Danish: Pavillion MAA 1:1 Trylletromler) designed by a Dutch architectural company, FABRIC, in the King's Garden, Copenhagen.

It an open exhibit which is on for a month - inviting/luring passers-by to take a closer look and even trigger their imagination walking around in this wooden 300 meters long creation. Overheard a kid say: "....this is going to be my playroom, this is going to be the kitchen.......". Me, I enjoyed the shapes and arches of this creation adding another inpirational, creative event to my favourite park in Copenhagen. Planning to go over to the park on a rainy day while the exhibit is there, since I can not help wondering if a greyish/rainy background might trigger other views/thoughts than it did in yesterday's nice autumn weather.

The free newspaper MetroExpress had an article about this exhibit which made me plan the photowalk yesterday - and could spot other photo happy people taking their photos - and it is usually a good source when it comes to events.

Photo Walk

It has been a long while since I have taken a walk with the purpose of taking some photos - perfect weather today and took the train out of the city to explore :o)

Happy ... Read a Book Day

I my world every day is Read a Book Day - mostly not as in cover to cover, but at least some pages. For me reading is almost like meditation - or as the quote on the card says "Reading is dreaming with open eyes".

But reading can also be looking at pictures or drawings in a book - so I just realised, that I can add three books to the list of books read in 2013 so far: "All the Buildings in New York", "Work - The World in Photographs" and "We Knit Love". A book with illustrations (drawings, photos etc.) can be as powerful as the written word

The card is made for the September Holiday Cards Swap on the Anything Goes Forum at PaperCraftPlanet - this month's swap  partner is Josie and I can not wait to see what day she picked this month.

 

Happy Read a Book Day

Knit in Comfort

Is the grass really greener on the other side? How many of us have not have thoughts like that when doubting if one is on the right track? But what exactly is the right track?

Well I am still pondering if I should not switch to a creative profession compared to the one I have now - Would it make me more ME? Will it make me happier? On the other side, I know that my crooked path until now has me me who I am - what has been handed (like the MS) to me may have forced me to make detours - but without these detours, would I ever have seen the Chinese Wall, the Pyramids of Giza, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, San Francisco's Golden Gate, the Panama Canal?

 

Yes it can be daunting to check out the grass on the other side, but if you do not venture out there once in a while, will you end up regretting later on that you did not try? Other times one's own grass should be carefully maintained. Not all my decisions may have been wise, but at least I tried and some decisions ended giving me much more than I have hoped for.

 

 

 

Knit in Comfort by Isabel Sharpe - more chick-lit than the recent knit-lit I have read, but it deals with some of the things I pondered about in the beginning of this post.

 

Elizabeth Detlaff, the stranger from New York who arrives in the city Comfort, North Carolina because of a dream with her grandmother (babcia) and a radioprogramme mentioning the city's name. She is in need of some me time to figure out where her relation with her boyfriend Dominique is going, so Comfort seems to be the place that can guide her. She gets lodging at Megan Morgan's garage appartment and suddenly getting an unexpected view "behind the scenes" of this little town.

 

Megan, on the other hand, suddenly feels that Elizabeth has invaded her life - though she could use the money she gets from her new tennant - as Elizabeth is suddenly also invited to the Purls Before Wine Knitting Club as well as being eager to learn about knitted lace, a tradition, that Megan has inherited from her Shetland ancestors. But just maybe Elizabeth turns out to be just perfect to rattle Megan's life into a new direction?

 

Reading a book like this made me feel good - that I am not the only one who might be pondering about green grass elsewhere and that life sometimes just throws you curves that you can either pass or grab. Sometimes you just need a reminder about it.

MY Bucketlist

One of the boats at Copenhagen Harbour

A boat on my bucket list??!!

 

Well not exactly. But sailing is on my bucketlist, or rather a very special event where a part of a great adventure hopefully will come true for me - going sailing with the project Sailing Sclerosis. That is why I might have been a little absent from time to time the past 4 months, as I have taken up sailing again. Yes, sailing IS an exhausting sport even for those without MS: makes you sleep like a baby in the nights after having been out on a boat.

 

The quiet void out there when at sea and yet at the mercy of nature, as the ocean can be a rather dangerous place to be - a Danish MS doctor wants to sail the world with MSers, where the partipating MS'ers will be on the boat on a various lenght of time depending on their MS, and with capable helpers onboard used to the ocean.

 

I have been pondering wether to share this now, or wait until I knew that a spot on this adventure had come my way. Nothing is fixed yet, but I decided that sharing will make it a stronger wish for me to get one of the spots - knowing that something unexpected could happen - but how would I feel in a couple of years knowig, that I should have seized the chance for a once in a lifetime experience but did not dare to take the jump??

 

The first leg of the world trip will set sail in May next year, and I just hope that one of the many spots on that trip will come my way - Wish me luck!!