neonfoxtongue

Friday I'm in Love: My Etsy "Treasury"

As I mentioned last week, I visit Etsy fairly regularly.  I particularly enjoy looking at the Treasuries that others have put together.  I started thinking about creating my own; I even came up with a theme and picked some favourite handmade and vintage pieces for it.  But I quickly realised that I have neither the time, nor the patience (mostly the patience) to wait for a free spot in the Treasuries list. As I write this, there are 620 Treasuries and spaces only open up when it drops to below 333. So I figured I'd just post my Treasury in my blog.  I know it'll get a lot less traffic, but it'll also be up much longer than 48 hours. 

So here it is. I call it "I'm starting a garden..." (Catchy, isn't it?)

Vintage Garden Tools ($35)              Bamboo Windchimes ($40)          Three Tiered Planter ($75)

Cool Vintage Finds                          Strawberry Dove                          O'Conner Pottery

Blackberry Lily Photo Print ($20)       Garden Expert (German) T-shirt* ($14)     Ceramic Birdhouse ($48)

Prairie Garden Studio                       isotope                                                  My mother's garden

Gardener's Soap ($5)                    Modern Vine Trellis ($90)              Concrete Bowls ($15)

southernvtsoap                             Andrew's Reclaimed                    benjrs

Slate Plant Markers ($5 for 3)        The Green Man ($35)                     Wooden Seed Trays ($30 for 4)

J Burlette                                     Custom Metal Art                         Andrew's Reclaimed

Hope you enjoyed this 'Treasury'.  Maybe one day I'll have the patience to actually put up a real one. :)

Have a great weekend - especially if it's a long one in your part of the world!

*Translation is actually "Your Garden & Landscaping Expert" (My German classes have paid off!)

(All prices in US dollars)

(Friday Love font is Little Lord Fontleroy)

Friday I'm in Love: Great Design from Supermarket

Like most people who like to buy crafts, handmade items and independent design, my go-to site for online shopping is Etsy.  As far as I know, it was the first of its kind - a website where people who wanted to sell what they made could open their own little online storefront easily and very affordably.  And it really is a great place to discover incredible handmade goods and great indie design.  But whenever something is successful, it's going to be imitated.  Similar sites have popped up in recent years, each offering sellers and buyers different benefits.  I think that's good because it gives people more choice. 

I've made some efforts in the past to feature items from some of these site on my blog, particularly for the Friday I'm in Love posts, but beause I'm on Etsy so often and so many other bloggers I follow also post about items on Etsy, I know that I'm linking to that site a lot. So this Friday, I thought I'd post some of the items that have recently caught my eye on another site.  Supermarket, as far as I can tell, is an Etsy-type (Etsy-esque?) site dedicated to indie designers (okay, some may not exactly be indie, but you're certainly not going to find Umbra or Cath Kidson here).  The visual design of the site it great - very simple and functional; the perfect canvas for the great design items it showcases. Take a look:

Cuckoo Clock True Orange ($28) from Decoylab

Indian Summer limited edition print ($18 - unframed) from 12fifteen

 

Circle Pop-Out Pendant ($20) from Melissa Borrell

Band Logo T-Shirt ($10) from BeBack/Soon (check out the entire Counterfeit Outfit collection)

 

believe IN yourself print ($14.95) from Right Brain Terrain

I hope you enjoyed this little tast of what Supermarket has to offer. Now go find some great design that YOU love! 

Have a great weekend!

Friday I'm in Love: Knitted Summer Wrap

Another long week.  Progress on our apartment feels really slow and the list of things to-do seems never ending.  I'm trying not to get down about it and I really hope to get more done this weekend, but I have to accept the fact that this is a long process.  A long process that will involve installing a lot of shelving.

To keep my spirits up, I'm seeking inspiration wherever I can find it.  Yesterday, I found it in moocowhandknit's Etsy shop.

 

This Summer Wrap actually makes me want to pick up some knitting needles.  Haven't felt that way in a while.  If I could figure out how to make one of these (it looks pretty easy, even for a beginner - though I have no idea how she got both ends on the ring), I think I'd do it in black. Or maybe yellow. Or teal.  The one great thing about this is that I wouldn't have to do any unpacking or organizing to get started on it.  That probably partially explains why I like it so much! :)

Friday I'm in Love: Norajane stamps

Whew! So glad it's the weekend. This week has seemed very hectic because we're still getting ourselves organized in our new place, which makes being organized for work a bit tougher. I'm hoping to make lots of progress  on getting our place more livable this weekend - maybe even doing a bit of gardening...er...weeding.  But tonight, I just want to chill out with The Leopard with a DVD and maybe some popcorn.

