McCurrach Family Xmas

Well it's the last day of December and the holiday season is wrapping up to a close so I thought I'd conclude the year with a heart warming summary of my xmas memories of 2009. Ok, forget that - I'm not the "heart warming tale" type (or at least I pretend to be). So you just get pictures and notes instead...hope you can deal with that. My top three favourite things I managed to take pictures of this holiday (that I haven't already blogged about):

1) Laying under the tree



Probably one of my favourite festive activities and the best thing about the tree this year? I didn't have anything to do with it! Thanks for selecting, chopping, lighting, decorating, and (eventually) disassembling it for me mom and dad! You're the best!

2) Family hilarity



Behold! Card selection so awesome that both my mom and I received this gem from different people. Also peek at my dad balancing a dishwashing scrubbie on his head and my sister scheming xmas morning. Oh, and who can forget the clear favourite of the family - Percy (aka spawn of satan/el gato diablo):



Yup, santa's even kept for ransom by this evil kitty. I think he was pre-pounce attack in this picture (presumably with laser lock vision on neal).

and finally...
3) The loot!



Ok, not really a favourite per say, but I did want to document the clear themes of the presents I was given this year. Gifts fell under the categories of crafting, kittens, and vegetarian cuisine (with a few undertones of tea, cuteness, and ipodery). Bonus points to lindsay for giving me the most randomly hilarious present of all time - mini toques from her trip to England (which you can spot keeping my floss and glue stick cozy!).

All in all it has been a super awesome holiday season this year which will hopefully only be followed by an amazingly awesome 2010! And even if it isn't stupendously wonderful at least my floss with be warm...

Road Trip: Vancouver

Let the McCurrach sisters road trip/xmas vacation continue! This time with some brother-in-law chauffeured Vancouver craziness! The trip included singing, picture taking, and shopping galore. Actually quite similar in destination to my recent fraser filled trip to the coast (downtown, 4th ave, Granville island) but much more sisterly. Here - a plethora of highlight pictures:






I told you there was going to be lots of pictures! And stories for each one! Here is the extremely truncated version for each (left to right top to bottom): hoary trees, stolen 3D glasses, laughing (nice pins!), Japadog lineup, Alan's sweet balcony/view, shopping, random image text, park, and bladder stimulating waterfall. *whew*

Successful trip! Loads of sweet deals too! If only I found a dress for new years! Extra eep! That's tomorrow!

More pom pom madness

As you all know, I've been pretty obsessed with pom poms these days (link, link, and link) and even received a pom pom pals crafting kit from my mom this xmas!!! I have some mondo pom pom crafting in progress - don't worry - I'll update you when I finish my project. Well, today I came across yet another pom pomtastic link to share. This time it's fabric pom poms:


Perhaps a little more fluffy and girly than the traditional yarn pom but still pretty awesome nonetheless. Plus as an extra bonus there is even a tutorial to share to further assist in the pom pom crafting take over! Hurray!

Friday Find: Xmas!

That's right - this weeks pick is none other than the holly jolly holiday! Christmas! Brought to us by the big man himself - Santa! (or so my atheist ways have lead to believe). Enjoy a snapshot of my family's charlie brown beaut:


And even if you're not an xmas celebrator - hope everyone is having a lovely festive holiday season! And if you are one to spread the xmas cheer...what sweet goodies did santa bring you this year?

Road Trip: Kelowna

Yesterday I spent the day with my sister and fraser driving to the busy wonders of Kelowna to shop our hearts out and visit my dear friend lindsay! Here are some photographed highlights:




Please pay special attention to my lovely pompom adorned wrapping job of lindsay's present! I really wanted to take some nice pictures of it to share with everyone but I made it on the solstice and we left pretty early in the morning so the lack of sunlight was not favorable to pom pom photography. *sigh*

And even if the trip was pretty much a bust due to the lack of holiday dress purchasing (very much required for new years - eep!) - we did see lindsay, purchase some last minute xmas presents, enjoy the sunshine and clear roads, and eat extra delicious cinnamon buns (hence the excited pic of my sis above). Not a complete loss, but I do wonder what the heck I'm going to wear on new years...

