The return of...

...The Moomin-jug!

 It's back!

 Shakier than ever!

 ...and this time...

It's Sarah from The Faerie Factory! Congratulations, I'll be in touch soon! Thank you everyone for your participation still once. And those you missed this one (it's the holidays), I've got an another planned soon...

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Yours,
Mia

P.S. Even it strongly seems, that I only wear pink, I occasionally choose other colors too. Not often but occasionally.

Picking

Berry-picking... oh my - the weather has been wonderful, and the bushes are full of lovely red currants! Blacks are almost non-existent this year for some reason, but these glorious reds we have plenty. We had a family picking (and a picnic after) last weekend, and within a few moments we gathered more than 25 litres, and now they're resting happily in my freezer. Ready for those dark and miserable winter days, to make wonderful summer-smoothies. Strawberries were frozen a few weeks ago too, and we're planning to have a little blueberry-picking trip soon too. Wonders of Finnish summer.

***

Picking will most probably continue this evening still, as unfortunately I haven't yet heard of Karen, who was the winner of my giveaway a week ago. I have tried to contact her several times, and let her know that I will be picking a new winner this evening if I will no hear from her today. So all of you, who were participating, please watch this space! And for once it's great to be a hoarder, who never tosses anything quite yet - I still have your names in that Moomin-jug... To be re-picked if needed! To be continued...

Happy Tuesday, see you here soon!

Yours,

Mia

And the winner is...

The winning ticket has been pulled out of the hat (well a Moomin-jug this time), and this is how it all went:

Thank you so much all of you who took part, I loved reading all your comments! And congratulations Karen! I have already sent you an e-mail, and will be sending the winning parcel your way soon too, so:

Congratulations also to all of my British-friends for having a new king-to-be! The baby-news are the best always. I also would have quite a few things to show and tell to you about, but I will be back a bit later with them, we have a sunny and gorgeous day here, and one must savor every each of them! 

Happy Wednesday, we'll see soon again!

Yours,
Mia

Happy Birthday - happy to give away

This day, six years back, I sat with my laptop next to our kitchen table, and with sweaty hands typed the first information to join the etsy-family. Thinking back I could have spent a minute or two more and been a bit more creative when a shop-name was asked (HandmadebyMia I happily typed), but hey, everything in there is handmade by me, Mia, after all. I have had some great ideas (and some not so great) over the years for a new name, but I think you all already recognize my big eyed birdies and big headed but ever-so cute cats to be HandmadebyMia's and I am proud of it!

So a birthday it is, and me and my shop got a card a few days ago, too! It was a wonderful surprise, and even more special because it was from one fantastic fellow etsyan, Anne, who is one of my first etsy-made-friends! It was literally years ago when etsy got us together, and here we are, after all this time. Here's to you, dear friend, and for many more years to come!

I have had a little sale in my shop for past week, and it's still on for a short while, but I also wanted to give something back to you all wonderful people, who have cheered me up, complimented my work, brought a lot of sunshine to my gray days and just been there for me when needed. So it's time for a giveaway, and I tried to choose things from my HandmadebyMia journey so far:

There's a felted flowered handbag, a little kitty&birdie figurine, some Little My (from the Moomins) napkins and some good Finnish chocolate to be won. I can't promise the chocolate bars are the same than in these pictures *nom nom* but there will definitely be two delicious bars of Fazer chocolate in the parcel.

I decided to make one bigger prize to one winner this time, so all that above will go to one person, who will be picked up randomly in one week's time, July 23rd. And all you need to do is to leave a comment to this, today's post, and you're in! I will ship the prize to anywhere in world, so everyone is so welcome to participate! I only wish you would leave your comment with your name or something recognizable, thank you! Good luck, everyone, and happy Tuesday! 

