As you all know, I'm a deal finding, thrifting, and most recently, couponing shopper. I'm definitely not an extreme couponer like on the TLC show (personally I don't care for shopping like that, it's almost gluttonous the way some of them shop and hoard), but if I can save a few dollars here and there, why not, right?
But it can get pretty tiresome sifting through all your coupons while deciding where to eat or trying to remember if you have a coupon for such and such a store. So I decided to make it easier I would make a list to easily reference what coupons I have! (I'm definitely not like those crazy coupon people on the show who have the entire binders organized of them... no... I'm not that into it. Also, Canada just doesn't have as great coupons available sadly). When folded in half, each sheet is the size of a business card so it is easy to store in your wallet. There's 3 categories: Restaurants, Entertainment, & Retail Shops and a place to write short form what the coupon is for and when it expires.
Download the PDF and print on a regular 8.5x11" paper (card stock, coloured paper, whatever you like), cut out along the thin grey lines, and fill it up! Each sheet has 2 of each category. I folded them over and used double sided tape to make mine double sided. Ta-da! So now instead of pulling out that huge wad of coupons, I just have to take out my neat list to check before I... need to pull out that huge wad to get the right coupon to use. It's helpful because I can't always remember which coupons I have left so no need to pull them all out unnecessarily.
Oh, and for those of you also hailing from the GTA, tomorrow the Salvation Army thrift stores are having a 50% off sale on all ladies wear, girls wear, belts, handbags, purses, and ladies shoes. No coupons needed! A great chance to look for some new-used spring clothes :)
Happy couponing (& thrifting)!
...so with the challenge accept, I put to work on designing a new logo for
the etsy shop "A Child of Whimsy". I love designing when the theme inspires me.
(and I promise the craft paper wasn't my idea, we both just really love craft paper!)
Stephanie Frances' shop description reads,
"A Child of Whimsy Jewellery and Accessories is inspired by fairy tales, dreams myths and legends. To be a child of whimsy you must dream in the nostalgic and find treasures in the little things."
Outfit Details:
Jacket: Stitches
Shirt: Costa Blanco via the thrift store
Skirt: Vintage (re-sewn by me)
Belt: GHC Vintage Exchange
Shoes: Doll House via Style Sense
Machine Leather Watch: Fossil
Vintage Re-Issue Flap Purse: Fossil (last season)
Ring: gift from my grandmother Unfortunately, my favourite photo (the top one) turned out over exposed and out of focus, but seeing as it showed my shirt the best I decided to use it anyways. Even though I bought this shirt a few months ago, today was my first time wearing it and I got lots of compliments on it so I decided to post some photos of what I wore this morning. I am so happy it is spring now so I can wear skirts without freezing/wearing 3 layers of tights! I can legitimately say that I am most joyful all year during the first few weeks of spring. I love it. Now, on an unrelated note, like I've been saying for months (years, actually), I am really planning on getting a new camera. This morning, I was in Black's with a friend and we both took a liking to the Nikon Coolpix P500. It's in my price range (under $300 before tax) and it one of those hybrid cameras that aren't a DSLR but better than a point and shoot. It'll probably be a couple more weeks before I make the decision to buy it because I want to do more research and try it out first, but seemed alright to me. If you've used it before feel free to let me know what you think of it! And lastly, I feel once again the need to apologize for the lack of posts in the past.. .eek, 2 months! I've been busy and out and about (and April looks like it is following in the same fashion), in fact, today is my first time on my computer since last Sunday (thank goodness for my iPhone that keeps me in touch with the internet... on second thought... I might be a little too addicted to it). Now I'm just rambling. But keep your eyes peeled for a fun, kawaii DIY coming up soon :)
My favourite show right now is NBC's Community. So when it finally came of hiatus on Thursday I just had to make sure I watched it. As many of my friends state, I'm very 'extra', but I can't help it, I love any chance to dress with a theme. Here's my twitter post of the posters I printed for the party: So for my party I made a blanket fort. No, it wasn't just a fort, it was a fortress. Probably the best blanket for I've ever made (and believe me, I loveee making blanket forts).
And to everyone who has asked, 'how old are you?' after I showed them pictures, I respond with the wise words of Troy when he says,
"Just because we're awesome doesn't mean we're not adults".
