Sunday, June 26, 2011

Rock My Boat!

On one of my recent treasure hunts on the beach I found a boat. A little plastic toy that probably didn't travel far but was left behind by its previous owner ... I took it home and for some reason it stayed clear of the trashcan ...

The reason may have been this little boy who came by Hamra Krog this morning looking for a new toy - he had rather specific wishes ... it had to be ... a boat!

Picked up from the beach and now by some kind of very strange coincidence in the hands of a new (pretty proud) owner! That totally deserved a post on my blog!

The moral of this story: Pick up all trash you find - but never forget, trash to some is treasure to others :)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Colour Schemes




It's very windy in Hamra today ... perfect weather to stay inside my shop, drink tea, dream about the future ... and paint yet another chair :)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Distributed, distributed, distributed!


Are we really all asleep?
I know, nobody likes gloomy videos warning us the world as we know it is about to end but this one is really worth watching (and it really isn't as gloomy as it seems in the beginning).
Funnily enough I posted a little animated video based on Rifkin's latest book "The Empatic Civilisation" already on the 5th of December 2010 but never really bothered to look into who this Rifkin person was or what else he maybe had to teach me ... a lot, so it seems!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Zero Waste Lifestyle

Today I stumbled across a very helpful blog, the Zero Waste Home on how to live a zero waste life.
A while back I posted a song by Jack Johnson called "Reduce, reuse, recycle" but as Bea writes on her blog, we should actually learn to "Refuse, refuse, refuse ... and then reduce, reuse and recycle" ... so Jack, maybe it's time for a new song :D

Here are Bea's tips to help you lower your waste at home, because let's face it ... there's always room for improvement :)
8 categories are covered, including kitchen, bathroom, and laundry & cleaning but one I would like to add is interior decoration - go to flea markets and reuse what others have discarded! (Or come to my shop at Hamra Krog and buy one of my salvaged treasures!)
It's amazing what's out there to find! There's nothing unique about mass-produced prefab furniture is there?


Monday, June 20, 2011

And that's how yet another week just flew by ...

and for almost a week I haven't been inspired enough to post anything newsworthy so it seems ...

I even had a little fall-out with facebook and deactivated my account ... but reactivated it after not even a day afraid that my 'network' would fall to pieces and that my blog wouldn't get any more readers ...
Since when is Facebook such a big part of life? And isn't that completely creepy?

Anyway,
I finally finally got my paint and so my shop is getting some extra colour every day ...



We joined a very colourful party at the Waldorf kindergarten,





I had some more customers in my shop, and realized in the middle of a complicated sentence how learning Swedish completely destroyed my already very limited knowledge of German (total embarrassment by the way!)
I got to eat pizza almost every day - one of the advantages of living above a restaurant with its very own pizza oven ...
And to finish off with an enjoyable Sunday we had some friends coming over, had pizza (!), went for a walk on the beach and warmed up afterwards with some Løv Organic tea :)





I'm so ready for another week of this!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

A New Adventure at Hamra: Cow Herding

Admittedly, we probably need some practice (and get over fear issues) but I thought we did very well helping to guide a bunch of cows to their new pasture ... although it remains up for discussion: our first attempt was a little meager - we only got one little calf to obey us ...


Up for a challenge?

I'm a little reluctant to disclose the location of this treasure house - a flea market out of proportion - which will probably be one of my hang out spots this summer ... but ok, I'll share ... it can be found in Havdhem, just follow the signs ;)

We got instantly overwhelmed by the immense amount of stuff displayed all over the yard ... and that was even before we discovered the 3 huge rooms inside the house, plus an extra barn, stacked from floor to ceiling, full of things just waiting to be picked up and appreciated ...

We had a discussion about how long it would take for one person (like me) to organize the whole place and sell everything in it. A lifetime he said - a fun five year challenge I said :)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The organic tea that makes everyday life more beautiful :)

It felt a lot like Christmas yesterday when my Løv tea finally made it to Hamra Krog!
I got to open and unpack 13 boxes filled with the prettiest tea tins in the world and showed them around to everyone who wanted to see (guess how happy that made me? :D).

Today I spent a large part of the day putting up shelves (made from an old pallet that was the exact size I needed the shelves to be!) to display those glorious tins and now my shop smells like a proper teashop - a delightful mixture of chocolate & vanilla, red fruits, mint, rooibos, earl grey, ginger & lemon, roses, jasmin, apple, caramel, and herbs.

Luxury!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Deadly Unicorn


Here's by far the most colourful piece of junk I picked up on the beach yesterday: a unicorn helium balloon! (I bet my sister would have loved this one!)

Sure, helium balloons are fun (and pretty) but when they escape there's a very big chance they end up in our oceans.
Did you know that balloons, just like plastic bags, are often mistaken for food by sea turtles, dolphins and whales and can result in a slow and painful death?

Banish the bag! And think twice about those balloons ...

