The best Saturdays

Nothing beats a little January sun, a laid back Saturday, and a trip to the beach! I must say Beacon Hill is becoming one of my most favourite weekend destinations and here are two wonderful reasons why:


Not sold yet? Let's take a peek from the other direction:


Man do I ever enjoy living on the coast! And - having an iPhone! Not too shabby for camera pictures if you ask me - what do you think? How would you spend your perfect Saturday? Today Fraser and I are skipping the beach and spending the day attacking the giant to do list of cleaning and organizing around the house! Perhaps not my ideal day, but I can not wait to start the year off right! What are you up to?

Friday Find: Gemagenta

Nothing like a little handmade jewelry to perk up a raining Friday! This week's find is the lovely hand cut silver goods of Gemagenta. Full of tiny details, symmetry and asymmetry, and some geometric charm - these pieces are sure to make you swoon. Take a peek:


I may be more of a gold person, but I am totally in love with each and every one of the silver items in this shop! I love the facets on the silver gem shapes and the tiny tear drop cut outs is almost doily-esque. Oh my! I think the lingerie inspired ring is my absolute favourite, but it is tough call - what do you think? Too bad my new year budgeting doesn't have room for a few splurge items, but with reasonable pricing and ample shipping time these would make great Valentine's gifts! What are you up to this weekend?

Hahahhaha...ha...

The internet is awesome...and not just lol catz awesome. Take a peek at this:


Hahahahahahha! Ha! ha...I am pretty sure I laughed for a good two minutes when I saw that. Hopefully you find it equally hilarious. Thank you Pinterest (yet again)...

Bye Necklace Bunting

After Marci commented about the bunting pouch I blogged about yesterday, I just couldn't get bunting off my mind! Then I remembered how much I liked The Dainty Squid's bunting necklace tutorial and thought I'd share it with all of you in case you missed it! I love how a simple shape like triangles can look so good. Take a peek:


How lovely! I think I'd go for a more neutral leather (say...brown?), but the yellow does have a certain something. Check it out under a collar:


Oh my! Just darling! I totally want to work more collars (and necklaces) into my wardrobe! Looks like I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for some leather scraps to get crafting with. What do you think? Ready to jump on the bunting wagon?

cute little cases

I love making little pouches. Not only is it a quick project, but it lets you use up little bits of cute fabrics you may be holding onto and leaves you with an ultra functional finished piece! What's not to like? Need a little inspiration? Check out these six tutorials via How About Orange:


Aren't they dear? I'm especially drawn to kleenex covers in the top right corner (being that we're in winter and amidst flu season). What fun! Heck they might even help you with any budgeting you have planned for the year too! Since I'm miss moneybags while Fraser is in school we might attempt switching to an all cash budget plan, which will hopefully help stretch out my limited paycheques. I doubt Fraser will be happy carrying around little girly coin pouches though...or maybe it would help us save money since he'd be too embarrassed to whip it out unless necessary. Haha! I may be onto something! Which pouch do you like best? Any budgeting tips for us?

Time to Resolve!

Oh the good ol' new years resolution. Each year I get motivated to change my life for the better and quickly after January starts I lose momentum and feel guilty about my eventual failure. Okay, so this isn't always the case, but I do think the whole idea of a new start in a new year is a little silly. There's really no reason why all the change needs to happen after Jan. 1st (and not, say, any other day of the year) but I suppose anything that pushes you for the better is a good thing! I've got a few stereotypical goals of my own for 2012 (so let's list them and hope it gets me extra motivated!):

1) Get Healthy(er)! Since we moved to Victoria in September my immune system has been on the fritz and with my new rheumatologist and medical trials I'm hoping to heal up! Yay!

2) Keep up with the craftiness! I'd love to get working on a whole slew of craft show stock so I am prepared and ready for the ever exciting new markets I'm hoping to dip into this spring/summer. Hopefully I'll even manage to photograph stuff to so I can share it on here and list some on etsy. OooO! What a plan! Heck - maybe I'll even be able to add to my wholesale and consignment stores!

3) Lose some weight. Yes yes, everyone always seems to add this to their list, but I mostly just want to be able to fit into my pants again. Losing weight is cheaper than having to buy a new wardrobe right? I'm just trying to be thrifty! (Oh and the weight loss would be great for my joints too). Any low impact tips for me?

and 4) Blog with impact. I may not be able to stick to the daily posts, but I am hoping to have a year of wonderfully interesting crafts, recipes, outfits, links, and images to share with you along the way! I'm aiming to feel less stressed about the quantity and extra focused on the quality. In an ideal world I'll even manage to make up a few tutorials on here to help you with your wide set eye smile endeavors as well! Hooray!

That seems like quite the challenge for the new year, but here's to hoping they all go well. What do you think? What are your resolutions and how to you stick to them?

Greetings 2012!

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2012, a year sure to be full of crafty delights! It also marks the start of a new calendar (which I am always thrilled about). Unfortunately (like most years) I have left my calendar hunting to the last minute and the utter lack of selection lead me to picking up this one full of vintage food posters:


I really enjoyed the art deco-y style of the cover art and with nothing else even slightly catching my eye (the artsy and kitten selection left much to be desired) I thought I'd dabble in the food posters for a year. Then I thought I could make it into a fun blog challenge where I eat whatever the month is advertising. Then I flipped to January....


Yup, that idea fizzled as soon as I saw that the first poster was for foie gras. Ick. Alas, I do enjoy the interesting images, bright bold colours, and design of them all! That has got to count for something right? It could also have something to do with the fact that Jim and I just finished watching season one of Mad Men and I've got vintage ads on the brain.

In other exciting 2012 news I'm hoping to be much more successful at blogging with pictures this year! I am really good at doing interesting and fun things and either 1) forgetting my camera or 2) remembering my camera but then leaving it in the trunk. Xmas gift to the rescue on that one! I am now finally up with the technological times and sporting a new iPhone. At last! An 8 mega pixel camera at my finger tips to help me snap shots of those "darn I need my camera" moments! Take a gander:


So I am yet to move my contacts over...and figure out how to use all the fancy functions but I am certainly excited! Yay! Technology!

Another fun addition to the new year is a journal I've been meaning to start for some time now. Remember that post I did on making your own one line journal you use for a few years and see what silly and memorable things you do over time (link)? Well all my good intentions never got me very far into that project and after the epic fail on my sketch a day journal (a whole sketch becoming daunting and unpleasantly forced), I figured the one liner would be much easier to succeed with. Even better - I found a nice pre-made one sentence journal at Chapters and picked it up (with xmas gift card money too)! Take a peek:


Oh am I ever stoked for this one! And it will just keep getting better! I really want to keep up with this one so in five years time I can joyfully reminisce on my one line memories! Take another peek:


Wish me luck! Do you journal at all? Any new plans to spruce up your 2012? Any "stick to your goals" tips for me?