hoop-tastic happenings

As I mentioned in my last post, my life seems to be all about prepping for the market these days! I finally got back up and running for the last Saturday in June and now after my second week I am totally in love! The Kamloops Farmer's Market is full of friendly and talented artisans (as well as loads of veg and food vendors) and brings in loads of people for a morning of local shopping! I was a little hesitant how my booth would do at the market as my past experience of selling in town wasn't very lucrative - but I was pleasantly surprised with some awesome customers who decided to shell out their hard earned cash on my plethora of geekery! Hooray! 

I've been trying to spread out my brand a bit and make a wider selection of goodies in different price ranges and one project I have fallen for is making embroidery hoop art. I made a few back in my Bastion Square Victoria market days but figured I could ramp it up a bit and do a wider range of hoops.  I really wanted to take great pictures of them to show you each one in detail - but as I said - I've been a busy girl - so instead I will just share the snap shots I took of hoops displayed at my craft booth.  Yay! Here we go!

Here's the basic set up of my hoop display. A few pegged onto a white rack I bought from Diaso and two baskets holding the rest to peruse. I tried to go for variety a bit (so not ALL anthropomorphized creatures) and really wanted something sassy out front (that didn't actually offend anyone).  This also gave me a perfect chance to start using up some of my vintage fabric stash too!  Take a peek:  

I put another white rack with some hoops on it on the other side of my table to get a little extra height in there and (as always) a bit of extra colour! One lady stopped by my booth and told me that, "Your booth is a hard one to walk past and ignore!" Yeah! That's exactly what I'm going for! Rope you in with colours and cuteness and hope you enjoy what you see! 

With all the compliments I got from my first market I decided to make a few more hoops for my second go - and did a similar set up again (with a few of the new hoops in there). Here is the end of the table: 

and the main hoop display (with an emphasis of feminism apparently):

I've now sold ten of these lovelies and am excited for them to go to their new homes! Best of all - I'm not feeling like I'm super ripping myself off by selling them for too little either - and priced them based on how long they took me to make (so small ones starting at $16 and going up to $38 for the big babies).  Yaaayyy! I'm on cloud nine with embroidery hoop excitement and even got around to listing four of the duplicate hoops I made in my etsy shop! Oh my! 

So now I'm hoping to hear from you. What are your thoughts on embroidery hoop art? Do you have any hanging in your house? Which ones do you like best? and (most importantly) any ideas of other hoops I should make? I'm trying to come up with cute or witty phrases to put on them but apparently my brain has been tapped out. What do you think? 

Crafty Hens

I'm loving how Pinterest now recommends boards and pins that they think I may like.  I get all sorts of neat new ideas in my feed without having to go searching for them! How lovely! One project Pinterest so nicely brought to my attention was these amazing hand stitched felt French hens by mmmcrafts (link)! Just look at how darling these ladies are:

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I love the fun non-traditional colours they used and the adorable stitched details! I'd love to make one of these and hang it up in the kitchen or maybe even the front door! I feel like these are totally something my Grandma would have put up at the farm when I was a kid (making me love them even more) and are even a bit reminiscent of my favourite vintage pyrex pattern - butterprint:

Heck you could even make a hen from turqouise and white felt and make it even more butterprint-y! Lovely! Looks like I'm adding this project to my ever growing "to craft" list! What are your thoughts? Do you ever make weird felt things to hang on your walls? 

Kitchy Fish Friends

While I was still living in Victoria I came across this pair of anthropomorphic fishies at a vintage shop downtown.  I got super excited about them and promptly snapped them up to bring home. Aren't they dear?

When I showed Fraser my magnificent buy and how awesome they would be in our new condo in Kamloops he told me that, "We better put those in the ensuite bathroom so people don't think we're weird." Uhh...Fraser - have you seen the decorations in our house? If guests think these fish make us weird then clearly they shouldn't be hanging out in the bathroom at our house! These lovely pals did end up in our ensuite, but I put a framed moustache and monocle cat in the main bathroom so it still has some quirky personality...

