With (a) spring in my step...

It has been a while. 

A rather long while. 

Blog intentions were present and willing. 

Life threw me other things to do first. 

And then one day I caved in to friends' insistence that I ought to try Instagram.

So I have been instagramming a bit. (You can find me at @helenabernald on Instagram.) 

After months of hibernation, when I have occasionally placed a paw outside, in the vain (= desperate) hope for some spring vibes, it was not until today that I felt the air filled with hope and signs that spring is on its way.

So I have (a) spring in my step today.

And decided to welcome spring with some recycled, upcycled "Easter craft on a shoestring"  (inspired by the very creative and crafty Helena at http://helenalyth.se/). Photos taken with my phone, so the quality is not brilliant, but you get the idea... :-) 

I used egg shells from previous lunches, some leftover wall paint, the tiny satin ribbons you sometimes get in new T-shirts (the ones used to keep the T-shirt on its hanger), some small branches from a pile of cut down bushes nearby, and voilà, mini vases with a spring-y, Easter-y feel! 

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Helena

Peaceful pickings...

Perhaps I should not be so light-hearted in my word play about something 

so crucially, urgently, desperately important. 

Peace.

With so much conflict in the world, and so much pain, it may perhaps feel like making a peace sign of moss and bluebells is a decadent waste of time - time which might instead be used to try to make the world a better place? Like the whole idea of blogging about craft projects and pretty petals is a pointless luxury that is unlikely to feed hungry mouths or put an end to suffering, big or small?

Yes, I feel like that sometimes. But throughout history, different forms of art have helped people through difficult times, perhaps served as a balance to an uglier reality nearby. And perhaps that is what I am drawn to... an opportunity to balance bonkers* with beauty? For myself and for others. To offer a corner of tranquility with no demands on the reader, you, to do anything other than sit back, relax and hopefully find something that pleases your eye or inspires you in your own artistic expressions. 

Perhaps that sounded big-headed of me... to think that I could offer all of the above? Well, it is perhaps a wish more than a belief and with that, I think I may just have described the reason I am blogging...! However, this is not to say that we can't combine the two... Balancing bonkers with beauty AND work for a better world in any way we feel we can.

✿✿✿

And on the topic of bloggable blue beauties...

The image above and the two below are recycled images from a few of my previous blog posts of bloggable bluebells. From the rougher, "untidier", or wilder looks (pic above and second of the two below) to a slightly more sophisticated setting in the first photo below - I love them all... sweet, sweet little blue friends!

The last photo above was snapped with my phone a few weeks ago, when I stumbled upon one of UKs many, many bluebell forests (and no, you are not drunk, the photo was taken on a slope!). I believe my squeals of bluebell delight are still echoing between the trees...

Wishing you peace in every form,

Helena x

* "bonkers" is British English for "crazy", or here: "madness"

Green meditation...

In recent years, I have seen an increasing number of colouring books for grown-ups pop up in book stores everywhere. They are often designed to offer a form of meditative, anti-stress art therapy, or mindfulness, and often contain different mandala shapes for you to colour in. I completely see how they could offer all of the above, but have personally not been drawn to them. 

However, when I recently stumbled upon stunningly creative Hanna Wendelbo, (click on her name for link to her website and here for a link to her instagram account) a Swedish designer with a passion for all things floral and who, among other things, designs beautiful wallpaper and offers workshops in what I would call floral art, something clicked in me and I could not wait to experiment a little myself. 

A large black sheet of paper, a few leaves and buds snippety-snipped from my garden and I found myself absorbed in meditative petal positioning and a wonderfully symmetrical adventure that is right up my street! These first attempts are perhaps not so advanced or elaborate, but the marvellous thing about creating something for yourself is that it does not need to be advanced or elaborate - it can be what you would like it to be! I already have ideas for many other patterns and petals, and with any luck I will find the time for some more green meditation...

I will finish this blog post with one of Hanna Wendelbo's photos of one of her amazing flower art creations. For some reason, this photo has really stuck with me and I find these gerbera petal angel wings so breathtakingly beautiful.

(Image shown with Hanna's approval.)

So, dear friends, go on, pick some petals and try for yourselves. But a small warning might be appropriate here... I cannot guarantee that you will not become slightly addicted once you start! 😊

Love,
Helena

Ps. I just saw that another hugely talented and creative designer and influencer, Helena Lyth, recently attended and wrote about one of Hanna's workshops on her blog, where she also shows some of her own beautiful flower mandalas.

