Christmas! Not quite as usual, but don't you worry.

My dearest readers and visitors here on heartheartseason - it's been one of those years, where everything has been under investigative consideration...

What could be different? Where am I going? Should I make a big job/career change? Or some other changes? Big things, small things.

The blog has been among these - as you who are familiar with it knows, it's not my day job or anything even close to that.

I do my paper projects at random times, they pop out of nowhere and sometimes they take physical shape immediately, other times they get sort of filed, to be worked on later. I never know when the urge comes over me - and to plan for a Christmas season with a handful of cool projects, is actually a huge job. It's meant to look easy and whimsical, but of course hours of design work, planning and photography - and then uploading and writing - comes before every paper DIY post! This year it just hasn't been possible.

I love doing them, however. I really do! But I have thought about moving the visual part and the community part of this blog over to Instagram (where you can visit my personal feed, and where I love to post about memorable and nice things in my everyday life) - and then simply keeping a kind of library and storage space for the actual DIY-files on some other online platform.

I just don't know? This blog has around five to ten thousand visits per month these days, something I am very honored and proud of, and I can see from statistics that people visit my DIY posts a lot. That makes me SO happy! Would you follow this blog on Instagram? Would the content work there?
Comments are most welcome!

But anyhow, what's that image above got to do with any of that?

Well, a lot of this year has been focused on looking for work, within my professional life: as a graphic designer and overall marketing person. I have been moderately successful and have made a couple of really nice projects, and have even been studying a bit. But a new job is yet to be found. 

In the meantime I have taken a temporary but very full time job in a big local book shop, as a holiday season extra pair of hands. I'm starting tomorrow and I think it's gonna be FUN. It's something completely different, and I need that so much.

And Christmas on the blog?

I promise you this.... Every Friday from late November, I will do an inspirational greatest hits recap of some of the older projects - some of them you will have totally forgotten, or maybe never seen before. I will try to theme them a bit, and hope you will enjoy them. Till then!

A bit of Yayoi and a bit of anniversary

Louisiana has a stunning Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the moment, and it is not to be missed, if you are in the least bit interested in visual art, art history, pop art - or if you just happen to like to have your senses bombarded with color and wowness. It is a very in-depth look at her long life as an artist, and I found it completely absorbing, and spent hours there, even reading a lot of the tiny print about her fascinating life.

I have written a bit about her before, a mini-portrait of sorts, read here, and also a bit here (I am a great Yayoi-enthusiast!) and I have shown some of her most characteristic polkadotty work - so I thought I'd show some impressions from the Louisiana show, of her more subdued work. All her work is a partly about obsessive repetition, but you have seen the colorful dots and pumpkins such a lot, and I was thrilled to see these pale, discreet paintings (the Infinity nets), all the beautiful black/white photos and her graphic work. 

I also adore the color explosions, the whole sensory overload - and if you do too, you will be richly rewarded. But I really like this side of Yayoi Kusama, and of the exhibition. You should really, really go see it! It ends in late January 2016.

And now for a bit of a long PS:

I discovered, quite randomly, that this is my blog post number 200!

This is not what I had ever in my wildest fantasy imagined, when I started a little semi-private advent calendar event in 2011, but this blogging thing has grown on me. 

I will never be an every-day-kind-of-blogger, not even close, but as it is, I always have much, much more I would like to write about, than I actually manage to find time for - and that tells me I should keep it up. Also, I started a job outside home recently, with an almost full weekly schedule, and that makes blogging harder, but not impossible, no no.

And Christmas will come to the blog as well, for the fifth season this year - yay, another anniversary! 

There will be paper projects - well, not quite daily, but absolutely weekly. So keep the printer, the scissors and the glue handy. And if you want to get warmed up a bit; here's a Pinterest board that links to most the DIY's I have posted over the years - or go to 'DIY's - the full list' in the top menu on this page.

And this year I will even open a small online shop, as well - for one very special product!
More about this is to come, real soon. I'll keep you posted.

Let me use this PS to thank everyone who finds their way to these pages. You are so very welcome, and I hope that my tips, thoughts or paper designs add a bit of color to your life. And you are always more than welcome to leave a small (or large!) comment and let me know who you are.
 

I'd love to know!

Lokalkompagniet - a cool place and a work project

Just a few weeks ago, I was hired to do a design job for a really fun and unusual place; Lokalkompagniet. Situated in Nykøbing Sjælland, Odsherred, a northern region of Sjælland, famous for it's beautiful landscape and coastline, it's bountiful gardens and farms - and it's appeal to all kinds of small farmers, foodies, artists and craftspeople.

Lokalkompagniet, is both a shop, an information centre, a local activity hub and - last but not least - a super cozy coffee bar and eatery, for anyone interested in great quality food from small local producers. Which is exactly the point of the place; giving all the small farm - and arts/crafts shops in the area a shared venue in the main town, Nykøbing Sjælland, in the middle of main street! You will find it in the former farmacy, in Algade 24, and it is open every day. There is a cozy garden out back, where you can enjoy today's special lunch, at a very reasonable price - and based on local products entirely! Much more info (in Danish) here...

And what did I have to do with this? Well - I designed the logo, and (because that's all we've had time for up till now) consulted on colors, typography etc. It had to be a super quick minimalist project - there was no time for a lot of printing and producing things, so all energy went into creating an interesting logo, and using the logo for some small touches here and there, like simple rubber stamps for a bit of quick and easy branding, and on large blackboards for various info. But it is an ongoing process, so more will follow!

