What I bought in Sweden

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope you've all been having a good start to the week. Today I thought I'd show you all the souvenirs I purchased on my three day trip to Stockholm, Sweden. I love reading about what people have bought on their holidays, so I hope you all enjoy this post too! 

My favourite souvenir from Sweden has to be this beautiful hand-painted wooden Dala horse. The Dala or Dalecarlian horse is a traditional carved wooden statuette originating from villages in Dalarna, Central Sweden. 100 years ago, they were made by the villagers and sold at markets, and the villagers would also teach their children how to make them :) (If you want to learn more about them, check here). 

Just look how beautiful they are! They were all over Stockholm in the souvenir shops, and there were even big models of them around the city for tourists to take photos with. I love traditional wooden items so I couldn't resist getting myself one, even though they were pretty pricey. I got the smallest size available and it cost me the equivalent of £13. How could I not get one? I love how bright they are and the lovely patterns painted on them. The red was the most traditional colour, but they were available in so many different colours. I wish they weren't so expensive because I would have bought three different sizes because I think they'd look great displayed on a shelf. 

We arrived in Sweden on Friday 13th May and after checking into the hotel and having a nosey around our room, we decided to get straight to sight-seeing. We headed to Stockholm's Old Town which is gorgeous, full of old buildings which are occupied by cafes and unique little shops; there's also several souvenir shops so I popped into them to look for gifts for my family. I absolutely loved this keyring, the moose/elk is the national animal of Sweden and yellow and blue are the colours of the Swedish flag. I just think it's really pretty!

On our second day in Stockholm, we went to the ABBA Museum so I got a little something to remind me of my trip there. Most of the items in the giftshop were pricey so I just got myself a postcard because I collect them, and a wristband which says 'The ABBA Museum' and 'Dancing Queen'. I'm thinking of making a scrapbook all about my highlights of 2016 at the end of the year so I will probably put this awesome square postcard in there. 

 I so wish that I'd gotten a teddy when we went to the Skansen Museum & Zoo. They had some adorable red fox teddies, but I didn't bring enough cash out with me. I was really happy with these gorgeous postcards though. I love how they have a wavy edge and the photography is so great. I wish there was a postcard of the Wolverine though! 

So I said how much I loved traditional, wooden things, well I got myself another one. I first spotted one of these things when I was choosing my food at the hotel breakfast. I was looking around at the different spreads that were on offer and I spotted one in the margarine tub. I discovered that it's a traditional Swedish butter knife. I admit that I wasted a piece of bread just so that I could have a go at spreading on the margarine using the butter knife and I thought it was awesome. 

It's so unique and I thought it would be really cool to have one so on our last morning in Stockholm before setting off to the airport, I was determined to find a souvenir shop and get myself one. I hadn't been able to get my family any gifts yet so when we came across a souvenir shop, I went crazy in there buying presents for my mum, sister and best friend. I also got me & my mum a traditional Swedish butter knife each. There were lots of pretty ones with flowers hand-painted onto them, but I had a budget to stick to so I just got these ones with the cute little reindeers cut out. 

I bought a few things in the airport before we headed to Sweden because I noticed that there was a Paperchase and got excited! I, of course, went straight for the stickers and got myself a good few sheets. I love the variety they have in there and that they are small enough to fit neatly on my postcards for postcard swapping and my snailmail. I really love the seashell ones. They are also only £1 a sheet (other than the one of the far left, which was £1.50) so that's fantastic!

I've been after the two postcards on the right for ages now so I was really happy when I saw that the Manchester Airport Paperchase had them. I absolutely love the illustrations by the amazingly talented Gemma Correll. They are so adorable! How cute is 'The Crumpet of Courage'!? It's an illustration by an artist called Katie Abey and is so sweet and bright that I couldn't not buy it. Lastly, I thought this illustrated map of Manchester city was very cool and would be great to use for postcard swapping, so I popped it in my basket too. I'm so happy with all of the items I bought on my trip, and I hope you all enjoyed reading about them.

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Which is your favourite item? Who else loves traditional souvenirs?