09-30-05

thank you so much everyone for the super nice things you've been saying in my comments! i can't tell you how happy it makes me to open it up and see so many kind words everyday! this whole blog world is just so crazy and cool and inspiring every single day. i've found many of your blogs through the comments you've left for me and i'm just constantly amazed by the wonderful things you're doing and talking about over in your part of the world. having such creative and interesting new friends comment on my blog is a little overwhelming sometimes, but i'm just happy if maybe i can return the inspiration or enjoyment your blogs bring me. so, thanks again guys! i'm a lucky girl indeed....

that said, i have been terribly delinquint in updating my links. (can you believe i have only done it once since i started this blog in the winter? shameful.). i am going to sit down and try to remember how to do that this weekend. promise!

and so here's what i left the house wearing this morning.


*generic black t: local store (chockey's)
*olive green cardi: canadian chain (winners)
*red sundress: thrifted
*orange skirt peeking underneath: urban outfitters
*stripey kneehighs
*black maryjanes: payless
*brown scarf: knit by me
*6 wood bead bracelets: me
*1" button on cardigan that says "crafty kid" (from a zine fair awhile back)

have a great weekend!!!
xo krissy

09-29-05

this was my post to the flickr group today:



sweater: thrifted (see pic of button detail on the neck & shoulder)
cropped pinstripe pants: urban outfitters
plaid tie (as belt): local crafter (demoiselle)
blue argyle kneehighs
black maryjanes: payless
6 wooden bracelets: made by me

button detail on sweater:


i got the sweater on saturday at the value village in the 'burbs but forgot to post a picture of it.

my latest obsession!

i cannot get enough of this new group over at flickr called wardrobe remix!! a couple of weeks ago, tricia from bits and bobbins started photographing her outfit everyday. i think someone suggested that she start up a "daily outfit" group at flickr. i can't begin to tell you how inspiring it is to see how people are putting together colours/textures and accessorizing...all that fashion-y jazz. it's better than a fashion magazine...i swear to you!

it's sooo hard to narrow it down but these are just a few of my favourite outfits so far.

cute wrap dress!

i like everything this girl wears.

i need to try this. i've had a cute striped tie sitting around for a year.

crazy layering makes everything look interesting.

and just one of the many wicked outfits from the girl who started the ball rolling...

(i finally mustered up the courage to participate---although it was a bit daunting at first with so many stylish people over there--here's one that i've posted to the group)

from yesterday:

taking a breather

i've had my nose to the grindstone (so to speak) making stock for the one of a kind show. i hate to say it, but expect abnormal delays between posts for the next little while. i have so. much. to do. wah!

i did take a break for some thrifting with the hubby on saturday and a bit more today. on saturday we hit a value village in the 'burbs that was a friggin' gold mine! paul actually bought more than i did. today i ventured into one of those church thriftstores and found some good stuff for DIRT CHEAP! (it was also a 50% off day i didn't even expect!)









(here's a couple of pages from the "pattern book" in the picture above. you may need to click it for a closer look)


wanna know my new theories about thrifting?
1. suburbs are good to hit because less competition from the downtown hipsters
2. church thrift stores are hot because little old religious ladies take their stuff there (or their families do, uh, if you know what i mean...) and there's tonnes of goodies they've been hoarding for DECADES!
3. the folks at the church stores maybe don't really know what they've got and price everything randomly (vs. goodwill/vintage clothing stores who've learned what's hip & coveted by the masses)

shhh...don't let those tips get out or else there won't be anything left for you! (*wink*)

bedroom gets a makeover

yesterday my hubby surprised me! he spent hours setting up a fun little area for me above my dresser in the bedroom. the cool thing is that he did it all ENTIRELY with things we already had around the house.
lookie!


