Really Good(will)

Last weekend, the mascot and I made a trip to the Exchange District for lunch and a little shopping. After a sharing the vegan pizza special and a plate of Southern Fried (baked) Tofu at Mondragon, we wandered over to the Goodwill Store on Princess. I was looking for an old encyclopedia and came out with this:


Vintage books, a small felt "Toronto" pennant and a much-coveted box of scrabble tiles.


Books, books, books!


More books!


Vintage games including "Hi Ho Cherry O" and an awesome auction game.


This is perhaps my favourite find of all - a framed collection of Girl Guide merit badges from the mid-1950s. :sigh:

Total cost for everything shown (plus a set of bowling glasses): $14.

I kid you not.

Off to a great start!

Last night was the first of my holiday craft sales, held at the home of the wonderful and talented Emmsgems. Even though it wasn't quite the turnout that she had been hoping for, I made a few bucks and it was a nice, low-key way to kick-off the season. Plus, the company (and the assortment of goodies) was excellent!

Next up is the Grosvenor School Christmas Craft Sale on November 7th. I am planning to take the usual pins and pendants, pillows, and mirrors, but I would also like to add a few more stationary items to the mix. I have a great idea for some note/message pads that I think will do really well...especially at a low price-point. I think I might have to extend Craftober into Crochember.

Here's how the rest of my sale schedule is looking:

Cre8ery Gallery Open House and Sale
2nd floor – 125 Adelaide St.
Saturday, Nov 21st

W.E.S.T.Sale
Costume Museum of Canada
109 Pacific Ave
Friday, Nov 27th

Creative Collection Craft Sale
Crescentwood CC
1170 Corydon Ave
Sunday, Nov 29th

WPG Folk Fest Craft Sale
the Folk Exchange
211 Bannatyne (@ Albert)
Saturday, Dec 5th 11am-5pm

This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Craft Sale
Park Theatre
698 Osborne Street
Sunday, Dec 13th

I am really excited about all of these sales. I picked them based on their "coolness factor" and I think I chose well. This is my first Christmas as a crafter and I am setting the bar high!

Cards, cards, cards!

Fun with vintage pattern envelopes!


Birthday card - front

Birthday card - back


Birthday card - front

Birthday card - back

And so it starts...

The first of my holiday sales is coming up next Monday. My lovely and talented friend Emily of Emm's Gems will be hosting her annual sale on October 19th at 6:00pm. I will be there with pins, Altoids Albums, pillows, cards and whatever I can come up with over the next 6 days.


Green Lollipops in the Woodsy Forest Long Necklace by Emm's Gems

For more information, visit the event's Facebook page or email me!

Stalking the Wild, Blue Yudu

I have been trying to win an Ebay auction for a Yudu machine since somewhere around the 3rd week of August. I was obsessed with it for a while - watching multiple items, bidding like a crazy person, rearranging my schedule to coincide with auction end-times. Sadly, nothing worked. I was out-bid again and again. I gave up on the idea for a little while, but two weeks ago I decided to persue it again (albeit with a much-smaller level of dedication). I finally got lucky the other night (oooh!) and snagged a machine for the bargain price of $167.50 + s&h*. I can't wait for it to get here...



*Oddly, I received a GST cheque for almost exactly the same amount the next day. Weird, right?

Pin-up Girl

As promised, this is the finished frame that I made for my pin-up girl. It started with a $3.50 frame from Michael's, which I tarted up with some flocked paper, Mod Podge and black acrylic paint. The inspiration came from the picture itself. Or, rather, the black lace undies in the picture.



I love how it came out, but I am having second thoughts about putting her in the bathroom. Not because I'm concerned about steam, but because I might never get my son out of there if I do. ;-)

Craftober!

I have officially declared this month "Craftober". It will be followed by "$alevember" which, in turn, shall be followed by "Crochember". The last two I will deal with later; our focus right now is Craftober. Focus, focus, focus!

"What is this Craftober thing all about?" Well, Craftober is all about crafts (duh). To be more specific, it is all about making the 757987 crafty things that are needed for the month of $alevember (aka Mama-needs-a-new-pair-of-shoes and/or pay-the-mortgage). My goal for the next 4 weeks or so is to do something crafty each and every day. No matter what.

I still have to work out the exact details regarding what I'm making and how much of everything I will need for the sales, but that will happen once I have all of my sales confirmed. For now, though, let's see how I'm doing:

Oct 1 - made 2 birthday cards and painted 2 little frames (for my room)
Oct 2 - 28 domino pendant bases, glued and trimmed
Oct 3 - made 1 flowered scarf-lace (crochet)
Oct 4 - made 1 pair of fingerless gloves (crochet)
Oct 5 - started a pair of gloves, but frogged them. Finished painting cameo mirror frames (6 coats! what??)
Oct 6 - added text to cameos. Made a small collage "How to make Hairpin Lace" and a tiny tag/bag collage "No Shred".
Oct 7 - made 3 "birdhouse" AOTCs that may become note cards...
Oct 8 - I did *something*...but what?
Oct 9 - made 3 birthday cards
Oct 10 - Made a dozen "middles" for Altoids albums (and a complete one for Dad), glazed 25 pendants (1st coat)
Oct 11 - decorated a cake (ok, that technically doesn't count)
Oct 12 - crocheted 2 pr pinky-red handwarmers, glazed pendants, glued 9 Altoids albums/tins
Oct 13 - glued bails to 12 pendants, cut out paper and 3 pages of words for domino pins, crocheted 2 granny squares
Oct 14 - crocheted handwarmers
Oct 15 - made something...honest
Oct 16 - made 7 dozen domino blanks
Oct 17 - glued words and pinbacks to dominoes
Oct 18 - glazed pins, made and copied 5 new card designs
Oct 19 - folded, glued and packaged 20 sets of cards and crocheted a scarf for Susan's b-day

Too many birthdays!

October is a big month in our family. My mom, my dad, my step-mother AND the mascot all have birthdays in the 10th month. Needless to say, this is prime card-making season for me.

I made this card (below) for my mom with a couple of the vintage tobacco cards that I picked up on a recent ephemera-buying spree. The card that is tucked into the pocket has been left free, so that it can be taken out and referred to…should mumji’s chrysanthemums require staking, that is.



I love how the mascot’s card (below) turned out, too. It’s a little cheeky…just like the kid himself. The text on the front reads: “Wildly inappropriate. Utterly frustrating. Outrageously funny. Devastatingly handsome. Generous. Smart. Clever. Charming. Incredibly talented. Happy Birthday!” Inside, it says “You are all of that and more…don’t ever change! (Except maybe your socks & underwear!)”

Admit One

As soon as the leaves start to turn, turkeys start to look nervous and the towering displays of cranberry sauce appear in the grocery stores, I know that it's time for a very special day...the mascot's birthday, of course! (What were you thinking?)

This year, the kid has opted to celebrate with only two of his closest friends. They're going to take in a movie and then come back to our place for pizza, cupcakes and an all-night video game and junk-food bender. Perhaps it was with a hint of either optimism or irony that I came up with these rather subdued party invitations.



They were created with cardstock, patterned paper and an arcade ticket. The text on the front and on the inside was cut from a vintage party invitation (Thanks, Jill!!)