perjantai 29. maaliskuuta 2013

Travel fever and grocery shopping

Hello! I've been sick for few days but now I'm as good as new! I had a short computer break, and to be honest it felt good! Nothing evil happened; I focused on books and movies instead of being aware of what's going on around the world.

Vicky is there to give you perspective.
I've gotten a lot of packages in the mail. My first Middie came. Middie is a medium-size Blythe doll, in case you didn't know. She's still in the box she came in, and I'm thinking of keeping her that way. Maybe. I also got my zippers! My hubby said they are boring, that once you've seen one you've seen them all. I think he's totally wrong. I love zippers. Well, not just one or two, but dozens and dozens of them. I got approx. 150 of them in all beautiful colors.  I also got some jewelry parts. I'd call it a great mail week!

Since I was sick I didn't go to school at all this week :( And I didn't feel like studying at home either. I've lost most of the study inspiration that kept me going on so well. It really suck. But I don't really know what I want anymore. I mean if I really want to go to the university or not. Two days ago I felt it really clear, I knew what I wanted to do. It's something I've wanted for at least ten years, but it's also something I've feared equally as long. To have my own store, to sell Pinkkis, cool vintage items and cute stuff from around the world -- that's what I'd love to do.  And I'm sure that would be something I'd love to get out of bed for. But I don't have the courage!


That was kind of a heavy start! I wasn't even suppose to write about that, based on the title for this post!

So about travel fever - it's been really bad lately! During my great mail week I also received a Tokyo Guide booklet. It's filled with lovely and some unusual places to visit while travelling in Tokyo. Not all places where I'd go, but a lot of hidden treasures, places I'd never ever know existed, but now I know, thanks to this booklet. :) Last night I went through all four albums I have from my previous trips to Japan and seeing all those familiar places and the amazing stores and kawaii people and everything Japanese - it was almost too much! I have to get back there! I've heard they are celebrating hanami right now, meaning that the cherry trees are blossoming. Record breaking early! I've been there four times but never seen the cherry blossoms :( Maybe I should get my own cherry trees here. Well, I wouldn't mind going there no matter what time of the year. I would even take  a week or two in the hot, steamy summer! I'd prefer spring or fall though.

While I was sick we watched a documentary about a filthy rich American family that didn't do that well during the economic crisis. The poor family had to sell their private jet and couldn't finish their new home (which was the most expensive and biggest one-family house in the States), but they were still able to go shopping like there was no tomorrow. She came home with two or three cars filled to the brim with crappy Xmas xifts for the family. One thing that really made an impression was how she bought a bike for her son, and two of their nannies could see right away that the bike was too small for the boy, and then one of the nannies carried one of the shopping bags through a garage filled with piles and piles of bikes... That was kind of disgusting. And it's not just the extremely rich people who do that. I guess there's some of that in all of us. How we want new stuff on top of the stuff we already have, so that the things we already own lose their appeal/worth/meaning and the new thing is all we want, until something bigger/better/brighter comes along. That made me think of two of my dolls, that I know have been on the floor (okay, left on top of a barbie size car in the corner) of my craft room for at least two weeks. I really don't feel like buying a new doll now. I should take better care of the ones I already have, cherish them. Take more pictures of them. Dress them nicely and all that.

But this is not about just the a bit more expensive stuff, also about the make-up, clothes, cellphones (okay, I'd put them in the expensive stuff category), CD's - even food. Maybe even more with the smaller, more meaningless things. We just buy that crap without a second thought. We see it, we want it, we can afford it - so what the hell! We buy it. And a day later we toss it out, throw it in the pile and go get a new one. Something better. Of course it works differently with food. But since it's rather cheap (especially with the animal products and non-fair-trade stuff, we don't have to pay for the suffering of other living creatures) it's so easy to just forget it in the fridge/cabinet/on the table and let it go bad. Who cares? Just throw it out and go get a new one from the store! So sad! And frustrating! I'm not saying this to blame others, I'm just as "quilty" as everyone else. It's just that we, Westerners, are so used to get everything we want, without giving any value to the things we already have. I'll try to do better!!