here are some detail shots:








paul downloaded the pictures of madonna, cyndi lauper and scott baio from the internet. i think he was inspired by this room. i'm going to expand the wall with a bunch of pictures of my other idols from my childhood. either that or i might just put up a bunch of framed pics of early madonna. i'm usually all about the indierock except when it comes to her. that's when i revert back to a 12-year old all over again! : )

snazzy update

i have a whole bunch of new goodies up on snazzygirl! go take a peek....

when blog worlds collide

this afternoon paul & i took our doggy noah across town to the annex to check out a super cool craft show. all of the booths were jam-packed with eyecandy goodness. sparkley beads, colourful belts, sublime pottery, and bold patterns on everything from postcards to purses. i seriously could have gone crazy if i had brought more money with me.

there were some great people there too...some you probably know. karissa cove (of the classic "i'm foxy AND crafty aprons) was there with a whole new batch of accessories like purses with colourful hearts and girly clutch purses. i bought a birdy pouch i've had my eye on since her old "crackers and honey" website. yay!!!


a display that caught my eye straight away was from a local designer i'd never seen before named "smitten kitten". this woman is multi-talented creating a potpourri of lovely goodies like dangly earrings and delicate flower brooches which i think might be called kanzashi. she also makes the greatest stationery from vintage wallpaper and fabric. i snatched up 2 of the most adorable postcards...they're going to be framed and hung on the wall in the studio.


but without a doubt, the highlight of the day was finally meeting the lovely tania howells whose blog has been on my "daily read" list in my favourites for close to a year now. i'm sure a bunch of you know her from her little space on the web and you know what, she's as smiley and sweet as you would expect her to be.


anyhow, tania was at the craft show selling a mountain of stuff based on her clever illustrations. i swear i wanted one of everything. but i was bugging out with delight at being able to adopt her adorable little felt softie bird that i believe she said she made for a month of softies awhile back. "smitten kitten" saw that i had him with me and was a bit jealous that i snapped him up before she had a chance to go back. i promise wilbur will have a good home though!

also at the fair was another blogger whose journal i read ALL. THE. TIME...laural from thimble. it was cool to meet her in real life too. she had her wonderful knitting needle rolls for sale and i wanted one sooooooo badly but i had already bought 2 things and only had a bit of pocket change and lint left. boo.

but here's a picture of all the great handmade swag i did score on my very limited budget of $20.


more good news...noah was quite well behaved!

still here...just quiet

i haven't posted much this week (have i even posted at all? i'm not sure). a combination of reasons, really.

* i've been busy with my first week back to work (not sure if i've mentioned it here before but i'm a teacher at a public school during the morning). i'm teaching a few new things this year so i've been doing a bit of research so i can get things straight in my head while i plan out the year.

* i've been enjoying long walks at the beach with noah every afternoon. good exercise for both of us!

* i've also been busy getting another order together for a store. (can't seem to keep those mixed tape earrings in stock, it seems! yay!) i'm also working out a couple of new designs for the show i'm doing at christmas. (they're looking promising.)

* i've just been a bit overwhelmed with the whole situation in new orleans and the gulf coast. the news coverage is just so depressing. it makes me sick to see all of those people stranded with nothing, absolutely nothing. now every celebrity is down there and i don't know if it's a positive thing that they're there kissing babies and hugging mothers...the skeptic in me thinks they're there for press. i hope i'm wrong.

anyhow, just wanted to let everyone who's still reading that i'm still around.

lots of fun stuff happening this weekend...i'm sure i'll have a ton of pictures to post!

is it just me...

