I’m trying to finish the Kovasikajuttu/The Punk Syndrome website, while DocPoint is still going on!

On Thursday I’m going to try my darndest to get people out of their little cocoons to connect with people around them and talk about Documentary storytelling in transmedia at Docpoint Encounters. By the way: you should join us if you are even vaguely interested. We have great speakers and lots of room for crossdisciplinary conversation, go check it out! Just show up, smile at the lovely lady at the registration desk and give her your name and email and you’re all set! Thursday 26 January, 9:30-17:00 at Ateneum sali.

And now to something completely different: my oh my… I just took part in Kallio Rolling Rainbows‘ fresh meat roller derby weekend and I think I found myself the most unlikely wonderful hobby for a skating imbecile like myself. I wasn’t able to follow through all of the programme, because i was both physically and mentally exhausted at the end of both days, my entire body is aching like hell, but I love it! So I guess my next paycheck will go to a set of roller skates and tons of protective gear. Wish me luck!

John Cleese – a lecture on Creativity from janalleman on Vimeo.

John Cleese tries to explain creativity and how to become more creative. The background of his lecture is scientific, the guide based on his own experience. This is really spot on and any creative professional will agree. Plus, it is really funny at the same time!

Enjoy and be inspired!

Here’s what you need:
Riikka’s shape template (follow the link, click on the image, then right-click to save to desktop)
A printer (or a ruler, a circle compass and a bit of patience)
Paper (any paper really, I’m sure these would look pretty made of patterned paper as well), the thicker the paper, the sturdier the shape.
Glue stick or double sided tape (I prefer the tape, because then you don’t have to hold the paper in place until the glue dries)
Water-based glossy lacquer (this is optional, but I think it looks really nice and reinforces the shape)

Now, print out your shape template, cut around it, stick it to your paper (loosely tape it in place in 2-3 spots so it doesn’t move around), cut along the lines through both paper and template. Remove the template and start folding away. Don’t throw away the template, you might want to use it again and it’s nice to have as a folding guide.

I stuck strips of double sided tape to all the sides that didn’t have a glue flap (kinda backwards I know, but it all comes to the same result). I wanted to hang my shapes, so before I started sticking the sides together I attached a piece a string to the inside. (no picture, sorry).

The last last flap was a bit hard to get to stick, so I used the length of a needle to push it in place through one of the corners.

After that, all that was left to do was to add a bit of shine, let it dry and repeat until I liked the result.

I am already getting ideas on how to use these for other projects… so stay tuned and start making your own shapes!

Enjoy!

This DIY post just caught me by surprise. I was going to tell you about a project I did a couple of years ago and then mid sentence a new idea arrived.

What do you do if you want to decorate your boring white walls with photos of friends and family, but they are as hard as Chuck (he’s bullet proof, alright)? Since you don’t want to battle with a drill and the shoulder pains that come with every hole you make to hang each frame, you start thinking in alternatives.

First I stole some friends’ rather neat idea and I made Sami put up a picture hanging system. That way we only had to drill 3 or 4 holes in our terrible concrete wall. It’s now up and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to hang things… it’s a work in progress. It’s also not a perfect solution, since you can’t move the system to a different wall without drilling more holes.

Which brings me to my little epiphany or rather to where this post started:

While in Copenhagen I always lived in sublet rooms and never felt like drilling holes in the walls to hang things, so usually I just used sticky tack on photos or postcards and made my own wall stickers.

All you need for making them is a roll of self-adhesive shelf paper/liner, a pair of scissors and a design. The vinyl liner comes in all kinds of crazy colors, patterns and with or without structure (snake skin, disco glitter and mirror effects to name a few). I found these in a knickknack store on Nørrebro (HobbyPoint sells a similar product here in Finland).

When I first played around with the wall stickers, I went for simple letters, like the one in the picture above, which is still one of my favorite creations. I also made wall sticker cup cakes for the birthday of a baking-genius friend of mine. And then today I got a brand new idea! Drum roll please…

Wall sticker photo frames!!!

I’ve only tried out the idea on a small passport sized photo so far, but it looks like I will soon have to post DIY: Wall stickers (part two), don’t you think?

