Happy Long Weekend!

Hooray! The long easter weekend is almost here! To celebrate the little bit o' time off here's an adorable bun bun:

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Oh what a cutie! My parents are coming down for a visit this weekend so hopefully we will get up to all sorts of fun things I can share with you next week! What are your plans for Easter?

Finally! A reason to buy magazines

Sometimes I feel like a magazine junkie. I usually only pick them up when I'm flying somewhere and need to kill time in an airport but whenever I got to the grocery store I usually look longingly at the giant magazine racks and convince myself they are an unneeded frivolity that just doesn't fit in the budget (well...except for Bust Magazine...since I'm subscribed to that one). Rats. Well - when I came across this lovely project I figured it would give me a perfect excuse to purchase a magazine or two - and then recycle it when I'm done! Check it out:

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What a fun idea! It is sort of reminiscent of some collage work my sister and I used to do for fun in high school but you end up with quite the stunning piece of art. Not totally sold on the bear as the image of choice, but I'm sure a more Kate friendly cat/squirrel/dinosaur would be just as lovely! Hooray! Now to  make sure I don't go overboard and spend this week's food budget on magazines...hmm...

sewin' up a storm

With spring weather peeking around the corner I've decided to make a wee dent in my "to mend" pile and turn some of my thrift store long sleeves blouses into shorter sleeve ones! Apparently that stack of clothes is much larger than I remembered because once I started digging through it I found six shirts to crop and hem! Even though the sunshine was not on my side for this picture, I thought I'd show them off anyways because I am all about celebrating progress and actually finishing some craft projects! Check them out:

Hooray! I must say I am a big fan of how shortening the sleeves on something really transforms the look of the blouse and love being able to control how long I'd like my short sleeves! As you can tell, I am quite fond of the "almost elbow length" sleeve and am also keen on rolling up a hem or two. Nothing like a little modesty and arm coverage to finish up an outfit! Now to bring on the (mild) heat and whip these freshly sewn babies out into the spring sunshine! Woo hoo! 

Donut Mitosis

Sometimes I see amazing things on the internet and get jealous that I didn't think of them first! Mind you - I'd sub the donuts for cookies I think in this demonstration, but it is wonderful nonetheless. Check out some donut cell duplication:

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Oh I love all the detail and geekiness with these sweets! I mean look at those little alleles and spindle fibres! How perfect! Now I'm not sure if I want to go to the bakery or the lab...

True Companions

Apparently I'm all about the geekery this week since my geeky beau Fraser is coming for a nice long visit (starting today)! We have loads of amazingly fun things planned - like cleaning, organizing, and picking out supplies to fix up our new place! What a pair we are! And since we're on the topic of great companions....check these two out:

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Hahahaha! What a wonderful image! It actually really makes me want some skim milk (out of a red solo cup) and chocolate chip cookie...while watching Star Wars...but maybe that's just me. I mean who really needs an excuse to eat more chocolate cookies? Happy weekend! What are your geeky plans? 

washi thumbtacks

As my washi tape collection grows I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for different ways to use it! You can image how tickled I was when I saw these adorable washi tape covered thumbtacks over at How About Orange (link):

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What a fun and useful little project to brighten up a bulletin board! I wonder what over handy things you could cover with washi tape...

If only

I can honestly say I can not imagine a better sight to come across when opening the freezer door:

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I think I now need to:

1) become more creative
2) increase my sneakiness
3) start putting any and all toys/action figures/models/random anthropomorphized objects in interesting (and witty) places
and
4) master this so when I have children I can claim the title of "coolest and geekiest mom ever!!!"

Yup. That's my plan. What do you think?  

I need a suitcase like this one...

Here's 10 seconds of cuteness for you:

I love the little fuzzy paw poking out! Fraser sent me the link to this video and I am loving how Fraser has converted into a cat person! Sure he's super allergic - but I think he has a thing for the exotic shorthairs! Hooray! We're still no where near ever getting a cat anytime soon - but it's so nice that he is enjoying them with me now! How about you? Have you ever slowly converted the likes of a loved one? 