Ps 2. Thank you so much for your kind words on my last blog post and for welcoming me back so generously to the blog world, despite my long absence!

Resurfacing...

Dearest blog readers,

Now how did that happen?! A blog silence so long that even I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find my way back to the gates of Bloglandia. As you can see, I have resurfaced, but only with the help of some recycled photos from previous autumns. My camera lies dormant in its case, and I, I neither lie nor am I dormant very much... Instead, it seems I have boarded life's own speed train, with a ticket that will last at least another few months...

As for you, dear readers, I wish you all the best, hoping you are enjoying many revitalising autumn walks and special moments with friends and family. The season for going a little candle crazy is here, so bring out the hot chocolate and the fluffy throws!

Helena

'Purpling' the patio...again!

To see the whole image, please click on it.

Dear readers,

Some of you may think there has been a little too much of other people's gardens here on my blog lately, so it is time to 'bring things home' again, and to do it in the way I like best... the purple way...

About a week ago, I could not wait any longer. Outside temperatures were still not very impressive, but the garden-greedy colour-yearning soul inside me just NEEDED some purple violets. Yes, it was definitely a bit of an emergency.

The rest of the garden is still looking more savage than tame, but a quick sweep of the patio, some petal power and a few hastily scattered accessories, and we could welcome our Sunday lunch guests to some outdoor living... or at least to enjoy the view from the table inside, as it was far too cold to even consider lunch on the lawn!

The new three-legged metal friend was a bargain but oh-so-heavy find from a local second-hand shop, thought to have come from an industrial unit, but I am not quite sure what it actually is. In my eyes, however, it screamed 'garden table' and after a quick choppety-chop with the bandsaw, a left-over floorboard became (yet another) table top. I will probably have to find some more durable wood for this outside all-weather friend, but for now, I can just take the table top in when the rain comes.

And the purple petal pretties? Well, I am in loooove!

Purple or not, I wish you all a very pretty week!

Helena

Ps. Recently, I 'caught' the most wonderful BUG, 

and next time I thought I might introduce him to you...

Can't keep your fingers off your eggs...?

Well, it seems, neither can I! 

Having gone just a little bit bananas with the lilac craft paper I used for my moustache-adorned egg heads last week, a few more mini craft projects took form in my spring-desperate head. So, what to do with some miniature bunting...?

Well, it quite obviously needs a sponge cake, some chocolate/coffee frosting, 

a few chocolate fingers and some mini eggs. 

In short: the bunting needs an Easter cake to go with it!

 And who am I to argue with that?

Whether you celebrate Easter or not, 

I hope your weekend is a lovely and relaxing one, 

and - dare I say it? - a warm and spring-like one too!

Helena

Egg Heads...

No, of course I did not mean you, dear readers! 

The egg head heading refers to these three gentlemen that were the result of last night's itchy craft fingers having been allowed to play. Inspired by a photo I had seen on Pinterest (unfortunately I cannot remember where, so I apologise that there is no source stated), I dug out some old craft paper, three mini jam jars (those you often get with hotel breakfasts and which, I found out when I asked in a B&B last summer, are often thrown away and not recycled... which now makes me ask if I can take them home instead!), a black  pen and the three remaining eggs I could find in our fridge. And ta-daa, instant Easter fun! 

***

... and on the subject of itchy craft fingers... I thought I might continue the theme of 'show and tell' by showing you some wands I made for a certain young gentleman's Harry Potter birthday party a few days ago.. Welcome to Hogwarts!

I found some very easy step-by-step instructions here on how to make a Harry Potter wand that lived up to my health and safety conscious, do-not-like-any-children-to-get-their-eyes-poked-out-at-the-party philosophy. It was my first encounter with a glue gun ("What?" I hear you say, "a crafty girl without a glue gun???") and after an initial farcical few minutes that would give Mr Bean a run for his money, we bonded quite well (pardon the pun), the glue gun and I. 

I made a few changes to the original instructions and used two sheets of paper, one rolled inside the other, for stability, and I did not use any primer or paint several coats - instead I used a couple of tester pots in black and two different shades of brown and slabbed on the paint a little haphazardly, trying to achieve that distressed look. The wands were surprisingly easy to make,   and even if they will not last a lifetime, at least they are safe and proved very useful for the spells and potion making the little wizards undertook at the party...