Adventures in blogland

There seems to be an overflow of fun ideas out there in blogland today so I thought I'd share a few of my favourites:

1) Yuletide Gift Tags - A blender pen tutorial


Cool idea just in time for xmas wrapping! Except that I'm already done all my wrapping and have no chance of actually making these since I work everyday until the big day...minor details...

2) Caroling words holiday decor


Super festive and imaginative! If only I held xmas parties that required such elaborate decoration! Next year perhaps!

3) Moth closet sachets


Probably my favourite of the three I've shared today. Really clever and extra useful! I'll have to make some in the new year when I (theoretically) have a little more spare time!

A bird in the hand is worth three in the bush?

Ok, so I didn't manage to get any birds in my hand, but I did stand outside in the cold for 20 minutes trying to capture the flocks of cute little winter chubby birds at our feeder! With not much luck mind you! Here's probably my most successful picture:


I had this whole plan (since the beginning of December) to wait for a nice snowfall where I felt super xmas-y, then I'd take a nice xmasy picture, and then share my xmas playlist (since I didn't feel like overwhelming everyone with my an xmas themed december playlist - I'd reserve it for later on in the month). I had no idea it would only happen less than a week before the big day! I have a whole series of failed xmas event photos too (such as the lack of pictures from caffeinated carolers endeavor or the ridiculously unphotogenic eyes closed xmas party ones - Leslie we'll need to recreate! I want a nice pictures of me in that awesome outfit!). So the wintry birds in my front yard pic will have to do - here are the xmas tunes I've been listening to:

• BURL IVES - Holly Jolly Christmas
• MARILYN MONRO - Santa Baby
• BING CROSBY & DORIS DAY - Baby, It's Cold Outside
• WHAM - Last Christmas
• DEAN MARTIN - I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
• ELLA FITZGERALD - Sleigh Ride
• OLIVIA OLSON - All I Want for Christmas Is You
• OTIS REDDING - White Christmas
• PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS - Wonderful Christmas Time
  
• RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

So what do you think? I seem to be a big fan of old classics mixed with catchy annoying pop songs! What xmas tunes can't you live without? Inquiring minds (well...mind...) wants to know!

Hopefully listening to these gems will give me enough energy and xmas spirit to glide me through the next few days of crazy holiday last minute shopping and xmas preparations! Leslie - we've got our work cut out for us! I also have big plans to share some of our adventures in blogland, but judging how the last month has been I wouldn't hold my breath. Oh, and here's another semi cute wintry bird snapshot I captured...not sure if I like him better than the top one, but the top one allowed for my (oh so witty) post title hence it's placement at the beginning. What do you think?

How 'bout that!

Remember that time I was drooling over ink and button's amazing felt flower wonders and that super awesome giveaway she was having over at paper n stitch? (here - refresh yourself). Well - I told my mom to enter, and then did her entry for her, and guess what? She won! What luck! Now if only I can convince her to give me the winnings...

Friday Find: Joanna Rutter

Behold! The wonderful woodland forest goodness of Joanna Rutter! One of my etsy favourites and one of etsy's favs too! She's been a featured seller there and one of her necklaces is the banner for etsy's blog - the storque!




I love all of her designs and am extra fond of her amazing photographs of her products! Simple (and wonderful) jewelery shown at interesting angles with neat paper props - what could be better? I think Joanna really shows how great items are one plus as a seller on etsy, but fantastic pictures make all the difference. Yum.

Moment #2

So etsy has this lovely "customer appreciation picture" option that people can use when they write feedback on their purchases. I've never really had any, besides some spamy 'you should buy stuff from my shop' ones, until today! One lovely buyer posted a picture of my dear old bacteriophage pin on her lab coat! Sweet!


I find it so incredibly awesome that people like my stuff enough to 1) purchase it and 2) display it for the world to see! And send me pictures! Even better! I really shouldn't be so shocked by these moments - especially since I've sold a gross of buttons sets (literally - I calculated it - 144!) but proof of my pinback button love is wonderful nonetheless. I think I should start giving discounts to people who send me pictures of them wearing my goods - just like threadless. But then again, I am all for the ego stroking, like, all the time....hmm....

