~birds~

Frida Viola is 5 tomorrow and before Easter we spent a cosy afternoon making little heart-bird invitations for her birthday party. I thought I would share them here since they are so easy and quick to make that even small kids can handle the project from start to finish. I only did the writing. We used washi tape as the birds' beaks.

*Gækkebreve*

I am so happy to tell you that my little assistant and I made a contribution for the inspiring & beautiful Lille Nord. I am quite sure that Lille Nord needs no further introduction for all of you and it feels good to be a contributor to this fine site on Scandinavian culture, lifestyle and family life.

Our first contribution is on the Danish tradition of papercuts for Easter - "gækkebreve".
Did you know that this is a specific Danish tradition that exists nowhere else..?
And that the tradition has its roots all the way back to the 1700s ?
Read about the tradtion here.

This year Frida Viola and I have been cutting & cutting, experiencing the childlike joy of unfolding our papercuts to see what new patterns the scissors made us - and we can only encourage you to do the same.

pre-vacation

Our vacation hasn't started yet. Frida Viola's & Molly's kindergarten/nursery is almost abandoned by kids already on vacation, but my impression is that this is almost the best time of the year to be there - they do special things with the kids and have much more time for the few kids left. While we wait for it to be our turn for vacation we try to make it as summery and cosy for the kids (and ourselves, of course!) as possible - with lots of ice cream & swimming in the sea (mostly the kids!)

1. Frida Viola brought some nice little creations with her home from kindergarten the other day. This is a castle made out of a disposable coffee cup and a plate. Maybe a DIY idea for a rainy day...?
2. The dress I made for Frida Viola at Marapytta's sewing school :)
3. Frida Viola at the sea - this year she is swimming and swimming and has no fear of what so ever...
4. A little doll she made.
5. At home after the swim.
6. A couple of sweet new little dolls from the thrift store for the girl's collection.

Midsummer

We all went to my sister's place this weekend to celebrate Midsummer. They have a big garden, and the scenery was perfect for a Midsummer evening with a bonfire - but then we had rain. So we made a small fire and the kids made little witches for the fire. It's a Danish tradition symbolizing the purging of evil. Frida Viola didn't want to burn off her witch, though, as you might see in the photo ;-)

Happy Midsummer to all of you.

Signe Kjær

Last week it was A's birthday. We did celebrate him a little but not far as much as I would have liked since our days have been quite filled up lately. He did have some gifts though - and even some quite good ones :)
Frida Viola helped me choose one of Signe Kjær's beautiful little paintings for him. She picked out the girl you see above - and it's really such a fine little work that we are all so happy with. Signe Kjær makes wonderful, poetic, fine and delicate illustrations and works and I am looking so much forward to follow her and see more.

Once the package with the girl had arrived Frida Viola also wanted to paint some girls so that A had 3 girls for his birthday - one for each of us. She did the two below. Needless to say that he was very happy.

flowers

Yesterday Frida Viola and I went to see the Flowers and World Views exhibition at the National Gallery. Primary the first part of the exhibition with the drawings and paintings from The Gottorfer Codex was really beautiful and worth seeing, but the best thing about the exhibition was actually the drawing area. It had such a beautiful choreography and calm atmosphere with fresh flowers and pencils inserted in the tabletops, and we spent more time here than in the actual exhibition.

Frida Viola made the painting at the top with Paper - the best app for sketching on the iPad ever!