2016 Update! Books and more!

Hello Monday!

Long time no see. (I hate when people say that.) Where have I been? What have I been up to? Tons and tons of drawing is what I've been doing! It's been a really exciting process, and I'm so happy that I can finally share what I've been working on.

Since Formex in August I have been in contact with Swedish book publisher Pagina Förlag (who actually discovered my work there, yay!) They have commissioned me to illustrate 3 books, which is very exciting! One love themed postcard book, one fashion themed poster book, and an adult coloring book. I was over the moon about this project and worked from September to February on these illustrations, especially for the coloring book as I had to create 96 originals. I don't think I've drawn this much in my life. I think I might have even gotten better at it too.

My postcard book Love Notes and my poster book Fashionista are both already available for sale (links below) and my coloring book will be released at the end of the month.

Since I've been working so many months on these coloring book illustrations, drawing nearly everyday all day, I almost feel at a lost as what to do now that I'm finished. I've been drawing a few new patterns for my Spoonflower fabric shop and created new phone case designs for my Casetify shop. I also need to start work on more fashion illustrations for my Etsy shop. But what I'm really itching to do is start working on a second coloring book (just in case the first one goes well, I'd love to have one at the ready.)

So now you know what I've been up to all these months. I hope you're as excited for my books as I am!

If you are interested and located in Sweden my books are available for purchase on Bokus.
And if you are international you can find them in my Etsy shop.

Happy New Year!

Holy Moly!
Hello Thursday, and 2015!

I always feel like January is such a random month to start a new year, because it's in the middle of winter and not much is going on besides Christmas just ending. September however is when I usually give my life a new start. When I was younger September marked the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. Now that I'm an adult out of school I still see September the mark of the end of Summer and the beginning of getting back to work. In Sweden summers are short so we try to make the most of them by being on vacation and working less. So when September rolls around and the weather starts to cool down I spend more time inside getting shit done.

This past September I made the goal of showing my work and creating new products for the next Formex trade show. I started work on planning/designing/manufacturing all of my new products in September, and now in January I'm so proud that everything is done. (or will be done next week!)

So this year, 2015, I hope that all my hard work in 2014 will pay off and I'm really excited to see where my business will go in the near future. It's all very exciting!!!

I really hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration and hope you all have an amazing 2015!

Lilac and August Review

Hello Friday!

I'm obsessed with lilac at the moment. (Big news, I know.) I can't think of a prettier color. It's so soft and feminine and makes me feel pretty and happy. I love it as a nail polish color, now as a background color and I've even got my eye on a few accessories I'd like to get myself in this gorgeous shade. Bought this super pretty Kikki K leather planner for 2015 and forever. (Already so excited for a new year, weird.) So for a while you may see a lot of purple around these parts. Just saying.

August was a lovely month. While July was for vacation, August was for getting back to work. And I'm pleased to say that I feel I actually have. Vacation really helped to amp up my motivation to get working on loads of new designs. I have so many new ideas, and designs I've been working on. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them. Quite a nice problem to have!

What else happened in August?

• I visited Formex Stockholm's largest design trade show and it was incredibly inspiring.

• Featured so many lovely bloggers in my Blogger What's in my bag series. Coffee and Cashmere, Modish and Main, and Gala Darling. Such a lovely group of ladies. :)

• And I reduced all of my print prices in my Etsy shop. This is huge as I've never done this before. They will stay reduced through September too so happy shopping, hooray!

p.s. You can find my Tiny Flower Vases illustration in lilac in my EmmaKisstina Etsy shop here...

Makeup Hoarder

It's Friday!

While visiting my family in The States I also visited Ulta, Sephora, Target, Walmart and several drugstores because I'm a little bit makeup obsessed. I just love the stuff! I love the colors, textures, and especially love playing with it on my face :) Before I left I wrote a ridiculous list of beauty items I wanted to take a look at or just knew I wanted (like the Naked 3 palette) and though I did get many items I actually didn't get the majority of everything on my list. I think I'm pretty set with makeup for a while though... my stash is literally overflowing. Who am I kidding though, I already want more.

These are the goodies I got!...

My favorite as you can see, is obviously lip and nail products. They are just so pretty, and it's so fun and easy to test out lots of colors. I especially adore bright pinks and reds. My favorite brand for lip products is Maybelline, but the Rimmel Kate Moss matte lipsticks are coming in a close second. They are just so creamy and non drying for being matte... plus the colors are spot on classics.

