crafty commercial

How cool is this commerical?!


(found via craftzine blog)

lovely weekend

Hooboy, did we ever have some lovely weather around these parts over the weekend! What about you? Were you lucky enough to see the sun and shed some layers? I have to say, even though this winter has been very mild and snow has been scarce, I'm still craving the spring and urging it to please hurry up and arrive already. All the grey days we've seen over the last few months have been a bit depressing.

But enough of that talk...the weekend was awesome and Torontonians came out in droves to enjoy the sunshine. I think 85% of the city's population headed to Queen St. West (as did we). The sidewalks were packed and everyone was smiling.

We started our day at Darkhorse at Spadina & Queen to enjoy a pretty (and delicious) coffee. I'm a wussy coffee drinker so mine was a soy mocha latte. So yummy!

Then to west Queen West and up Ossington to stroll through the endless string of wee galleries. We saw some so-so stuff but also some really great stuff too. Awol had a fantastic show by an artist named Caroline Larson. The colours and textures in her work were really inspiring! Purple On Grey was my very favourite (scroll down to see)...the gradation of colour is so pretty.

Then take-out at Jean's Vegetarian followed up by an evening of knitting (making Noah a doggy sweater...about 3 months too late) and flipping through an issue of Craft magazine that Tania generously passed on to me. A very nice day, indeed!

I hope you had a nice weekend too. What did you do?

dreaming of dresses

On Sunday, Paul helped me tidy and re-organize my studio and along the way I found a few things I'd long forgotten about. Things like my inspiration scrapbook which I started a few years ago after being inspired by Tania's scans of her scrapbook. It's funny, I've always clipped little things I loved from magazines but for some reason never affixed them to any surface for future reference. I'm so happy I finally got the idea to take this (seemingly obvious) step because it sure was fun to look back and see all of the lovely eye-candy I saved.

I scanned one page but because it's a large book, I had to do it in two separate scans. I tried to match them up the best I could so if some of the images look a little off, that's why.

I love all of these dresses. The lacy white ones near the top, that bold architectural yellow one at the side, and that gorgeous robin's egg blue at the bottom right. They reminded me of some great dresses I've been seeing around the web lately and have fallen deeply in love with.

First, the Devonshire Dress from Modcloth.


This second one is Alexa Chung for Madewell (via Wikstenmade)


And this last one almost breaks my heart, that's how much I love it. From Shipley & Halmos (via Wikstenmade)


I really need to stop reading so many fashion blogs and start subscribing to blogs about...I don't know...power tools or something.

this and that

Just finished reading this

(Sooooo good! Could barely put it down.)


Loving this

(I've been visiting this dress online for months and now there's just 1 left. I almost bought it but the reviews make me question if I'll love it as much in real life. Isn't it darling, though?)


Listening to this

(That's Paul's band. It's a great song but the video is pretty awesome too.)


Craving this

(I read this list of the best croissants in the city and now I can't stop thinking about them!)

inspirations

Here's a little peek at what I'm feeling super inspired by right now.

I'm all about this mish-mash of bracelets stacked high on the arm.
(both pics Refinery 29)

And I love these new interpretations of the friendship bracelet. Aren't these so cute? (photo from http://www.dores.etsy.com/)

(photo from www.forme-foryou.com)

What's inspiring you lately?

Matt Galloway!

Yay!! Matt Galloway has been chosen to replace Andy Barrie when he retires from hosting Metro Morning next month. They announced it on air this morning. I'm so happy...such a great choice!

And like a lot of people commenting over here, I'm hoping for Kevin Sylvester to replace Matt on Here and Now in the afternoon. Fingers and toes crossed!

Andy Barrie

Today on my drive into work I was listening to Metro Morning just like always, when host Andy Barrie announced he will be retiring from the show on March 1st. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The announcement came without warning, just seconds after blowing out the candles on his birthday cake live on air.

I love Metro Morning and I can't even imagine the show without Andy. It's how I've been starting my weekdays ever since I moved to Toronto in 2002. Andy is a big reason why I love the show. He's such a fantastic interviewer, a really feisty guy, and so down-to-earth. He really connects with his audience. He's never been afraid to let the audience in on his personal life either. He's talked openly about dealing with Parkinson's and the death of his wife, Mary last year. He often talks about his daughter, his mom, and even his dog on air. It's like he's part of the family!

Four or five years ago, I heard on Metro Morning that Andy would be at Doors Open at the CBC building. It happened to fall on my birthday weekend. I remember Paul asking me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I said "I want to see Andy Barrie!"

When I met him I was so excited and nervous! He was so sweet and funny....he said something along the lines of, "Why so excited, I'm not Britney Spears!". When I nervously asked if I could get a picture with him, he gave me the biggest hug. And that's the picture you see up there. I'm so happy I have that.

I hope he has a wonderful retirement and enjoys sleeping in well past 4:00am for the first time in fifteen years. He certainly deserves it!

Toronto loves you, Andy!

soft copy

Paul's band Soft Copy has a new album coming out and it got a really nice mention on John Sakamoto's Anti-Hit List in today's Toronto Star! You can read it here.

