1st Advent

Happy 1st Advent from me and...

 ... Anna the mouse!

See you here soon again!

Yours,
Mia & Anna

Good morning

Good morning from snowy Finland! 

We are getting closer to Holidays, the first Advent will be in this coming Sunday - time really flies! This should be the busiest time of the year for us crafters and web-shop sellers, but I just put the following announcement to my Etsy-shop:

IMPORTANT: We have had (and still have) some Postal strikes in Finland, and the impacts are uncertain, so if YOU ARE IN HURRY or YOU HAVE A CERTAIN DATE you need your item, PLEASE DO NOT ORDER from me at this point as I can not guarantee how long it will take. This goes with CHRISTMAS also. I apologize any inconvenience and am SO SORRY!

---A seller saying "Please do not order from me" just before Christmas & middle of the busiest season?! That's right. We are having a big big big fight in our Postal system at the moment, and it can't be said how long this will take. I was angry at first then sad, then sorry for myself and all the other web-sellers who will lost a big chunk of their (and mine) income with this, but then I went to just "Alright, we will live with this. There are far more important things in life than my Christmas-sales for sure" and "My friends abroad will understand that they will not get any Christmas cards or presents from me this year, they will be so so happy to get something in January" - and this got me sad again. I do understand the point of these strikes, Postmen&other staff are fighting for their already small salaries which the big bosses would love to cut down but still - the timing! Could it be any worse? Really? We have had a long economic depression here in Finland, and they think this will help? The wise men (read: politicians) are moaning how our sales to abroad are too slow - this will help? Not be able to deliver the things ordered? Getting angry again... You see the circle I am following: angry-sad-sorry-angry...I need some coffee and a good cookie right now, just like me&Sis had last weekend:

We went to a happy shopping trip to Kuopio (some 135 kilometers from here) last Saturday, hit the Matkus shopping center and IKEA. And we had wonderful time. Not that much money spent but time together just us girls and great coffee, giggles and some happy Christmas lights did the trick. Christmas Spirit was found, and I wish to keep it going. And stop worrying the little things, and focus on good, sharing the lightness and brightness to you and yours:

So let's enjoy these happy stockings I made and managed to ship before the strikes, and let's focus on happy things! 

I have planned a re-appearance of the Christmas-calendar (previous years starting here and here), and if I need to close my shop (which is necessary if the negotiations will not develop), I will have all the time in the world to focus on it! So a little taste what will be coming around December 1st:

Happy last whole week of November, dear friends!

Yours,

Mia

Proud to be published

It was all the way back in February, when I got contacted by a lovely lady from Germany asking about my interest in creating something for a German craft magazine. I was stunned at first and would not believe it at all, but it really was Almut, you can see her happy face here (and behind that link you will find all kind of happy craft ideas too. All in German, but google translator helps tremendously if you're just like me, my German skills are...I have none, really). She asked if I would like to create a little project for them, something with my felts, and maybe a write a pattern to go with it too. 

Me, write a patter? Never done that except for my own notebooks, and man, are they messy and scribbled all over, and even I have sometimes difficulties reading my own handwriting. So me, a pattern? I panicked and told her that my schedule was far too busy for the spring (which was true at the time, too), but she then happily told me that material was needed only around July-August, and I agreed. Then some of you know and some might have guessed that rest of spring and summer were not the best of my life: illness, sadness, loss and funerals, and working was the left background for a while. But when Almut got in touch with me in end of July again, I just pulled it all together, and created a birdie-bag, wrote a pattern, took the pictures, and just in time delivered it all to her. The pouch will forever remind me of this summer, but it also shows that you have more power and strength than you think, and when you need to get it done, you will make it - so I love that pouch even it has a sad memories attached to it also.

So me and my birdies made it to cover of Filtz&Fertig magazine! Well I am inside (oh dear how many selfies I took for that picture, I guess close to hundred), and inside there are "step-by-step" instructions how to make the pouch. All in German, naturally, Almut translated it from my English-scribbling and it looks great, with process pictures and everything! She sent me the magazine also, and me and my sister studied it for ages (She actually sent two so we both had our own copy, and we went like: "Look at that!" "On what page?" "Oh yes!" for a long time...). Proud. Really proud. My first ever pattern published, wow. Thank you so much, Almut, tausend Dank! 

This little story proves the point of world getting smaller by all the social media. Almut found me and my blog and shop via www, and I can go and see her happy face and lovely team and their creations in their blog just like that - so what ever not-so-great things there are attached to all this web-world, it for sure also creates wonderful things and opportunities too. My little business would still be a big dream without Internet, I would not have met some of the most lovely people of the world without it, and my life would be much less interesting and much more empty without it. So here's to lovely world of Internet (with a capital I!) -  let's use it for all things good and great, let's spread the happiness with it!

To celebrate my first ever pattern publish I am offering a sale discount to my shop for -25% of all items (even those in sale already, but excluding the shipping costs) for 16.11.2015 - 20.11.2015 and the code is HAPPY2015 - that can be used once you are paying your purchase to get the discount calculated automatically. Here you can find a little more info of the Etsy coupon code. Happy browsing!

Lovely Monday to all of you, and happy new week! We will see here again soon!

Yours,

Mia

♥♥♥

Sometimes plans need to be changed, and yesterday was one of those - I had planned a post to show some happy pre-Christmas makes and showing my first ever big article in a craft magazine and even having a sale-code for my shop, but reading the new from Paris yesterday morning I just could not push the send button. My heart goes out for all those lives that tragedy has touched, and I just really can't--- 

See a loved one today!

Yours,

Mia