PS: I wouldn’t try out the stickers on wallpapered walls, not so much because they might damage the paper, but they will probably fall off way too easily). I’ve had no problems making them stick or remove them from painted or lacquered surfaces. Try it out on a little patch of your surface first if you are in doubt.

Do you know that kind of serious conversation, where you accidentally say something you immediately regret, but you can’t figure out how to take it back? Well we had that kind of conversation a while ago, about marriage etc. and he told me how he doesn’t really see the need for marriage, asking me how I felt. And while on one hand I can see how it’s not necessary for every one to get married, I felt in my guts that I did want to be married, to him. Unfortunately, what came out was more like “nah, I guess I’m ok with that”. Cursing my harmony seeking tendencies straight away.

Oh well, but you see how it ended up being quite a bit of a surprise, when, on the top of a dune not far from where I spend many summer vacations as a child, he asked me (in Danish, brave man) if I would marry him. Needless to say, I said yes.

It’s really comforting to know that my future husband is capable of seeing right through me, even though I sometimes manage to sabotage myself by not expressing how I actually feel. That’s the kinda guy I’m marrying, and it’s feeling good.

I am a foreigner living in Finland, that’s one thing.
I’m recently engaged and planning a wedding, that’s another.
I’ve decided to take the plunge and leave my full time job to go freelance, that’s a third.

Looks like there is plenty to talk about, right?

On my first visit to Helsinki at the end of 2008

Just before Christmas I kinda went a little crazy at a second hand shop and bought tons of gold buttons. Yesterday I finally dug them out from the drawer they were hiding in and decided to make some nice and simple hair accessories. These look so festive I might just make a ton of these for my own wedding!

What you need:

A couple of nice looking buttons. They don’t have to be gold, any color or color is fine, really. The ones I found though, all had a little loop on the back to sew them on instead of the usual 2 or 4 holes.

Bobby pins. (I always have a couple at the bottom of my purse or in my jewelry boxes, which is literally where found these, so they look a bit beaten up.) Mine are black to match my hair color.

I used purple thread, because that was closest at hand. You don’t really see the thread anyway, but if you want to make sure, use a color similar to your hair, button or pin.

Optional: a bit of glue to secure the thread and prevent the button from moving around the pin.

This really couldn’t be simpler to make and the result is really nice so go ahead and make your own.

1. Tie the button to the loop end of the pin with a couple of stitches and knots. Repeat in two or three angles so the button doesn’t move around too much.

2. If you feel that it’s still too loose, you can add a few drops of glue to keep the thread in place. Leave to dry.

3. Add your brand new jewelry to hairdo and voilà! You are done!

Can’t wait to see what’s actually on them… have no clue about half of the roles!

Stay tuned!

However I’m super glad I went to Tampere to hang out with some of the other Finns I moved here for (I still love you the most honey)!

Tampere is a really beautiful city full of atmosphere, smack in the middle between two lakes, with plenty of nice old buildings and finnishness all around (communicating with hands and feet with a grilled food vendor on the city market place was an interesting experience – delicious food too)!

The trouble when moving somewhere new is that you have to figure out how to meet people and not get lazy about it because you have a boyfriend with really nice friends.

Even though I pride myself of being a rather independent and outgoing person, I have my tired moments at parties too, where I just want to lean against my boyfriend or chit chat with someone I know very well (like everybody else). If you don’t have anyone like that in a crowd at that given moment, chances are you end up talking to that other really interesting person on the sofa taking a breather next to you.

Also, most people mingle at parties and as it can be pretty hard to fall into other people’s ongoing conversations (especially if they speak some obscure language like Finnish), it might be easier to pick someone who is not already otherwise engaged in some deep discussion. So if you keep looking approachable while taking some time off, chances are you’re not gonna be alone for long (and I mean that in a non-creepy way).

Well that was all for now from my ‘passive networking techniques 101′! My point of this being, that even though my boyfriend is really sweet and good at introducing me to people at parties, it’s still much more effective to just be forced to create connections on your own.
And I really feel like I ran into some very very nice people, who could potentially end up being future friends or working colleagues. And I certainly enjoyed hanging out with old friends and the other usual suspects as well!

Until next year, Tampere!

Ach ja, hät’ ich ja fast vergessen, ein kleine encore für den Herrn Dorra:
Noooordisch, wooo wooo wooo, nordisch by nature!