In other news, I went to Shop for the Cause 2 and got a super cute dress by Damzels in this Dress, which is a local design company. They have a fun shop in Leslieville. It was a really good deal...$12.50. I also put a bid on something in the silent auction and I've got my fingers and toes crossed that I was the winning bid! I don't want to jinx anything so win or lose, I'll reveal it later. If nothing else I drove the bidding up to a higher amount which is good news all around really since the money is going to such a good cause.

That is all. Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

emergency fund raiser for haiti

Toronto folks:
Nathalie-Roze is organizing a sale to raise money for Haiti. I've donated some ratgirl merch and a ton of other local designers have donated items as well. I hope you'll come out, show your support and take home some fun goodies too. When Nathalie-Roze organized the first Shop for the Cause after the tsunami in 2005, $16,000 was raised!

The details:
Shop for the Cause 2
Queen East Presbyterian Church
947 Queen St. East (corner of Queen & Carlaw)
Sat. Jan. 23rd (tomorrow!)
11:00am - 5:00pm

see www.nathalie-roze.com for more info.

Thanks!

I like cute stuff.

This is all over the internets and tv but it just never gets old for me. I'm posting it here so I can find it easily whenever I feel the need to see a kitty getting tickled.

Featured: Unicorn necklace

Sarah over at Welcome to Girl Land included my Unicorn necklace in her post about handmade unicorn awesomeness over on her blog. Thanks a million, Sarah!

And c'mon, how great is that "Unicorns are people too" switchplate?

phun with photoshop

Two new goodies in the shop!

1. design your own 5-charm bracelet, $25


2. design your own 10-charm bracelet, $40


Mix and match from these available charms:


Fun, right?

Reason #265 why I love my job

Have I told you lately how awesome my job is? Ohmygosh...it's absolutely dreamy! Just in case you're tuning in for the first time, I work mornings as a teacher-librarian at an elementary school. It's my first year in this position and just about everyday I have to hold myself back from kicking up my heels and singing show tunes in the hallway...that's how much I love my job!

On Tuesday I went to my 2nd book fair...yes that's right, I get days off to go and purchase books...and it just reaffirmed my love for this job. Even though I technically only work mornings, book fair days are overwhelming and exciting so I always end up staying much later being careful to spend my money wisely.

I brought home 6 boxes of books this time and I've been lugging them into work a little each day. Pictured above is just a tiny fraction of the books I bought on Tuesday. They're the ones I'm taking into school tomorrow so I can catalogue them and get them on the shelves ASAP.

My secret mission on Tuesday was to purchase books that would inject some much needed life into our cooking & crafty sections. Oooh boy did I have fun with that! Here are 4 books I'm especially excited about:


Here's a peek inside The Teen Vogue Handbook. The girls are often asking me if I will buy fashion magazines for the library and the feminist in me refuses to do so. I thought this was an excellent compromise. This book is pure eye candy fashion-wise but it is all about the wide range of careers available in the fashion industry, everything from magazine editor and clothing designer to makeup artist and modelling scout. It also introduces readers to people in the industry like Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld. I think the Grade 6-8 girls will be especially excited about this book. I know I would have read this cover to cover when I was that age.


Also super excited about Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan. I can't wait to borrow this and try a few of the crafts myself! Especially this adorable necklace:


Also purchased on Tuesday: craft books about making puppets, using recycled materials, making masks, building adorable structures like little mushroom houses, etc etc PLUS a few kids' cook books AND the latest in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I cannot even tell you how excited I am to show all of these books to the different classes at my school! They're going to go crazy!


This morning when I surprised a student with the Leave it to Pet graphic novel that he requested way back in September, he just about lost his mind! It was the best moment of my day!

I'm not kidding...this job is so much fun it's ridiculous!

PS. If you have wee ones to buy for over the holidays(like 4-8ish), I cannot recommend these two new discoveries enough. They are my new favourite picture books.
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!
Ivan the Terrier

inspiring colours

Check out the amazing tights/bag combo that Carla was sporting when we got together on Saturday! Love this! Not sure where the tights came from but I know her yellow bag is Marimekko and came straight from Sweden (with love). You can probably tell from the photo that Carla hearts sensible shoes too.

a banner weekend

I spent part of the weekend sprucing up the blog by making a new banner for it. If you are reading this in a newsfeeder like bloglines or google reader, click on over to the blog to take a peek. Nothing fancy but I like it. Definitely better than the template one I've been using all these years....

I also made a new banner for my Etsy shop and I'm a little bit in love with it. I'm certainly no pro with Photoshop, not even a little bit, but I love how this looks. It took some playing around and a bit of frustration, but I'm so pleased with the outcome. You can see the new banner by clicking here.

fall is a good time for crafting with yarn

The chill in the air has inspired me to pick up the needles and cast-on a new knitting project. Last Saturday I decided I needed to start a project that very night so I headed to Zellers where I found some soft cotton-y yarn called Cot'n Corn in a lovely pale blue called "Water". Yes, yarn made with corn! Who knew?

