Thursday 23 June 2011

OUAS 15JUN2011 "Duckie" and Swedish Midsummer

Today is the day before Midsummer's Eve, the longest day of the year and the lightest night. This is the day/night that fairies dance in misty rings leaving traces in meadows and grassy patches, pixies make mischief, it marks the start of Scandinavian summer!

Girls of any age make flower wreaths of birch twigs and decorate them with wild flowers and wear them today. Pretty summer dresses, bare legs (itch itch itch - we have moscitoes the size of B52 bombers but today nobody cares!) Never does people check the weather forecast more often than on this day as EVERYTHING is planned with a sunny, warm weather in mind!


Most places in Sweden have the same set-up for the Midsummer celebrations. My MIL lives in the first capital ever of Sweden, called Sigtuna. It was renowned viking headquarter in the 800th and 900th centuries and the nation's first mint can still be seen there. Sigtuna is located about 1 hour's drive north from Stockholm and in the summer it is invaded by tourists from all over the world. Midsummer in Sigtuna is as traditional as it can get.


People dress up in their national costumes and fiddlers lead the march from the meadow where the pole (looks like a maypole) has been dressed in birch twigs and wild flowers. Two huge wreaths crown the pole. Masses of people have been waiting in another huge open grassy area with pick-nick baskets for the pole to arrive.


Now we're getting to the exotic bit; children and adults alike gather in rings around the pole and start dancing and singing the traditional songs that make tourists think that Swedes have lost it entirely. That's because the dancers are mimicing movements in the songs and what looks like a mad waving behind people's bums, is actually them acting the movements of a frog, and jumping like one too ..


Strawberry cream cake of course. In Sweden the ultimate summer cake is based on sponge, whipped cream, crème Anglaise (cold vanilla cream) between the layers and strawberries - the more the better!


So there's to give you some Midsummer feel from last year and now to UOAS 15 June 2011 challenge that you can find HERE

Journalling Criteria: The theme 'A Moment In Time'. You can interpret this any way you like, but you must journal at least 4 sentences on why your pictures are memorable.

Go check out what the mind-blowingly talented girls from the team of sponsors at Webster's Pages and Imaginarium Designs have come up with!!! My goodness do I feel like the girl from the country farm in the hicks seeing their creations and what is uploaded in the gallery. Ahem, be gentle with me when you see what I've come up with ... me thinks I deviated a bit from the sketch too, that's not good Mrs S!

OUAS 15JUN2011 Duckie - main 4000px

Dear hubby in the pic as you can see, it's taken on the same day that my LO for TCR 63 One Happy Dude that you can see in my previous post.

OUAS 15JUN2011 Duckie 2 -  4000px

Papers are all from K&Company's old lines and bought at the fabulous Dutch online store Scrappapier that you can find HERE


OUAS 15JUN2011 Duckie3- 4000px


OUAS 15JUN2011 Duckie 4- 4000px

On 8 May 2011 I was thrilled to bits to learn that I had won the weekly draw over at Imaginarium Designs blog, I was over the moon as I had been seeing their chippies in several gorgeous LOs and desperately coveted them. Here I have used the frame and the butterfly.

Both were first painted with TH crackle paint in White Fence, then in Rock Candy. The butterfly was then dabbed with acrylic paint in Cloudy Blue and misted with TA chalk in Cornflower that I rubbed on to the cracks with my finger. The frame I rubbed with brown acrylic paint, really like how the cracks came out, and then I used Lindy's technique for distributing paint splatter with some white acrylic dollops and finally I poured out some Shimmers Blingz in December Sky. Rather pleased with the result considering it's my first real try with chippies.


OUAS 15JUN2011 Duckie 5 -4000px

The rest is then distressing, chalking, misting the edges. Some machine stitching, MS punched border and paper strips under the pics, fussy cutting of course and red liquid pearls, torn muslin and some jewels. The flowers are a mix of Prima, John Lewis in London, and internet. The twig with leaves that peeks out from bottom cluster, I snipped off from a really old table decoration.

OUAS 15JUN2011 Duckie6 - 4000px

OUAS 15JUN2011 Duckie7 - 4000px

For those of you who have actually read the whole post and finally ended here - THANK YOU! From me to all of you - a very happy and sunny MIDSUMMER or as we say in my own lingo; Glad Midsommar!

Have a wonderful wonderful weekend all of you and thank you warmly for your visit and any love you may want to leave for me!!

xoxoxox Eila

21 comments:

  1. wow Eila!! your work is totally awesome .. so much delicious detail ... hugz x
    thanks for playing with us ..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Eila..I have been talking about when summer starts in the northern hemisphere and when winter starts in the southern hemisphere ALL DAY today. Just yesterday someone said that June 21st was the first day of summer..and I questioned them...only to find out that winter starts in the southern hemisphere on June 1st, while your summer season in the northern hemisphere is June 21st. How I did not know this in all my years is beyond me LOL! I have been asking all my colleagues all day and a school full of teachers did not know this..Anyway...long story.

    Now..your work here is just amazing. The chipboard is absolutely gorgeous and the details are just so so pretty. Gorgeous pic again and no ..i think you stuck to the sketch pretty well. Your work is stunning! LOVE it to bits.

