missjekyllslife
live.create.enjoy
The “new” secretary
We remodeled the guestroom a bit. It’s a tiny room. But now tthere’s (somehow) room for a secretary. I’ve ALWAYS wanted one.
So I started searching online for cheap used ones and of course in our local thriftshops. I was a bit restricted by the measurements since I have only limited space.
At Erikshjälpen (of course! 🙂 ) I found one for 275 sek.Ridiculously cheap. Standing in the store, it didn’t look like much. But that would change.
Taking off the feet, we just managed to fit it in our tiny car. 🙂
The next day I went to buy paint. I decided to go colorful. Like a lot. So for the outside I went for this:
And for the inside I had a specific idea in mind. Turned out that none of our local stores had something like that in stock. That’s what it said online at least. Not acceptable for me.
I went to our craft shop “Panduro”. AND there was this one tiny little can of Vintage Paint left. I wasn’t sure if it would be enough, but it was exactly the color I was looking for, so I had to.
First step was taking the secretary apart as much as possible, sand it, wipe it off and cover everything with a basecoat. This is important to make sure that it will be an even result in the end.
After the basecoat was completely dried, It was time for the first coat of that incredible yellow. That one has to dry out for at least 24 hours until it’s ready for the second layer of paint.
So back at it the next day. This time I started with the inside though. The vintage paint only needed 1-2 hours until it was ready for the second layer. While waiting for that to dry, the second coat yellow was done.
The colors were exactly what I wanted them to be like. ( The pictures don’t really show the green undertone in it) But it was a bit “naked”.
It was missing the new drawer pullers I purchased on sale.
Screwed on by hand, took a step back and was the happiest. My personal piece of designer furniture. 🙂
Going through the materials I used, I calculated through what the whole project cost me. Costs for the secretary and the materials add up to 614 sek.
Not too bad 🙂
Chalkboard art
After we bought our summerhouse I made a little chalkboard out of an old mirror.
Right after that I wrote with chalk “Home sweet home” on it and that’s what it said until now.
Now I found nice chalk markers. So it was time to change it and this is what I decided to write this time:
True words Miss Audrey Hepburn!
Snail Home
For the first few weeks, the snails lived in a big transparent utility box. It is really convenient since it is easy to keep the humidity up. But it doesn’t really look good and it’s not nice to observe them.
I had many ideas but one thing was for sure. I didn’t want a simple terrarium/aquarium. I wanted something special. An eyecatcher for our living room. Combine pretty with functional.
I ended up purchasing a pretty showcase at IKEA.
First I had to build a bottom that holds the substrate and can handle the constant humidity. I chose to make it out of acrylic glas. Just simply measured the bottom and cut the pieces I needed. I assembled the pieces with silicone thats made for builing fish tanks. That way I could be sure that it won’t harm the snails.
Giving that some time to dry over night, I started working on the background. I still had coconut mat left over from another project. the corners are fastened with plastic straps on the corners and some silikone to keep it from creasing too much.
Since I didn’t want the enclosure to be too high to avoid the snails falling from a big hight and damage their shells, I used some acrylic glass I had left to create one full level, that would be used for plants and one half one that was included in the snail enclosure itself.
The next day I added a little tree that is a branch of an apple tree. I fastened that in the middle with silicone.
After a few hours of drying, I could finally fill in the bottom substrate. I also added a lot of moss and roots that I collected in our garden. Those materials I watered for a few days to make sure that no unwanted guests move into the enclosure.
Then it was time for a test run to make sure that I match the parameters the snails need.
Sure that everything is working out, I put in the snails. They started right away exploring the new place. turned out that they LOVE to climb. All three were fascinated with the mini tree.
It is so much fun to watch them in there.
A few days later I found this little photo frame with a glass front. Perfect piece to add a little fun to this project. 🙂
To controll the heat, I fasted a heat mat on the backside of the enclosure and bought a daylight lamp that is hanging on top of the showcase, also ensuring that the plants get what they need to grow.
The holder for the lamp is just a simple stick we got from the garden.
Mosaic with kids
One of the last art activities I did with my students before my well deserved vacation was mosaic inspired.
All we needed was already there.
Concrete
Water
something to mix
Plastic containers in different sizes
Tiles
And then we started. We mixed the concrete in the ratio it suggested on the packaging.
After all of them chose the container they wanted to use, I filled them with a layer of concrete. About 2-3cm thick. Next they were carefully removing the air bubbles by hitting their container on the table top.
At last it was finally time to lay the mosaics. I’m not sue when I’ve seen my students this quiet and focused. It was great.
And so were the results. After a day of drying I could sent their creations home with their proud owners,
Shine a light
A while ago I made this Make-up corner for myself.
In an unused corner of our apartment. But quickly I realized that the lighting is terrible for doing my makeup. So after a few weeks of trying different options, I ended up doing my makeup upstairs in front of a window. And the table that I made, was used for storage.
