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.
Christmas decorating just wouldn't be the same without candles, whether you are a user all year round or just for the darker season, candles are an absolute must for every home to create ambience, coziness and fragrance. Just be sure not to leave them unattended.
I don't know about you, but over the years I have bought a lot of fragranced candles and most of the time Im bitterly disappointed. They either smell like toilet cleaner or have no smell at all. Finally Ive come across two types which I can thorough and whole heartedly recommend.
To get you in the spirit why not play this video I made for the Choral group The Mediaeval Baebes who I photographed at their recent London show before they headed off Stateside for a tour. Ive never posted a video on my blog before and for some reason it works fine on the computer but not on the phone, sorry about that.
I discovered DPM Fragrance/Capri Blue candles through Anthropologie in the UK. Since smelling Aloha Orchid when I first walked in store, I have become a serial user of these candles. Firstly their fragrances are amazing and secondly the packaging is fabulous, so beautiful you will reuse it long after the candle has burnt down, often in chunky frosted glass jars and mercury glass containers with lids. With seductive names like "Velvet Moss and Jasmine" they smell every bit as good as it sounds. Below the top candle is from DPM, I love to display candles on glass cake stands as a table centerpiece.
At DPM/Capri Blue they use the top quality food grade soy which absorbs the fragrance much better than any other type of wax. Its so soft its like perfumed cream and smells so exquisite I would actually wear it as a perfume.
Soy candles are hand poured using traditional methods and I was interested in the process after reading about it on the DPM website.
These gorgeous containers can be recycled in many ways. This design is part of their Muse collection.
DPM/Capri Blue are based in Mississippi in the USA and use sustainable and recycled materials where available.
If these inspire you to have a go at making your own, why not get a kit containing all the essentials you need, these are available at Making The Best a shop in Leighton Buzzard.
The kit contains, soy candle wax, wax dye, scent, 4 tin containers, thermometer, wick, sustainers and wick pins and instructions.
To melt the wax without a double boiler you need to put one saucepan inside another, its probably best to use old pans for this. The under pan contains water which heats the wax in the smaller pan until it melts, use the thermometer to get the strategic temperature. The wicks need to be coated in melted wax and the instructions tell you how to do this with the sustainers and greaseproof paper. The wick is fixed in the bottom of the tin container and held straight with wick pins.
Now melt the candle wax, add colour and scent and pour into your tin or whatever container you choose to present the candle in.
Leave to set for 24 hours.
Ive simplified it all here so make sure to read your instructions thoroughly.
And while we are here, I thought Id show you what Ive done with my kitchen cabinets to make them look festive, using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and stencils I changed the colour of the wooden doors in time for Christmas.
Scented candles are also available to buy ready made from Making The Best and my favourite from them is Nag Champa, like the traditional Indian incense but without the smoke, the smell is strong even when unlit. Because every single candle is hand poured, even the tea-lights, Patricia ensures that they are thoroughly tested before sale to give the best quality product. If they don't make the grade they don't go out for sale.
Personally I think whether its a ready-made candle or a kit to make your own these are a perfect gift, many of my girlfriends say they appreciate the luxury of expensive bubble bath, soap or candles as they aren't always the first thing you buy for yourself. Hope this suggestion helps. Im off to Sweden for a week, see you all on my return with lots of snowy scenes from Lapland I hope!
Chances are, that if you read this blog or follow me on my Facebook page, you are probably already interested in interior decorating and home styling. However, whether you like to make your home a special place or you lack confidence to try new things, this book is for you. I know you probably think Im biased, but luckily for me, my home being one of the featured properties in Room Recipes For Style and Colour, I can feel proud that it is in such esteemed company. I read and look at a lot of interiors books and some seem like just a compilation of photos you could already find on Pinterest. This book is different, its not just the photos its the really clever and insightful descriptions by Annie Sloan of how to achieve a look or what the elements of that look are. What makes anything really special? Well I always think its the attention to detail. Its the hand embroidery, the multi-layered paint effect, the clever up cycling, you get my drift. Here in this book the attention to detail and the intelligently written descriptions are its key factors. Annie Sloan has dedicated her life to analysing style and colour, so its more than your usual interiors book, it breaks down the visuals and puts a smart interpretation on what for most of us is just intuitive.
