A Smokey Comparison

About two weeks ago I shared a post with you on the insane zombie apocalypse smoke my hometown of kamloops was suffering from (link). Well, my sister mentioned how some comparison photos would be better reference for the crazy smoke haze and I aim to please! Let's take a moment to compare:

Scenic lookout before (notice nice flowers, slight haze, and that crazy white/grey sky):


Scenic Lookout after (Yay! Blue sky! No zombies in sight!):


Whew! And if you thought that was shocking - take a looks at this one!!!

Kamloops view before (a giant mess of smokey awfulness):


Kamloops view after (My goodness you can actually see the valley!):


So much better! Goodbye smoke! Don't come back anytime soon...

pom rug!

As most of you know (or at least I'd hope you know if you're a blog reader), I'm moving into a charming little house in september (which is frighteningly only two days away)! As many of you don't know - my new place is carpet-less and as such I've been keeping my eyes peeled for neat rug/floor covering related crafty projects to warm up the living room a tad. Well, I'm sure you can imagine how excited I got when I saw this lovely rug online:

Eeee!!! A pom pom rug! And I'll even be percy-less so it will be safe from the yarn devouring mouth of that evil kitty! Design crisis has a whole article on the pom pom phenomenon and how super rad it is to work some poms into your household decor! Even though their link doesn't have instructions, I'm sure I could figure this one out. Bring on the spare time and yarn and then bring on the pom poms! Yeah!

Bizarre Bazaar - vol. VIII

My eighth and final craft show at the bizarre bazaar was this past thursday and although I'm a little sad to be done with the selling I'm also relieved that I get a whole extra day each week to work on goods in preparation for the holiday season (seriously - i'm never prepared enough)! Here I am eager to get the craft selling underway:


How nice! It was a little cooler than normal this week and luckily I dressed for the weather - but certainly was not prepared for the insane gusts of wind we had this week! I know I always bring up how windy it is (and how the wind destroyed my colourful pennant flag banner I usually have up) but it was extra strong this week! In fact, it ripped two tents out of their cinder block footings and rolled them down the hill. For the second tent it actually took the bungied cinder blocks with it! And although I was praising my lovely c-clamped button display, most of my other goods were getting blown around (especially my felt brooches) and it was tiring always trying to keep on top of it. Whew!

On the plus side of things the sales were pretty good this week! I sold quite a few button sets, postcards, plushies, and (the big seller of the day) pocket mirrors! Hooray for restocking:


Yes - much better than the slim pickings I had at my last show and I even managed to get a ton of new coloured felt cases made! I had to keep them in a tin under my table to keep them safe from the wind:


How lovely! Plus now that I'm done with the biz baz I can stock all my extra goodies into my etsy shop! I'm not entirely sure how quickly that will happen though since I am moving this wednesday and will need to take pictures of all my products first (which is quite the time consuming task). But if you're extra anxious for any particular item I've been selling at my shows (i.e. certain pocket mirror, coffee sleeve, or post card set) I'm always willing to speed up the posting process and make a reserved listing for you. What fun!

As for my future in craft shows I'm not entirely sure how many more I will do. I've been invited to join a few holiday shows this year, but am a little cautious joining up since the booth fees are pretty steep ($120-$200) and although they promise tons of attendance, because most of my products are inexpensive, I would have to sell an awful lot of goods just to break even! I'd really like to do some bigger craft shows next spring/summer though so I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for the right opportunities! All in all my first summer of selling has been pretty good with lots of lessons learned, some good networking, and a sprinkling of sales. Plus (best of all) I actually stuck to my new years resolution of craft selling!!! Now I just need to keep up with my blog post a day and find some time to start learning the banjo and I'll be set! Hooray!

Market Tote!

Plastic bags are on their way out - so no better way to tote your groceries around than with your very own root vegetable tote! Design sponge does it again (seriously - so many good tutorials over there) with this lovely DIY:


Love the colours and design of this one! I also appreciate how fall-tastic it looks in this image. I'm looking forward to sweatery days and changing leaves! Fall here we come!

