Hello! Goodbye! Hello!

Happy New Year, everyone! My gosh, the holidays flew by fast. Once I finished my essays and exams it was all down-hill (up-hill?) from there. A crazy rollercoaster that left me with a lot of time to think.

And you know what the biggest thought I had was? I want to start a new blog! Yup, something new and different. Something that reflects who I am today and who I want to be in this new and wonderful post-university world I'll be living in.

So, I've slowly begun migrating over to my new blog home. It's on a brand-spanking-new website of my own (!!) which you can find here : http://tomorrowortoday.com/. I hope to see all of my you, my friends and subscribers and random stoppers-by, over at my new blog home very soon! And please, let me know what you think!

Hip-hip-hooray!!

Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

A week or so ago I picked up the new issue of Cloth Paper Scissors: Studios and started flipping through it almost as soon as I got home. Man, is this magazine ever chock-a-block full of craft room & organization pr0n! But then, I knew what I was getting into since I'd picked up the Spring issue of Studios earlier in the year and loved it. I just can't get over all the great ideas for organizing every size and shape of craft space!

The very first article in this issue is all about "Creative Organization" and was written by Julie Morgenstern, the same woman who wrote that book I was talking about earlier. In fact, it was reading this article that propelled me into picking that book up off my shelf and actually starting to read it and use the tips and tricks it holds.

But getting back to the article... Morgenstern's major guiding idea is that the kindergarten classroom is a perfect model for organization. Or as the author says, "What makes the model work is that the room is organized into zones of activity, the tools needed for each zone are stored at the point of use and everything is kept in an appropriate container." I feel like this is absolute genius. The kind of genius that is so obvious that you feel a little "challenged" for not thinking of it yourself.

Now, The BF and I live in a tiny apartment. We share what is probably a max of 800 square feet. Space (especially storage space) is a high-priced commodity in our home, and I think that I have just been so busy trying to pack things away and out of sight that I haven't thought about how I'm gonna get them out again. For example, I store all my fabric in a difficult to access box under my bed. Yet, the sewing machine and all my other notions are in the living room! Reading this article had me thinking that that setup is probably not the best idea. (Uh, duh.)

So yeah, reading all this stuff made me realized that I could do with a bit of reorganizing. First I'll finish reorganizing my time use and after that, I'm gonna follow the 5 steps in the article to help me better organize my craft space, and all my living spaces in general. And if you wanna know what those 5 steps are or if any of you out there are thinking about switching things up in your own studios or craft spaces, I highly recommend this love volume for the simple fact that it's great eye candy!

{No, I haven't been paid by Quilting Arts to promote their magazine! I just really like the article that much!}

What I did on Saturday

Have you ever had one of those days when there was more than one crafty happening going on and you couldn't bare to miss either? That was my Saturday this past weekend. And boy, oh, boy was it SO worth it going to both.

First up, I heard over on the Toronto Craft Alert that the designer lines Snoflake & Dagg and Stacey were having a fabric sale. Stuff they didn't need anymore or didn't have enough of to make it useful for them to keep. Well, of course I freaked out when I heard. The sale started at 10 am and I was there before 10:30. And the amount of amazing stuff! I shopped to my heart's content and still came away with 4 times as much as I would have if a regular fabric store was having a sale. Look at this pile! I had to call The BF to come help me carry it all back home again! If you want to see some more closeups, head on over to my flickr and check them out. I promise you, you'll be jealous!


But of course, there's no rest for the wicked or those greedy for craft supplies, so we immediately turned around and headed out the door to make our way to the Toronto Bead Society's semi-annual Bead Fair. (Yes, The BF came with. He always does to keep me company and hold my cup of coffee.) I've been going to this show for years and it never disappoints. I always come away with a load of new supplies and lots of inspiration to make new pieces. I especially like shopping for charms and metal findings at the fair since there are a bunch of different vendors gathered together and you can always find some amazingly unique elements to go with all your new and colourful beads!


But the cherry on the top of this gloriously crafty day was the $20 tripod I scored in a little photo shop on Yonge Street. I wish I could remember the name but I know it was on the west side of the street between Wellesley and College if anyone reading this in the GTA is interested. And this isn't a cheapo tripod either, no. I've seen shoddier construction on more expensive tripods in big box stores. I am so excited about this! No more hand-shake when I go to take pictures for the shop, yay!

Sigh. But just because I have all these new supplies and bucketfuls of new inspiration, it doesn't mean that I have any more time. :( On Sunday, I ended up spending 6 straight hours just starting the reading and research for my final essay. Not fun. Especially when I knew that all of my new pretty-pretties were in the next room. I guess it was penance for my crafting gluttony of the day before. That and the fact that I'm broke now! Ha!

One a side note: I need to go out today before (or possibly after) class and get my hands on a copy of the new STITCH magazine! It hit stands today and that skirt on the front cover is killing me! I may be broke, but I can still scrounge up a couple dollars for that :)

Monday, Monday

Morning, all. I've got some new Holiday greeting cards up in the shop. You should stop by and check them out! Designed and printed by me on my Gocco, these lovelies are blank inside so you have plenty of room to write all your holiday wishes. Actually, the "mice" card was a collaboration between my sister and I. I love how she drew their tails together to form a heart!

Man, last week was a long and disgusting week (work, work and more work). And yesterday was a long and disgusting day (homework, homework, and more homework). But Saturday, oh, Saturday made up for it in spades. In fact, Saturday's goodness deserves its own post, which it will probably get tomorrow.

For today though: back to work. *Sigh* How long till I retire again?