What have I been up to???

So it has been quite a while since I did anything "bloggerly" but I am feeling the urge to post something.

This is a renedering I did of a pre-set scene we were given by our instructor. I am finally starting to get it. It really is not perfect, I already see there is lots of room for improvement aesthetically but the fact that I am getting it is a big deal for me.

3DS Max is such a very complicated program! But this also makes it a very powerful tool. The work I have seen done is so inspiring, I really want to keep at it and improve. Like most things the key is 'Practise, practise practise!'

Help for Haiti

The earthquake in Haiti was devastating. I feel so sad when I see footage and stories about the monumental challenges faced by so many. Fortunately there are many ways to help;

Click to Help Haiti is a click-a-day site that generates donations from sponsors. 100% of the donations raised go directly to Oxfam America and help provide emergency water and sanitation services to earthquake survivors in Haiti.

GO and CLICK today!

Of course the generous Etsy community is offering help also. A search of Haiti relief generates so many shops with items listed to benefit various charitable organizations providing relief for the area. (Please take a moment read the fine print on what you are buying.)

Also on Etsy is a whole shop dedicated to helping Haiti. Hearts for Haiti offers a variety of merch that has all been donated from Etsy shops of all kinds. There really is something for everyone. From the shop announcement:

"...your purchase in this shop not only gets you a great Etsy item but it also helps alleviate the needs in Haiti through donations to DoctorsWithoutBorders (MédeçinsSansFrontières)."




The shop has raised over $25,000 to date! That is a big number for a great cause, so go on, GET SHOPPING!

Decor8 Posts a West Elm GC Giveaway

The lovely Decor8 blog has posted a giveaway you may be interested in. I am in Canada and so I can't enter but it looks like a good one; a gift card to West Elm.

Check it out and see for yourself.

I am also getting some details on the Blogging Your Way e-course that is going on over there. Looks like the current one (starting January 18th) is all sold out but I'll be keeping my eye out for any more sessions that might happen.

What to Do With a Flower Loom

I have a few flower looms hanging around. Some are from vintage kits that I have come across, some just lonely looms. You might know them as the KnitWit or Crazy Daisies from way back. This is one of my creations that I made with vintage seam binding.


I am going to be adding some of these flowers to my Ella Cinders Vintage shop over on Etsy. You should check it out in the next week or so and see what's up.

This post was inspired by Elsie's post at A Beautiful Mess, which is a great read too!

Thoughts on Hallowe'en Costumes

Well I know am early but I want to get a good start on my favourite holiday this year - Hallowe'en!

I am already gathering ideas and seeing what kind of costumes the kids want to go for. This site has some really great ideas for the DIYers out there. I am particularly digging this page with the Wonder Woman costumes. They look fun but I am not sure I can really pull off something so skimpy for a few reasons. (Mostly the chilly weather - I live in Canada after all but also, I'd have to hit the gym BIG time for the next four weeks to come even close to Wonder Woman standards!)

Instead of WW we as a family have decided to go as a trio of sorts; Inspired by the new Tim Burton film coming out next year we are going as characters from Through the Looking Glass. My daughter will be Alice of course and my son is going to be the Mad Hatter with just a little bit more convincing. I of course will be the Queen of Hearts. Muahahaha!

Bloggy Needs a New Pair of Shoes....

So this sadly neglected blog is needing a bit of a makeover. Site maintenance is in effect so if it looks a bit messy around here, please bear with me. This should be fairly painless and I will post about how I did it in the next few days, assuming it all goes well.......(crossing fingers and toes now.)

Unplugged...

Pampering Beki had a great idea that I am going to be participating in with my family. Unplugging the tech stuff around here is much needed now that the long winter is starting to taper off. The battle over the computer is starting to get a little out of hand so a day off will be a nive change of pace for us. We don't have cable so TV has never been a big issue for us but the computer - that is another story. Thursday is going to be our day to be "unplugged" and if that goes off without a hitch then maybe we can expand it to Sundays also. Only time will tell....Are YOU up for it?

I Nabbed a Bad A** Treasury the Other Day

So I have been a very busy bee and there have been a few changes recently that have kept me from posting here. Or at least kept me from knowing what to post here. The holiday season is such a crazy time of year and I tend to get a little overwhelmed. With the big birthday behind us I had a little time to snag an Etsy treasury the other day.

Gee, I don't know why it turned out so dark. Maybe the season is affecting me more than I thought?

