Charles - the cool work incentive

My adventures in indoor gardening continue with the arrival of my new plant pal Charles! I am quite thrilled about this one and actually won him in a contest at work! Talk about sweet work incentive program - if only more things in life were rewarded with house plants! As soon as I got him I promptly brought him right home and replanted him into a bigger (prettier) pot in hopes to give it a warm welcome to its new residence. Meet Charles - the coffee plant:

I was hoping for a sunnier day yesterday to take some more flattering photos, but sadly living on the coast means lots of rainy days so that image will have to do. Although it doesn't give him a lot of justice - I assure you he is very green, has a nice waxy cuticle on his leaves, and is perfectly perky in his new pot! I'm trying to take extra care not to kill him with either over watering or neglect (my usual plant death culprits) and am dreaming of the day he has grown into a mid sized coffee tree with lovely cherries I can Martha Stewart roast into an extra fresh cup of joe. Okay, so that is pretty unlikely to happen and even if he does produce fruiting bodies capable of edible coffee beans I'm much too unmotivated to roast the few beans to get anything out of it. Did you know it takes an entire coffee tree to make just one pound of coffee? Charles has a long long way to go before that stage. Looks like I'll stick to enjoying his tropical plant wonderfulness instead! What do you think? Have you ever been given a plant as a gift?

Even More Geometry

I love making crafts out of sculpy. It is easy to work with (once you warm it up with some handling), doesn't dry out, and once it's baked it is hard as a rock! It's a great canvas for painting on is oh so durable. Perfect! One of my fave projects I've ever made out of polymer clay was a few geometric pendants and rings I whipped up last April (link).  I wear mine all the time and after a solid year of consistent compliments I decided it was time to make some more:

They turned out to be less time consuming than I remembered (yipee!) and I decided to give them a two sided look by painting one side with neutrals and the other with bolder pops of colour! Here's another look:
 

I'm really happy with how they turned out and the next step was to come up with a little packaging for their new home in Funktional in Kelowna! I have been brainstorming a few new packaging ideas for a while now and whipped out some newly purchased supplies to make tags from! Just a paper punch, hole punch, washi tape, and custom url stamp later and we've got some simple tags that pack a punch:

Boy do I ever love coming up with labels! It is definitely a highlight of creating that's for sure! I'm also a huge fan of consignment selling and am always happy to offer new merch to spice up my store displays. Hooray! Just in case you haven't seen enough of these geometric polymer clay beauties, here's one more:

Fun! I am super happy with how they turned out and like how each one is unique in its own way. I love giving customers options and hope that each of these pendants will find loving new homes! What are your thoughts?

Squirrly Markers

I feel like lately every tutorial I come across I am dying to try out. Sure, I sift through hundreds of blog posts and sites a day but I think the internet craft gods must be with me because boy am I ever finding some sweet ideas! These herb plant markers from Say Yes to Hoboken are certainly no exception and unlike lots of other DIYs I find - I even have (almost) all the supplies on hand! Don't you with your plants were labeled so awesomely?

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Ah! Overload of cute! I must say I have been waiting for another excuse to add more squirrels into my decor and I think this is it! I mean it's fate right? I even have the exact same squirrel cookie cutters from Ikea (I made sugar cookies with them at xmas) and everything! Yay! I am lacking the fancy alphabet stamp to make the labels with...but I'm sure I can brainstorm some sort of substitute. Now time to bring on the sculpy! What are your thoughts? Do you ever label your plants?

Perler Fun!

A few weeks ago (okay, more like 6 weeks or so...) I was trying to explain perler beads to Fraser. We were chatting about things from our childhood and somehow we got to talking about Lite Brites (which I always wanted and never had).  This lead me to bringing up how fun Perler Beads are since they're somewhat similar (or at least I think so)! If you aren't familiar, they are little plastic cylindrical beads that you create patterns with on special perler peg boards and iron to melt together! Yay! I love toys with limitless possibilities and require ample creativity. So fun! Well not many days later it seemed like perler beads were back in crafty fashion since I read two posts about them. Isn't it odd how things pop up like that?

The first post I saw was from My Poppet and used the beads with old cross stitch patterns to make floral coasters! They turned out beautifully and I love the vintage feel:

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Aren't they neat? And you wouldn't have to stop at flowers - you could make coasters with any old pattern and have the most fashionable perler bead table protectors in town! Ahaha! Such a plan!

