My Summer Mini-Hoiday: Yarn Quest

I have a busy schedule, working for yourself is definitely not for the faint of heart, and as such I haven’t really had much of an actual summer to do something I really wanted to do. I’ve seen one movie, spent a little time in my pool (it’s inflatable but I can float on my raft so I love it) and done a little bit of crafting but really, I haven’t gone anywhere and that’s just depressing.
So on Friday, my work from home day normally, I decided I wanted a couple of hours to do something for me.

As you know, I love yarn.  I am a self-taught crocheter so my technique probably isn’t the best, but I think I do ok. Plus, I love it so it doesn’t matter. A couple of summers ago I went on what turned out to be a Yarn Tour with a cousin of my hubby and it was utterly wonderful. We visited a few stores and got some great treasures. I loved that so much I decided to make my mini-holiday YarnQuest12.

I found this awesome site that has yarn stores listed all over Canada and the US. It’s called KnitMap and I love it. I punched in a few places near me and plotted my route. As I only had a few hours I could only visit two stores, because you need to account for browsing time, and hit the road.

Both stores were divine, I visited Spun Fibre Arts first and everyone was lovely! So was the yarn. I must have wandered for 15 mins. I got some beautiful periwinkle baby alpaca ( I LOVE ALPACA!!!!) and a beautiful bright green and a bright blue wool that I am going to combine into a cowl. I am so excited!!! They had a lovely little sitting area and it was all I could do to not settle in and start crocheting on the spot.

Then my next stop was The Needle Emporium in Ancaster. Little did my brain realize (which is silly because I totally have golf fanatic parents) that the big golf tournament was on but thankfully, like when it was in my town, they are really organized and there wasn’t an issue with traffic.  I of course, being directionally impaired, missed it on the first go so I stopped at the Timmies (Tim Hortons to non-Canucks) and used the wifi to figure out how I missed it. I looked on the wrong side, I should have googled it first. Silly me!

I must have spent 25 minutes there as I wound up chatting with the owner and a customer and of course got way too many ideas.

And more yarn.

I got some beautiful mohair/silk and have already used one hank of it for this scarf. It is the softest thing ever and it really did only take me about 90 mins to do it like the gal at the store said. Yay! Go me!

I came home feeling totally relaxed and immediately pulled out my hook and finished a project I had been working on so I could start o the new ones LOL.

I’m already into planning another afternoon (or day) of Yarn Questing.

Do you have a hobby where you travel around to enjoy it like my YarnQuest12?

A Craft Wars Christmas and My Take on it

My darling friend who I adore, Casi, told me about this show that was starting this summer on TLC, Craft Wars and insisted that we watch together even though she is in Texas and I am in Toronto. We watch together over twitter. It’s fabulous. Our weekly party. We really should craft ourselves spiffy sparkly glasses for Craft Wars cocktails. Another project!

But I digress.

While I am not a fan of reality tv, sorry all, just not my thing generally, I do love this show. It might have something to do with the craft closet. Oh my, I so wish I had access to that every day. If I did though I would probably move in and craft myself a little sleeping nook complete with glittered chandelier.

Again, I digress.

Last night’s episode about Christmas really made my hyper as you can no doubt tell from my writing. I tend to go slightly overboard when it comes to Christmas decorations. Well, my husband thinks I do, I think I need more decor items, but that’s for another post in a few months LOL. And since my ideas were flowing throughout the show and my poor hubby had to hear me talking to the tv during the show giving pointers, I thought hey, blog post! So, here’s my first, of I hope a few at least, posts ‘post-show’.

Grab your glue gun, glitter and, if you’re me, yarn and let’s talk crafting!

I missed the first segment, the pop craft, because my satellite was acting up. But I did see the finished products. Beautiful. I probably would have incorporated more jingle bells, but that’s me. And glitter.

Now for the master craft.

