Mini Break Recap!

Finally I've snafoozed a little time to recap my mini break to victoria and *whew* what a whirlwind trip that was! Five solid days of travel, shopping, music, and limited sleep really catch up on you! And to top it all off apparently I got so excited during the trip that I forgot to properly photo-document the super fun events! (Trust me - this isn't the first time this has happened...I am a legendary over-excited/forget to document type). But all hope is not lost, I did manage to snap a few pics and am here to share the extremely truncated highlights of my trip! Yay! Let's go!

My mini break included:

1) Super fun shops! Yup, even though I was on a strict "you still need to be able to afford food" budget, I did manage to get a few thrifty purchases in some of victoria's lovely crafty/artsy/indie shops! In fact, I am planning a "kate's top three shops in victoria" blog post to come up later in the week (so stay tuned!). I love how downtown victoria is scattered with lovely independently owned shops full of interesting and amazing products! My favourite destinations included chinatown (with fan tan alley), government street, and (the oh so lovely) lower johnson:



And as if that wasn't enough, the victoria harvest festival was going on with the market on sunday for extra fun! I love their poster:


It was really neat to get a chance to try loads of locally produced products with a particularly enjoyable time in the taste testing beer garden! Fun!

2) Music Music Music! Four days of music with 7 venues and 125 performers to chose from! What a sensory overload! My particular favourite parts were the warchild charity acoustic afternoon shows (with killer lineups and fantastic unplugged-ness):


I also enjoyed quite a few of the evening shows! There were a few duds we stumbled upon, but we quickly learned from our mistake (read those festival programs more closely) and some great new acts I've totally fallen for (i.e. Kate Miller-Heidke (who I am so in love with I will blog more about later...), Micheal Barnard Fitzgerald (shown above at warchild), and Clay George). I also got the wonderful pleasure of seeing Wooden Sky for the third time - except this time actually seeing them (and not being blocked by a packed house of taller than me folks). Check out the amazing venue they got to perform in:


3) Victoria Sites! Nothing like the capital city of British Columbia to make you swoon! Apparently I only took pictures of the Empress...

yup...close up of the Empress... (notice amazing tree grooming):


Oh...not entirely true. There were quite the number of reject photos I decided not to subject you to...but here is one of my in front of the parliament buildings for proof:


Ack! Awful! That limited sleep thing didn't exactly do wonders for my photogenic-ness. Haha. Alas, looks like I'll just need to plan another trip back soon so I can work on my photojournalism! Hooray! Or, more practically, just focus on taking pictures for my trip to smithers this next week...

Googling

If you're anything like lucas' mom - you love google. You love searching on it, referencing it, and (most importantly) using it as a verb as much as humanly possible! Now you can take a ride on the internet search engine bandwagon and get your business cards printed with it! Check out the cards how about orange's sweet google cards:


Fun! And such a great way to make a memorable impression on googling! Ji Lee even has the template available (for free) on his site! I figure jim will appreciate this one too after he roped me into a long winded discussion on "how if google was a fascist leader he would sign up to be a slave under it's all powerful and awesome reign!!!" I'm not sure I'm quite that dedicated yet...but I do think those business cards are pretty awesome...

In other news - I am back from my mini break but my busy busy schedule has left me limited time to blog and recap - stay tuned! I'll share some highlights soon!

Keyboard shortcuts come to life!

I came across this image a while ago on ManMadeDIY and just had to share it with you:


It is always nice to see that there are people out there with a mission to bring keyboard shortcuts to life! It is also pleasant to see that there are folks out there just as geeky as I am with such a charmingly quirky sense of humor! Time to grab a sharpie and get labeling...

Cheap thrills in Chinatown!

