Handmade Christmas.

High fives all around for a handmade Christmas!
We're finally settled into our Condo, and I am so happy to be decorating instead of unpacking. I of course located a JoAnn Fabrics superstore, only 10 minutes away, and went on a late night raid. I've been making Christmas decorations, and baking gingerbread cookies non stop the last 3 days. Yesss! I LOVE Christmas!





The drive across country took us about an extra 20 hours this time since we had the dogs, and the moving truck. We almost froze to death in Wyoming, trying to catch a few hours of sleep in the truck, not knowing below zero Farenheit would sneak up on us. We found a vegan pizza in Omaha, Nebraska, and almost crashed into a fiery pit going downhill during the last 30 minutes of our trip, when the brakes decided the heavy load was too much to take.
Lets just say it's gonna be awhile before we drive across country again.





I found a cute tutorial for these adorable yarn Christmas trees in Pretty Ditty. They are super easy to make, and I just love them oh so much!

I've made a huge list of things that need to be done, like Christmas shopping (yeah I'm super late this year, I'm kinda freaking out!), finding the perfect tree, hanging pictures in the apartment, watch cute movies, bake, scrapbook, and start a new painting. I should also try to find a job. There aren't enough hours in the day, I swear.
What's on your list?





My favorite part of Christmas is making a gingerbread house. It's been a tradition in my family since I was a kid, I remember making it with my mom, and brothers early in December, for it to sit, and get dusty til after New Years, when we we're finally allowed to eat it. So gross. Of course we would each sneak a piece of candy from the house before that, and my mom would pretend she didn't notice.



I also made little stockings for all of us, each one embroidered with our names on them, I can't wait to make little dog, and cat toys for the pets, and find little goodies for Josh.










Cupcake has slowly been trying to take over Otis' bed, so I decided to make him a new one from an old knitted sweater and some fabric scraps. Cupcake loves to burrow, so it's perfect for him!





What is your favorite part about the holidays?

<3

almost.

We spent the day loading up the truck, and running multiple trips, up and down 3 flights of stairs with lots and lots of boxes. Not fun. Someone please remind me to never move in to the third floor in a house from the early 1800's ever again. Thanks.



We had our friend Jake help with the heavier stuff, and the matress, that had to be bent like a taco. Luckily it was easier getting out than in. Speaking of tacos, we're having tacos on the floor, followed by neapolitan ice cream. I don't think I've ever celebrated thanksgiving, so that's OK with me.

Just a few more things to pack up, and we're heading out tomorrow morning. It's gonna be a looong drive.

I finished some new paintings, and started making Christmas stockings, and also an advent calender.









I know I promised to do a water color tutorial, I wish I could right now, but it will have to wait til I'm moved in and settled.

I also knitted a scarf for my mom, I love the pattern, but I wish I would have picked a darker color. Oh well.





The pattern can be found here.

Alright, well. I'm about to do some more cleaning, and some last minute laundry.
I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving!!!

xoxo

done and done.

After a week of looking at apartments, and house after house, and dealing with some rather strange people, we finally found a place to live. It's in the most perfect area, it's right off Hawthorne so there is tons of cute stores right outside my door. Dangerous! It's not a house, which we had hoped for, and definitely on the smaller side, but it's such a cute little condo! We love it!

It has rained here almost every day, but I guess that's Oregon winter weather for you, I can't complain. I get to buy cute rain boots, and not freeze to death, or deal with snow. High five!



paranoiagirl


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lkylindy


loftcreations


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HappilyKnit

We are flying out to Philly at 6am, where we're get tattooed, we're seeing some friends, we're gonna eat good food and we're gonna play with our puppies. We're spending Wednesday in Delaware with Joshs' parents, and the we drive back to Maine Thursday morning. I can't wait to sleep in a bed again! It's definitely been a long week!

My last two days at Johns shop will be Friday and Saturday, then I have a lot of packing to do, and hopefully I can squeeze in some time for crafting. The plan is to drive the 3000 miles out here all over again in a moving truck on Thanksgiving. Sounds like fun, huh? Not so much.

In the end it will all be worth it though <3

xoxo
Silje

sleep deprived.

After dropping off Cupcake and Otis in Delaware with Joshs' parents, we headed out for what seemed to be the longest, but surprisingly, fastest drive ever, at 6am Saturday. We each had 3 sandwiches in a cooler, along with pasta salad, luna, and lara bars, fruit, and loads and loads of candy. We went through bottles of water, and even more candy.
Josh drove most of the trip, but I did my share also, and we each took turns sleeping and driving for the next 42 hours. Other than the 10 minute stops we made for gas, and bathroom breaks, we stopped for 3 hours to sleep in Nebraska, but that's it.



We are pretty surprised that it only took us 45 hours all together to drive across country, but we are definitely feeling the aftermath of it now. We are still, 4 days later, incredibly tired. And the best part is, we get to do it all over again, but in a much less comfortable moving truck, and with two dogs, in 3 weeks.