The second post I saw was from Rachele at Nearsighted Owl, who made a whole slew of kitty brooches based off some famous (in blogland) kitties! Clearly I fell head over heals for these babies since 1. I love brooches and 2. I am all about the cats! Take a peek:

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Ah! Aren't they awesome? I love how they sort of look geeky and pixelated too! Heck, as I recall Lindsay had a perler heart keychain a few years ago so if you aren't in need of coasters or pins I'm sure you could use another keychain right? No? Magnets? Pendant? I'm sure I could rationalize some sort of perler bead craft that you need to make your life complete because they have certainly been on the top of my mind for months. Looks like the next time I've got some extra funds burning a hold in my pocket I'll be headed straight to the store to pick some up! What do you think? Have you ever played with perler beads before? What would you make?

sundays are for sleeping

Happy Sunday! What a great way to end the week than with a nice relaxing lazy day on a chaise:

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 Okay, so my day will involve much more crafting than lazing, but when I saw that cute sleepy kitty I just had to share him! At first I did a double take and thought it was a giant cat - but no, it's just a very stylish cat bed (available here).  I think it would be awesome to have matching human and cat sized furniture but knowing my luck I'd spend a fortune and the cat would end up not even remotely using his coordinated couch. Alas, I'll stick with the dream for now and spend my Sunday relaxing and catching up with Fraser! Hooray! He's finally home after his 6 week practicum! Happy Sunday everyone! What are your plans?

A Rainbow of Mushrooms

This past Thursday I shared the wooden mushrooms I painted (link). Although I was thrilled with how they turned out, my online ordering left me longing for larger mushroom caps. Well a stop in the craft store later and I quickly realized a simple solution to my problem! Instead of waiting weeks and weeks for new split balls to arrive I would just get myself some smaller candle cups. Aha! Brilliant! Now to complete my muted rainbow of amanitas:

OoOo I am a sucker for some colourful delights! Let's take a side peek and check out the new (better proportioned) mushroom pals:

 

Oh how lovely! I really like the itty bitty new faux fungi added to the crew and I even managed to get some matte varnish to protect them! Hooray! 

I've even got a nice home for them on a shelf in the kitchen. I'll take some pictures later and show you how darling they look and perhaps one day they'll even make it into replanted terrariums. Yay! What do you think? What's your favourite colour of wooden mushroom? What would you do with them?

Friday Find: Grazim

Today is my last night of sleeping diagonally. Yup, tomorrow Fraser finally comes home from his practicum and it will be back to sharing the bed - rats (but yay for Fraser coming back)! If you're one of those people who prefer a tight, cave-like sleep hole (or I guess if your cat does...) then you should definitely check out the great felted pet pods from Grazim! Just look how that little fur ball looks:

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Okay, so I don't even own a cat and don't have any use for a cat cave but am totally in love with how awesome they are! But how to chose? There are so many colours:

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So one day after curing cat allergies, finding an adorable feline (who likes confined spaces), and making him mine Grazim will be number one on my handfelted cave purchasing list! How about you? What do you think of them? What colour would you go for?

Check it off the craft to do list!

So as you may recall I've been wanting to make some wooden mushrooms (from Stelabird's tutorial) for months now (link). Yes - months. After boasting about how great it would be to do a quick little craft I quickly headed out to get some supplies! The verdict? Wooden split balls are very difficult to find. Sure the candle cups, glue, and paint were easy enough but the mushroom cap bits? Nope. No where to be found - not at Michaels, not at hobby stores, not even at Lumberworld. Rats. I finally saw some online and came to the realization that this would no longer be "a quick little project" to cross off my list. Well after many weeks of searching, purchasing, and waiting for my split ball parcel to arrive I was ready. It's mushroom time! And boy was it ever worth the wait! Check them out:

I may have missed the boat on the February "girls mushroom crafting night", but once I had the materials they were a sinch! I decided to make them in a few of my favourite spring colours and instead of using a pen to put the dots on, I dabbed them on with a little dowel to get some variation. The mushroom caps ended up being a little smaller than I had expected (serves me right for now actually measuring and not knowing my imperial measurements that well) but after all the effort of just finding them, I am willing to compromise on perfection. You can see their wee little proportions better with a side view:

I'm also really digging the unvarnished look and until I pick up some matte varnish (shiny isn't always best if you ask me) these babies will have to stay out of the terrarium if they want to stay pristine. Shelf time! Yay! I am so happy with how they turned out!
 