Sad…
Two weeks ago then, I went for grocery shopping at Lidl and they had these lights that you can glue to surfaces, for example mirrors.
You know these theater mirrors with lamps along the sides. I looked them up, but they were too expensive for me.
So I totally bought them. For 200sek (20€). Then I went to Erikshjälpen and found a gorgeous round mirror for 80sek (8€). And together it turned out just beautiful.
The lights are dimmable and have three different settings. Cold light, warm light and daylight.
I use my make-up corner niw daily 🙂
Snail Mix Recipe
Some might think this post will be about a delicious escargo dish for humans…
Sorry, but no. 🙂
I’m super into the whole being a snail owner thing right now. Apparently they have certain favorite foods. There are things they love to eat and things they just leave.
And also, they need to have access to a proper balanced nutrition. For example their protein intake. I read a lot about so called “snail mixes”. People make and sell them. But after two days of research, I couldn’t find anyone selling it here in Sweden. And ordering it from the UK, would have cost a rediculous amount of shipping…
So I went to Youtube and found a channel that I got lost in for a couple of hours…
And she happened to film herself making her own snail mix.
So I copied it. But I scaled it down quite a bit because I have only three snails and won’t be able to use it up in good time if I make the same amount she did.
Here the list of things I put in the blender:
100g of dog food (dry)
2g dried mealworms
1 g sesame seeds
1g lin seeds
1g sunflower seeds
1g pumpkin seeds
10g oats
And then I blend it fine. I chose to fill it into a glass that closes properly to hold it fresh.
To feed it to the snails, I take some of the powder, fill it in a shallow bowl and mix it with water until it’s a paste.
I offered it to my snails today for the first time. They were suspicious at first. I handfed some to Peanut and she went staight for the bowl after that, happily munching away.
Hidden Scenes in our home
The other day I took my students to the city library. They were behaving well, so I actually had time to look at a few books myself 🙂 And one of those was about bottle gardens and other beautiful things. And there was a chapter about buiding miniature scenes into those bottle gardens. I loved it!
Yesterday I went to Erikshjäpen, my favorite Secondhand store. And in the Kids section, I actually found some figures for this little project.
I’m starting out with quite simple scenes, but I’m hooked and I’m planning on doing more. 🙂
But for now, let’s see if our guests will notice 🙂
My little zoo…
I would if I could. Have a zoo I mean. I love taking care of animals. Observing them. Getting to know them and create a environment that they are happy and strive in.
Many people have their opinions to my passion for animals, but that is fine by me. I don’t expect anyone to understand what it gives me. I’m always happy when I find someone that shares that passion though.
But long story short, to our two budgies and the dog, we have a new addition to the family.
Three Giant African Land Snails. Their breed is called Lissachatina reticulata. They are beautiful. I’ve always had a fascination for snails. And then a while ago I got to know about those slow lovely giants.
My snails are seven month old and by now 11-12cm big (just their shell). When they are fully grown, they can be up to 20-22cm big.
They are fantasic. Their names are “Peanut”, “Butter” and “Jelly”. They have their own Instagram under the name “peanut_butter_jelly_snailwich” 😉
For now they live in a clear platic tub. It turned out quite nice, but it’s only temporary. I’m planning on building a proper terrarium for them. So stay tuned for the next DIY project. 🙂
But for now, I’m just getting to know them.
Some of my favorite shots:
Magical midsummer
As I mentioned in another post before, we decided to celebrate midsummer with a few friends. It became like a little tradition since we bought the summerhouse. Its been the third year now and it gets better each year.
It was so much fun and I was really happy with how the decoration turned out.
We fixed two tables to assure that everybody has enough space and we can still keep our distance during these uncertain times.
More tables meant more space to decorate for me 😉
We were really lucky with the weather. After everyone arrived around lunch time, we ate something and then went for a walk to collect flowers. It was time to make some traditional flower crowns. Also we decided to build our own may pole. Bigger than last year. Of course 😉
The rest of the day, we played Kubb, Klask, ate and just simply had a great time. When it was dark, we lit a lot of candles. It was magical. Can’t wait for next year! 🙂
Little fairy garden
We went to visit Martins family. They live further up north on this georgeous farm. Whenever we’re there, we like to stroll through the barn where they store all the old things left from previous generations. I love to do that. All those things have a story to tell. We usually chose a few pieces to take home and reuse. Accompanied by their story.
This time we took a few metal tins that were used to store cookies and bread and a big old zinc tub. I already knew what I wanted to do with that. Inspired by some posts on Pinterest…of course Pinterest 🙂
I bought a cute little “Fairy Set”.
I painted them white with an outdoor paint.
Then I placed the tub and filled the bottom with some rocks in different sizes. And top of those I placed some moss. And then the cute little fairy door, ladder and mailbox.
I also had some white gravel left over which I used t create a “Fairy path”. Some candles added and I was done. It looks really pretty and got better and better the darker it got. 🙂
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