I came across a sweet little shop named Tuuni. This stunning bag caught my eye and she graciously agreed to tell me her story~ She is a lovely person and uses recycled materials for her work~ she is offering a gift with purchase for her first three buyers!! How terrific is that? See details in her shop Tuuni (on Etsy):
and here is her story~~
"My name is Tuija Lommi, I live in southern Finland near Helsinki in a lovely country like district. I live with my husband, been married 10 years now, and with our lovely daughter who is 1 years old.
My love for crafts come from my family, all my aunts are devoted artisans. I have also studied Crafts and Recriation in HAMK University of Applied Sciences and got a degree “Bachelor of Culture and Arts” in 1999. Since then I’ve been working in a design boutique in Helsinki, the past five years as a shop manager, doing my craft projects every now and then. Now I'm staying home with my daughter and enjoying it! When I found Etsy, it changed my life. I realized there IS a market for craft items and they CAN be cool! It gave me hope and strength to do what I always wanted to do.
"Tuuni" is a Finnish name for a girl. It refers to something peaceful an calm. My shop name "Tuuni" also refers to to a finnish word "tuunaus" which is commonly used when making products from recycled materials. I guess the word in english would be re-purposing.
In my purses and accessories I use vintage and recycled materials such as table cloths, napkins, curtains, mens shirt, buttons, etc... When I go material hunting, I usually look for interesting patterns and colors, and feelings from the past decades. Ideas pop into my head when I look the piles of fabric, I like to think that tablecloths an curtains “speak” to me; what needs to be done from this specific fabric. I find things in local second hand and charity shops, sometimes from vintage stores. All of my items are one of a kind or limited editions. I draw my own patterns and some of the bags are “build” without any pattern.
My cushion covers are made from vintage bed linen. Finland is full of abandoned and rejected bed linen with most amazing hand embroidered initials and hand made crocheted lace. It was a common school project for girls in the past century to crochet a lace for their own bed linen. The most beautiful ones were made for a bridal box. I love these beautiful crafts and hate the fact that they probably end up covered in dust in the attics. So I wanted to give them a new life!
My shop on Etsy is rather new and right now I am trying to stock up for the holiday season. Lots of new stuff coming soon!"
Looks like a super place to shop this holiday season!!
Please check back tomorrow.... more shopping to follow...
to sit and write...finally! Thinking about what to make for dinner tonight and can't come up with anything that sounds good. Anyone have a blog that has simple recipes? I am a Soup-a-holic, I could eat soup every day. I discovered (well- my sister found it and i stole it from her) a terrific Soup and Salad recipe book. It's from Food & Wine magazine called "quick from scratch Soups & Salads cookbook" Some of my faves are the Hungarian Beef & Potato Soup, Turkey, Mushroom and Lentil Soup, Tomoato Soup with Chicpeas and Pasta and I recently made the Thai-style Beef Salad over Angel Hair Pasta. These recipes are truly easy and full of flavor and all of the ones that I have made are ready in 30- 40 minutes or less. I highly recommend this cookbook. Now it's from 1998 ( ISBN# is 0916103803) so you may have to get it on ebay, half.com or Swaptree (i'll save that for another day). Okay- I have to start some laundry, list a pair of earrings on Etsy and pick Eve up from Pre-school..... 
