Time goes by WAY too fast these days. I can't believe it is already the end of the year and 2016 is about to begin. Where did this year go?? Where did this month go?? I've had so much going on, so many things to make and create this holiday season that I didn't even get a chance to decorate :( And decorating for Christmas is one of my favourite things to do! I even built myself a whole fireplace to decorate this year... did i get to?? unfortunately  no...

I really did build one though, want to see??

 

Isn't it cute?? Honestly, it started feeling warmer when I had it on and makes me feel all cozy inside! But this year really has been an eye opener when it came to how much I ended up creating and making and crafting. I had a lot of orders, lots of gifts to make for friends and family and wrapping upon wrapping upon wrapping upon wrapping... I had my little fireplace going, wrapping while listening to some old school rapping. It was great!

With the new year coming around, one of my "resolutions" is to be posting a lot more, getting into showing a lot more of my crafts because there are a ton of things I have that I don't show either and get a bit more lifestyle crafts going as well. I'm so excited!

So I finally have been able to get my gallery up and running and uploaded some pictures for you all to see. So take a look! let me know what you think. Check it out HERE

I'll have lots to show you in the new year, so stay tuned!

wink ;)

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So the month of October has been crazy. I have some new products up in the shop (more still to come), took on a few little custom projects, and got myself back into some graphic work as well, but was definitely challenged by a friend of mine to get a portfolio going. I knew I always needed to start one to begin showcasing what I can do for a more complete event. I've done posters, signage, invitations, table items and a lot of other things for a few events this year, but not a complete design. I've come up with themes, and created a few things for clients with them, but was still missing a whole array of decorations I can make for so many other events. So he asked me, "When are you planning on doing a shoot?" I gave him a date close to the end of October. He looked at me and asked me again "When are you planning on doing a shoot?" I knew exactly what he meant, so I gave him a date a week earlier than the previous one. He looked at me again and said "When are you planning on doing a shoot?" My answer this time "When am I planning on doing this shoot?" He was like "Next weekend"...

Next weekend? Was he crazy? does he actually know how much time it takes to source things, design from scratch and actually make stuff? Granted I had already started and at least had a theme and idea in mind as to what I wanted to do, but still... I barely had anything together. My nights, lunch breaks and any spare moment was spent designing, gluing, cutting, sticking pasting everything I possibly could and I really didn't think I could do it, but...

Tah Dah! It worked. I did it. I got 2 pretty nice table designs done and executed and I think they turned our pretty good (I was also even able to bake some cookies for the snacks too!) So I wanted to give everyone a little sneak peak with some of the pictures I got back from the photographer and I will be letting you all know when the gallery will be open to see the rest.

So excited to see everything coming together :)

wink ;)

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The Board to their Forever

Alright ladies... let's admit it, we all dream about our perfect wedding day, the perfect dress, perfect flowers, perfect song for your first dance, perfect man... but before all that happens, there has to be a proposal! I love the fact that a lot of you guys are really getting creative and sweet with how your pop the big question. It definitely shows how special they want to make this moment for their special lady. But hello! how cute is this proposal?? As a maker myself, I seriously give an A++ to this guy for his custom made Monopoly board proposal. Just the game alone would have been enough to have me completely surprised (and I love board games), but a proposal on top of that?? How could you say no??

The fact everything was built from scratch (and done very well might I add) is cute enough, but each property has a special meaning from where they met, to date spots, to favourite places and more.

You can see his page and the story here:

Monopoly Proposal - soooooo cute!

Future hubby, if you're reading this... this is the way to go ;) *hint*hint*

wink ;)

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Everyone loves a good deal. Especially me. I'm definitely on those points programs, discount emails and love a good sale anywhere I can get one, but I'm so excited to see that Etsy is on Ebates! Ebates is great program I've been with for just over a year now and I love it. I tend to do most of my shopping online these days and I'm subscribed to way too many shops and stores to get updated info on sales and bargains. It can get a little tedious at times, but it's always great to know you could get a discount off of a sale with free shipping... SCORE! I actually just did that recently buying a tank top from Dynamite! they were having a free shipping weekend on all orders, found a tank top I liked on sale, went to buy it through Ebates and got and additional 2% back without leaving my couch! now I know this doesn't sound like much, but it can really add up. Best thing is, you don't have to remember to request a cheque from them either. They send it to your door automatically after a few months once you reach a certain amount. Free money for shopping online? YES PLEASE!

