Pago the Seal

I usually love trying something new with anything, sport, food, crafts. There is one craft I refuse to learn because it will take over my life. Knitting. I love knitted sweaters, and every year as soon as it starts to get cold I am eyeing those sweaters up in stores….so bad. As I have decided to refrain from learning the art of knitting and crocheting, I have now deemed Craftybunny my go to person for anything I want/need to be made with hooks and yarn.

She recently completed a commission piece for a co-worker which was a knitted amigurumi Michael Jackson doll, with removable jacket and white glove! She has since sent me many examples of other artists amigurumi work, and gotten myself browsing through 40+ amigurumi related Etsy pages….

I then found something I NEEDED to be made, and put in a request for a knitted seal. Now through history I have had a love for lobsters, and still do, but there is something about those round fluffy white creatures that I truly adore. Having a knitted one just seemed logical…why I don’t know, I myself am still searching for answers.

Not fully aware of the fact that she was going to take this on, she began the baby seal knit! Within a matter of days the little fella was done and I was shocked to see him in her possession. She posted a picture on her Facebook Page, and was quickly flooded with requests for seals. SEAL SALES GALLOR! You can feel good too by purchasing Craftybunny’s seals as every $2 from each sale gets donated to the World Wildlife Fund. I took this picture of my new seal buddy to share but you can view more at Craftybunny's Facebook page.

A Night of Scrapbooking

Last weekend, a couple of the gals from the local crafting group I am a part of and myself decided to have a scrapbooking evening. I use to scrapbook like a mad woman, completing many albums a year, but upon moving out to the lower mainland, and not having had brought my supplies with me...well...its being a while, 6 years worth of a while.

Over the last year these wonderful ladies have gotten me back into this intimate art forum.

Friday was our little event and we decided to go Pot Luck Style. Being veggie free, our food line up consisted of cheese fondue, chicken (a whole chicken I might add!), various breads and salt and vinegar chips (crisps...if you are like my better half aka British).

Craftybunny decided to multicraft while working on scrapbooking pages and making baby shower decorations. No she does not have a bun in the oven....(ha..ha...ha...its funny cause its CraftyBUNNY). Awesome. Calistopolis made some tear jerking pages of her wedding, while I assembled all of my random road trip pictures. We even had a French Cook attend! While she claims she is not crafty herself, he was more than happy to help out Craftybunny with the decorations as well as have Martha Stewart brainwash her with one of her craft books. *Sigh* Martha, how terribly wonderful you are.

A few hours into the evening, the French cook, just! Couldn't! TAKE IT ANYMORE! And needed to make CUPCAKES!!!! Before I knew it, she was in the kitchen baking away, and being crafty in making coloured spirals in each baked good.

The night continued with more scrapbooking, crafting, stuffing our faces with cupcakes and talking, lots of talking. To be expected with a group of women.

The French Cook later messaged me this: 

 
I had a great time friday! Thanks for having me over. I'm glad you liked the multicolored cup cakes :) I hadn't had cup cakes in soooo long. Maybe next time I will do just the egg whites like the recipe says and not the whole freakin egg haha. Make them ubber fluffy!

Either way we are going to have you come out to surrey so we can get you some craft stufffff's

ps. spoon + icing = heaven

pps. I came away with three freakin amazing stories on friday
1 - I don't want to go to the dentist. They're going to tell me i'm a horrible person because I don't floss.
2 - Just hug a carrot!
3 - I'm playing pool but theres a filing cabinet in the way!

--------------------------

As you can tell the late hours and excessive amount of sugar got to us. We loved every minute of it, and I can't wait to do it again!

Father's Day & Summer Sale

Hello Everyone!

To celebrate Father’s Day and being just a week away from Summer we are having a Sale! All of our Yoga Bags, Flasks, Ceramic Pots, as well as select earrings have been discounted. Save up to 30% on these fantastic items. Happy Father’s Day and hello Summer sun!

And the Winner is….

*Drum Roll*

CONGRATULATIONS TO: Pam P!!! This lucky individual has won our giveaway of a $20 Gift Certificate to Sublime Art and Gallery! We kindly thank everyone who took the time to complete our survey, the feedback was awesome.

Stay tuned for future events, contests and prizes!!!

$20 in Free Art Supplies!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen!