In these photos you see that I have used vases for my floral touches (left and right) but mostly I plonk flowers in coffee pots, tea pots, cups, anything that is proportionally ok or the right colour.
in my bathroom here I wanted to kick against the Seaside theme, the curtain pole is literally a branch of a tree. This came about because I decided to makeover the bathroom the day before it was photographed and didn't have time to buy a curtain pole!
This must have book is now on sale through all Annie Sloan paint stockists, a great present. Why not get this with a couple of tester pots and a brush for the budding interior decorator in your life. It will become an invaluable reference book for many years Im sure. For me, well my house already looks different again, as it says in the book, my home is a moving target, but if you want to see how its evolving then get a copy of Homes & Antiques magazine January issue and you will see how Ive changed things and what Im doing for Christmas styling. The book is published by CICO, my favourite publishers as Ive now contributed to a few of their books including "Fairisle and Nordic Knits" where I worked with Nicki Trench as a knitter of a few of the projects in that. Hey you guys at CICO, Ive got a great idea of a book of my own, and it might have something to do with body art! Watch out for me in Homes & Antiques, Im off to Sweden and Lapland to get some fab photos for Van Asch which will be posted here on my return to bring you snow for Christmas. As soon as I grab myself a copy of H&A I will be posting all about that with a listing of credits to my favourite shops and suppliers. Happy Christmas shopping, keep it local, keep it small shops and support artisan makers. See you all soon.
Heres the latest project of mine to be launched in the Painters In Residence series, currently running on Annie Sloans blog. This victorian door and frame were found in a local thrift shop and it just spoke to me. I find that anything with carving on it can really lend itself well to coloured paints and to my mind it shows off the detail more than when its just dark brown wood. I love highly decorated furniture so I cut slimline stencils which gave me the opportunity to get more than one colour on every inch. I did the same with this chair and love the way the colours show off the carving. For this project I mixed lots of colours and kept my left overs in jam jars. I continued to use these adding other colours as I went along and ended up with a great palette of similar hues.
In this second photo I had extended the stenciling to the wall which gives the illusion of widening the feature. I love the purple colour I achieved mixing Napoleonic blue with Emperors Silk (chalk paint ™). The bright green is called Antibes and one of my favorite Annie Sloan colours, it got mixed into Napoleonic Blue and Florence for some of the other colours.
For more photos of my colour combinations keep a look out on Annie Sloans blog and also her new book called "Room Recipes for Style and Colour", I mostly feature in the Bohemian section where Annie describes in great detail how to achieve the looks and what ties them together. When my copy arrives I will be blogging more about that too. If you can get yourself along on November 21st to Making The Best in Leighton Buzzard then please pop by and say hello as I will be part of the event there. One of the raffle prizes is a free photo session with me so it could be worth it ! follow me on instagram too: http://instagram.com/janiceissitt_life_style
This is one of my projects for Painters In Residence, a commission I had from Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to use the paints, varnishes, and other products from her range. This cupboard and chair were bought on ebay, the chair was missing its seat and the cupboard had seen better days but the shape and detailing was lovely and typical of the Art Deco style with big cog like shapes on the legs.
The photos above show my progress.
I chose the colours Florence and Graphite with leafing in brass and copper. The copper under the brass gives it an extra depth and ties in nicely with the skull fabric on the chair seat. The fabric came from Van Asch who, as you probably know, I work with regularly on ideas and looks. To achieve this finish paint the area required with Gold Size, wait until it becomes clear and then lay the leaf over the area, brushing away the loose bits to leave the metallic layer stuck to the gold size. Very easy to use and highly recommended.
I painted over the Florence chalk paint with a crackle finish that is also an Annie Sloan product. It comes in two pots called Craqueleur, paint on the first layer and let it dry, then paint on the second layer, in a warm place, and it will dry with fine cracks in the surface. It changes the colour in a different way to the wax. Over this I applied both clear and dark wax, purposely leaving it dark in places to give depth and age to the surface.
Graphite on the cupboard was also dark waxed to make it more black.
I styled this all together with a graphite wall and cut a deco style stencil for the wall above. To this I also applied brass leafing.
If you have lovely shaped furniture but don't like different wood colours or too much brown this is a perfect way to give a cohesive look in the room, keep the colours in the same tone range and take some onto the walls as well. A carefully chosen palette is a brilliant way to tie a look together. To continue the look choose frames to add leafing to, gold stands out so well on black, its timeless. The prints in the frames were original book pages bought on ebay by Erte, the father of Art Deco, a Russian born artist living in France. His images are the antithesis of that period.
