makin' stuff

I like to make things. This is an ongoing adventure most of the time.
(I am going to convert a cool old car into an electric leviathon one day. No one thinks I can/should, but damnit, I am SO going to.) And it will be AMAZING.

I generally work on a much smaller scale (jewellery see) but I also love to paint and print and generally make fun stuff.

While we were back on the island last week I got to get my hands back into screen printing.
Oh my god so much fun.
I had forgotten how much I like it.



It was late and I'd had a couple of drinks (the BEST time to relearn a skill, obviously) and I loved it.
I will definitely be doing it again.
And soon if I have anything to do with it.

On a totally different note, and one that I am going to try to not flog to death on here;
I am totally flipping excited that this guy

wants to marry me.

Holy crappers.

I've already had to be sat down and asked to chill out about it.
MWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

But seriously, I am chilling out. I am just going to be RATIONAL about the whole thing.

And quietly plan in my head.

Rock band

While we were up at the lake last week, we got a chance to play Rock Band.
I don't know if you have ever played this little piece of GENIUS, but you really should try it sometime.
It's hilarious.


We had had a few beverages by the time we busted out the instruments, and whoa nelly.

I am a rock star.

I played bass for a while, then drums.
And then I got my hands on the mic.

I didn't know this about myself. But I love to belt it out.

I can't sing very WELL mind you, but I can sing quite loudly.

A wedding, a birthday and a canoe

I know I've mentioned this before, but man do I love me a ferry ride.
It goes back to when we were kids on family trips on the west coast. I was born in Winnipeg, and we drove out to Victoria one year that turned out to be a pretty significant trip, considering that we moved there a few short years later and my longstanding and abiding love of the ferry.

Does that mean the same thing?

Whatevs. I love the ferry.

(classic touristy shot of moi)



And this particular ferry ride was taking me on a 10 day vacation at the lake.
Which I also love.
So it was particularly exciting. And we got some great weather and watched the sun set from the car deck.

Very nice.


On Saturday we went to Parksville for Julie and Keith's wedding.
This was my first wedding of a friend, so I was pretty stoked. They didn't disappoint. It was very lovely and so sweet.





Julie made her dress and it was so amazing! Layers and layers of ruffles and raw silk. HELLO!

Woop! How did this one get in here?



After the wedding was my birthday. We spent it quietly up at the lake which was great. It was raining and we had the door open to hear the rain on the deck and I
R E A D A L L D A Y.
Awesome.

My family came up bearing sweets and my sister and I swam in the rain under a rainbow.
I kid you not there was an eagle that flew through it into a patch of blue sky.


The next day I went into town and hung out with the lovely and talented gals at Floating Gold Iceberg.
They made me cupcakes.




This doesn't really have anything to do with my birthday or cupcakes for that matter, but while I was there, Andy came home with Kim Catrall (Andrew McCarthy wasn't there though)



It was a really good trip back. I will admit that I was pretty loathe to leave this morning.

Last night we went out for a canoe ride (it had rained all day and the sky cleared up in the late afternoon) The lake was totally quiet, just the two of us out on the water.

Geoff asked me to marry him.

I said yes.

fun weekend and more to come

On Saturday my friend's Angie and Chris came over from the island and I had SUCH A FUN WEEKEND!
I almost lost my mind from the fun I had.
And we didn't even get out and do that much! That's how easy I am to entertain.
We went fabric shopping and talked designs and I am so inspired and ready to get back on the sewing machine!
I picked up flannel, and a lovely chiffon for a blouse that is very late 70's chic.
I have to find a really sweet pattern for it.



I have also finished the latest big project, Julie and Keith's wedding bands! They turned out SO WELL!

They are picking them up tonight (and getting married on Saturday!)
Very exciting. I'll be taking loads of pictures of the event and I will post some pictures of that too when we get back.

Oh yes, did I not mention, next weekend we are going to the island for 10 DAYS!!
Count em' people, TEN DAYS.
I am so flippin' excited about this I can hardly sit still. We are heading over on Thursday night and going straight to the lake. I might not post while I am there, since I might be having too much fun laying in the sun and rolling off the dock into the lake. But I will be taking the camera and Geoff is bringing the laptop so you MIGHT have something to look at. But I will definitely post a big one when I get back, because not only are we going over for a wedding, it's birthday season!
My birthday, my Sister's birthday, one my my best friend's birthday's and Geoff's birthday (in that order) are all happening this month, so we're celebrating while we're away.

But don't fret my dears, I will likely post something ridiculous before we go!

A week of bad dinners

Okay so they weren't really that bad per se. But they weren't the healthiest meal choices I've ever made.
On Monday I made a Midnight Pie.

