Happy Holidays

We wish you a Merry Christmas and relaxing time with friends and family!

Felted jewelry

You find lovely and high quality felted jewelry in our online store. Now we have added beautiful felted bracelets to our collection. Matching felted necklaces and earrings are also available. This jewelry will make a perfect Christmas gift! We love the felted jewelry especially in the winter time when the wool feels lovely and warm next to the skin.

Orange felted bracelet

The felted jewelry sets are available in eight different colors. The color options are orange, white, pink, baby blue, dark teal, greyish green, red and lime.

Baby blue felted necklace

The felted bracelets, necklaces and earrings are all handmade in Finland. The jewelry is felted from Finnish high quality wool.

Dark teal felted earrings

Click here to visit the felted jewelry selection in our online store.

Handmade wool socks for men

We are happy to have these traditional Finnish handmade wool socks available in our online store. The wool socks for men are knitted from durable sock wool and machine washable. The pattern and colors are classic, and these socks are guaranteed to keep the feet warm during the colder months.

Light grey wool socks for men

There are three sizes and two different shades of grey color available for the men's socks. If the color or size you'd like is not available at the moment, you can make an inquiry about the exact delivery time. Usually we are able to make and mail the socks within 2 weeks.

Dark grey wool socks for men

If you're looking for wool socks for women or for children, please check our full selection of handmade wool socks. Each pair is handmade in Finland, and of high quality.

Summer shopping handmade gifts

It feels like summer has finally arrived to Finland! The beginning of the summer was so chilly and rainy, now we are enjoying some sunshine and a bit warmer weather. In July and August, Finns head out to their summer houses, 'kesämökki', for sauna and swimming in the lakes. If you ever visit a Finnish family at their summer house, you might want to bring something little for the sauna, like this ceramic thermometer or home elf (suitable for the heat in the sauna as well, but not to be put on the stove). To make a perfect Finnish gift wrap these nicely together with a bag of coffee, the most traditional Finnish gift when you visit someone.

And of course, these are suitable to decorate homes and saunas all over the world. :)

Ceramic thermometer

Ceramic home elf

These handmade woven linen washcloths would fit nicely together with the sauna ceramics...

Handmade linen washcloths

Check out our selection of sauna and bathroom products behind this link.

Recycled denim quilt

I love browsing crafty DIY ideas online. These days Pinterest has made it so easy to bookmark the best projects with illustrative photos. Are you already using Pinterest and what do you think about it?

This week I saw this lovely idea (and illustrative tutorial) how to recycle old jeans into a cool denim quilt that can be used for example as a picnic blanket. The project is definitely not very quick to do, this one used 64 denim squares that were first each individually padded. The project was introduced in iCandy handmade. Such a lovely blog by the way, and fantastic tutorials!

Old jeans into a denim squares quilt, iCandy handmade

I would love to take this quilt with me for a picnic in the park or to the beach in the summer. Old jeans are already washed so many times that the fabric is perfectly soft and I'm sure the whole family would enjoy this, seeing their old pairs of jeans reused in the quilt.

My thoughts are definitely already in the summer time. This weekend is going to be another one full of gardening and preparing the home for the sunnier and greener season. The weather is not too warm in Finland yet, how about over there where you live?

I hope you're all having a great weekend and enjoying whatever you are doing. Sunny greetings from Finland! :)

Visit to glass art shop

Over the Easter holidays I visited Ossi Palmu, our shop's glass artist. Ossi’s creations are truly beautiful and polished to the last detail. You can see the selection of his works here. During the visit I took some photos for you to get to know where he works and what the glass art process is like.

Ossi’s ornaments are all hand cut and finished individually, to special one of a kind gifts. The small fisher boys and all kinds of pretty flower ornaments for the home are one of his most popular items. Here is one tiny Cherry Flower piece on its way. 

Cherry Flower

Lately Ossi has also been  trying out and making some glass jewelry. The jewelry is very detailed, see for example the gorgeous reindeer figures in the middle. 

Glass jewelry trials

Here are some glass plates made in Ossi's workshop. The first one is made from mosaic like glass pieces and the second has a tree branch reaching over the plate. Even though it's wintery, I find the branch plate quite stunning. Ossi told me that lately the mosaic type fused glass plates have been a popular project among his students.

Mosaic glass plate

Fused glass plate with a branch figure

Ossi also teaches students who want to learn tiffany technique, and fused and melted glass technique. I have been trying myself every now and then, too irregularly to really get good at it! I have made some tiffany flowers and small birds. For a beginner, fused glass seems to be easier and at least faster method! This time I made these Tree figures. The trunk of the tree is cut from one piece and the leaves and the grass are made from tiny glass pieces that are glued to the square glass that forms the back of the glass work. So this one is not ready yet, it is still waiting to be fused in the specialty glass oven.

