FELT BALL GARLAND + OUR TINY NURSERY

My felting obsession continues. This time I made a short garland for the Kiddos nursery.

This was the most fun, addictive project. Making needle felt balls seemed intimidating; how to get them round and the same size? But you just keep turning them and poke them evenly at all sides. And if one turns out smaller than others: add wool, if larger: poke more. Needle felting really is one of those things that seems difficult, when really it just takes time.

The colors have really no rhyme or reason, except I wanted to add some color to our mainly white nursery corner (but just a bit, I kind of love the white and plain style, very calming). I showed here the huge box of rowing wool I bought and I just kept selecting colors and making another one and another one until it was long enough to fit the space I wanted it to. 

And here's the whole nursery. It's pretty much just a bed and a chair for nursing. I love the salt lamp, it gives such a nice warm glow without disturbing sleep. The night stand used to hold some supplies, but now that the Kiddo can open the drawers it's empty. I made the "shhh" banner before she was born. Then there are some books and Hard Rock Cafe bears my in-laws have brought from their trips:) And that's it. We keep diapers and the changing pad in the bathroom and her clothes in a chest of drawers in our room.

I just love this. Being a parent can be a hassle sometimes and just looking at this space calms me. And the garland fits there very nicely, adding a bit of color and whimsy, while still keeping things neat and calm.

DIY Pom Pom Pillow

I’ve been making so many pom poms lately! This time on a pillow.

I saved a picture of this pillow from Living with punks ages ago on my DIY board on Pinterest and finally decided to do something like it.

I’m not much of a sewer, so instead I crocheted the pillow. I used the same pattern I’ve used for the bows in my wreaths, just on a larger scale. I also decided to sew the pom poms more tightly onto the pillow than in the original. It just seemed like a sturdier option.

I just love how it looks. I used a wool yarn and the combination of white crochet and pom poms makes it look so wintery and cosy.

Happy Independence Day!

Today is the independence day here in Finland and, being on a bit of a wreath kick, I decided to make an (independence) wreath for our door.

I was inspired by this tutorial on Bleubird blog. For colours I chose three different shades of blue and two different shades of white. I didn’t have a wreath base, so just cut two rounds from a pizza box and wrapped them with blue yarn to make the base more sturdy. Once I had a mound of pom-poms and was running out of yarn, I started to tie them onto the base. Then realized that I didn’t have enough and had to make some more. The wreath takes a huge amount of pom-poms, but they are so much fun to make, I didn’t mind.

I’m already thinking about other colour combinations to try. White and different shades of red, with a green bow. Or all white with a red bow.

I know that in some countries independence day is a huge party with fireworks and stuff, but we are just going to burn candles, eat cream cake, visit the graveyard and watch the president’s independence day reception.

Happy independence day!

DIY Spruce Pom-Pom Wreath

As a first step in my Christmas Spirit project, I decided to make a huge wreath for our front door, so you would feel a bit festive every time you came or went. I had seen this adorable pom-pom spruce wreath on Pinterest and wanted to do something similar.

The pictures are a bit washed out, especially the bow for some reason, but I think it turned out very pretty.

I bought a fake spruce base, then made a bunch of pom-poms from left over yarn. While watching YouTube, pom-poms are a great mindless project. I chose a pastel colour scheme based on what I had. I crocheted a striped bow for some extra interest. I fiddled with the placement a bit and then when it looked about right, sewed everything in place, to make sure that every time someone slammed the door there wouldn’t be a cascade of pom-poms. Though a cascade of pom-poms does sound lovely.

I have to add, I had to pluck a few spruce bits away after I hung it up on the door as they were blocking the peephole a bit. Something to consider if you are making one.