First off, I loved both competitors trees. They both had some fab touches and really, I’ve liked all the contestants so far.
Ok, my take on the trees, I would have used more of the packing supplies for the tree construction. I freely grant the crafters are under pressure and I have more time to process ideas, but with this episode in particular my ideas hit instantly.

Packing tubes.
Bubble wrap.
And a tonne of glitter.

I have always loved the Burl Ives song ‘Silver and Gold’ and that is what inspires my main tree every year. I would have used this theme with a few accents had I been on the show. Yes I said main tree. That means there are others. Again, that’s for another blog post .

A tree skirt of bubble wrap to mimic ice. Tulle and glitter to mimic snow and shimmer.

A tree made from the packing tubes. Wrap them in tulle or ribbon and wrap lights up the trunk. I’ve done something similar with my tree. I took some of my wired ribbon (I have a couple spools, ok, maybe 8 or 10) and wrapped the trunk from bottom to top. I then wrapped a strand of lights up the trunk as well. It looked cool. Obviously a filler would have to go in the tubes for weight, but that’s easy.

For branches, use more tubes with the same technique.

Ornaments. Ribbon as garland. That’s just necessary. (A phrase I am borrowing from Casi, I love it)
Hole punch the cards, glitter the edges and use twine to hang them.
Also use those light bulbs tonight’s winner used but instead of multi-coloured glitter, silver and gold.

Did I mention white lights?

Now you need some pops of colour. Pink goes so well with this colour combo. They have them in store so I’m sure they have them in that dream closet, the fake birds. Tip their wings with pink glitter. Gorgeous. They can sit on the branches. You can even glitter a nest and put it a little deeper in the tree. Totally adorable and fills it in.

And those beautiful tissue flower flowers that tonight’s runner up used: make them pink gold and white. I am totally all over those.

More unique ornaments you say? Use bubble wrap! Use a craft punch to punch a Christmas shape out of cardstock. Glitter it. Put bubble wrap front and back of it. Edge and seal with duct tape which can also be glittered. Simple and beautiful. You could do something similar for a tree topper too.

You could also use embroidery hoops as ornaments by having pretty scenes from the cards hanging inside them and the hoop hanging on the branches. Spray paint the hoops or trim with ribbon. Use embroidery floss to hang the scene inside the hoops.

You could also use the eyelash yarn that I have bought on several occasions from Michaels as garland as it mimics snow and ice.

Oh my! Now I want it to be December so I can start decorating!

What is your take? What one change would you make to the competitors trees?  Do you make any ornaments by hand?

Social Media Experiment for my Student

Today I’m writing a purely fun post to help my summer student with a project o viral videos.

He and his classmates put together a video and the goal is to have it win for most hits by Friday July 27th at 1:30pm EST.

I watched it last night and giggled. So did my husband, but he chuckled. My friend Casi also laughed as did my racing friend Scott and my darling friend Jane in Australia.

So, can we help my student win his contest and have a laugh and a smile in the process?

The video is about people randomly holding others hands and seeing their reactions. It’s really funny! Very ‘Just for Laughs’ gag reel-esque. And the music is perfect too.

You can view it below, enjoy and let me know what you think so I can pass it on to him Thanks all!

 

Fun with Alpacas…and more!

Sometimes you just have to have fun and do things that you normally wouldn’t do.

That being said, I don’t tend to go to things without my hubby, I know I know, I’m supposed to maintain my independence, but really, it is nice to do stuff as a couple sometimes. This weekend though he was swamped and our veterinarian was having a BBQ. The ad in the paper said they’d have an alpaca. Now, you need to know how much I love alpacas. They rock. I love crocheting alpaca and I adore the animals in general. They are utterly adorable!!!!

Our vet (who we love because they took such good care of our Smudgie who is doing infinitely better now), brought in ponies for the kids, a great big bbq and a farm brought in some animals for the kids (and moi) to enjoy seeing and getting to know.

