yard sale season

it's been an awfully long time since i went yard sale-ing (a made-up word that looks wrong no matter how you spell it!). this past sunday i took advantage of the local queen's park annual community yard sale and made up for lost time. armed with a few tote bags and a jingling purse full of change, i started out bright and early. six blocks up and six blocks across, lovely tree-lined streets of heritage homes - promising!

i had been hoping for some vintage finds and lucked out with a tin recipe box, an kitchy lamb planter, a swell french canning jar - the kind with the glass lid & wire clamp, a hanging mail sorter and a highball glass to add to my collection of one-off retro bar ware. i also found some great 60's-ish french designer men's ties for free! jamie said he'd wear a couple of them, and i might use some of them for fabric if i can bring myself to cut up a vintage dior tie! i haven't taken any photos of this stuff but i should - it looks so lovely and oddly all together. and the best part was coming home and waving things in front of jamie and saying "twenty five cents - can you believe it?" like a maniac. ;-)

many other finds went to mr. cole - he ended up with three pairs of pants, two pairs of shoes, more lego, a puzzle, a keyboard, a book, a music box and i'm sure some other things that i can't remember. including his stuff, my stuff, a box of girl guide cookies and the greasiest bag of popcorn ever, we came away with quite a haul for about $20.

i didn't buy any barbies, but i couldn't resist taking a few photos of them in their neglected state, naked and smiling, crammed into cardboard box. there's a commentary there, i just know it...

hey, four eyes!

i am all about the quick projects lately. with our move coming up soon it feels as though all i've been doing is box packing. this can be satisfying, in a box packing kind of way - but it does pose it's challenges. like when, for example, you're in the middle of a few projects and you realize that you've packed your sewing gear in a late night packing frenzy and now that box lies at the back of a room full of boxes.

but the tuxedo t-shirt project from last week left me with a package of iron-on transfers and few ideas, so i satisfied the project fix by making cole another custom tee. specs!

he does love the novelty glasses after all, and i can't resist a good pair of nerd-chic horn-rims. the graphic was designed in illustrator, based on a photo of a pair of vintage rayban wayfarers. i had wanted to put an abbreviated snellan eye chart on the back but figured that amount of lettering would be better done with screen printing. mental note: unpack and try out screen printing kit that santa brought asap!

if you'd like to make your own personal-use specs t-shirt please feel free to use this pdf template. just save, print & iron using the instructions for your particular paper. the graphic is already reversed and printed at 100% on letter-sized paper it would be suitable for a grown-up shirt; i printed it to 70% for cole's 2t size. enjoy, four eyes. ;-)

weekend project: a wee bunny

recently, while catching up with the lovely crafty blog so happy, i was drawn to an adorable baby bunny made from a free wee wonderfuls pattern. it looked like such a sweet little creature, perfect the nursery - handy since we're in the midst of another family & friends baby boom! of course, once i downloaded the pattern, i had to make one right away:

this one is made from japanese linen/cotton on the back and a panel of the softest unbleached organic flannel on the tummy. the nose and mouth were embroidered freehand and the eyes are painted on using non-toxic fabric paint. it's stuffed with organic cotton filling. oh, and i added a little touch of blush to the cheeks for fun.

it was a quick project - just an hour or so - just the thing if you need a last-minute but perfectly thoughtful baby gift.

for free: printable bookplates!

so adorable, from orange you lucky: free printable bookplates! visit the site to download the high-res files and use them to mark your (or your child's!) fave books, as bookmarks, in loot bags and more. created by helen dardik: amazingly talented designer, illustrator, mom of three.

free stuff for the wee folks: space stickers

found these this morning and thought they were too cute: free space stickers by illustrator lotta bruhn. of the bruhn family design team. just download the pdf and print onto sticker paper.

coco might be distracted by these for a moment or two in a restaurant - a well-placed banana sticker to the hand usually keeps him busy for just long enough to order! ;-)