Yours,

Mia

Almost there

When I joined to Etsy in July 2007 (really, that long ago), very little did I know how it will affect my life. How many things I will make and send all over the world, how many fantastic people I will meet via it - just how much it will open up my world. It really doesn't matter if you're in Norway or in Singapore, you can use it to sell and buy wonderful handmades, and it just makes me so happy have my little shop in there too. 

clicking the image above gets you into my shop

Many things have changed since 2007, and I have learned so much during this journey. One of the most visible skill is how to use camera to get even somewhat decent pictures. It is still a major pain to photograph anything around here between November-March, but with a new camera and a lot of practice I think I've come long way. Oh man, this almost hurts, but please take a look at my first ever felted birdie-bag picture:

...and one quite recent:

...quite a difference not only with the picture but also in the birdies...They've come long way too! And once I am showing those ancient pictures, here's one more to go, my first ever (I mean EVER) made felted bag:

...and I am still proud of it too, it was a first to many to come... And everyone needs to start somewhere, right? And here's the latest I sold quite recently... Flowers still going strong, after all these years!

It actually makes my head spin to think how many things I really have made and sent out from my shop. And how many of my dear customers have visited me more than once, and many of those customers have actually turned into friends. How often does that happen in life - in this age (have you noticed that I updated my 30-something profile recently?) - almost never. I have wonderful friends in UK, Japan, US, Netherlands now - thank you sweeties, you know who you are and how much I love you all. And all of you I've met only thanks to Etsy, I am sure otherwise our paths wouldn't have crossed. I've told in earlier posts here, here and here how fantastic things I have received from you, and oh my: just today I received a beautiful bunch of flowers all the way from Japan, thank you so much M!

With all this said you could say that Etsy has changed my life. It has made possible for me from this tiny corner of world to reach all of you, fantastic people! Thank you so much for your support and kind words and encourage over the years. Here's to next six to come! And oh yes, there's a happy sale in my shop until the actual Birthday, July 16th, and it works with code HAPPY6 and that will give you -30% of the purchase (shipping fees excluded). And here's some more info how to use the discount code in etsy.

Have a wonderful day, everyone, and lovely July! We'll see here again soon!

Yours,

Mia

Tuesday afternoon

Hello everybody,

And some pretty deep apologizes for my absence. It was not my plan to post only three times *ahem* during June, but sometimes life just happens. But now it's July already, oh my, and we still have that beautiful sunshine around here! It's been a bit cooler (rainy&stormy lately too), but wonderful still, and over +20C every day. No complaints. What have I been doing then? The usual knitting, ice-cream eating, biking, knitting, sorting things, knitting... It seems I can't toss my beloved needles no matter how hot it gets. But hey, I have tried some other yarns than felting-wool... Can you believe it?

I have tried cotton, and some hemp, and I also have read and re-read my own (and library's) stash of knitting-books. It's funny how you think you remember how to do things, and then you realize that you just don't. Simple things like knitting stripes on round when you're not tossing the piece to a washer and shrinking it 50% has gotten me pulling my hair out. But I am getting there... And more of these efforts later.

 

Did you spot my new mug? I know I know I know it seems a bit matchy with the nail polish and the shirt, but that was a pure coincidence. It really was. The pink knitting might be too much there, I admit, but I'm a pink girl (my mom knows that too, she bought me the mug) and proud of it. 

When I was sipping my tea from that pretty mug earlier today, I spotted the calendar on the wall, and realized, that it's my etsy-shop's birthday coming soon! I wish to celebrate that with some sort of sale a bit later (the b-day is July 16th), and I am planning a giveaway too, but for today I just had to add there something from those early years...

... a few Moomins with something little extra:

Moomin-charms!Those early days I used to make keyrings for my shop of these, but the very last ones I found when I sorted my stash(s) just needed to accompany the last Moomins-scraps to make pretty pouches. And as you can see, reused they really all are; that Little My has been played since 1992 or so and her skirt has seen better days, but she matches perfectly to that Little My pouch. Unique that is, for sure! The Moomins can be seen more closely here, and giveaways and all other birthday- festivities will be announced here in  my blog shortly too. So we'll see here soon again, that's a promise!

Happy Tuesday!

Yours,

Mia