A winter afternoon - Crustum

I haven't forgotten you. It's only that sometimes real life is busier than expected, so I only have time to post in Spanish. Pay a visit to Cosas que Pasan if you want to see how our life is going on. Pictures has no language :)

This Saturday started really early, at 6:24 AM exactly. Jaume and I have an agreement: he can sleep all what he wants on Saturdays and I do the same on Sundays. I never thought before that sleeping one hour more will become a luxury, but it is.

So this Saturday when Pol wake up, this was waiting for us at the other side of the window. Amazing, isn't it?

Under that magic light we jumped up and down in bed, we waved hello to all dogs and owners that happened to pass under our window and we also had time to watch some old pictures and play with his favorite toys. (Firetruckers, diggers and cranes are in the top ten right now)

We spent the morning fixing things at home so before we realized, the sun was gone and outside and amazing snow storm was starting.

As we wanted to spend some time outside, we decided to swap plans and have an amazing afternoon snack instead of a wonderful breakfast. Crustum was the place selected.

Crustum is a kind of bakery - patisserie and coffee shop all in one with the best cakes and breads in Helsinki area.

On Sunday morning, while I am spending my time happily sleeping, my two favorite boys used to go there and buy for me warm cakes and croissants. The perfect breakfast and heaven in earth.

Crustum is the kind of place where time goes slowly, food is good and children can play without anyone complaining.

We ordered hot chocolate (different kinds), chocolate cake and croissants and while Pol was eating and tasting everything, we spent the afternoon watching people talking and the snow falling in big flakes (my favorite one). We were also painting like artists in a magic board we found there: mouses, houses and all kind of doodles from Pol, the artist.

A perfect Saturday afternoon, the kind that come unexpectedly, but leaves you with a warm feeling of happiness.. We will definitely repeat it again.

If you live in Helsinki or you are just visiting, Crustum is one of the places to go.
They also have a fabulous brunch on weekends, but try to arrive early because it is always fully booked.

CRUSTUM
Pursimiehenkatu, 7
Helsinki
www.crustum.fi 

Moments that make me happy (6)

My favourite time of the year is almost here. I admit it, I love Christmas.

For me Christmas means many special things packed in just some days: going back home, thinking on decorations, preparing parties, meeting people that I haven't seen in a year, singing, dancing. It sounds so well!

My Advent Calendar is ready to be opened and I am thinking in presents for everybody. Planning is part of the fun.

Christmas is around the corner.

How are you preparing it?

Christmas socks

Today I want to share with you a very special project I am collaborating with. It is something tiny that can make many children happy on Christmas day.

Sylvia is one of my virtual friends, virtual because we haven't met yet face to face, but real because I feel very close to her. We met through our share passion, photography and I have been following all her travels and life in Oxford (England).

Due to her job, she spends many hours in the hospital and watching how the children with cancer spent their time there, she decided to start a NGO for making their life happier.

Her proyect is very simple but very effective. During the year, Sylvia sews colorful pillowcases that afterwards are donated to the hospital. This way every child that comes in can choose his (or her) very own pillowcase. A special one only for themselves that transforms their bed in whatever they want to imagine.

Picture from Sylvia Rueda

This is Lilly's pillow. Lilly was the first little girl that chose her own pillowcase in John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

I have already told you that I do not know how to sew, so this project is quite enormous for me and I haven't collaborate with her yet.

But Sylvia decided 3 years ago to do something on top. She started making Christmas socks for all the children spending Christmas night at the hospital. The nurses used to put little presents in every child's bed, but they didn't have enough socks for everybody and children couldn't keep the socks after Christmas as the nurses needed them for the following year.

And there was when I joined her. She prepared a tutorial for people like me, without any skills on sewing and with thread and needle (and some glue, I admit it) last year three socks were sent from Finland destination three kids in Oxford Hospital.

This year I have already started and although I am still really bad with the needle, I am happy thinking that any little kid will choose our socks and will dream about the things that Santa Claus will let him there.

The project made me so happy, that this year I have decided to share it with the people I know, trying that every little child will have his own sock this Christmas.

Last Tuesday, a group of people of my work place gave me my  "happy moment", joining together to sew some socks for Sylvia's kids.

And now I want to invite you. Because it is fun, it can be made alone, with your kids or with your friends and the most important of all, it will male many children happy on Christmas Eve.

If you are like me and you don't know how to use a needle, Sylvia explains how to do it  here y here. It is in Spanish but I am translating now for you and I will update this post with the new links.

Socks can be also made of crochet or knitted, just let your creativity and imagination fly.

For sending them to Sylvia, just let a comment in this post with your e-mail address and she will send you an e-mail back with all the instructions.

And if you know any other organisation that makes this kind of projects, just let a comment in this post. I am sure that together we can make a better Christmas for many children around us.

Do you want to join us?

Moments that make me happy (5)

I love being near our windows, watching how birds are eating outside.

Winter is almost here, leaves have gone and the trees in front our windows let us see how the sea and the sky meet together.

I do not know whether the birds will stay or they will fly away with the cold. In the meanwhile, they make our mornings happier and a little boy loves talking to them saying pio pio.

 

I'll keep you posted.