Left over wedding decor

As you may have heard, Fraser and I have been working on fixing up and unpacking our condo for a good two years.  Now that the majority of the renovations are done (just some little touch up projects left), we can really focus on unpacking all of these boxes that have been sitting here for ages and enjoy our home and our things! What a concept!  

A lot of our unpacking is actually just trying to purge like crazy and see what we really don't use or need anymore and what fits in our lives (and house).  I found it super satisfying when I got around to sorting through our left over wedding stuff because most of it ended up being recycling and donations! I can't believe we just packed all that crap up after the wedding and shoved it in the spare room for it to sit for a year and half taking up space! Oy!  

I did want to keep a few things to remind of our magical special day - and one of those things were my homemade pom poms! I painstakingly crafted hundreds of tissue paper and yarn poms for months before our celebration and even though the tissue ones went straight in the recycling, I couldn't part with the adorable little fluffy white yarn ones I spent so much time and love making. But what do you do with a garbage bag full of white pom poms? Apparently put them in apothecary jar and pop them on the main bathroom counter! Behold:

Now whenever I'm washing my hands I can be pleasantly reminded of all the fun we had on our wedding and since these poms are wonderfully enclosed in glass they won't even become a giant dust magnet! Ho ho! Bonus! I even bought the jars on clearance years ago so they were just empty vessels waiting for a decorative purpose. Double bonus! I'm certainly thrilled with how this little project turned out and how wonderfully it fits in with our bathroom colour scheme. So how about you? Did you keep any of your wedding paraphernalia around? How do you use/display it? 

Artful Thread

While I'm busy dreaming up how organized and fantastic my new craft room will be, I've been stumbling across fun storage ideas and this artful thread display (link) takes the cake! Isn't it lovely?

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What a colourful delight! Looks like I need to buy myself another spool rack and find some wall space for this baby! What do you think? Are you as in love as I am? 

Sneaky Storage

As a kid I was always intrigued by those secret hiding place books. You know the ones with all the pages glued together with the hole cut out so you can hide your precious items inside and it just looks like a book from the outside? Well - those are great and all but I am still not impressed with the idea of painstakingly glueing all those pages together for a teeny tiny little secret compartment. I am however, extra excited about this larger (and substantially easier) book hiding spot tutorial from Sewing Barefoot (link):

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Oh how pleasant! I may be extra drawn to this one based on the neutral colours and photography...but it seems like a much better take on the project! Now I just need to find myself some old books to masacre and we're set! Any thoughts? Do you have secret hiding spots in your home? 

Gradient Vases

I'm such a sucker for simple and colourful decorating ideas and these upcycled glass bottle vases (link) really take the cake:

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Okay, so the blog I got these off of may be in Spanish, but you don't need to be bilingual to do this project! Just collect yourself some bottom from the recycling (or thrift shop), grab the paints, and get mixing and pouring! Woo hoo! I think these would be especially lovely filled with pom pom bouquets too! Oh my! What do you think? 

knit specimen

If you're a regular reader here on the blog you may have noticed I have a quirky sense of decorating style. I love texture, I love homemade stuff, and I love this knit brain in a jar:

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Isn't it spectacular? Who doesn't need one of these? I think it would look just charming on a shelf in my new craft/sun room and think I need to find this perfect shade of brain tissue pink yarn so I can make my own version! I'm thinking I can just make a big long spool knit string and sew it into something brain shaped - what do you think? Can I rack your brain? 

Welcome to the family fancy cat!