Some Butterflies Just for Fun

I bought a set of these lovely butterfly cut-outs a while ago and they arrived in good time. Mine are a more greenish and pinkish set in colour and I actually got two sets as part of a promo that the lovely Etsy seller had going on. Beach Cottage Studio has sold out of these now but you can see all of her other lovely goodies in her shop.

I really like the framed look for these so I think that is what I will do with some of them and perhaps some Xmas wrap embellishments for others. I'll have to keep you posted.

Shop Shop til you Drop.

I guess I am jumping the gun a little to get a head start on Cyber Monday tomorrow.
I have been busy trying to find something special to get for my daughter who is having a Birthday in a few weeks. Her B-Day is so close to Christmas it always seems as if it is almost eaten up by the excitement of the holiday season so this year I want to do something extra special for her.

I think I have it all worked out but seeing as I want it to be a big surprise I won't give away too many clues to the mystery here. I did settle on a few things from another vintage seller on Etsy.
The Eclectic Curio has a great selection of goodies and I picked out a few good reads that the lovely shop owner has agreed to gift wrap and address to my daughter. You can read more about the shop and such on the Eclectic Curio blog.

Oh Balls! 40 Days to GO!

Remember this post?
I have this idea to make some ornaments for my very neglected project in the feeble attempt to get ready for the holiday season in due time. When I checked back with the lovely and very industrious Jennifer's One Hundred Days blog I was reminded that there is now only 40 days left until the big day sooooooo
I HAD BETTER GET MY BUTT IN GEAR!

To that end I have ordered some lovely felted balls as pictured above so that I can make some cute danglies for our tree. I am going to embroider some white snowflakes onto each one and maybe add some jingle bells and ribbons. I looked on Etsy of course to find these felted balls from HandBEHG and would have loved some in green too. Unfortunately she has no green but I was happy to find her shop as many of the felters were located overseas. With only 40 days to go time is of the essence. I can't wait until they get here!

100 Days to Christmas

OK we are well into it with just over 50 days left to get ready for Christmas so get on over there and sign up. Looks like fun and I'll try to keep you posted. Who knows, I might even make some progress with this project.

NaNoMoBloPo or something....And World Vegan Day

So it is National Month of Blog Posting day (or NaMoBloPo for short) and the start of (hopefully) a month of blogging. One post every day for thirty days. I think I can do it but only time will tell.

My first post this month also happens to be on World Vegan Day so I have something interesting to blog on about. I was tipped off to World Vegan Day with this great Treehugger post about the subject and a great smelling cosmetics company that has gone Vegan for the day. I also learned through the WV Day site that November just happens to also be World Vegan Month so I will have lots to write about for the month of posts.

I am going to try out some Vegan recipes also and post them here. Since I am certainly no whiz in the kitchen I will be doing some research on how to go about this in the most simplistic way possible. Once upon a time I was a vegetarian and I'll have to dig out those old recipe books I have hidden away somewhere. I think I could manage a vegetarian day each week since we don't really even eat that much meat around this house anyhow.

Ballots Anyone?...

We went polling today up here in Canada. I always take my kids with me to vote and try to explain the reason why voting is so important. They probably still don't quite get it but it's a start. The whole concept of politics and government is hard to grasp I know and especially at such a young age. I just want to keep them exposed to what I do because it is the beginnings of a dialog about the big picture.

I also tried to explain a bit about democracy and how I feel that it is truly is our civic duty to exercise our freedom to vote. How many millions(or even billions?) of people in this world have no voice on their place in the world? Even if I feel that my one little check mark does not make much of a difference it is still important just to be part of the process.

Alas, I guess my youngest doesn't get it at all. He thinks that voting is some kind of fun game because somebody "wins". Haha, if only it were just that simple!

Happy Thanksgiving, EH?

Yum Yum Yum! What better treat to go with turkey than a pumpkin pie! If you want a great recipe for this pumpkin pie, click the pic to go to the aptly named Canadian Winter Magazine. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canucks out there.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Yearbook Yourself!

Click on the pick to go to the Yearbook Yourself site and give it a go!


I found a fun site via Made By Girl a little while ago. (Of course Jennifer's pics still manage to look stunning!) Be prepared for a good laugh if you try it yourself. This is me circa 1972 (but not really because I was only 1 and had no hair at all!)

