Crochet necklace bracelet giveaway results

We are happy to announce the winner of our crochet necklace/bracelet giveaway!

Comment # 19 by Elena V was chosen as a winner. Congratulations!

 Irina (TomBjornDesigns) will contact you to verify your mailing address.

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Crocheted necklace bracelet giveaway from TomBjornDesigns

This year's Earth day comes closer and we decided to contribute to it by having this earth-friendly giveaway from TomBjornDesigns.

This versatile piece of jewelry is made of upcycled beads taken from several old broken and forgotten necklaces and bracelets. Ira can never resist giving old items a new life, and tries to upcycle old jewelry as often as she can.

Ira hopes the person who wins will love this summer bright and earth friendly piece and enjoy wearing it!

As all of TomBjornDesigns' necklaces, you can wear this item as a bracelet, belt, or a thousand different necklaces.

Go to see her shop to get inspired!

Here's how you enter for a chance to win this:

- Visit the TomBjornDesigns shop, take a look around and leave us a comment of what your favorite item is (1 entry per comment)
- Follow our blog - 1 entry
- Subscribe to our blog via RSS - 1 entry
- Grab our button and place it on your blog - 2 entries
- Blog about this giveaway - 2 entries
- Tweet about this giveaway - 1 entry
- Leave a link to this giveaway on Facebook - 1 entry
- Follow Tombjorndesigns on Facebook - 1 entry
- Follow TomBjornDesigns blog - 1 entry

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that we can contact you!

The more entries you submit the more chances of winning!

A winner will be chosen by Ira using random.org on April 22th and we will announce the winner on our blog.

Interview with a Star - Ira from TomBjornDesigns

 If you ever see this shop you will always want to come back. They have the loveliest necklaces and cute crochet rings which will make you feel so cozy. There is so much more there! Ira, the owner of TomBjornDesigns is telling us about her shop and her inspirations. It is especially nice when you know that today is Ira's birthday!

So happy birthday, Ira! We wish you all the best and may your all wishes come true!

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am a Russian/ Israeli girl living in Sweden. (and I am turning 30 today, so I am not sure if "girl" still applies to me :))

And I think you can see it in my items - some are inspired by Mediterranean treasures, some by cold Northern fjords, so by my memories from the Soviet Union.
I live in a small apartment, which I am sharing with the man of my dreams and my business. And my beads take most of the space in the apartment.

How long have you been creating?
Since forever. Sometimes I think I was sitting in my mom's belly with a crocheting hook and a handful of beads... or buttons :)

What would you say makes your shop unique?
Probably the mix of old and new. I am inspired from vintage jewelry, but I am trying to put it into new context.
On top of my handmade items I am selling vintage beauties that I happened to find. Nothing makes me more happy than seeing it being shipped to it's new home.

What is the most important about your work?
I am trying to make happy items, and I hope that my customers feel it. Also, I mix the colors and materials in order to give my necklaces a flirty and unusual look.
And the last but not the least, I love my customers. I am trying to provide the best customer service possible, and hope they feel it!

What inspires you and what is the day in your studio look like?
Everything inspires me! Nature, vintage shops, my dreams, beautiful handwriting, my grandmother's photographs, and of course, love of my life, Stockholm.

Your versatile necklace / bracelets line is so popular. What's the key?
Well, first of all it is their versatility that makes them so appealing. They can be worn in so many different ways and my customers like to change their look every day. Another things that makes them my best-seller is probably the colors... and the love I invest in carefully picking the color palettes.

Do you take custom orders?
Yes, I love them. I love to follow the imagination of my customer and to make quite unexpected things for me.
This necklace was inspired by a customer:

Where would you like to go with your business?
I would love to develop it further and to brand it better. I dream of selling it to shops and galleries on a regular basis (so far I had only several orders from various galleries, but I work on it!)

Ideas for upcycled supplies

By upcycling you can make your life and the life of your customers greener. Why not making craft and at the same time changing world for the best? Here are some ideas about where to get alternative supplies for your craft and what to do with your own unnecessary supplies.

1. First of all, check vintage and second hand shops in town - many of those offer amazingly cheap old and tired items. Give them another chance! Moreover, in many second-hand shops one can find leftovers of yarn and other supplies - use it :)
This ring is crocheted with red yarn I have bought in a charity second hand shop and is embellished with a turquoise bead from a vintage necklace.

Old and tired wool sweaters can be easily felted into beautiful new accessories. Just as tiny bit of unwoven wool can make a stunning felted flower.

