Gatineau Park

Today we went for a hike in Gatineau Park. As you can see, it was a gorgeous day so park was packed with hikers, mountain bikers, kids and dogs.

We decided to take a break at a dam on Meech Lake. There was a few guys playing latin music on one of the huge rocks. It was actually a lot of fun and I'm not usually an outdoorsy person. We decided to turn back at this point since I realised I had forgotten my Kleenex in the car. My boyfriend kept insisting that I could blow my nose with am Oak leaf but I wasn't buying it!

(Yikes! I think I'll have some sore legs tomorrow)

A banana what..?

My boyfriend got himself a banana guard at the Glebe Emporium last week. No, it's not what you're thinking. It's actually a plastic case so your banana doesn't get bruised on your way to work or school. Although he has gotten a few weird looks from his fellow co-workers, I think it's a clever idea.

They come in a variety of colors. I think I'll get the pink one for myself. Available for 6.99 on their website.

New reversible scarf tops

Here's a sneak peek at my new reversible scarf tops. I was a bit hesitant listing these in the fall but I think they're pretty cute with a long sleeve top (or even a turtleneck) underneath. You can click on the pictures to see the back. Sorry, only 1 is still available.

Sold

Sold

Size S/M - still availble for $35 here

Sold

A post about my mom

Since moving away to college 10 years ago, I've been receiving care packages from my mom. In the early years, it was filled with essential student items like boxes of Kraft dinner, Q-tips and dryer sheets. The college days are over but the boxes keep comin'. However, they've evolved into a more sophisticated care package filled with either craft supplies or thrift store finds. Sometimes, there's even a combination of both. Yay! Even though, I can afford all of these items - it's still a treat receiving a package in the mail.

A few months ago, I mentioned that I would be making capes and pendants with x-large buttons. Guess what I got in my last box...

I should also mention that my mom has a knack for finding designers labels within the thrift store "junk". This has inspired me to start a weekly post featuring my mom's thrift store finds. It will consist of clothing, kitchen and decorating items. I'm sure a few post will have you saying AS IF !!

Stay tuned...

My first wool cape

Eek! I haven't blogged at all this week. At least I have a good excuse - I've been hard at work working on a fall eco-friendly cape. The outer shell is made of a shaggy wool fabric and the lining is a funky vintage striped cotton with great shades of orange, brown and beige. The buttons are from my mom's extensive vintage button collection (thanks Mom!).


I'll only be listing the cape tomorrow evening but here are a few preview pics:

Scarf made from Scarves

I used five small vintage scarves to make this long lightweight scarf. I debated for a while if I was going to keep it for myself or sell it. I opted to list it and it sold within a few hours. I'm happy someone else will be able to enjoy this colorful scarf come fall.

I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for more of these vintage goodies.

I won, I won

You may remember a few months ago, I posted this link on my blog for a contest on Casey's musings' blog. Well guess what ? I won!!! YaaaY!


I got a box full of new and vintage goodies. It included some vintage buttons, a vintage sewing book, 2 fat quarters of vintage fabric, a Built by Wendy pattern (Yay!) and a copy of Adorn magazine (great craft magazine but it's no longer being published).

Sample sale for my blog readers

I have 2 sample tops available for purchase. They are both in a size medium. Usually, I keep samples for myself but I made these a bit too big. To purchase these samples tops, you can find my email here.


The first top (below) is available for $25 + shipping and you can pick the scarf of your choice from this list. If you already own a skinny scarf and want to get the top only, it will be $20 + shipping. Only 1 black sample available in size medium.








The second is the black jersey top with vintage paisley (below). Available for $20 + shipping. Only 1 sample available in size medium.

Custom sizes of these tops are always available at my etsy shop.

Hot Air Balloons

This weekend was the "Festival des Montgolfières" (aka hot air balloons festival). On Sunday night, we could see them from our house so we decided to drive along Rockliffe Parkway to get a better view on Monday evening. We were almost at our destination when the old car in front of us stalled. My boyfriend decided to go help the guy push the car onto a side street.

