Friday Find: New Years Eve!

Can you believe that 2010 is almost over? And what a year it has been! This may even be my first year to sort of stick to my new years resolutions too! Let's take a moment to look back on how they went!

Resolution #1 - blog everyday


Woo! Looks like I actually did it! And today being the last day of 2010 I'd say that resolution was a success! Biggest lesson I learned on blogging? It is really hard to come up with something to blog about every day! I am so pleased that I managed to pull this one off and although I'm not promising a post a day for 2011, I will try to keep blogging regularly into this upcoming year as well. I'm also super stoked to have build up a bigger fan base with a wonderful 123 followers! A big thank you to each and everyone of you out there taking time out of your precious days to read (and even comment) on my crafty ramblings! Hooray for you!

Resolution #2 - break into craft shows


I definitely focused on this goal and ended up doing a whole plethora of craft shows this year! I started out doing a small show in kelowna last may which stemmed into a summer full of bizarre bazaars and the ultra successful fabulous finds show (pictured above)! I had so much fun meeting customers and making sales and am so pleased to have started the craft sale side of selling! I'm hoping to continue on with this trend for next year and maybe even work in a few more consignment shops to keep a steady flow of money coming in! Woo!

Resolution #3 - banjo


Well...I think I'll give myself a half check for this one since I did manage to purchase a banjo (and such a pretty one at that) but haven't found time to really get into playing it. I did however see a whole slew of amazing banjo performances for added inspiration though! That counts right? Maybe 2011 will be better for my banjo success...

Now as far as my goals for 2011, here is what I am aiming for this year:

1) get my sketchbook project done! and posted! I've got 14 days left! Ack! (but at least I've started it now)

2) continuted craftiness! I'd love to work into a few new products, a fuller etsy shop, more craft shows and consignment and continued crafty success!

3) attempt to figure out the rest of my life (eep) and general good health choices cliche. I'm doubtful on this one...but I'd like to put it in there for good measure...

and

4) more pom poms! woohoo! (It just couldn't be a new year without a few poms...)

What do you think? Any of my resolutions actually manageable? How did your 2010 goals turn out? and what are you planning for 2011! Oh (and most importantly) what would you like to see from me to keep you reading my blog? *sigh* Farewell 2010! See you all next year!

Let it dough

Not sure if you've seen the amazing dough tale from the NY times yet, but just in case you haven't here are the highlights for you:


So that was more of a truncated version it is still wonderful! I highly recommend checking out the original version in all its awesomeness! And now I really want cookies...and sprinkles too...

linen kitty coasters

If you're craving a little more craftiness for your post xmas/pre new years spare time take a moment to check out the super adorable linen kitty coasters tutorial on modcloth:


And you must know how much I love linen and items that protect your furnature and cats for that matter! Heck, I'm the epitome of a cat-less crazy cat lady! What a perfect project! All you need is a little sewing skill, some charming fabrics and time! Maybe I can incorporate this into one of our introductory crafting sessions with the girls from work (who've all resolved to make 2011 more handmade and crafty)! Fun! What do you think?

eye spy

Do you ever read a magazine or blog post and get overwhelmingly excited when you see something in an article that you own? I certainly do! It's like the world is telling me that I am extra awesome by being on top of the trends! Well, the other day I was reading an article on winter greens over at poppytalk's blog when I spotted an ornament that I just happened to pick up this winter in kelowna. Let's take a look at the images:



Wait a minute...back that up. Is it true? Let's take a peek at that owl again:


Why yes! It is true! Cute little owl I found at funktional and is currently chilling out on the side of my tree:


He may not be the easiest bird to spot (I did that on purpose since I bought my mom the exact same ornament for xmas and didn't want to spoil the surprise prior to the big day). Let me point him out in case you missed him:


There he is! Hooray! I hope this means that I'm just as awesome as all the ladies over at poppytalk. Oh and house and home magazine (where the images originated)! What fun! Anyone else rejoice when they own something moderately famous?