More yarn goodness

Why yes! I am very much still oozing over holiday pom pom decor just as much as I was back in november. These awesome yarn wrapped trees and yarn garland are thanks to Alli over at one pearl button - who seems to be just as stoked about homemade yarn decorations as I am! Well...except more so since she actually makes them...and posts tutorials...(click on images to link). My vicarious love will have to do for now since, as mentioned before, pom poms and string eating spawn of satan cat don't really mix. Just saying...

More mind reading please?

I stink at guessing what will be popular in my shop. I make items thinking they'll fly off the shelves and others that I think are destine to collect internet dust are gone before I know it! Case and point = my famous scientist pinback buttons.


When I launched the Darwin, Einstein, Curie group they barely budged (minus mom and lucas' purchases) so I didn't really bother to restock when it came to my 2nd and 3rd rounds of button making. Well, I was wrong. Today I sold my last set and won't be able to get to making more until janurary at the earliest. Oh the potential sales I could me missing out on!

Oh, and in other news - I still have a ridiculous amount of thumbs up yetis (which I really thought would be a hot mythical wintry item). Similar to the lack of interest in my sealife and woodland creatures sets. *Sigh* It's ok guys - I still love you.



<3

Moment

I'm pretty sure it's the coolest feeling to see a complete stranger wearing some of your handcrafted goods. A few days ago I ran into a girl wearing my dear wheelie love robot friend button on her ultra trendy scarfy outfit. Yup. Pretty awesome indeed...

B is for banjo

Last night I went to a super awesome local show at the loft (which is very much a fun little closet of a music venue) and came to the realization that I really really need to learn how to play the banjo. This seems to the the trend whenever I see live music, even though last night's musical styling was far from banjo material. Instead it was the homegrown, nerd rock, weezer-esque goodness (which you should all check out) of the squish, but hey, it inspired some twangy 5 string urge regardless. And speaking of banjos - here's a lovely banjo print done by Cindy Tomczyk of paperparasol.


I've been admiring her old school vintage printing press artwork on etsy for quite some time and figure if I actually play the banjo this print would be perfectly suited for me. Wouldn't want to purchase such artwork under false pretenses after all. Maybe I'll just get the deer print instead - even though I'm not a deer, I do appreciate the woodgrain and floral combo which is close enough right?

They want to be loved by you

I love waking up to messages telling me I've been featured somewhere! Today's email came from Amanda over at why i heart homemade with an awesome collection of roboty goodness. LemonTreeStudio's robot memory game is my fav from the list (except mine of course?).

It sort of makes me want to go searching for that "the history of toy robots" book I got with walt and leslie years ago at a "shove as many discount books in a bag for $10 sale" we went to at Chapters. Hmm..I wonder where there could be. Also nice to see how ahead of the trends I am. High five kate!

Friday Find: Bonspiel Creation

This week I've picked a long time favourite seller of mine who I've been super into ever since I bought my first item (my squirrel/butterfly keychain) of hers back when I lived in Nelson! Here's a sampling of Bonspeil's fantastic work:

Come to think of it, I've been drawn to her stuff in tons of boutiques across BC as I went on to purchasing a leaf wristlet in Kelowna, a tree pouch in Victoria, an owl card holder in Victoria (I know - Victoria again - but that was at her booth at the government street market), and a bird pouch this past weekend at Granville Market! Yes - I'm addicted. But the leather is so buttery and the silkscreen images are so awesome! How can you resist? So I'll share my addiction to you and you don't even need to travel anywhere to buy because Bonspeil is on etsy! Lucky you!

Hold on...

Hello valued readers! As you can probably tell my dear ol' blog is under a wee bit of construction - so sit tight. All the kinks will be worked out in time...

Forget the presents...give me the wrapping!

Lately I've been drooling over the wonderful simplicity and creative gift wrapping ideas over at Nice Package. Not only are their products awesome and expertly photographed, but they also have some cool tutorials on inventive ways to use them at their blog! Take a look:



I really wanted to make the manila envelope xmas tree advent calender but didn't actually manage to get around to it. Perhaps next year... but then again...don't I just want an extra excuse to buy stationary? Probably...

Cute

Bringing organization to a whole new level!

Now, if only percy would fall into line like the cats of adelie and the orca...