The Etsy Shopping Trap...

From the country...

adorable earrings from Penny Glass Girl.

So, I may just be light years behind an average girl my age in terms of what is in fashion. My sense of what looks good usually involves whatever is clean...and comfy. But if you haven't heard of Etsy you have to check it out. No, checking it out really doesn't do it much justice... I think that it is physically impossible to just casually "check it out". I have officially spent the better half of my day pouring over image upon image of handmade heaven. There is everything from knitting to toys to jewellery and on and on. So in a hunt for some really neat X mas presents I have officially started my search. The great thing about Etsy is that you can look for your local creators-which is obviously what I am all about- or you can order from a plethora of vendors from all over the globe. My only stab at this website is that there are ALOT of vendors and weeding through the pages can be a major but albeit super fun way of wasting away hours of precious time. My search perimeters are to stay in Canada this season and support some of the great Canadian talent listed on this AMAZING website (can I plug it any harder???).  So here is what I have found;

-this little bit of heaven from pennyglassgirl from Toronto and why not get a set of the earrings too?
-this scrabble tile necklace is gorgeous (who doesn't like Robin's eggs?) made in Windsor, Ontario.
-tea cup earrings? too cute! Try it with a slice of pumpkin pie... made in Vancouver.
-then there are these creepy/humorous tees  for the geek in your life....made in Keswick Ontario.
-and I wouldn't write this post without giving a shout out to my pal Krystle who makes beautiful photo art....in the neighbouring town of Cannington Ontario...literally 10 minutes drive from the farm.

So there you have it another reason for shopping from local artisans....it is just so freaking fun!

Oh hi there!

From the City...

So it was my birthday yesterday and I've been pretty down and out the past couple of days with a nasty case of mastitis ( I know right, a year of bfeeding and I get it now???) so if this beautiful little ditty didn't just brighten my day right on up...a simply lovely little pendant with my little ones name and birthstone.  

Laura and I have a constant gift giving cry challenge whereby we give a gift hoping that we'll make the other person cry (twisted, right?) and I won't lie, she just might have gotten me with this one, or maybe it was just dust, that's it, dust.  

To get one for yourself (likely with someone else's name on it, cause it might be weird if you got mine), go here and check out Belleza Mia's shop. 

Theo and I have a constant mitten battle these days.  I put them on, he takes them off and this goes on for about the entirety of our walk until I finally just give up let him fend for himself.  A little harsh huh?  While I'm letting my kids hands freeze I notice that my friend and walking companion has these amazing mitten sock combination things.  So I decided to whip up a pair and share it with you.  They work pretty well, I must say so myself.

Point 1: me. Point 0: Theo

Materials needed:

Mittens (0.50 at goodwille, yesssss!)

1 pair of adorable socks that you can't give up cause you love them but they don't fit anymore

scissors

notions

sewing machine

1. Marvel at your materials

2. Snip off the tip of the socks

3. Sew the inside of the sock to the inside of the mitt, challenging but do-able.  

I won't lie, I swore a little bit during this step but I got it done.  

4. Hand stitch the last little part which you were unable to finish on the machine (about an inch0  

5. Put them on your kid and do a little dance because you won.  

-amelia