To start off we would like to give a big thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to the Sublime Spring Market last weekend. We had a lot of fun and we hope you did too. We can’t wait for this year’s Christmas market where we will be showcasing new seasonal items. That’s right we have it all planned out, art ninjas!

We are happy to announce that we currently have a giveaway going on for a FREE $20 gift certificate to Sublime. In order to be eligible to win, we ask that you please complete the survey which is listed below. We really are interested in hearing what you say, so we have made the survey light hearted and it takes only a few minutes to complete.

The survey will be closed at 11:00pm PST on Monday, May 16th, 2011. The draw for the $20 Gift Certificate will take place on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 7:00pm PST. The Winner will be contacted via the email in which they provided through the survey.

The survey can be found here:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CCWPYRXDE/

The Technological Touch

Never, ever, did I think I would have  a job or career which heavily involved the use of computers. My family did not get a computer until I was the age of 13, which seems hard to believe when I see 5 year olds gaming this day and age. Sure we were blessed with the original Sega, Sega Genesis and N64, but a computer? Pft. Any school work which required it was done at school, at my Computer Savvy Uncle’s home, or at my best friend’s place.

Once we did get a computer, I began to live a life full of PC gaming (did I really just play 13 hours straight of Sims? Wait my summer is over? I swear I just started Playing Neverwinter Nights an hour ago…), MSN, and “Uh-Oh”…ICQ. Oh and….Neopets *Hangs head in shame*

While I have moved on from my excessive gaming and online chating, the online word has still engulfed most of my waking hours, just in a different way. These days…Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Cintqs make my knees weak! Having an education in Web Design, Graphic Design, Digital Animation and now a career in the Film and Game industry…

With that being said, why, OH WHY, have I been cursed with the technological computer touch of death!? Our main computer we used to do all of our digital art and personal use I managed to put in a 2.5 month coma when I installed SQL…I then infected our borrowed laptop with a army of virus’, but only shortly after I killed our Xbox 360’s Graphics Card after doing Insanity…but it is okay cause when I got to work I made one gaming console die…..right?! *sigh*

Tonight, is recovery night. My knight in shining armor was able to wake our computer from its long slumber, but sadly trying to transfer its files to a safe destination was another battle. I will be going through all of our files and folders to keep what is necessary and hopefully have better luck in transferring to a safe sanctuary. Not being able to do so, means…well we lose everything Stay tuned………

The Mad Rush

Well this year has been nothing but full steam ahead with its motto being: "resting is for losers". We have a long list of pieces to pump out, also have some very unusual ideas we are excited to create. You will be seeing and hearing from us much more frequently. Also, expect some contests, surveys and free prizes in the near future!

To get the ball rolling, we are happy to announce that we will be taking part in Sublime's 2nd annual Spring Craft Show. 

Our previous guest Craft Bunny will also be at the show for her second time with Sublime. This time around she is sharing her table with a one of our friends who is a new to the artist community. Both gals will be selling a wide range of jewelry pieces :) Richard's mom will also be at the show with her intricate Celtic pieces, soaps and much more.

We happily invite you to swing on by and check out all the fantastic handmade creations. It is also the perfect opportunity to finish up that last minute Mother's Day shopping!

Sublime Spring Market
Location: Tsawwassen Town Centre
Date: May 7th, 2011
Time: 10am-4pm
Website: www.sublimeartsuppliesandgallery.ca
We look forward to seeing you! :)

Our triumphant return...

Hey Everyone!!

It has been ages hasn't it? Last we spoke and wrote it was back in 2010, shame on us! The year of 2011 has been a busy one. Our new year started off with an adventure out to Edmonton to see family and friends. Our return was welcomed by busy work schedules and job hunting and just when everything became calm, our computer went on the fritz and died. That was long ago now, but we still have not fixed our computer, which has really hindered us in making blog posts and updating our Facebook page.

So we were lucky enough to get a laptop loaned to us, and funny enough, the day I was going to do a blog post the laptop became infected with 31 viruses.....*sigh* You may have noticed this all play out on our Facebook page or Twitter. ONCE AGAIN! We are back! The laptop it healthy again! Woot!

Even though we have not been the most active on your Community pages, you can bet your bottom dollar that it has been pretty hectic in our studio.

Last night was particularly productive, with the R-Unit finishing a painting and immediately starting a new one, which is looking good already!

