Friday Find: Handmade Bliss

Sticking to my "cool etsy sellers I met at the fabulous finds craft show" theme this week's friday find is the wonderful christine of bliss handmade! She has quite the knack for combining fun colours, patterns, and textures to make a variety of goodies! I love her fabric covered button earrings the best...but apparently she doesn't put those online. Oh well - take a peek at a few of my other favs:


Man I love her fabric selections! I asked her for tips on her material sources as (surprise surprise) she gets everything off etsy! Now to track down her favourite shops...in the meantime please enjoy her wonderful creativity and if you're into vintage finds she's got a vintage shop too (apparnetly a trend for kelowna crafters). Fun! And if you're lucky enough to be in the vacinity, you can always check out a wide variety of bliss goodies at funktional or frock (where I also sell things - oo la la)! Hooray!

Felt Owl Brooch

I really love withing with felt. It comes in super fun colours, it doesn't fray when you cut it, and it is so inexpensive and forgiving to work with! I also happen to be a big fan of owls (and most woodland creatures) and brooches so you can imagine just how excited I was when I came across this felt owl brooch tutorial on my owl barn:


My goodness he is cute! And even cuter in an assortment of fun felt colours:


Yup - quite the fun project! And if DIY's aren't really your thing not to worry- you can just buy a baby hoot brooch from the small wood's etsy shop instead! Double win! Now which colour to choose...

Crochet Rocks!

I've been in love with the wonderful crochet covered rocks of margret's for quite some time! She's the genius behind resurrection fern (that sweet cat loving blog I wrote about months ago) and also runs the etsy shop knitalatte where she sells photos of her creations! In fact, I even purchased this lovely picture and got it framed for lindsay's house warming:


What a talented lady! They are pretty much like doilies for your rock collection and we all know how much I enjoy doilies... Well your wait for your very own crochet covered stone is over since margret was kind enough to share a tutorial on how to make them over at the purl bee! Check these babies out:


Doesn't look overly complicated and I already know how to crochet! Hooray! Now to find spare time and get to work! Fun!

Road Trip: Vancouver

Just as I mentioned on saturday, lindsay and I made a return trip down to vancouver to see yet another concert! It turned into another amazing whirlwind one night stay with loads of laughs, memories, and (of course) the lovely music of dan mangan! Big highlights of the trip included:

1) Winter! Where did you come from? Oh right..the high elevation cold wet weather of the coquihalla! It was so pretty and the roads weren't even that bad! Woo!


2) Amazingly fun shopping with quinn! Just check out those rows of sequins:


So good! I managed to contain my crafting excitement and just took home a pom pom maker (the 3rd one I've come across). I am definitely excited to see how quinn's sequin projects turn out too...

and
3) Concert! Amazingly fantastic dan mangan concert!!!


Dan was awesome as always and this performance was particularly exciting with an extra six person strings section to amp up the fun! It appears as though every time I see dan he keeps adding members to his band. First time in victoria he was solo, in kelowna he had a three member band, and then in vancouver there were ten of them!! Well eleven at one point...and fourteen come encore. So much to absorb! So much awesome! If you ever get a chance to see him live snap up that opportunity. You won't be disappointed. I promise...oh..and no sign of the buttons I gave him last year...but there is still time...

DIY Pom Pom headband

Last friday I posted about the wonderful designer I met at my craft show last week and her fantastic creations! Of course you will not forget her fantastic pom pom pompadour (in cilantro) I thought was super fantastic:


That picture actually really reminds me of my friend amy who is extremely good at keeping a straight face in silly situations. I also really enjoy bobbi's description of her creation, "This pom pom is huge and so scrummy. It stays on your noggin with a yarn wrapped headband and gives you some serious added height. Made from a wool/acrylic blend yarn." Well! To my surprise sonia rykiel (a french fashion designer) also does the giant pom pom headband (so no mocking - it's high style!) :


And to top off the pom pom fun 'out of order' even did a tutorial on how to recreate your very own! And all for about $4! I think it is time for me to get pom pom making! Anyone care to join?

More cat storage

Back in the beginning of the year I shared a picture with you on "how to store and organize cats." It was adorable, memorable (for me anyways), and makes me wonder how much fur the photographer got on his clothes:


Well the cat storage continues! This time in wire form:


Hahah! So cute! Although I think these kitties look much more evil than the first batch - look at those glaring eyes! OoO! Or that poor squished black one! *Aww!* I wonder if I could get percy to stack...

Robot Love

Robots are awesome. I especially enjoy love robots (being robots designed for love as demonstrated by the little hearts they have on them) and as such have created a wide range of love robot products over the years including:

1) tea cozies

2) pocket mirrors/buttons/magnets


3) coffee sleeves


4) cell phone charms

and
5) art/postcards!


Yup - quite the number of love robots! I am also very fond of music and especially fond of the "robots need love too" music of dan mangan! So much so that I even gave him a set of my love robot buttons when I saw him last february!


and here he is wearing them!:


Okay...so I photoshopped the buttons in there...but a girl can dream right? But hey! I'm not the only one with this obsession! Three separate ladies who attended my craft show last weekend asked me if my love robot items were inspired by dan mangan's music and I got the lovely pleasure to tell each one of them about how dan owns his very own set of my robot buttons! Okay, I guess that doesn't make them as obsessed as me..since they didn't alter photographs of him or anything...but they did put the two together which I thought was pretty cool...

Anyways - long robot rambling aside, lindsay and I are headed down to vancouver today to see dan perform again! And at the vogue even (where we saw the most wonderful mumford and sons a few weeks ago)! Maybe he'll have the button on then for me to photograph! Okay, probably not but he does put on one heck of a good show! And to get you in the robot mood - check out dan's robots video:

Admittedly that is the first time I've actually seen that video...and it is...odd. Pretty heartwarming at the end though - and bonus - the battle robot team is actually members of the other vancouver band said the whale (who I saw in september)! Fun! Wish me luck at the dan show!