Nice Expression Jean...

This is quite possibly the funniest picture I have seen in a long time. I think this one (specifically that facial expression) will haunt Jean for many years to come. Just check out my niece as captured by my brother in law Neal:

Ahahahahhaha! So hilarious (and cute)! That girl sure loves running and I the pigtails really top it off. Hopefully you find it equally funny and it's not just a "Kate is the crazy Aunt showing too many pictures of her niece" moment. Oh dear. What's on the agenda for your Wednesday? Any funny pictures or links to share to perk up the mid week?

For the Love of Arrows

I really love mugs. Our apartment kitchen is blessed with three glass cupboards suitable for mug and tea pot display and trust me, they're put to good use! Even though I keep telling myself to stop collecting them, I just keep finding new tea cups that I feel are necessary to own and will somehow enrich my life at some level. Luckily I am also quite the avid tea drinker and since I set up a mug rotation schedule to match my tea consumption each one of those lovely cups gets used! Hooray! It's okay to own 20 or 30 different mugs if you use them all right? Well I think it's time the collection increased by another one thanks to this charming hand drawn arrow mug from Mollie at Wild Olive (link):
 

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Ah! How adorable! I love how she turned a plain old mug into something extra special with some simple arrow doodles! I may need to be copying this in the near future...what do you think?

http://wildolive.blogspot.ca/2012/07/my-new-mug-also-more-love-of-arrows.html

Auntie Kate

Last week I got the opportunity to hang out with my niece Jean for a few days. I've only really seen her in person two times before and now that she's talking and moving about she is much more entertaining! She is one cute and happy little kid and although I had nightmares about uncontrollable crying and getting kicked out of our building, Jean was pretty great! It was nice to see my sister too, but I'm sure she was happy Auntie Kate was around to wrangle with her little munchkin for a while. 

When she's not running track around the house, stealing your seat and giggling, or rearranging things - it was pretty safe to say Jean was getting into the shoe closet and trying something on. She seemed to quickly fall for one of my pairs of black flats and would run around the house saying "my new shoes!" Good thing you're cute Jean...

I think they might be a bit big...

We also had fun going down to Beacon Hill Park and checking out the children's farm. Jean is getting to know her animals and although horses are "neigh neighs" and roosters are "doodles" (for cock-a-doodle-do I believe), she seemed to enjoy the park and it was fun seeing all the peacocks hanging around:

The goats were another fave and although she was too afraid to do more than poke one the rest of the week she's grab my phone or ipad and ask me to show her the goats on them. She also decided that washing her hands was the most fun activity of all:
 

Even though our visit was short (and I worked every day she was here), I think we had a pretty fun time and hopefully Jean will remember the trip fondly. I even got to take her to a park nearby where Jean had a blast playing and Leslie tried to avoid heart attack while Jean climbed on everything:

Hooray! What a cute kid! In other good news, there's another baby on the way too! Yup - my sister is pregnant again and come xmas they'll be another little bundle of joy I'll get the pleasure to play with once a year! Yay!

Yarny Moo!

I've been meaning to do a little moo reordering ever since I created my yarn themed illustrations last August and (more of less) a year later I finally got around to it! As always the products I ordered were top notch and I can't wait to share them this week at the market! Since I am still well stocked in business cards, I ordered some stickers and postcards to sell at my table! Take a peek:

Oh and don't forget the postcards! I decided to get my sea life and woodland creatures made into cards this time too since I've had a few requests this year:

Yay! I totally want to buy some frames next time I'm out shopping so I can put the crochet yarn balls up in my craft room! I really love framing cards as an inexpensive way to add some colour and art to a room and those little yarn dudes are just asking to be under glass!

For good measure I reordered loads of mini moo cards to make bookmarks from since I give them away with sales online and at shows. They're usually a pretty big hit so I decided since I'd stock up!

Usually I wrangle Lindsay into helping me hole punch, ribbon, and tie the bookmarks together, but sadly we're too far apart for slave labor (er...I mean friendly help?). Alas. Looks like I'll be spending a few hours on the couch with Jessica Fletcher instead! (In case you didn't catch that - I've been watching all 265 episodes of Murder, She Wrote for the last month and am totally hooked...) 

In the meantime I'm out selling at the Bastion Square Market again today and am hoping that the lovely weather and long weekend mean oodles of sales!  Oh, and in case you are craving your own amazing printed moo order take a gander at their site and enjoy 10% off from me (link)! Hooray!

Adventures in Battling the Wind (and BSSM recap vol iii)!

