Random

Wow, have I really not posted since March? How did that happen? Is anyone still out there? Hellooooooo???

So here is an update of random things that are on my mind/exciting me these days....

#1. I'm doing a 2-week Creativity Bootcamp course to kickstart my creative side which has been a bit sluggish since the winter. It started on June 6th and runs until the 18th and I'm having so much fun doing the assignments each day. Well, except I skip the journalling part of the daily assignment because I'm not really the journalling type. The course is completely free so if you think you might want to play along, here's the link.

PS. I'm doing mixed media collages each day but you can choose whatever medium you wish. Maybe I'll be brave and share something I've made during the course but so far I'm too shy...just enjoying the process and the structure that forces me to do something crafty everyday.

#2. My new favourite blog is Daily Squee, which I swear is even better than Cute Overload! My cousin is going to love this website!

(both pictures from Daily Squee)

#3. I finally bought a pair of black Saltwater Sandals for the summer. Like most shoes that I obsess over, I've been visiting them online for oh...about 3 years. I don't know why it took me so long to finally buy a pair...they weren't even all that expensive. I'm so glad I did...I've been living in them since I got them back in May. They are sooooo comfortable and I get compliments on them all the time.

My new shoe obsessions are as follows:
Clarks--Vanilla Cream

Earth--Fey


#4. Paul's band (Soft Copy) got into the North by Northeast music festival! And not only that, they somehow managed to get on an amazing bill with Best Coast from L.A. and The Soft Pack (also from LA, I think)! I soooo hope I'm able to get in to see them. I have a feeling this show is going to fill up early!

The Soft Pack (Holy crap...Paul's playing a show with a band that was on Letterman!!!!)


Best Coast (catchiest song ever!)

#5. How friggin' awesome is this sewing machine?

(photo via Button Lust)

That's it for now. I'll try not to stay away so long this time.

xo Krissy

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?

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! :)

new wave blues

sorry for the sporadic posting. my brand-new half-time job is keeping me full-time busy!

has anyone been watching these canadian music documentaries hosted by jian ghomeshi on cbc tv? they're shown on thursday nights and last week was about canadian music of the 70's. not my favourite era by any means but the documentary was strangely entertaining. this week was awesome...it was the 1st of two about canadian music of the 80's. i swear it was like being transported to 1983 all over again, except without all that hairspray. (that hole in the ozone over northern ontario? i'm so sorry for that.)

the highlight was the interview clip with a couple of the guys from the spoons and this video.



how can a song this old (28 years!?!) sound so delicious all these years later? perhaps it only sounds good to me because it brings back so many happy memories. in any case, i've added it to my 80's playlist on youtube so i can listen to it over and over again.

my only hope is that cbc found enough money to make a couple of episodes about the 90's. it just couldn't get any better than that.

new obsession

not long ago while browsing through etsy, i somehow managed to stumble upon a necklace that triggered a memory of my childhood. i saw the necklace, an illustration of a little girl with pigtails and a boy sitting on a bench signed "Fran Mor". as soon as i saw it i knew i had a similar piece of jewellery as a little girl. i had to have that necklace and so i bought it right away. the very next day i was sifting through "the museum of krissy" and found my old Fran Mor brooch sitting at the bottom of a cardboard box. i showed it to you yesterday with my little collection of treasures but today my etsy score arrived in the mail.

here they are side by side:


and just like that, i'm now completely obsessed with finding more jewellery by this artist.

my childhood in 15 boxes or less

back in the spring my dad sold our family home, the only place i'd ever lived until i left home at 19 to go away to university. that meant that he had to box up everything i'd left behind when i moved away and send it down to me to go through. i have to hand it to him...turns out it was a very big job...he could just as easily have thrown everything away or sent it to the local sally ann but he was afraid he'd throw something away that was important to me. and so in may, boxes upon boxes arrived on my doorstep.

i was completely overwhelmed at the thought of going through them all, and then with the crazy spring/summer i had, i just wasn't able to devote the time to it. well, last week i forced myself to start (ok, paul dropped a few hints that it was time).

turns out i was (am??) a complete packrat and never threw anything out! around here we're affectionately calling those boxes "the museum of krissy".

the picture above shows some of the gems i've found so far.

* the diary i kept from ages 9-11
* a wee robin's egg blue jewellery dish i made in pottery class probably when i was about 8 or 9 years old
* my first watch
* a military-style brooch i bought in quebec, circa 1985
* the most adorable brooch of a little girl with pigtails i remember wearing when i was about 4 or 5 years old

can i just tell you how many tears of laughter that diary has brought to us over the last few days? oh my gosh...there are a few entries in there that are so perfect for something like this!

busy busy!

just wanted to stop in and say hi. i've been super busy ever since my course ended on thursday... i've dove in head-first into a really big project that i'm suuuuper excited about! if all goes as planned i should be able to do the big reveal by the 9th of august, possibly even sooner. i can't wait!!! it's all i can do to keep from spilling the beans right this minute...

