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Merry Christmas people!

I hope everyone has a safe cozy warm holiday. I am officially in vacation mode! The coffee is brewing, my mum is here and the knitting is poised. One last crafty item, I made these wee creamers for my co-workers (and the tea pot for me and Paul for now). I drew on them with that Porcelaine pen you can bake to set. One last housey item, this jolly cabinet someone was tossing out! It was just what the kitchen needed. It's a bit ratty and beat up which we quite like actually. It didn't even have a wierd smell or anything. You can see the strange tiles on the wall a bit and the floor too, which were here when we moved in. The picture isn't the best, but you can also see my cool "autolite batteries" sign that has hooks for hanging junk on.

Anyway, all the best to you all! :) see you in 2007

xoxo

thrift magic - pre santa

click to see the full goodness!

Would you look at this?? My brother has a rental car so he was kind enough to go on a wild goose chase looking for a fabled new Value Village in the north west part of the city on Saturday. We had a pile of junk to donate and then went in to spend money on yet more junk. I found this whack of stickers! Not just any stickers, but the cute kind I like! It was one of those moments when my heart leapt and I grabbed the packet to me before anyone else could see how awesome they were. Ofcourse no one was near me, but still. All for $1.99. Some of the packets each had stickers that said $6.00 or even $7.00. Woo!

These are 3 of my favorite ones because they remind me of dim sum! Also the medical themed ones I remember drooling over at this shop I like to go to, but was too mean to buy for myself at the time. Sweet thrift fairies watching over me again! I swear, often something I like but am too mean to buy full price, will often later appear at a thrift store for me I also found this great toy making book, which I know I have seen in blogland because I recognise the jaunty racoon and smart squirrel. It's a good thing part of the cover was left or I would not have even noticed it. There was also a fair isle knitting book, but I left it. Who am i kidding? I will save fair isle knitting for a time when I am more patient. Plus one crazy 70's polyester shirt with rows of colored cars and houses on it that is in the wash just now. Groovy baby.

I gave this guy a sleepy face, maybe to help the 1 year old it is for sleep better? We can hope! This the the final application for the baby zodiac stuff. A baby names booklet put out by Today's Parent Magazine.

♥ Thank-you all SO much for all the kind comments about those stamps! That made me smile a ton! Suddenly I feel sheepish that all I talk about on this blog is ME ME ME! But then I think "Isn't that the point of blogs?" and assume I just have PMS again and am overly sheepish in general- ;) thanks!!!

my own stamps!

It is hard to get a good shot of this, but these are rubber stamps of my drawings! As far as I know, they are not for sale in North America, but in Taiwan. The talented Denice contacted me to help her with this project for "Personal Sentiments" - a scrapbooking company in Asia. I have never seen stamps in this format before- a clear sticky backed image you can peel and adhere to an acrylic block (not shown). Really neat! Here you can see the lovely package Denice put together for me with a beautiful handmade- and stamped!- card, lovely patterned papers, buttons and of course my stamps all in a pretty box. I am not sure why I waited so long to post about it. I think I was trying to think of a good way to photograph it, but in the end staight up was the best way. She promises to let me know if and when they become available for sale on the internet somewhere. I was so happy to do this project as I have loved stamps since I was a little girl. I still have Sanrio stamps my dad brought me back from a business trip to Japan, a frog stamp I bought with my own allowance and tons of silly stamps bought over the years.
Thanks Denice! You made one of my creative dreams come true!
:)

new labels and a sock

My new labels came today! I like these ones. I decided to change them from the last order just for fun. On a side note, I added a search widget to my sidebar. It's so handy for finding stuff, like the label post, in my archves! Oh technology!

My brother is here! It's so nice to have family in our home again. It is a bit empty feeling with only the two of us. Especially at this time of year! Yay.

I finished another wee sock yesterday as well. A nice pink one with no ribbing. I was thinking of felting it and using it as a Christmas decoration, or maybe just as a Christmas stocking for the cats. Maybe put some (whisper) catnip in it for them. They go NUTS for that stuff. I could even just give it to them plain though as well. The boy cat has this odd love of sucking and chewing wooly things like socks. I lost my favorite snowflake hat that way! I think it is a siamese thing, but I try and avoid that as it is bad for his tummy. As an aside, because of this sock class I learned the long tail cast on method which is so much nicer than whatever ramshackle method I was using. It leaves a lovely woven edge, not so loopy.

W.I.P.

This here is meant to be a big cuddly rabbit with a fat tummy. He is based on a lovely guy I saw in a shop over the weekend and is a gift for a certain baby-nearly a boy- I know and love. Last night I was just consumed by making him even though I was super sleepy and achey, I just couldn't stop! Now I have to make his face just right, always the hardest part for me. I wanted him to be quite big, so he is very huggable and soft, nearly as big as the boy.

Behold! My first sock ever! The sock class on Saturday was great and I am so pleased to have learned this. It means now I can always have a pair on the go. It is a baby size, so we could finish it during the class but we were given a free adult pattern which I bought the wool for and have wrapped up for Christmas from Santa. It's under the tree! ( we got our tree on Staurday night and I only broke one of Paul's vintage ornaments-sigh. )

This is what the Table looked like halfway through the class and after I was souped up on a coffee I didn't really need.