Aww, such cute little fungi! And best of all? I can finally cross something off my crafty to do list! Hooray! What do you think?

What's new in sponsor land?

Happy Wednesday! We've made it to the middle of the week so let's celebrate something hanging out in the middle (okay...so really more on the right hand side...) of my blog  - my lovely sponsors! Hooray! There they are:

What fun! There are loads of new exciting things happening in my four wonderful supporting ladies' lives and here are a few you may be interested in!

1) Becka Rahn has generously donated two loom kits (also available here) to Sew Mama Sew's giveaway day so you can have a chance at trying out the wonderful world of weaving (oy, the alliteration):

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and if that isn't enough, she's even got runner up-kerchiefs (that's a word right?) with a totally awesome hand dyed and silk screened design (I'm seriously quite in love with these...). Make sure to pop by her blog and check it out (link)!

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2) Gillian (of Craftzilla Conquers the World) is also participating in giveaway day and since I'm a sucker for lovely free handmade goodies I thought I'd mention this one too! Just take a peek at the lovely tote. I love the print on this one and just in case you aren't lucky enough to win you can get one in her shop too! Yay! (link)

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3) Velma has been crocheting up a storm these days!  Talk about a talented (and I bet busy) lady! I've really been loving following her updates on instagram and I think her amigurumi polar bear is the cutest!

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What's this? A pom pom! Ack! Polar bear just got even cuter with his own pom pom adorn accessory! Eeee!!! 

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4) Finally my good pal (and pen pal extraordinaire) RobbieLee of Chickiedee Handmade is up to all sorts of fun things these days! She's been whipping up some new Roblin tees, printing loads of adorable mini moo cards, listing even more new products (with awesome packaging I may add) to her shop, and hanging out with her adorable pups! What a lady! She even recently participated in a craft show I can't wait to hear more about! Way to go RobbieLee!

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Whew! What a great bunch of gals we've got this May to check out! I'm feeling extra inspired to up my productivity and can't wait to show you what I've been up to. In the meantime I do hope you take a few moments and check these ladies out since I certainly appreciate their blog-y support. Oh and in case you're interested in joining these lasses, take a peep by my sponsors page too (link)! Yipee! I'd love to have you!

Vintage Fair - Round Two!

A few weeks ago I attended my second vintage fair here in Victoria and although it wasn't quite as full of thrifty steals as the first one (link), I did manage to pick up a few costume jewelry pieces to add to my collection. Apparently I was all about threes this time around since I bought three pairs of earrings and three brooches! Check them out:

 

Aren't they fun? I bought 50% of them at a $1 table (can you guess which ones!?) and the other three pieces were pretty far from breaking the bank (I think the most I spent was $6). There seemed to be a much bigger turn out to this fair with fewer vendors so I'm not surprised the bargoons were harder to find. I was also lacking my deal finding partner in crime Fraser who seemed to have the perfect eye for brooches I'd drool over. Alas - hopefully he will be around for the next vintage fair in July and I can't wait to go and see all the vendors new finds! It certainly explains why the thrift stores are so combed over here and I will gladly avoid the wasted hours in smelly old shops for one Saturday morning of thrifty buying! Yay! I can't wait to fit my new vintage items into my daily wardrobe and am especially excited for this little bird pin:

 

 Chirp chirp! Isn't he sweet? I really love how vibrant he is and think this bird is just begging for a spot on a cardigan! What do you think? Have you ever attended a vintage fair? Do you like thrift shopping for costume jewelry? Any guesses on which items I got for $1?

Back from the Highland Games

The Highland Games turned out to be just as lovely as I had hoped and I am so happy I got to go! It was a fun packed day of Scottish celebration and the weather was just perfect! Kilts and sunshine for everyone! Hooray! And oh, the bagpipes:

 

There were loads of activities throughout the day including concerts, whiskey tastings, haggis hurling, kilt races, falcon demonstrations, clan booths, heritage information booths, and pretty much every Scottish thing you could stick in a park in Victoria! What fun! My favourite part of the games was definitely the herding competitions. Nothing like a field full of cute animals to perk up an event right? Those are some talented pups too! Check them out:

 

Okay, so the duck herding was much more entertaining than the sheep (those frisky ducks just loved going off course) and there were two dogs herding them! Adorable!