The mood was just right for a painting night, with some good comedy on the tele and as always good company. But one thing that made things all fall together was Richard's decision to reel in his over-active brain and let his paintings happen. He feels that his best works are things he doesn't plan too hard, if at all. Often he will start from a line or a shape, or a very vague idea and just dive right in. With that, he also decided to stop trying to be so creative, and play a bit with his "old school" or normal style. Dark, moody, abstract and surreal imagery with a touch of lightheartedness and sometimes even comedy. This is where he enjoys to play most of all. And that brings us to a point that we discussed late in the evening.


Sometimes we as artists, crafters and designers feel that we need to be creative. Now that may sound silly, as we are creative, it's the nature of what we do. However, we can spend time thinking about a new project, trying to come up with new ideas, trying to find new subjects, to push the proverbial envelope, and we can find ourselves getting nowhere, the dreaded artist's block (similar to it's writing cousin). Yet we all have a particular style or technique that we enjoy doing, and often comes out in our work anyway. Sometimes, in a way, being less creative can be better. You can perfect a technique or an execution, elaborate on a previous subject, and you may find that your work from this point is actually more satisfying than what you were trying to "create" or think up.

At least that's what we discovered for ourselves last night. Doesn't hurt to try!

And here's the finished product from the Moto's paint session last night: The Last Flower in the Valley (Just for you)

Frohe Weihnachten

This year a new event was held in Vancouver. It was the first annual German Christmas Market. This market features a large assortment of traditional food, unique imported gifts and entertainment. Having a German background, I was practically inline waiting for the place to open as soon as I found out. It has been nearly 6 years since I last visited the motherland, so I was hoping to get my fix through the Market.

My cohort and I went on this German adventure and let me tell you, it was PACKED!!! I should have known better then to go Saturday evening in December…but you know….wait…apparently I didn’t :P While it was no more than 5 minutes in line to enter, I wish I could say the same about the food line ups. Not having had dinner yet and walking through the aroma of various Bratwurst, Raclette, and Roasted Chestnuts, my tummy was about to break out in tears. Fighting the urge to jump into each vendor stall and swipe myself a dish, we wandered through to check out each stall.

While I was a bit disappointed in the merchandise shopping selection, I absolutely loved presentation and atmosphere. There were a large variety of entertainers during the night, accompanied by music, that smell of traditional food again…which stalked my nose….wooden huts decorated in garlands and lights!

We picked up ourselves some Feuerzangenbowle (I wish I had a reordering of my co-workers pronouncing this) which was served in ceramic mugs. Tomorrow I will be venturing out again to this event with a group of my co-workers, and most likely be substituting my Feuerzangenbowle for something along the lines of warm apple juice :)

Pre-Boxing Day Sale

Hello Everyone! Starting now until December 23^rd to Midnight (PST) we are having our pre-boxing day sale. All of our Jewelry and Flasks are 20% off! What better way to finish off your last minute holiday shopping or to treat yourself this season.

We will be posting more Flasks and Jewelry designs this week, so continue to check in for our fresh hot off the press work!

You can check out our items on our Facebook page. Be sure to email us your orders soon at info@tlrstudio.com to secure your purchase and take advantage of this fantastic deal! To receive the item at sale price, orders must be received before midnight on December 23^rd. Shipping rates still apply to orders being sent outside of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, please contact us for further details.


Happy Holidays!

Goodbye 2010 Craft Shows

Saturday was our last craft show for 2010. Time to hit the futon, kick up the legs, snuggle in my Snuggie (yes I do have one) and drink some holiday tea. These last four shows were great, even though a little more hectic than usual. We met a lot of fantastic people, both customers and artists, and we were glad to share our work with everyone. We also send a thank you to Crafty Bunny again for helping us run one of our tables and showcase her work on November 13th. We hope to join forces with her again in the new year

While our candle tea cups and jewelry were the top items this year, we would like to know what your favorites were. Was there something you would like to see that we didn’t have? Or a new and fresh idea you would like us to showcase? Let us know as we love hearing your feedback.

As for now, you can continue to buy any of our items in which you see on our Facebook Page. Just shoot us an email, and let us know what you are interested in. If you live outside the Greater Vancouver area, not to worry! We can send it your way for a small shipping fee (shipping fees are dependent on location of where the item must travel to). Don’t forget to drop us a line if you are curious about any custom work. We are always excited to take part in paintings, drawings, sewn items, jewelry, graphics and more!