Check out the tutorial of TonyaUtkina on how to create a felted flower

Moreover, youtube is full with video-tutorial on what to make out of old woolen sweaters.

2. Find soulmates! I regularly post on a local blog an advert saying that I exchange my products for a bunch of old jewelry, even broken or torn (anyway I will upcycle it), leftovers of yarn etc'. You won't believe it, but MANY people are happy to get rid of things they do not need - especially if they get a handmade designed item in exchange. Besides local online forums you can find handmade clubs in town or designs faculty in university or college and simply put paper advert on their board. Believe me, you will be surprised by result!

That's the treasure I got lately from such exchange for only one of my necklaces.

That red broken necklace is made of real red corals. Good bargain, isn't it? :)

3. Revise your old stocks.
Every craft artist has a bunch of old supplies, those that are not colorful enough, shining enough, those that cannot be incorporated into any of your designs, or those little bits that are simply left over and are not enough for a new design. What do you do with them?

- Change them!
Color them, crochet around them, reshape them :)
I have a lot of amazing buttons. Many of them are absolutely unique and vintage, other more common and dark.

In my designs I mainly use happy colors, so brown and black buttons will have hard time finding their way to my necklaces. But I still love them, and I have an idea what to do with them - I will crochet around them and make necklaces out of them. Just wait and see!

- Exchange them!
Yes, your boring leftover supplies maybe a real treasure for someone else. Find your local fair and forum - give advert that you want to get rid of them and see what people can offer you in exchange - their leftovers can be a real find for you.

- Sell them!
yes, as simple as that. List them in your shop and sell.
If you have them for couple of years, you haven't used them until today and still don't have any idea of how you will use them - get rid of them!

- Combine the leftovers.
do you have a bunch of old beads of different size and color! paint them in one color or crochet around them with similar yarn - and then they will make a nice necklace or other accessory. Their different size will only add uniqueness!

In this particular necklace most of the beads come from different other necklaces. Even the yarn I used to crochet over is of different shade. And yet, this necklace is charming, isn't it?

As I said, I love seeing old and sad things getting new life and starting sparkling again.

I hope this can inspire you to reuse and recycle. You can both make crafts and make the world better. So why not simply doing that? :)

Story by Irene (TomBjorndesigns)

Swedish Baking

Baking before Christmas is a tradition that followed by almost every house in Sweden.

One of the weekends in December a family spends entire afternoon baking different traditional pastries, cakes, cookies and other sweet goodies.

Gingerbread cookies are a must in every family. Unlike Christmas gingerbread men in English-speaking countries, Swedish gingerbread cookies are usually made in such shapes as moose, pig, Dala horses, special Swedish horses, and hearts. Those are made very thin and it takes only 7 minutes in the oven for them to become crispy.

Many families take on the challenge and guild their own gingerbread house. First they made a drawing, then the dough is cut according to the measurements of the drawing.

After the walls and the roofs are baked, they are glued to one another with sweet syrup.

And then comes the last touch – colorful decoration with sugar cream and candies. But we decided to leave our gingerbread skyscraper just as it is :)

Another pastry that no Swedish Christmas can do without is lussebullar – rolled saffron breads with raisins.

It is baked of regular yeast dough with a lot of saffron which gives them this yellow color and a fantastic Christmas taste!

And of course, no baking can be done without drinking glögg, warm spiced wine, drunk in small glasses with raisins and almonds at the bottom. As you can see, there is even a special gadget with candle to keep the wine warm all the time

Baking is incredibly important for creating a Christmas atmosphere at home. And together with special decorations is makes Christmas absolutely magical!


Story by Irene (TomBjorndesigns)

Christmas in Sweden

Christmas in Sweden is, in my opinion, the loveliest holiday full of lights, decorations and happy smiles outdoors despite snowy weather in December.

In Sweden, Christmas officially begins with Saint Lucia ceremony on 13th of December. On this day, the youngest daughter from each family puts on a white robe with a red sash before dawn and wears a crown of evergreens with tall-lighted candles attached to it. There are special morning services in every church, and most of them are overcrowded. One has to be in good time at the church before the ceremony in order to see it.

Christian traditions are very respected in Sweden, but for most people, the preparations for Christmas begin at late November or early December. That's when the shops start competing about who has got the best Christmas decorations (especially such shopping mekkas as Ikea, Ahlens, Nordiska Kompaniet). The same day people start trying to find appropriate Christmas presents for everybody. Christmas markets are especially popular. There you can find unique handmade decorations, presents and simply a lot of good mood.