Friday Find: Atomique 47

Although I usually do my friday finds with a lovely montage of items from the featured shop, I decided to shake things up today and show you just one item that embodies the awesomeness that is atomique47:


*Swoon!* Oh my I love this clutch! And for so many typical kate reasons (I often go on about):

1) Wonderful linen
2) Felt flowers
3) Jewel tone
4) It's a clutch!

Seriously - how can you get any better than that? The lining is even to die for! I'm officially in love. Atomique47 - you are one killer etsy shop! In fact you may outrun made by hank in my "obsessive bag craving" books...and you have loads of items in your shop! Oh dear!

Road Trip Hello!

A while back (july 4th to be exact) I shared a post about "faces in places", a lovely blog that showcases a collection of images of everyday items that appear to be looking at you! Well, as promised I have been keeping my eyes peeled for just the right item to add to their flickr group and my road trip to vancouver last sunday was it! My tea just couldn't help but shout "hello!" to me on our way out of town:


Good morning tea! Thanks for being so minty and settling my tummy for me! Yup - pretty excited to finally get a snapshot of an item with a face! Maybe it will even make its way over to their blog - or their book! What fun!

In other news the whirlwind vancouver trip was a success! We had a rainy smoke devouring drive down in time for some quick shopping and lunch in the heart of vancouver. Then it was back to the outskirts for some moving preparation mass shopping - at the best place on earth:


Hooray for Ikea! And an even bigger hooray for the sweet deals we got in their massive warehouse of amazing goods:


Yay! So much fun! I managed to get almost all the items on my "required furniture and goods for the new house" and didn't even max out my credit card! Now I just need to get the last few items (shower curtain, cutlery tray, and shoe rack) in town somewhere and we'll be set! Oh, and I have a week of insane packing and purging left as well...minor details...

HBD Me

Today is my 26th birthday. I'm officially on my way to my late 20's and to celebrate/mourn I've decided to take the day off (sort of) from blogging. Instead I will spend the day relaxing and potentially drinking lots of delicious tea...maybe...


Happy Wednesday! See you all tomorrow!

Real World Illustration

Nothing like a little real world illustration to make you look at things differently. I love the works of Sandrine Boulet! Very creative and sort of funny at the same time. Check out my favs:

Monitor Darth:


Ironing Butterfly:
Grassy pom poms (I do love pom poms):

Umbrella skirt:


Cement Smoke (I thought of you when I saw this one mom...not totally sure why?):
Lovely! And ever so inspirational. Time for me to start looking at the world a little differently from time to time. Which do you like best?

Super Kate!

I love costume parties! Any excuse to add some fun and stretch your creativity sounds great to me! And you don't have to limit yourself to just halloween - themed costume events can happen any time of the year and for no special occasion really either! Feel like doing some tarot card readings over snacks with some buddies? Why not make it a day of it and dress up like gypsies while you're at it? What fun! Perhaps make some extra witty lolcatz coloured costumes for a work related bowling event? Sure! How about a plaid potluck? The possibilities are endless! Well - I don't seem to have any photographic evidence of our tarot/lol/plaid days, but I did manage to scrounge up these pics from the last few costumed years:


Fun times! And since I recently attended a super hero themed birthday party I figured this was a perfect chance to share my costume! Especially since I spent the majority of my day at a wedding shower and by the time I got to the party I was pretty much the only one in costume. Eep! Behold - "Super Kate!"


Hooray! And don't let the costume's simplicity distract you from my super powers - projective kittens!!! Aren't they frightening?


Yeah...probably not. But I was certainly pleased with my last minute hero design. Plus that red silky cape could totally come in handy later in life. If only I brought some real evil kitty ammo to defeat those villains! Anyone who's met percy knows not to mess with him...even if he is super cute...


Oh well. Next time. What was your favourite costume you've ever worn?

Smoked Out!

