books and more books

For those of you who know me in real life or if you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that last year I got the most awesome job in the world...teacher-librarian in an elementary school. I can't even tell you how great it is to be surrounded by books all morning and to see kids genuinely excited about books. Yeah, it's pretty great.

I had the good fortune of stumbling upon the loveliest blog this morning. It's called Bookshelf Porn and the name is just so fitting! Please, do yourself a favour and go browse through their archives. You won't be disappointed. So much booky awesomeness awaits you there. Like pretty shelves arranged by colour.

And rooms you'd want to spend a rainy afternoon in.

How could anyone want to buy an e-reader after seeing a beautiful website like this?

(all images from bookshelfporn.com)

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.

learning to sew

After years of wishing I knew how to sew, I'm finally going to do something about it. Carla and I both signed up for Home Ec, an online sewing class. I think it runs for 5 weeks with a new project each day. Intensive, yes. But luckily the lessons will stay up on the blog for a year so I can work away at them at my own pace.

I'm hoping to get started on the first project today...table napkins. I just have to pre-wash my ric-rac. I didn't even know you had to pre-wash trim but I've already learned that from the course. Yay!

I've been squirreling away vintage fabric, mostly vintage sheets & pillowcases, for years in hopes that someday I'd learn how to sew and be able to make something wonderful from them. Here is the stash I've collected, all freshly washed and ready to become something amazing!


The only problem is that I'm a bit afraid to cut into them!

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

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.