...or is everybody seeing little red x's where my (older) pictures should be? i haven't been posting for days because i've been trying to find out why i can't see any of my pictures all of a sudden. i hate little red x's. also, can you see my new avatar? i was getting x's for that too...

anyhow, the last little while has been pretty busy. i sent out 3 orders last week which was extremely exciting! i had so much fun packing everything up and making trips to my local post office. i've read so many comments on other blogs about how mean the folks are at their postal outlet but i love mine. they're always smiley and chatty.

paul & i went to two parties on saturday, which is two more than we homebodies usually attend. first we went to a bbq for the guys he plays hockey with. now ordinarily i wouldn't really be excited about hanging out with a bunch of hockey boys but they don't play for a typical hockey league. paul plays in the exclaim hockey league which is for local people in the music scene. we brought over veggie kebabs to put on the grill, just like my mom made for us when we went to visit her. they were delish. good food and fun times.

after the bbq, we went to party #2 at andrew & sabine's place. it worked out perfectly because that was a *desert* party! sabine made the most delicious cream puffs and tarts. we had such a great time there chatting and laughing for hours.

on sunday we went to see "the 40-year old virgin", mainly because we LOVE steve carrell. it was pretty good and had lots of funny parts but we both thought NOW magazine was a bit generous to give it 4 out of 5 N's.

last night we finally brought up all of our books that have been living in cardboard boxes in the basement since we moved in last year. the problem was that we wanted to paint our living room before investing in a bookshelf. a couple weeks ago we found the exact bookshelf we wanted in the "as is" department of ikea for $40!! now we finally have all of our books upstairs feeling loved again.



hope everyone's having a super labour day! (or "labor day" for my american friends....) i'm back to school tomorrow. wah!

babies and thrifting

you'd think they wouldn't go together. but yesterday when paul and i drove to newmarket to spend the day at a baby shower for my step-sister, we arrived in town way too early. i hate being the first one to arrive anywhere and the party wasn't even scheduled to start for 20 minutes. what to do but hop in the car and find the local thrift store!

i've never torn through so fast in my life. i came out with these treasures...




afterwards we headed to the shower which was lots of fun! so much fun catching up with family.

as you can see, i'm an excellent aunt.

he's laughing...really.

open for business!!!

i'm happy (and way too excited) to announce that i've finally put some jewellery and accessories up for sale on my etsy shop!

feel free to go and browse (and of course buy if you'd like!)...

wheeeeeeee!

puzzled

before the cbc was in lockout mode, i heard an interesting story on the radio about the latest craze from japan.... a puzzle similar to a crossword except it uses numbers and logic (vs. knowledge). i tried to remember what it was called so i could google it when i got home but of course it had vanished from my memory.....until i was standing in line at the bookstore a couple of days ago and the woman in front of me began shrieking in excitement to her friend upon finding a book of sudoku puzzles. that's when i remembered what that story was all about.

last night i googled "sudoku" and found a site that has daily puzzles & solutions archived. i printed one off and gave it a go before bedtime. it took me about an hour to get this teeny bit done.

you may want to note that this particular puzzle is labelled "easy". ha! still, it was so much fun and a great way to keep the brain nimble. i can't wait to finish this one and print out more!

info about that great book

hee hee, so glad to see a lot of people inspired by that book i bought yesterday. this morning i posted so quickly that i forgot to add some links for you if you're interested in finding it.

it's published by annick press (in canada) and it costs $14.95 can / $12.95 us
i found it on amazon.com and it's actually even cheaper if you order through them ($10.36 us for the paperback)!

hope that helps...

impulse buy of the day

yesterday i was browsing around in one of my favourite bookstores in the city and found this book i just had to have.


i actually found it in the childrens' section! it is pure eye candy...and it's crammed full of ideas for deconstructing sweaters to make armwarmers, scarves, mittens, slippers, skirts, hats, and other kinds of sweaters. there are also little tutorials on embroidery stitches, knitting, and crochet. my head is swimming with ideas of what to try first.

the other thing i love about this book is that they actually use models that are real. some have little bellies and are not rail-thin. (check out the girl on the cover.) i think that's especially important since it's a book targeted to teens.

i wish i could take a picture of every page to show you how amazing this book looks, but here's a couple to look at...
i love the red & green combination of this skirt


another cool skirt with crocheted flower appliques

happy monday

from our neighbourhood bakery


paulie bought them from our neighbourhood bakery on his way home from work. cupcakes are a nice way to start the week.

