Morning off!

I love my job! Oh sure, I like to complain, and it really isn't a job so much as graduate school work ... but I love it. And today's just another good example of why. It's raining out. I mean, really pouring. I don't have an umbrella, and even though I only live about a 5 minute walk away, I'm not heading in until the weather lets up a bit. I'm afraid it's going to be soon... but I'm hoping not!

In the meantime, I figured I'd update my blog and post a few items on Etsy. Maybe get some much needed cleaning done... maybe. Certainly I won't be getting any real work done, even though I should and could.

Wednesday, I donated blood to a girl who's also in graduate school. She needed some monocytes in order to differentiate them into dendritic cells, and use them for a Crohn's disease study. Sounds cool enough, and she has trouble recruiting donors, so I figured why not. $10 for 100mL... that isn't so bad. Stupid me forgot to eat breakfast that morning though. Big mistake. After 80mL, I was so lightheaded they had to stop. The poor girl had to go get me an orange juice, and I had to sit with my head down for a while (it was just in a lab, so I was sitting on a stool, not lying down to give blood). But, in the end, it wasn't so bad. I got most of the morning off then too! Hahaha, oh the life of a research student!Anyway, I posted some new earrings. I've called them fairy dust, because the silver really brings out the translucent magic of the rose quartz rounds. I made these ones after I made these very similar earrings in brass: I'm calling these ones fairy rust... although they aren't rusted, the brass gives the quartz a more vintage, classic feel to them. This is officially a sneak peak, as I will be posting these in the very near future!

Item of the day!

I haven't featured a shop in a long time, mostly because I've been neglecting my blog. So today I'm going to show you a few sizzling hot favourites of mine by sarahminshall. This bright orange pouch features leave in hot pink to make a great colour combination for summer. The lines of sewing just add to its charm.Now that pouch would go nicely in this pretty warm button tree tote bag. Anyone who's glanced through my shop knows I love buttons, and I just love this warm colour combination. The pattern of the lining fabric is also gorgeous and complementary. Speaking of bright orange, red and yellow... this spark pillow is sure to inject some fun into any room! I love the polka dots, flowers and little red mushrooms. Make sure to take a look at all the pictures in the listing ~ you can see that the back is solid red with a sweet yellow ribbon bow.

Brand new!

As I mentioned, yesterday was my 7 year anniversary (since we've been dating, I didn't get married at 14!)... and Pat got me flowers!
OK, so I asked for some. He still went and picked some gorgeous ones out. :)


I've also been posting new items daily. Just this morning I posted my first ever mixed-media collage!
I made this by covering a recycled piece of cardboard with soft yellow paper. The back is covered in a cheery polka-dot and flower print:
I used buttons, a rafia bow, a short piece of ribbon, a clipping from an old book that says "worth going a long way to see.", and layers of patterned paper and fibrous paper to create interest and depth. I really like how it turned out ... and my pictures really don't do it justice. Why don't you check it out?

7 Years!

It's my 7 year anniversary today! <3 Pat and I have been together for 1/3 of my lifetime... I love him so much! :)

Not sure if we have any plans for tonight... I told him to surprise me. We were supposed to have Thai for lunch, but the place was closed. Oh well. It was still nice having lunch with him.

Back to work today

I've been off all summer, since my last exam. But finally, I am heading back to the lab to start my Master's. After being off for more than 2 months, I'm a little less than excited... But after this week of adjustment, I think it'll be ok. It will be good to be productive again. To start thinking of science again.

But this week is going to SUCK!

NEW NOTEBOOK!!!

I haven't made a "real" notebook since Christmas. I've made accordion-style memory notebooks (my mom loved the one I customized for Mother's Day), mini-notebooks and recycled, Japanese stab-bound notebooks... but no real handsewn notebooks.

Until now!Meet my happy little hedgehog. Isn't he sweet? He's adorning the front cover of this notebook, which is bound in white with a light gray rose pattern. He's sitting on a square of black denim-look paper. The inside covers are bound in a light yellow square pattern, with this dedication tag on the inside front cover:
It's hard to read, but the sticker says "you are my sunshine my only sunshine / you make me happy when skies are gray." So sweet. My mom and gramma used to sing that tune to me when I was little.

I just posted him today. Go check him out, and if you hurry you might snag him at 20% off because I'm having a Canada Day week-long sale (on until July 7)!

Happy Canada Day SALE!

Happy Canada Day!

I'm having a week-long sale! Come check it out!

The Canada Day button bracelet is marked to 40% off! Pick it up today and celebrate year round!

All other button bracelets are buy one get one FREE!

All other items, including notebooks, tags and jewelry, are 20% off all week! Just pay as usual and I'll send a refund.

I'm addicted

To more than one thing... but right now I'm talking about these paper globes. They are SO much fun to make! I've made 3 today: the one I posted earlier, a silver-turquoise-raspberry one and a summer red and blue one.First I made this silvery one. The base colour (8 circles) is a shiny silver paper. The complementary patterns include 2 of each: turquoise flower pattern, raspberry with tiny pale pink dots, black and white rose print, white with light blue flowers, white with a pink/burgundy/green flowery pattern and a burgundy/pink stripe. I hung it with a black ribbon. It turned out very nicely... I'm thinking of keeping this one to myself as well....

But this one, the third one, will be posted! I can only fill my small apartment with so many paper globes before Pat starts to question my sanity.

This one is really fun ~ all of the patterns I used are very summery. I also chose not to use a single pattern as a "base pattern"... although I do have 4 circles in the blue and white stripes. All the other patterns consist of 2 circles: red with black dots; red and white checkers with "picnic time", ants and ladybugs in the checks; white with multi-coloured summer picnic words and small pictures; blue gingham; a blue diamond pattern; a red, green, gold and blue retro flower pattern; dark blue with white and light blue flowers and a brightly coloured stripe pattern. This one hangs on a thin red ribbon. It turned out very nicely! I thought it might be too much with so many patterns, but I think it looks pretty.

So much fun! I'm pleased with all I got done today, even after making these three globes. I finished my notebook ~ an actual notebook! I haven't made one of those since Christmas time!!! It was nice to have the time to actually sew one up again. I also did some dishes, posted some new purple earrings on Etsy, printed some papers I'll need to read before I head in for work on Wednesday and cleaned up a bit. What a great day ~ and tomorrow is Canada Day, so Pat's off. Yay!!!

Happy Canada Day everyone!