After battling the woes of wind and the elements at my first two Bastion Square Sunday Markets, I was determined to master the art of outdoor craft markets for my third attempt! Sure I did a whole slew of outdoor markets last summer in Kamloops, but I had the joys of setting up on grass then and could anchor my tent down with pegs and a mallet. Fraser and I attempted using bungee cords and barbell weights for our first markets and although they worked well in the rain, they were no match for the 40km/hr gusts we experienced the next week! Eek! It was time to rethink the tent weights - and this time things were going to get serious.

Much like countless other moments throughout my lifetime my dear ol' dad came to the rescue on this one and donated four lovely bright orange old tubs (with lovely lids and handles)! Thanks pops! Then Fraser and I just had to take a little drive to the gravel mart and shovel to our hearts content:

Next we picked up some hardware, whipped out the drill, and voila! Two hundred pounds of tent holding awesomeness! Fraser even drew up some of my mustache cat designs I coloured and laminated to add a little cuteness to the weights.  I really love how they turned out and despite my original fears of giant orange eye sores, they work like a charm! Take that mother nature! Check them out:

We also ditched the bungee chords and hooked them on with the ratchet straps I bought to tie the tent down to our roof rack. That tent wasn't going anywhere and the final product looks pretty slick: 

See him hiding there in the corner? How charming! I figure the primary colours blend in with my pops of colour I have going on in my display and it is immensely stress revealing to not have to worry about my tent blowing away.

Once the tent was under control it was time to tackle the wind blowing over all the items on my table! I loved all the suggestions all many of you gave me last week in my comments and this time had ample anti-wind precautions. Yup - looks like it's time to list them:

1) I have pockets on the corners of my homemade table cloths that I put rocks into. They hold the fabric nice and tight and offer a simple (and cheap) solution!

2) I use C-clamps to hold down my bulletin board stands. Wendy actually gave me this idea two years ago and it works like a charm! Thanks Wendy!

3) I put up a few tent walls. With no fear of my tent blowing away a few walls do wonders for keeping those gusts at bay!

4) Take a feel of where the wind effects your table items the most and adjust your layout accordingly. I flipped my L shaped set up from how I had it the previous week and it made all the difference! From now on I will definitely take note of the wind direction before setting up!

 

and

5) I use a crap ton of masking tape. Nothing like a little (ok, a lot) of tape to hold down those pricing signs and fixtures! Yay!

Now check out those strategies in action:

Woo hoo! Take that wind! 

As for my experiences selling for a third time at the market - it was great! The day was lovely, loads of tourists were out wandering about, and I had my most sales yet!  It is so much fun being able to talk to people about my crafting and I love seeing what people pick out to buy! Hooray!

Of course it wasn't all kittens and sunshine, and despite the lovely forecast the shady morning was freezing and next week I'll be sure to bring some extra layers. Once the sun finally hit my table in the afternoon I started to thaw out and my goods looked extra happy in bright light:

I've also come to realize that when I leave Fraser in charge of the table when I go for an inevitable food/bathroom/networking break he never manages to sell a single item.  Ann (one of our favourite tent neighbours) told us it's because my table is, "way cuter than Fraser is" and I'm sure tons of ladies wonder why he appears to be making and selling such girly items. I'm not sure if there is really a solution to this dilemma, but Fraser did decide to sport an extra large yeti pin to fit in a bit at the last show:

Sadly, still no Fraser sales but I will remain optimistic for this week! 

In other exciting news, I got to give out one of my "thanks for reading by blog - here's a free button" prizes at the market! I do love my blog readers and even though it went to my sister (who probably reads my blog out of "you're family and you have to" guilt) I'm sure she still loved it!

Yay! What a great way to end the market and start off a nice visit with her! Here's hoping that tomorrow's market is exponentially successful and that hopefully I'll get to meet a few more blog readers too! Wish me luck!

Friday Find: Handy Maiden

Today's find is the awesome handpainted miniature sculptures of Etsy's Handy Maiden (link)! I love their sweet colours, charming details, and folk art feel! Just look at these owl head pendants:

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How lovely! Owls not your thing? Do not fear! There are many other creatures to chose from including ones turned into badges, earrings and brooches! Take a peek at some of my faves:

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Oh the muted tones! It certainly makes me want to take out the clay and get creating but with Leslie, Neal, and Jean on their way to Vancouver I've got a ton o laundry and cleaning to do before my parents arrive tonight! What do you have on the agenda for the weekend?

Being Happy

Sometimes I need to remind myself that part of being productive is taking some time off to rest! Oh the joys of being an obsessive work-a-holic. I think this print sums it up quite nicely: 

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I think I'd prefer that image a little more cute and colourful, but it does get the point across! Time for a nice relaxing Thursday followed by a busy weekend with the parents! Yay! How about you? Do you ever need to remember to slow down?