With one of them sick and awful weather outside we had to make the best out of our day staying inside. Yes- there were movies. And a lots of dancing.

And pirates everywhere. Even Batman got saved the old-wooden-pirate-leg kind of way.

One of us believes that she’s a secret agent, the other a pirate one of us is the crook… We all play different games but together. Don’t ask me how.

Today in Aftonbladet- the article about DIY/pyssel tips to do with your kids.

xxx/Isabelle

It was yesterday I felt rays of new beginnings.
Today it feels like same old groundhog day. Sick kids and the wet from outside is creeping inside.
Tomorrow though – I’m gonna go skiing again! Tjohooo

Sun and light! I have missed you these past months. Welcome back.

Passing time with tape and nail polish. The tricky part is to sit still.

On the first season of Fixa Rummet, Isabelle and her team helped Emma get the room of her dreams and later I went there to photograph it.

They made a cosy nest in the celing by attaching a net on to the beams. You can climb the ladder to get up there or the use the stepping rocks on the blackboard.

An old lampshade painted to perfection.

And of course Ikea´s Ekorre.

They also made new covers for some old mattresses , perfect for slumber parties. And I love the wall -to-wall carpet.

Since I can’t build a secret door in my apartment (you know you enter a bookshelf and get out in the garden) I had to do a second best thing and something my kids will love.

All you need is an old book and a sharp knife + some glue. Important to use a book with extreme quality.

Then you start to cut out a simple shape. Take some pages at the time, fold and then cut again. You professionals can even cut a hole in a shape like in the movies.

The just start to glue folks. Keep in mind that when you open the book the back will bend so close the book every once in a while to get it straight. You can even skip the glue but then your objects will fall out more easily.

- Oh my preeciouus (-you have to say this out loud – right now with a Gollum voice)

xxx/Isabelle

1. This is my Ikea Great stickers to customiza your Ikea furnitures.
2. Ikea torch Ljusa. I will buy this for my kids and as gifts for everyone I know!
3. Fox Necklace
4. Elizabeth Dunker Wallpaper – tree. Also as pillows, sheets and prints!
5. Dotted trow from AfroArt and at inredaute
6.  Patterned china – Parket by pattern Wiz Sara Berner
7. Monkey biz print by Cassandra Rodin (the creator of the brand Mini Rodini) over at Wonderwall – great place for prints.
8. Pillows with maps
9. Pepper and Salt mill from Granit

xxx Isabelle

This weekend I’m back in Stockholm but still kickin my feet up. We never plan stuff on weekends it feels good but also drives me crazy that we are a bit too lazy.

These two pirates above drove me crazy last night. The little sword got missing like 20 times and Beppe wanted it. Now we have a night sword curfew. What kind of kid am I raising that wants sword instead of stuffed animals?

In the morning the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet came along and we showed them how to do great crafts with the kids.
Like this one: Take a roll of paper, trace a line around the kids and then decorate their image in different ways. Makes my kids have fun for hours.

What are you up to this weekend?

xxx isabelle

Okey, enough sad about Carlos, this post is about me saying goodbye! My time as the dos-intern ended some while ago. But I was planning on leaving this ship with style. So this is my goodbye and my tribute to this lovley two women!

Isabelle and Jenny, it´s been a plesure working with you. I have learned so much. To smile and have fun, that is the most important thing about work. Because when your happy about what you do for a living, it will always be good. I have learned to listen to my gut feeling, to always be as cool as you guys, and never become an old bitter hag! To paint a wall, to think more before I take a photograph, How to think about decorating. How to make a pom-pom! I have learned to build a crocodil and so many more things.

I just what to say thanks!

for those of you who are wondering. Now days I work as a graphic designer at an advertising agency here in Stockholm. I will continue to blog om my own blog. And hopefully I will work with both Isabelle and Jenny again in the future!

Love and kisses from Åsa

Very often the blog tells me to pick up the camera and snap some pictures. And sometimes I wonder what pictures had never been taken if I did not blog. Many of these I´m sure….

(Julia on her kitchen top)

(Do not throw away)

(This movie had me collecting my own tears in a jar when I was a teenager)

(Viola and Henry in Nebraska)

(Me as a blonde)

(Our kitchen )

(Our garden)

(Our second floor)

(At Missy´s house)

(Messy eaters)

In the second episode of Fixa Rummet Isabelle and her team helped Kaspian and his little sister Nike.
“They have one and a half kind of room with stairs in between. We fixed a bed under the stairs, a slide down the stairs and a animal kingdom above the stairs!” Isabelle says.

I went to photograph the room and I must say these kids were just as awesome live as they were on the show. And the room looks great.

This is Nike, she loves Eric Saade.

…and this is Kaspian, who applied to be on the SVT Fixa Rummet show, with a grand plan.

… he wants to become a veterinarian and why wait until your grown up to live your dream…

Isabelle helped him with his plan and made a animal hospital in his room.

X-rays.

An old cabinet turned in to a hospital for those in need.

Nike has a little nest under the stairs.

Barefoot on soft carpet

Plastic animals for knobs

Please do doodle

I have the best job. I get to come to home to people, see how they live. And talk home-things. Ask questions like: “What´s in this closet?” . “Where is all the clutter hidden?” “Can I take some more coffee?” “What´s in this box?” “God!! that´s pretty where did you get it?” “Can I look under the bed?” “WOW Did you make this?” “Do you have milk?” and so on. And I´ve met so many inspiring and nice people.

The first thing I see is the entrance and now you can see them as well…

It may be a commercial thingie but it’s still a day that most of us think about love and that sure is great!
Everyday here in this blog we feel your love and appreciation – thank you!
I still think it’s amazing that we get an idea, post it and then this Internet thing flies around the world.