Continuing on with my "I'm in love with janis from pinecone camp" theme, here's another ridiculously awesome article (over at poppytalk again) she's written! Janis takes on a $25 budget and trip through chinatown (in vancouver) to score some crafty DIY gems and shares her amazingly fun results! Rad cheap crafts included:

1) Trio of trays (perfect for tea perhaps? or breakfast in bed - take note fraser...):


2) Soup bowl planters (very similar to my sbux teacup cacti! Perhaps my goal of being more janis like is closer than I thought...):


3) Glass jar vases (simple, find, and amazingly only costing her 75 cents):


and finally 4) Revamped table (is that playmobil I spy? and an ikea table? oh my!):


Yup, pretty frugal crafting! I think this article is particularly suiting for the moment since today I am flying back from a whirlwind mini break to victoria - the home of Canada's oldest chinatown! Hopefully my pre-scheduling of this blog post has inspired me to take a crafty detour through the historic goodness of chinatown while I was there and leave me with wonderful DIY projects to share with you! In the meantime janis' article will have to do...

The underrated houseplant

The other day (why yesterday in fact) I shared a fun book binding tutorial from janis over at pinecone camp. Well since poppytalk was so kind as to introduce me to her wonderfulness, I decided to search through pinecone camp's archives and see what fun posts they have! I quickly fell in love with pretty much every post she has, but my personal favourite (especially since I've recently moved into a new dwelling) was the article on "the underrated houseplant". Here's a snipit for you:

"I just don't think houseplants get the credit they deserve. They are incredibly inexpensive, come in a variety of colours and textures, are easy to care for and they last a long time. What's not to love about all that?"

Can you see why I fell in love with her writing style so quickly? She's awesome! And check out her front door plant makeover:

Before (boring, lifeless, and pretty much the same as my dull front door):


After (charming, welcoming, and DIY friendly!):


Hooray! I figure my new life goal is to be as cool as pinecone camp and copy cat that fun front door greenery! But not until the spring...I don't see much point in investing time and money into a plant that is sure to die with the oncoming fall/winter/miserable cold weather. Until spring! Yay!

DIY Book Binding!

I've always wanted to dabble in the world of bookbinding (pretty much anything remotely stationary involved really) and luckily Janis from Pinecone Camp shared a lovely book binding tutorial over at poppytalk a while back! Hooray! And look at the charming little custom notebook you can make:


As long as you've got enough hand-eye co-ordination to handle and awl (or know someone who can help you...) it looks pretty simple! I love the little custom details janis added to her example like the sticker pouch and pretty paper! Hmmm...do you think anyone would be interested in some scientific culture themed mini notebooks for the upcoming craft sales I've signed up for? Perhaps? Maybe just a slight chance? Okay okay, I'm trying to work fun new projects into my next few months of hardcore craft production but do you blame me? Book binding is oh so tempting! We'll see what I manage to come up with...

Mila's Daydreams

Not totally sure if you've stumbled upon the ultimate adorableness of Mila's Daydreams, but if you haven't you've been missing out! (Luckily you've go me to fill you in on all the cuteness!) To help pass the time of adele's maternity leave, adele enderson recreates what she imagines her daughter is dreaming about and takes pictures during mila's naps! Adele's imagery and creativity is endless and the pictures she blogs about are super charming. Take a look at a few of my fav's:


Cute cute cute! I hope this is inspiring you to take amazing pictures of your new child leslie! I also think my mom should start doing this with her makeshift child (aka el gato diablo percy cat!). Hahaha....okay, that would probably turn into a nightmare...I guess mila's daydreams will have to do for now!

Friday Find: Pilli Pilli

This week's find combines some long life loves of mine - linen wonderfulness and cute! Behold the awesome crafts of Pilli Pilli:

I love the bold colours and simplicity and (of course) the amazingly charming staged images! It is amazing what a good picture can do for a product and it totally urges me to do an etsy makeover of my own! But unfortunately my to do list is a mile long so the re-do will have to wait for that elusive "free time" pops up! For now, I'll drool over the cute linen loveliness of pilli pilli! Which one is your favourite?

Tiny Veg!