blog fail

If you're a twitter user (or just someone who is up on the hip and happening trends of the internet) you may have seen (or heard of) the fail whale. This charming fellow greets you when twitter is experiencing problems and you can't get into the site. The fail whale takes a usually frustrating situation and turns it into something cute! Behold:


Aww. Poor whale. You just can't stay mad at him! Etsy has a similar error cute image:


Just look at those wide-set eyes! That yarn is adorable! I decided that I should make my very own error message but since I can't fix actual errors of blogspot I'd make a "blog fail" image instead! That way you lovely readers can be greeted by cuteness when I fail at blogging:


Ah! Thumbs up yeti! What an over-enthused mythical creature you are! Since my "blog every day of 2010" goal is almost up (and I certainly don't plan to mess that up now) I'm hoping fail yeti won't pop up for you any time soon but he may appear in 2011 (when I will try to blog often, but probably won't make it everyday). But hey - abominable snowmen (even the thumbs up kind) are elusive anyways right? I thought so...I also figured if any of you bloggers out there are experiencing a blog fail you can snafooze yeti to help ease the disappointment of a no post day to your readers! Any thoughts? Or takers?

mull it over

This holiday season I had the wonderful pleasure to be introduced to the fantastic world of crock pot mulled cider! What a delicious warm festive treat I have been dying to recreate!


Luckily home made simple hand delivered (er...emailed?) me a wonderful recipe for a homemade mulling spices sachet to use as the base of your recipe! I might even have all the ingredients in my cupboard as we speak. All you need is orange peel, cinnamon sticks, allspice, and cloves! Wrap them up in some cheesecloth and you're set! Then you can modify your beverage with apple juice (yum), ginger, star anise, peppercorns, or (as we had at our staff xmas party) booze (I think we used triple sec and spiced rum)! Nummers! And since I got a wonderful crock pot from my mom for xmas (or at least I hope I did...I am pre-scheduling this blog post and xmas hasn't happened yet...) I'll be all set! Any tips for an inexperienced mulled cider maker? I'd love to know what recipes you use (and that maybe I just lived under a rock for the last 26 years and mulled cider is actually pretty common...) What do you think?

Happy Xmas!

Hello Xmas! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day with their friends and family and enjoying all the loveliness that comes along with the season! Hopefully santa was good to you today as well (I'm sure he was good to me too!)


No more sitting around the computer for me! I've got a jam packed day of xmas festivities and family time to spend! What are you up to today? Oh and happy xmas everyone! See you tomorrow!

More time for felt!

With xmas right around the corner (seriously - how did it sneak up so quickly?) I thought I'd share a few fun felt crafts I've been oogling but most definitely did not find time for...

Craft #1 - Felt Snowflakes:


The purl bee does it again with yet another amazingly awesome tutorial. I really love how simple these ornaments look to make and the bright red colour! I doubt these would be much use on my tiny little fake tree but would be absolutely perfect for a larger cut one! Just look at how big they are! They'd fill in all those charlie brown holes wonderfully!

Craft # 2 - Felt Pinecones:


This craft comes from family circle under their "easy felt crafts" section. I'm not entire sure these would be that easy to execute but who doesn't love pinecone decorations? And felt is my favourite media to work with...hmm...maybe I will have to make these in brown and avoid their association with xmas altogether! After all I do have felted acorns hanging in my kitchen - maybe earl the squirrel would like some pinecone friends too!

Craft #3 - Felt misletoe hairpin:


This wonderful tutorial comes from matsutake and is perfect for anyone requiring an excuse to get extra kisses! I really like the olive green felt she uses for her pin and I'm sure on the right person this pin would be wonderful! I think I'd be more tempted to make this one into a brooch for myself, but I pretty much fan out of time for the year anyways...

