Tweedy Pinecones

Okay - so I know it isn't friday, but I saw these on craftzine the other day and really wanted to share them with you. Plus I am on vacation so it's like everyday is friday! (for me...) So let's take a look at lilfishstudio's amazing use of felt and wool to create some lovely tree inspired goodies:


How cool is that? Non-spikey pinecones made from reclaimed wool. Lisa Jordan is so crafty! And if you're anti-tweed why not take a gander at a lovely rainbow of felted acorns:


She even has sets with copper and gold little acorn hats! I think these would look fantastic in a bowl on the coffee table....but then percy would probably eat them...well...I still think they're cute....

All the features!

So I've been meaning to do a post about all the great treasuries I've been featured in for a few days now and since I unfortunately brought dead camera batteries (for the second time) with me on my weekend at the lake, there is no better time than now! Apparently robot treasuries are all the rage:

1) Love Robot Pocket Mirror (link to treasury). I am also in love with the robot buddy charm also shown in this one! Cute!


2) Love Robot Pocket Mirror! Again! (link to treasury). Yay! Double featured!


3) Love Robot Pinback Buttons (link to treasury). Wow robots are a popular crafting item...


4) E.coli Plush & Microbe Pinback Buttons (link to treasury)! Extra fond of this one. Not only did I make it in there twice, but it's nice to see a nice sampling of bacteria on etsy too!


5) Blog feature of my Famous Scientist Buttons! (link)! Go Physics!

and finally...

6) Customer appreciation photo by Arixtstix! (link) I love to hear when people love their purchases from me and simply adore seeing photos! Thanks Alix!!!


*Whew!* I'm so flattered! Thanks everyone for featuring me and next time I'll try to bring charged batteries with me when I go away so I can give you better blog posts! The baby bunnies I didn't get a picture of where SUPER cute! You'll have to trust me...

Oktapodi

Spend a few minutes appreciating the wonders of internet video:



How cute! What a heart warming tale of eight-legged love. Too bad this must take place in an alternate reality where octopi can move outside of water (and not just be a big pile of cephalopod goo). Alas...it is cute though...

Felt Dehlia

I am a big supporter of bold accessories and nothing is quite as bold as this giant red felt dehlia brooch:


How lovely! I'm not sure if I could pull it off on a sweater, but I do think it would be a great summery addition to a clutch or bag! Best of all? There is a tutorial on Holidash and it looks uber simple! Just grab some felt (one of my fav crafting supplies), scissors, glue, some thread, and a pin and you're set! Sweet! Now I just need to find myself a little spare time and I'm set! Anyone else in?

TADA's Revolution

Yet another reason why the internet is so great - Tada's Revolution! It is such a refreshing, often sarcastic, hilarious collection of photographed amigurumi adventures! I'm particularly fond of the "squirrels taking over the world plotting", but here is a nice sampling I've put together for you:


So charming and wonderful! Check out Tada's Revolution on the blog or on the flickr site and be sure to read the wonderfully witty captions and titles! I certainly enjoyed them....so hopefully you will too...

Friday Find: Planet Fur

Yet another suggested shop from etsy, Planet Fur is certainly odd and amazing! Boasting "one of a kind felt items to cheer up any place", this shop has a wide assortment of eco-friendly mounted felt animal heads. Here are a few of my personal favourites:


How can you say no to a rhino with a party hat? Really? Marlous even shares her adventures in crafting on her charming blog, which I instantly followed even though she is from the Netherlands and a few of her posts are in some language I certainly don't understand. She even has a super cute cat named Molly she often blogs about! Oh etsy - what a great suggestion you've given me! Seriously, felt + cute + cat blog posts? You know me too well...

Non Bon Voyage...

Today I was supposed to be getting up bright and early to road trip to the wonders of northern british columbia. Instead that trip has been postponed to a time when my sister is not working and I have a little more money on hand! Instead I get the spend the week trying a new cocktail of prescription drugs to fix my many ailments (less fun) which apparently will make me feel quite ill while I get used to them (much less fun). So instead of a seven day vacation I get a "non-bon-voyage" and thought I'd share this image:


If you aren't familiar with bent objects I totally recommend a nice long browse at terry's work. He works wonders with a few everyday objects and a little bent wire. He's even got a book of his wonderful creations! Hurrah!

