Flaky Friday

We are not having a white Christmas here, that's for sure (and it is very rare), but this is a way of compensating: complicated looking (but easy to make) end three dimensional paper snowflakes. These are rather large decorations, and they look especially nice in a window, I think - plus they are the kind of pretty things you may want to leave there, even after Christmas. 

They are printed on heavy paper or card stock, and the trick is all about cutting slits and folding the pieces correctly, and these cool paper sculptures are quite simple to make. 

Everything is explained in this old post from 2016, and there is a photo tutorial as well.

So give them a try - or check out some of the other posts I have done on snowflakes, that are a bit of a thing for me, I guess...

Yes, it's that time of year

It's friday and I'm packing for the annual skiing trip to Sweden, a topic I have covered in great length before - but I hope you'll forgive me. It's simply that I am always so delirious with joy that we are going, and can hardly wait. I get like a five year old, when I look at the images from the other years, to me it's better than Christmas (well, almost) and New Years put together, and the best thing we do all winter.

It also gives me an excuse to post silly or nostalgic skiing outfit pictures, so today I am presenting to you (above) the lovely Lady Clementine Churchill, in two piece wool, Hermès scarf and St. Bernard dog. 1937 in St. Moritz, of course, where apparently most truly stylish skiing takes place. She gets to go first, because I just watched the very see worthy 'The Crown' on Netflix, where she is portrayed in a very sweet manner. 

I adore these ladies as well....

However, I could not see myself doing much skiing in heavy wool trousers, fur and stiff leather boots. Skiing I find complicated enough as it is, and modern, functional sportswear are one of the reasons it is doable. 

Except this polka dot number from a sixties editorial in Italian Vogue. Now, that I could go for. 

(images are from Getty Archives and Condé Nast Traveller)

Sharp Looking Snowflakes

Here is my second paper project for this Christmas season.

These crisp and sharp looking snowflakes are very 3D and almost architectural - and, as usual, far simpler to make than they look. They are made from six slitted and folded strips of heavy paper or card stock - I had to experiment a bit before they became okay, meaning sturdy and stiff enough to stay in shape.

I made a couple of attempts in regular printing paper, and they got all saggy and floppy. You'll need 200 or 220 gram card stock, the kind you can use in the printer (= hobbykarton). You also need to use a knife and a cutting mat - but that's as complicated as it gets. The rest is super simple. See instructions further down...

I love the intricate three dimensional quality of these - and all they really are, are some folded strips of paper and a bit of glue! They look great in a window, where they can twirl around a bit.

Get the template right here - one print, six strips, will make one rather large snowflake. 

Please make sure to print these on heavy paper or card stock, and follow my advice about scoring or tracing the dotted lines in the design, something I often explain and mark out on my templates.

The idea of tracing the folding lines is simple: make a slight dent in the paper, and it will fold easily, in sharp lines and precisely. And taking a minute to trace or score these lines, will really help you in the folding.

Do like this:

Cut out your six strips very precisely, cut the slits as marked, and score / trace the dotted lines a bit - use the tip of a needle or (careful not to cut) use your knife. 

Start working the slits upwards and downwards like shown - a bit like a pop-up-card.

 The six strips should eventually look like this......

As you can see, the snowflake is beginning to happen... 

Glue the bits together, two and two, let them dry for a second, and then finish up, by assembling the three units. 

Punch a hole and hang your festive flake!

Lunch on top of the world (sort of)

I have covered the fantastic place I go skiing with my family every year in blog posts before, here and here, but there is this special spot we've become very enthusiastic about, and it's definitely worth it's very own post. So here's where we had lunch a couple of weeks ago.

Restaurant Tusen is situated on a quite steep mountain slope, and you can only get to it on skis or by snow scooter. But there it is, quite impossible to imagine how they built it - and you can have a very tasty lunch indeed (for instance a gourmet reindeer hot dog with creamy mushrooms, yum. See last image!), or a hot chocolate and a kanelbulle. And stretch those tired legs. 

Clad in birch logs, and inspired by a sami tent - or a kåta - it looks like no other skiing facility I've ever seen! It was designed by Murman Architects from Stockholm, and built in 2009. If you happen to swing by Ramundberget in Härjedalen, do visit this place!