the skirt that dreams were made of

one night last week, i was browsing through my most favourite online shop and happened upon the most beautiful skirt in the world! i was fairly certain this skirt would change my life. but i did the math and realized that with exchange, shipping, and possible duty charges, this skirt could potentially cost me $100 (canadian) or more. i was so tempted but just wouldn't let myself spend that much.

so i visited the skirt online over and over again for the next few days. and then i had a brainstorm...maybe i could find something similar on ebay! and i did... look!


so i set my maximum bid and actually won it! now i have to sit and wait patiently for it to arrive, to see if it looks as pretty in person as it does online. i won't lie...i'm a bit nervous.

it's not a perfect copy but i think it's pretty darn close. i have to admit, i still prefer the modcloth one, especially the waistband part. but i figure i can be creative and make this one work for me.

since the shipping was free (!!), i spent less than $22 (canadian). so in the end, i saved about $80 by not giving in to the skirt of dreams. and i can still sleep well at night....

i love the cbc

this is carla and i with our new bff's, steven and chris. hee hee (a girl can dream....) the truth is that carla & i went to see a taping of the steven & chris show at the cbc on friday. it was so much fun to see the "behind the scenes" at a live taping. i'm really bummed that the show has been put on hiatus, one of the sad casualties of the recent cbc cuts.

if i was a millionaire i would personally bail the cbc out of its financial woes myself...that's how much it means to me! but unfortunately i'm not a millionaire so i did what little i could do...i signed a petition started by avaaz.org asking the canadian government to help out cbc, especially if it's going to bail out mega-media corporations like ctv & canwest (as is rumoured...).

if you love the cbc as much as i do and are upset by the proposed 800 job cuts and major cuts to programming, then perhaps you'll want to sign the petition too.(almost 50 000 people have signed it in the last 72 hours!!)

ps: i don't think you don't need to be living in canada to sign the petition either.
you can find the petition here: www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_cbc/

i listen to this song (track 4) several times on my way to work and then i listen to track 7 a bunch of times too

some are lakes by land of talk.

i am obsessed.

sensible shoes i'm currently obsessed with

throughout the last 2 months, i've spent countless hours online trying to find the perfect pair of shoes to replace my two beloved mary-janes from payless. they've lasted about 4 years or more, which is forever in payless shoe years. but now the pleather is lifting off, they're scratched down to a white layer, and just generally look awful. it makes me so sad because i still love their style.

for about a year now i've been wrestling with the decision of whether or not to purchase a pair of leather shoes. see, i haven't bought new leather in about 11 or 12 years, ever since i went vegetarian. about 3 years ago i started buying second-hand leather shoes thinking that second-hand anything is better for the planet than new stuff, leather or not. and after researching non-leather stuff a bit, i realize i'm probably exposing myself to a lot of nasty off-gassing from pvc. so i think i'm ready to try a pair of leather shoes in hopes that they'll last a bit longer than 4 years.

here are some of the shoes (and boots) i've been obsessing over for the last couple of months. hopefully i'll work up the courage to buy a pair soooooon. (it's so hard to think of spending this much money on shoes after so many years spending $25 on footwear.)

clarks cute bar


danskos lotus


gee wawa minute (it's the black ones i love)


naot motiff


el naturalista dryland


blowfish quizz


gee wawa topper boots


miz mooz blitz

peek inside my makeup bag

after reading about some of the toxic chemicals in cosmetics about a year ago, i've been trying to make some safer choices with the beauty products i buy. since i'm on a pretty strict budget, i didn't immediately throw away all of my "toxic" stuff...just started slowly replacing them with better choices once they were used up. since i've been doing this for about a year now, i realized that most of my daily products have been replaced. thought you might want to take a peek at what i'm using these days and maybe it will give you a starting point to make some safer choices for yourself.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

maybelline waterproof liquid eyeliner: not exactly "safe" but i refuse to give up my black eyeliner. this one isn't the worst of the bunch so i'm ok with it.

the body shop lip & cheek stain: i only use it on my cheeks and it's my "stranded on a desert island" product.

the body shop concealer pencil: a bit "dry" for using under the eyes. i'll probably replace it with a creamier product once it's gone

weleda everon lip balm: smells amazing!

the body shop loose powder: i had a hard time finding safer compact powder so i went with this. it's ok but i still prefer pressed powder.

the body shop aloe calming facial cleanser: i love this! i was a dedicated "cetaphil" user for about 10 years and it broke my heart to have to switch but for me, this is just as good.

the body shop aloe soothing day cream: love this too! paul even uses it. i even use it under my eyes without any problem. really gentle.

badger sunscreen, spf 30: this is a new addition within the past 3 weeks. the sun protection is great but it leaves the skin with a noticeable white cast. after it warms up a bit on the skin i can usually rub it in better so it doesn't show.

giovanni 50:50 balanced hair remoisturizer: good stuff

giovanni 50:50 balanced shampoo: takes awhile to get used to the fact that it doesn't foam up but that's because it doesn't have sodium lauryl sufate (not a great ingredient). it works well though.

kiss my face olive oil soap: we use it as a regular body soap in the shower. it costs next to nothing ($3) but literally lasts one whole month! it's like magic!