I know this is the second time I've done a blog post about the wonderfully adorable knit goods of mochimochi land but after catching a glimpse of this tiny knit wonder I couldn't help it! How can anything be cuter than a tiny knit asparagus?:


Oh my he is darling! In fact all of the items in mochi's "tiny things" album are fantastically adorable! How about a tiny kitty? mailbox? garden gnome? Heck - even the alarm clock is ridiculously cute! Even further proof that I really need to learn how to knit! Perhaps if I catch some spare time one of these days I'll take it on. For now I will focus on crafts that are directly related to the upcoming events on my to do list...but if any of you get knitting I'd love to vicariously enjoy your work! Yay! Win for everyone!

Mini Break!

Despite the fact that summer vacation somehow seemed to bypass me and everyone is all geared up for 'back to school' and 'back to the grindstone' - I am ready for a mini break! So very similar to last year - I've decided to embrace the fact that I'm not a slave to the learning establishment and head to victoria for a few days to enjoy quite possibly the coolest autumnal music festival ever - Rifflandia!


Yup! Time to overload my indie senses with all the indie shops, indie food, and indie music I can handle! And beyond the obvious music amazingness I'll be soaking in, I am particularly excited for the government street market victoria has on sundays! I'm thinking that my budgeting might get a bit of a stretch this month to make room for all the crafty goodness I'll be dying to take advantage of - but we'll see. Oh, and not to worry blog readers, I have scheduled loads of posts for you while I'm gone! See you all in a few days! Wish me luck!

Crafting Burnout - Do you suffer?

Today's blog post stems from a discussion I had with my sister a few weeks back. We were talking about crafting projects and I mentioned how I had loads of sold out items in my etsy shop that I just wasn't feeling motivated to remake right away. She then told me about all her half finished projects she wasn't up for finishing and *poof* the crafting burnout discussion was born! So instead of a typical kate post with tutorials, links, awesome stuff, or videos I thought I'd deviate a bit and attempt a discussion. After all, I do want to know what you think about the topic and I am curious to see how any of my readers deal with lulls in crafting motivation!

So the question is - do you ever suffer from crafting burnout? Do you get halfway through a project and get sick of it? Do you find you get super pumped to make something and then once you start working on it you realize it really isn't as fun as you thought it would be? Have you ever run out an item on etsy and cringe about the idea of remaking it? Does the pressure of making merchandise kill the fun?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above - not to worry - you're not alone (hooray!)! I often struggle from crafting burnout and find that my daily to do list gets so massive that crafting just doesn't fit on the agenda. But what do you do about it? Do you remake and suffer or leave your etsy shelves bare and miss out on potential sales?

Let's take a moment and look at my top 4 crafting burnout items:

1) Famous Scientist Finger Puppets:


When I started making these puppets I had loads of free time on my hands and was fairly new to the world of embroidery. I found they were a fun practice for my stitching skills and a lovely creativity stretcher as I came up with them! Yay! I then realized that I had spend 12+ hours painstakingly crafting these and when it came to pricing I didn't even know where to start. Sure their materials weren't overly expensive, but the labor was massive! I decided they should be a higher ticket item in my etsy shop and was over joyed when each of the five sets I made sold! Then it came to remaking them. I whipped up another five sets (with some magical cutting help from wendy) and yet again - they were snatched up! I realized it would probably be a good idea to make them again...but crafting burnout occurred...

2) Albi Magnets:


Based on the loving tale of Albi the racist dragon, these magnets set depict characters seen on HBO's Flight of the Conchords (season 1, episode 7). I really loved making these when I started out on etsy because (oo! sublist time!):

a) I love FOTC!
b) sculpting is super fun! Go polymer clay!
c) acrylic painting is super fun too! Double win!
d) they are a super unique fun geeky item to have in my shop!

Hurray! So much fun! I made these when I opened up my shop in october of 2008 and ran out fairly quickly. My second round of remake sold out in a matter of hours! Seriously! I'd list one set of magnets and 30 seconds later it was gone! How exciting! On to my third remake! This time I tried to go a little bit bigger on my production and have just now started to run out. In fact, my abli remaking was my second ever blog post (link)! Now it's about the time to start sculpting up some more sets of albis and yet again - crafting burnout! Ack!