What is even better is that I have put my Can of Thankfulness on sale until Thanksgiving (and yes for all of those in the US, it will be on sale for your Thanksgiving too!) So right now you can get 20% the Can of Thankfulness and if you shop through Ebates, you can get cash back on top of that! So grab a Can and show that hostess with the mostest that invited you for a special dinner how thankful you are for all the work they put into that delicious Turkey. Don't know how to show your loved ones you're thankful to have them in your life? Give them a physical representation of the intangible feeling you have with a Can of Thankfulness and they will always know how much you appreciate them when they see it. Remember, you can always fill this can with anything you want if you ever wanted to add something to it as well.

Thank you Ebates, for adding Etsy to your wonderful list of shops :)

What are you Thankful for this coming season?

wink ;)

P.S. Right now if you sign up on Ebates, you can also get a welcome $5 cash bonus! How could you go wrong? Follow the links:

Ebates Canada
Ebates US

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This past Spring I attended a show called Rebash and it was soooo adorable. It peaked my interest because it was advertised "A different kind of wedding show" what could make it so different if it's all about weddings? I've been to shows before in the past, and walked out feeling overwhelmed with the amount of things needed to have a wedding in the first place... also glad I wasn't the one getting married at the time since it was also sooooo expensive. So after visiting the Rebash Website, I was really interested. It seems to gear itself towards people looking for more handcrafted wedding designs, props, decorations and food. It was great to see an event start up that catered towards the handmade creative industry. I thought to myself it would be very hard to break into some of the other bridal shows that are held around Toronto, especially being a small business. This would be the PERFECT start. So I went...

Going as a visitor was fun. It was intimate, everyone was so friendly and you could see and feel the level of detail that went into the show and every item each company made. It was definitely a place you could go as a bride to find that unique piece that no one else would have at their wedding. Going as a potential vendor was inspiring. I met some amazing and talented business owners who had awesome advice they were more than happy to give, and could see first hand what a little nudge in the right direction to start a business can do. This really gave me that last push to get things going and start my business. I'm so happy to have found this show and will be attending the next one hopefully as a vendor, but if not, I will be going for even more inspiration. So much work goes into a business, and even more to attend a show. I am very impressed with all the vendors that were there. I am working hard to be a part of them soon.

wink ;)

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Got my cards made from Jukebox Print (link at end of post)

They're here! My business cards are here and I love them! What does that mean?? It means I can hand them out to everyone and let them know this is what I want to and can do for them... what does that mean?? it means they can contact me so I can craft and create anything and everything I possibly can to make their event beautiful... what does that mean?? It means I'm nervous! Ahhhhhhhh! This a new adventure that I haven't been on before but I am beyond excited. That does come with some nervousness, some insecurities and fears, but those are normal, and good. If I wasn't scared, I wouldn't be dreaming big enough.

The thought of "when I'm ready" pops into my head a lot as I work through setting things up for designing events, but if I keep waiting, I'll never be ready... or I'll never know when I'm ready, unless I just do it. Some things are necessary to do before moving on to others, but I've always been one to jump right in and try. If I make a mistake then I just know what doesn't work which is just as important as knowing what does. It's not the end of the world. And to be honest, a lot of times, mistakes turn out to be some of the best ideas ever, or spark some while trying to figure things out. So here's my jump!

I would love to be able to cross a lot of different areas of events. From Weddings, to birthdays, to holidays, to product/ business launches and displays. I'll have some focus areas, but wouldn't be opposed to trying something new. First stop, is weddings. I'm preparing some samples of themes and products I can make, then I'll be setting up a photo shoot and bringing it all to life in a proper setting.

I will be updating the rest of my blog with some new things along the way. Get some pictures and products up and keep you informed of what is going on. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come to visit often!

wink ;)

Here's the site where I got my business cards made:

Jukebox Print

They were very helpful, good pricing and great quality. I suggest getting a sample pack to check out what they can do first and then order your business cards (plus you would also get a discount promo code in the letter they send you with the samples)

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So it's taken me a while to start working on products, samples and mock ups for my decorating side, but that's because I didn't have anywhere to work! Last year in the summer, my basement had a mini flood without us knowing. There were back to back storms that brought some crazy amounts of rain along with it. Unfortunately, this time, it pooled at the side of the house, ran down through some cracks, behind the vapor barrier, under the floor towards the drain in the bathroom. Since it wasn't a lot, and we couldn't even see it, it went unnoticed until the residual water that was still under the floor started to evaporate. It began to warp the floor, crack some of the joints and made its way up behind the drywall in the bathroom that wasn't being used, so no one noticed and produced some mold. Yuck! So before any pretty paper work could start, a mini demo had to be done. It was a little sad considering my mom and I were the ones who installed the floors ourselves, and redid the basement just 2 years prior, but it also gave a way to release some frustration at it all in tearing up the floors as well.

