plastic fantastic

I just LOVE plastic flowers! Well, maybe not in general. I guess they have to be a little KITCHY and they have to be COOL and FUN! Have a look at a few I've gotten over the years, all are bought on flea markets/second hand stores. But I have to admit nothing beats the real thing, I got the most BEAUTIFUL flowers from a friend the other day:

trays trays trays

A few nights ago, when I had my night off of domestical chores, I went to Aktivum. I wanted to buy a Vatne lenestolfabrikk chair I saw there a few weeks back but of course it was gone. I ended up buying some trays though I don't really need a bunch of trays but I thought they were just so pretty. I will probably put a few of them up for sale on finn.no. Have a look - which one(s) to keep?? And then I just have to share this one, a tray a bought last fall. I think it is so beautiful! This one is definitely staying!

Family love

Yesterday baby girl Ellen and I went and "made" dad's birthday present, always running late as his birthday being today! But we finished in time and he now has a picture of his girls in his office.

Red love

I keep thinking about this chair. I saw it on Aktivum before x-mas and I did take a picture of it for some reason though it was not love at first sight. Then I kept thinking about it all night and I went back first thing the next morning, but it was gone... It would have been perfect in my studio, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I'll just have to keep looking : )

Mixed media art

This is one of the home made x-mas presents. The technique is acrylic paint + decoupage on the back of an old table top (extra table top).

City break - Århus

This weekend we spent in Århus (Denmark) - so nice to go strolling without all the snow! Århus is a lovely city (Denmark's second largest) with a lot of galleries and sweet little shops, not to mention the delicious small restaurants. This is what we did/saw: Window shopping (and of course some real shopping)!

Excellent dining! Friday we ate at an Italian restaurant called Simoncini http://www.simoncini.dk/. They had home made pasta and dilicious tapenade and pesto rosso. But the best thing was the dessert, Semifreddo al croccante. We even concidered going back the next day just for the dessert! Another nice restaurant is "Forlæns & Baglæns" (forward & backwards), a tapas restaurant with a FUN interior (see pics below). http://www.forlaensogbaglaens.dk/ The stores stay closed on Sundays so we spent the day in Aros, the modern art museum with 7 floors. http://www.aros.dk/

Excellent museum shop!

Buster the cat

Yesterday I googled myself and I found a blog that had a picture of some of my paintings in it. So fun to see "my babies" in their new environment which was by the way a very cute environment. Just my cup of tea! Have a look (second picture): http://smileull.typepad.com/smileull/2008/10/gult-er-kult.html And the blog turned out to be a real cool one as well so I am adding it to my blog list here. I have found quite a few other nice blogs on my way, mostly through flickr which is a heaven for creative inputs! Here is my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12758538@N02/ Another blog I am following daily is http://sweetsweetlife.typepad.com/ - it is fun to see that you can have things in common with people living across the universe (I just bought the soundtrack "Across the Universe", a feel good movie, and I am not even that much into Beatles...The CD is for my mom's birthday, she better not read this...) One more thing I have to share is this photo of what I found in the bathroom this morning. Buster the cat has been naughty again, I'm thinking he might be jelous of the new baby in the house and this is his way of showing it. What a rebel!

Ceramic art favorites

Maria Øverbye is one of my favorite ceramic artists. I have three of her pieces, see two of them below. www.avsporing.no Another favorite is Ole Martin Skaug:

But oh so ugly.....

I know my sister had a love and hate relationship with her Torky. They are so practical and a must have for moms and dads, but so darn ugly... Every year I make some "extra" x-mas gifts and this year it was a "pimp my Torky"! It is a regular Torky holder that I have decorated with pictures and stamps and the technique is decoupage. The "extra" gift turned out to be one of the most appreciated ones this x-mas!

Still life

I've started collecting old and charming frames. One of many creative ambitions is to create new art work with them and I am hoping it will actually happen. So many plans, so little time... This one is originally bought for its beautiful frame but then I realize the drawing (original) was too nice to throw a way so I am keeping it as it is. It is sitting on a shelf that used to be in my grandma's kitchen and for all I know it (the shelf) is more than a 100 years old and it is literally almost falling apart! The figurine is bought second hand in Denmark a few years ago.

Going English!

I've decided to "go English". All my Norwegian friends know English and none of my foreign friends know Norwegian so it is easy math if you ask me... Today I've taken some pictures around the house, take a look at my miniature cabinet. It is a mix of objects from my childhood and things I've picked up on my flea market trips.

The cabinet is an old drawer for newspaper letter stamps. There are still some open spaces so I keep looking for cute objects.