Another hot summer in the interior of BC means one thing - forest fires! And what comes with all the burning? A butt load of smoke! Ick! So no pleasant recap my wonderful sales at the bizarre bazaar this week - the smoke was so intense I opted to stay home and save my immuno-comprimised self! Seriously! The smoke was so awful it hurts your lungs! Air quality was a whopping 11 on the 10 point bad air scale! Ack! So I decided to snap some photographic evidence to share the hazy smoke-filled day with you. Lets go!

1) A nice stop for a scenic view of the valley that is kamloops. Oh my - what pretty greenery there is! But my goodness that sky is white:


2) What is supposed to be the lovely view - a huge plume of campfire smelling wood smoke. Bring on the zombie apocalypse:


3) This was when I realized that the last shot doesn't really give you a full feeling of how awful the air is because there aren't enough reference points to judge the distance from. So I took another one pointing up Columbia St. Yuck:


So much smoke! The wind direction hasn't really changed much since thursday so the smoke is still kicking around (did I mention it is from a fire like 3 hours drive away?) but there is rain in the forcast so let's hope that will clear things up a bit! Oh....perhaps there is already rain since I'm writing this friday to post sunday...which is when the rain is supposed to come. Hooray! Let's celebrate our lack of smoke then! And how I'm driving to vancouver today to do an epic ikea shop before moving into my new place next weekish! Yay! Happy Sunday to everyone!

Year of the Crayon

If you're ever looking for new hobbies to take on - what about crayon carving? Diem Chau certainly makes it look good - check out her Chinese zodiac carvings:


Oh my! What a lot of work that would be! I think I'll leave the carving up to her. Check out her complete works on her site if you're interested. I can't believe how she gets so much amazing detail in each piece - take a look at my sign (rat):


Well done! Apparently people born on the year of the rat are forthright, tenacious, intense, meticulous, charismatic, sensitive, intellectual, industrious, charming, eloquent, sociable, artistic, and shrewd. Great. Not sure if I like the description. What zodiac animal are you?

Friday Find: New Duds

Today's find features the screen printed wonders of vermont's very own artistic duo tessa and torrey with their etsy shop new duds! They are certainly a talented bunch that I've completely fallen for! Seriously - I like every item in their shop! How often does that happen? Here are a few I'm extra fond of:


Yup. They're pretty much my dream crafters I'll live vicariously through. Great use of colour, texture, and style melding to make some perfect screen printed creations! Good job guys!

How to be alone

Nothing like an artsy video to brighten up a thursday! I found this video amidst my daily visit to craft: and loved it! (One problem with scheduling posts weeks in advance = everyone has probably already seen this by now!) Plus it is wonderfully insightful and shot in Halifax! Take a moment to absorb:

What did you think? Are you motivated to go solo dancing? I'm not quite there yet...but I figure this video is a good place to start! What did you get out of it?

Rags to Rugs!

Ever since lindsay pointed out some sweet blogs for me to check out, we've been planning to make crocheted rag rugs like in the blogs for our new places! And since wendy has also ventured into recent home ownership, we've made it a three person project where we'll all collect some old shirts and get crocheting! Even though I'm a master with a hook - I've never make a rag rug before so I was extra excited to find the awesome t-shirt yarn tutorial on pixies and bears:


Cool! Looks pretty simple and is certainly a perfect place to start on those rugs. Now we just need to get shirt collecting to have enough yarn for the project! Here's to hoping our creations look as fantastic as our inspiration rug over at resurrection fern (I love her kitty too!):

And if that crocheted masterpiece wasn't enough to drool over, she ended up making a second one and wonderfully photographed the whole experience. Let's observe...

Step 1) Washing and drying materials for the rug


Step 2) Turning material into yarn (made much easier with carol's tutorial!)


Step 3) Hook yarn into super rad rug!


Sweet! This certainly look doable! I'll be sure to take some pictures of our rag rug endeavor but I don't promise they'll be as wonderful as resurrection fern's. Time to get tshirt collecting ladies!