Second up on my favourites list? The beer garden! No pesky kids to get in the way and finally some seats in the shade. Oh, and plentiful, relatively inexpensive refreshing beverages too! What's not to like? I asked Jim to take a picture of me and I'm sad to say this was the best one of the group:

Haha, oh dear. Being photogenic certainly isn't on my list of life accomplishments but oh well. At least I was substantially slathered with SPF so I managed to stay burn free in all the sunshine! 

Last up on my list of faves? The manly heavy hurling contests on the upper fields! Talk about some beefy men in kilts! I think I have a lot of weight training ahead of me if I ever plan on tossing a caber or shot putting a giant 26 lb stone 40 yards! It was quite stunning to watch though:

Whew! What a weekend! What did you get up to?

A new root vegetable art form?

Happy Sunday everyone! While you are hopefully spending your day doing a whole handful of wonderful weekend-y things, I am recovering from too much fun at the Highland Games yesterday (and another mysterious rash). I am also dreaming about endless (illness free) spare time to explore all sorts of crafts and hobbies - like Darth Vader root vegetable carving! How many people can add that to their resume? Well...Oki from My Sushi World can...
 

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Okay, so it sort of takes on a whole new level of geekiness, but Oki even has instructions on his blog so you can make your own! Got three carrots, a steady hand, and loads of time? Perfect! You're set! I think I'm going to stick with enjoying the Millenium Falcon ice cubes from the tray Fraser bought me and stick to making crafts for the market! What are you up to today?

Highland Weekend

 Last weekend Jim and I spend the Saturday out on the town. We stopped by a vintage fair, browsed the Moss Street market, and drove downtown to catch a glimpse of the Tweed Bicycle Riders. To top off all the fun we got stopped by the police and managed to get a great front row seat to the Highland Games Parade! What are the chances?  What a great Saturday! Luckily we even managed to take some pictures of our roadside seats - check it out:

Can you believe what a great (and totally unplanned) view we got? And all the kilts! Oh my!

 

Hooray! I love parades! And since Jim was nice enough to agree to stay another week (so he can take me to a specialist appointment I'm  not allowed to drive to) we get to spend this weekend checking out the Highland Games! Have you ever been to one before? I hope it's as fun as the parade was! Happy weekend!

Friday Find: Strozzi

Looks like Friday is upon us so it's time for another wonderful shop from the internet! This week's pick is the fabulously bold and graphic rings from Etsy's Strozzi. Just check out that squirrel: 

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Clearly you can never have too many squirrels in your life right? No? How about octopi, anchors, and geometric or organic shapes? I think not! Take a gander:

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Oh I just love the finger wrapping designs, affordable price tag, and adjustable size convenience! Looks like a triple win in my books! If rings aren't your thing there is an assortment of other stainless goodies in Strozzi's shop to fulfill all your Friday needs!*  What do you think?

*no guarantees...

Needle Felted Kermie!

I was happy to see (er...read) that so many of you out there are muppet fans just like me! Nothing like a little Kermit the Frog to perk up a Thursday - so how about your very own needle felted Kermie like the one Rad Megan made on her blog:

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Hi ho he's cute! She's even got some instructions on there so once I master needle felting (on my crafty to do list) I'll be sure to try him out! What do you think? For some reason I really want to put him in a plant pot or a terrarium but maybe I'm still swooning over the idea of plush ewoks in my garden from yesterday...

Corduroy Ewoks

One unfortunate side effect of going on vacation is all the fun blog posts I miss out on! Sure it is great to unplug and get away for a while, but when I get back home there are so many unread posts in my bloglovin' account that I inevitably skim and hit the "mark all as read" (a.k.a. kate's sanity) button! Shucks! Luckily I did manage to read a few posts that happened during the first week of May and this tutorial from Molly at Wild Olive was one of them! Who could pass up DIY corduroy ewok plushies! Take a peek!

