As a followup to my previous post on inappropriate wall decor, and because I am still buried in end of season photo editing and album making and I-have-no-life-until-I-am-done fun, you can now match that awesome wall piece up with this great road kill carpet!

I hope to rejoin regular life soon, but until then, enjoy

I always take pictures of things I’m doing with the intention of blogging them, it’s just that transition from photo to writing and posting that is the problem. This is an attempt to catch up a little!

Project 1 – The Blue Olive Blog, yo. Go check it out It’s new and fancy like

Project 2 – Bags! This is wayyyy overdue, but I keep meaning to post it.

A few months ago I decided that I needed a new bag. And, as there’s always lots of fabric and it doesn’t take much more time once everything is out and such, not only did I need a matching zippered ipod-sized pouch to go with it, but Shan and Kimli did, too. Weu!

I don’t do patterns although presumably I would have taken less time if I’d just planned it properly, but that’s no fun. Everything worked out well though and I’ve been using this bag as my daily now for months. Only just recently have I noticed that I should have reinforced the whole strap/square ring/bag part a little more, but now I’ll know for next time. Considering that’s the only thing I’d improve upon if I made another I think I did pretty good. Other than that, people keep asking me where I got it, so that’s got to be a good thing!

Project 3 – Does it count as a project if it took all of 4 minutes to do?

We added some flooring today to the hole in the hardwood left when we ripped out the wall between the old and new studio, which caused lots of banging. The neighbours downstairs were obviously annoyed with our banging as they were banging back, but as we were literally putting in new floor there was little we could do to not bang on the floor.

So, while I can’t take back the banging, I can make a very cute note card to apologize and make nice.

I try to keep pads of fun, cover weight papers around normally for notecards. I use my stack cutter to cut the whole pad to note card size, then rip out the sheet I want when I need it and fold it. This ends up way cheaper than pre-folded cards, and I get way more variety in papers which works well for me as I can match my card to my mood & purpose.

I didn’t have an envelope so I folded up some velum to match, and topped it with a completely non-sensical sticker courtesy of Daiso.

And – voila! Banging yes, but Cute Card! Yay for cute cards

Projects 4, 5 & 6 – Vintage finds for the new studio

Still on the hunt for a loveseat sized sofa in a similar style to the chair, but the first 3 of the vintage projects for the new studio have been started. Everything is still a work in progress, so for now you just get the before pictures.

I present – the awesome 3 legged super mod end table and to-be-reupholstered parlour chair (both finds from out in Maple Ridge at an antique mall) and the card catalogue courtesy of Rob & Andrea of Lotus Events (and our partners in crime for planning Indie I Do – http://www.indieido.com – the alternative wedding show we’re putting on in January. Err, did I tell you we’re putting on an alternative wedding show??)

That’s all for now! I plan to be a little more timely with the crafty updates going forward, especially the followup on my projects above. The card catalogue and table are almost done, and the chair is getting there. Looking forward to sharing those as well as some super exciting things we have in store for the new studio!

Cheers!

Newly updated and recipe-ized food list is on the right – “The List” under “About.”

Which leads me to… I have *such* a love-hate relationship with meat.

Thanks to DJ, I too have wasted part of my day at http://www.myvirtualmodel.com.

See me (well, a reasonable facsimile) at my current weight and every 20 pounds to my goal weight….

Argh

GreenPeace used to have the best info on PVCs – their site used to list all the manufacturers who used PVCs, those who didn’t, then broke them down by the more common toys. I don’t know why it’s no longer an official campaign, as it’s still an issue. They still have some info hiding in their archives, but not as good as it used to be.

Anyways… Just a reminder… don’t give your kids soft plastic

Health Canada issued an advisory to parents and caregivers of very young children in November 1998 to dispose of soft PVC teethers, rattles and other frequently chewed soft PVC toys. PVC plastics contain phthalates as softeners, which do leach from the plastic, and have been shown to cause damage to the liver and kidney in some cases, effects on the reproductive tract, increased incidence of certain forms of cancer and diverse effects on development and metabolism.

Here is the link from Health Canada:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/advisory/index.htm

GreenPeace info on PVCs:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/~comms/97/pvctoys/
http://www.greenpeace.ca/e//resource/publications/toxics/vinyltoys98.html
http://archive.greenpeace.org/~toxics/html/content/pvc1.html

Remembered @ last minute that I had to pickup some stuff for work from Ikea, so I didn’t go to art class (didn’t have time to do both). I decided I would have self directed art class at home after I went for a walk on the treadmill.

Now of course, kitten likes shiny things. He also likes to hide things. 30 minutes to take apart the treadmill and diagnose the new sound as dimes, and for removal of course. Sigh. But he’s soooo cute

Anyways – 22 minutes for 1 mile uphill. I have manual incline, so I don’t know what the % is, it’s the middle of 3 settings, and it looks very uphill to me. Yup.

No Sugar
No Wheat or Gluton
No Preservatives/chemicals
No Dairy
No red meat
No caffeine
No yeast

This means…

hummous hummous ra ra ra
veggies
veggies soup
veggies snack
spinach with pine nuts recipe
stir frys
broccoli
brown rice
joooce
fruits
almonds
cheeseless pizzas with pizza sauce & um.. sesame bread?
Chicken
and broccoli
and chicken
Sesame seeds
What are sunchips made of? Certainly not no preservatives…
OOH!! Those yummy sesame snax ’cause I need a little sugar ya?
Water and lots of it
Lemon water
apple sauce
veggie broth
beans and lentils
can eat salt! ra ra but not too much
LETTUCE AND RICE WRAPS!!! yum yum
and squash
and salad with a little dressing
mushrooms and mushrooms

tonnes of food – just expireable costs lots stuff, but Reilly can eat pizzas or tv dinners or something. I will need quick meals though – so maybe make a big batch of soup, always have veggies ready, fruits available, fresh broccoli for steaming, hummous. This could work, ya.