Squiddy Mousepad

I've been trying to figure out fabric printing for a new craft project I'm working on, so when I came across the squid printed mouse pad tutorial courtesy of design sponge I was especially excited! Plus squids are super cool...


It looks pretty simple to figure out (just an xacto cut stencil and some fabric paint) so I'm sure I could modify it for my crafting purposes. I just need to find something that won't get ruined with many uses to make the stencil out of! Then design, stenciling, drying, ironing, sewing and hurrah! Successful crafting execution! Bring on the spare time!

Not enough doilies...

Just in case you've been suffering from lack of doily in your life - maedchenmitherz has you covered! She's been doing a five day paper doily challenge full of doily related posts I couldn't help but fall for! I am especially fond of day three of the challenge which is full of doily inspiration! Take a look:

How about a doily party?


or doily twinkle lights? (my fav)


some doily mail perhaps?


How lovely! Katja has a slue of her own doily diy's as well (link, link, link, link):


Whew! Doily overload! Now I just need to get my hands on a few dozen doilies and I'm set! I hope you're looking forward to granny chic decor in our new place fraser...

Bizarre Bazaar - vol VII

Time for another crafty show recap and the theme from week's bizarre bazaar? WIND! So much ridiculous wind! I suppose that is the price you pay for doing an outdoor show and boy was I ever thankful for those c-clamps wendy suggested a few weeks ago! My setup seemed to do okay in the wind but my poor construction paper pennant flag was shredded to bits by the end of the day. Take a peek at my windy booth (and me):


I did modify the table a smidge by taping down all the signage and moving the plush microbe teacup display onto the table (I already had one teacup smash in the wild weather back in july). I also changed the pocket mirror staging - which was pretty much necessary since there are so few left! Check out the slim pickings:


I'm so pleased to see how well they've sold! Those 25 mirrors quickly turned to 5 in no time! Look at how full the display used to be (link). Neato! My new mirror stock is in the process of being made but I'm doubtful they'll be ready before my next show...we'll see...

As for sales this week? Well I think that wind kept buyer at bay since I only managed to sell a couple of plush microbes. Not a complete loss of a day though since the extreme gusts forced us to close up a little early giving me time to go for dinner at the hot house bistro with lindsay and fraser! Yum!

The evening was topped off when the lovely mellow vancouver band behind sapphire played a set at hello toast!!! It was certainly a great location for their gig (especially for old ladies like myself who enjoy lattes and sitting) and gave me the opportunity to have some well overdue catching up with linds and wendy!


Oh it was so great! The band was fantastic live too (making it all the better)! I even ended up buying one of their tshirts (I am so not someone who goes to shows and buys the shirt) but it was such a steal and sweet sketchy ship design that I couldn't pass it up! I'm stoked to see hello toast as a new music venue since we're certainly overdue for a little more culture in kamloops. Thanks for the great night ladies! Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Knotty Trivet!

Time to whip out that 1/2" rope you had sitting around and put it to use! The folks at design sponge have done it again with another super awesome tutorial I'm dying to try out! Check out the ultra cool DIY knot trivet:


Now you can protect your surfaces in style and flex your knotting skills at the same time. Plus it's one of those small crafting projects you can pull off in an afternoon (a perfect addition to my epically large crafty tutorial to do list). Yay! Maybe we can lump this one together with the sailor's knot bracelet tutorial I shared a few days ago and make it a marvelously massive macrame marathon! Hooray! Crafting and alliteration! My fav! What do you think?

Friday Find: uncommon

Thanks to loads of late night etsy surfing I came across the lovely muted tone woodcut goods of uncommon. If you're an avid kate-reader I'm sure you can pick out my favourite from these items:


Did you get it? Did you see those doily coasters! Seriously the coolest product on the market if you ask me! If only I had enough money in my paypal account they'd be in the mail right now! But luckily my bday is just around the corner and nothing says 26 quite like some laser cute wooden doilies! I'm sure that's a popular saying right? Perhaps not...but in the meantime check out the implicitly simple amazing home decor treats uncommon has to offer. They are well worth a glance - even if it's only for fresh colour scheme ideas...