As for me - I've decided to make the best of the week and have wild plans to de-clutter my life (aka my room)! I've got the garbage bags on hand to "trash", "donate", and "future clothing swap" and am getting ready to do an extreme purge! Also, since I'm not signed up for the bizarre bazaar this week (since I was supposed to be out of town), I think I'll try to get some crafting done so I am prepared for the busy crafty sales of the summer months. If the weather perks up I might even spend a few days out at the lake too. Either way, this week off will (hopefully) not go to waste! Any ideas on anything else I should fit in?

Surprise Balls!

Here is one DIY I am dying to try out! They are called "surprise balls" and are basically a whole bunch of little presents wrapped into a giant ball with crepe paper! Seems simple enough right?


Not Martha has a lovely tutorial explaining how to whip them up too! And they link to a whole bunch of other surprise ball sites for even more ideas - and educational info! Did you know that they date back to early Native American culture and were re-popularized in the 1950's being marketed as "they toy you destroy to enjoy"? Cool!

I think I need to start collecting little trinket-y items so I can make some of these! Actually - I'd really like to get a bunch of interested friends together and have a surprise ball exchange! Say we all spend $8 or so on them and pass them out? Sounds like a great summer bbq party idea! Potentially involving dressing up and delicious vegetable protein! Any takers?

ACEO-X 3.0

I'm so thrilled to be participating in ulixis' "art cards, editions & originals" (ACEO) exchange (version 3) and am really happy with the card I came up with! Since there was no theme this time (last time it was autumn - check out my last ACEO here), I decided I'd go with a springy/summery item I particularly enjoy drawing - mushrooms! But no wide set eye smiles here, I went on a completely non-sharpie approach and did some charming amanitas with pointillism. Behold:


I hope my exchange partner likes it! And I am a little curious what the other participants came up with (specifically which one I end up with - oh the anticipation)! This exchange will officially bring up my art card collection to a solid two cards, which is far from making one of my collections blog posts! Ulixis on the other hand just did a post showing off her solid amount of aceo's and you can even spot mine in there from aceo-x 2.0:


Do you see it? It does have some pretty cute little anthropomorphic acorns! You can read/see her entire collection here if you're interested too! I'm hoping the $1.25 store restocks their card plastic holder things soon so I can start a binder of my very own! Because clearly I need to start collecting more things...I mean I don't even have a collections post this week! Gasp!

So that explains it...

I came across this while stumbling through the internet:


Oh internet - you continue to thrill me. And who doesn't enjoy a good keytar? Certainly not me...

Bizarre Bazarre - vol. II

Week two of my adventures in craft sales has come and gone and as promised I'm here to give you the highlights! If you recall, my first day at the Bizarre Bazaar was filled with excitement, overachiever-y arrival/set up, and one heck of an after storm - so I started this week's event with hopes of better weather and more sales! And the result? Well...the weather was better...

Okay - it actually went a lot smoother than last week since I sort of knew what to expect and I am mastering my display set up. Check out my table this week:


Look the exact same as last week's set up? I think not! I made a number of subtle changes! (Check out last week's table here). Can you spot the differences? Let me list them for you:

1) Moved table cloth so it appears longer in the front. I think this makes my sign look a little better and it hides my storage totes more successfully!

2) I taped down my signage and button stand! Kamloops' windy ways weren't going to push me around! Except they did knock over my button stand once...but that's an improvement from the gusty battle of last week.

3) Pocket mirrors!!! Yay! Just like this post (link) described, my pocket mirrors and cases are complete and ready for sale!

and...
4) I added a little sign to my button display to encourage sales! Which seemed to work actually - since I sold buttons/magnets to four whole people this week verses last week's one person!

Here's a close up of changes 3 and 4:


Yay! I'm quite pleased with the tower of mirrors that successfully uses the tins I bought at Ikea with lindsay and fraser! I think it also adds a little splash of colour and height to the table which is very much needed. Sorry to all of those readers who wanted the alliteration "buy buttons bountifully" sign - I opted for simplicity instead. I already get weird looks and questions about half my stuff to begin with, I didn't want to cause too much of a stir.

