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!

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.

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!

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?

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.

Ratgirl + Chatelaine

Ratgirl got some really lovely press over on Chatelaine's Style blog today! Go take a peek....

Thanks so much for the kind words, Kate!!! :)

the big reveal!

i know i said i'd reveal my big project by the 9th of august but i'm 33 minutes late. not too bad i suppose....

may i present to you, the official ratgirl website!!!

TA DAAAAA!



ps: my little plot of land on the web is at www.ratgirlonline.com NOT ratgirl.com cuz that's sadly been taken by porn. (sniff)

please let me know if anything looks funny on your browser or you find any unhappy links. not that i can fix the browser issues...ha ha! i made this whole thing through a little site called wix.com and it's all drop & drag, baby! didn't need to know a bit of html or any other confusing strings of letters. highly recommended for anyone like me who has been putting off making a website for, oh...7 years or so.

this weekend

hey toronto folks, i'll be at the clothing show this weekend in booth #523. stop by and say hi if you're around!

better living centre, exhibition place
fri. may 1st 3:00 - 9:00
sat. may 2nd 11:00 - 9:00
sun. may 3rd 11:00 - 7:00

craft show alert!

hey folks, i'll be at the *spring wake up* craft show this saturday from 11am - 3pm at hart house on the university of toronto campus. if you're in the city, come by and say hi!

******
details from the facebook group:
Spring Wake Up!
Celebrating Spring and do-it-yourself spirit!
Saturday, March 21, 11-3 pm
The Great Hall, Hart House

Throw off your winter coat and get your sap pumping at Spring Wake Up! This is a great event to get juices flowing for all ages, and a great way to spend a Spring Break Saturday.
Sow the seeds of creativity in a series of do-it-yourself workshops hosted by artists and community members including
*Operation Sock Monkey’s annual Sock-monk-a-thon (Create a sock monkey)
*Make recyclable pots and plant seeds to take home
*Learn to knit with Streetknit
*Eat Organic and Fresh on under $25/week by the Daily Apple
*Bring your kids and enjoy Spring stories and create a spring flower bouquet and add a flower to the ‘Flower Power Mural’ with enchanting storyteller and artist Cath Campbell
*Discover fabulous handmade clothing and gifts made locally by independent crafters
*The Joy T-shirt Project* *Ella’s Botanicals* *Sweetie Pie Press* *Dear Sukie* *thingsbySLO* *Ratgirl* and more…

paper*cakes likes me!

my unicorn and rainbow hairpins were featured today on the super sweet paper*cakes finds blog!

thanks so much, chelsea!

wardrobe remix 03-02-08

here's something interesting i've realized this weekend. desperately needing to do laundry has made me way more creative about my clothing choices. i think this is my most favourite outfit i've put together in a really long time and 2 of the items i haven't worn in years...and the only reason i am today is that all of my "high rotation" clothing needs to be washed.

dark blue denim shirtdress: clothing swap (eddie bauer)
yellow shirt: thrifted and altered child's "dragonballz" long-sleeve
red leggings: thrifted
black argyle socks: my dad & stepmom (i ask for kneehighs every xmas so most of my favourites are from them)
black rainboots: thrifted
green scarf: thrifted sweatshirt fabric that i cut into a long rectangle
black belt: a gift from my cousin & her husband
house brooch: i made it myself
black calculator watch: casio

***
here's a closeup of the house brooch i made about a month ago. i am so in love with this and had so much fun making it. i'm thinking about doing a series of these.

"year of the rat" opening

last thursday night was the opening of the year of the rat exhibit at PROOF gallery. it was a fun night! lots of really great prints by 100 or so artists from around the world. lots of very interesting interpretations of the whole "rat" concept too.

i really liked this little handmade book by carolyn eady. she said she was thinking about the michelangelo painting in the sistine chapel when she made it.


and it was nice to run into akemi who paul and i haven't seen in ages. i loved her print but unfortunately my camera didn't do it justice.


here's a wee peek at a couple of the brooches i made for the show.

ratgirl at PROOF gallery!

something incredibly exciting has happened.

while i was at the one of a kind show in november, a lovely woman named sheila approached me about taking part in the "year of the rat" exhibition at her gallery at the distillery. i was so flattered but a tiny bit nervous...i've never done anything for a gallery before!

well, this thursday evening is the opening of the "year of the rat" show at PROOF gallery! i'm soooooo excited! i've made many rat-themed pieces of jewellery especially for this show.

here's the invite

and the info
Year of the Rat
Opening: Thursday, Feb. 7th
5:00 - 9:00pm
Proof Gallery, Distillery District
Toronto
www.proofstudiogallery.com for map of the Distillery

come take a peek if you get a chance!