kids being kids

before we bought our house last year, we lived in an area of the city known as "the annex". the annex is a fairly well-to-do neighbourhood located close to the university. houses there pretty much start at $600,000 which clearly explains why we bought elsewhere. the funny thing about the annex is that the whole time we rented there, we never ever saw kids outside playing. they weren't playing on the sidewalk, in the front yards and most definitely not playing on the street.

then we moved to a neighbourhood where homes were...um, more reasonably priced. i guess you could say we live in a part of the city that is a little "rough around the edges". don't get me wrong, it's not dangerous or scary. the people who live here are just very different from the people who live in the annex. and that's just fine with us.

one of the things we noticed right away is that kids in this neighbourhood actually go outside and play! they are always out riding their bikes, skateboarding, playing catch or just hanging out with their friends. it's not unusual to see them outside playing after 10pm (in the summer). i love it! it totally reminds me of my childhood when i would play outside until dark when mom or dad would call me to come in.

that's why it totally made my day to see what the neighbourhood kids did this afternoon when the city was blasted with a major downpour. while adults ran from their car to the house clutching an umbrella for protection, kids tore out of their homes hooting and hollering...in their bathing suits! i looked outside the studio window to see what the commotion was all about.

this is what i saw!

jumping in puddles



running up the street in the rain

is there a happier sight than kids being allowed to just be kids!?

ratgirl news

i just found out that i'm the feature designer today at snazzygirl.com! wheee!

today i....

* got my bangs cut


* honked my support for the cbc workers on the picket line

* ate yummy leftovers from last night's dinner: sweet potato & apricot pilaf (from this book that my cousin michele & her husband deutsch gave me)


* took noah to the farmer's market


* worked on an order for the rage

* finally received my contract for the christmas one of a kind show...it's official...i'm in!

gardening and the best take-out ever!

despite our woeful gardening abilities, we somehow managed to grow 2 extremely healthy cherry tomato plants this summer. every couple of days there are oodles of tomatos ready to be harvested in our backyard.



we put them in a salad last night and they were so delicious! really sweet!

we also had the most amazing take-out this week. there is a great little chinese restaurant in our neighbourhood that is completely vegetarian and specializes in mock meat. we've had the mock shrimp before and it was really good! this time we tried the sweet & sour mock duck. i don't know if it tasted like duck because...well, i've never eaten real duck before but i can tell you it was really yummy!

i can't stop thinking about this meal...seriously!

tagged, i'm it

many many days ago, i was tagged for the very first time by tania. my mission, should i choose to accept, is to complete this.
id•i•o•syn•cra•sy - a structural or behavioural characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. Write down 5 of your own idiosyncrasies, then if you wish, tag 5 people.
after much thought, i've come up with 5 slightly bizarre facts about myself. here then, i bring you....

the five idiosyncrasies of krissy

Y i must get in and out of bed on the same side

Y i refuse to bite into corn on the cob. i'll only eat it after i've cut all of the kernels off the cob. (in a similar vein, i also don't bite into fruit like apples, peaches, pears. i only eat them after i've cut them into wedges.)

Y when i read a magazine, i don't peek ahead. i start at the first page and read my way through to the end. i even read the message from the editor & letters from readers

Y my sense of smell is almost non-existent. yet strangely, i am able to taste food. there are a limited number of things i can smell: campfires, chopped celery, vanilla (sometimes), and my dog when he needs a bath. that's pretty much it.

Y i don't have a problem with any food mixing together...except with rice. rice cannot touch any other food AT. ALL. if even one or two grains find its way onto another food i have to move it right away because it totally grosses me out.

(might i be a tad OCD?)

that was fun!

anyhow, i hope i don't lose any friends here (not sure if people like being tagged or not) but i'm going to gently suggest a tag to carla, dk, robin, and nadia. i would have tagged erika, but the poor girl has been "it" a few times already this week. and just like tania said, no pressure here, ladies!