Shop sale!

Are you struggling to finish up your holiday shopping? Here's a little incentive for you. Everything in my Ratgirl shop is 20% off right now. Just enter coupon code RATGIRL20 at check-out.

Happy shopping!

current obsessions

There's only a couple of things I'm currently obsessed with but I'm crushing on them hard.

#1: The most beautiful handmade bags by Dazzling Lanna


Seriously, I want every single thing in her Etsy shop.



#2: The farmers' market

There is nothing like fresh, local fruits and veggies from one of the 3 awesome farmers' markets in our neighbourhood. I've started giving myself an "allowance" before I go, otherwise I'll end up spending way too much and buying one of everything. Current favourites: peaches, raspberries, and zucchini.


#3: Versus
Last Friday, Paul's band Soft Copy opened for Versus and Polvo at Lee's Palace. Late Fri afternoon Paul got a call from Richard Baluyut of Versus asking if he'd fill in on drums for them that night because their drummer had to go back to New York to be with his wife who was having a baby. Despite the short notice and no practice, he agreed to do it. I should mention that Versus is one of Paul's all-time favourite bands so this was quite a thrill. Anyhow, I was blown away by how well he did! I've been listening to the Versus album "The Stars are Insane" ever since.

Searching around for Versus videos on YouTube led me to find that someone actually recorded the show at Lee's! So here's Paul playing one of my favourite Versus songs "River". I remember thinking how he absolutely killed this song when I was watching it live and now watching it back again, I am even more impressed! Best part....around 3 min 43 when the drums really kick in again and all the rolls and cymbals are out-of-control! And if you look closely, right at the end of the song it looks like Fontaine (bass player) nods to Paul as if to say, "nicely done!". Hee! I'm so proud! Exclaim magazine and Chromewaves blog both said he did an amazing job filling in. He even got to go to Montreal the next day to play with them for that show too!

new stuff in the shop

I've been a busy bee over the last couple of weeks trying to get some of my new designs photographed and put into my Etsy shop. Here's a sneak peek at a few new goodies you can find right now in the shop!




I still have a few more pieces to photograph and other designs ready for baking, but with the crazy intense heat I just can't bring myself to turn on the oven for an hour. As soon as things cool down a wee bit I'll get those finished and photographed 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.

my childhood online

i've been spending a bit of time perusing the vintage section of etsy and most recently ebay, looking for some good finds. i've been surprised to see some things i had as a child up for sale online. in a couple of cases, they were items i had totally forgotten about until i saw them.

a yellow ladder-style earring stand given to me by my piano teacher & family friend. this one was found at the butler and maid etsy shop.


this was the telephone we had in our living room when i was little. do you have any idea how much i loved to talk on this thing? so fancy! found on ebay.


and my most favourite of finds...one i really wish i had broken down and purchased. this picture hung in my bedroom when i was little. my mom and dad always told me it was a painting of me. i found this on etsy and now i know the truth. hee hee (found at a touch of vintage on etsy)


have you ever found any of your childhood possessions online? did you end up buying them so you could have them around again?

etsy treasury #2

i made another treasury today. i called it "i haven't got a stitch to wear" after a line in a classic smiths song. i put together 4 cute outfits...it was so much fun to play stylist for a little bit.

it expires on saturday i think, so go take a peek while it's up there.

EDITED TO ADD:
i just checked my treasury before it expires in an hour and i had 24 comments. turns out it made it to the front page!! so exciting! i just wish i had seen it there myself....

head in the clouds...

tonight my timing was perfect and i finally had a chance to make my very first treasury over on etsy. a treasury is a little curated collection of items from other people's etsy shops, usually with a theme. some treasuries are even chosen to be on the front page. but i'll just be happy if a few others have a chance to see mine before it expires on wednesday (mar. 11th).

after spending a weekend either agonizing over starting report cards ("ughh...i really should be doing reports...") or agonizing while actually doing them, creating this treasury was a welcome break. i thought the theme of "head in the clouds" was appropriate after so much work (and the whole time wishing i was doing something else instead).

happy earth day!

hope everyone's enjoying this sunshiney earth day!

i thought it would be fun to show you some of the earth-friendly goodies i've been crushing on over at etsy.

poppy bobbypins made with recycled vintage fabric by foundling


sweater dress made from repurposed sweaters by devilmademedoit

broken plate ring by the broken plate


messenger bag made from a men's suit jacket by rumah kampung


jounals made from old highschool yearbook pictures by christine renee


dog collars made from recycled ties by annie's sweatshop (we just bought this one for noah a couple of months ago)


also made with a repurposed tie, this "necklace" by sam's shop


pretty vintage slip embellished by bayou salvage


handwoven brooch made from grocery bags by frucci design


and i could really use these reusable bags for our frequent trips to bulk barn (handmade by kootsac)

if only i could plant a money tree for earth day.....

Eeeeeeeee!!!

i was getting ready to head to bed and after doing one last email check, i decided to take a peek at etsy. well, i totally squealed with excitement when i saw that my 'russian doll necklace' was on the homepage!!! the sweet person at studio elan put together a russian doll-themed treasury.
here's a look at some of the other cute russian doll picks from the treasury collection:

now off to bed with nesting dolls dancing in my head.....

this is totally just a test

just testing a new way to add pictures to this here blog...

(btw: this image came from Liana Kabel's awesome etsy shop)


...getting ready to jump into the blogosphere again!