I took part in a Finnish accordion book challenge. The task was to make a page for an accordion book each day, according to given daily prompts. I wasn’t going to post them here because it’s all in Finnish but what the heck, I can translate. So bear with me – this is a looooooong post. There’s a page for each day in February.
Day 1. Tell something about yourself
“Sari – an average – not terribly bad at anything but not amazingly good either.”
Day 2. Where would you travel on a time machine?
“I would definitely travel to the past, perhaps to see how the Pyramids were built. Or Stonehenge since we are not so sure about their building either. Leonardo da Vinci would no doubt provide some interesting time with all those contraptions he invented. What about all the royalties and aristocrats hundreds of years ago? Where they really so neat and clean with lovely hair do’s as in the films?”
Day 3. Tea or coffee?
“A cup of coffee every now and then. Bucket-loads of tea all the time. Both with milk. No sugar.”
Day 4. Knitting needles or crochet hook?
“My absolute choice is the knitting needles, although I can handle a crochet hook, too, sort of. Knitting is more familiar to me and can be done without too much thinking. One day I’ll learn to crochet properly. ”
Day 5. Runeberg (Johan Ludvig Runeberg is a Finnish national poet and Feb 5th is his birthday and it is therefore celebrated as Runeberg Day)
I won’t attemp to translate the poem on the page. The cake is – yes, you guessed it – Runeberg cake. Apparently it was baked by his wife originally and nowadays Runeberg cakes are sold everywhere on Runeberg Day (or baked at home). They are very yummy, I should add.
Day 6. Mustache (or whiskers – it’s the same word in Finnish)
No words here but I’ll tell about the sculpture. It’s a ‘Smiley Boy’ (and there is also a ‘Smiley Girl’). At schools each class selects one girl and one boy each year who they think is the nicest and friendliest mate, and after the vote the winning boy and girl gets the sculpture. I was selected on the 6th grade 🙂
Day 7. Mover or coach potato?
“A rolling stone gathers no moss. I’m definitely a mover type. If I only had time, I’d walk everywhere. By force I have to make the longer journeys in other ways but I do use my legs whenever it is possible. Sometimes I run. Often I ski to the swamp – literally*. Here in the north it is often easier to walk with snow shoes. I also take annoying chores, like snow ploughing and wood chopping, as exercises. Sometimes after ploughing for 4-5 hours it feels like having just run a marathon – with 12 kg kettle bells on both hands. Excellent. It is, of course, nice to collapse on the sofa with knitting and a good film.”
*In Finnish a slightly nicer way to say ‘fuck off’ is ‘ski to the swamp’ but I actually ski on a swamp.
Day 8. A hobby.
This is rather self-explanatory.
Day 9. Freeze-up or heat? (this loses a little in translation since you don’t have the exact words in English, but it basically means hot or cold – weatherwise)
“Cold is fabulous!”
(I couldn’t remember how to cut snowflakes!! How embarrassing is that? I could have made a better one later as it all started to come back to me but I’d already glued this one on)
Day 10. Stamping
Nothing to say on this one. It’s simply ‘stamping’.
Day 11. Snowman
Again, the page speaks to itself.
Day 12. Expression you heard today.
I heard this one on ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and thought it was great.
Day 13. Lovely
The girl’s and the bird’s face says it all, methinks.
Day 14. Cat
I chose T.S. Eliot’s poem Macavity – The Mystery Cat. You can read the whole poem here.
Day 15. Post.
Again, nothing to translate here.
Day 16. Done with a pen.
Day 17. A good read
“Susan Cooper: The Dark is Rising
5 books in one: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree.
Suspense, magic, fight between good and evil, witches, dragons, spells, kings, ancient legends and the present day, secret codes and strange premonitions.”
Day 18. Magazine cut-out
This is cut from an advert for a wellness magazine. It says “Push to start small. You’ll get excited. You’ll find joy. The change starts with small deeds. Why not today?”
Day 19. Red and white
Day 20. Ring/tyre/wheel (these are all one word in Finnish)
Day 21. Moon, sky and the stars.
Day 22. Water
Vesi = water.
Day 23. Superhero
It is not difficult to guess who is the most super of them all. (I totally showed my true colours here, ie. the fact the I’ve never grown up. Most others did “an everyday hero”, ie. the mother. Ahem, pass me a comic!)
Day 24. A quote.
Day 25. Metal
There was no way I would go for precious metals here. I come, after all, from the promised land of heavy metal.
Day 26. Plastic bag.
Apparently, many Finnish crafters cut out nice images from plastic bags to use in crafting. This has never crossed my mind and this is the first time I’ve ever crafted using a plastic bag.
Day 27. Birds
That white stuff is not what it looks like, by the way.
Day 28. Silence
And that’s it. Here are pictures of my finished book. Cool, huh?
Arctic Stamper 