festive procrastinating

i should be working on these today...

 christmas cards

but instead i am going to see this... (in 3D)

yesterday i had my annual "holiday open house" - it was great! i was going to pack everything away last night until i remembered it was our city's "christmas tree light up"... so hubby and i drove downtown to see and take pictures, but we missed the actual "light up" by about one minute while we were getting our hot drinks at a coffee shop up the street - oops :(

p.s.  one more day for free worldwide shipping at my shop!

friday faves

well well well, if it isn't another edition of the friday faves feature! this time it's the lovely and inspiring Sharyn Carlson, whom i've had the pleasure of "meeting" recently, thanks to our mutual love of scrapbooking (although i am a beginner - she is definitely not!) enjoy :)
~~~~~
Hi! I'm Sharyn from living artfully - sharyncarlson.typepad.com. I love spending my time creatively and blogging about my little creative adventures. So excited to meet all of you!

Favourite band/music: Joshua Radin

Favourite book/author: I love anything written by Margaret Atwood; hoping to find this under the Christmas tree. But my most favorite book is "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy. It's breath-taking.
Favourite magazine/newspaper: I have a thing for magazines, especially Real Simple.
Favourite movie: We don't catch many movies, but lately I loved "Away We Go."
Favourite tv show: I could live without a TV if it weren't for Top Chef and So You Think You Can Dance.
Favourite actor/actress: I don't really follow anyone.
Favourite artist: For scrapbooking? ;) Ali Edwards. But really there are so many I love!
Favourite color: Brown.
Favourite meal: Anything Mexican, especially if it's spicy.
Favourite sweet treat: Red velvet cupcakes.

Favourite salty snack: Spinach and artichoke dip.
Favourite drink: French-pressed coffee. Oh, and diet coke, too.
Favourite smell: The cologne my husband wore when we first met.
Favourite day of week: Sunday.
Favourite time of day: Early morning. Full of quiet and so much possibility.
Favourite season: Fall (and maybe winter, too).
Favourite quote: "To live ordinary life artfully is to have this sensibility about the things in daily life, to live more intuitively and to be willing to surrender a measure of our rationality and control in return for gifts of the soul." -Thomas Moore
Favourite flower: White hydrangea or peonies.
Favourite vacation destination: Anywhere with plenty of culture and great restaurants.
Favourite thing to do in your free time: Trying new foods/restaurants, reading, and of course, making things.