Straight up classic Apple pie.
Enjoyed with a soy ice cream for A La Mode style fun.
I kid you not that pie came out of the oven at 11:30pm.
The gluten free crust was a dry mix that we picked up the last time we were in Qualicum Beach. (It's called Bea's and she's on 2nd Ave) There is a woman there who has a shop FULL of gluten free treats and mixes. Everytime we go up there we always make sure to stop in and restock.
She also has some really lovely loose teas which we're going to refill in a couple of weeks. (we're going up there for a wedding!)

Anyway, back to the food.
The pie was DELICIOUS. So good. We had a friend over at the time and he didn't think it was gluten free!
Yeah, it was just a delicious pie.

And then last night we had cinnamon sticks for dinner.


Oh man these were so good.
And again, they came from a mix. I am LOVING the GF mixes right now. I have been making all of my own gluten free flours for ages and it's so nice to have the convenience of a box that makes great food.
We'll still be making most of our food from scratch, but the mixes allow for amazing pizza, breadsticks, cinnamon buns, pie(and seriously, who doesn't love PIE?) in a jiffy!

Oh I am loving it right now!

Ordering online

I am wondering how many of you have ordered online?
I have ordered a few things, and have been SO IMPRESSED that I am sort of spoiled for shopping in real life now.
It's true that I have only ordered a couple of things now, but the deals have been SCREAMING and seriously folks, that's the way to get deals.
When they are so good that they scream at you.
For example, I ordered Birkenstocks online a few months back, and they arrived perfect, and I saved $100.
I kid you not.
And my ipod was the same thing.
I am very impressed by this.
Plus now I get PACKAGES IN THE MAIL! Which is more fun than Christmas.

What I am considering right now is a pattern for a dress.
This one actually.
The fabric store near me is pretty good, but the patterns are all your basic companies like Simplicity and McCalls. Which is great, but it's fun to have an assortment of different styles to choose from.
So I am just looking around at what else is available.
There is a company based out of Montreal that has some cute stuff too. Jailie or something.
I have to look that one up again.

But for now that is all I am online looking at.
(Well boots too, but I am being frugal in that department, and just testing the waters. I found a GREAT pair on Ebay that I was seriously going to order, but I went back to it too late! And they were gone. Very sad.
So I have learned my lesson and will IMMEDIATELY order the next great pair I see so I don't miss out on the awesomeness.)
Wee!

stamps and packaging

On Friday last week I ordered some custom stamps for my new packaging.
I have been thinking about this for a while, and I took the plunge to get them made up.
I will pick them up on Friday this week.
And if they are as cute as I expect them to be, it's quite likely that I will be stamping pretty much EVERYTHING for the next couple of weeks.
I have already decided that I will be stamping my new sketchbooks, which I picked up last week.
All will be covered in Cuteness.
These are my stamps.

(obviously)




Those all came out way bigger that I expected!
In real life they will all be under 3 inches, so they fit onto my new little bags.
And if these work out I will likely have MORE custom stamps made up and go crazy with the stamping.

It's how I roll.

I love a Deadline

Geoff and I were talking about this yesterday, how we both really work much better when we have a deadline in sight.
For me this falls under the heading: Procrastinate Until the Very Last Possible Moment.
I don't do it on purpose, I have every intention of happily plugging away at something so I don't have to feel sick to my stomach and freaked out that I now only have THREE DAYS TO FINISH THAT THING.
!!!

I am currently working on another big project that I have been a little better at maintaining work flow that usual.
Because I have given myself this deadline.
Ring one will be finished by Monday of this weekend. And Ring two will be done by the end of next weekend.

And I am thinking of rewarding myself once they are both done with a new dress. From a new pattern that I haven't tried yet.

But I can't (WILL NOT!) even think about sneaking away from my bench to set up Joanie (Janome Joanie to her friends - that's mostly me actually. She doesn't get out much. Being a sewing machine and all) to "just see if it will work how I expect it to."
That's my excuse for having to sew something immediately.
Which I have resorted to pretty regularly lately.

But I have put Joanie away and will be a productive little metalsmith this weekend.
Seriously.

In other news, where the HECK did August come from?
Yesterday we went to the market to pick up some groceries and I was wearing many layers. Like wristwarmers and a neckwarmer and a COAT!
What the hell??!

Because it was CHILLY. Cold enough to warrant a HAT AND SCARF.
I do not support this.

Today is sunny, no clouds, but the breeze pushing through my studio window is COLD.
AGAIN.

So I will continue to wear socks (in August) and sweater layers (in August) and hope that the universe will make up for this crap summer with an AMAZING Fall.