The other morning I went to work at the crack of dawn like I always do and was surprised by a lovely present waiting for me!  Apparently Diane had asked Hetty if she thought I might be interested in "insert description of the image below" and Hetty answer with an astounding, "YES!!!" Well looks like those ladies know me pretty well because just look at the lovely new addition to our wonderful home I unwrapped:

Oh my! Isn't he one fancy feline? Looks like you can never go wrong with bowler hats, mustaches, and monocles on kitties and I just love how it is printed on a dictionary page! Oh! I'm in love! On my way home from work I stopped by Michaels to get the $8 frame and grey/blue paper I backed it with and now this amazingly wonderful piece is ready to adorn the walls of our apartment! Hooray! Now to decide where to hang him....hmmm...

Snowflake Card Clothesline!

I figure I had better put up all my festive decorating pictures quickly before xmas has come and gone (boy time flies!) so today I'm sharing my snowflake and holiday card clothesline! Take a peek:

Isn't it fun? In past years I've set up my cards on top of the tv but since they always end up falling off or piling so I can't see them I bought a card clothesline from Lee Valley at the  begging of the month. I'm sure you could make your own version (since it's just nylon cord and mini clothes pegs) but it was reasonable and came in a cute tin! Yay!

Next I decided to whip out the perler beads and designed and ironed up loads of different white snowflakes! Then it was just a matter of stringing them up with some butchers twine and using more mini pegs to hang them up! I had such a great time making up the snowflake patterns and am really pleased with how it all came together. Here are a few more images of some of my snowflakes:

Hooray! What do you think? What do you do with cards when you get them? 

Friday Find: Made Mary

Today we peek into a world of amazing felt ball garlands thanks to etsy's Made Mary (link)! After painstakingly struggling to make my own felt balls, my appreciation has grown for how much love and care goes into each one of those little fibre friends and Made Mary strings them together perfectly to make glorious decorations like this one: 

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I love the different effects each colour combination makes and would be thrilled to hang a string of these on my xmas tree! Heck, they'd be great hanging just about anywhere! Not into garlands? They've got lots of other fun goodies in the shop too - like paper suncatcher strings, scarves, and fabric swatch calendars! Oh my! Now to decide which colour I like best...any thoughts? 

Meet Earl II

A few weeks ago I was rearranging some lamps in the living room (since I received a lovely metal 80's ikea lamp to match the other I got as a hand me down from my Aunt), and finally pulled my new pal earl (the second - as we already have a felt earl the squirrel hanging up) to enjoy! He is quite the little scamp and full of dreamy white ceramic detail:

Oh do I ever enjoy myself some non-living forest creature pets on the house! Earl II is especially darling with his little tray of acorns:

Hehe! In fact, Earl II is actually decorative, friendly, and fun - since he came as a stacking game to see how many acorns you can pile on before they topple over:

...and trust me..there are a ton of acorns...

I've actually got an Earl sized box of the extra acorns hiding in one of my wicker cubbies just in case someone is feeling like taking on some stacking but I'm happy to enjoy him as a very quiet decorative pet instead! Hooray! Welcome to the woodland themed house Earl II! Nice to have you! 

Quilts! Oh My!

Quilts are like a hug from grandma on an autumn evening. 

In the fall I always have the urge to make a quilt of my very own. (oops, lost the link for this one.)

Then I think a cover like this would be lovely (it is a tutorial).

Then I come back to reality and find a quilt that is just the right size!

Hooray for one day crafts!  Hooray for Kate getting back to work tomorrow! Right Kate?

Cross Stitch Stool

I am always a fan of homemade home decor - and this DIY flower cross stitch stool from This Little Street (link) really takes the cake - just check out that texture and colour scheme:

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It's official! I'm in love! It doesn't look all that difficult when it is wonderfully photographed and documented:

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How fun! It does look like a bit more dedication than my usual quick little craft projects - but it is certainly worth it! Maybe I will have to make my own spiffed up stool version and see what I can come up with. What are your thoughts?