3) Love Robot Cell Phone Charm:


These little gems were made after my friend jacqui suggested it (what a convincing girl she is). I had fun whipping these dudes up with very similar crafty motivation as with the albi magnets (hey - polymer clay and small painting projects are the best!). Despite their small size, they are a fairly time consuming craft (especially for perfectionists like myself) - so when it came to my third round of remaking...crafty burnout (sensing a theme?)

and 4) Embroidered items:


This point is actually going to include a wide variety of items (all involving embroidery and sewing) like my coffee sleeves and change purses. Super exciting to start off making but not at all enjoyable when you're unmotivated to remake them. This was actually my third blog post I'd ever written (link) and I think that post discusses my crafting burnout really well!

Whew! What a list of examples! I think in my case my crafting burnout has occurred because (oh my another list):

1) Not enough free time for crafting (ah the joys of life)
2) Too many items to remake (one is approachable but 4+ is a little daunting)
3) Frugal pricing (yup - I make slave labor wages on those puppets)
4) So many other crafting projects I want to do (i.e. every tutorial I've blogged about over the last year)
5) Preparation for xmas craft shows (I'm selling in shops and shows this fall/winter and that is a massive crafting endeavor to focus on!)

So what do I plan on doing about all of this crafting and burnout? Take it one step at a time! I often get overwhelmed with all the things I take on and sometimes taking a step back and approaching each problem separately is the best way to go. It's very true that I don't want to force myself to painstakingly make projects I'm not motivated about but that doesn't mean I can't work on other projects that help me get ahead on my to do list! I don't think it is worthwhile to suffer when crafting - it should be fun! So I'll throw my dreaded craft projects on the back-burner for the time being and keep on going with some crafts I love working on. In fact - just taking the time to revisit some of my items really puts me in a sculpting mood! Hooray!

So after all this - I'll turn the discussion over to you. How do you deal with crafting burnout? Any life changing tips or tricks?

hello printable!

During one of my routine internet surfing/blog reading hours I came across the lovely blog - ginger & george. And while sifting through the pages of posts with fantastic colour schemes, inspiring ideas, and wonderful pictures, I stumbled upon the sweetest printable card:


Simple, charming, and free! What a combo! Perfect for a nice note when you're lacking inspiration - or as an inexpensive alternative for a pen pal! Just can't go wrong with this one! Oh...except as I mentioned a few days ago, I haven't got around to setting my printer up yet...and my address book is still M.I.A....hmm...hopefully you can use this link at least! Yay!

Ikea + 100 cats

It is common knowledge to those close to me (and recurring blog fans) that I am crazy about two things - cats and Ikea! So I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was when Ikea set 100 cats loose in their store one night for an advertising campaign. If you're an avid blog reader (or tv watcher) I'm sure you've seen the commercial, but I was particularly taken by this video about the project (with the ad at the end). Take a peek (it's super adorable):

Now all I need to do is fix fraser's allergy to cats, purchase a house filled with ikea goodness (with lotto winnings of course), and then get kitty herding! Okay - so in reality it wouldn't take very long for the ikea house to start smelling terrible...so I guess the commercial will have to do for now! But I'll keep brainstorming...

Magnets Galore!

Why yes, 2010 is officially a year for progress with my crafting! Not only have I managed to jump into the world of craft shows - but I'm also the proud new wholesale seller to a lovely new toy store in town! Yup, tumbleweed toys now carries a plethora of my wide set eye smile magnets:


Awesome! I'm so excited to see my lovingly crafted goods make it out into the real world! You know, get some fresh air and all of that, and I think tumbleweed toys is a great place for them to start out! They are all about sustainable, safe, and locally produced toys which I'm sure parents would be pleased to spend some cash on. Oh! And I also got the opportunity to whip out my paper crafting supplies to make a sign to go with the magnet display:


Oh thumbs up yeti! Always popping up to spread some enthusiastic optimism! And conveniently adorable enough in cardstock form for my magnet sign while my printer is waiting to be unpacked! Yay! You may remember him from my handmade holiday cards from last year, but this time I decided to skip the artsy background and go for simplicity. What do you think? Oh and if you're in the area, feel free to stop by tumbleweed toys if you're in a magnet mood...I'm sure yeti will cheerfully give you a thumb-full greeting while you're there...