Oh pinking shears!

Last week amidst a day off filled with illness I decided to brighten up my day with a little trip to the craft store with mom. Well little did I know I'd come across the most amazing deal on the most amazing pinking shears! Yup - they're so rad I wanted to share them with you! Behold - my new fiskar's easy action pinking shears:


OoO! So exciting! And wonderfully marked down to the clearance isle (with additional special 20% off everything coupon). I'm not sure if you're a pinking shear user - but sharpness is a must and if you do a lot of felt cutting a good pair of scissors can make or break long crafting sessions. Once I got these babies home I tested them out on some scraps and my goodness - they are perfect! And you get the bonus of the cushy handle and spring action! I can't wait to get cutting all those darling little zig zags! Pinking shear felt is truly a fav of mine as you can see from my craft show products:

1) Pocket Mirror Cases (which I will soon be making loads more of with my new pocket mirrors on their way)


2) Felt Flower Brooches (that are sadly slow sellers but hold a special place in my heart)


oh! and 3) My felt flower embroider coffee sleeves....that I don't seem to have a picture of (but I assure you they're awesome)

And if you're not sold on felt pinking shear fun yet - take a look at the lovely heart pin tutorial from purlbee:


Cool! Love the colours too! And if you're not the heart brooch type (even if I am) I think it would be fun fill them with lavender and use them as panty drawer scent thingies! Because everyone loves pretty smelling undies! If you're not the lavender or panty type, you could fill them with cat nip and give them to evil kitties, or fill them with bounce sheet bits and hide them in your guy's stinky shoes! Oh endless possibilities! Hooray!

Letterpress Tin Clock Tutorial

I really enjoy buying stationary. Nothing perks up the day quite like a some freshly sharpened pencils and a stacks of fun greeting cards! And as an added bonus I get the joy of sharing my sweet paper finds with my penpals (and sometimes blog readers) too! Yipee! What fun! And now thanks to the awesome letterpress tin clock tutorial from design sponge I now have a new purpose for some of those rad unused cards. Take a peek:


Ooo! I really love this one. And all you need is an altoid tin (mom I know you like tin projects), a clock kit, a card (or other random art piece suitable for upgrade to clock status), and some tools! Then just ten steps and voila! Rad new clock! Perfect for your office, kitchen, crafting nook, or even babies room (hint hint leslie)! Man! You could even make one out of a scientific culture post card perhaps? (I'm thinking love robot)! Or maybe you could grab some felt and embroider a cool clock face!? Clearly I'm getting much too excited about this project (look at all those exclamation marks!!!) so time to stop brainstorming about the 17 new clocks I want to make and keep my eyes peeled for cheap clock kits. Maybe this could be a fun sunday afternoon craft party project once I'm settled into my new place? Sure! Who's in? Clocks for all!!!

Pepsi Dude logo

The other day I was struggling with my dear old dying computer and was searching for an image of some button packaging. Seems random right? How does my eight year old PC have to do with packaging ideas? Well - I'm arranging selling some magnet sets wholesale to a new toy store opening in town and trying to figure out packaging options for the shop. I figure my button cards are great for post but not as good for a storefront! The shop owner asked me to send her a digital picture of my packaging idea but my digital camera won't connect to macs for whatever reason and since my PC is dead I ended up doing an internet search. Makes sense now right? I hope so!

Well amidst my internet browsing I came across the sweet art work of Lawrence Yang's blog blow at life and this pepsi logo image cracked me up:


I'm pretty sure that is all I am ever going to picture whenever I see that logo ever again! Too funny! The blog has some great sketches, doodles, and painting on there as well and I'm particularly tickled by the bear tower sketch. So cute!

Oh and as for my computer - I've purchased a new one and just waiting for it to finish being built. Thank goodness! I'll be back to digital picture wonderful blog posts soon enough! Yay!