Besides Maybelline I'm also having quite the Tarte love affair right now. I just love that they care about the ingredients they put into their products, they're natural without being boring, and most of their packaging is so cute! Their new mineral powder is gorgeous and just melts into the skin, especially with that super cute kabuki brush.

I also got myself a new perfume. I haven't had a nice perfume in years, so it was about time I picked out a new signature scent. I really think this one by Lancome, La Vie est Belle, is gorgeous and really suits me.

Turning 30

Hello Friday!

I'm home again in freezing cold Sweden, sigh. My 3 week visit with my family in Florida was sooooo wonderful and it was really nice to get away from my usual routine for awhile. It was amazing getting some sunshine, having lots of chatting/giggle time with my sister, tons of cuddle time with my furry little brothers, fun doing some shopping, and spending time with my parents... plus I turned 30!

Don't even know what to say about turning 30, other than I think it's quite alright, exciting really. As nice and fun as my 20s were, I think I'm really really really going to enjoy my 30s.

Since I was turning the big 3-0 I decided to really treat myself (plus my family members were really generous with monetary gifts) so I did an insane amount of shopping. I bought a little too much workout gear, a handful of pretty dresses, 4 pairs of shoes, 2 handbags, enough stud earrings to last me a lifetime, and far far far too much makeup. I feel truly spoiled. I'll have to share a few new favorites soon. :)

Hope you have a lovely weekend! I'm going to be celebrating my birthday again, but this time with Johan since I wasn't home for my birthday. I already got my gift though... a trip to Italy this Fall! Squeal!

Tenerife: Vacation Pictures Part 2

Hello Wednesday!

Don't worry I'll have a blogger What's in my Bag illustration to share with you later today. But first, let's take a look at a few more gorgeous vacation photos!

The rest of the week, we explored even more views such as from the heights of El Teide (an active volcano and the tallest mountain in Spain), visited a gorgeous local market, and even went on a private wine tasting. 

I'm so glad we were able to get away from our regular daily lives for a week to explore a place we've never been before. And getting away from Sweden's January depressing darkness was kind of nice as well. Travelling is always so refreshing and exciting, and I really really enjoy it! Tenerife was really lovely as it's very tourist friendly but still rather interesting with all the amazing mountain views, and traditional Canary Island culture.

Hope we'll be able to travel somewhere else together this summer or next fall too. (Now I really want to go to main land Spain, to eat even more delicious Tapas.) I've already got new travel plans for myself, as I'm flying to Florida in 2 weeks to spend some time with my family. I don't really consider this vacation, as I hope to get lots of work done. But we'll see :)

Tenerife: Part 1

Hello Monday!

We're back from vacation, and let me just tell you it was really wonderful! It was so much fun to explore a new place, enjoy rather nice weather (it was a little more rainy and cooler than we had hoped for, but what can you do?), and took in tons of amazing sites. 

We rented a really nice apartment from Airbnb, and this made our stay on the island really comfortable, since we could cook and eat most meals at home, and it was really private and calm. Also our host was really wonderful  and helpful and gave us so many recommendations for places to visit over the entire island. We chose to live on the North side of the island, where it's much less touristy and a little cooler because that's more our style. This was perfect as we're not much for hanging on the beach with tons of other tourists and prefer to see what life is like through food, and exploring different neighborhoods. I think we got more of an authentic taste for the island this way. And our verdict was that we really did like Tenerife!

 It was also really lovely having a car, so we could explore the entire island... and we did. We got to see  all the different landscapes (and there were many) from dry to lush, and from mountainous to beaches. Everything was truly beautiful! I especially loved driving around the mountains and valleys on horrifyingly tight winding roads. We had to stop the car every few minutes to jump out and take in the gorgeous heights.

Here a few pictures from the first few days of our trip...

I'll share photos from the rest of the trip real soon.

Going on Vacation

Hello Friday!

Don't have much to share with you today other than I'm wicked excited about the boyfriend and I jetting off to The Canary Islands for a weeks vacation this weekend. Gonna be nice to get away from Stockholm's dark gloom, especially with temperatures finally lowering. Enjoying t-shirt weather will be great too!

We've rented an apartment on an avocado farm, and a little car to get around the island we're staying on. Can't wait to explore all the sites, take tons of photos, read lots of books, work maybe just a little, eat amazing food, and drink yummy wine. Already can't wait to share photos with you!

Hope you have an amazing weekend.