Dala Horse Felt Crown

 {Scandinavian Christmas}

I've had this Dala horse felt crown idea in my head for over a year, so it was nice to finally make one. It was the perfect thing for my blond hair, blue eyed Swedish looking son.

Kathryn from The Pickled Herring kindly asked me to be a guest blogger during her Scandinavian Christmas 2011 series.  Today you can head on over to read my guest blog post about how to make this Dala Horse felt crown & be sure to check out all of the Scandinavian Christmas 2011 posts.

PS Check out these great blog posts about ideas/inspiration/patterns on how to make a dress-up crown:
C is for crown (with a template)
Felt Birthday Crown (with a template)
Dress-Up Crown Tutorial (some made with gorgeous vintage fabric & lace)
How to make a royal felt crown
Wool Felt Birthday Crown Tutorial
Dress-up Crown (reversible, made with cotton fabrics, not felt)
Birthday crown (with velcro)
Far, Far Away week-felt crown tutorial
wool felt birthday crowns

Nordic Christmas Decorations

 {Scandinavian Christmas}

During Advent I go on a date with each one of my 3 kids... my 2nd son enjoys decorating gingerbread houses, so he & I went to a castle to do just that.

The castle was all decorated for a Nordic Christmas...

 They have a nice little children's play area including a bookshelf which includes many Swedish & Scandinavian children's books.

PS Here's a round-up of all my previous Scandinavian posts:

Scandinavian Goodies
St Lucia knitted crown
St Lucia crown/wreath centerpiece
St Lucia program
St Lucia smorgasbord
Scandinavian books
Nordic Crosses Gift Wrap
Tomte Stuffy
St Lucia Choir Concert
Scandinavian Christmas Fair

Scandinavian Christmas Fair

 {Scandinavian Christmas}

Last month I discovered for the first time this Scandinavian Christmas fair, here are some photos I took... Enjoy !

(I bought the wooden St Lucia ornament in the above photo)

 I bought this St Lucia paper doll chain (also bought an ABC Sweden card, an Advent calendar card, & Dala horse cookie cutters)

PS here's a round-up of all my previous Scandinavian posts:

Scandinavian Goodies
St Lucia knitted crown
St Lucia crown/wreath centerpiece
St Lucia program
St Lucia smorgasbord
Scandinavian books
Nordic Crosses Gift Wrap
Tomte Stuffy
St Lucia Choir Concert

St Lucia Choir Concert

{Scandinavian Christmas}

This past weekend my daughter & I attended a St Lucia procession & choir concert (there were over 100 in the choir!) ~ it was lovely & a new experience for the both of us.

Happy St Lucia day !!!

PS In December 2010 I blogged a week about St Lucia, if you're interested you can find the posts here:
St Lucia knitted crown
St Lucia crown/wreath centerpiece
St Lucia program
St Lucia smorgasbord
Scandinavian books

Also be sure to check out starting today:
Scandinavian Christmas 2011 @ The Pickled Herring

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Handmade Kid Item

ETA: I wish I had 151 dresses to give away, but I only have 1 & the winner is Dianne !  Thanks for entering everyone ! 
*****
It's December Giveaway day !

A big thank you to Sew, Mama, Sew!  for hosting such a fabulous giveaway event !

The prize:
A princess Rapunzel dress sewn by me, this dress would fit a 4-6 year old girl.
I sewed 3 of these dresses for my daughter's princess Rapunzel birthday party.
I had enough supplies to sew a 4th one, so now you have a chance to win a never worn one (the first photo here will be the actual dress you will win).
The photos shown here are of my daughter modeling her dress.
If you're interested in sewing a dress like this, check out my notes here.

Enter to win:
:: please leave an answer to the following question: if you win this princess Rapunzel dress, who will wear it/who will you give it to?
:: one entry per person
:: open until Friday, December 16 at 5 p.m. PST
:: I will choose a winner and email the winner by December 18, then I will note the winner in this post
:: I will ship internationally
:: the princess Rapunzel dress will be shipped by December 24

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Sewing Supplies

ETA: Libby is the winner, she shared this link of a makeover of a console TV to a pretty blue shelf !  Thanks to everyone who entered !
*****
 It's December Giveaway day !

A big thank you to Sew, Mama, Sew!  for hosting such a fabulous giveaway event !

The prize:
One copy of the "Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose Scarves" book (my project page signed by moi) & 3 vintage Vera scarves (use the 3 scarves to create one or more of the 30 sewing projects from the book)

Enter to win:
:: please leave an answer to the following question: what is your favorite repurposed project? it doesn't have to be sewing... a repurposed project you've made or one you've seen elsewhere ~ please leave a link to the project, thanks !
:: one entry per person
:: I will choose a winner by picking my favorite repurposed project from all those that are shared
:: open until Friday, December 16 at 5 p.m. PST
:: I will email the winner by December 18, and note the winner in this post
:: I will ship internationally
:: book & scarves will be shipped by December 24

Tour of my studio

 Welcome to my studio !  Here's a quick photo tour of the space where I've been creating in since April 2009. We purchased a 1954 rambler ~ a fixer-upper.... this room is a 10 foot by 10 foot room which is a den, a walk-through room (meaning it has 2 doors) & this closet started out looking like this.

Here is a before photo (read all the details here)

 A sliding drawer under the desk stores makes great laptop storage.

 Sewing table area.

Tucked into the left side of the closet is IKEA shoe storage which contains my yarn stash & knitting needle rolls.

 Hanging on a wall, a white shelf filled with Bonne Maman jars storing lots of vintage goodies.

 Above that white shelf.

 In the opposite corner of my craft/sewing space is the baby grand piano & above that there is another white shelf... sometimes looks like this...

 ...or can sometimes look like this...

 ...in that same corner above the baby grand piano is my mother's 1957 lace wedding gown.

 Hanging up in one corner is this chandelier I painted pink (read all about it here)

 Behind my desk is my daughter's corner, before:

 and after, giving her materials to work with while I work (read all about it here)

 Some of the Liberty of London storage bins (from Target spring 2010) in the closet store some 80+ vintage sewing patterns.

 A gift from a dear friend.

 Extra info in case anyone is interested:

 I have a few 13 inch white folding mesh cubes that store my fabric stash that fit perfectly into the IKEA shelf, they were bought at The Container Store.

The paint we used was: Sherwin Williams SW6766 Mariner (a Tiffany Blue color)

See you tomorrow for a Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway.