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Archive for the ‘This is Neat!’ Category

Bombshell Beautiful.

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

 

Vintage Fashion Anyone?

This week I was fortunate enough in my internet travels to come across Craftsy. I’m not sure how new this site is – for all I know it’s been on people’s radar for some time and I’ve just been slow in catching wind about it! – but I’ve been pouring over it with every non-child moment I’ve had all week.

Craftsy is akin to Raverly - the two have similar features –  both have Etsy style listings from users who have created their own patterns to sell (although there are also freebies to be had) as well as the ability for personal profiles which you can use to create lists of favorite patterns and projects as well as share your own projects. A pro for Craftsy though is that you can also browse the site without a profile – and the site design is very, very cute. The biggest sell for me is that they offer ONLINE CLASSES! This really got me excited, since I have two little kids and not much free time to take a class in person. The lessons are very reasonably priced and you can access them at any time, for however long you want. There is also a support function, where you can ask questions “in class”  - which I think means you send a message to the instructor with a bookmarked section of the video … I have yet to try this out, but that is my understanding. Anyways, I digress…

One of the many great online classes on Craftsy.com

What really got me excited was Gretchen Hirsch’s Sew Retro Perfect Fit Bombshell Dress Class. I’ve never sewn a garment (I refuse to acknowledge the boxer short disaster of 1997) and honestly I haven’t really had any desire to do so, but when I saw the preview video for this class … well let’s just say something clicked and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how cool it would be to go all Betty Draper on my wardrobe (ideas of doing a Mad Men-esque photo session with the hubby are seriously dancing in my head right now). Ah I love being inspired. I’ll keep the blog up to date if any such projects come to fruition.

Don and Betty Draper - AMC's Mad Men

Gretchen also has a beautiful blog you all should check out. It’s all about vintage Vogue patterns and will make your heart sing.

Happy inspired project browsing!

Strawberries!

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

 

I’m so happy! I have strawberries in my backyard … I’m growing things in Calgary! The only problem is, that I have to pick each berry the second it turns red, or the sparrows gobble them up before my kids can. So far we’ve had about 3 – they are the BEST strawberries. I think I’ve counted about 50 total, which is up from last year’s 10 berries from the three tiny plants we put in – we didn’t even expect them to grow!


Now to just wait until the apple tree catches up to the strawberries and the rhubarb … then the Smitten Kitchen Summer Pies and cobblers will start showing up in my house too!

Next year I’m planning on getting some veggies going. I found a great book at the Farmer’s Market called No Guff Vegetable Gardening which has a lot of great info on gardening in Calgary’s climate without being over complicated (very beginner friendly). Who knows, maybe i’ll even have some raised garden beds with carrots and potatoes this time next year!