Oh! and another thing I did differently this week? I brought some a nice cup of sewing to work on during the lull times! It was really great to sew up a few more fabric rings (in smaller sizes since the majority of my ring buyers have tiny little hands) and was a great project since they are easy to pick up and put down depending on the sales traffic. Oh how enthused I am:


And as you can see - I also decided to sport a flower brooch to try to stir up some brooch sales too! Too bad it ended up getting warmer than I expected (seriously - I was expecting cold and brought an extra jacket and a thermos of tea), and I ended up having to take my cardigan off. Let's use that as the excuse of why I still haven't managed to sell any of those...

Speaking of sales...this week I sold 2 pocket mirrors, 3 button sets (one to these super cool french backpackers - which pretty much made my day), a magnet set, a few fabric rings, and a coffee sleeve! I also started to realize that I should really start thinking about remaking/crafting more items for my table since (as the experienced sellers have warned me) the bizarre bazaar is really supposed to pick up in the summer! What fun!

I also got the lovely pleasure of seeing a whole bunch of friendly faces this week and overall a younger, hipper, "more likely to buy things from me" crowd. Nice to see you jim, chandra, sarah, kate, gina, and heather! And I also got to meet a fellow etsy seller Carolyn I met from the Okanagan Etsy team! (Links to her shop and blog). Neato! Fraser helped me out again with set up, take down, and table filling while I had to walk over to my rheumatologist appointment (what a great guy). And unfortunately, although the weather did stay stable for almost the entire day, I ended up getting home to a massively painful throat, enormously swollen lymph nodes, and a ridiculous fever that kept me up most of the night. Yup. And after an early morning clinic trip I found out that I have strep throat and a massive virus. Ick!

Here's to hoping that my next bizarre bazaar is even more fun and successful! And involves fewer illnesses! I'm not signed up for next week's event (since I was supposed to be going to Smithers to visit my sis - which as been postponed until she isn't working), but if the weather is nice and I'm over my illnesses I'll be sure to go! Then we'll all take a break from the bizbaz for the Canada Day and be back to crafty sales in July! Wish me luck!

Giant Doily!

As you might have noticed, I am particularly taken by the awesomeness of doilies! I wrote a post about them a while ago jumping on the crafty doily bandwagon and if you've spent any amount of time around me in the last few months you'd know that they are a common topic of conversation (almost above the pom pom in fact!). So I'm sure you're not surprised how excited I was to come across this giant doily:


OooOo! Jenniger Cercere whips these up out of ripstop and acrylic and is amazing! Anyone who makes large scale art projects because "cities need more doilies" is good in my books. Cool!

Interview! With me!

While I'm home sick (*eugh*) I thought I might take a little time and do a second friday post like old times! What to post about? How about the wonderful interview sasha (whatnomints) did for me on the MSOE blog! (click the adorable culture picture for link)


I tried to make my charming wit shine through, but read it for yourself and make your own opinion. What do you think?

Friday Find: Common Totes

I recently stumbled across the lovely world of common totes! Boasting themselves as sellers of "uncommon totes for common people", I instantly fell for this great site! It's pretty much threadless for totes! How lovely! Check out a few of the bags they have to offer:


Sweet! And just like threadless (which were featured here not too long ago), people enter designs idea, you get to vote, and the winners get printed! Such a great idea! If you aren't the graphic t-shirt type, this is the shop for you! And if you aren't the t-shirt of tote type, then....that's a shame. Enjoy the pictures anyways? Okay. Sounds good.

Fun with Sharpies!

Thanks to some pro-star link action from how about orange I came across these great sharpie illustrated ziplocks from bablisme:


Boy these are cute! And super useful to boot! I really like how she just used blue, black, and red markers and although she confessed to only having those colours of pens, I think it totally works. I want to sketch up all my reusable baggies for a little added touch of fun to life! Hurrah!

Collected: Necklace

When I decided to do this set of collections blog posts I figured it might be interesting to share my obsessions with random things (pinback buttons, bracelets, music, etc). I didn't realize how insane it might make me seem. Especially when it comes to today's topic - necklaces. Seriously - who has such an intense investment in accessories? Answer = me. So I think I'll start off my display with a few necklaces I was given:


Oh that and I really liked how that picture turned out. I didn't realize how difficult capturing my entire collection would be, so I paired down the selection to "just chained necklaces" for simplicities sake. My bolder necklaces are all neatly organized in neat little clear baggies on the shelf by my mirror and don't get the pleasure of being displayed on a jewelery stand (or stands for that matter). Take a peek at my plethora of shiny wonders:


Lovely! Let's take one closer look for any detail lovers:


Most of these pieces are from one of three places - etsy, salmon arm, or shopping with leslie. Actually come to think of it, my sister could very well have a bigger collection than me! What do you think les? Do I need to do more shopping?

Fabricy Dry Erase Tutorial

Paper n stitch does it again with another fantastic tutorial I can't wait to try out! They come up with the most genius ideas that are useful, creative, and wonderfully photographed. What else could you ask for? I will have to keep my eyes out for some neat fabric and frame to make this super cool, dual usage, fabric dry erase board out of. Take a peek:


What a neat idea! And if you aren't the frantic list maker like me you can just enjoy some lovely framed fabric on your wall. Double win! Looks like I just need to get my own house and I'll be set. Great!

Is that a mirror in your pocket?

After much anticipation my pocket mirrors are complete! Hurrah! Now you can have the glorious freedom to carry scientific culture wide-set eye smile goodness around with you and be able to see if you have anything in your teeth! How fantastic. Let's take a peek shall we:


Yay! They turned out perfectly! I figure I'd start out with 25 - 5 for my shop (I still need to take some pictures of them before posting them) and 20 to sell at the Bizarre Bazaar every thursday! Then I can see how popular they are (and which designs for that matter) before making any more. I also made some charming felt cases for them so they don't get scratched - in a variety of felt colours!


I must say that picture turned out much better than I had anticipated and I love the rainbow of choices! And speaking of things I love...catch a glimpse of my favourite pocket mirror popping out of his case:


Thumbs up for pocket mirrors! And 25 potentially hot selling items! Yay!

Bizarre Bazarre - vol. I

My very first Bizarre Bazaar has come and passed and as promised I'm writing a nice recap of the day's events for you! It started off with a lovely "17 degrees and thunder showers" forecast daunting over the day but that didn't discourage me! Or percy for that matter...I think he really wanted to come too:


Too bad bubba! I know your evil kitty ways would drive everyone away so you get to stay home!

Once I got to the old court house, I received the lovely news that the city double booked the event so we were forced to set up outside since the inside had a weaving workshop going on. So outside it is! Rain or not! And if it gets really awful we would be allowed to pack up early. Time to get setting up! I'm also officially the overachiever since I was the first person there (by a 1.5 hours in some cases) and the very first person to be set up! Hooray for organization! Check out my table:


I'm really pleased with how my booth turned out and am especially fond of the laminated cardboard pennant flag sign I made (hooray for Urban Source supplies)! I also like how my eyes are definitely closed in the only picture I got of myself (I'm so photogenic). I'm hoping once the weather gets nicer I'll be able to put together some cute summery outfits to wear on thursdays, but 17 and rain apparently = threadless t-shirt, $6 superstore jeans, and a clothing swapped (formerly jacqui's) teal hoodie. Oh! A few other items I'd like to draw attention to include my finally completed veggie totes (not yet in my shop - not sure when they'll make it there even...) and framed thumbs up yeti display card! Yay!


I'd also like to say a well deserved "thanks!" to my sneaky helper fraser:


He may have spent a chunk of the day at the comic book store, but he was great enough to lift heavy things and get me lunch! I also got the pleasure of seeing wendy AND my mom who stopped by to check things out! Thanks ladies! And the weather even perked up for a while! Take a peek at the lower level lantern making tents:


Awesome! As for sales at the event - it was pretty a pretty slow day but I'm told it is sure to pick up in july/august. I did however get the pleasure of selling 2 plush microbes, multiple fabric rings, and 9 button sets! Speaking of buttons - I think I need to put a little note/sign on my button display cork board telling people I have boat loads of buttons under the table for them since at both shows I've done button buyers are a little confused on how that works. Any suggestions?