Coffee Art

Let it Snow! I love winter. Sure it gets a little chilly, but nothing that can’t be battled out with the use of gloves, hats, boots and the excessive layering system of clothing! Honestly, since moving from Edmonton these Vancouver winters merely remind me of Edmonton summers. Okay, I am exaggerating a little, but you get my point:)

The first half decent snow we got was on Thursday, and of course it was like watching Dawn of the Dead, the zombies were a bit more aggressive though and trying to get on Skytrains and ended up turning on each other…. while the helpless few who remained uninfected were out on the roads driving. I got to be a zombie, it was pretty sweet.

My better half was unable to get to work. Waiting for buses which never showed, and then getting on one which took him on a joy ride, the poor man had a hour walk from his final destination to the core of downtown in hopes to find transit. He made it, but sadly got lost downtown. A call for help was made, and after giving directions I took the last few minutes of lunch to meet up with him. Seeing him soaked, and freezing, we made our way into a coffee shop to warm up for a bit. For the first time ever I was severed art in a cup! You have no idea how excited I was because of it.

I wish I could say, the snow continues, but sadly it has turned back into rain. *Sigh*

Circle Craft 2010

Circle Craft = Inspiring and Tempting. Circle Craft is a very large annual craft fair which takes place in Vancouver during the winter season. Today I ventured out to the event with Crafty Bunny and our partner’s in crime. While Crafty Bunny’s companion was overly thrilled to be going to the event, but I am pretty sure we supplied him with a good amount of entertainment while we were there.

One of the most exciting and unique artists we saw created helmet covers (www.tail-wags.com). Crafty Bunny was ecstatic about the…well…the bunny one, and I latched on to the lobster version. I also was pretty excited about the goldfish. While I do not have a bicycle helmet at this time, I do have a snowboarding one…

We were fortunate enough to get a glimpse of a free glassblowing demonstration. I am pretty sure that whenever I break a glass now it will feel guilty. The time and various techniques they used alone to incorporate the colour and pattern of the piece was MIND BLASTING. While I was truly mesmerized by their work, I don’t think I would have the patience to ever take part in it myself. A few years ago I had traveled down to Tacoma with my family and watched a similar demonstration at the Museum of Glass and since then have grown a new appreciation for glass blowing. Here are some of the artists we saw today:
www.mellonglass.com
www.psdesignsglass.com
www.illuminatiglassworks.ca

One of the pieces by PS Designs was their two and four sushi sets, sadly I don’t eat nearly enough sushi at home to justify the purchase.

Another vendor which made are day was Diabolo Puppets. These cute and quirky characters were a blast! Without hesitation we started picking up different characters and animating them with the strangest voices. Piranha, Bunny and this other odd fluffy creature which kinda resembled someone’s beard but in a brighter colour…what do you think?

Tumies were rumbling and so we decided we best head out, but we did make one last stop…at the Calgary Fudge Factory. Worst idea ever. We spent $40 in fudge! Rather, Crafty Bunny…I have some money I need to pass on to her. Sadly their website does not show nearly as many flavors as they had at the show such as Green Tea, Garlic, Pistachio, and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans! The men we eager to try the Eggnog version (and dunk it in some Rum of course) but they were sold out :(

I truly recommend going to Circle Craft next year if you have never been. Do try to go early to beat the crowds, and perhaps give yourself a budget J The artists are all very talented, and there is no shortage of variety, thus easily getting the best of a person...and their wallet hehe. Darn it! I totally didn’t do any Christmas Shopping…oh well :(

Craft Shows of November 2010

Well it has been a while hasn’t it? Shame on me, but is has been an insane last few weeks!! Insane is a very nice understatement actually. Art shows, long hours at work, a second job and Avon Calling!

The month started off with Craft Show preparation panic attacks. GRAB THE COFFEE!! With my mom being out, we did not get as much work done as we had planned to. Our first two weeks of November consisted of three shows, two of which were on the same day but different locations. This year our top sellers were jewelry and our new tea cup candles, which oddly enough, we were predicting these to be one of the lowest selling items…well we were sure wrong. Same luck I have with picking the winning lotto numbers…huh…

We have one more show for 2010, which is scheduled on the last Saturday of this month and we would love for you to swing by J The details are as follows:

Name of Event: Christmas Artisan Market 2010
Where: 1287 - 56 Street, Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall in Tsawwassen, BC
Date: November 27, 2010
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm

We were also happy to have Crafty Bunny participating with us at our last show. She was an extremely big help (Thank you so much!), and we were glad to have her showcase her handmade earrings. Unfortunately she will not be at our last craft show, but if you are interested in any of her items, give her a holler on her blog, Craft Bunny.<--Click it…you know you want to ;)

If you are interested in any of the jewelry or candles by The Living Room Studio please shoot us a message on our blog, email (info@tlrstudio.com), Facebook page or Twitter as we are willing to hold them for you if you can not make it to the show. Be sure to get them before they sell out, as we will not be producing may more until the new year.