Friday Find: Lydia's Lovelies

Today's friday find is perfectly suited to me because:

1) I'm always cold (especially the feets!)
2) Granny squares are the absolute ultimate (good gidget quote there)
and
3) I am not so secretly a 79 year old woman...

Yup. That sounds convincing right? Check these babies out:


Oh how lovely! Hopefully lydia's lovelies will be restocking her etsy shop soon with even more granny square goodness to drool over! In the mean time I may need to attempt a pair of these on my own...

Swatch Portraits

As I have freshly moved into a new place I'm getting to the point where my boxes are pretty much unpacked (finally - hooray!) and I am attempting to get settled. I figure the final step to make this rental a home is to get decorating! Nothing says home like some art on the walls! I have been drooling over quite a few etsy prints lately but purl bee's image really got me thinking - how about some embroidery hoops filled with fabric swatches?


Purl bee even has a tutorial on how to make these and I am ever so tempted! It is such a marvelous way to get a crafty looking art element to any space with wonderful clusters or pattern and colour all with a thrifty price tag! What else could you ask for? Seriously!

I think it might also be a good use for some of those pricey quilting fabrics I've stocked up on and are afraid to cut. Hey - then I could enjoy their fabric goodness all year long! And I'm not the only one stoked on the idea Rachococoa made a saturday of it! What fun! Now all I need to do is find a plethora of cheap embroidery hoops - any suggestions?

Mini Moo!

In preparation for the holiday season I decided to reorder and remake more of my mini moo bookmarks! They are a deliciously simple project that I'm sure is easy enough to figure out:

Step 1 - Order mini moo cards (I used my illustrations I use for my buttons)
Step 2 - Hole punch cards
Step 3 - Tie piece of ribbon to card
Step 4 - Give out as freebies with etsy orders and spread the bookmark love!

What fun! Here is a glimpse of my first bookmark creations:


With the remake I decided to branch out with the ribbon colours (oh what a rebel) and ended up with a lovely cup full of freebies:


Yay! They work great as giftcards too! And please take this moment to catch a tiny glimpse of the kitchen of my new house (in the background of the cup of moo image)! If you're an avid blog reader you may recognize my fish tank and kittens inspired by kittens calendar? I'm hoping to take a blog tour of the new house once I finish getting settled (i.e. actually putting things up on the wall and unpacking the rest of my crafting nook)...which I'm sure will happen one of these days...in the mean time I'm celebrating moo bookmarks! Hooray!

Painting Glass

Even though I found the do if yourself's guide on 'how to paint anything' a little redundant, I was taken by the simplicity and awesomeness of their glass painting project:


The scalloped red edge adds a charming detail to the dish and is versatile enough to work perfectly into most decorating schemes! Plus it is super easy! I suppose some clueless newbie crafters might appreciate "buy glass paint to paint glass with" but I'd like to think I am more of an intermediate to advanced crafting type. Plus my new goal of becoming the next martha stewart means I need to start herding alpacas to make woven rugs out of or something right? Or maybe this project could be spiced up by me synthesizing the glass paint from wild flowers and earth minerals? Okay...not quite at that stage yet...but I do like the fruit bowl...

The Black Spot!

A while back I read a blog post from elycia showing some adorable pictures of her kitty anakin! I (of course) instantly fell in love with such a charming ginger cat and love all the little black specks on his nose. Take a peek:


I told you he was cute! And what a great picture! Well, this got to me thinking - I have always wondered why my mom's evil cat percy mysteriously had a black spot appear on his nose one day and it turns out this is a common thing in ginger kitties! After further investigation I learned that the dirt specks are because of a condition called lentigo simplex and is similar to freckling on humans! Yup all those little melanocytes just like to cluster together and cause the darker coloration! Fun!

