WREN handmade

Camping trip

Hi,

I can't believe how the summer has flown by. We have been away quite a bit and had lots of family visiting.  One fun thing we did recently was go on a 5 night camping trip in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It was Leo's first time camping and he loved it. Lots of new things to touch and ways to get dirty! We camped in Watkins Glen State Park and did some hiking and exploring small towns during the days.

In Watkins Glen the Gorge trail was amazing!

We cooked lots of good food over the campfire.

I picked a bunch of wild raspberries and we make hobo pies with them, yum.

All in all camping is a nice (and inexpensive!) way to enjoy the outdoors and relax. 

Indian block printing

Very talented photographers, Gentl and Hyers, made this video of Indian block printing for West Elm. It's so beautiful, their process and craftsmanship.

Hope everyone is having a happy new year so far! It's been very snowy around Brooklyn, making it hard to get out with a little one. I know I'm looking forward to nicer weather and warmer temperatures.

What have I been up to?

This past week I had a freelance teaching gig in Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. It was at an amazing resort and the weather was beautiful. We came back on Wednesday evening just in time for this blizzard! I wish we could have stayed a few more days.

Can you believe this was the landscape just a a few days ago?

The view from our room...

And then back to reality, cold and snowy. I'm ready for spring!

Switzerland

We have returned from a pretty quick trip to Switzerland. We had a great time. Our friend's wedding was in a little town called Waltalingen but we also spent time in Basel and Zurich. We even spent the night in a castle and Ben got to play the alp horn. We also bought a lot of good chocolate, all in all, a good trip!

This is the chapel and town where the wedding took place.

We had one free day at the end to sight see but it was Sunday and just about everything was closed. This museum was open though and I loved all the bird and insect specimens on display. I love how graphic they look against the plain backgrounds. For the insects they had microscopes that you could use yourself.

bike overload.

I thought I would show you a little project my husband worked on from our trip to Scandinavia this summer. He put together a mini flip book of bike photos (done in Iphoto and made by Apple). It's a nice way to show people your photo pictures without whipping out a huge album and obligating them to politely looking at your photos. It's quick and easy to do. We made one from our trip to Japan a few years and it's fun to look back at it.

 

One last Stockholm post.

I've been busy trying to stock my shop and get ready for fall sales. I have recently listed some more recycled paper garlands if you're looking for those.

One last post about our Stockholm trip (I think!) is about Skansen. It's really an amazing place. It's an open air museum in Stockholm where they have moved buildings, homes and businesses from all different eras and all different parts of Sweden. They also have people working there who are dressed up the time of their building either selling things in the shops, baking sweets, knitting, doing pottery etc. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone visiting Sweden!

I loved this kitchen from a 1930's house.

An office from a machine shop.

A "modern" milk shop from the 1930's.

A Gustavian manor.

They even had a little greenhouse full of fancy leaf geraniums, my favorite!

Tiny cottages and gardens

Hope I'm not dragging out our vacation pictures too long. I just found so many aspects inspiring and wanted to share. One of my favorite things in Stockholm was the tiny allotment gardens and cottages. We rented bikes and then set out to cover many different Stockholm neighborhoods. This area of Tantolunden has tiny garden plots and sheds that were originally issued to the industrial workers so they could have some rest and relaxation. I love the scale and how overgrown and natural they are. We followed a bike path all along the shore and stopped at this little cafe in a trailer for a coffee. We also stumbled across a traditional Swedish food festival called Smaklust which had tons of free samples of delicious foods. Ben tried some surströmming (fermented herring) which was a once in a lifetime experience! I knew better than to try that myself. The best part about biking around a city is that you can cover so much more ground than walking and happen upon amazing things!

Plate of food from the delicious food festival.

Stockholm shopping

Hi,
In Stockholm it was easy to love all the colorful patterns all over. Here are some examples, very inspiring but very expensive too!

Amazing pattern from  Svenskt Tenn.

A fabric display at the Nordiska museum and the Carl Malmsten store.

10 Swedish Designers

Fiskebäckskil

After leaving Copenhagen we took the train to Malmo, got a rental car (a Volvo wagon of course!) and drove to Gothenburg for one night. The next day we drove to Fiskebäckskil and stayed at the Gullmarsstrand hotel that Lena recommended. It was an amazing place. The hotel has many buildings set in a the old fishing village. It's a contrast of modern and old buildings that is very unusual. The landscape is also stunning, rocky with wild flowers all over. Ben went jogging one morning and found a little secluded swimming hole. There was a woman swimming there who told him he should take a turn swimming and so we went back later in the day. We tried but the water was freezing! The Swedes really seem to enjoy the natural beauty leaving it simple and pristine.

Cappucino at Bar Centro in Gothenburg, yum!

The town of Fiskebäckskil was filled with these cottages, so cute with all the trim.

The hotel restaurant over the water.

The building on the right is where we stayed. We had an amazing view.

The hidden swimming hole where we tried to go swimming (too cold!)

Back home.

I'm happy to be back home after a great 2 week trip to Denmark and Sweden. I'll post highlights this week here on the blog. Today I wanted to show you some pictures from the first part of our trip, in Copenhagen. We stayed there for about 5 days before taking the train to Malmo and driving across Sweden to Stockholm for the rest of our time. We loved Copenhagen especially all the bicycles. We have never seen so many people biking, of all ages. We rented bikes for a few days and that was the best way to discover cool neighborhoods and little shops. Luckily too, it's flat, so it makes for very pleasant rides. Here are some highlights...

I loved all the colors of the buildings and the quaint streets. We stayed at this hostel which was very convenient for walking and biking around. This is a typical street near where were staying.

We had lunch at The Royal Cafe and after visiting the Royal Copenhagen store. We had delicious tea and a brownie. The craftsmanship of the hand painted china is amazing. It was fun that we were served our tea in the mismatched pieces.

We stumbled upon this beautiful cemetery while biking around.

We also discovered a few great antique stores on Gammel Jernbanevej in Vesterbro.

I loved this store Quriosa, I wanted to buy one of those great hanging lamps. But alas, how would I get in my suitcase?

My favorite little shop we went to was Liebe, very close to where we stayed.