But anyways, instead of me just talking about it, why don't I just show you what we did and ate. A few other 'Community foods' I thought of are: - tacos
- caesar salad
- KFC chicken
- frozen or delivery pizza
- frozen yogurt
- thai food
- Lucky Charms cereal
- bagels
- lemon squares
- canned beans
- Christmas cookies
- crab dip
- and of course alcohol.
* Bonus points to whoever can name which episode each food is from. Can you think of some more? If you want to have your own Community party, here are printable files you can use: To make my flags I just printed this page out on card stock, cut them out but leaving a quarter inch of white on the left. Fold the white part back and hot glue it to the end of a skewer. Easy Peasy! And just to finish off I want to really point out that I have the exact same shirt as the pottery teacher in the "Beginner Pottery" episode. That's why I just had to wear my shirt for the party. It's actually one of my favourite shirts I own. It was my grandma's from when my dad was a teenager.
Happy Community watching and go Greendale, go Greendale, GO!
I've been pretty good with posting consistently here (around once, sometimes twice a week) since I started this blog but sadly for the latter half of this month I've only posted once. Yes, I've been busy month but truth is, I feel like I'm always busy. I always try to have at least one semi-major thing if not more planned for the day. That's why my calendar always looks like this and I am lost with out it: And yes, I did blur out all the words 'cause frankly, you probably don't care what has been filling my schedule as you can see, it's full. But just for the sake of boredom and semi-explanation as to why I have be a little MIA from this blog, here is a quick update on some of the things I've been up to this month:- As pictured above, based off A Starving Creative's Valentine's day pop-up card tutorial I transformed some of my store bought Valentine's day cards into something a little more fun. It reminded me of my childhood back in camp when I'd use construction paper and make pop-up cards for everybody.
- I started training at a Cross Fit gym on Tuesday with my cousin Sarah and because lately I've been slacking on my workouts, it was harder than it shoulda been. Also I'm sick and coughing fits almost took me out. But I'm hoping I will improve because in June we (along with some more cousins & friends) will be competing in a Spartan Race so amping out my workouts will really help.
- Along with that, we have also been going to hot yoga classes, doing some Zumba (confirming that I can't dance for beans), and we've now begun our training for our first half-marathon in October. Since when do I do all this physical activity, it's crazy right? According to our schedule I should be working out 6 days a week. CRAZY! Gonna try and do it as best I can, and I've actually found when I do miss a work out, I get tense and stiff. So keep on keeping on.
- After resisting for a while, I finally caved and joined Pinterest, so follow me to see what has caught my eye lately.
- I realized how much I miss making inspiration boards and made this one for Katniss ft. Fossil and a Poser Guide for my RamFam's winter retreat.
- As usual, I've been working at the never ending task of decluttering my room. I don't think there will ever be a time I'm not in need of throwing things out. But it's so hard when other people are tossing things and I think it might have some sort of future potential. I'd love for my room to be more minimal... I think. I love the look but it doesn't feel like 'me', but maybe it's because I've never been able to declutter enough for it to happen. I'm looking into getting some 'new' (most likely thrifted) furniture though and have been looking at paint swatches, because after almost 2 years... I'm officially bored of this colour. Though I will probably keep the striped wall. Still digging that.
- I got my hair cut at a salon for the 2nd time in like 5 years (irrational fear of hairdressers cutting my hair off). She did a good job, my hair looks a lot healthier, but I'm sad that it's so much shorter now (though it is still several inches past my shoulders). But this means it'll grow faster now. My goal is to not dye my hair until December 31, 2012; a whole year later! And when I do, if I make it till then, it will be Little Mermaid red! Wahoo!
- And to end off, like I said, I've been sick since last weekend so that is also why this post is decently uneventful. At least I posted something I made, right?
Side note, does anyone else think that February 29th should be a holiday?? It's a leap year so we should get a break!
I just finished reading The Hunger Games a few weeks ago and haven't been able to get it off my mind. So last Saturday during the slow hours at work in the morning I started putting together Katniss Everdeen inspired accessory combinations (my location doesn't sell clothing). I took it a step further and decided to go online and make an outfit inspiration board using the images from the Fossil website. Obviously it's not what she would wear hunting, because she wouldn't wear a skirt, it's just a trendy outfit inspired inspired by her.
This is my "Katniss Everdeen Hunting" inspired outfit:
This post is for my Rambunctious Fam, in preparations for our 2012 Winter Retreat coming up at the end of the month.