Maybe some of you out there are already on vacation and up for a last minute felt craft or two (and if you are I'm oozing with jealousy) but I'll have to save these for next year! Rats!

It's beginning to look a lot like xmas!

With only 3 days left until xmas I'm happy to say I'm actually pretty prepared! My goal to avoid last minute shopping has come true and my living room is full of xmas cheer:


Woo! I'm pleased with how all the wrapping turned out (took me an entire evening) and even if it isn't quite the handmade parcels I was aiming for, they do look crafty with all the knit sweater paper I used:


I also decided since I don't own all that much in the ways of wrapping supplies I'd make it a year for bows and reuse all the wonderful bows I saved from fraser's family xmas last sunday:


I even purchased a few (like those gold ribbon-y frilly ones) to add even more bow sparkle! Hooray! And since we're on the topic of shiny gold things take a peek at the cute gold birds I bought the other day with my mom (as inspired by lindsay's sweet budget xmas decor):


Aren't they sweet on their doily? I was contemplating getting the off white porcelain ones instead but decided the gold was much more festive and it would be nice to just bring them out over the holidays. Now I just need to wait for my sister to arrive so we can finish up the stocking stuff and I'll be set for the 25th! How are your preparations coming along? Anyone do any neat wrapping this year?

Gallery success!

I am so pleased to be able to jump into the amazing world of selling my goods on consignment this year! After my goal-achieving break into craft shows this past spring I've been trying to come up with new ways to grow my business while still having a life and job outside of crafts and I think consignment is the answer! Nothing like dropping off some items and letting the cheques roll in! Woo! One of my most successful consignment spots this year has been the kamloops art gallery. In fact, I recently restocked their scientific culture goods with another shipment of illustrated awesomeness:



Hooray! Perfect for all your last minute xmas shopping needs! I've also jumped into a whopping 594 sales in my etsy shop (so close to 600!) and have sold out of lots of items! I think I'll focus on restocking and revamping the shop in the new year and maybe branch out into some more consignment stores too! What do you think? Any suggestions?

xmas countdown!

We've got less than a week before the big day and today I officially need to get everything done as far as holiday preparations. Loads of shopping, wrapping, cleaning, and organizing to do so instead of a lengthy post I thought I'd share this cardboard life comic:


Hey maybe my family would like a big bag of rats instead of presents? Maybe not...but I bet percy (el gato diablo) would though...

In other non-rat related news. I had a fantastic weekend full of staff party (the bacon ornament was a hit and I found out many of my coworkers are ultra crafty), a fraser family xmas (with amazing food and super spoiling gifts) and my friend kristine's xmas gathering (always fun)! Woo! Now back to work for me...how are your preparations coming along? Anyone getting rats on your list?

Eep!

After reading AJ the Purple's blog post yesterday morning I came to the a scary realization - there is less than a week before xmas! Eep! And with such little time left I also realized that I only really have one day off work where I can prepare for the big day! (Double eep!) So instead of breaking into panic I've decided I should just focus on all the awesome things that have been going on lately instead and worry about the preparations later. Sounds like the perfect plan right? Good! Let's go!

Awesome thing #1: I managed to wrap my gift exchange present! I certainly hoped I was going to pull that one off (especially since the exchange was last night) and I sort of drew inspiration from yesterday's blog post. Check out yarn and doily wrapped present:


A little bit of a doily overload under that tree of mine but who can say no to a good doily? (Answer = clearly not me) If I had a little more time to put it together I'm sure it would have been slightly more impressive (and probably include a few pom poms) but I am pleased with how it turned out! Hopefully it was a hit at the party too!

Awesome thing #2: Joel Plaskett is following me on twitter! This seriously made my day on friday! Next step? Sway him into purchasing something of mine from etsy and have celebrity exposure! Forget photoshopping Dan Mangan...Joel could do it for free!