More Vintage Fun

A few weeks ago I attended yet another wonderful Vintage Fair here in Victoria and apparently it has taken me quite some time to get to sharing my finds with you! I figure better late than never and boy did I ever find some neat deals there! First on the reveal - a nice selection of neutral (and fantastic) necklaces:

I've really been trying to picture what I'd wear each piece with when I got to buy it to keep my splurges on the practical side and I figure some nice warm golds and black pieces are easy to pair with just about anything! I suppose the price really influences what I end up picking up and most of the items I got on this trip were in the $2.50 range. Not too shabby if you ask me and definitely cheaper than if I tried to find new costume items at pretty much any shop! Ok, so I suppose $2.50 to $8 doesn't really qualify as a "splurge" per say...but pretty much anything that isn't a necessity for my survival is a frivolity as far as I'm concerned. 

Moving onto more pictures! Next up are three fun statement necklaces that I fell in love with and after looking at them again - could probably be worked into all sorts of halloween costumes:

Since I don't plan as dressing up as a Mayan gypsy, 80's glam rock star, or Cleopatra any time soon I will instead cleverly work these babies into my daily wardrobe and will embrace their unique costume-ness for all it's worth!  Hooray!

Beyond my ten necklace haul, I picked up a few other jewelry pieces including a fancy hair barrette, three pins, and a jade ring:

I really restrained myself on the brooch buying at this fair since there were lots I would have loved to bring home with me but figured I'd be happier in the long run not going over budget (and most of the brooches I was swooning over and left behind were over the $10 mark).  I've also got quite the hoard of jewels piling up on my dresser and figure limiting myself is best all around. What a good girl I am! Yay!

Last up on the reveal are some lovely silky scarves I found in a $2 bin:

I must say that actually digging through bins for buried treasure vintage deals does add to the fun of the event and think these scarves will be fun to roll and wear up in my hair this spring or as a pop of colour around my neck on cooler days. Oh my! 

I am super stoked with all of the items I brought home with me from this fair and am surprised I didn't whip these out earlier to share! Swollen wrist and hand pain really does put a damper on things - but I'm doing my best and am hoping this flare up calms down soon! Oh - and since I always seem to focus on one favourite piece from all my vintage and thrifting shopping trips I thought I'd take another close up of the winner from this event...any guesses (before scrolling down)?

You guessed it (maybe...I can't actually read your mind....)!  I'm such a sucker for needlepoint! Who doesn't love a little handwork, gold doily-like details, and a sweet little bow? Oh it's just darling! Just picture this baby pinned to a cardigan with one of my vintage spring dresses and some flats! I can't wait! Now for this rain to stop and more spring time sun to come this way... What do you think of my finds? What's your favourite? 

Friday Naps please

After a long work week the life of a cat looks pretty appealing right about now. In fact - this little image sums the spoiled life up pretty nicely:

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Ahaha! Why yes, I could go for a snack and a sleep right about now. Then onto a productive weekend of cleaning and organizing (assuming my rheumatic flare up cooperates)! Hooray! Happy Weekend! 

How odd...

I feel like this explains exactly how I feel some days:

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What a marvelous image! How is your day going?  

Everything is coming up roses!

While my list of things I'd love to be working on continues to grow - I've been side tracked with a massive order of spring themed rose earrings! Luckily Heather has been around to help my give my poor arthritic hands and wrists a break and stamp and punch packaging for them! I'm loving the selection of bright cheery colours Chantal has picked out and will be sending them out today to her shop:

Yay! Now if only these monsoonal rains we've been having will stop and the sunshine will come out long enough for some actual roses to bloom! Hooray! Happy Wednesday! What have you been up to? Any big plans for spring? 

Awesome Naked Chicks

Just in case you think I post too many cat pictures on here - enjoy some spring chickens (sort of):

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Quite the selection of chicks if you ask me! Those top hats may be my favourite of the group but I must say that baby animals are the best! Which is your fave? 

Hip Hippo Monday

I'm not the biggest fan of Mondays, but since I was lucky enough to land today off I thought I'd share my extra Monday delight with a wonderful gold hippo necklace tutorial from Lovely Indeed (link):

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Why yes he is rather charming and (as I'm sure you could figure out) is just a spray painted plastic hippo with an eye hook and chain attached! Hooray! Happy hippos for everyone! What gold (or silver) plastic animal would you like to wear around your neck today? 