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.....

today

today was a good mail day.
i got some soft grey legwarmers in the mail from my stepmom, nicole. they're original from back in the 80's...

and i also received the little otsu dayplanner i ordered a couple of weeks ago.

i love that you fill in the dates yourself. so since january is more than halfway over, i won't have any empty pages because i'll just start numbering from today's date.


today was a good library day.
i picked up 3 items i had holds on: a vegetarian cookbook ("enemy of the steak" heh heh), a novel ("love is a mix tape" by rob sheffield), and a dvd ("who killed the electric car"). the novel came at a good time. i'm about 15 pages away from finishing the book i'm reading now ...sooooooo goood! thanks michele!! xoxo


today was also a good freecycling day.
i picked up a great gold frame from a generous person on the toronto freecycle group. i'm collecting frames for our little wall of art in the studio/guest bedroom. i'm not sure if i'm going to keep this one gold (looks cool against the red wall in here) but i may paint it with a super shiny laquer in hot pink or turquoise. *by the way, i just put a postcard in there for the photo. i'm hoping to fill it with a cute print from etsy. maybe even one from my favourite artist on there.



and this weekend was a good crafting weekend.
i was successful in making my largest shrinky piece yet! very exciting! i've got a few possible ideas for this...

and here's a picture that gives you a better idea of just how big she is (4" tall) compared to my regular-sized pendants.


also bought a couple of cute new things this past weekend. i'll post about them later in the week.

thanks so much to kitchen for letting me know that my "i *heart* the 80's" charm bracelet was featured in this week's NOW magazine gift guide! woot woot! big hugs to sarah at the rage for always being such a huge supporter of my jewellery!

if you look closely at the page, you can see that my friend kim's amazing pillows also got a mention! yay!

(if you want a closer look so that you can read what it says, try clicking on the photo or head over here and scroll down.)

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.

chained to the studio

nah, not really but i have been spending a crazy amount of time in here. good thing i love what i do otherwise it would actually be work!

with october almost here, i'm starting to feel a teensy bit of panic about how much stuff i still have to make before the one of a kind show (at the end of november).

in other ratgirl news, i spent the weekend putting together a brand new order for snazzygirl and all those goodies got shipped out this afternoon. putting the order together is a breeze, it's the photographing, photoshopping, and writing of the descriptions that is kind of hard for me. luckily my honey helped me with the photographing. (thanks, paul!) xoxo

here's a tiny peek at a couple of the items that will be going up on snazzygirl very soon:



*****
edit: hey, the new stock is already up on the website!! and i also suggested that most of the old stock be put on super-duper discount and looks like that's already done that too! go check it out...

lately:

reading:


listening to:


desperately hunting for:
thick & chunky charcoal grey tights (so elusive i can't even find a picture of them with a google image search!) EDIT: sorry, i meant to say thick & chunky cable-knit tights in charcoal grey. it's the cable-knit part that i'm having trouble finding. please let me know if you find some....

making a million of:


excited about:


delighted by:
inside a black apple

thinking about:
baking peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies

busy busy

sorry, i don't mean to be so quiet this week. it's just that my life hasn't been terribly exciting. it has pretty much revolved around sitting at my desk and working working working! i've seriously gotten so much done...i feel pretty good about it. but that feeling lasts for about 35 seconds and then i remember that it's nowhere near enough. i still have SO MUCH left to do. btw: for those new around here (hi! it's lovely to see so many new faces!!) i'm doing all this work in preparation for the one of a kind show that starts at the end of november and runs for 11 days. it's pretty intense (the prep and the show itself).

i just remembered that i sort of took that hiatus from the blog around the ooak last year. i don't think i posted a picture of my booth. let me see if i can find it on my computer.... found it!

and here's a teensy peek at what i've been doing this week. this might look like a lot of charms but it's only one batch of several that i've finished up in the last few days. i hand-draw every single charm individually. these will eventually become hairpins and earrings.

i'm waiting to take a picture of all of the charms in my little supply box when each compartment is filled up. here's a little sneak peek:

*****
i'm off to my mom's on saturday so i'm going to say "have a good weekend" now.

have a good weekend!