One of our costume themes is 'Poser' or 'Come As You're Not'. To help my fellow attendees, I put together this style guide to give some simple inspiration of outfits you could put together. But there are plenty more label's you can choose from, be creative and surprise me with something amazing! Please note, the theme is 'poser' and it's not meant to offend anyone, it's all in good fun. Also don't mind some of my inspiration references, I realize they are kind of random and probably out of date, but nonetheless, I hope they help.
You can clearly see that some part of me misses being in school because we used to have to put together booklets like this all the time... but with way more detail and information. That, and as shown in my I just really love any excuse for dressing up in costumes. Even though I'm not on a team since I'm the emcee for the weekend, I have my costume already for this theme and I can't wait to see what everyone else is going to be! I considered ending this post with some pictures of my past costumes from retreat but seeing as this blog is on my resume and other important places... I will withhold... for now.
(Be sure to check out the RamFam's official Rambunctious Apparel Tumblr (which is run by me); once a day, either a picture featuring our apparel, designs, videos, or a short devotional written by RamFam leadership is posted. We also have a page on YouTube called RamFamTV which currently features our promos and testimony videos from the summer) To download Style Guide pages click "Read More"
Almost a month ago I wrote a quick DIY tutorial on doing a 5 Minute iPhone Makeover and I ended the post saying I will probably change mine weekly... well so far I have 13 different covers to switch between. This just goes to show how easy these are to make. And check out this fabulous vintage recipe box I decided to keep them all in! My grandma gave it to me a year ago because she knew I'd like it. It's been tucked away in my room ever since then because I have a large recipe book I keep my written recipes in so I'm extremely glad I found an alternative use for it (especially one where I can still use the little dividers). All I need to do is close the lid and put it up on my shelf with my other vintage knick-knacks. Absolutely perfect. This goes to show that from comic books to pay stubs: you can find inspiration anywhere.
Next I'm going to make copies of some photographs, some new and some old, and make those into covers. I can't wait.
I've had this piece I made hanging on my wall for a while now, but recently decided to add a little something to it. Using a bit of double sided tape I added the vintage letter cards I bought from a shop on Etsy a while ago. But it hung on my wall plain for several months and I've gotten lots of compliments on it. As you have probably noticed, my favourite thing in the world is craft paper (cardboard, paper bags, etc) so what better to make decoration of my wall from than the rolls that your toilet paper/paper towels come on! All you need is: -lots and lots of toilet paper/paper towel rolls
-hot glue gun
-scissors
-patience
1. I decided to keep my flowers white (using toilet paper rolls) and my leaves brown (using paper towel rolls) but if you can always paint your rolls before cutting them if you want to add colour. Let them dry before doing step 2.
2. Flatten, measure, and cut the paper rolls into even pieces (Measure!! If you don't, your decoration won't lie as nice...I know this because I didn't measure). I would suggest about half inch pieces.
3. Make how ever many flowers you want by hot glueing 5 pieces together.
4. Build your decoration by working on a table (again, speaking from experience, if you don't, it probably won't lie flat on the wall once you're done). Lay out the flowers and piece by piece add the other coloured pieces as leaves branching out. Be creative, you can make it any shape, with as many or as little flower and leaves, and make it as big as you'd like.
5. Optional: Add any other decorations to it if you want, like cut outs of birds, buttons, anything really. I added my vintage cards spelling the words 'The Fortress' . You of course, can just leave it plain as well.
6. Hang it with a few clear thumbtacks or nails. And I will close on the note that now that I am (trying to keep) blogging regularly with pictures, I really do intend on prioritizing getting a new camera and installing new lights in my room. My camera has sand dust in the lens and well, as you can see: super grainy pictures. As for the lights, the lack of good light has been an on going issue; I'm normally balancing my floor lamp on my shoulder to try and get sufficient light for a photo since I have no overhead lighting in my room. So I apologize for all that. Happy crafting!
I am very proud to say that today I am guest posting over A Starving Creative blog. It is run by a lovely lady named Stephanie and it brings me great joy to show her off to you guys. She has been someone I've looked up to ever since I was little and it's great to see her exercise her creativeness and let the whole world see it. My post is a tutorial for my latest creative endeavor: DIY Painted Rock Book EndsVisit her blog to see more pictures and the steps on how to make a pair yourself!
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