The cat shoes saga - part 2

Ever since I saw the cute kitten shoe project I wrote about yesterday (link), I can't get it out of my mind!  Perhaps it's the longer hours of daylight and slightly warmer temperatures out there but I am ready for spring and think some cat toed shoes will start it off with a bang! I thought I may have an old pair of flats kicking around that would do well for the project but since I just went through my closets and donated four black garbage bags of goodies to a swap I've come up dry and decided I will need to invest in a new cheap pair for this project!

Turns out - the search for simple and paintable footwear is slightly more difficult than expected! I thought for sure I'd find some reasonably craft-able flats at walmart or forever 21 but no such luck. My search continued at the mall (ack!) where I checked out all the awkward cheap teeny bopper stores and found nothing that wasn't insanely embellished with medallions or bows or ruffles or something that covered the toe. Rats. I finally decided it wasn't very likely I'd find anything around the $10 mark I was hoping for, and turned to Payless as a hopefully still somewhat reasonably inexpensive option. The result? Success (sort of)! I landed myself a surprisingly comfortable pair of simple black shoes and only went $6 over my original budget:

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Yay! Now I just need to decide what colour cat I should paint on the toe! (Note: this is where you come in)! Sure it's easy to paint a cute darker cat toe on the brown shoes from the tutorial, but there isn't anything darker than black and going too light would mean that any eventual dirt would show and make those puss-kins less than adorable (or at least that's how I picture it turning out). I thought I might be able to come up with something in photoshop but after a little experimentation I'm still waffling. Check out a few rough ideas of colours I was leaning towards:

I figure there are two options here. Option 1 - go with somewhat naturally cat coloured like brown or grey cat (since white would be awful and orange would look too halloween-y) or Option 2 - something non-cat coloured but still cute enough to work most outfits (like the teal on the far left there)! Hmm....I'm stumped. I thought I'd pass it along to you lovely gals out there and hear what colour option you'd go with (if you're the cat shoe type) and see if you'd be kind enough to share some input. Any thoughts? 

You've got to be kitten me

I often look at shoe craft projects and wonder how successful I would be in pulling them off but I feel that these cat tipped lovelies (link) are subtle (and simple) enough to be just perfect:

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Aren't they sweet? I will now be keeping my eye out for some cheap flats to try this out with and I'll be sure to take my cat loving to the next level! Yeah!

On a related note - is it just me or is cat loving sort of trendy these days? I've seen all sorts of cat themed shirts, dresses, scarves, and sweaters lately and am wondering if all the cat lovers are coming out of the woodwork or if it's a fad the young ones are jumping on here in Victoria...

time to swap into spring!

With the hours of daylight increasing and the first daffodils and cherry blossoms popping up - spring is on its way! Along with the slightly warmer weather and sunshine comes the traditional push for spring cleaning (woo!) and this year I'm jumping on the bandwagon! My resolution to de-stress my life rolls nicely into wanting to clean up and de-clutter the house and this year I signed up for a clothing swap to get that extra motivation to get started! Yay! I've participated in loads of swaps in the past and it always so lovely to go through the closets and get rid of unwanted items. I haven't been to a swap in quite some time (unlike when I lived in Kamloops and we had one at least twice a year), so I managed to get quite the haul of donations. Since I'm going to a clothing swap at The Makehouse (link) (and not just a friend's living room) I decided to be extra kind with my swap items and labeled each one with measurements and sorted them by size in each bag! Check out the pile:

I am always surprised with how much I can get rid of, but they do say you only wear 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time so I guess this is mostly that other 80% I rarely break out.  Since I'm still on my "happy up my life" kick, I really wanted to critically analyse what pieces I wanted to keep and came up with a list of questions I'd ask if I was unsure if I wanted to donate an item or not. Here goes:

1) Does it fit?

2) How well does it fit? 

3) Have you worn the item in the last 6 months or so?

4) What quality is the piece in?

5) Does it make you feel awesome?

and

6) Would you buy this item again?

If you answered negatively for 1+ of those questions it's time to get rid of it and move on! I was found the "would you buy this again" question particularly motivating since I felt like I should be giving certain articles of clothing a second chance in my closet but quickly realized "Kate - you don't even really like this "insert clothing item" - so you may as well donate it!" Ah! So liberating! Plus my 4 bags of unwanted and ill-fitting clothes might be just perfect in a new home! I need to make sure I go through my closet more often and continue to be critical if I decide to bring anything new into wardrobe.  Only things that will increase my awesomeness allowed please! How is your closet doing? Are you in need of a little spring clothing swap yourself?