a sneaky peek..

Dear Mr. Sun,

It's almost July. The summer solstice has come and gone. School is out. Where are you??

On Saturday, C and I headed over to the local farmer's market at Trout Lake park. It started out as a slight drizzle... then torrential rainfall. It was literally coming down in sheets!

Everyone scrambled to hide under the vendor tents. We happened to stumbled upon some lovely succulents.

The only thing bright and shiny that day was the huge bin of peppers.

Although I am complaining about the weather (seriously, where is our summer?!), it was sort of fun to get caught up in the craziness of it all. C was loving the puddles and jumped in every one she could find (which was a LOT). And we left with a bag of organic apple chips and a pumpkin scone. So all in all, it was a good, albeit soggy day at the market.

And a few random bits:

-do you remember making friendship bracelets in high school? Actually, I don't know if I ever got around to making one myself, but I did wear them and I'm going to try to make one now with the help of this awesome tutorial

-I'm really loving yogurt right now. Maybe I'll start sending over my empty yogurt containers to my good friend Jenn

-Some new things will be popping up in the shop. I'll share a sneak peek soon.. (hee hee!)

-I have finally joined the world of tweets. If you'd like to follow me on Twitter, I'm right over here.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama  

If you have a moment you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments. Have a lovely weekend!

hello birdie

New style UPcycled shirt dress with flutter cap sleeves in the shop. 

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama 

a trip to the Japanese book store

After months and months of obsessing over Japanese craft books online and having them shipped over to me directly from Japan (for a hefty shipping fee), it finally donned on me, maybe these are available locally..? In my culturally diverse (and heavily Asian influenced) city, there must be a place that sells these.. and you know what? There is! Hooray!

Book Off is a Japanese company that specializes in selling used books and they have stores in the US, France, Korea, and Canada (luckily the only one in Canada just happens to be right in my home town!). I went to check it out yesterday and was pretty darn impressed! Although I made a beeline right to the Japanese sewing books, I did notice they they also buy and sell English books, CDs, DVD, and well, a ton of other stuff. The store was HUGE!

So, onto my sweet book finds...

I think Cloudy is a product line in Japan. I'm assuming it's yarn and sewing stuff since the book is filled with fabulous crocheted baskets as well as fabric bags, shopping bags, embroidery decor and pincushions... And the very cool upcycled cardboard baskets in the picture directly above. How smart is that?!

This bag book was filled with mostly tote bags but a few fancier bags and some accessories.

Everyday Bottoms is a fabulous book I had seen before on another blog but wasn't able to find it on Etsy or any other Japanese craft book sites. And there it was on the bookshelf, just waiting for me to buy it! I love the  aesthetic of this book and of course, the patterns are cool, classic and perfect for boys and girls (good news for my son!)

The Stylish Dress Book was one I had seen on this blog. (If you are interested in Japanese sewing books at all, you have to check out the section on Japanese Dress Books and also her flickr set for tons of information, inspiration and eye candy.) I've been wanting to try sewing more clothes for myself, and this book is filled with amazing clothes! Beautiful, classic, casual, feminine.. I think I love pretty much every design in the book! And there was even a recipe for cookies tucked in among all the lovely clothes.

And finally, a sweet little cross-stitch pattern book filled with folksy flowers and animals, as well as the complete alphabet in seventeen different styles! 

I'm so happy with my haul! Five books, over a hundred fabulous patterns, beautiful pictures and wonderful inspiration for just over fifty bucks! The only catch is that although pretty much all of the books I bought look new (with pattern sheets still in tact), Book Off is essentially a used book store and so inventory is very random. They get new shipments in once a month and it's pretty much a toss up what they'll be getting in shop (and they can't special order a specific book for you) So, it looks like I might have to make this a regular stop along with my thrift stores and fabric shops.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama 

a bit of randomness

Wow, I can't believe I've been away from this space for almost a week! What have I been up to? Well for starters, I've been fighting a never-ending cold and have been pretty much coughing for the past 2 weeks straight. Not fun!

I've also been sewing a couple of Bubble Dresses from Oliver + S for a friend's daughters.

I've been finding tons of beautiful clothes and fashion inspiration on Etsy, blogs and Pinterest. (if you are also on Pinterest, let me know. I'd love to check out your boards!)

And I've been coveting this tote bag for a while now and wondering if I can come up with a good excuse to buy it as a little gift for myself..

-image of first dress was sourced on Pinterest over here
-image of second dress is from Etsy over here
-image of third dress is from Sartorialist blog over here

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.' - words and inspiration from SouleMama 

Tiny Sparrow Auction

Just a very quick note to let you know that the Tiny Sparrow Auction is up and running from now until June 6th. This has been organized by Julie of Zozobugbaby and it is for a really wonderful non-profit organization that is "dedicated to providing lasting memories through the beautiful art of photography to the families with children who are facing life threatening illnesses." Check out their site here for more information.


The auction is being held over here and there are so many amazing items to bid on. Everything from kid's clothing and accessories, to photography packages, to sewing patterns, to (my absolute favourite) a Bamboletta doll... 

And of course, I have donated the Orange Blossom Dress which has been bundled up in the Girl Clothing Accessory Package #2. Check it out!


(all images are taken from the Tiny Sparrow Auction site which is right over here)