~~~~~
thanks for sharin' Sharyn ;)  i found myself agreeing with a lot of your faves - especially the red velvet cupcakes, Away We Go, fall/winter, making things, and french-press coffee! (not so much on the early mornings though ;)
~~~~~
happy friday everyone! and don't forget - if you are interested in doing this little faves Q&A also, please shoot me and email to let me know! dearsuzanne(at)gmail(dot)com

thankful

image from here :)

even though i'm Canadian, my husband is from the USA so we still celebrate "American" thanksgiving... we aren't having a big dinner tonight or anything but i did want to express a few little things i am thankful for right now:  (i say little as in not the "big" ones like family, health, shelter, a job, etc... all of which of course i am thankful for too, i just figure that's obvious :)

- when my cat jumps on the bed to snuggle in for the night and her purring lulls me to sleep
- that extra 9 minutes of precious sleep that comes with hitting the snooze button
- the morning drive to work with my mister
- coffee
- my camera
- wireless internet
- random texts from friends
- comments on my blog ;)
- my upcoming trip to Texas!

i am also thankful for my etsy shop - it lets me continue to enjoy my favourite hobbies like making jewellery, paper goods, sewing, etc! so in honour of all the "American" thanksgiving sales that are happening this weekend, i thought i would offer a little promotion which is free worldwide shipping from now until Nov 30th on everything in my shop!

happy thursday and happy thanksgiving to my American friends! (and family :)

making me smile

i was recently blog-awarded with the "Making Smiles on Faces" award, from not one but two lovely, sweet ladies - Sharyn and Donna... who both happen to have smile-inducing blogs themselves! so thanks ladies, i'm flattered and honoured!

 part of this honour means i need to share 5 random facts about myself, so here goes:

1. i was quite claustrophobic for about 2 years in my twenties (it started when i got stuck in an elevator once) and then one day i just talked myself out of it

2. i don't know how to drive (but am working on learning soon!)
3. i am NOT a morning person
4. i would have my christmas tree up year-round if i could (just change the decorations for each season :)
5. i think that popcorn with champagne is pretty much the best snack/drink combo ever

and i would like to pass along this award to these great blogs, from more lovely ladies:
BonBon Rose
Cafe Cartolina
Girlrobot
Inspired Mess
You Are My Fave

happy wednesday folks! can you believe it's only ONE MONTH TIL CHRISTMAS?!

oh, and P.S. stay tuned for a special little "Suzannemade" announcement tomorrow :D

wreath round-up

i've been seeing a lot of DIY wreaths circulating around on the internet lately, and while i'd love to make my own, i think i've got enough DIY on my hands right now to last me through to next christmas! so, i've been looking at some lovely handmade ones on etsy instead... there is no shortage of unique creations, that's for sure! here are some pretties i found recently...

multicolored felted wool

paper floral

adorable penguin

sweet little hooters

cute sprouts

pom poms

lavender and silver tweetie

pink and orange scraps

candy lane gingerbread house!

that last one just kills me! so adorable

it's finally done!

this weekend the hubby put the lights around the balcony and i put up the tree and decorations.

then our stove died so we had free chinese take out for dinner (hubby won a gift certificate on the radio the other day) and we watched Enter the Dragon on tv :)

i made my own little 2010 daily planner recently... i can never find the perfect one so i decided to just make one myself! it was a lot more work than i thought it would be, but i'm happy with how it turned out. i'll post more pics of the insides later.

happy monday! 

(that's a bit of an oxymoron isn't it)

sparkly shop update

some sparkly new goodies i've been working on...
i will be adding them to the shop throughout the day!

quote of the day

"I dream of a better tomorrow... a world where chickens can cross the road and not have their motives questioned."

- Unknown

stuff i didn't buy today

another edition of "stuff i didn't buy today" (but wish i could)... pretty gold rings!
i used to wear rings on almost every finger. now i stick with one or two per hand. i also used to be a strictly-silver girl. now i love gold too!

anyways, on to the eye-candy... all handmade, all found on Etsy, of course

tower of gold stackers

ribbon bow

baby skull and diamonds

pink coral flower

chain link two finger ring

summer ring

coloured diamonds

smoky quartz

don't forget ring

happy wednesday!

oh christmas tree

i still haven't managed to get my christmas tree, or any decorations, up yet. i had meant to do it both last weekend and the weekend before, but no such luck! so i am determined to get it done this weekend! since we are going away for christmas this year, i wanted to have it all up extra early to prolong the merriment.
last year we "donated" our old (fake) tree to some friends who didn't have one, and we got a shiny new white pre-lit one on super-sale! i had been wanting to get a non-green fake tree for quite some time... the husband wasn't a big fan of getting a pink one (my first choice) but he agreed on a white one when he saw how pretty it was in person - victory! 
did you know that you can get all sorts of different coloured trees now - like red, purple, blue or even black? check out all the funky christmas trees at Treetopia - it's amazing!
i also like the idea of a non-traditional tree-ish display, like these...

(source)

(source)

(source)

(source)

(source)

happy tuesday!

make your own pumpkin spice

image from here

I use pumpkin spice in a lot of my baking - cookies, pies, cupcakes, icing... I even sprinkle it on my latte (or Ovaltine in the winter) for an extra special treat. I used to get the store-bought mix, but since I always have all the other ingredients on hand anyways, now I just make my own:

INGREDIENTS:
4 t cinnamon, ground
2.5 t ginger, ground
1.5 t nutmeg, ground
1.5 t allspice, ground
1 t cloves, ground

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all. Store in an airtight container, away from the sunlight, for up to 3 months.

happy monday!

shop update

just a quick note to say that le shoppe has now been updated with new custom personalized charm necklaces in both silver and gold, as well as some new holiday journal kits!

 happy weekend!

friday faves

so, i thought i'd switch up my usual friday faves weekly post series and turn it into a little Q&A with some lovely bloggers/artists/etc! since i love lists and love checking out other people's "faves", i figured it would be fitting to have a friday faves feature! (wow, that was a lot of f's)

so, to kick things off, here is one talented little robot's list of faves...

Hi! I am Vivianna from Polka Dot Robot http://www.polkadotrobot.com/

Favorite band/music: Band of horses

 Favorite book/author: I love to read, but never have the time. I do love Beach Music by: Pat Conroy

Favorite magazine/newspaper: I read blogs and don't have time for Magazines

Favorite movie: Paper Heart

Favorite tv show: I don't have a TV

Favorite actor/actress: I only like the ones who are HOT! kidding ;)

Favorite artist: My Cousin Lando http://landoettrick.com/

Favorite color: Orange

Favorite meal: Pizza

Favorite sweet treat: any candy

Favorite salty snack: I like sweet or salty

Favorite drink: Coke zero

Favorite smell: Tuberose

Favorite day of week: Wednesday

Favorite time of day: Night

Favorite season: Fall or any cold season

Favorite quote: You can SUCK it!

Favorite flower: Tuberose

Favorite vacation destination: Anywhere with a beach so I can surf ;)

Favorite thing to do in your free time: Knitting and paper stuff

thanks vivianna! for any of you who don't already read her blog - please do check it out, it's fantastic! (she even featured yours truly last week ;) and every time she post pages of her amazing art journals i go crazy!

if anyone is interested in doing a little faves Q&A please shoot me and email to let me know! 

dearsuzanne(at)gmail(dot)com

happy friday the 13th folks!

coming soon...

personalized charm necklaces!
free shipping for a limited time
stay tuned...
shop update this weekend!

p.s.... last day for the giveaway!