Normal is boring

The Autumn collection from french textile company La cerise sur le gâteau is out and as playful as always. The fun video is a peak to their latest prints.

Photos by Coco Amardeli

Fine tuning

Our new home is starting look like a home. Last weekend we did some fine tuning to our preschooler's room. Noticeboard and pencil jar got a new look with some masking tape and the beautiful fox mask from Paloni found a place on the wall.

Pompoti

Here is another small treasure : A lovely shop called Pompoti in Riihimäki. It's located near the railway station in an old, red house and if you're ever in the neighbourhood, pay a visit. The shop is full of wonderful decorative items, furniture and especially toys and there's also a cafe. And if Riihimäki isn't in your itinerary,  Pompoti has a web shop as well.

Small treasures

I did a small shopping trip to Tiger and found a white cardboard suitcase, house shaped drawing paper, black and white case for my sunglasses and a super cute sandwich puzzle... and all for a great price! 

For a rainy day

Here's what we did on a rainy day. I bought this finger printing art set from Ateneum's shop some time ago. Yesterday when it rained all day and everyone under the age of seven was bored, I remembered having it and we gave it a try. It kept the children busy for quite some time.

Paper art by Fideli Sundqvist

Fideli Sundqvist is super-talented paper artist and illustrator from Sweden who amongst other things has done all the paper props to this beautiful children's fashion editorial published in Papier Mache.

Photos by Maria Wretblad 
Styling by Saša Antić

Summer fashion lives here

Here is an innovative use for H&M summer catalogue and a shoebox by the kids.

Helsinki made of wood

These wooden Helsinki blocks are designed  by Kokoro&Moi in the honour of World Design Capital year. The blocks represent the city's important landmarks. They come in a small fabric bag just like Muji's famous city blocks but are bigger and colourful. Helsinki blocks can bought at least from the Pavillion and Design Forum Shop. I just couldn't resist them...

New faces in town

I'm a fan of  Miller & Goodman's work. Their new super cute FaceMaker blocks are in stores now and at least Ombrellino here in Helsinki sells them. The new blocks can also be combined with earlier ShapeMaker blocks for even more possibilities!

Imagination Kids

I was in Iceland last week and what a great trip it was! I will tell you more about a little later. However, it is truly a land of ice, ocean and volcanoes! These great, eco-friendly puzzles by Imagination Kids are made in the US but they could very well represent Iceland.

Hooray for Helsinki!

This book is great! It is published by Tammi both in Finnish and English and it was released for the ongoing design capital year. It's a children's book including a story about a family's summer day out in Helsinki. It is also a book for anyone interested in Finnish design. There is plenty of information about designers, famous Finnish brands and interesting stories behind Helsinki's architecture.

Family of spoons and spatulas

Every member of our family has had the flu during the past weeks and we have spent a lot of time indoors. I have tried to keep the children from being totally bored with small art projects. This is no new idea put we did our version of the spoon and spatula family.

Dollhouse by Ferm

I'm a dollhouse person. When I get old (older) I will build myself a big dollhouse and fully decorate it. Right now I'm letting the children have their house decorated as they like. I like this new dollhouse by Ferm because it is not painted or decorated in any way and it leaves room for imagination.

Cardboard town

We own a town! This cute cardboard town comes from Poland. Three different sets are sold in flat packed packages. They can be bought separately to form smaller towns but all pieces also function together as a bigger town. I ordered the town directly from from the manufacture's website papierowemiasto.pl .

Paris, mon amour

One of my New Year's resolutions is to do some travelling. Paris has always been on the top of my list and maybe I'll visit the city again this year. While I wait for nicer weather and springtime in Paris I can visit this paper-Paris from Made by Joel. The template can be downloaded for free in here. And if Paris isn't your thing there are many other printable toys to choose from.

House party

I'm spending the Saturday night at home with lot of candy,  a movie and some unfinished knitting. This time of year when it's dark and cold out, it's my kind of party! Kids built a cardboard room and there is a party too. Enjoy the weekend!

DIY stamps

Postal company Posti has a great service where you can make your own personalized stamps from your photos or drawings in their webstore. It takes about a week for your stamps to arrive in the mail and Posti promises to make stamps ready for Christmas cards if you order before December 5th.

Coloring contest

Nurmi and i am Design have launched a Christmas inspired contest for colouring enthusiasts of all ages. You can take part in Facebook by printing out this black and white drawing and by making your own coloured version of it. The winner gets an eco friendly shopping bag full of delicacies with his or her own art printed on it. Get your pens and crayons ready and enter your version before November 22nd!

Airport in a box

I'm not a big fan of airports because they are busy and usually quite ugly. However, this one I like and it's very nicely designed too. The portable play airport from MoMA Store is made out of wood and when playing is done, it can be stored in a box. The box size is roughly 25cm x 23cm and the set includes two aeroplanes, a helicopter and runway tracks.

Colours of snake

There is a snake in the house! This crocheted snake took me two nights to make. No rules, except use lot's of colours!