Ten Tea Cozy Thursday

Just in case you missed this lovely post by Meet Me At Mikes, let me sum it up for you: tea cozies are awesome. Check out the super sweet free online tutorials you can chose from:


Mmm! Aren't they just wonderful? I love the giant pom pom (go figure) on the union jack cozy and that pink and red one near the top looks just like the one Leslie made for me! How fun! Since I'm not a pro knitter looks like I'll have to stick to the crochet one (being that big granny square red and maroon one in the right center)! Speaking of crochet have you seen this lovely pin from my crafty pinterst board?:


Nothing like a crafting and M.C. Hammer reference to cheer up your Thursday! Now to stick those tutorials in the back of my to do list for the fall! Which is your favourite?

Stamp-tastic

Now that the postal strike is over (yay) I am finally receiving mail again (double yay!). Before the strike happened I had ordered a whole bunch of stuff off the internet and I am so thrilled that it is finally trickling in! Sure I am aware that when I order handmade goodies from across the globe they aren't going to arrive instantly, but when I ordered a skirt from Hong Kong in the beginning of May I didn't expect it to take until July to arrive. Mind you, the weather hasn't been very summery and cooperative this season so maybe it is a good thing it took its time because I am finally able to wear it! Hooray!

Another awesome part of online buying (besides the comfort of at home pj browsing) is that once your mail arrives (also an amazing feeling) you sometimes get the unique pleasure of seeing what cool stamps other countries use! Check out these rad bird ones from my skirt package:


Aren't they neat? I mean check out that owl! Oh my! It is like five little pieces of art happily attached to the corner of the envelope! Doesn't it make you wish you collected stamps? I have a collection going back in about 1992 but it has lost momentum since then. Luckily my wonderful mom is still an avid stamp collector so I will have to pass these avian beauties onto her!

I think animals are my favourite stamp subject matter and I'm really loving the stamps Canada Post is currently selling for US, oversize, and international packages:


Aww. Aren't those cute little foxes, ducklings, and baby polar bears just darling? They are certainly a step up from the boring olympics logo ones I still have a million of for within Canada letters. Note to self (and you if you are a Canadian stamp buyer): do not buy a roll of 100 stamps. Sure they seem like a good deal at the time but then you are stuck with them for 100 letters. Trust me, you'll get bored of them before the roll is empty and will be wishing you splurged the few cents to have a little more variety.

So what do you think? What are your favourite stamp themes? Do you collect them? Don't you just love neat stamps on mail? Heck - while we're at it does anyone out there want a new penpal? My pen pals are all failing me at the moment (except for Edwin. He's doing a great job) and I'm always up for some new letter writing friends! Let me know! I'll get my pen ready...

Pallet Wall Garden

Do you recall that blog post I did about all the fun projects you could do with old shipping pallets? Well turns out there is one more they talked about on Craftzine that I really (really) want to try. Behold - a pallet wall garden:


Mmm! Isn't that a great idea? It would be perfect at adding a little greenery to a small space and limits your watering to a very small area! Ok, so this totally wouldn't work in Kamloops (our semi-arid desert = too dry and hot for this one) but perhaps Fraser and I will find a lovely little apartment on Victoria this fall that would have a balcony perfect for this project! What do you think?

I've pretty much given up on my green thumb skills this summer since our front garden of our rental is a mess! My sweet peas and nasturtiums have barely grown/haven't sprouted and the nasty weeds are out of control! Add in my inconsistent watering, super poor soil (thanks to the dirt being the neighbourhood litter box despite my coffee ground scattering), and cruddy weather so far and we've got one sad little garden. My attempts at weeding were unsuccessful since after about five minutes I swell up into a painful lupus mess. Looks like the garden will be au naturel for the rest of our stay here! Looks like I will have to rethink some outdoor plants once we move to an area where I'm more likely to have some success! Bring on the rain! Which reminds me - anyone know a good place to get rain jackets?

DIY Billy Balls

As you may already know, I am a huge fan of pom poms. I've been meaning to make myself a pom pom bouquet (similar to this one I made Linds for her bday last March) but haven't found the time to get some yarn and make one! I know, it is a pretty simple project but I full of good intentions and less full of enthusiastic project completion skills (aren't we all? or is that just me?). Well - let's add yet another pom pom-esque project to the crafty to do list with these fantastic felt billy balls from Design Sponge:


Aren't they just wonderful? I first saw a vase full of craspedia (the cute yellow flowers this project is mimicking - also called billy balls or billy buttons) as part of another inspiring Room 6 display a while back and have been dreaming of them ever since! I really like the simplicity of this project. Heck, I've even had practice felting before when I decided to make my mom a crocheted and felted fortune cookie when I lived in Nelson! I am sure I can do this! Now to keep my eyes peeled for some yellow gold wool roving. Any suggestions on where I can get my hands on some? Anyone else up for a good craft project?

Oh! And happy July the 4th to all you Americans out there! Hope your day is full of cheery red, white, and blue goodness!

