Just For Fun

I was feeling nostalgic and took out my brother's and my old McDonalds toys. I took this picture just for fun. I'm just posting it because I think it's a funky photo.

My Newest Victim...

Me and my husband spent this past Saturday visiting antique and thrift stores. It was probably the best way I could spend a Saturday. It was so fun. At the MCC Furniture store we found my newest victim for a make over. A couch! Now those of you have have been to my house know that there is no way we can just casually fit a 6 foot long couch in. So after purchasing the couch we sat down to think about what we just did. Our best solution right now is to nix the dinning room and turn it into a second living room. I know this might sound crazy, but honestly beside using the table to display a center piece we've used it appoxamately 4 times. Plus this will open our space up for large get togethers... which we would probably do more often then 4 times.
Anyway, this morning my husband woke me up to show me some pictures in a Dwell magazine... the couch is almost identicall to ours... except ours has a cut out wood pattern on the back (which I like better anyway). The couch is currently sitting in my parents garage, so I thought I'd post the magazine pictures to give you an idea. It currently has orange cussions but we are thinking of recovering them in white, green, purple or grey. The wood will need to be sanded and restained, I think I'll keep it a dark brown though. This will most likely be a spring project because I'll need to be outside sanding, but I am so pumped. I was already telling my husband we will need to buy another coffee table and rug. I love it... it's projects like this one that make my creative soul race with joy till I fall over panting with laughter. (Did you like that line? It made me laugh... I was trying to come up with a cool metaphor. I probably won't be adding 'poet' to my resume any day soon.) But seriously, this summer is gonna be a good one and this is just one more reason I can't wait to say good bye to the snow and ice!

Back Into Beading

I always seem to go through phases when it comes to crafts. I drift through months of scapbooking, or I'll spend my evenings working on refurbishing a dresser and now I am back into beading. I'm always looking at the jewelery section in thrift stores and have now have a pretty sweet stock of vintage beads. These two necklaces are made of all vintage pieces. The cambros in both necklaces were earrings.

My Mini Winnipeg Vacation!

Where to start... how about were we started: at the spa. We went to the Urban Oasis Spa in the basement of the Clarion Hotel. It was fun to hang out in there mineral pool and my toes look super cute now. After that we hit up Academy. We went to Shopgirl, Loca, a make-up store and a jewellery store. All super cute, but the one store I would recommend avoiding is the Eyelet Dove. We enter the store to a lady scolding us to take off our shoes. She pretty much yelled at us. After Academy we went to the Star Grill on Portage. It was a small, intimate resteraunt with a vast menu. Good food... tight spaces... kind of wierd decorating... they really took the 'star' theme to heart. We also went to EQ3, I always love visiting where my couch was born, and Five Small Rooms on Grant, and Home Sense. It was lot's of fun but it's good to be home with my hubby and puppy.

A Pre Blog

This is just a little pre-blog... 'meaning what?' you might ask. Its a little intro into my next blog. This week is my reading week, meaning I have no school! Me and my cousin, who is also in university, wanted to plan a trip with our moms and my sister to the states. A little girlie road trip... we were all excited about it, but when it came to picking dates nothing worked out. So in the end we decided on a Winnipeg retreat. We are going to the spa, staying in a hotel, dining out and shopping. And to spice things up we decided to each pick a store we have never been to, but want to go to, and visit them all... to kind of trick ourselves into thinking we went somewhere. I am pretty excited about this idea. Our little adventure begins tomorrow morning. Yipee!

Hair Flair

Easy as pie and pretty popular right now is feathers in the hair. I made my little peacock head band with this simple equation: Plastic Head Band + Peacock Feather + Hot Glue Gun = Trendy Fashion Piece. (Apparently I am into equations this week) The Flower was made from a few fake flowers, some feathers and pearls. And on a side note I hope you all appreciate that picture with my head in a mirror, took me about 2o shots to get that.

Let's Play!

I spent about an hour this morning trying to decide how to do my table. I kept putting different fabrics down, but nothing looked how I wanted. Then when I was searching in my chest I found this old game I had bought at a thrift store. (I am really into board games, new or old) That is when I got the idea to use a game board for my center piece mat. This board is from the game "Inventors", and it works perfectly because it has the lime green in it and I love the fonts used. I decided to keep my globe and two side candles, but it still looked a little empty. I wanted something to match with the brass of the orb holder, so I raided my jewelery and used my recently purchased miniature furniture pieces and this is what I came up with. To me it kind of looks like treasure.