It was delightful. I was giggling like a kid and even got to feed the alpaca, her name is Miley, and her friend the Llama (who’s name sadly escapes me). But it was so neat! I haven’t done anything like that in ages, and I love it. My mom grew up on a farm, my hubby’s family had horses, and I just plain old love animals.

I got to see a Wallaby, too cute, the most adorable ducks (they were Quackers! LOL) and a donkey (I named him Eeyore and gave him lots of pets).

It was great for the kids to see real animals who were obviously all well taken care of, and get outside and have fun.

Sometimes you need to do something different, and look how much fun can be had…even sans hubby!

What have you done that’s a little different lately?

Almost Wordless Wednesday

It’s just that much more fun when you really get into your crafting

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man Toys!

In parallel to the movie being launched, Hasbro have launched their new line of Spider-Man toys for the summer of 2012. It seems this is the year of the superhero, and frankly, I’m good with that! I loved watching the Spider-Man cartoons when I was a kid coming home for lunch, and I really like that overall, the character has remained true to the image I am used to. There’s something to be said for retro I think .

First off, of course we have the cool dress-up/mimic the superhero gear. The mask is available in a rubber with velcro ties to help your little superhero become their hero, as well as NonDad’s favourite part: the mega blaster web shooter. And yes it comes with a glove. It shoots silly string (aka webbing) or, as an alternative (and a really good idea in this heat wave we’re experiencing) water.

I love that the kids can really ‘be their hero’ with accessories like this. And, buying refills doesn’t have to mean silly string, water can be got anywhere so taking this to the cottage or boat (I grew up boating so I say that LOL) is simpler and the toy remains ‘in play’ even if you can’t find silly string.

Next up we have the action figures. They, like their fellow Marvel counterparts this year, come in two sizes and two feature points.  The smaller figure  features an accessory, in this case a plasma cannon, that attaches and can be used for play. The larger figure, a Web Battler, features a smash saw in this case that is activated by squeezing his legs. Very cool! Others include a web/whip, a large spinner and even an enemy to battle against!

The details are again great and you can tell that they will indeed hold up to the wear and tear of battle.

And last but certainly not least, poor Spidey needs to get around and sometimes that web-slinging just isn’t quick enough so he needs a cool car to get around in. Even my cat Spot was impressed and wanted to try it out as you can see . This one does not disappoint either.

I mean come on? The Spider Strike Battle Racer even has a ‘web’ Spidey can swing out on with a push to the rear spoiler. Awesome. The car comes with a Spider-Man action figure and then your little one (or big, I know many of mine and my husband’s grown friends who will play with these too) can drive Spidey around and take him to his various battles. I like that it comes with an action figure so that play can commence immediately. And it’s durable because you just know that it’s going to be put through its paces.

Overall, very cool and great to see the Spider-Man that I knew as a kid come back and be just as cool as ever.

Go Spidey!

A Princess Dream Come True!

Last October I made a decision, a big one, to finally make a major change to my lifestyle and get myself back on track. I had to make that decision on my own, but am I ever glad I did. Has it been easy? Not entirely, but now I really don’t even notice it. Has it been worth it? Absolutely!

My decision, to lose the weight I had put on due to so many factors but mainly stress. Yes, I tend to stress myself out and yes, it really does affect you in more ways than you think.

With a little bit of coaxing (it really didn’t take much) from my wonderful neighbour and friend we decided to team up and go on this journey together. We have far too much fun together so this just made sense. Most importantly though, I had to make the decision and then the method just had to be decided on. I made the right one for me, everyone is different and you have to do what is right for you and what is doable for you. My choice: Weight Watchers.

That was mid-October 2011.

Now 9 1/2 months later I am 55.6 lbs lighter, buying sizes I have never bought or comfortably fit into since my early 20′s and loving it. It took time, but it was so worth it. I even did something I never thought I would ever do about two weeks ago: I bought SKINNY JEANS! Me! And they look fabulous. And they might been too big in about a month so I’m going to enjoy them until they are and I have to buy a smaller size, woo hoo!