Naturally I decided this was a perfect opportunity to snap some pictures of percy to show off his black spot (which honestly is sort of suiting - since percy is pure evil and a single black spot signifies the death card in pirate...) but of course this turned out to be a difficult task. Observe my series of snap shots where percy refuses to make eye contact:


Thanks stinkums. Finally I got a good evil glare out of him though (note black spot):


Okay percy. You win. No cute pictures for you today...this snaggle tooth one from a few months ago will have to do:


Perhaps he'll get a few more spots in his old age and the evil gene will be suppressed a bit! Here's hoping! At least he loves you mom...

Octo Building

Just in case you're craving more tentacles in your life take a look at this:


And don't go thinking it is just photoshopped - those are some genuine inflatable tentacles! If you like that check out from of FilthyLuker's other art collaborations over at deviantart! Happy Sunday!

Pom Pom garland!

Nothing like a good old fashioned pom pom project to perk up the week! Check out the awesome pom garland:


Cute! The girls at honestlywtf are really tempting me to splurge and order some clover pom pom makers! They make it look so easy and with all the poms I crave in my life I'm sure I'd put it to good use! And it isn't that the makers are that expensive (they run about $6.50 US for a two-pack) but the shipping to Canada is outrageous! It sort of reminds me of the time I tried to order an old issue of Bust magazine online. The magazine was only $4 but once I got to the checkout I realized they were charging $26 shipping! Yeow! Needless to say I didn't complete that transaction...but those pom pom makers are calling me! Looks like I need to wait for a few more etsy sales to fill up the paypal account then take the plunge! Think of all the wreaths we could make lindsay! Or the rugs leslie! Sweet pom pom goodness for everyone! Yay!

Friday Find: bespoke uprising

This week's find is even more proof that I am a sucker for handprinted linens! Bespoke uprising is a wonderful shop with amazingly simple and drool worthy fabrics - I mean look at these tea towels:


*Sigh* So lovely! And it is yet another one of those shops where I actually like everything they have to offer! From wallets and shirts to towels and fat quarters I love it all! Plus they're Canadian! I think this shop goes straight on the xmas list for me! What's your favourite?

Oh! p.s. - please take note of my new favicon (the little icon next to the my blog URL at the top of your screen). I spent an entire hour post work/pre-concert working on it and I think it is a nice touch! Plus who doesn't like little wide set eye smiles?

Blogiversary!

It's true! Today marks the one year anniversary of the blog! Seriously! So let's take a moment and look back on my first blog post:

"After much waffling I've decided to start a blog dedicated to my science based craftiness. I'm pretty sure the first post is supposed to be all "mission statement"-y but since my ultimate goal is for this blog to be as awesome as I pretend it's going to be in my head the stakes are a little high. Let's just go for, "I really hope this doesn't turn into one of those unfortunate decisions I tend to make". Yes. Sounds lovely. Enjoy."

Hmm...I'm not sure I really stuck to purely science based crafty posts, but I am very pleased with how it has turned out and certainly do not think this blog was an unfortunate decision! I think this calls for a list!

Kate's Lessons in Blogging (based on my year of scientific culture blogging experience):

1) Scheduling blog posts is awesome. It lets you write when you feel like writing and takes the pressure off the whole "what will I blog about" thing.

2) Blog often and blog well. It's good to keep those readers happy with loads of updates but don't slack on content - crud posts won't get you anywhere.

3) Pictures are key! Just like with etsy selling, good pictures bump up your professionalism and make your blog more appealing.

4) Write for yourself, not your readers. If you focus on pleasing others too much you'll suck all the fun out of blogging! It's great to be share what projects you've been working on or what inspires you and if you write about the things that tickle your fancy your passion will show through. The internet is an enormous place so I try to not get caught up in how to stand out and instead try to offer the one thing that differentiates me from the rest of the world - me! There is only one kate mccurrach out there (at least I hope so...) so I try to let my personality (and gleaming wit) peek through my posts. Oh - and everyone loves a giveaway...

5) Positivity! No one wants to spend their precious minutes of the day reading angry rants and sob stories. Keep those for the diary. Blogs should be fun!