 

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Ack! So much nerdy cuteness! I totally need to get a hold of some fabric scraps for and make a pile of these babies to hide out in my planters on the patio! Wouldn't they be just perfect? Okay...so once I water them and it rains they might be a little on the moldy side...but minor details. Cute Star Wars crafts totally make a little microbe growth worth it right? I thought so. What do you think?

DIY Ric Rac Clutch!

Hooray! Spring is finally here and with the singing birds, sprouting flowers, and sunshine days come fun springy dresses! Since dresses and clutches go hand in hand (well...they do in my mind at least) it's time to whip up a fresh little pouch to celebrate! Yay! Lacking inspiration? How about this vintage inspired fat quarter tutorial from Sew Mama Sew:

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Oh I'm in love! It looks super simple to make (always an added bonus) and looks just darling with the little flower and ric rac trim. In fact - I might modify this one a smidge and skip the sewn flower for a homemade pin or thrifted brooch. Sounds great to me! Now to find a good fat quarter of fabric to make this out of...hmm...what do you think?

Cute Felt Boxes

Happy Monday! While I am busy soaking up my last few moments of mini break, I thought I'd share a project that I'm dying to try out! After all - it has some of my most favourite elements:

1) Felt!

2) Organization!

3) Quick and simple instructions!

Hooray! More exclamation marks required!!!! Take a peek at the sweet felt boxes from How About Orange:

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Yup, I'm pretty much in love with these little boxes and clearly need to come up with a use for them so I can rationalize wasting a few hours experimenting! What do you think? What would you use felt boxes for?

tea without mom

This past week I went through some old photo albums in the hope of finding some nice pictures to put up in the new collage picture frames I picked up. I quickly realized that 1) my mom took some nice pictures of us as kiddies and 2) there are absolutely zero pictures of her! Oh dear! Looks like my new frames won't showcase the complete family until I do further digging! In the mean time - check out some nice snaps shots from 1986: 

Aww. How darling! Looks like I was always a tea party fan (and I rocked the stripes)! Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Geometric Shrinky Dinks

Oh man the internet is an endless source of amazing inspiration! Today's project is brought to us by Desiree from Suddenly Found and boy am I ever excited to try this one out - take a peek: 

That's right! DIY geometric patterned shrinky dink necklaces! How fun (and easy)!  I love the simplicity and since I'm all over geometric shapes lately this one is perfect. Heck, she's even got some chevron in there. Oh my! You could even throw some coloured sharpies in there and get into a whole different level of awesome. Ack! I think I need to stop finding so many projects and get to making some of them. What do you think? Want to make some necklaces with me?

Friday Find: Chippy Munky

Today's find is the amazing cute polymer clay magnet creations of Etsy's Chippy Munky! Everyone needs more handcrafted anthropomorphic magnet friends in their lives right? Check out the cute rain drop and radish sets:

So cute! I love how they each have their own facial expressions and totally feel like if I were make magnet sets, they would be just like these ones! Nothing like a little quirky and cute detail to cheer up notes on the refrigerator! Check out the rest of the items in the Chippy Munky shop too! You won't be dissapointed! Now if only my fridge was magnetic...

Oh my Indeed!

Guess what? Lindsay rocks! Oh wait - you should already know that by now. She is one swell lady. She also picks out rad projects for me to do and this one is no exception. Check it out: 

That's right - sweet, stylish, hair crap organization using mason jars! Oh my indeed! What an awesome idea from the ladies at The Beauty Department!  I totally love how lovely the simple white and gold painted bits look on those jars and tie together some of my favourite things. After further inspection I realized that I actually only have one comb, so an entire jar dedicated to hold that one item on my already limited bathroom counter space may be a little excessive...perhaps I should modify the project slightly and use them for craft supply organization! I always need help there and you can never have to many mason jars right? What do you think?

Totoro Plush!

Much like the sweet "spam filter" pinterest board Lindsay made for me, my sister has her own "stuff for kate" pin board and every time she puts something on there I quickly fall in love with it! Oh my! Guess those two ladies just know me too well - and I'm totally dying to make my own Totoro plush like the one Leslie put on my stuff for kate board! Take a look:

 

Ack! This project from cheek and stitch is just too perfect! Who doesn't need a plush Totoro to keep them company? Heck even the DIY is cute (and simple):

Yay! Looks like I've got yet another project for my spare time! Keep up the pins ladies! Hooray!