Artisan's Market - vol I

Well I successfully survived my first Artisan's Square Market and despite a chilly, windy start it turned out to be a pretty good day. Fraser and I got to the church yard bright and early and were greeted by our very organized market coordinator Mel. We got to work setting up the new tent (ooo, ahhh) and then onto craft display set up! Last night Fraser and I did a little dry run of the table so we were all prepped for laying things out. Take a peek at my display:


Not too shabby don't you think? I've certainly increased my wares since last year's Bizarre Bazaar shows and being located right next to the farmer's market meant lots of walk by traffic too! My paper pennant flags I whipped up last year bit the dust with all the wind storms in Kamloops so I upgraded to a laminated version this time:


I think I need to make a few more triangles to get the banner to fill the space a bit better, but it certainly did the job for the mean time! And even though I didn't snap any good pics of the church yard, trust me, it was a great day. I'll have to try to take a few more images for you next time so you can see the fountain, gazebo, and gardens they have! It was so pretty!

Ok - back to the crafts, it was my first show in Kamloops with some of my crafts I made for the Kelowna shows (like my mustaches, felt earrings, and stickers) and it was quite the challenge fitting it all in. I experimented with setting up my new photo/memo clips and ended up just laying them on the table:


I figured the clips would have to be horizontal so you can see the illustrations on them and they did a great job of adding some colourful pops to the table. And speaking of horizontal...I ended up adding a little side table to my display to lay my cozies on since the wind was just too much to have them propped up. Oh! You can see my wands in this shot too:


I'm still not totally sold if that added on table is the best way to show off my items but it is concealed with matching table cloth so it could be worse.

As for the sales, it was a super slow start. I am going to blame the slowness on it being the day after Canada Day so after a night of fireworks and partying most families were spending their Saturday's recovering and sleeping in. As the day progressed the sun popped out (hooray!) and things got a bit busier. I sold a few items (some cabochon studs, stickers, buttons, and rings) and had loads of positive comments on my items! No one understood what my french press cozies were (even though they were labeled - I guess Bodem coffee makers aren't that popular) so I think I will have to move them for next time. I also didn't sell nearly as many pocket mirrors as I have in the past so it might be time to rethink their display too! I didn't sell a single smiling wand (and they kept falling over in the wind) so I think I'll get some glass rocks to weigh them down next time and hopefully by my next show people will be ready to spend their moolah on my handcrafted goodies!

I also really wanted to show you some pics of me and my table/items/outfit but my lupus rash has taken over the bottom half of my face again and although Fraser is a wonderful helper (he set the tent up, carried all the heavy stuff, and ran back home to get my phone and bookmarks I forgot), he is an awful photographer and the blurry/unflattering pictures I had of me on Saturday were just too dreadful to share. Not even photoshop could fix those babies. Boo. I think I'll need to ask some semi-pro photo takers to come snap some shots for me next time (hint hint Kate or Quinn - I'll pay you in rose rings!). Hehe.

The next two Saturdays I am attending weddings so I won't be back at the market until the 23rd. I've got loads of crafty supplies that should be arriving in the mail soon (since the postal strike is over and all) so I'm really hoping I'll have some new goodies to peddle at my next sale! Any suggestions or thoughts on how I can improve? Any tips for display set up? New goods? Advertising? Photography? So much to do! What do you think?

To market to market!

Hooray! I managed to snap a few pictures of my last minute craft adventure to show you. Check it out:


Yup! Colourful felt + ribbon + sticks + wide set eye smiles = super cute magic wands! Aren't they fun? I've been meaning to make these for a while (and subtly hinted about it when I showed you my sketchbook a while back) and success! I did it! Craft project complete! and with three fabulous shapes to chose from too! We have:

1) Hearts (girly, pink, and lovely)


2) Flowers (still girly but less so. Jim says they look like planets or molecules...)


and 3) Stars (magical and slightly less girly in case some little boy gets jealous of his sister's new wand)


These were totally a blast to create and let me use some of my most favourite crafting supplies. I didn't make an enormous amount of them since I only had one day to make them from start to finish but we'll see how they sell to see if I will be making any more any time soon. Let's take one more peek at my 12 new lovely smiling creations:


So what do you think? Know any little kiddos that will beg their parents for handmade wands? Yes? Well bring them down to the Artisan Square Market today! I'd love to see you! Wish me luck!

July!

Why hello July! Time to bring on the summer heat, craft shows, new playlist, and weddings galore! Also - a very happy bday to Canada too:


Hooray! Ok....so I spent the whole day running errands, trying to organize for the Artisan Market tomorrow, and whipping up some amazing last minute crafts and totally forgot to prepare a blog post for today. But I will hopefully show you my new items tomorrow assuming I can get my act together this morning before work. If not, even more reason to come see me at the Farmer's Market tomorrow morning. You can stop by for some bannock while you're at it. Everyone loves deep fried bread stuff right? What are you excited for this July?