Hello my old and new friends! :)

It's been almost 3 years since my last blog post. I can tell, I have missed blogging. I have missed crafting. I have missed the times before getting back to working life. Still I wouldn't change a thing. Not the struggles, not the lack of creativity, not the lack of time, not the lack of energy. It's been LIFE and life can't always be rosy, but I've still been happy. I'm forever grateful to God, my Heavenly Father,  for being by my side each moment. Especially on those moments when I thought I was all by myself. I'm grateful for my wonderful husband and our family, our awesome kids. And I'm grateful for all the loyal, faithful, awesome, dear and true friends, who never left my side. :) Thank you!

The past few years has been such a roller coaster. Even there have been some struggles, those have been good years. I've learned a lot. A lot about myself, about the people around me, about the things I want in my life and most of all, about God. :) I've gotten taller, in so many ways. :) I've been working at the local Free Church for the past 4 years. The first 3 years as a Child and Youth Worker and now, since last August as Youth Worker. And I simply LOVE it! I love my church family and the teens I get to spend time with. <3 comment-3--="">

My working hours are rather non-regular. I work alot in the evenings. That is one of the reasons why I had to put many of my hobbies a side. I had to make prioritys. I had to my put family first, then my hobbies. Now I'm slowly trying to get back into blogging. I wont promise a regular post every day or week, like I used to before. If I'll make it once a month I'm more that happy about myself. :D 

We have moved, actually twice during the past few years. We didn't plan to move twice, but things weren't in our hands. Last year, in April, we found this home where we live right now, and moved in 2 months later. This is an old house, buildt in 1901, in the city centre of Jyväskylä. Our appartment is in the two upper floors and has total 118 square metres. Here's a picture of the house. The balcony belongs to our appartment. :)

 

And here's one picture of how it looks inside. I will post more photos later.
Just wanted to add one to this post. This picture is from our living room. :)

Even though life's been very busy, I've managed to make a few cards and other creative projects. Mainly it's been home renovating/decorating related, but some paper crafts projects too.

My dad turned 60 last year. Here's the card I've made for him. It has a picture of him when he was a little boy. :) I love this picture of him.

Our dear friends graduated last year and got their Master's Degrees. 

This card I've made for them. :)

 My cousins' daughter had her confirmation last summer. This card was for her. :)

 

Then I've made these two books. The left one for a dear friend who left to Russia for one year. She'll be back home next month!! \o/ The book on the right is a Baby Memories Book for our dear friends who had their first born last year. She's a doll! :)

Before closing my post, I want to share one more photo. It's a picture of my daily breakfast. I want to start and end my day with God. Have the daily bread from His word too. :)
You should try it, It gives a lot!:)

Take good care! Be Blessed! Be Safe! Be Happy!

Love, Riikka Johanna

Friendshipbooks for a dear friend

Hello again :)

Here are the first FBs that I've made this year. I felt being rusty but the FBs turned out quite well. At least my friend whom I've made them for, liked them. :)

I have missed making FBs but I must admit that working with book cover plastic doesn't work for me anymore. I think I'm going to focus on making the FBs more like Artistic Deco way. That's more me these days, if you know what I mean. :) LOL

These FBs are made via group swap under the theme ALL FOR HER. These FBS are now on their way to Scotland to my swap partner. :) I hope she'll like these too. :)

 I have so much to share with you but I simply don't know where to start. I'll try my best to have some spare time next week to post here about my doings and makings. :) I really miss blogging regularly but work and family keeps me so busy these days. 

Well. Talk to you soon everyone! Be well and happy! :)

Birthday card

 Hello all! :)

I'm so sorry for not posting here for a while. Since I went back to work, I've been so busy. I've managed to do some crafting though. Here's a picture of my latest card. I've made it for my friend/co-worker on her 60th birthday. I liked how it turned out. :)

I will catch up with you more on a better time. I wish everyone a wonderful weekend!

Art Deco entries

 My, almost 4 weeks long, summer vacation is coming to it's end. Tomorrow I have to go to work again. I'm having a day off on Friday though. On Saturday we are celebrating Milma's 3rd birthday. Oh boy, time flies! 

I have really enjoyed of my summer hols. I've been crafting after a LONG time and I've enjoyed it soooooo much. I have also managed to catch up with my swaps and letters. :) Feels great! I still have some catching up to do but that has to wait until next week. This week, besides my work, I'm busy preparing Milma's party. I'm glad my mom is here to help me out. :)

Well. Here are the Artistic Deco entries that I've managed to make so far. :)

Portrait of a Lady entry

Vintage Cowgirls entry

 

Vintage Christmas entry

Vintage Friends entry

Vintage Paris entry

Vintage Sailors entry

Vintage Summer Fun entry

That's all for now. I will post soon about my trip to beautiful Loviisa and Porvoo here in Finland.