Glögg, or sweet hot spiced wine, is served outdoors and it definitely helps to warm you up, as it is usually freezing cold at this time of the year.

Christmas decorations in Sweden include advent-ljus, special candle to put on your window sill (those really remind Jewish Hanuka candles), apples, straw ornaments, Swedish flags and small gnomes wearing red tasseled caps.

Christmas is not a proper Christmas without pepparkakor or the famous gingerbread biscuit. Swedes love making gingerbread houses – they usually make complicated drawing of a future house and then bake the roofs, walls and other parts strictly according to the measurements in the plan.

Christmas Eve you usually spend with your friends and/or relatives and eat Christmas food. Three o'clock in the afternoon is sacred, though. Then every kid in the whole country sits down in front of the TV to watch "Donald Duck and his friends wish you all a Merry Christmas". Most adults don’t admit that they love it too, but they do! I love it very much, too :)

Swedish Julafton, or Christmas Eve, dinner may be a julbord, or buffet with julskinka, or Christmas ham, pickled pigs feet, lutfisk, or dried codfish, and risgryngrot a special rice porridge. Usually it is served with a special dried bread.

After Christmas Eve dinner, some of the presents are usually opened. Swedish Santa Claus, Jultomte (Christmas Gnome) unlike Santa Claus is supposed to live under the floorboards of the house or barn and ride a straw goat. The make-believe Tomte, wearing a white beard and dressed in red robes, distributes gifts from his sack. Many are given with funny rhyme that hints at the contents. However, modern American figure is quickly catching up in Sweden and Tomte is losing his original identity.

But he is nevertheless lovely and welcoming :)

Story by Irene Tombjorndesigns

Interview with a star - Irina

Today we are sharing an interview with Irina who runs TomBjornDesigns shop on Etsy.

How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?
I have been creating things ever since I remember myself. My grandmother was making amazing silk embroidery on those old mechanical sewing machines and I used to sit next to her and watch for hours. This is how I learn patience. When I crochet my necklaces or simply arrange my boxes with beads now I can be concentrated on this process for many hours in a row. Otherwise I am a very impatient person!

Last year I started making much more things than I could use for myself or give away as a present. So I simply decided to share things I make with wider audience. This is how my shop came to existence.

How would you describe your style?
My style is a happy style. There is some indie in it, some grandma vintage, and a lot of upcycled ideas!

I have so much more ideas on my mind! I write my ideas down and only if the future item seems to me colorful, happy, versatile, with option of using upcycled materials, then I will and create it.

This Happy tiny buttons versatile necklace is made of tiny buttons that I discovered in one of the second hand shops and I decided to give them a new life:



What inspires you?
I find my inspirations mainly in my colorful dreams, my memories of my grandma, shopping in vintage stores and nature, of course. I also love to look through the shops on Etsy, especially the ones which are using upsycled materials. Then I am coming up with my own ideas.

These earrings are made of upcycled wooden beads which I brought back to life by crocheting around them. I love this vintage feeling about them:


What items in your shop do you most enjoy making and why?
I can't help it, I LOVE making my versatile crocheted necklaces. First I decide on the color palette, then I start playing with amount of beads, and then finally the crocheting precess - oh, this is the best meditation I have ever had. I can sit for 5-6 hours in a row and just think about something or listen to an audio book while my fingers create magic with beads and cotton thread.

This is one of my favorite items - all the beads are equally round and it only adds to the meditative process. I can even crochet without looking now :)


What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?
I love my customers! Their feedback is so important for my creative process.
Once I had a custom order of 8 similar necklaces for bride-maids - the bride (who was the buyer) loved the idea of versatility and thought that the bride maids will have similar necklaces, but they will wear them in 8 different ways. Several months later a bride has sent me a photo of all 8 girls wearing my necklaces (one wore it as bracelet and one even as a headband). I was so happy that my work contributed to the most important day in her life!

What is the day in your studio look like?
Ah, this is a hard question. I don't have a proper studio, I share an apartment and all my beads and threads are all around.


I study full time and do many extracurricular projects, so I don't have much time to actually sit and work on my items. I do them in the metro, on the lectures, coffee shops - everywhere.



and I love the reactions of people around me - they usually smile and some even ask what I am doing.

If I can make people smile - this is my best feedback and motivation to continue creating :)

Story by Irina (TomBjornDesigns)