After doing our good deed of the day, we were able to catch the last 4 balloons. Unfortunately, we didn't see any funny shaped balloons but it was still fun. On our way back to the car, we went to sit by a dock along the Ottawa River and my boyfriend found $10.

Featured on Ecochick.ca

This week, ecochick is featuring Canadian eco-frienldy products from Etsy. I was lucky enough to be picked yesterday. Yay!

New favorite dessert

Last week, I bought a basket of Ontario peaches. I knew I wanted to make something special with them and for some reason Peach Melba came to mind. I'm not sure where I got the idea - probably from watching hours and hours of the Food Network.

When I told my BF that I was making peach melba for dessert, he asked if it was peaches on top of melba toast. Umm, No! Thankfully, he enjoyed the non-melba toast version of the recipe. lol!


I was also pleasantly surprised at how simple the recipe was - poached peaches with a raspberry sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. EASY and YUMMY! You can view the complete recipe here.

What's your favorite peach recipe ?

Thrift store finds

I hadn't gotten a chance to go to a thrift store since the begining of August. So last week on my day off, I headed to Value Village and I scored some great stuff.

Always awesome, more scarves!

A few yards of vintage fabric.

Cool bowl

Weird framed print. What's even weirder is that my bf actually liked it.

Framed print of a fat cat capsizing. This one is for the cat's room. My cat Melvin often sits like the cat in the middle picture so obviously I had to buy it.

Sneaky cat

No wonder Minou always smells like sage and basil.



Here are some of my favorite blogs and links of the past 2 weeks:

♥ Make a gift box out of a cereal box (preferably empty)

♥ I'm totally in love with Toast. Wish they had stores in Canada but at least you can order their catalogue. Check out the great styling below.

♥ I'm always looking for design inspiration. One of my favorite blog is sfgirlbybay. Love the post about the fireplace mantles.

♥ My boyfriend loves to look at real estate listings. He was very amused at this blog for featuring the worst pictures ever!

Toast

My trip to Prince Edward County - part 2

Sorry to leave you hangin' in suspense for so long.

You may recall I finished part 1 with our car stuck in the middle of the intersection. After a few minutes of trying to start the car, we get a knock on our window (and yes we're still in the middle of the intersection). I try to lower my window but soon realize that a car not running equals no power windows. Knocking was Ed, a good Samaritan on his bike, offering to help us push the car out of the intersection. I being the girl was left to steer. Unfortunately, neither my boyfriend or Ed mentioned that I needed to keep the keys in the ignition to be able to steer (again a car not running equals no power steering). So they start pushing the car while it's in neutral and with all my force I try to turn the steering wheel. As you can imagine, the car didn't turn and I hit the sidewalk forcing a few cars to backup and scaring a few pedestrians. They then tell me about the keys in the ignition part ... bit too late, boys!

With the keys in, it was a lot easier to steer. They first had to push the car back into the intersection and then I was able to navigate the car into the Tim Horton's parking lot. Surprisingly, not even one person honked. This town is so friendly!!

Thy guys then open up the hood and stare at car's engine. Ed tells us it's probably the battery and he'll give us a boost. He wasn't too far from home so he got back on his bike and made it back in 10 minutes. Once we got the boost, we were happy campers again. We decided to head to Canadian Tire to see if they could check the car before making the 2 1/2 hours drive back home.

At the garage, we realized a) it's closed and b) the car has now stalled again. It's looking like were stranded in Picton for the night. We gathered out measly belongings (map, umbrella, bottle of wine, granola bar and a small cooler with my goat cheese) and started to walk towards the town. We were lucky enough to find a room at a local motel that overlooked a marina. Obviously it wasn't a 5 star hotel or even a B&B but at this point we were desperate and tired of walking.

This house was close to our motel. HOLY IVY!

Being so close the main street in Picton, we were able to go out for a lovely dinner at Portabella. It felt great to finally sit down and enjoy some great food and a glass of wine. We did find it strange that menu had no local wines or even anything from Ontario.