    Thanks for playing along with us again.

    take care and thanks for sharing those pics with us too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A lovely tribute to your Hubs:) Love the chippies and what you did with them.
    Hauskaa juhannusta! Italiassa ei vietetä juhannusta millään lailla joten näiden 30 vuoden aikana, jotka olen asunut täällä, olen täysin unohtanut koko juhannuksen. Olemme käyneet kesälomalla Suomessa useimmiten heinä- tai elokuussa joten juhannuskokkoakaan en ole nähnyt miesmuistiin!

    hugs
    H

    ReplyDelete
  4. I absolutely love reading all about Midsummer in Sweden Eila!! Have a happy, happy time eating loads of that absolutely scrumptious looking strawberry cake & throw scrapping to the wind until the dark days are upon you again! Congrats on your win with the chippies & thanks for playing along with us at Once Upon A Sketch! Everything about your layout is fab & your chippie treatment looks particularly stunning!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow Eila i love your story about the Midsummer in Sweden and for the cake how delish is that ...your lo has some awesome layers and the photos are just fab ...have a nice day Lindy xo

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow love these pictures!! its crazy to see your side of the world - and its SOO different! but that strawberry cream cake now that's not so different that looks amazing!
    love all the layers on your layouts - there's always something wonderful to look at!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the pics and tale of midsummer, your layout is gorgeous, love all the layering and the butterfly is a work of art, the cake looks pretty good too LOL, have a fantastic weekend! x

    ReplyDelete
  8. Exquisite page, Eila! Wonderful job on that sketch, and all your amazing details... Sigh.

    Loved reading about your midsummer celebration, and all those pics and your descriptions made me feel like I was right there with you!

    Happy summer, my friend!

    ReplyDelete
  9. oh my ! what a luckie duckie you were winning some wonderful Imaginarium chippies ! a wonderful interpretation with all the K&Co ! woohoo !

    & TFS the lovely midsummer pics with this armchair traveller ! such a different culture altogether from tropical Spore !!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Eila... your page is fabulous... LOVE LOVE it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. hello eila... thanks so much for the little cultural sojourn :)) .. just fabulous! i adore your layout too, you really should work with chippies more as you do them so much justice. oh, and theice-cream cake was 'cookies and cream' ... thanks for stopping by and thanks so much for sharing..:)) x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh this is just fabulous! I think the page represents the sketch quite well actually. And the details on it are pure lovliness! Thanks for describing how you covered the chipboard, I'm always interested in people's techniques. What a beautiful page :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. WOW! OH! WOW! Eila......
    Love all your layers in this Layout!! & what you have done with the chippie, Totally Gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your summer celebrations look and sound amazing!! It looks like so much fun, and that strawberry cream cake looks yummy. :) You have done an amazing job with this sketch challenge...I love the way your layout turned out...so many great details to look at. I especially love the way you have altered your chipboard butterfly, your distressed paper edges, the cut-outs, the layering and the wonderful dimension that you have achieved.
    Have a fab week.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. this is fantastic! Love all the layering and distressing! You did an amazing job with that sketch

    ReplyDelete
  16. Gorgeous page, Eila!! love all the details and techniques you did here. lovely photos, too!!
    Great Celebrations you had there, love to learned
    cultural traditions. And your cake looks Yummy, MMMm!!! Happy Midsommar!!!! A BIG HUG, Dear!!! :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. Eila thank you so much for sharing you culture my daughter was in absolute heaven taking it all in. And you page is just delicioulsy beautiful, and now she wants you cake for her birthday this Sunday!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Grazie per aver condiviso con noi il racconto di questa festa magica e fatata! Qui in Italia non ci sono feste così ma ne avevo sentito parlare! Prima o poi vorrei partecipare ad una di queste! Complimenti per la tua pagina e grazie per aver giocato con noi a Once Upon A Sketch! Sono una tua nuova follower!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hey Eila! I so enjoyed this post, not only because of your latest lovely layered layout (it is truly awesome!), but because of your description and photos of the cultural hallmarks of Sweden at this time of the year! I find it so interesting that the midsummer's festivities include a dance around a pole, b/c that's what many people here in the Upper Midwest of the USA do on the first day of May, otherwise known as May Day. There are a lot of Swedish and Norwegian Americans in Minnesota, and I know they celebrate May Day in much the same way you describe here...how cool to know that some of these traditions have survived both time and emigration!

    Thanks for your comments on my blog, esp. that in which you shared your story of childhood summers in Finland, complete with B52 bomber-sized mosquitoes!:-) I read it to my husband, and he and I laughed as we considered how mosquitoes really do cross all geographical and cultural boundaries--much like we bloggers do in the blogosphere! I am so glad that we are friends, Eila!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Så var det tid för liten titt på bidragen . Jisses det var många igen...
    Att titta på ditt bidrag är ett rent nöje!
    I love the fussy cutting that you do SO so well.I love the absolutely delicious layers and actually I can honestly say I love just about everything, yes..ALL!
    P.S: We may go to Sthlm some time this summer to visit friends then I hope you'll give me a fussy cutting class! ;o) D.S.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Your job ends with writing and submitting the articles. godteributikk på nett

    ReplyDelete