Right now I am looking at the analytics:

Since we started 2,5 years ago we have had over 601 000 unique visitors and over 3 100 000 page views!
People from over 194 countries/territories has been on this site.

Right now when I write this, 27 of you are looking at the site this very minute and you live around the globe – from USA, Canada, Poland, New Zeeland, Sweden and so on
(shouldn’t any of you be sleeping right now?)

So we just want to say-
Thank you and we love you!

Isabelle & Jenny

Let´s start answering your questions. Isabelle, this question was asked to the both of us. I´ll go first okay?

Sara from Happy Silly asked us  ”If you had to do something else with your life, what would you do?”

Sara! I love my work. But there is one thing that I think I would love just as much: And that is Gardening. We have a garden that we´ve got big plans for but unfortunately we lack the time.  I don´t know much about gardening but I do know that every time I spend time in mine I really enjoy it.

PS: None of the gardens in the pictures are mine. I´ve only photographed them. The girl above is mine though.

Say it with a felt-pen-tattoo…
Above is me at Isabelle’s cottage last summer, with Jens  name on my arm.

…he also wrote Della´s love on her arm.

..and Viola got flowers.

The tattooed sailor.

I often say that I’m colorblind in cooking. I just don’t really have it in me. Yes, if it’s holiday and I have loads of time and got the cooking mojo going (which happens once every summer) then I can cook. But the everyday hustle of putting food on the table just makes me bananas.
One thing that helps is that we try to buy all the groceries once a week and decide what to cook and who does it Monday-Thursday. For me it is a big help cause I flip when the kids are screaming and we have a half onion in the fridge. My husband he can make great things out of an onion but not me. If we plan then I know I can fix something good and quite quick.
But tonight while thinking about this weeks list I wonder
- do you have any super simple, super tasty, kid friendly and quick recipes for me?

Update: oh and i forgot. I don’t eat meat (but yes fish) which complicates it and 90% of everything we cook is with tomato sause. Damn tomato sauce.
And I love your tips so far -thanks!

‘

So cold in Sweden right now, even the animals are wearing clothes.

Today I went to a meeting at Kombino Amöbel, they make smart shelfs and cool stuff out of used materials like leftover windows and broken furniture. We had coffee in their kitchen and their house is so nice and fun. I need to go back for a visits but I took some phone-pictures so I could show you.

What are you up to this weekend?

Let me tell you.

If you like to redecorate now and then and are into buying things second hand then I think you should get to know your local car painter.
I´m lucky, my dad is one! With car paint the furnisher gets super shiny, and it so much better then buying new. And I suck at painting myself.  I´ve started on so many projects that sit unfinished.

So the answer is: I did not paint it my self it was painted with car paint in a body shop!

And this is where we bought the wallpaper  map

Before it was purple , our table was green,

Dad´s shop.

I did some painting today and I ,for one, thinks he looks happier this way.

Family Living went to photograph Della´s room. See it here!

(The wallpaper is from Minakaniwalls)

Birds! I love them. I feed them more often then I feed my own kids. With the snow comes lots of birds, that usually find their food elsewhere, to our sunflower seeds. I can watch them for hours.

For you bird-nerds out there here´s a list of our current collection of birds who eat in our garden.
Bullfinch (You handsome devil you!!!)
Redbreast/British Robin. (very outgoing, he is not shy at all)
Bluetit (They usually stay all year. Make nests in our birdhouses)
Waxwing (my all time favorite , they don´t care for the seeds though, they eat berries)
Chaffinch (I used to draw these birds often for my dad when I was a kid. They are his favorite bird)
House Sparrow, of course. (So common here but still nice. They sing quite a lot already. )

I´m so glad my dad taught me to appreciate bird. To see them.  To hear them. I really try to pass this on to Viola. Imagine a garden without birds. It´s like Angry Birds without.. well.. birds.

Since it’s out in the wilderness. I experienced lots of rare species of vehicles like I never see in the city.

Jenny and me sat at her table all night. Talking, drinking wine and sufing. Fabulous. So much fun to actually meet once in a while. I do love the Internet but real life is so much better!

At the Brandt casa cooking is not one of the priorities but we still had a nice hot meal. And some Semlor on top of it.

In this picture Frank wants more candy. Yeah we had some of that as well. He is such a cutie.

I love the internet vibe even in the bathroom. The Like/ Comment box.

Viola is showing off her super powers. She really is incredibly strong….

and here she is Skyping with my daughter Della showing her MJ moves.

When I jumped into bed I jumped again cause Jenny hid the strange scary Norwegian book that Jens got for Christmas. I didn’t open it. I am too much of a chicken.

Thanks Jen- I had a lovely time!

If you look straight into this room you see me painting for a shoot tomorrow.
And if you turn around this is what you see…

Today I was at a photoshoot and the makeup girl and her cute little daughter Trini as seen above had made these lovely headbands. I guess they just bought some band at H&M and such and then simply glued pretty looking things on it. I want one as well!
xxx/Isabelle

3 years ago today I got married to my wonderful bloke Erik! Yaay!
This I celebrate by sitting in Jenny’s kitchen 600KM from him… But we are going to celebrate next week – big time.

Erik if you read this (do you?) Then you have to realize that when I grow old I am going to look like the wonderful lady on the right!
She even wears my weddingdress!

See more from my wedding here and even more here.

LOVE YOU MAN!

Isabelle came to town and is spending the night.

Thank you all who have been ordering my print “Girl and Badger”. There are only a few left, so hurry up if you want one.

50×70 cm print   170 SEK/about 24 USD/about 19 EURO

FREE SHIPPING INSIDE SWEDEN
30 SEK/ about 4 USD /about 3 euro SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!

/Jenny