Swedish Air and Antiques

As you may know, I pop to Sweden quite a lot to see my best mates, my god-daughters and to photograph for the Van Asch catalogue. On this last trip I also had the opportunity to meet again, a group of business women and chatted to them about expanding their network with the use of a hashtag, so when this little plan comes together, they will be looking for brand representatives in the blogging world and for other Scandinavian women to join in with that community.  I will be spreading the word to all you Scandophiles (is that a word) as soon as the plan comes to fruition.  

I really fancied a bit of a country jaunt to somewhere unexplored for myself and my friends, somewhere not too far from Stockholm as we had the girls in the car, affordable and fun, so we got onto Air bnb and found some great places.

We most fancied exploring around Uppsala, and I always love to pop to Sigtuna, so we plumped for this little cottage, in the garden of the Air bnb owners, near to a castle called Vik.  

Nothing says Sweden more than these little red houses with the green and white around the windows.

Our little dolls house of a cottage was absolutely adorable, it did seem to need a bit of an airing to our towney noses however, but as it was only one night we treated it as an adventure more than a luxury.  After much driving around in circles, we finally found it, directions could have been  a bit better, luckily though we kept phoning the owners and telling them where we were, eventually we found the road between the big red barns that led to the cottage in the woods.

Inside there were some super cute rooms.  On route we visited many Loppis and as the weather had taken a sharp cold turn, we bought some extra layers and dress up clothes for a night of watching Eurovision in our play house.

I have written before about Loppis, but if you aren't familiar with that term let me explain.  A Loppis is a kind of junk shop, garage sale, carboot, kinda thing. Anyone can put a sign up outside their house with "Loppis" written on it and you just go and have a good old rummage.  They vary enormously, some are just a small garage of unwanted items, some are a thriving cornucopia of antiques and collectables run in a professional manner.  Some are a dusty old mess and others beautifully laid out and displayed.

The great thing about Loppis is that there is something for everyone, so you can give the youngsters some money and they go off and find all kinds of toys, jewellery, dress up clothes, while mum is swooning over old tins, kitchenalia and furniture.

I found lots of lovely wooden things, chopping boards, the big scoop, pastry cutters, cake tins, enamel ware and so on.

And a trip to visit Van Asch wouldn't be complete without the collecting of mad props for photos, this time we hired some taxidermy from a tattoo shop in Stockholm.  We checked that the taxidermy was all ethically sourced and came away with a swan and a crow.  I also managed to pick up these cute little antlers (antlers - why am I so obsessed with them?) as I'm working on my logo of antlers and flowers.  If any illustrators out there could draw and paint me a really detailed one I would love that. During the break down of the set we built I also managed to drop a heavy backdrop on my foot and chipped the bone in my toe - pain like no other I have ever experienced and the first time I've ever broken a bone!

I would definitely do the Air bnb in Sweden again for a one night road trip with the girls, they are very reasonably priced too and a very authentic experience.

Until next week then - hey da, vi ses.

Styling The Seasons December

Styling the seasons for December couldn't be easier really, it's something we all do, although some of us tend to continue the idea for the rest of the year in some form or another!  Set up by Katy and Charlotte it's been such a great community to be involved with and another thing that I have Instagram to thank for bringing us together. 

Luckily for me as I live in the countryside there is enough greenery in my garden and around where I live to supply me with some seasonal essentials - holly with berries and pine cones. 

So here's what Ive done to decorate the house this Christmas.

I like to group the mercury glass on this old over mantle. The mirror back is great at throwing the candle light back around the room for a soft mood.

I treated myself to some beeswax candles.  I have become a bit candle obsessed and along with a real fire, I like to have some nice smelling ones burning during the day. My absolute favourites this year came from Amalia who writes the blog "these small finds" and can be found on instagram as _apothecary_ .  Amalia found some beautiful blue bell jars from the USA and filled them with soy wax candles, she finds the most lovely containers including the little cake tin ones on my mantlepiece. 

These cookie hearts came from a supermarket in Sweden.  I added a bit of icing to them.  They are called Pepparkakkor and have a lovely gingerbread smell. I included them into my banister arrangement.  Im so happy to finally have a house with open wooden banisters on the staircase, for no other reason than to decorate it in December.

Some of my Swedish lights for the front window combined with the paper stars, bringing a bit of that beautiful place back home with me.

I didn't decorate this gingerbread heart myself, it was already iced with Kurbits decoration from the Swedish supermarket and luckily made it home in one piece.  The top garland is from an online dried flower company and made from cotton pods, I've never seen one before but I absolutely love it.

The design motif called Kurbits is traditional in Sweden and can be found on many things. It is a style of painting normally, based on vegetables and floral organic shapes, it was originally a fertility symbol.  You can find it on the little wooden Dala Horses, embroidered onto clothing and painted onto furniture.

In a nearby village there is a Christmas barn which opens at weekends in December, it is the most stunning Tythe barn you have ever seen and is full to bursting with decorations and presents.  I topped up on a few new pieces like the string of bells and the metal birds.  They also have candles from the candle makers St Eval which are great quality.  The Tythe barn in Haddenham is the perfect place to get you in the spirit and mood for a time of cozy evenings with friends and family, a sparkly and fairy like grotto which can be recreated at home. 