- still need to replace my deoderant with a better choice once it runs out.
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i'm certainly no expert in the area of cosmetics and toxic ingredients but here's a few tips i follow almost religiously now.

1. i've learned you can't just assume if a company has a few safer products everything in their line will be too. for example, you see above that i use some body shop products but unfortunately most of their line is pretty toxic according to the cosmetics database.

2. just because you can buy it in a health food store doesn't mean it's "safe". likewise, just because it's expensive as hell doesn't mean it's safe either. try researching those expensive department store brands or lines carried by sephora. it's kinda scary.

3. i avoid anything that has "fragrance" as one of the ingredients. unless the ingredients list essential oils , chances are the product has synthetic fragrance and that includes pthalates which are potentially unsafe. unfortunately you'll never see pthalates listed in the ingredients because it's considered a company's "trade secret" and they don't need to give that info up. evil!
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* and i should mention a couple of things in case anyone is wondering: one...i am definitely not getting paid to endorse any of these products (i should be so lucky!) nor do any of my friends/family members or i work for any of these companies. two....i've found all of these products using the incredibly useful cosmetics database resource (a non-profit organization called the environmental working group runs the website).

so funny but you probably already know about it

i know paul & i are little late to this party, but we just discovered the awesomeness that is "flight of the conchords". (be gentle on us...we don't have cable). here's the intro of the show just because it makes me so happy.

we rented the 1st disc of season one (has there only been one season so far?) and watched the whole thing (6 episodes) yesterday. omg, this show is hilarious! if you're like us and don't have cable you totally have to rent the dvd. we're looking forward to hopefully renting the 2nd disc this week.

*******
on a related note...is it just me, or does anyone else start singing the "sex and the city theme" every time you see that "hbo logo/static-y tv opening bit" that shows up at the beginning of every hbo tv show? i swear it's like an involuntary reaction everytime i see it.

current obsession: 02-02-08

have you heard about this new show called quarterlife? it's about a group of twenty-somethings and their relationships, career woes, and general angst. and it's sooooo good!

right now it's only available online in small 8-ish minute episodes but i think it's coming to nbc soon. although the short episodes are a little frustrating---you no sooner get into the show and it ends---at least for now you won't have to deal with annoying commercials like you will when it comes to tv land.

oh, and i think the reason why i *love* this show SO MUCH is that it's made by the people who did my so-called life! i mean really, need i say more?

my new obsession

earlier this week i was feeling antsy about not having a book to read having just finished this one. i vaguely recalled hearing about book swapping sites so i did some googling and came up with bookmooch. i signed up right away and listed 9 books. within a few minutes of listing i already had people requesting two of them and by weeks end i had sent out four books to new homes!

last night i successfully mooched these two books! they should be arriving in my mail in the next few weeks! i can't wait...

the secret life of bees


a long way down


but i was craving more books still...ones i had on my bookmooch wishlist but was too impatient to wait for (currently there are no copies for mooching which means i could be waiting months or years for them to become available). so i got out the credit card and ordered a few from chapters.

craft inc.


love is a mix tape (ordered because i won't be able to renew my library copy and i read way too slowly to finish it in 2 weeks...so paul's reading the library one right now instead)


a spot of bother (by the same author of the book i just finished)


has anyone read any of these 5 books i'm waiting to be delivered? what are you reading right now?

the car died 2 weeks ago and i've been taking the ttc to work everyday since. it takes 1.5 hrs each way but i've been finding ways to amuse myself.

quite quiet

just peeking in to say i haven't been blogging much lately because there's just not much new or exciting to report. i'm still fighting a nasty chest infection but feeling more energetic which means i've been spending more time working in the studio. it's so funny...i often worry what will happen when i run out of ideas. but the last couple of weeks have been quite the opposite! i've got so many new ideas that i'm worrying i won't be able to get them all done in time for the show. i've also had to break down and ask paul to make me a few extra displays so i have somewhere to put the new stuff.

in other news:

* i made the yummiest roasted butternut squash & apple soup last night. it was like eating autumn in a bowl.

* i wish i had time to start a knitting project. i really want to make a cowl or the shopping tunic i posted about here.

* i've been enjoying baking cookies...made a batch of super spicy ginger & chocolate chip (so yum!) and also some (very meh) peanut butter cookies.

* i miss swimming. i can't wait to feel like myself again so i can get back to it.

* noah's hair is growing a bit shaggy and i swear he looks like a little teddy bear these days.

* only 2 more weeks left of the farmers' market. then back to (bland) grocery store produce. (sniff) besides, i'll really miss our farmer friends. they're always so nice to kim and me.

right now

i'm loving:

the amazing style of these 3 ladies over on wardrobe_remix:
bonboniaa

nemrespobjecodnedjelje

piksi_


speak to me bones and magnetic hill by land of talk, although the whole album is AMAZING!!!

pashupatina's beautiful sculptural necklaces



pretty much every painting by the black apple

this brilliant method of displaying a pez collection by one good bumblebee

and the shopping tunic from twinkle's big city knits
*****
happy thanksgiving, fellow canadians!
enjoy your long weekend...