Fused glass art piece

Making these fused glass and tiffany technique glass works is quite interesting and rewarding. I really recommend trying it out yourself if you get a chance and find a good teacher! As gifts, I like to pick out the pieces made by Ossi though, the quality is quite a lot better than in mine. :)

Happy Easter!

Wishing you a relaxing and peaceful Easter weekend!

Easter bunnies all over!

I realized today that Easter is just around the corner, sooner than what I have thought! Time to start cleaning the house and to put up decorations. In Finland we have a tradition of growing 'Easter grass' (rairuoho) inside in a small dish. Typically the grass is not yet green outside, so the little dish reminds us of the spring that is coming. Tiny Easter bunnies and chickens are then placed among the grass.

Typical Easter decoration in Finland, the photo is from here

It would be interesting to know if this tradition exists elsewhere!

In our shop we have a few small Easter decoration that fit perfectly for this purpose. Check out for example the cute ceramic bunny couples and the felted little chickens.

Ceramic Easter bunny couple, find them here

Felt tiny Easter chicks, find them here

What I'd love to get for my house is also a cool Easter print to the dining room. I did some research on etsy and found these, what do you think?

White Rabbit art print - Where's Alice?

Yellow Bunny art print

Sunny Bunny with basket full of eggs

Little things mean a lot in bringing the holiday mood and feeling. Do you have special Easter traditions or things you like to put up around this time?

Freshwater pearl and crystal necklaces by Aini Design

In January we were joined by a new Finnish designer and jewelry maker. Aini Design creates elegant freshwater pearl and crystal necklaces that suit both informal and formal occasions and look great on everyone. I’m in love with this fantastic looking jewelry! The black and white necklaces look elegant with different outfits, and the pink and coffee brown styles bring a bit of color.

Anu Haapaniemi, the designer behind the beautiful jewelry, tells about her design:Aini Design was born from passion to create beautiful and trendy accessories for women who appreciate unique jewelry and want a little luxury into their lives.

The gorgeous freshwater pearl necklaces are available in beautiful coffee and rose colors. The necklace is made from freshwater pearls, crystal bicons, silvered metal and the necklace has a pendant glass heart.

Pink and coffee colored heart lock necklaces

 

The crystal necklace is made from crystals, glass hearts and silvered metal. You will love this gorgeous necklace in informal and formal occasions! Crystal jewelry is available in black and white.

Crystal necklaces in black and white colors

As always, the jewelry is ready to be shipped from our store in a few days and the delivery will take about 2-10 days depending on the destination and whether you choose Priority or Economy shipping. We deliver worldwide, order your or a gift for a friend or the loved one. These necklaces make a perfect gift for a birthday, engagement, and other special occasions.

Click here to see the jewelry by Aini Design in our store.

Bamboo wipes in childcare

A Finnish family blogger posted recently about using our environmentally friendly bamboo dish cloths and bamboo wipes in families with children. As we all know, children can be very messy eaters and the dining room is left in a disaster state after the kids have finished their dinner. There is not much we can do about toddlers’ eating habits but we can make the clean-up process a bit more enjoyable. The re-usable bamboo dish cloths are eco friendly products for cleaning up the kitchen and the dining table after the meal. They are naturally bacteria resistant and very absorbent. Due to the anti-bacterial nature of bamboo, there is no bad sour dish rag smell! Just rinse the dishcloth with cold water and hang to dry and the cloth will be fresh for the next use. The bamboo kitchen towels can be washed together with normal laundry. I have thrown mine in the washing machine when I remember, about once a week or once in two weeks, and that has been fine.

The bamboo wipes are also useful while feeding your child to keep the kid clean when he or she is eating. You can keep an extra bamboo cloth on hand, and easily wipe the child’s face with the bamboo rag instead of using a one-time paper tissues. Again, environmentally friendly and saves money in a family with small kids as well! Bamboo fabric is soft and doesn’t irritate child’s skin.

The colorful prints will even make eating and food more fun for the kids. One of the readers who had commented the blog post said that her little girl admires the Russian doll pattern every dinner time, and no doubt! The patterns our designer Susanna has printed on these dish towels and kitchen towels, are so energetic and cheerful that they appeal to the little ones for sure. There are by the way, also some matching cotton tea towels still left and those are the last ones, Susanna will not make any more hand printed tea towels but she will concentrate on the dish rags.

Russian doll print (Matroshka)

The bamboo cloths can be used as baby wipes in the bathroom as well and they make a sweet eco gift for a newborn. Many parents these days highly appreciate natural baby products. A pair of these cloths made from bamboo fabric would make a welcomed gift for the eco sweetheart, also a fun idea for the babyshower. This present is also easy to mail to a friend with a newborn a bit further away.

Click here and check our selection of bamboo cloths and cotton kitchen tea towels. They are all designed and hand printed by Susanna. Due to the size and weight of the kitchen towels, the postage is very low and they also arrive quickly. Order yours today!