And before I run out of battery (on my laptop which I dropped on the floor and cracked -- damn it! Should be more careful and treat the items I already own more carefully), I'll say few words about grocery shopping. As of being a vegan I like to be with like minded people. That gives me false feeling of "a better world." Last Saturday I spent the whole day with like minded people, and not just few of them but maybe 20 to 30. The whole day! Eating vegan, talking vegan, everything vegan. Oh! What a feeling! I wasn't the creep, I didn't stand out, I was just like all the others. Yay! And then we went to the grocery store yesterday, to get groceries for the long weekend (I'm planning to make super yummy stuff! Couple recipes from the Conscious Cook and few from my second cookbook. nom nom nom) and it kind of hit me that I was the freak after all. Seeing all the pieces of dead animals, chopped and slices and packed neatly inside plastic containers. The world wasn't that good place after all, not if you weren't born as a white, Western human being. All the others, watch out -- you are ours to exploit!

Even though almost everything that was sold in packages had some sort of animal products in them, we we able to fill our cart with super delicious, cruelty-free produce. I guess I should do a post about the things we eat, just to show how lovely things there are for conscious consumers!


Small Easter gift for you! Picture of Risto, under cover dog.
 Anyways, happy Easter!!
xoxo,


Raisa





keskiviikko 20. maaliskuuta 2013

Someone's been a very good girl! + a tutorial!

Howdy!

I have great news! I finally sent off my university application yesterday! Yay! I also ordered copies of my old school papers that I need to send to the university. This is actually really small thing, not worth a blog post. But to me it was huge task! Taking care of things like that is really difficult for me sometimes. But now it's done, and I even got a ten euro refund from the place I ordered the papers from! Double yay!!

The really good thing about sending the application is that I got a bit of that studying sparkle back. Now I feel like studying chemistry again! That's really great, since I've been struggling with that a lot!! Sometimes I feel like I'm too old to learn new tricks. Like they say, old dog don't learn new tricks. That's not true. They do learn stuff, but maybe not with the same methods you'd use on small pup. So I need to be more creative with my studying methods. On top of the age factor, I also have very bad concentration problem. I'm in the middle of the process of figuring out if I have ADHD. Which seems really strange, since I'm not hyperactive. I'm just... me :D Hyper and active, but not hyperactive ;).

I got the Liebster Award thingy from Lara's, but since some jerk hacked her blog the post is gone, so I have no idea how to do it. So there won't be post about that (about me ;).

But I do have something else to offer you!! I was asked (on my Finnish blog) for a tutorial on how to make jewelry. But since I do it as a business, I don't want to reveal my secrets, even though it's not really that difficult to figure it out how Pinkkis jewelry is made. Anyways, I wanted to make a tutorial of the process anyway! And I wanted to make it my way ;). Here it is.

Pinkkis Jewelry Tutorial
 
Materials:
One doll house,  well equipped
One mischievous doll, preferably Blythe BL, Kozy Kape would be perfect
well lit area
desk

Step 1. Let the doll loose in the well-equipped doll house. Let her do whatever she wants. She's going to make a mess, that's for sure. But don't worry about that right now. You'll have time to clean up afterwards.




Step 2. Don't interrupt the doll! She knows what she's doing. It might look like she's ruining other dolls' tea party, but don't worry about that. You can comfort the other dolls later on. Buy them some clothes or something. They will be okay.














Step 3. DO NOT INTERRUPT HER. SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE IS DOING! It know it may not look like it, but just trust her this one time.
Step 4. Arrange her desk in a well-lit area. Make sure she's got everything she needs: glue, tools, beads and so on.
















Step 5. Admire her little hands as she does her magic


 Step 6. Ta-daa! Jewelry is done! Good job Polly!!


































Have a beautiful and creative Wednesday!

xoxo,

Raisa

perjantai 15. maaliskuuta 2013

Thank you, Welcome and HappyShinyPerson Post

First of all, Thank You so much Lara for the amazing post on your blog!!! Thanks to her, I got some new readers!! Yay!! Welcome! I hope you like it here, in my little pink corner!

Lately I've been struggling a bit with myself. Like what to do with my life and all that. I have to admit, I might have been a bit down because of it. Until yesterday -- I read about a young woman quitting her well-paying job and actually starting to live. A quote from the book The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: "Still others like Kate Greenen of Detroit, who's twenty-five and has worked in what she calls "the lucrative world of financial planning" since the age of twenty-one, find themselves asking with alarming frequency, Is this all there is?  -- I started really hating getting up. Life lost color -- I was always searching something fun to do or I was out shopping. Earn, consume, die." I too would rather be poor and happy than waste my life in a office where I hated every minute of it.

Life is so much better now than what it was a year ago, when I still was in work-hell. Being unemployed sucks, I'm not denying that. But it's not as bad as wasting your life doing something from which you get nothing but misery (and money, of course).

