DIY pattern stool Part 2

It's finally ready and covered with plastic. My old kitchen stool actually looks cool now!

As I was talking in the earlier blog entry, I would do a tutrial on how to cover the stool's surface with plastic. This will help to keep the colours. Please keep on reading if you want to know how I did it :)

Tutorial

Sharp Scissors

Adhesive plastic

 

• First, Measure the stool. Mine was about 26cm x 22 cm. I cut a piece of the plastic which was about 28cm x 24 cm.
• Turn the adhesive plastic so that the plastic side is facing the floor and the paper side up.
• Now make a fold in the paper following a line:

 

Now it's time to connect the plastic to the stool: 

Press the plastic onto the stool surface, and make sure that the plastic is not crooked!

Hold onto the plastic as....

you pull the paper at the same time. Make sure that you press the plastic onto the wooden surface as you pull.

Now it's time to cut! I like to do small cuts in the corners before starting the actual cutting.

 

Always keep the plastic in a vertical position, this makes the cutting easier.

Finally you just need to press the plastic onto the wooden surface tigtly, and you're finished!

It's summer in Finland!

It's finally summer here in Finland! I'm visiting my parents in Porvoo. Yesterday I was in Helsinki, I went to see a great Belgian DJ named Netsky. I was perhaps a bit too tired to dance, but the music was alright and I got to hang out with one of my best friends.

Today I was at the beach with my childhood's best friend. It was a really sunny weather so we didn't have to freeze :) The beach is a bit different because you actually have to go there by rowing boat :) My friend was nice enough to do the rowing.

I have to admit, there's just something special about Finland in the summertime. All the green, the beautiful flowers, the sun that doesn't really set... I  came home last night at 3 in the morning and the sun was coming up. It was absolutely beautiful, a pink sky over the fields...( Yes, my parents kind of do live in the countryside, hah, but hey, Finland is mostly forest and lakes) Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.

One of the downsides of Finland in the summertime is the mosquitos. They are everywhere in huge swarms! Even yesterday when I was waiting for the bus I got bitten at least three times. Oh well, I'll just have to deal witht the mosquitos.

Some random summer pictures

Smoked salmon with wasabi-sourcream-dill dressing=heaven

Blueberry and rasberry cream cheese pie

I've been baking like crazy recently and I want to share a super easy and absolutely delicious recipe with you.

Finland has absolutely the best blueberries in the world. As a matter of fact the berries we call blueberries are called Bilberries or European Blueberries in other countries. No matter what, they are the best. The so called normal blueberries have a much milder taste and they are also more watery. Whether you are using Bilberries or just the "normal" blueberries, this recipe is worth trying, I can assure you!

Recipe:

You will need a pie dish (24-26cm wide) and the following ingredients:

For The Crust

125g butter

4dl flour

1 dl sugar

2 tablespoons potato flour

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 dl plain yoghurt 

1 egg

For the The Filling

200 g frozen blueberries

1 handful of frozen rasberries

2  tablespoons potato flour

200g Philadelphia cream cheese

1 egg

2 tbs vanilla sugar

1 dl sugar

Cook in 200 celsius for 25-30minutes

First of all heat the oven. After this melt the butter in a heatproof bowl in the microwave. I use a big coffee mug. It takes about 1 minute for the butter to melt, and it doesn't have to be fully melted, as long as it's soft. Let it cool while you mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Mix the melted butter with the dry ingredients and finally add the youghurt and egg. Mix until texture is smooth. Next spread the batter into the pie dish:

Add the frozen berries on the batter and sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of potato flour on the berries.

Now it's time to prepare the cream cheese topping. I find it easiest to first mix the egg and the cream cheese in the bowl and then add the rest of the ingredients.Make sure there are no clumps.

Just pour the mixture on the berries evenly.

Now the pie is ready to go to the oven! Cook it for 25-30minutes in 200 celsius. The result should look something like in the next picture, but if it gets more of a golden colour, it's totally fine! 

DIY pattern stool Part 1

I've finally had some time after the moving to start doing arts and crafts project. I have this really old and stained stool in the kitchen. I was actually thinking of throwing it away because the white colour isn't that white anymore. However, I got an idea to either cover it with beautiful baroque style fabric or paint the pattern on. As my drawers are full of different paints and markers, I decided to draw the pattern.

Before

Work in progress

 

 

As you can probably notice, I ran out of marker at some point( it was a really old one) so I need to buy a new one. I also need to clean up some of the black "mess" around the design.

The sides of the stool I'm going to paint black so that it will look more elegant. There's still a lot to do, so this is definitely not  what the stool will look like when it's finished :)

You don't even have to be a good drawer to do the design. I used mostly free hand, but you could use wax paper for tracing a whole pattern. So if you want to do something similar, these are the things you will need:

 Disinfectant, wax paper and a pencil. 
The disinfectant is for wiping the wooden surface. This ensures that the colour sticks on. Wax paper and pencil are for tracing a  pattern you like. The Internet has millions of pictures so that is surely the best place to find the design you like. All you need to do is to trace the picture on both sides of the paper. Press the pattern against the wooden surface and trace the outlines once again.

Pencil Sharpener and an Eraser

 A Waterproof marker.
 I used an old CD marker, but anything goes as long as it's thin and waterproof.

Nailpolish remover.
 This is used for wiping out possible stains. Be careful when doing this as you might smudge the design!

If you want to paint the sides of the stool, you will need paint. I will be using acrylic paint. When you have finished with the actual design(and painting) you definitely want to cover it up with either sealing wax meant for paintings or with a special plastic. I will do a tutorial on this once I finish my design and painting, so stay tuned! :)