Awesome thing #3: Xmas cards! One of the best things about this time of year is all the mail you get! I've acquired some xmas gems too, take a peek:


Awesome thing #4: Blooming xmas cactus! After a disappointing relocation of bob (my ficus - since apparently they can't handle cold bursts of air and shouldn't be by doors) I was so happy to see that my cactus is doing well! So pretty:


Hooray! Fun awesome things! Now to stay calm and frantically make it through the rest of the holiday alive! How is your xmas preparation coming along?

Wrap it up.

With xmas right around the corner the internet has been oozing with amazing gift wrapping ideas! I thought I'd share my favourite three with you just in case you're lacking inspiration. First up? The vintage inspired (and awesomely photographed) ideas from thompson family-life:


Just goes to show you that those scalloped boarders teachers use on bulletin boards are multipurpose! I love the fun colours and patterns! Oh and if these aren't your style, not to worry, they've got loads of other wrapping ideas on their blog post.

Second on my list is the charming red paper snowflake design from nice package:


After further inspection it turns out this tutorial is actually from how about orange (another blog I often refer back to) but man it is neat! I totally want to experiment with fun coloured paper snowflakes too! Check out the garland they made with some paper, scissors, and dental floss:


Finally we've got a video tutorial my sister linked me to using yarn for your wrapping:

Cool! I really like the pom pom (obviously) and woven yarn ones best. Now all I need to do is decide which wrapping method I like best (or a combination of multiple?) to make my gift exchange present extra desirable for the staff xmas party tonight! What do you think?

Friday Find: Bark

Since apparently I am all about the tea towels these days I thought I'd share another amazing etsy shop with some awesome silk screened goodies! Behold - Bark! And their super adorable cat-a-lope towels:


You just can't go wrong when you mix kitties with mythical north american mammals! What fun! And if you aren't into cats you can always chose the ghost owl carrying a banjo (yes a banjo - how perfect) design or even the the bear riding a bicycle? Heck even if you aren't into dishes they've got loads of fun items to peruse! Further evidence that silk screening will have to become part of my new years resolution! What is your fav?

Always room for bacon...

When I saw this rad bacon ornament tutorial over on seremeres blog I just had to show my friends at work:


Even the vegetarian girls loved him! So I decided I would recreate my own felt version to include in my gift exchange present this weekend. Can you spot him on our tree?


Okay, so it is pretty obvious on such a tiny tree. But still let's take a closer look:


There he is! Oh bacon! I changed the ornament pattern a smidge so that I wouldn't have to include the wire that seremere had and I got some nice xmas-y gold ribbon to jazz him up! Check out the front and back of the bacon:


Further proof that adding a gimpy wide set eye smile to anything makes it adorable:


Cute! Our gift exchange has a $15 limit so I think I'll throw in one of my little zipper pouches and the bacon and hope that he is a hit! What do you think?

Best Cake Ever!

At my housewarming last sunday my wonderful friend lindsay brought the most amazing cake. Take a look:


Mmmm! Giant white cake with pretty sprinkles! Seems harmless right? Just wait...


EEEeeee!!!! RAINBOW CAKE! Lindsay you are amazing and that is, by far, the most impressive cake I've ever had! It pretty much took everyone's breath away when I went to cut it and it was super delish too! What an awesome idea! I'm pretty sure all housewarmings need rainbow layer cakes now...heck...all parties do! Lindsay! What did you start? And how in the world is anyone ever going to top that!?!?

The Oatmeal: Cat vs Internet

My wonderful sister shared this little web comic with me a few days ago and I loved it so much I thought I'd share it with all of you. It's called "Cat vs. Internet" (by the oatmeal) and is about one chubby little grey kitty's attempts at getting his owner's attention.


(I love this one. If my cat tried to convince me with pie charts I'd listen)

and finally...

Ok. So you really need to check out the site for the whole story but it is super cute! The oatmeal also taught me that squirrels purr! Talk about life changing knowledge! Use it wisely my friends...and enjoy the oatmeal's awesomenss while you're at it...