It took a few weeks to get the flooring done and installed. It would have been a lot faster if we had a big open space to just lay everything down, but we didn't have anywhere else to put all my furniture and extra things in storage that were in the basement. Having to lay flooring and at the same time, move furniture around is NOT easy. I wouldn't recommend it, but we had no other choice! In the end, it was all worth it and the floors look great! I have to say, I like the dark chocolate colour a lot better than the blonde wood we had before.

After all the flooring madness I finally had a space to start organizing some storage for all of my crafting stuff. I am a craft hoarder. It's pretty bad. Ribbon, tissue paper, card stock, bows, embellishments, wrapping paper, clips, tubes, containers, tins, frames you name it... I have it! I still don't have a place for everything, but everything at least has a more appropriate place right now. As excited as I was to get everything organized, it really showed me how much I had, which reminded me how badly I need to get everything started up so I can make things and use all this stuff! It's sitting in boxes, bags and bins when they could all be made into beautiful things for your next event. Of course I also had to brand the space as well. So i took an old frame from a mirror (the mirror broke) and turned it into a chalkboard for above my desk.

One of my storage projects I'm really happy with is the table I hacked with my dad at his shop. I'm very lucky and blessed to have a dad who has his own workshop and works a lot with wood. I'll have some of his stuff featured on here one day. But the shop is great, lots of open space and every tool you can think of. He shares it with some older retired gentlemen who are all wood workers that make some pretty nice furniture and decorative pieces. So I bought a second hand wooden table and hacked it to store all my large pieces of paper. I used to store them between a wall and boxes, but they were always getting bent, or curled or the edges damaged, so I made a very lame sketch in paint and sent it to my dad.

And somehow... he understood. So from that sketch, some tweaking, a trip to Home Depot and a weekend of work we turned a regular wooden dining table from Ikea into a large paper storage desk. TAH DAH!

Now I have a place to store my large paper, keep it all flat and out of the way. I LOVE it! and had so much fun working with my dad creating something new and unique. I'll be sending this over to Ikea Hacker soon and I'll share the link with you guys if it's featured.

So here is the start of my little studio. It isn't anything fancy, nothing special, it's some bookcases, and tables put together to make a place where I can make anything and everything. Have a dedicated area to make my mess that somehow turns into something beautiful. You'll probably get some more pictures on instagram of the space, and the background pics of what I create here. But it's a start. The studio behind the studio :) Hope you all like it!

wink ;)

Unknown

They're here! My business cards are here and I love them! What does that mean?? It means I can hand them out to everyone and let them know this is what I want to and can do for them... what does that mean?? it means they can contact me so I can craft and create anything and everything I possibly can to make their event beautiful... what does that mean?? It means I'm nervous! Ahhhhhhhh! This a new adventure that I haven't been on before but I am beyond excited. That does come with some nervousness, some insecurities and fears, but those are normal, and good. If I wasn't scared, I wouldn't be dreaming big enough.

The thought of "when I'm ready" pops into my head a lot as I work through setting things up for designing events, but if I keep waiting, I'll never be ready... or I'll never know when I'm ready, unless I just do it. Some things are necessary to do before moving on to others, but I've always been one to jump right in and try. If I make a mistake then I just know what doesn't work which is just as important as knowing what does. It's not the end of the world. And to be honest, a lot of times, mistakes turn out to be some of the best ideas ever, or spark some while trying to figure things out. So here's my jump!

I would love to be able to cross a lot of different areas of events. From weddings, to birthdays and holidays to product/ business launches and displays. I'll have some focus areas, but wouldn't be opposed to trying something new.

I will be updating the rest of my blog with some new things along the way. Get some pictures and products up and keep you informed of what is going on. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come to visit often!

wink ;)

Unknown

Business under construction... Blog coming soon!!! ;)

*wink* 

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