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?

Haunted Revelry

So after dinner last Friday night, The BF and I grabbed our coats and our cameras, dressed Daisy up as Snow White and off we went for our Halloween walk. There were still quite a few people out and about trick-or-treating, but not as many houses decorated or giving out candy as I would have thought. This was our first Halloween in our new neighbourhood and I think the lack of decorated doors may have had something to do with the number of elderly that live around here. Nothing against the elderly, of course! If I was older and all my (future) children grown I'd probably go to bed early too. Still, it was a beautiful, surprisingly mild night and there were plenty of houses to be seen so off we went.


It was definitely a lot of fun. The BF and I chatted, walked and oohed-and-aahed for about an hour, snapping shots of the cool houses we came across. (And there were quite a few.) I'm still not the best at using the night settings on my camera but I was able to get a couple good shots.

And I think we made the night of several a little girl whom we heard squeal, "Look at that dog, Mommy!" Daisy's costume was a big hit. I just thought it was funny, dressing a "snow white" dog up as "Snow White." I am so clever! (*insert modesty here*)


About halfway through our walk though, we stopped for a quick coffee before heading back. Somehow the barista mixed up my order, giving me a grande instead of a tall. I took it, not wanting them to dump it and make waste. I guess I wasn't really thinking about what time it was though. I drink coffee so regularly that I never think about its effect on me. Heck, half the time I don't even notice the effect. But that coffee did me in, folks. I could not sleep all night. Just lay there wide awake. Exhausted but wide awake. I was not a happy camper the next day, let me tell you!

But alas, almost a week has passed already and Halloween is over for another year. The decorations are slowly disappearing from all the front yards and the tree outside my window is currently shedding leaves like rain. Seriously. I think it may be bare by the end of the day. It's just another sign that Autumn's almost over and Winter is right around the corner!

Grateful For: November 2008

Hello, November! Where did you come from? Wasn't it just September? Didn't Autumn just start? And now it's over. Maybe it's my favourite season because it's so short. There's so much to squeeze into just a few short weeks. But before the end of the month we may have snow. And here's what I'm grateful for/looking forward to as Autumn ends and the start of the holiday season begins. Whee!

1. The Santa Claus Parade!
OMG, I'm so excited! The Santa Claus Parade is to me (and probably a lot of Torontonians) the official start of the holiday season. Toronto's parade is one of the oldest and largest Santa Claus parades in North America and is simultaneously broadcasted all over the world. Did you know that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was inspired by our very own Santa Claus Parade? That's what Wikipedia tells me :) But last year I didn't go and I regretted it. This year though, The BF and I will go with our Venti coffees in hand and stand in Queen's Park and cheer and sing along with the marching bands, some of which come from all over North America to be in our parade. I always invite our friends and family to come with us but no one ever seems to want to go. Maybe they think it's for kids, but I don't care. I love it and the 16th can't come soon enough :D

2. Creating a Schedule that Works:
So I've been reading this book for about a week or so and it is giving me hope that one day soon the way I spend my time each day won't be such a higgledy-piggledy mess and I'll actually start getting things done. I've had it for a while but I only just started reading it. (What made me pick it up will be the subject of a later post.) So far, I've been doing what the author calls "Time Mapping," which is trying to figure out what I actually spend my time doing, how long things take (on average) and when I'm more in the mood to do, say, the dishes as opposed to clean out my inbox. It's going good and I'm learning new things about myself and how I deal with time. Here's hoping this works and I'm able to fit more good crafting fun into my daily life.

3. Buying Presents:
I love giving presents, maybe even more than I enjoy receiving them.  I tell everyone, don't tell me what you're getting for others because I like to be surprised and excited along with them as they open their gifts.  And I'm a big believer in getting people what they really want, what they'd really enjoy and what would really make them excited and happy.  My sister once told me that she always looks forward to the gifts she gets from me because she knows they're gonna be good.  Well, I hope I can live up to that again this year.  It's making me excited just thinking about it. I wanna go make lists and plans!
This year, I've vowed to get my shopping done on time. I want to do a lot of it on Etsy and from the One of a Kind Show because I'd like to support makers. Plus, I do want to make a bunch of stuff (some of which you've seen the start of.) The rest I may have to enter a mall for will NOT be done during that last week, I swear it. No more crushing masses of people for me, thank you. This year I'll be ahead of the game and everything will be wrapped and ready to go before Christmas Eve!

4. Holiday Decorating:
This is The BF's and my first Christmas in our own apartment, together. No one else, no roommates, just us. Which means I can decorate however I want! Yippee! I love the holidays. After Autumn they're my second favourite time of year. Maybe because the two are back to back, I don't know, but Holiday Decorating is serious business around here. And it all begins the evening of the Santa Claus Parade. We come home, have some hot chocolate, turn on the carols and start unpacking boxes. The BF's a little less gung-ho about all of this but he does go along with it since he knows how much it means to me. Plus, this year I picked up a copy of this magazine and I'm loving all the ideas in it. I'm not sure what to make first! Highly recommended if you're looking for some Holiday decorating inspiration.

5. The Countdown is Coming to an End!!
This time next month I'll be done, finished, finito. Hallelujah! But between now and then will be hell. There may not be a lot of blogging going on around here nearer to the end of the month, what with the FINAL paper of my University career needing to be written and the FINAL exam of my University career needing to be studied for. But once it's done, it's DONE! I. Can't. Wait!

What are you grateful for/looking forward to this month?

{Pic: Here's Daisy, covered in fur and kinda in need of a hair cut but sleeping in the sun because it's warm and on my mother's jacket because it's also warm. Sigh, to have her life!}

Microwaveable Explosion

The BF decided to make cookies. All by himself. He has a special recipe that he likes to use and normally he is quite good at this. What he is not quite good at is the microwave.

He once told me that when he's not sure how long something should go in, he'll just hit the "Dinner Plate" button. Not hit it and then watch to see how things are going, no. He'll just turn it on and wait for it to beep when it's over.

See this? This is the photographic proof of how bad an idea that is. Because this is what happens when butter and chocolate are left too long melting in the microwave. Ha!

PS - I have pics to share with you from our Halloween walk, but that will be later in the week. Tomorrow, November's "Grateful For." Whee!