On my walk home I spotted this happy little guy in an empty shop window.

Last night I finally tackled my stained sweater project. I had a spot right by the zipper and had been envisioning sewing hearts on it. I used the leftovers of a fulled/felted sweater I had used to make this shrug a while back.

one for you, 2 for me

Amazon page Amazon page

What is it about Christmas time that inspires a gal to buy presents for herself? Once again, Amazon Japan helpfully emailed me the latest news and I promptly followed instructions and ordered these two beautiful books. They are from Santa. I do more or less have everyone's gifts accounted for so I dont feel SO bad. Last night I wrestled the shelf we had in the hall closet used for sheets and put it beside the bed. I have been dreaming about having a book shelf there for a few months now. The bedsheets are up on the high shelf in the closet now and I finally have all my diaries out again! All 70 of them, yes 70. I have been writing since I was in grade 4 and sometimes I like to browse through old ones to see how far ( or not ) I have come. I am so comforted, being able to look beside me in bed and see my favorite books! Diaries on the bottom shelf, second shelf for a pile of books waiting in the wings ( some kind soul at work has been leaving read novels for people - me- to read ) and the top shelf is for my treasured comfort books like all the above I now have. My collection includes Stockholm Kitchens - my first and most beloved,Stockholm Kids rooms, London Kitchens and Paris Kitchens. Do I have a problem?
Also On the shelf is my favorite book 14 000 things to be happy about, among a bunch of others.

I found these little guys in a pile of watercolors I did last year sometime. I don't think they have been here before!

I am hoping I have made a good decision today in turning down a big project. In my world, there is no reliability on illustration work, so turning something down seems CRAZY. This job was for a really good cause and so I wanted to do it. When I got the brief though, the amount of work they would need by January 8th seemed like much more than I could manage with Christmas and my other projects. I have my brother coming on Dec. 11 and my Mum on Dec 21st. I don't want to be spending my precious little time with them fussing over how to depict something in two different ways for two 4 x 5 foot posters. And that was only 1/10 of the work needed. The second part of the equation was that because it was for a charity, I would not be able to quote the fee I normally would and would feel frazzled and overworked all through December. If it were for one or two straightforward images, I might even donate my time because I really support the work this group does, but this looked like it may become an unwieldy octopus of details and images. SIGH!

So here I sit, in my chilly studio, wondering if I have made a silly error in judgement or done something smart to protect my mental health...only time will tell.

And time now to carry on to two little nice jobs I have on the go as well as think fondly of the socks I can knit after I have taken my sock class on saturday. It also occurred to me that a pair of fingerless mitts might be in order for working in the day in here. Brrr! It is lovely to have projects waiting in the wings. Also, I am so exited that our new neighbors are two groovy nice people with 2 wee babes. The mum likes to knit and we are scheming to have a knitting night . Bliss!

wool and liquor

I was asked to help spread the word abot this cool event in Toronto on sunday.

here is the blurb!

"Get crafty + creative while listening to funky beats when Ottawa's Spins
& Needles Craft + DJ Night comes to Toronto for the first time. For
all creative types, who want to work on projects, bounce ideas off one
another, hear some funky music, and get their drink on.

Dive into the craft bins, bring your own art/craft project, or using the
materials provided work on featured projects:
-DIY plush monsters
-hip holiday stockings
-tile drink coasters."

I think I want to go - does anyone else? email me at tania howells at yahoo dot ca if you do and maybe we can hook up. It should be fun!
It usually happens in ottawa and here is their website - Spins and needles

Phew! I am back again.
I had a great week and feel so much better than I had been feeling.

This is a shot of the St. Andrews Church crafty sale. Though my sales were ho-hum, being in the space was so pleasant, and lots of my favorite friends were there too.

This is my table at the CBC craft sale, which is always really fun for me because all my co-workers come down to say hello. Paul came by on his lunch to bring me cake ♥ and Karina visited me with a cookie and some tea! Very nice.

The best part is always ofcourse the other work you find to buy and trade. There were these two adorable Portuguese grannies selling piles of crochetted crafty stuff and I could not resist this wee peg lady and this sweet teapot embroidery, which together set me back a whopping $6. They had a pile of stuff I wanted like a mini knitting basket with wool and needles- seriously mini. All kinds of funny pincushions, walnut shell santas and mice, hats, crochetted covers for things. I love all the granny stuff. It's so old school.

We have had Eva here for 10 days during the OOAK show which has been fun. We spent one afternoon visiting Kas, her new baby and her Mum. The three of us have been friends since grade 1 and this baby is the first! It was great to hang out and talk all day with 3 women who have known me since I was a pip squeak. It was just what I had been needing. The baby is only 6 weeks old and as sweet as pie.

So now it's back to business. I am glad the sales are out of the way and I can make things for just fun. I have a bunch of ideas and I can now get christmassy! Hang some lights, get a tree. Woo!

Plus,
the Christmas cards are now on sale till X-mas! They are $13 for a pack of nine, down from $18.