From Ouch! to vintage skiing

Exactly a week ago I did something with my back, nothing much, I hardly remember the specific thing, but the result was days of almost crawling around, bent over in pain. I actually got so desperate, that I went and saw a chiropractor for the first time in my life, and he twisted and pushed me around, and massaged my lower spine with a small wooden instrument of torture.

And then he prescribed ibuprofen, weird little back exercises and lying face down on the floor with a bag of frozen peas on my back several times a day.

And I am so thankful it all helped, and very very happy about that, because today we are leaving for our annual skiing trip to Sweden, and that is the highlight of winter, as far as I am concerned, and I just love love LOVE it.

I made a post about it last year, and the whole thing just gives me a wild surge of fresh energy. The snow, the light, the stillness, the beauty of the mountains. The physical strain of cross country skiing, that leaves you utterly exhausted every day - but next day you just get up and do the whole thing over again. And the food, the wine and the good company. The happy kids. 

And the way that you wear practically the same clothes and no makeup for a week. You hardly comb your hair and you look a complete mess, but with rosy cheeks and stars in your eyes. It totally works for me, happinesswise.

Of course it wasn't always like that. So, let's enjoy some stylish skiing of yesteryear!

That guy in the leopard fur, huh? Have you ever seen anything like that? Cannot source the image, alas, but in a note it says 1927, and I found it on this blog, where you'll se many more great ones / the dad with his kid in a rucksack is from the twenties, and from Norways National Archives / the row of girls are American, and from 1925 / the last, pretty girl is in traditional Arlberg attire from Austria, and the photo is from 1935.

Lets round this one up with none other that Rita Hayworth and Ingrid Bergman, both looking their finest in the slopes. Thus inspired, I feel that perhaps I will comb my hair, after all. Make a bit of an effort, you know.

The photos are collected over a long period from tumblr and elsewhere, and I have no credits for them. Please let me know if you have!

This is where I was about a week ago

For the last couple of years, in mid February, we have gone to Härjedalen in Sweden to ski, hang out and generally just relax. To me this is one of the highlights of the winter. I love the skiing up around or above the tree line, especially, the white vastness of the views and even - sometimes - the freezing, howling wind. And then I love to take the skis off and walk on sweaty, wobbly legs into a steamy 'våffelstuga' and sip hot coffee with waffles and jam. This year we didn't have a lot of sun (so most of my pictures were sort of dull and dark looking), but nevertheless had some really great trips, and lots and lost of fun. We also found time to do some crazy nail art, bake weird looking (but tasty) muffins and make pretty ice lanterns. Here are some of the better snapshots...

Below zero fun

I am packing for our traditional, annual skiing trip to Sweden, and just can't wait to be up there in the cold, crystal clear winter air! We go with this other family we know, in a larger group of Danish cross country skiing enthusiasts. We share a cabin with our friends: four adults, three kids. I love skiing, and we all do - but of course, you can't ski 24/7. Books are read. Small, electronic screens are usually turned on, somewhere. We cook a lot of nice, sometimes complicated meals, eat sweets and drink wine in generous amounts, and it's not a health farm, exactly.
But healthy for the legs, and very healthy for the soul.

We also tend to improvise strange creative projects, such as the ice-and-marshmallow mobile we made outside the window last year. We had a theory about these marshmallows; thought they would deform in some interesting way, in the freezing cold - but they just turned sticky. 

The heavy ice baubles, however, were just gorgeous! Wonder what we'll come up with this year?

While longing for snow and some proper winter

It is so wet, grey and damp here in Copenhagen. I normally try to see the beauty of all kinds of weather, but it's a bit of a far stretch, these days. The other day I came across a bit of snow, while browsing away in my coffee break. Oh, man, do I long for some actual snow, and perhaps a bit of sunshine! But in the meantime, one might enjoy looking at these fragile wonders.

More than two years ago I wrote about some fantastic snowflake photographers, so I felt like including this guy in the company. His name is Alexey Kljatov, and he lives in Moscow - a nice place to live, if you love doing technically amazing close up photographs of snowflakes, I guess. 

All the photos here, are taken on the balcony outside his Moscow flat - and for the nerds, he explains his work method and his equipment in detail, at his website (where you can see even more snowflakes)!

I just think they are almost unreal and very beautiful.