Cheap and Cheerful

Yay! I have been loving the March Break. We have been busy busy over here getting everything ready the baby. My birthday is on April 8th, baby is due April 20th, and then Rorie's 5th birthday is on May 3rd. So, needless to say, there is lots going on.




I have lots of stuff to blog about! New bike (PINK!), ordered goodies, and more!

But I'm cheap (and oh so cheerful)! So, I'll be posting some nice meaty posts after the break! *waggles finger in a teasing fashion*

Oh oh! Also, I was the lucky recipient of the Stylish Blogger Award over at Oddity:86's Blog. I'll definitely pass this on, soon! hehe Thanks so much doll!

March Break! Spring Clean! Crafty!

As I said a couple of posts ago, I've been busier than a bee making honey these days, but I've not seen anything yet! :O During the March break we will be finishing up transforming my room into my/baby's room, getting the last bit of organizing and decorating done. Also, we will be doing a major overhaul of our storage room. Spring Cleaning! Yay?!

One of the things I've been keeping myself busy with is decor (since I'm not really allowed to do anything else, even though it goes against ever fiber of my stubborn being). I love to ogle all of the lovely crafty and inspiration blogs, and pop things into my favourites, especially things I'd like to do in future, and boy is my crafty folder full of goodies! The first couple of things I decided to try:


Cardboard Decorative Letters I found at craft eNVy




View the inspiration and tutorial here.

This was super easy, though a bit time consuming (maybe I'm a slow worker?) but I love how they turned out! I made this set for Rorie's room, and plan on making the same thing for the baby when it comes. I bought some craft paper, and a couple of wooden letters to trace since they were cheap, and I am impatient lol (I didn't want to wait for Ryan to print them out at school). Then I glued on cardboard, and used ribbon/buttons/pearls to decorate, since they were things I already had at home anyway. Can't wait to do more!


Butterfly Specimen Art I found at First Lady of the House




View the inspiration and tutorial here.


This was something that I didn't even really need to buy anything for. Though I don't have as many butterflies as First Lady of the House, I still love the result. I used butterfly clothespins (little fabric covered wooden butterflies on the pins) that I had bought from the dollar store a while back. I ripped off the little wooden butterflies, and then broke them in half (gosh that sounds cruel! haha) to give them a 3D effect. I also used a black frame my boyfriend found left in the building's laundry room, and painted it a cream colour. Cut some white card paper to size and stuck it in the frame. Then glued the butterflies in place. My daughter loves it!

And the finished product! New big girl decor for above her bed. I cut the stems off of the Dollarama flowers, and placed them in a pink vintage bowl I hadn't for a purpose for yet, and tada! Love ♥







♥ ♥ ♥

On a side note, the same day I posted my Hook-esque cupcakes, there was a post on the CraftZine blog for rainbow pudding! Sign from some unknown power that I MUST make this soon, I think so! Dreams of tasty goop, you will come true! hehe




Happy Friday!

Sick, Cupcakes, Exorcist Cat

My boyfriend has been sick for the past week or so, and now it seems I am coming down with something. Headaches, sleepiness, sore throat, stuffy nose, the horror! It's been a while since I've been sick though, maybe thanks to being pregnant? But now I feel like death warmed over.

Anywhoo! Last week Rorie and I had a blast making cupcakes. She chose the colours, and was the official cupcake decorator. She iced many of the cupcakes, and dumped tiny fistfuls of sprinkles on all the cupcakes. Yummy sprinkles :D Some of the cupcakes even have multiple colours of icing. All of the icing and sprinkles everywhere totally reminded me of Peter Pan adaptation "Hook" with Robin Williams, where they all imagine food, and it's all fantastical colours, and then have a massive food fight (throw some my way will yah?).



I used to dream of what all of those colours could taste like when I was little! *sighs nostalgically*













Also, something I was marveling over during family game night last week. Cats are insanely flexible. I mean... it's not like I didn't know before this, but when I see my cat practically pulling an exorcist, it blows my mind. Sadly I didn't quite get my camera out in time, so Morris moved slightly because of all my commotion, and the picture doesn't do him justice. But still, wowowow! haha



I am definitely going to be keeping my eyes peeled for anymore ninja cat moves >.>

A week in review!

Busy busy busy! The last week has kept me so much so, that I've not really had a moment to sit and write a post (though I've kept up the commenting and lurking at other blogs lol). And when I haven't been busy, I've been resting. Ahh yes, rest!

This week has been filled with cupcakes (no real big surprise here), family game time (we picked up some board games a couple of weeks ago, so we have been spending a lot of family time playing them), working on designs for my Zazzle shop, gymnastics, swimming, laundry and more.

Today we had a family breakfast with Ryan's parents and sisters at the local Sugar Shack. Yummy pancakes, sausage, taffy on snow (so sweet!), and baked beans. Rorie had a blast dancing around to the live band.

I'll share some pictures tomorrow, because Rorie is visiting her Grandparents this afternoon, and I plan on taking full advantage, and relaxing some more. hehe

Hope everyone has had a great week! *squishes*

TGIF - Ice Cream Cupcakes

Ahhhhh *big sigh* It's finally Friday!

Last night I made cupcakes as a special Friday treat for everyone. Sent some to my Mom, sent one along with Rorie for her snack at school today. Baking is so relaxing... it was a nice end of the day wind down activity, and they turned out so cute! I remember when I was in grade school, someone's way cool parent would always make these for bake sales, and so I decided to whip some up. YUM!