On the other hand, Portland is all I could ever wish for, and more. The last few days I have seen more vintage stores than ever before in one city, and ate more amazing vegan food than ever before, I now know why Portland is the vegetarian capital of the US! I also found an incredible fabric store, of course, right next to a fabulous yarn store, and even better, right down the street from a cute little craft store, that just happened to have all my favorite scrap booking products, and papers. Oh yes.


"Mucki" by, Rudi Hurzlmeier.

We looked at a few places, actually signed the lease for a cute condo, right by Hawthorne, but after going back and forth, we decided it's just not big enough. We got out of the lease, and are now back to square one. We also looked at the cutest little house ever, but they are firm on the price, and want more than what it's worth.
We don't fly back til Tuesday, so there are still a few more days, fingers crossed we don't end up homeless!

My calendar is still up for sale in my Etsy shop, so head over there if you are interested! They make great gifts! :)





I was asked to do a tutorial on my water color tecnique, and I am dying to paint right now! I am also out of town, and 3000 miles away from my brushes and paint. I will however try to squeeze one in between working and packing when I get back to Maine! :)

I hope you are all staying warm. I'm craving some hot apple cider!

xoxo

the other Portland.

Lots of new changes, yeah, I feel like I say that quite often nowadays! Anyways, we are moving again, this time to the other Portland. Portland, Oregon.
Maine is beautiful, and the people here are some of the nicest I have ever met.
But I think Portland, Oregon will suit our lifestyle better.

I have mixed feelings about leaving, mostly cause I'll miss working at the shop, and I feel slightly guilty for leaving after everything John did for me in the short time I was here. I can honestly say he is one of the nicest people I have ever met, ever! But I think we will stay friends for a long time, and we have some really good ideas for this super exciting, and secret project we are doing together!

If you are ever in Maine and want a great custom tattoo, you should definitely stop by his shop on Exchange street in Old Port.

I like to think what John said, maybe I came to Maine, just to be inspired, to fall in love with tattooing all over again, and to inspire others might be true.

And with that said I've been working on some fun things the last week. I painted a 2010 calendar, which is now up for sale in my Etsy shop, it will make a great holiday gift! Along with prints of my latest Matryoshka painting!











If you want to see the full calendar, check out my Flickr.





I also finished this years Christmas cards, screen printed with the gocco! I am surprisingly early this year! :)



I am working on a whole series of Matryoshka paintings, I am so excited about it, all I wanna do is paint!



We are dropping the pets off in Delaware at Joshs' parents tomorrow, and Friday we drive the 3000 miles to Oregon to look for a place to live. We're staying for about a week, we're flying back (thank God!), then stop by Philly to get tattooed, pick up the pets, and pack our stuff. The goal is to drive back out there with the moving truck on Thanksgiving, and be all moved in by December 1st. This is gonna be one busy month!

I'm also sharing some cute pictures from the other day, we took the dogs to the park to play. While Otis will play fetch all day long, Cupcake would much rather just lay in my lap. Cute.







John had me listen to this song on his ipod the other day, and it's been stuck on my brain since, so I'm sharing it with you guys too. Hah!

Enjoy!



Hope you are all having a great week!

xoxo

Halloween

Just sharing some new paintings I did, finished up my whale painting and started, and finished another one! Awesome!
Trying to wreck my brain right now to come up with ideas for a new one :)





I'm so last minute this year with my Halloween costume, mostly cause we just moved here and don't know alot of people, and cause I wasn't invited to anything til today pretty much. So I hadn't really thought of anything as far as a costume.

I'm gonna try some thrift stores tomorrow and see what I can find, I think I'm gonna go as Wednesday Addams.





What are you dressing up as?

xo

so much to share!

It's been a little over a month since I last blogged, I have been super busy with new exciting things, such as a new job! and a new love for painting.

I now work at Made Rite tattoos in Old port, along with one of the nicest people I have ever met, John. The shop is so different from what I got used to working in KC. We work 11-7, 5 days a week, and it's a super laid back, all custom tattoo shop. I love it!
I've been so inspired, and I feel like I fell in love with tattooing all over again, so I've been painting lots. So fun!



So that's the flyer I painted for the shop, so If you're ever in the area, come see me :)
I finally finished the flash I drew up awhile back, so I'm super happy about that!











They are all watercolor. I also started a new painting today, we are going to Philly for the weekend to get tattooed, to go shopping, and to hangout, so I will have to finish it up on Monday :)



We carved pumpkins with our amazing landlords last Friday, I had this great plan for a cute ghost, but got so carried away and carved the actual ghost, when my plan was to carve a square around it. Ugh. Oh well. It was a great evening with lots of pumpkin guts, and laughter :)





I spent the weekend knitting my butt off. Between baby shower gifts and birthday presents I knitted a hat, socks, mittens, and a scarf. But I got it all done, and I still had Sunday to relax and catch up on the L word.











and of course Cupcake had to give the hat a test run.



I hope you are all staying warm <3

xoxo