I've started another pair of Voodoo wristwarmers from the Knitty archives. My idea is to modify them just a tad. I'll stick with the 2x2 ribbing until I get to the fingertips and then try switching to moss stitch for a nice little detail to finish them off. We'll see how that goes.

In other fibre news, I learned how to crochet a few weeks ago and now I'm a little addicted. So far I only know how to do chain stitch and single crochet but it's so much fun and much quicker than knitting I think. I've made a super long necklace that also doubles as a cowl but I'll have to wait until I'm having a good photographing day to take a picture of it.

By the way, I finally caved and joined Ravelry. I'm longestwinter over there if you want to be friends! :)

unseasonably warm

it has been a lovely weekend around here. today the temperature spiked back up to double digits (15 degrees Celsius) and we went out to enjoy the sun on our faces. afterall it might be the last time we feel warmth like this for many months to come.

first stop, darkhorse cafe for a yummy cup of caffeine. then off to cherry beach with the poochie.



it was a nice walk around the trail by the beach. lots of people with smiles on their faces and dogs frolicking in the sun. now the sun is setting and i'm looking forward to finishing the movie we started last night and relaxing on the couch with a new knitting project. pictures to follow in the next couple of days.

quick book reviews

i haven't done a book review in awhile and seeing as i just finished a book on the weekend, i thought it was a good time to catch up.

i just finished speak by laurie halse anderson.

turns out it won an award for young adult literature but i didn't know that when i requested it on bookmooch. it doesn't really matter though because i think i've mentioned before that i seem to gravitate towards stories with a young protagonist. so it was pretty much perfect for me.

the main character, melinda, is going through a really rough time. she is a social outcast at her school. all of her friends have abandoned her which would be miserable enough but she's also trying to forget about a terrible incident that happened over the summer. sounds heavy and in some parts it is pretty intense but melinda is just so likeable and sarcastic you really can't help but enjoy listening to her tell her story.

a completely enjoyable book and very easy read. loved it!
9/10

*****
and way back at the end of spring i finished then we came to the end by joshua ferris.


this was also a really good read and helped me branch out from that whole young protagonist thing. this is a story about a workplace, an advertising agency to be exact, and the crazy cast of characters that work there. it was fun to read about how this quirky collection of people get along and work together (sometimes in a very dysfuntional way). office politics, hierarchies, and gossip play a big role in this novel. i liked this book quite a bit though there were so many characters (just like in a real office), i sometimes felt i needed to go back and remind myself who was who at the beginning. enjoyable though.
7.5/10

*****
now that i have the most awesome job of teacher-librarian at my school, i suspect most of my reading will be of the kindergarten to grade 8 variety for the next little while. on saturday, i read babymouse, beach babe and started a couple of novels. i really liked babymouse. good for kids grades 2-4, i'm thinking.

look how cute she is!?!

autumn days

autumn's here, it really is. the calendar says so but so does my closet. just a couple of weeks ago i was still wearing short sleeves to work because the school was like an oven. now it's all tights and hoodies and closed-toe shoes. i'm not complaining. i guess the change of seasons is nice. it's just that fall doesn't tend to stick around long enough. blink your eyes and there's snow on the ground.

i took these pictures at the park with noah this afternoon. we are very lucky to have a ridiculously large off-leash area at our local park. it was really windy today and it stirred up noah's wild side. he ran and galloped with the blowing leaves (but sat very impatiently for this picture).

this picture makes me laugh because i can see the crazy in his normally calm eyes.

and just like that, the weekend's over

i was feeling a bit sluggish today, but i knew paul & i should really jet off to the west end because the best art supply store in the city (in my opinion) was having a massive sale. we stopped for coffee along the way and after a dose of a mocha latte, suddenly i was feeling a whole lot perkier! funny what a little caffeine can do. hey...this WAS going to be a good day afterall!!

after a shopping spree for both of us at woolfits (and meeting mr. woolfit himself...such a nice guy) we munched down on a veggie dog & perrier (they were having a free bbq outside of the store) and headed back home.

but sparked by my caffeine surge, i actually had the energy to hit cabbagetown to check out the artsy & crafty action. there was some cute stuff. i fell in love with some beautiful handmade quilts...they were absolutely gorgeous! i also came *this* close to buying something from susan harris. i can't get enough of her beautifully made clothing. but my rational side got the better of me and it was not in the cards today.

i visited with frederica for awhile. she makes such great silkscreened shirts and lino prints. c'mon, how can you not fall in love with her "cinderslut" and "little red riding whore" prints!?



these purses totally caught my attention with the great big wood button on the front. so cute! and it turns out the designer, becky, is super nice too.

she also makes lovely wide fabric belts and these adorable bum warmers! hee hee

i was so happy to see france from molly and june at the show. she makes the most beautiful, high quality couture coats for dogs.


every year the cabbagetown community also holds a massive neighbourhood-wide yard sale. i had fun browsing around there too.


and just like that, the weekend's over. i'm pretty tired now. i can already tell it's going to be one of those nights when the bed just feels soooooo good!!!