But before I do that, here are some sweet little stamps from Norajane's shop that caught my eye this week. When I saw them, I just knew they had to make it onto Friday I'm in Love.  So cute! And tiny!

 

Finch ($4)

 

Queen Anne's Lace ($3.50)

Feather ($3.50) 

Hope you have a great, relaxing weekend!

Friday I'm in Love: Gardening Gloves Pattern

Aaaaand we're back!  But not exactly unpacked.  Apologies for not posting on Wednesday - I forgot how much work moving can be even after the actual moving part.  So. Many. Boxes.  And since our stuff had been in storage for more than a year and a half, it was pretty much necessary to wash every single kitchen item we had.  I'm so glad we sold/donated a bunch of stuff before moved to London.

There is still a lot to do, but we need to get a book shelf or two before we unpack our books, CDs and knick knacks.  We're really liking our new place though, especially the very large kitchen and the back patio, complete with...wait for it...a garden!!!  My very first garden!  I'm so excited!  I come from a long line of green thumbs, so I'm hopeful that I have some aptitude for growing stuff, especially stuff we can eat. There's a lot of prep work to do before that happens, so for this week's Friday I'm in Love edition, I've got a great freebie to help with said prep work - an easy pattern for gardening gloves!

I found the instructions for these easy-to-sew gloves by via Creature Comforts.  The instructions are from Heather Ross's book Weekend Sewing which looks really great. If I can manage to make the gloves without too much trouble, I just might have to add the book to my wish list.

I think these gloves are great, but I also think I'm going to need another, more heavy duty pair.  The reason?  Let's just say that I have my work cut out for me:

 

Yep. That's it, in all it's glory.  Not much I can salvage either - some thyme, mint and a raspberry bush. But I'm determined to turn this patch of mostly weeds into a decent garden.  Wish me luck!

Friday I'm in...boxes

Hello faithful readers!  This is just a quick post to say (and apologize) that Friday Love won't be happening this week as I'm a bit too preoccupied with the move to our new place this weekend.  I've also decided to give myself a blog break on Monday, because the actual moving-in part is happening on that day, so there won't be a Creative Goals Monday post either.  It's a long weekend in most of Canada, so hopefully most of you will be too busy having fun to miss me.  :)

We're supposed to have our internet set up on Tuesday morning, so if we can truly count on the powers that be, I will aim to post something on Wednesday.  Until then, why don't you check out the each penny pretty creative commons Flickr group?  There is lots of stuff to love there!

 

See? :)
(photo by laffy4k)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday I'm in Love: Circles Table

Last week was about DIY Home Decor, but this week's love is for this beautiful handmade table.

 

I stumbled across Michael Arras' circle table several months ago and I'm still smitten with it.  It would definitely be a splurge purchase for us, so it's relegated to the 'wish list'.  I love that he now has a DIY kit too though, which cuts the cost quite a bit.  I just wish it wasn't $75 to ship it outside the U.S.  Oh well... maybe someday.

Looks great in ebony too.

(Friday Love font is Little Lord Fontleroy by Nick's Fonts)   

Friday I'm in Love: DIY Home Decor

We signed the lease for our new place on Tuesday and I can't wait to move in next month!  It'll be so nice to have our own space and to actually *have* space, after our year+ in a one room flat in London, UK.  It'll also be great to have all our possessions in one place, instead of in three different cities across Ontario.

I'm also looking forward to doing some DIY decorating.  We're renting, so I'm not planning on doing any major renovations of course, but we're likely going to need a few pieces of furniture, particularly of the storage and shelving variety and I'm thinking that finding inexpensive pieces that we can refinish and/or refurbish in thrift stores and Craig's List might be a good option.  I'm always amazed at the great results in Design*Sponge's Before and After posts.  I also love the idea of re-purposing something into something else.  Check out this great modular bookcase made from salvaged drawers, courtesy of Craftynest:

Hellooo fabulous!

I also really love this idea for creating almost invisible book shelves by May December Home which I found via each penny pretty.

 

Amazing what a couple of L-brackets can do!

I've been collecting cool DIY decor ideas for a while and I can't wait to put some of them into action.  You can count on some of them making their way into my Creative Goals Monday posts!

Happy weekend everyone!