Happy Sunday, everyone, and may it be a magical one!

Helena

Purple peace and pretty purchases...

Dear readers,

I thought we might talk cushions for a moment. 

Cushions, I confess, is one of my weaknesses.

Cushions, I would insist, 

(although some family members, strangely, seem not to understand this...) 

you simply cannot have too many...

I say this, as I tend to make most of them myself, 

re-using the inner pillow and often using scraps of fabric to make the cover.

Like the peace sign cushion here...

...made from an old purple top of mine that was past its glory days in fashion, to put it mildly,

together with a peace sign cut out of some linen fabric and then painted with a thin layer of metallic paint, just to give it a modest shine, make it come "alive"...

But here comes confession time.

Cushion confession, that is.

See the other two patterned cushions?

Well...

If one happens to fall head over heals in love with a cushion one happens to see on the cover of one of one's favourite Norwegian magazines, Vakre Hem, and one then by complete coincidence happens to stumble across those very cushions at half price on a work trip to Sweden, one wonders if, perhaps, one is not meant to, maybe, well... buy them?

Well, one did. 

And one is quite happy one did. 

The sofa in the TV room (our TV is hidden away in one of the cupboards under the stairs) is now a little more colourful than before, and together with the fairy-light-stuffed ex-greenhouse heater in the fireplace, and my beloved, cheerful ceiling light, this window-less corner now seems a little bit brighter!

Wishing you a bright and colourful Sunday!

Love,

Helena

Lollipop love...

To better view the larger photos in this post, please click on the photos.

***

 - It's very dead, isn't it? 

The man in the house nodded towards what used to be a delightful olive tree, but what had, for a long time, been a rather sad sight...

- A-hem...well...

Having for some time refused to accept the sad state of my beloved tree, I was trying to buy time, not sure where this conversation was going.

- Isn't it about time you bought a new olive tree, because that one is really not pretty...

This ought to be good news, as there was an actual suggestion for the introduction of another olive tree in the house, but as I was busy feeling quite defensive about the attack on my green friend's appearance and knowing fully well I would not be able to find a new one this time of the year, I was not singing and dancing.

- Don't throw it away! I have a plan...

Now, this is not the first time these words have crossed my lips, and they were met with no surprise, even if I think I may have caught, out of the corner of my eye, the man in the house rolling his eyes...

***

So, armed with a bag of fresh moss, I set to work... and now, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce my new friend, the Green Lollipop! 

(I used the "skeleton" of the old branches and twigs of the olive tree and simply stuffed it with moss. To "reinforce" the lollipop against attacks from various paper aeroplanes, I used some this green sewing thread, but most of it seemed to stay in place just with the help of the little twigs on the tree.)

On one of the side tables rests the result of another nature walk recently: a star made from fallen down twigs. Could I possibly be getting into the Christmas spirit already...???

The tea light holder on the other side table is still one of my favourites, even though I am sure it will not  appeal to everybody in its rusty, quirky glory: an old chimney cap (to protect birds from falling down the chimney) with a small votive dangling in a rusty chain..

Otherwise, nothing new in the dining area...

 Even the walnuts are last year's harvest...

The last image was captured from the car on my way to the forest. Beautiful old stone houses climbing the green hills... through my Swedish eyes a VERY English view indeed!

Wishing you a great start to the new week and hope you stay 

warm and safe from hurricanes and treacherous icy roads!

Helena

Recycled autumn...

Dearest blog readers,

Most of you know by now that I am a big fan of recycling material when decorating...

I therefore hope you will allow me to also 'recycle' some old photos from two years ago...

...as time is not on my side at the moment, but I still wanted to 

offer a little autumnal ambiance here on the blog...

Two years ago, there was a lot growing in the Swenglish garden and green house...

(Borlotti beans)

... some of which  (↑) I was more keen to devour with my lens than my palate...

Autumn walks in 'Conquers Land' made one Swenglish 'gatherer' very happy...

... and there was no stopping my desire to create little seasonal corners...

For now, I 'gather' ideas and try to be patient (not my strongest virtue...) 

until life offers the time and head space to create more corners and 

harvest the fruits of my create-hungry mind...

Thank you so much for visiting and a special thank you to Judita 

with the lovely blog Välkommen Hem! (=Welcome Home!), 

who gave me an award recently!

All the best,

Helena