I Take A Stand Against Souviniers!

Ok, well I am not that adamant against souvenirs, it's just lots of times people buy things in the heat of the moment... and why not, you having a great time on your vacation you want something to remember the trip by. It's just that for most of these purchases three months down the road those Mickey Mouse ear headbands, your "I Got Tipsy in Vegas" shot glass and Eiffel Tower key chain are in the trash or in your junk drawer. On my last trip out of the country, to Cuba, I decided to only buy things that I knew I would keep. So in the end me and my husband bought this painting. We love it, it totally reminds us of our trip without saying "Veradero" on it. I also bought a ring and photo album for our Cuba pictures. And all in all I don't regret the fact that I don't have a wooden cigar pipe with the country's name on it.

Mini Magnets

This was a fun easy craft... so easy it could be a kids craft! You just need:
1.those glass beads, the ones with one flat surface and a dome on the other side. The glass dome enlarges the image a little bit so it gives a kind of magnified effect.
2.magnets, I tried a dollaramma magnet roll... it did not hold up anything. Earth magnets are awesome! You can get them at Lee Valley.
3.cool paper. For some reason I have half of a Dr. Zeus book, so I cut out some pictures from there and used scrapbooking paper for the others.
4.glue. I'd recommend not using a liquid glue... either hot glue gun or glue stick.

Another One Bites The Dust..... ME!

Normally the first signs of spring bring joy to me, but not today. Today the plus 2 weather caused more strife then the weather has ever had effected my life before. I woke up to the pitter patter of water droplets.... in my dinning room! Apparently the ice built up on my roof giving the snow no where to melt but into my attic. So I spent a hour before work shoveling the snow off my roof. I only stopped because I had to catch my bus for work. So I left my house with bowls on the floor and I got to my bus stop and stayed at my bus stop for an extra twenty minutes. My bus was late. Finally, twenty minutes late my bus pulled up to work. I got off the bus and started briskly walking to work... this is where I slipped and fell flat on my butt. I sat there and thought to myself... is this the moment to break down and cry or should I shrug it off and get up and keep going. Since I knew either way I had to go to work I decided I'd probably be better off if I arrived without puffy red eyes. What a day... but my boss was totally understanding about being late, and my butt will eventually heal. My roof is still leaking, but I think my painting won't be ruined... it just needs to dry out.

The Mulvey Market

I just got back from exploring a new wonderland.... also known as the Mulvey Market. It's a flea market on Mulvey, just off Osborne. There about 40 some booths set up, selling all things vintage. I spent 17$ and walked away with two brooches, a purple vase... purple is my new accent color, and my favorite purchase is the miniature furniture set. It's brass, each piece cost 2$. I haven't decided where I'll put them yet, I am thinking some where kind of hidden.. so they are like an I Spy game. Side Note: I am obsessed with I Spy, it's my dream to open up an I Spy Museum. Cool idea, eh? Ok, but back to the Mulvey Market. They had lots of vintage glass wear, especially serving bowls and vases, it almost all colors imaginable, movies, sings, books, sports cards and jewelery. Some specialty stores included a remote control car shop, vintage door knob table, an Elvis booth, McDonalds toys... that one brought back a lot of memories, and action figures.
Click here to see the website.

Purple velvet + Laquered White = Sweaty palms + Fast heart beat

It's true, I have a crush on my newly painted and upholstered chairs and I don't care who knows it!(You may recognize some of these chairs from a previous post.... click here to see.)

What Am I Really Learning?

As I was doodling in class yesterday I came to the conclusion that doodles tell a person's passion. I've been struggling with what I want to do for a career, I've known for about the past year that my heart doesn't lie in the degree I am currently studying for. (But I am so close I am going to finish it up) And I think it's pretty apparent that my mind in elsewhere when I am in class.
So what is my passion... I took a tour through my notebook to find out...

The Times They Are A'Changing

Stay tuned!

Taking Things Down A Knotch

I've had lots of fun with the funky window treatment I did when we first moved into our house. But I am planning on changing up my colors a little bit this year and I'll be leaving out the hot pink and the orange from the living room. So I went for a darker gray to complement the walls. The sides of the gray squares are black... it's hard to see that in the pictures, but it really adds to the overall look I think.