Oh and the day ended with a crazy wind storm, packing up a half hour early, and getting home just before the rain! Hurrah! Thanks for co-operating weather. I hope you're extra kind next week! Wish me luck!

Cork Canister

As soon as I saw this lovely tutorial from paper n stitch I couldn't resist sharing it with you! Nothing beats multitasking storage solutions! Take a look at these cork canisters:


Great to use as cute little cacti pots (perfect for mom), pencil and pen storage (good for teachers like les), and as vases (perfect for flower receivers like me)! Awesome! They have loads of neat pictures of these canisters in action on their site too. All you need are old empty tins, a little spray paint, a dab of glue and some cork. Couldn't be easier. Unless someone else makes them for you...hint hint...

Friday Find: Hi Tree

Yet another charming shop supplied to me by the glorious "suggested shops" tab new to etsy! Hi Tree sells a great selection of goods using one of my favourite mediums - felt! Tina is one multi talented lady who makes everything from plush and keychains to pins, brooches, and retractable tape measures! Take a peek at a few of her lovely items:


I love her colour selection and her sewing style. Way to make felt work! And the hearts are a lovely touch. Hi tree truly bring tree hugging to a new level.

Bizarre Bazarre Time!

Starting today and continuing every thursday for the entire summer, I will be selling my goods at the Kamloops Arts Council Bizarre Bazaar at the Old Court House on Seymour Street (from 12 - 7 pm)!


After breaking into my new years "craft show" resolution in may I've decided to take full advantage of the crafty opportunities available in my home town and see how it goes! Today is my very first show at the court house so hopefully the sun is out, my sun screen is lathered, and people are out wandering the streets ready for spending! I'll be sure to fill any interested readers in on how it goes and how charming my table looks (after all I did invest in a foldable 6 footer!). Wish me luck! Or better yet - come and stop by and say hi!

Collected: Clutch

The next round of my collections posts involves an item that is relatively new to my wardrobe - the clutch! Nothing like women and handbags to feed into a stereotype. My clutch collecting started only about two years ago when I made the red/pink polka dot pleated bag (followed by the light blue one) for some event that I was wearing a dress to. I quickly realized how amazingly handy the clutch bag is and how it adds a little pop to an outfit without being worn down with crap loads of stuff I tend to carry around in my purse. Perfect for the special (or not too special) event and a great item to purchase on etsy! Take a look at my current collection:


How lovely! This group actually just experienced an increase in size after I purchased a noteworthy four new bags on my vancouver trip last week. Yowza! I'm hoping they will all be nice additions to my "wants to wear skirts and dresses" more often summer. Now we just need that rain to go away and get some hot skirt worthy weather! Hurrah!

ACEO-X Signup time!

Because it is uber fun to participate I thought I'd campaign for ulixis' wonderful ACEO-X she's holding on her blog! What is that you ask? Well it's a super fun "art cards, editions & originals" (ACEO) exchange challenge! The gist of this challenge is to create an art card (2.5" x 3.5") that you'll eventually send to a random participant and in return you get someone else's art! Hurrah!


If you recall, I did her last challenge in october and came up with this (linkeroo!). Since I'm all about the random mail and any chance to experiment with small scale art/craft projects I joined up and am so stoked about the exchange that I'm posting this in attempt to stir interest in some of my not-so-closet crafty friends (who I all hope are reading my blog religiously - you know who you are). Everyone's welcome and you don't need an etsy site or anything so challenge yourself and sign up! You all know that getting non-bill/spam related mail is pure awesome and hey, it could be fun. Was that convincing enough? Hope so - you've only got until the 12th to join...

Daiso: two floors + two dollars = awesome

My final day of vancouver fun blog post spill over is dedicated to one of the most magical shopping destinations - Daiso! The Japanese two story two dollar store!