#smallthingsthatmakemehappy

Declaration of intentions

The dark time is arriving to Helsinki, so it's time to spend weekends with long afternoon teas among friends (although I prefer the Spanish term merienda) or to stop Pinteresting and try to do whatever have inspired me through the last months.

This is exactly what I did last weekend. Many of my friends have been parents lately, so I wanted to send something special to all newborns.

I love party garlands, mostly if they are presented in beautiful colours, so I have crocheted a bunch of them and it was time to prepare the first one to be sent.

First, I prepared a customised wrapping paper. I used some rubber stamps that my sister gave Pol as a birthday present and paper kraft. I like the motifs and until we will be able to tell stories with them (now Pol is too young), they make a perfect wrapping for a newborn baby.

Picture was taken with  Instagram.

This is how the box looked like.

I used a lace to finalise the package and a beautiful paper to write a note to Jaime, the beautiful newborn.

I know that today's  pictures are not specially amazing. The truth is that I was not planning to share them here, but they are perfect for explaining which are my intentions for this upcoming holiday.

I have decided that this Christmas I will follow Merche's advice and my presents will be handmade (by me or by any small business)

picture from Merche Grossomodo

I have started my list today and it is a promising one.

As one of my first proposals, I want to show you the pictures I took this Sunday. They belong to the catalogue of my friend Helena. She is doing beautiful crocheted things, as these Christmas decorations.

I'm in love with them and I think that they are the perfect decoration for a simple Christmas theme or for families like us, with children that would like to redecorate the Christmas tree every day.

If you want to see more pictures of this session, pay a visit to White Sheep. I am sure you will find something you like.

Let's make this Christmas special for everybody!

Moments that make me happy (4)

Rain does not mean boredom anymore, it is just fun!

 

We love jumping up and down in puddles. Both do!

And just around the corner, we enjoy these marvellous landscape. The paradise!

I'm singing in the rain, 
just singing in the rain, 
what a glorious feeling, 
and I'm happy again
     


#momentosquemehacenfeliz

Wedding invitation: Laura & Fernando

My little sister, Laura, got married last September.

One of the first things that she and her now husband did after the decision was taken was to look for a wedding invitation. They visited all paper shops in our home town, but they weren't able to find any invitation that suited them, so I offered them to design one and if they liked it, do it ourselves.

First we discussed about their likes and dislikes, their ideas and inspirations and the first thing that they decided was that they wanted a picture of themselves showing in the invitation.

I have to admit it, this was not my first idea. I was thinking in something different, more related to textures and typography but it was their wedding, not mine, so I started to think about it.

In the meanwhile I went to all craft and paper shops in Helsinki and after touching and feeling different textures and colours of paper, I was convinced that Kraft paper was my favourite.

Event though it is kind of fashion now, it is not an easy type of paper for a wedding invitation. You have to "dress" it to be elegant and special, so the first thing I did was to design a logo, thinking on how they are and in the type of party that they were planning to have.

 

Confetti and bubbles seemed a good combination to me. A party and a life sorrounded by them sounds great and taking into consideration that they are one of the happiest couple in this world, that had to be their logo.

I ordered it from G&P and they sent it in this beautiful package.

Here you can see more pictures of the packaging.

We decided to stamp it with white ink. I love how it combines with Kraft paper and knowing that we could not print in that colour, stamping sounded a great option.



Fancy a party?

But we still had the issue with finding the picture representing them, showing how they are and what they want to be together. They were in the process of finding their wedding photographer and I was too far away to take that picture, so it was becoming more and more difficult as the date was approaching. Sometimes living thousands of kilometres away bring such inconvenients.

At the end, we realised that the idea of the wedding was that they were 2 single people that wanted to spend their life together. Why not to choose pictures that talk about them as individuals and tight them together? Why do not use this fact for making their invitation special?

So I introduce you to Fernando and Laura, two different people that together sum more than two. Arent't they cute?

They were a beautiful couple when they were three years old, don't you think so?

Besides their names, date and place of the event we added the sentence "Because together we sum more than two" and we knot the invitation with a ribbon.

It was quite easy to decide which fonts to use, but we spent quite some time looking for the perfect ribbon. I suggested them a vintage lace combined with red thread, but Fernando was not into lace, so we used red raffia.

Pictures were ordered through  Moo, an on-line printing company that it is specialised in this small format and allows you to print a different picture in every card. They chose several pictures of themselves in the same range of age and situation making every invitation unique as they were able to combine them.

In the back side of the picture they printed their personal data. Although I know that their e-mail addresses and phones are quite important, I didn't like how they fit into the invitation, so we sorted out the problem that way. An advantage is that they can use the spare ones as business cards. Nice idea!

The last touch was introducing the chapel to the invitees. They were getting married in a small church that it is currently not in use, so they wanted to make sure that everybody was able to find it. A map of the city was customised and printed. I highlighted the two important spots: the chapel and the restaurant and painted the walking path with small footprints.

The inner part of the envelope was decorated with a vintage image of the chapel too.

And the invitation was ready to be shared.

 In the back side of the map, I printed some confetti and the sentence "We would love to see you".

(Not a literal translation here)

This is how the whole invitation looked like. A little piece of them as a couple and the introduction to the party to be: a classical wedding but with a different touch. It was a pleasure to design it and be a small part of their love.

Fernando and Laura, I wish you all the happiness of this world. You deserve it.