6) Join the blogging community! No better way to get meaningful comments and readership than to be a good blog reader yourself! I like to use social networking (aka twitter, google reader, facebook, etc) to meet new people and gain inspiration. It's awesome finding crafters who share loads of common interests (like pom poms and doilies!!!) and it's fun to get to look into their interests they write about too!

7) You can never overdo the exclamation marks!!!! Okay - you totally can. I just re-read the last few points on the list and thought it was funny how many I use...

Whew - what a rambler I am. Hopefully now that I'm reconnected to the internet (at long last - I was starting to get twitchy) I'll be able to whip up some blog gems to share with you (and maybe even another giveaway?) We'll see! Here's to another wonderful year of blogging!

Recycled Jean Shoes!

Thanks to the lovely flickr favourites from craftzine, I was introduced to these fantastic recycled jean slippers from DoNight:


Don't they look awesome? I totally want to figure out how to recreate these! Especially since I'm living in a carpet-less place and you can always use some new slippers to keep your toes warm (and stylish)! Fun! Their flickr site shows the shoes in various stages so creating these doesn't look too difficult. I bet my mom would be able to do these with her eyes closed (hint hint mom!). Bring on the old jeans! Yeah!

New house!

Hello! Finally it is time for a lovely update from me and my adventures in moving! And since I've run out of scheduled blog posts, looks like no better time than now to get sharing! Also, I realize I failed at taking actual "moving" pictures in all the excitement (oops) but here is a glimpse at my new dwelling:


Oh how cute! You can certainly tell we're the rental on the block by the sad shape of the front garden and lack of plants but it is fall so there isn't much point in putting too much effort into the garden until spring. And on the plus side there is way more room and storage than I expected from the viewings we had! Turns out the last tenants oversized furniture and general cluttered mess really skewed by view on the place! Hooray!

As for unpacking - whew! What a long process! We've got everything pretty much unpacked with the exception of my crafting nook. And after a few trips to zellers for some extra supplies, everything is coming together nicely. So far I'm focusing on getting settled and organized and figure I can deal with making it look pretty later on (like when our couch arrives for the living room!). Oh! And once it is all spiffy I plan to take some pictures to give you all a virtual tour! Fun! For the mean time, here is a nice "before" picture of my crafting nook:


Haha. I don't know why I only took two moving pictures, but apparently some pre-moved in crafting corner photographic evidence was required! Just wait for the transformation! Yay!

In other news - our internet is still not working (boo) so it might be a few days before I'm back to the wonderful world wide web...in the meantime my once a day checks will have to do...

DIY Rolling Rack

A common topic of discussion these days on the blog is my fresh move to a charming little house downtown. And although the house is quite darling, it is certainly lacking storage space for my many many wardrobe necessities! I'm thinking this lovely rolling rack DIY from hrrthrr is a must for my place since it doesn't have space for coats and shoes:


How cute! And useful! I think it would be great to add some stacking shoe racks on the bottom and stick this by the back door for overflow outerwear storage. Or maybe I should just go to ikea and get this one...or even better - this one! Sounds great! Any storage suggestions?

Helping hands

Since I'm freshly moved into a new place (hopefully - I'm writing this pre-move and since I'll be internetless for the first while scheduling blog posts is a must), I'm no stranger to loads of boxes and lots of helping hands! Leslie came across this image on deviantart and I thought it was so cute I'd share it with all of you:


How charming! Here's to hoping my move was successful and that the internet connects soon so I can share all my pictures with you! Hooray!

Adding Bacon to Books

When I saw this rad print out project from wild olive I immediately thought of my friend jared. The man who likes to add bacon to everything (literally - he ordered a milkshake with bacon in it)! Obviously his life isn't complete with a bacon bookmark right? Plus it is one of my favourite kinds of projects - quick and easy! Instant fun results! Hooray! Just print out the sweet images, add on some magnets and get reading! Check it out:


And if bacon isn't your thing hopefully you're interested in pencils, bandaids, pickles or rulers! Those little eyes look pretty wide set too (thus extra cute):


Cool! Perfect for everyone in my family who loves reading! Now I just need to finish unpacking, plug in my printer and get cutting! Fun!