The Massive List of Etsy Alternatives

Instead of having the two (or more!) posts with alternatives to Etsy sales venues, I have amalgamated them into one major, massive mega-list here. If you are looking for somewhere else to sell that is NOT Etsy for whatever reason, this is the place to look. I will add more periodically and those will go to the bottom of the list.

For now, it is in alphabetical order, in groups of five.

ArtFlock
ArtsEfest
Blujay
Bouf
BigCartel

BuyItSellIt
Canduru
Craftfinder
CraftMall
Creative Cafe

CraftersBuzz
CutNpaste *Sells for you on consignment basis.
Dawanda
Ecrater
Elsewares

Erayo
Funky Finds - The Shops
Felt
Folksy
GoZabo

Guild
HandmadeCatalog
HomegrownMarket
iCraft
Lov.li

Lunacraft
Madeit
MintD
My Art Plot
My Store

NotonTheHighStreet
Overstock Auctions
PinkDoodle
Poppytalk Handmade Market
RubyLane

SilkFair
Shopify
SmashingDarling
Strictly Handmade - Low yearly fee SuperMarket

Thumbtack Press
Tuggle
UShops
Veganica
Wagglepop

WinkElf - "Handmade by Thems-Elves"
WholesaleCrafts
World Wide Crafters - "Changing the way
YabbleBabble
Yessy

Yinia
YouCraft.org

If this is a helpful list and you want to see more when there are updates, please subscribe. Comments are encouraged! If you have other details to add, feel free.

Ideas for a Staycation

Yesterday we were at the beach and a tourist asked me what we do as a family for fun around here. That really got me thinking- what DO we DO all summer long?

Because we live in a town that is considered a "vacation destination" the thought of going somewhere else is somewhat of an afterthought. Why would we go anywhere else when we live in a summer paradise? (Especially with the ever-rising prices at the gas pump.) A staycation is standard around these parts.

I told the man who was enjoying the beach with his own young family that really we spend most of our time at the shore or local water parks. The kids never seem to get bored of that. We spend about 4 or 5 days a week on the water, weather permitting. If you are looking to do something else there are the typical vacation theme spots like the mini golf centre, bowling, camping etcetera.

For those days that we don't do the beach thing, there are many other ways that we pass the time. We don't have cable so watching TV is relegated to the odd video rented from the store but we don't really have lots of time for the tube to be honest.

Here are a few of the things we do to keep busy:
Paper crafts - making cards, recycled paper projects, collage and stamps.
Library visits - always a whole new world every time.
The local ECO centre offers lots of exploration.
Hiking - trails are abundant around here'
Bike riding - long leisurely rides on our mostly bike friendly roads.
Other crafts; sewing projects, drawing, soap carving (a favorite!) to name a few.
Practical skills like reading and writing, knitting etc.
Baking! A favorite.
Gardening fun.
Puzzles and board games.

When we are really desperate, there are the old stand-by's in the computer; the kids love their Webkinz site and keep their pets well fed and cared for. (Even though I think that Webkinz were invented by the WOEG - World Order of Evil Geniuses - to get kids virtually hooked on consumerism at an early age.)
Other fun resources we like:
The Crafty Crow
Enchanted Learning
Starfall
Creative Kids at Home
Crazy4Crafts

So this should keep you all busy if there is a lull in the activity around your place this summer.
If you have any other ideas, please share them in the commments.

Posting Dilemma

So today I am lamenting about what to post about and here comes Pam with the answer. Yes the answer is a question but it's a good one.

Pam has a great business and blog that will be getting a small face lift within the week as I promised. She also had a question regarding how to customize the basic "Comments" tab at the bottom of blog posts while using Blogger.

I had wondered about this too for quite some time and I finally figured it out when I was playing around with one of my test blogs. You might also have wondered about how to customize this basic feature as it seemed to me it is not that plainly obvious.


When you are in the "Layout" mode of Blogger/Blogspot, hit the Edit button on the bottom right corner of the Post area (as shown.) This opens up a window where you can change several of the posting options and there is a field that indicates what is going to show up where "comments" should be and you can just change it to your preferred wording. I am fond of alliterations myself but you might be into something more straight forward.

"Silly Sayings", "Random Rants"? I have seen some interesting takes on these but please remember to keep it appealing and inviting for readers to comment. So there you go.

Happy Fourth!

Here is a thought for the new paradigm; let's try to help out the environment.
See the 350 Challenge badge on the right sidebar for more on reducing carbon footprints on a global scale.
Oh yes and have a super and safe Holiday weekend everyone!