Certainly the place to get wonderful (and inexpensive) imported goods that are filled with cuteness! I'm not sure you can find a single location as jam packed with adorable wide set eye smiled creatures! Fun! The only potential problem is trying to maintain self control and not over splurge on all the wonderful two dollar deals! I managed to sneak out of Daiso with a minor $30 bill which I am awfully proud of. And everything is so cute! Take a look at some of my buys:


I really went for the stationary, stickers, stamps, and paper pom pom kit (how could I resist the pom?). Those alligator paper clips might actually be my most favourite purchase from there and boy it was fun! I also really enjoy the translated statements on the packages:



Although I do think more exclamation marks should be used on those products. Lindsay managed to get a plethora of fantastic goods as well and I'm particularly jealous of the pop up post card she found. Next time I need to learn to not get so over excited and split up...but then again...that isn't very likely...

The ultimate in cool...

Apparently I had so much eventful fun in vancouver I felt the need to turn it into an additional blog post (two actually - wait for tomorrow!). Not only was our hotel conveniently located by Canada Post (for all my pen pal posting needs) it was also right across the street from the CBC! And after a childhood of 94.1 (CBC Radio 1 in kamloops) how could I possibly hold in my excitement! It is even an interesting triangle-esque building too:


Oh my! How lovely! And to add to the amazingness? They have a gift shop! We didn't make it there until day 3 of our mini break but boy was it worth it. What a charming selection of CBC logo adorn goods and a super friendly staff member to top it off. I didn't want to post what I ended up picking up (since it is a present for a blog reader and I'm not for ruining the surprise) but I was super stoked on the freebie CBC Radio 3 post cards they threw in! Eee! Take a peek:


I especially enjoy the Darwin reference. What could be better? Seriously! CBCR3 + Science + Post! Super cool! But wait...it does get better. Remember the gold cbc logo pin I purchased a while back from their website? (Link) Very snazzy and fancy but not quite the bold simplistic pinback one dan mangan has - so lindsay asked - and we received:


Eeee! Now that is awesome! I am pretty sure putting one of these pins on makes me officially the coolest person in kamloops. Okay, perhaps not, but I'd like to think so...and it end one heck of a sweet road trip on a high note! Hooray!

Road Trip: Vancouver

I can't believe how fast time flies when you're having fun! I spent four fabulous days in vancouver with lindsay and fraser and like a flash it's over - and we're home sweet uncool home. *Whew!* What a world-wind of super fun events that I will present to you in photographic list form. Highlights of the trip include:

1) Loads of Driving!


Actually not fun at all for motion sickness prone me, but still pleasant nonetheless. We did manage to see Biff Naked at the chevron in hope (my terrible picture in the center)! That's exciting right? And I never actually vomited after the 10+ hours on the road so I'll consider that a success...

2) Mumford & Sons!!


Yes! The entire reason we went to vancouver in the first place! Even with the hour wait in the rain (even though we already had tickets) and that super annoying jerk standing in front of us it was an AMAZING show! They are probably the best band I have ever seen live and are extremely talented folks! I really need to get banjo playing. Oh and I totally didn't bring my camera to the show, so the picture above was snafoozed from here (and isn't actually of the show we saw)...

3) Shopping galore!


Whee! I definitely spent 3 solid days shopping with lindsay and found oodles of bargains! What fun! Lindsay is a fantastic shopping mate! Even with the rain we were enormously successful and covered a ton of ground! I still can't believe they don't sell sushi in the asian mall in richmond though...what is up with that?

4) So much Canada Post!


Our hotel was conveniently located right next to the Canada Post building! And being the dork I am, I was extremely excited about this (hence all the pictures)! I was also intrigued by all the non-standard post boxes there were around town. Neato!

5) Being the coolest people ever!


Perhaps I'm will never be a professional photo-journalist, but apparently we like to look super dorky in all the pictures I have of us (and by dorky I mean super awesome by the way). What a great time we had! I especially like the "I wish I lived in Ikea" shots near the bottom there.

*Sigh* Good times had by all - oh except maybe my watch:


I'm not even sure how this ended up happening but it is officially dead. Looks like I need to start saving up for another road trip shopping trip. Can't wait!