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Perks of the Job




I thought today was already a fabulous day when I went treasure hunting on the beach and came home with more treasure than trash ... (maybe material for tomorrow's post)







But then we got invited for pancakes AND a little boat trip by the Hamra Krog-sisters Karin & Linnea and their dad.










They took us to a tiny little island where we went fossil hunting (supervised by about a dozen of curious seals!)




And after reassuring me that it's not illegal to pick fossils and sell them I started brainstorming about what to do with them ...

Earrings? Bracelets? Necklaces? All of it?
I think it's time to add yet another project to my list :)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Live like you love the ocean!


Today is World Oceans Day - 24 hours to honor the world's oceans ... an initiative to inspire people to make ocean protection a way of life.

We all know that global warming means warming of the oceans, results in melting glacial
 ice, rising sea levels, heavy rain in some areas, and drought in others. But there's more to the issue ...

Here's a bit of chemistry: Almost half of all the carbon dioxide emitted since industrialization has been absorbed by the ocean. When carbon dioxide reacts with water, it forms carbonic acid, and releases more hydrogen ions into the sea, lowering pH and causing acidification of the ocean. 



Further, these hydrogen ions quickly bind with carbonate ions. This deprives animals like hard corals and certain mollusks and plankton of the raw material for their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. This may ultimately cause the world's oceans to become corrosive to such animals, and cause coral reefs to dissolve."

There you go - one more reason to reduce our carbon emissions! 

Here's some ideas ...

* reduce meat and fish consumption
* eat more locally and sustainably grown food
* reduce your use of plastics and consumption in general

A healthy ocean contributes to a healthy climate, and a healthy climate is crucial for our ocean life.


Source: this website

Monday, June 6, 2011

Preview - Ainas Ateljé


Here's a little preview of how my shop now looks! Or one corner of it anyway :) 
Today was Sweden's National Day which of course meant that the postman had a day off - so I'm still waiting for my paint and my tea :) Good thing there's lots of other things to do!
I struggled with my bookkeeping program about half the day but managed to figure it out in the end, I sowed some more seeds in the hope it's not to late in the year for cilantro and chives AND I (almost) finished my first creative project (will be revealed soon).




We managed fixed our internet connection so I hope we'll stay connected for a while now - I feel so lost without news from the outside world!
News like this for example: I passed my exam!!
I got an e-mail from school saying I should call to discuss my grade. 
Didn't sound very promising now, did it?
Apparently that's Canadian humor :) I got 84%!

I tried to call you mum - thought you should be the first to hear - but there seemed to be something wrong with your phone ...

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Öppna Ateljéer = Artistic Roadtrip

My boyfriend's mum is on the island for a couple of days (a birthday present to her from all the kids & her sister) and just like last year when she took me along for the "Open Studio Days" in Småland, I'm taking her and her foster daughter all around Gotland.
I'm not even half as organized as she was last year but we were very successful anyway and managed to visit 12 workshops in the South of Gotland - and maybe even some more tomorrow!

Here's a tiny selection of the massive amount of pictures I took:


Relief by Svante Gärdek

Eva Hållsten's concrete bears and a superb idea I might just "borrow" some time in the future: pretty lace instead of ugly mosquito nets in front of the windows!


Coat hanger duck by sculptor Sanny Laurin


and Sanny's artistic hand right before he released this tiny bird that flew into his barn.


Maud Sundström's barn I completely fell in love with. How I would love to have a place like that! All the junk included!



Some pictures I took inside Maud's gallery - sometimes it's not the actual art that speaks to me but more the artists art of living ...



 And Charlotte Karlsson's lovely ceramics to finish! Talking about eye-candy!

What a day - I wish I already had my paint - I want to pretend I'm an artist too!!

To all you talented people who got my card today and read this post: Thank you so much for sharing your work with us and letting us peak behind the scenes a little.

You inspired me!

Rikskändisar!


See here my first appearance in a (local) Swedish newspaper together with Luqaz and my latest "loppis fynd" :) 

I gave the journalist my card because I thought he really should write about my shop but apparently he decided against it :p 
Oh well ...

I guess this is a good start anyway :)

Today I was a bit of an all-rounder @ Hamra - cleaning rooms and peeling potatoes (10kg!!) - but I also got loads done in my shop - I put up shelves and window blinds pretty much all by myself - and even though none of it is exactly straight I'm still pretty proud of my work!

This is going to be a great summer!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

F&B - Fabulous & Beautiful :)




Yesterday I ordered 5 colours of Farrow & Ball paint I'll be working with this summer.


All Farrow & Ball paints are water based, eco friendly and comply with the latest EU environmental legislation regarding the VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) content of paints. In other words: sustainable & perfect for my workshop :)


I've worked with F&B paint before since that's the paint my mum uses in her tree houses and around the property in the South of France. She's remodeling soon so be sure to keep an eye on the website to discover the changes!


I won't reveal my choice of colours just yet. You'll see once I get them and I get started!