Cork Board Dipped Clips

Remember how last week I did a post about making washi tape clothespins but couldn't think of what to do with them (link)?  Although I do love the idea of turning them into magnets I am one of those poor sufferers of stainless steel appliances (that was sarcasm btw) and don't actually have any magnetic surfaces to stick them to. I do however have one large cork inspiration board in my craft room and these dipped clips from the Swoon blog are just lovely! (link):

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What a swell idea! I am actually really loving the dipped look too and am particularly fond
or the colour choices! Coral, tea, white, neon yellow, and gold? Yes please! Now I just need to dip some clips! Then perhaps clip some chips to my hips (with the dip clips) and watch the moon eclipse! Yup. I went there. Say that ten times fast...

Friday Find: Heart and Craft

Even though my walls are fairly well stocked with art these days, the darling prints from Heart and Craft (link) make certainly make me want to add to my collection! I mean just check out those birds:

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Ah! The colours, shapes, and use of white space are just perfect and the fact that they are little chubby birds makes this one irresistible! Not the bird print type? Not to worry - heart and craft has all sorts of neat paper products from prints and silkscreened items to garlands and stationary! Wowee! Now to figure out the perfect spot for this print so I can justify needing to purchase it...

Bed Pom Poms

When I saw these amazing "bed pom poms" over at the Be Different Act Normal blog (link), I know my life wouldn't be complete without them. I mean - pom poms for your bed? Brilliant! You may think I'm exaggerating (or perhaps sense a hint of sarcasm) but no - I really think these are the bomb. Wait...do people still say that? Anyways - take a gander:

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Ah! I knew I needed to work some more pom poms into the decor somehow and this certainly has to be it! Of course the lovely white and pink hued linens in the image above are substantially girlier than our current bedroom theme (actually this looks like something Lindsay would have) but I'm sure I can modify it to meet my needs! Yep. Giant, fluffy, full of texture and completely useless. Sounds perfect! Now what to make it out of...

Geometric Cork Board Hoops

When I saw this project over at Paint Me Plaid (link) - it was right up my alley! Let's combine three of my favourite things (geometric style painting, cork messaging boards, and embroidery hoops) and pow! - an amazing craft project is born:

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Yup - pretty much the perfect project! I just need to get my hands on some cork to use and I'll be all over this one! I actually really wanted to put some hoops up in the bedroom to fill the giant blank wall behind our headboard and think working in some of these would be a great idea! We could even add little cards and notes that could change over the seasons! OoOo! I love it! What are your thoughts? Are you dying to get your cork, hoop, and paint on?

Jurrasic Frames

Whether you are new to the blog or not, you should know by now how much I love plastic dinosaur crafts! Nothing like a little prehistoric molded plastic to perk up your decor scheme and these awesome picture holders from "ideas to live the DIY life" are no exception (link):

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Aren't they just lovely? I like the idea of using one as a note holder by the front door or maybe even use a chubby dino as a spot to hold your grocery list? Sounds like fun to me! 

Maybe Leslie and I will even find time to do a little dinosaur crafting while she visits me for the next few days! She's arriving today with Neal and baby Jean and despite my work and craft show schedule I'm sure we'll have time to fit some fun in there! Wish me luck at the market today and happy Sunday!

whip out that circle punch (again)

Remember how you read that post I did a few days back on making art using a circle punch (link) and promptly ran out to pick one up? Well good news! Here's another amazingly fun project to use that punch with! Look at those colourful scaly tiles:

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Yup, looks like the creators at the "you are my fave" blog have come up with one interesting, eye catching, and ultra easy project!  I really like how inexpensive this one is (like most tutorials I blog about) and think that one of these plus some matching throw pillows would be a great way to create a fresh and instant new colour scheme for a room! Oh! Maybe you could modge podge the scales down and put some lettering over top for a neat "home sweet home" type sign - or even throw a name on there and hang it on the door of your kid's room! Ah! So inspiring! What do you think? Should I grab the supplies and make an extra girly one to hang on our new roommate Jim's door this fall? Nothing says, "welcome home!" quite like a bright pink girly name sign...