Lokalkompagniet opened Saturday, and I was there for the opening, of course - the name (and therefore the big handpainted logos on the facade) was a secret until the opening hour, and it was revealed with speeches, live soul music and lots of festive to do! 

The place is so promising, and an absolute must, if you are in the area!

The shop has everything you could wish for when it comes to jam, honey, syrups, cordials and oils, all made from the lush gardens in the area - and high quality organic meat, handmade sausages, and even locally produced (and grown) wine and beer. 

The lunch wagon in the back yard is highly recommended; I had a yummy, really spicy frankfurter with relish, potato salad, homemade mustard and ketchup and fresh apple cordial to go with it.

Lokalkompagniet is also the host of some of the local arts- and crafts people - you will find quality ceramics, glass and jewellery among other things, and the group of participating companies is sure to grow eventually. Check the website and facebook for info (links further up in the post).

I was asked by the super talented jewellery maker Ane Meinert Folke, one of the artists represented in the shop, if I would like to wear some of her jewellery for the opening, and I chose to wear these beautiful earrings in gold and grey enamel, and had many compliments! (- a bit like when Bvlgari or Tiffany calls Beyoncé before the Oscars, and asks her if there is, perhaps, some little diamond tiara or such, she would care to wear....?)

Fun project, great day!

Thanks to all of you up there, and see you soon again.

Spring turned into summer....

And we relocated to our little summer home. We still wear wooly blankets at night, though.

I am working from my incredible super compact mini work space now, very busy with an interesting project. Outside my window, less than a meter from me, a couple of exhausted blackbirds are feeding their young, in their nest in the hedge. Let me tell you; being a new blackbird parent is no picnic!

Someone dear to me gave me a crazy Venetian glass bowl, and outside the garden is going wild. 

Our peonies exploded, as if on steroids, this year.

And this year I am managing to harvest a bit of rhubarb - last year they were out-grown by weeds, because we were traveling all of May. I will be making the world's best rhubarb jam, with vanilla and ginger, when I have a bit of spare time (not much of that right now). 

Jam recipe after the photos!

World's Best Rhubarb Jam - at least according to me!

From Swedish foodie, writer and tv personality Leila Lindholm - and since this particular recipe is not on her website, I will take the liberty to put it here. It is very easy to make, and you will love it.

About 500 grams of fresh rhubarb, rinsed and cut into small bits

About 30 grams of peeled fresh ginger, cut into thin, small slices

One vanilla pod (scrape the seed paste out and add that, but put the peel into the mix as well)

Juice of one lemon

Half a cup of water

1 kilo of sugar, perferably 'syltesukker' *

OR add a bit of starch for jam making. In DK I would use Melatin.

(*a product very common here in DK - it is ordinary sugar which contains just the bit of added starch needed for jam- and marmelade making) 

Mix everything, except the sugar, in a sturdy, large pot, and let boil with no lid, for about 15 min.

Add sugar, while stirring the pulp - gently and slowly. Let boil for a couple of additional minutes. If you use starch, it is usually added as the very last thing, and then the jam has to settle a bit. Read the instructions!

If you like, fish the vanilla pod peel out (or leave it - it has lots of taste and looks decorative).

Pour the jam into sterilized hot jars (this amount should make about four jars = about one litre).

Let cool and enjoy!

PS: if you can't make the jam right now, when rhubarb is in season, just rinse it, cut it, and throw it in the freezer. That's what I just did!

Crash

About a week ago my old (old being the operative word), otherwise trustworthy DELL pc finally decided to crash on me, and go out with a bang. I work with a laptop plus an external harddisk, attatched to a docking station, and have a large screen on my desk, as well as a traditional keyboard, a cordless mouse and a pen + pad thingy (which I am in the process of learning to use, by the way). The particular way my workstation is set up, is a very personal thing to me - I'm not saying I can't work anywhere else, but it's like an old favourite overcoat, where everything is just right. The perfect number of pockets, not too warm, versatile and timeless, and you always know exactly in which pocket your keys or your phone are. You get the drift. And as to the interior of the pc itself, oh my, everything is just customized and arranged in the very particular ways I like to organize things - and I am fiercely protective of my pc, nobody gets to muck about in it, or install or reinstall or what have you, without my being very wary about it.

The thing is, I am not a nerd who knows just everything about how to maintain equipment. I guess I'm a typical old school creative sort of gadget user; I know just enough to keep out of support's way - but when the shit really hits the fan, I am lost.

So the other day, I just sat there, in my good old office chair, having a jolly old time with some work, when the display started to zig zag in some rather pretty, pink hues. The fan went whirring like crazy, and the whole thing sounded like an old microwave oven. My husband - the software engineer - told me to lock down, carefully vacuum the fan through the lattice, let rest, and reboot.

I did, and I all I got was this. Green, fluttering pixels.

Not exactly as pretty as below, but I will show you this instead, because it looks much cooler.

And gone it was. That is, all of it's everyday, vital functions. Apparently this is what an overheated, overstuffed old pc with a smashed graphics card looks like. Enter the husband - software engineer and life saver - with a gizmo, in which you could insert the disk from this stranded whale, and sort of make a transplant of its brain contents, into a new, fresh body. I was lucky, and lost no files, as far as I can see. Phew.

So now I am in the painstaking process of moving thousands of files into a new pc, and everything is just white and empty and smells like paint. I don't know my way around the neighbourhood, so I can't find a supermarket or the short cut to the metro station. You know the feeling. But I am getting there. Today I restored my hundreds and hundreds of organized and categorized bookmarks from Firefox (I've never tried that before, and it was really easy!), and it's starting to feel like home again.