After we rocked our socks at the three craft shows, we were gladly looking forward to a week of down time, and so was our immune system. Awesome. My second in command got hit and hit hard, and my for some unusual reason my body thought it would be a good to follow his lead. Both of us have been living off massive amounts of veggies, hot beverages, and cold medication for a week and a half. We have also grown a new fondness for our futon and the system of food delivery. Mixed Veggies on Rice for the win! Luckily we are both close to recovery, and should be in tip top shape early this week thank goodness.

Tomorrow we will be attending Circle Craft with Crafty Bunny and perhaps her partner in crime. I will be sure to follow up with another blog, and of course some fantastic pictures! :D  

Happy Halloween 2010!

I’m alive! ALIVE!!! Mwhahaha! I was being held hostage at work, and work outside of work, with its side of work, accompanied by work. Oh yes! And my mom who is out visiting at the moment THE BOSS!

I have been trying to keep in the theme for Halloween for the month of October, as I usually don’t attend many Halloween events. This year, we changed that!

My first embrace of Halloween celebrations for me is always to decorate my house! This year though I kept it ‘low key’ cause I must admit that I have troubles with motivating myself to taking the decorations down when the time is ready. One year I had a Halloween/Christmas house…it was….different…and lasted until Valentine’s Day. *cough* Door hangers, window stickers, moving and light up figurines, candles with their fancy festive candle holders, center pieces, garlands…like I said, I kept it low key this year;) I know this, cause I jipped out on spider webs!

The second task was decorating my desk at work. Can you tell I like decorating? On my whiteboard I have attacked it with gel bats, cats and the text ‘Boo’. I will soon be making an addition of a gel pumpkin. To compliment this all, I have caution tape in front of me, in a ‘bloody’ font. Font…man, design has corrupted me….who says font?

THIRD! This is where I was really starting to get in the grove of zombies! Dragging my feet out of bed, making groggy noises, and blindly making my breakfast in the morning….*drool* As my mom is out visiting, it has been a lot of late night and early mornings.

Fourth. HALLOWEEN THEMED AQUARIUM! BOO-YA! That’s right! The Aquarium was bringing in the celebration as well with their theme ‘Spooky Seas’. There were employees everywhere dressed up as pirates interacting with the guests, and they did not fall short. Having their pirate names, stories, and even accents! They even got the beluga whale mascot dressed up as a pirate. The place was decorated accordingly and there was a special exhibit ‘Skulls, Teeth and Creeps of the Deep’ showcasing skulls of various marine creature. Killer Whale skull = HUGE! We also watched their 4D movie ‘The Curse of Skull Rock’. Unlike my mom and I, R-chard had never been to a 4D movie, so I am pretty sure he was shocked when water was splashed in our face for the first time.

Fifth! I like odd numbers…odd like myself! We took my mom to see the musical Sweeny Todd. I was really cozy, as there were only approximately 6 rows of seats that surrounded a stage on ground level. At first I was a bit worried on how the production would be as I had often been to big Broadway productions in large theatres. Well, you can’t judge a book by its cover, and that was proven with this performance! The acting was exquisite, and their singing made me pretty freaking jealous….haha. I would highly suggest you go….but sadly all the remaining shows are sold out!

Sixth! On Friday my work appeared to be just as festive as myself, and well I am giving them the two thumbs up for that call! Costumes, candy, movies, candy, food, candy…..and a pumpkin carving contest! Not having any idea on what to carve, I posted a request for ideas on our Facebook page. I was given a suggestion for a 3D pumpkin, and well I went with it. This pumpkin….has been a battle as I found it really difficult to carve deep enough through to light up the pumpkin. I ended up doing some research, and discovered a lot of people who make 3D pumpkins either light them up with a bunch of decorative lights inside or use foam pumpkins! I wish I knew how to cheat earlier.

