In The Mood

The theme for this month's Journal Junkies gathering at Bizzy B was "moods".  For once, I had my page done weeks ago after one afternoon when I was playing with some newly purchased pink and orange neon paint.  It was the day I drew this face on the right hand page of the two page spread.

On the left hand side, I added a quote by Raheel Farooq: "Moods are adjective of the grammar of life."

This month's optional material to use was ribbon.  I added three different types in three places on my page - a narrow orange ribbon with white dashes on it, a little bit of a silk sari ribbon with pink and orange on it and a wide transparent pink ribbon with satin edges.

Here's how the two pages look side by side:

Tomorrow I'll show you the pages created by my fellow Junkies.  Stay tuned!

Dusting Off The DSLR

I hadn't used my digital SLR camera in quite a while, favouring my iPhone or the smaller, more portable digital camera that fits in my pocket for the past several months instead.  It had been sitting on top of my fridge for quite a while but I recently took it down, dusted it off and charged up the battery.  It may be large and cumbersome to travel with but it's perfect for taking pictures of what has been going on outside for the past few weeks.

The snow has been coming and going as quickly as the piles of dirt being used in the ongoing construction that has been changing the landscape outside my bedroom window all winter.

Now and again, there is the occasional photo of sleepy felines.

Haiku My Heart: Life is Short

Life changes so fast
We can't predict the future
Focus on the now.

Photo found here

You'll find more Haiku My Heart Fridays hosted by recuerda_mi_corazon.

Red Mittens

Many thanks to Sarah for filling my mailbox yesterday with this pretty package containing a pair of Olympic red mittens.

I gave her and some other friends each a pair of mittens a couple of years ago in January 2012 when I went to Seattle to attend PLAY with Teesha and Tracy Moore.  At the time, she says, I mentioned that I had forgotten to pick up a pair for myself.  Apparently she remembered me saying that (I don't!) and found a pair for me on eBay. Wasn't that sweet of her?  Did I mention that Sarah lives in the state of Washington?  Ironic, isn't it, that an American friend would find these Canadian mitts for me?

Here's a little history on the mittens, from this article in the Toronto Star:  "The original Olympic mittens were launched in October 2009 for the Winter 2010 Games in Vancouver and were a surprise hit.

The Bay won’t divulge how many were sold, but the mitts, identical to the red knitted ones worn by the 12,000 torch bearers, were flying off the shelves. The retailer reportedly could barely keep up with demand.

The second set of redesigned mittens were launched in September of 2010, and featured a maple leaf wrapped around the palm with “Canada” written on the wristband. The $3 proceeds from those mittens helped send Canadian athletes to London in the summer of 2012.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former supermodel Cindy Crawford were seen wearing the mittens.

Even Oprah Winfrey was not immune to the craze, handing out pairs to her studio audience in February of 2010, saying, “Not only do I have the mittens, but everyone in the studio audience is getting a pair!”

One of the best things about these mittens? They're lined with fleece, so they are super soft on your hands - remember how scratchy wool mittens used to be in the olden days, especially when they got wet? We've come a long way, baby!

The pair Sarah sent me have a 2012 emblem on the palm.  Sarah mentioned in the note that she sent with the mitts that she's had them since shortly after my visit 2 years ago and apologized for taking this long to send them to me.  As a bit of a procrastinator myself, I can certainly understand that these things happen. Not a problem.  Getting them now is definitely going to help me make it through what we are all hoping is the soon to be rapid end to the dreaded and seemingly never-ending bitter cold winter of 2013/2014!!

Getting Happy

I heard this song for the first time about 2 weeks ago and since then, I seem to be hearing it everywhere. I didn't even know the song was nominated for an Academy Award until I saw Pharrell Williams perform it during the opening hour of the Oscars the other night (it didn't win).


My favourite dancer is the little girl with the big blue bow in her hair! The song is from the movie "Despicable Me 2" (which is why there are big, funny looking yellow characters in the above video).

Apparently, people have been making their own versions of the video in different cities around the world - like Barcelona, Munich, Amsterdam, to name a few.  There are several is one is filmed in Paris, one of my favourite cities, and the choreography is really well done.  I especially love the older woman in the red coat, rockin' it with the main dancer, although the 3 French maids in pink wigs and tutus dancing at the Sacre Coeur are pretty awesome too! (the advertising at the beginning is annoying but it's worth, keep watching!)

I'm wondering if the final scenes in the Paris video above were shot on this street, near where we stayed last fall.  If not, I wonder how many similarly colourful streets there are in Paris, I must go looking for them!

There's even one of these videos made in Toronto but as far as I could tell in the few seconds that I watched, it's just one girl dancing around the Eaton Centre (a big shopping mall that doubles as a tourist attraction).  It didn't hold my attention long enough, so maybe there's more to it if you watch longer but (yawn) I just couldn't.  Which means I could get out there and make my own video one of these days, stay tuned!

In the meantime, this is definitely my new go to song when I'm feeling blue, it makes me bounce every time!

Failure to Launch

Up here in the frozen North, we're back to feeling like this again:



Hopefully Mother Nature will get her act together soon!!

Bizzy B 2nd Hand Sale

Today was Bizzy B's annual second hand sale.  In the weeks leading up to the sale, customers bring in craft items from home that they'd like to sell, having priced them using labels included in vendor kits provided by the store, and on the day of the sale, everyone's items are displayed in the store for purchase.  Here's a picture from first thing this morning of people going through the goodies spread out on one of several tables placed throughout the store:

Eager shoppers hunting for bargains

At the end of the sale, vendors receive a store credit for any of their items that were bought during the day.  I submitted a number of items for sale (vintage lace, photo albums, some rubber stamps and other crafting supplies I was never using) but I also attended the sale to pick up a few items for myself.  It's a bit like going to the thrift store - you never know what you might find but when you do find something you like, it's usually at a good price.

What I bought

I bought some magazines (always a great deal at 25 and 50 cents a piece, originally sold for $14.99 when they first came out a year or two ago), some rubber stamps, a book about how to bind handmade books, 2 books full of copyright-free images to use in collages, a couple of punches (a heart and a star) and a small craft mat.  I even got a package of cat themed scrapbook paper which I think will be perfect for a book I've been planning to put together using photos of the cats I fostered, as a reminder of all the kittens and their moms that stayed with me in the past few years in between being rescued and adopted into loving homes. Can't wait to get using my new supplies!

Many thanks to the owners and staff of Bizzy B for putting together this sale. It's a lot of work for them to organize and a lot of fun for those of us who attend, much appreciated!

Manager Rebecca and owner Barb
during a quiet moment (the lull before the storm!)