Part 3 will be coming up shortly. I promise :)

Book review - Subversive Seamster

Today, I'm reviewing the book: "Subversive Seamster: Transform Thrift Store Threads into Street Couture" .

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. Imagine being able to take an old bridesmaid dress and turning it into a modern top. However, the instructions leading to your new fabulous top are really oversimplified which I'm sure will leave some readers ruining some good thrift store finds. One of their projects was turning a pair of "old man pants" into a bustier. Eeewww!!!

They did have some good recycling ideas like using suspenders as elastic and using leather remnants to make earrings but my final verdict is still SKIP IT.

Next week, I'll actually be reviewing a book I like :)

I'll also be posting my part II of my adventures in Prince Edward County.

Weekend front page

This weekend I was lucky enough to find myself on Etsy's homepage. Etsy admins choose the front page from various treasuries made by fellow Etsians. I just love the lime colored finds in this treasury created by Pugs in Space.

I also forgot to mention that one of my tanks was featured on Amy Esther's blog last month. Amy has one of the nicest pottery shop on Etsy. Here's one of her creations that would be awesome for an at home sushi dinner.

First fall skirt

I finally have the first of my new fall styles in my shop. This classic black skirt is embellished with a funky vintage tie. I'll only be making a few of these since I ran out of fabric. This one fits a low waist measurement of 32-33". You can view my listing here.

Funny looking caterpillars

I've got a bad case of the blahs this week. So here's a few pictures of some funny looking caterpillars I saw in my yard last week. I especially like the "hair extensions" on the yellow one.

Of course, my cat had to come investigate

Book review - Generation T

I recently renewed my local library membership and decided to take out a few sewing books. First on my list is "Generation T: 108 ways to transform a T-shirt".

Initially, I was very excited to read this book. However after reading the first few chapters, I immediately noticed this book would be better suited for beginner sewers and probably ones under the age of 19. All projects are done using a regular sewing machine, hand stitches, knots or safety pins. Yes, I said safety pins! All the edges on the garments are left raw so you can bet they'll either unravel, curl up or get overstretch after being tossed in the washing machine.

Nowhere in this book is a serger mentioned or even seam finishing techniques like topstitching or even a simple bias strip. My verdict: SKIP IT

Next week, I'll be reviewing "Subversive Seamster: Transform Thrift Store Threads into Street Couture" .

I sooo need one of these

Found via Moderncat

Every cat owner knows what I'm talking 'bout: you wake up early in the morning, still half asleep and there it is - the disgusting furball. Too bad you didn't notice it before you stepped in it. If you happen to be wearing socks consider yourself lucky!

Designed by Ellen Gibbs, I checked her website and unfortunately the sign is no longer available. Bummer ! (put socks back on)


I'm off to the cottage for the weekend so here's some weekend reading c/o my mom and Gaby.

♥ Some of the funniest cakes I've ever seen on Cake Wrecks

♥ Get inspired to sew dresses on A Dress a Day

♥ Another one for my craft-to-do list

♥ Find out how to make a watermelon keg here

My trip to Prince Edward County - part 1

Last weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to visit Prince Edward County for the day. The county is located about 2h30 drive from Ottawa. Our plan was to arrive in Picton around 2pm, sample a few wines from the local wineries, have a quick supper at one of the restaurants and then head back home.

Waupoos Winery, overlooking Lake Ontario

The day started out as planned. We sampled a few wines from the Black Prince Winery and then drove to the Waupoos Winery - my boyfriend's favorite. As we were leaving the Waupoos Winery, we got caught in a huge downpour.

After getting soaked, we headed east to the Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co. to taste some locally made goat cheese. We got a chance to sample many types of yummy goat cheese but by the end I was "goat cheesed out" and in the car I was convinced that I smelled like goat.

Now it was time to visit the Huff Winery and grab a quick bite. We contemplated taking the back roads to get there but then figured it would be just as quick to pass through Picton. As we were passing through Picton's one and only intersection (conveniently located at Tim Horton's) our car DIED. The car was so dead that even the four way flashers weren't working and we were left looking like idiots in the middle of the intersection.

To be continued...