Last night for Halloween, Richard and I took my mom to the airport as she was flying home again. We spend the evening on the floor painting our suggested Halloween Themed painting. With paint, canvases, and candy surrounding us, with horror movies playing in the background, we much enjoyed our relaxed spooky evening together. We have a few final touches but we should have the piece up soon! :)

How was your Halloween? What events did you get up to? I liked my super Halloween October, and I am hoping to continue it from now on, let us know if there are any MUST DO events we next to check out in 2011!

Epic Crafting Day

Saturday was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day. I had met up with Crafty Bunny and one of our friends to embark on a crafting adventure. Crafty Bunny and I started off early by busting out some Hip Hop moves downtown for an hour before meeting up our crafting companion. Smelly, sweaty and sticky we met up with our friend and made our rounds to various stores to collect some supplies we needed. About 3 hours later…. :| we made it to her house to assemble everything.

We were slicing, dicing, cooking, stuffing our face with pizza (oddly enough the slicing, dicing and cooking had nothing to do with food), getting our hands dirty as well as counter tops, listening to Spice Girls….wait did I seriously just expose myself by typing that…crap! Doing showdowns….inking it up, listening to Nsync…wait…crap! I never learn do I?

All our hard work paid off, and it was a great feeling to see the finished product. Sure it was 8 hours later and midnight…but we got it done, and it turned out great!

Yesterday evening I got a call…there was panic, there was worry, there was chaos! Just when you feel the warmth of success cuddle you like a feather down blanket, someone….something….goes and snatches it away from you! Once of our creations decided to rebel and now must go into crafting surgery. I will be picking up the patient this week, and I am hoping that a little TLC and crafting food will help mend it’s self.

Now I know this blog has been a bit vague….the events that took place, and what all was created, but there is a reason why. There is more to this story…but sadly Part Two must be told at a later date. Keep logging in, cause I will be following up on this one in the future! Oh and of course, there will be picture….OH WILL THERE BE PICTURES!

Sewing Extravaganza

We’re back!!! It has been crazy the last little while. We have busy catching up with friends, family, adjusting to a new job, shopping for the new job, shopping in general really (Bench. Sale? What? Really???), dance classes, work, work and some more work! Breathe!!! Not to mention Thanksgiving! It takes a lot out of a person to eat that much food!

Last week the second crafting event was held for the local Craft Group I joined. It was a great get together! We all managed to get a lot of work done and help one another in the process. Sadly though I don’t think it was that exciting for my better half. He was a sweetheart and stuck though the night with us ladies, entertaining us with stories and he himself even made a pair of earrings! But don’t let him know I told you....

Saturday was a late night. It also could have been an early morning depending how you look at it. I stayed up until 4:30am cutting out patterns on fabric for new yoga bags! I managed to get 26 done, but I could potentially make 5 more if I desired. I also was able to find my 'Rice' fabric on the weekend, so I completed cutting out the pattern and fabric for my Halloween Costume. As you can tell I have a lot of sewing ahead of me. I tried to convince my co-pilot that he is an AMAZING sewer, and loves to sew, but no dice. Maybe next time hehe. Last night I was able to complete 3 of the yoga bags, and about 85% of my ‘Rice’ dress for my Halloween costume. I was glad for it to have been a fairly productive night, and not having to stay up until the next day was a huge bonus.

If I can keep up my current sewing rate, I should be done all of the yoga bags by October 20^th, the day before my mom arrives to visit me. Wish me luck!!! Ill need it! *Needles please don’t break, please don’t break*

The Hour of Needle and Thread

Trick or Treat! October is showing up without warning, and the only way I knew its arrival was near is from seeing Halloween decorations in all of the stores, and orange and yellow leaves on the ground.

Back in the day (Junior High, good old grade 7, yippie…) I was introduced to sewing. Rather, sewing with a sewing machine that is. I had done sewing by hand before, hemming pants, reattaching buttons, making clothes for my Barbies, but the sewing machine….*tear* so…so beautiful! The first thing I ever made was Pajama pants that were WAY to big in the waist and MUCH too short. With some time and practice I have improved from this first trial!

Often when selecting my project for sewing it is more often then note complicated and  contains a good collection of detail. These pieces usually end up being a bit more pricey for the more extravagant fabrics and notions which are needed. The second high cost to follow up with is the time invested to get the job done. For these reasons I usually go all out on one sewing project a year, and yes you guessed it! It is for my Halloween costume.