Until then, take care everyone and enjoy your week!

She's back!! :)

 Hello dear friends! LONG TIME NO SEE! 

I am back after having a 9 months break, pretty much from anything... crafting, swapping, writing letters, blogging.... The past year has been more or less rough for us, but we've made it. I'm not going to get more into it right here... life goes on. :)

My family and I are all well here. I hope each and everyone of you is too. :) I've missed blogging a lot! It feels great to be back in business again. :)

My work has kept me very busy since I started to work full time (after being a SAHM for years) in April 2011. That is one of the reasons why I needed to cut down on swapping and everything else. Now I'm slowly getting back into it. :) Tonight I'm going to drag all of my crafting supplies to our kitchen and do some serious crafting, at least for 3 days. I have a HUGE pile of art decos that I need to get moving ASAP. Some of them I've had here shamelessly long. Many of you are waiting for a swap/letter from me too. I promise you will hear from me soon via snail mail. :)

 Thank you for your patience friends! <3

I got to visit my best friends in Holland in April/May 2012 again. This time I went there all by myself and I must say that I really needed the week of, just for myself, to get out of here. I got spend the week at my best friends' in Ursem and got to meet another best friend of mine again. The 3 of us spent an awesome day in beautiful Haarlem. I've made a photo collage of it. Here goes:

I got to see the house of Corrie Ten Boom. Click HERE to read about her and see the house yourself. :)

On the 30th of April was the Queensday in Holland. I had to pleasure to experience and celebrate it too. It was a lot of one. Everyone had dressed up in something orange, me included. I got to taste a traditional Dutch cake called tompouce. It was good! :)  I've made another photo collage, from Queensday. There is also a picture where you can see a man making a tompouce with this funny machine. :)

I joined a weight lose group called Xtravaganza last summer and have lost 35 kg (77,2 pounds) so far. I'm 5 kg away from my 40 kg weight lose goal. I feel better than ever... also because I'm free of the bad panic and anxiety disorder that I suffered from for 9 long years. Praise the Lord! 

I will close up my post with a photo collage of our Midsummer pictures. We spent and celebrated the midsummer at my in-laws in Varkaus. We had a good time. :)

 You will surely hear from me soon, with photos of my crafts and such. :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend my friends. :)

 

New Friendshipbooks

Here are a few of my latest FBs. The first set goes with the theme Ichigo Mashimaro and they are on their way to my dear friend in Bulgaria. :) I didn't cover these FBs with the book cover plastic. I'm getting pretty tired of using it. The size of these FBs is 10 x 10 cm. Normally I make them smaller, an ATC size.

I've never made any crafts with this theme. I like do like this character though. It's cute! :) I'm quite satisfied of how these FBs turned out. I hope my friend likes them too. :)

Then the new set of Suzy's Zoo FBs. These arrived safely this time, to my dear swapper friend in Germany. I'm glad she liked these. I still feel sad for loosing the first set.

I'll try to post again soon! Until then, take good care and be blessed! :)

Friendshipbooks

Here are pictures of my newest FBs. A set of Suzy's Zoo FBs is unfortunately missing because I was too much in a hurry to get them in the mail and simply didn't have the time to take pictures of them. I was hoping my swap partner, whom I've sent the FBs to, could scan or photograph them for me. Call it BAD LUCK or not, but the FBs got lost in the mail!!! :( I feel so sad about it. :( I know they were just FBs but still a small piece of unique art made for a friend. I'm going to make a new set this weekend and definiltely make sure that I have the time to photograph them to my archives. Hopefully they will arrive safely at my swap partners this time. :)

These FBs I've made for group swaps.

ALL FOR MYSELF FBs

ALL FOR HER FBs

TILDA FBs

VINTAGE BEACHES FBs

The New Look

Summer has turned into fall.
The last couple of months has been very busy at work and home.
Now I finally have a small moment to update my blog and share some of my latest projects. I have missed blogging very much and can't wait until I have more time for it again, including my other creative hobbies.

First, here are photos of the new look in our living room. I'm satisfied of the results. I have one very old wooden chair, waiting to be fixed. It needs a new paint. I will take before and after pictures of it and will post them here too. I'm going to place it in living room.

I love candles!
Fall is finally here and nights are getting darker. I've seen some awesome candle holders
in one of the local interior stores and will definitely go and buy a few.

I hope everyone of you are having a great weekend! :)

Be Blessed! :)