I spy a Morris looking for dessert

Also, I snagged a couple of pictures of Rorie on her way out the door this morning. It's backwards day today at school, so she had all her clothes on backward, even her hair (though I put it off to the side a bit so she could still see where she was going haha).




Any relation to cousin It?

Plan to go for a walk today with Rorie after I grab her from the bus, maybe play some new boardgames too. We are even going to have a girlie sleep over tonight (in my room) since Ryan is having a friend over. Maybe even watch some more of the original Addams family. We love it! Should be an excellent Friday! Hope all of you lovelies have a good day! *squish*

Selling on Etsy

For years I have been creating jewelery off and on, as a creative outlet. I love to make pretty things, and make things pretty! Over a year ago I created an Etsy shop, with every intention of adding my handmade goodies, upcycled lovelies, and vintage thing-a-ma-jigs. Somehow the whole thing got put on the back burner, but I kept creating whenever I had the urge.

Last month I brought over some jewelery to local photographer Jackie for a photo shoot. I had worked with her previously doing hair, makeup, creative direction, helping hand etc. I had a lot of fun at this shoot. I had full creative reign, styling, makeup, hair, you name it. A friend of Jackie's modeled the jewelery and did a lovely job.


Owl In A Clockwork Tree


Clockwork Garden


Her Secret


Sea Flowers


Sea Horse


Spring Bloom


Secret Garden

I've been slowly getting things together, from packaging for when I ship items, little cards, the promo shots, and of course the jewelery (which I like to think of as wearable art :D), but I've still not yet taken the leap? What is wrong with me?

I am really excited to finally get things going, and have so many more things in mind to create in future. (I'm dying to buy more bits and bobbles for the jewelery, as well as eventually gussy up plugs and such for gauged ears.)

I love everything I've created, but I guess I've set up my own mental road block. ("I don't know how much I should charge... I don't want people to think I charge too much, but I don't want to undersell myself... What if no one likes them? What if I miss them... What if something breaks, and then someone rages about it? I still need to figure out how much shipping will cost... blah blah") So, all of that being said... I would love to get some opinions/feedback! How much would you be willing to pay? What is fair? Etc.

For all you business savvy ladies, tell me about your business' beginning. I would love to hear it! ♥


On a sidenote: I Trade Handmade, and would love to make a trade with you! (I've not yet been added to the page, but have been assured I will be soon!) I would be more than happy to trade illustrations or jewelery with anyone else who is participating! Email me to set something up: deerelora@hotmail.com

Hair Inspiration

One of the things I am looking forward most to doing again once I'm not pregnant anymore (besides the obvious spending time with my new little bundle of joy) is dyeing my hair. I get bored of my hair pretty quick, and so even just a touch of bright orange to my natural auburn hair is a good quick fix for me, that makes me feel shiny and sparkly and new.

But it has been so long! I've been wanting to dye my hair like nobody's business, and hoarding inspirational pictures for when the glorious time comes.


I have naturally curly hair, but it seems since dyeing my hair so much, I've lost a bit of my curl (and none of the frizz! bah) so, one thing I've thought (or fantasized) about is getting a perm to amp up my curls.



I also would love to try a mix of purple orange and blond high/low lights in my hair. Yum! (Just reverse the colours so red/orange is the main and blond and purple are the accents.)









Another thing I'd like to do again, is add a bit of pink to my hair. It would be simple and fun :D





Oh oh! And in the past I've gone yellow, with orange chunks, which I adored. But in future I'd like to try going all the way blond with pink and orange accents (or perhaps other colours too!)





*wipes drool from chin*

Which leads me to yummy fantastical all out rainbow hair!



I've collected these pictures over time, and so I don't remember where I got them. If you have a credit link, I'd be more than happy to add it!


Since my hair is curly and frizzy, totally rainbow hair is probably out of the question, unless I'm going for clown chic (maybe someday for fun *pout*). But some of the other hair colour ideas have practically gotten me drooling all over my keyboard.

If you could dye your hair any colour(s), what would it be? Share your hair inspiration! ♥

Thrifty Thursday

I'm going to try my hand at a weekly theme, and see how it works for me. So, welcome to my very first Thrifty Thursday. If I stick with it, each Thursday (ideally) I'll showcase something (or many things) that I've purchased at thrift/second-hand stores, garage sales, etc.

This week: Vintage Mira Fujita Print

A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were looking around at Value Village. I usually linger at the front and work my way back slowly, but my boyfriend bee-lined to the back to check out the larger items. He came back to the front to find me carrying a huge 27x39x.5 inch board (he had the front to him). I watched him curiously as he then flipped it around in a *TADA* like motion, and my jaw dropped. It was gorgeous! I honestly had no clue who Mira Fujita was (and from what I can tell from my looking around on the interwebs, not a lot of people do), but I really loved the piece, and wanted it instantly. For it's age (1984), it only had minimal wear that I didn't mind at all. It was only $6 dollars!

After we brought it home, I cleaned it up, moved some things around, and hung it up.




For fun I decided to do a little research with the info: Mira Fujita - Charming Harlequin - printed in Germany (scan decor) 1984. Surprisingly there seems to be a shortage of information on this woman and her work, and on eBay anything Mira Fujita seems to go for quite a hefty sum, compared to the thrifty price I paid, because of how difficult it is to find her work.

So, needless to say, this was a great find, and I am more than happy to have this piece in my home. I love it! ♥

Have you ever picked up anything at a garage sale or local thrift shop, and found out after that it was worth much more than the nickles and dimes you paid? Share!