I wish you all a healthy happy holiday with good food and warm drinks to help you relax and have a few days of nesting in your very own grotto. Sending you love and peace from my little village in Buckinghamshire. 

Christmas colours of Sweden

Sweden is such a beautiful country, yes sure it has it's industrial areas and shopping malls like everywhere but the houses are such a multitude of traditional and unusual colour combinations and at this time of year, when everyone has lights in the windows and on the porches, it is picture book perfect. 

Maybe because the houses are mostly wooden cladded this has led to the whole house needing paint but the array of different colours used makes for the most beautiful look.  There is of course, the traditional red houses with white and yellow windows but look at the details and you will see that there are other things coming into play here. Usually choosing two tones but sometimes with another added for highlighting details like the window frames.

Not only are all the windows decorated with lights and Yul objects, but there is also the tradition of having a candle lit outside our door to welcome guests.  All the shop owners do this and it makes for the most magical look.  

We visited our favourite Christmas market in Sigtuna, this is such a gorgeous place, set on a lake and one of the oldest towns in Sweden. The market is a mixture of handicrafts and food.

If you are wondering what this is above, well meet Tomte a Swedish house gnome which also replaces Santa in some houses, the cute little fellow has been given a new twist here, depicting him in greenery. This Tomten lives in the forest and likes to be fed porridge!

My bag came home full, with a mixture of old and new. I found lovely knitwear in my favourite shop called Indiska. Lovely quality fairisle style cardigans and some cups from their new range. I also managed to pick up some Swedish made wool while we were in Sigtuna and intend to knit some Nordic mittens in black and white. 

No trip would be complete without a good rummage in second hand shops and a large haul of old cake tins and some mini candlesticks ticked off more on my wish list. These will all feature over on my Instagram feed over the course of this month. 

I do of course bring home many of ideas and inspiration for lights and candles, my home will feature the classic candleabra lights in the front window, stars and wreaths and decorations made from Pepparkakor (gingerbread) and folliage.   I hope these photos will help to get you in the mood too.  

Saint Lucia, Snow and Sweden

The countdown to Christmas has begun with the first Advent candles now being lit all over the world and none more so than in Sweden where every window is lit with a star or advent candelabra.  So put on your armour of light and fend off the darkness.  This year I was lucky enough to be in Sweden for St. Lucia day, the 13th December.  The roads had candles burning on the central reservations and in the shopping centre were young women dressed in white dresses with red sashes. The lead girl wears a crown of candles as this is also the shortest day of the year and thus it is a festival of light. 

My lovely God-daughter dressed up for me in her Lucia dress and crown of candles. 

St. Lucia is one of my favourite Scandinavian images and this year I hung a painting (by an American artist known as Audrey Eclectic) over my fireplace. If you have seen my home in Homes & Antiques January issue you can spot it.

For two days of my trip I popped up to Kiruna in Sweden (which falls in the Arctic circle) for some snow, and despite their being less snow this year than previously, it did fall to minus 24 degrees and there was no daylight at all.

The lack of daylight made photography very difficult but the weather was more of a hindrance in this respect as you have to wear such heavy special clothing that you can hardly move. 

Kiruna is a mining town and quite industrial, the smoke from the mines chimneys chugs away all day and night (not that you would know the difference).  Unbelievably the whole town is going to be moved in 50 years as they need to mine for the steel and iron underneath it.  The lack of light, and coldness added to the rather film like quality of the place, not so much in a pretty pretty way but more spooky and akin to Fargo.

We did a small amount of walking and between our hotel Camp Ripan above and the town we found some lovely older houses in gorgeous pastel colours. 

this house is empty with windows missing but seems to be undergoing some restoration.

this pale pastel yellow is a favourite colour for the houses 

I like the colour combinations on this house.

pink and yellow offset the Swedish flag on this property

the window lights are so welcoming,  I particularly like the candles on the window ledge.

We had one of these little cabins and to get to the main hotel had to walk down here. 

I had to considerably lighten this picture. It was taken quite early in the day.

And then there was the Ice Hotel. Mmmm a bit of a sore point with us. Due to open two days after our visit it was basically a building site with no signs of being ready. They charged us for a very lame tour and then left us stranded with no food or drink waiting for a bus in sub sub zero temperatures. 

It will take some convincing to get me back there.

In the Ice Hotel reception Rachel gets stuck in to lending a hand.

reindeer skin and antler doors

A corridor which we weren't allowed to go down.

The bar of the hotel is separate this year and in this round dome.

looking down towards the Ice Hotel from the car park

The ice is harvested from a local river and stored like this.

the bar where we didn't have a cocktail in an ice glass

the main hallway

I didn't get any photos of us dog sledding, that was quite an experience, being pulled by 8 huskies through the snowy forest and across a frozen lake. Not for the faint-hearted it was quite a basic way to travel and pretty scary.

As for the Northern Lights, well we did see a glimmer but not the full green illuminations. Strangely everywhere we went people said they had just seen it earlier! We think they were exaggerating.  Heres the thing though, they could start from around 4oclock and go on until late, you would have to sit outdoors away from town lights for many many hours just looking at the sky and in those temperatures you need to be pretty determined.  Perhaps I will try another time. 

Hope you enjoyed my little round-up of photos to join with Audrey Eclectic on her St. Lucia parade of blog posts. 

More photos later in the week of my special Christmas bargain finds from the charity shops.