So I don't feel like complaining about my situation any more. I'm actually quite damn happy :) Thanks to the Finnish society, I get to have my "gap year," during which I'm able to think about what I really want to do with my life, where to aim next. And I get money while doing that. Not much, but enough.

I've been really determined to have "wind under Pinkkis' wings." I've even overcome my phobia of all things related to computers and social media. Now I'm on Pinterest and reading blogs about small businesses, trying to be more active on Facebook and on Flickr as well. It's a lot of work to keep your head above the water!! But as long as I like it, it's okay thing to do :). But it's funny how much on-line stuff can take up your time! Like time I could spend on sewing or watching bad movies :).

All this, all new opportunities and possibilities, and yes! the sun! are making me so happy I could just dance all day long! Dance and sing, but since I don't live alone I guess I'll just settle to jump around a little ;).

Have a great and sunny and succesfull weekend! Hubby, my great computer related stuff help will be adding a lot more treasures on Etsy over the weekend, so be sure to check that out!

xoxo,

Pinkkis (well actually my name is Raisa, so I guess I should use that instead).


keskiviikko 13. maaliskuuta 2013

Back in Business!

As you can see I finally put up a tab you can use to start following this blog! Yay! Actually I didn't realize it wasn't there. Oops! So click click! If you want to receive updates, you should start following. Me thinks. :D

I'm sure I've told this before, but I really like sewing. I don't like to sew complicated things, but I like sewing my pouches and occasionally something else, too. But recently it's been a bit annoying, since my sewing machine hasn't been working the way it should. I thought about taking it to the shop where I got it from, but don't really have the money for that. So I've been avoiding sewing as often as I could.

Until yesterday. I wanted to check if I could fix it myself. Doesn't sound good, huh? I opened up the poor thing, and it was filled with dust and lint. All over the place, and most of all, all over the place that hasn't been working properly. There was something like a thick mat of dust making it impossible for the poor thing to do what it was supposed to do.

So I took all that out, put all the right parts back in, closed the sweet machine and now it works like a charm!! Yay!! So I've been sewing! I was able to finish ALL of the pouches I had been working on for a very long time. And I started a bunch of new ones! Yay!!

Here's pictures of some of the stuff that I finished yesterday. I think the TMNT pouches are charming!! I got the fabric from a friend of mine, and it works great for pouches!

Not sure if I told you about the new interfacing I bought last Saturday, the really sturdy one? Anyways, I got some new stuff for that and I have to admit I hate to sew it. It's so thick it's really hard to work with. I mean it makes great pouches. The Blythe doll pouch is the first one I made and it came out great. But it's just too much work :( And it was way too expensive as well. So I'll be using the good ol' stuff again :) Which has been working well enough for my pouches so far. Of course, I'll use all of the new stuff I got, so there will be some more fighting between me and the fabric ;)

But at least now my machine works like a dream :D

Hopefully hubby's able to add some more stuff on Etsy today, so check that out in case you're into cute pouches like these!

Take care!

xoxo,

Pinkkis



lauantai 9. maaliskuuta 2013

What a wonderful day!

I had super great day yesterday, so I'm in a super great mood today, as well :). A bit of a sad thing is that the greatness of yesterday came from consumerism. I got some amazing (super amazing! still very excited!) fabrics and made a decision to order more zippers. (I've been putting them off, to order to my mother-in-law's address to save a lot of money, so I'd get them when we are visiting them in the States next summer. But I really don't have any long zippers left and some of the fabrics I got are meant to be sewn into make up purses. So hell with saving money, I want my zippers! And I want them now! Or at least in couple of weeks!) Now I have about 250 zippers coming from the States :) I also love zippers! They are so pretty! But only in huge quantities. One or two won't float my boat.

The two fabrics (that are spread out the most in the photo) are waterproof, so they will be perfect for make-up pouches. I was also thinking about making some sort of lunch pockets out of them. Somebody once showed me a small purse like that and said it's really handy. It's like a re-usable plastic bag for sandwiches and such. And very pretty, too. I mean mine would be if they were made out of such beautiful fabrics. The fabric at the bottom if all about Sanrio characters and the other one is sea themed. I <3 them both! I love octopi and this one has very pretty ones!

I've also made a lot of new jewelry. Still not sure if they are going to work out, but so far so good!  Do you see anything you'd like?