One of my goals once I lost the weight was to get a similar dress to Kate Middleton’s famous Issa engagement dress and have my ‘Princess Moment’ and get pictures done etc. I’m a huge fan of her so I know this sounds like a very cheesy goal but it’s one that meant a lot to me.

Then I met my new friend Jackie. We were out walking one Sunday and I was rambling on about how my goal was to get the pseudo-Issa and she piped up ‘You mean the one I have?’ I about fell over. As soon as I regained my balance I almost fell over again, she said I could borrow it. I think my hands were actually shaking when she brought it to me I was so excited. THANK YOU JACKIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, my reward was slightly altered. Instead of a pseudo-Issa dress, I got to wear the real thing (and it is truly divine I assure you) and instead of this taking place in the fall as I had in the back of my mind, I got to do it about a week or so ago. What a wonderful treat and reward it was. My darling friend Simar came over with his camera gear and took the pictures and I cannot thank him enough, *mwah dahling!*.

And without further ado, here are a couple of my faves from my dream Princess shoot.

Who do you think wears it better? Kate or moi?

Thankful Thursday at the Indy!

I missed last week due to a busy schedule but am happy to be back so here we go!

I am thankful that this weekend is the Honda Indy in Toronto. An odd thing to be thankful for you might think, but for me it’s less about the race itself and more about seeing all of the familiar faces I have come to know over the 10 plus years I have been volunteering at the event. I started off on Pass Control, even led my own team for a couple of years, moved up to grids, got to drive in the drivers parade (I drove Patrick Carpentier, my sister got to drive Alex Tagliani), have watched my darling husband grin from ear to ear as he got to be a pace car driver for the support series and drive a super-nice Ford GT (it was soooooooooo cool!) and now I help out with worker registration etc. The same faces congregating every year for a few days at the same site, doing the same jobs, it really never feels like a year has passed when we all meet again.

The marshals, the crews, the volunteers, we all smile and wave and it takes mere minutes before we are all back in our groove and doing what we love with the people we have known for years. It may be only this event that we see them at for the year, but we all make it count. We all work hard in our respective roles, but all make sure to have some fun too!

A few faces come and go, but the core remains. I know two faces that I miss terribly to this day that were part of this event. The irrepressible Tom and always smiling and laughing Lou. Returning to the event I swear their spirits are there. It’s a wonderful feeling.

I will never forget lining up at mock grid out with those bright orange boom sticks directing the Canadian Military on and off the track. Don’t laugh, I totally teared up, I give them all the respect they deserve and more. And so did the crowd, you should have heard the roar and seen the standing ovation that carried on for them. Amazing. What a moment to have been a part of.

I remember seeing my old go-karting coach, and former Indy Lights driver, Lee Benthem last year twice and screeching with excitement as I hadn’t seen him since, well, the year before! My other coach David Empringham, another Canadian superstar who still races in Grand Am from time to time, was also there and I made sure to get hugs from both of them. They know I get a little hyper sometimes LOL.

I also remember the year that I wore my winter, yes, winter, coat and mittens at mock grid out it was so cold. I swear to you I saw flakes falling.

I remember the year that Tommy Kendall kept coming up to the exit from the building in his drivers suit but with no car. I kept teasing him about his team not wanting to give him his car. We had some laughs. I was impressed and we exchanged big smiles when he finally drove up in a car ready to race.

I am thankful for the final Indy with Tom when we were ‘Grids Two’. I had so much fun, who knew it would be his last. I am so thankful for those memories.

I am thankful for so many memories and fun times at this event.

Tomorrow is Free Friday, if you have the day off, go make some memories to be thankful for, I’ll be there and tweeting mine to you all!

***This is not a promo post, I am genuinely writing this from my experiences, I’m sentimental, what can I say?***