(Friday Love font is Little Lord Fontleroy by Nick's Fonts)  

Friday I'm in Love: The Handmade Office

I'm so glad it's Friday!  My first week in my new job has gone really well, but has also been very tiring. I know I'll get used to this five-day work thing again, but right now I can't wait for the weekend and a bit of a break.  I feel I was a bit spoiled by the four months I had off.

But my new job is spoiling me in another way.  For the first time in about six years, I have my own office!  No cubicle; no open concept - an actual office with a door and large windows!  Total score!

So this of course means that I have to make it my own.  Our office manager has already said I can bring in whatever I'd like to personalize my space a bit.  So I thought that for this week's instalment of Friday I'm in Love, I'd post some of the handmade (or indie design) items that I think would really jazz up my (or any) office space.

I'm a HUGE tea drinker and also enjoy the occasional cup of coffee.  My new place of work has mugs in the kitchen, but it's always nice to have your very own.  And I really like the colour and shape of the Midnight Java Mug ($16) by Toronto's Lurearts Pottery.

I've heard conflicting information about the benefits of using a wrist pad at the bottom of your keyboard, but I happen to like them.  My new desk happens to already have a gel one, but I'm really intrigued by eightXeight's Flaxsac ($12.95), which can be used as a wrist pad as well as a hot/cold pack for aches and pains.  I'm loving the fabric and the fact that it's got lavender in it too, which is one of my favourite scents.

I don't have my business cards yet, but once I do, being able to display them in this re-purposed fork Business Card Holder ($12.77) by Go or Send Jewelry would be very cool!

There are no plants in my office, so I'm incredibly tempted by this Office Garden Moss Terrarium ($25) by Greenbriar. I'm not sure I can order live plant material from the U.S. though, so I think I might have to try to make my own terrarium with local moss at some point.  Our new apartment has a small (overgrown) garden, so I might even find some there.

Finally, there is only one piece of art on my office walls right now - a very lovely print of a landscape. But there is a lot of blank wall space. The above "Do your best!' poster ($10.99) from The Poster List caught my eye.  Everyone needs a bit of encouragement at work every now and again, right?

I'd also like to make a few things myself, such as a decorated a pen/pencil holder and maybe even document organizers.  If I do end up making anything for my new office, I'll be sure to post about it.

Hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend - that is certainly my goal! :)

(All prices in in US dollars)

(Friday Love font is Little Lord Fontleroy by Nick's Fonts)   

Friday I'm in Love: Birthday Treasures and Treats

Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday on Wednesday with their good wishes via comments, twitter, e-mail and facebook!  I had a really great day, so for this week's Friday I'm in Love feature, I thought I'd share some of the handmade things that contributed to making it extra special.

As I enjoyed a breakfast of crêpes and fresh strawberries courtesy of my father-in-law, The Leopard presented me with this beautiful necklace made by our friend Jasmine Virani.  I'd been eyeing it for a while so I'm very happy to have one of my very own. 

And yes, it's just a beautiful in person!

Later in the day, my Mom brought me a lovely bouquet of flowers from the florist we worked with for our wedding.

Same flowers from our wedding too - just in different colours.

After dinner, we enjoyed the very yummy cupcakes that The Leopard had made.  Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cupcakes with caramel buttercream (note: these recipes might vary slightly from the ones The Leopard used).  They were really delicious - not too sweet, very moist...yum!  I can't wait to try more recipes from the book.

Sooooo good!

And last but not least, I bought myself a little birthday treat - a screen printed tea towel from the Sevilla Rock collection by skinny laminx.  I really love Heather's work, especially the Sevilla Rock collection, which is based on ancient cave paintings near Cape Town, South Africa.  I'm seriously considering getting some yardage to recover our kitchen chairs, but I'll have to wait for a few paycheques first.  So for now, I'm just going to enjoy this beauty.  Heather's having a WOO (Window of Opportunity) Sale right now for her lovely tea towels too - shipping (from South Africa!) is only $0.50 until July 6.  Be sure to take advantage if one of her great designs catches your eye!

 

So lovely!

Of course, celebrating my birthday with my family, including my two grandmothers, was the real treat.  I couldn't even remember the last time that happened.  This is definitely one of the benefits of living closer to your home town!

I'm starting my new job next week, but I'm determined to keep up with the blogging.  After four months off, I'm looking forward to working again, but I know I'll have to be more organised with my time, especially with regards to my creative goals and activities.  I think I'm up to the challenge. :)

Hope you have a great weekend and happy 4th to my American readers!  

(Friday Love font is Little Lord Fontleroy by Nick's Fonts)