I don't know if it's the increased sunshine or what, but I've noticed some sort of growing interest in clothes. Which is very dangerous. I don't want to start shopping for clothes, especially online! Fleamarkets and thrift stores are ok (environmentally and financially), but online stores, not at all! And it's the on-line stores I'm after! Last week I found an amazing dress and just now I found super cool leggings. Here's picture of the one I might have a chance of getting, thanks to my up-coming birthday and generous hubby! <3 Hubby, who's also know of being my style police said the leggings would be cool on a boring person, but I'd be too wild for them. Hmph. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. But I guess I'm not thinking of buying them anymore. But the dress I still want, very much! I like dresses cuz they allow you to eat a lot without it showing! (hahhah!)

Hubby's cleaning, but I'm trying to get him to new fleamarket down the street. Hopefully they'll have good stuff there! Maybe some cool clothes... ;)

Okay, take care!!  Here's something to rest your eyes on. Don't get offended! ;)



xoxo,

Pinkkis






maanantai 4. maaliskuuta 2013

Greetings from Jäähalli Fleamarket!

A few weeks ago I noticed that Jäähalli Fleamarket was still active. I used to go there every weekend more than ten years ago. I don't know if they've been there the whole time or not, but it doesn't really matter. So week ago I took hubby with me, and we went to see if it's any good.

And it was! Well, not really good, but pretty ok. Lot of sellers, but the set up was a bit confusing. We had to walk back and forth to see everything. And occationally we ended up on the wrong side of the tables. Like we were among the sellers, and that was a bit confusing ;).

The first The first time, I got this pink car and exercise bike for my dolls. I love them! Especially the car. It's missing a windshield, but I was wondering if a glass shop (window glasses kind of place) could make me one out of acrylic. Hubby got himself a purse ;). I'd say it was a good trip, not compared to some of the greatest fleamarket days, but overall it was worth the trip.

I love fleamarkets, btw. Most of all, I like the weird and unusual stuff they have. Or might have. I guess it's the chance of finding something special that's most thrilling. And on top of that it's a lot more ecologically friendly than buying a new things from the store. And a lot cheaper, too! Well, not always. Sometimes the seller doesn't realize that they are at fleamarket -- they seem to think they are at antique store or that they are selling stuff that's somehow pimped to be even more expensive than the exact same thing at Ikea... I hate that.

Most of the time I look for toys. And I know pretty well, just by looking at the seller and her/his merchandize, if it's going to be ridiculously overprized. Eight euros for a messy-haired barbie? No thanks. Five euros for new-generation My Little Pony? No thanks.

It's kind of funny how I'm at my strictest at fleamarkets. Sometimes when I'm having "too much fun" on ebay, I try to think about whether I'd be willing to pay the same amount of money on something similar at a fleamarket. And the answer is always no. Like 20 to 25 euros for Blythe-sized typewriter. No effing way! And on ebay that wasn't a consideration at all.

Kind of funny.

Anyway, yesterday we went there again. There was some of the same sellers as last week, which to me is always a sign to avoid them. "Professionals" who are there to make money, not to get rid of their unwanted things. This time I wasn't that lucky with toys. I got something, but nothing worth mentioning. But I got some clothes! I usually don't look for clothes that actively. I don't have any kind of problem with second hand clothes, not at all. But I don't like to go through of piles after piles of clothing. But this time there were few tables that said small clothes, so I got interested. I got something black -- I have no idea what it would be called. Kind of like a dress and cardigan mix. Also got bright green top from the same person. I think I paid 2,50 euros for those. :) A few meters further, a white top with french bulldog on it was on display. To me it looked really expensive. I was trying to keep myself from getting too interested. But I really liked it. I couldn't find the size tag, and the seller wasn't sure. And it looked like you'd had to have big breasts to fill it. And to be honest, I even asked if that was the case. And she said no. Then I asked for the price. Fifty cents!! Whoa!! As you can see ----> it wasn't too expensive ;) That's a very special treat, since I'm really photo-shy. I even asked hubby to take a headless pic of me, but as always, he didn't listen and did whatever he wanted ;).

Thanks to that top, I was really happy with the trip.

Last summer I had probably one of the best days at a fleamarket. I rode my bike (alone, hubby didn't want to ride almost 20 K's to the other side of the city - lazy ass bastard!) through the city, to Hietsu Fleamarket. Within a few lovely (actually it's quite annoying place with all the masses of people) found all this --> Sindy kitchen units!!! Sindy arm chair!! Beauty, Barbie's dog!! My Little Pony trinket box!!! Super great! And I managed to get it all home piled on top of my bike.

I hope your weekend was filled with great finds, too!

xoxo,

Pinkkis