This year I have put my sewing budget a bit lower than I normally would, but creativity has not been sacrificed. This year, Halloween 2010, I am going as…*drum roll*….Sushi! Nom, nom, nom! While I have the design planned out, and I have a very good idea of what fabrics I will be looking for, there is still one question which remains unanswered! Ebi or Salmon? I want both…so tasty…thoughts?

House Boat Party

Vacatioooooooooooon! Woop! Woop! Sadly it is over But it was good while it lasted! Myself, copilot and 4 of our friends went out to Sicamous BC to go houseboating on Shuswap Lake on the weekend. None of us had ever gone houseboating before so we were all really excited, but not too sure what to expect…or pack(oh there is a story!).

The trip to our destination was a bit chaotic. We all arrived at ‘The Living Room Studio’ pad to have a sleepover party enabling us to leave as a group in the morning. The alarm clock went off at 3am, and we departed shortly after 4am.

As it was the last week of houseboating, we were lucky enough to be given a bigger boat than we had originally booked at no additional cost! There were three bedrooms which worked out perfectly as we were a group of three couples. Not only did we sail the seas (or lake in this case), but also took part in fishing, counting dead fish, board games, card games, Banana Grams, decorating the boat, attacking a piñata (or boat in my case) and roasting marshmallows on our fire to make smores. There was one challenge though…food!

Shortly before our trip, we went on an adventure to Costco to buy all the food we would need for the trip. Well, we bought WAY more than what we needed. We had meat for every meal of the day….every meal…OF THE DAY! MEAT! ALL MEAT! Can you tell the crew was made up of 50% males? Looking at our fridge and cupboards at the end of our first day we decided day 2 would consist of nothing but food consumption and finishing off all our beverages. Sadly the vast amount of meat showed us who was boss!! We all went home with 6 steaks per couple as well as two bags of ribs along with all the other snacks and beverages we had left over.

I am, without a doubt, really, really, REALLY sick of meat at this point. REALLY sick of MEAT! I was so happy to have a veggie sub, it nearly brought a tear to my eye. Since my return my diet has been vegetarian, accompanied by dairy products. While it has been easy enough to made meals at home, going out to eat is a different story.

Two of my co-workers are vegetarians and I was speaking with them about my meat hangover and how I was embracing the vegetarian life for the week. They agreed that yes the selection is limited in restaurants, and often you always have the same items to choose from. Veggie burgers, veggie quesadillas, pasta etc. Also once one do finds a place that they enjoy or has a better selection it is more often than not they continue to just go to that place, new restaurants become a thing of the past. My co-worker Bear-Claw passed along some websites to help me with my veggie adventure, and now I would like to share them with whomever wishes to have a bit more veggie in their life. (I fell like there should be a dance associated with that!)

Recipes:
http://www.theppk.com/

Recommended Recipe:
http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=244

Faking the Meat:
http://www.yvesveggie.ca/index.php?id=20

All in all the houseboating was great! I had a blast, and the company couldn’t have been better! I would love to go again, and perhaps for more than three days in order to really enjoy the surroundings and experience some of the fanatic hiking trails in the area. I highly recommend this adventure, just make sure you are compatible with your party for more than 3 consecutive days hehe. It would also be without a doubt a great mini family vacation! Again…if you are compatible with your party for more than 3 consecutive days ;)

To read more about the houseboating adventure and view more pictures check out the blogs of Crafty Bunny and Laura~She

Inviting Crafty Bunny

Well it is time to make it official! I won the Lotto! Haha…I wish. It’s time for the official announcement of our art shows in November. They money is in, and the papers are signed! Come to one of our shows during the following dates:
November 6th
November 13th- At two different locations
November 27th

We will be making events for the shows on Facebook, so be sure to ‘Like’ our page to get an invite to the event and any future events. I will be following up on our blogs, Facebook page and Twitter with additional information including times and address information.

As we do have two shows on the 13th of November at two different locations, we were in need of some help. We asked our artistic companion ‘Crafty Bunny’ if she would be interested in helping us run one of the shows. She gladly accepted and we are really excited to have her on board. We have also invited her to showcase her own works of art the day she assists us. Focusing on crafting jewelry, her pieces cover a wide range of styles from Funky and Fun, to Elegant and Dainty. This will be her first craft show, and as her pieces are often one of a kind you won’t want to miss the opportunity of checking her pieces out.