Lucky loot!

"Pick up tonight?" my husband texted me.

"Nope! No class tonight."

We celebrated the end of classes by going out to a fashionable Indian restaurant called Tamarind in the northwest. The dishes are really unique and delicious.

Time for another "That's a wrap!" post. Six more credits in the bucket for my BFA. And thank goodness! My house is such a mess. The cleanest place to be is the birdcage :D I thought without studio classes that the house would be neater, but nope. Since every place seemed equally messy, I started with the coffee table where loot from British scrapbook magazines that I get from Billy's News downtown. Let's take a look...

That's a lot of loot from the past four months! Sometimes I buy two or three magazines at a time, depending on how good they are.

These glitter tubes look fun! I think last year there was even glitter watercolours.

This is pretty cool - although it's hard to see - a snowflake embossing folder for a machine like a Cuttlebug or Big Shot!

Hands down, clear rubber stamps are the most popular kind of loot. I was surprised to get some Holly Hobbie stamps in my latest haul. I had a Holly Hobbie doll as a girl.

The best for last...how super cool is this? A mini scoring board? Just the thing to tuck in my kit instead of my big ScorPal!

Spotted at ACAD...

Birds? Butterflies? Paper airplanes? Whatever they are, I spotted them on Monday at ACAD. You never know what will turn up sometimes. Sculpture can be simple to be cool!

Prairie Rim Images: This shoot was for the birds

I just happened to come across this on Google + and had to share it with all the other bird lovers out there! It's rare for "common" parrots like budgies and cockatiels to get the star treatment :-)

Prairie Rim Images: This shoot was for the birds

Creative Stitches and Crafts Show Calgary

The Creative Stitches and Crafts Show was held just in time for winter! Yesterday it started softly snowing and it continues today. Nothing says crafts like winter :-) Mom and I enjoyed bobbling about, even though the show is mostly aimed at quilters. There was so much fabric, and I managed to resist buying any despite often deep discounts. There were some lovely art quilts on display, including a "Crow Tea Party" that I know Magic Love Crow would like! Fortunately there's a picture on Flickr, as picture taking was not allowed. All the new sewing machines there were amazing, especially the Brother Dreamweaver XE. It lets you trace a drawing right into the machine and get stitching right away. You can design your own stitches too! There was something fascinating about watching it work away - one could easily fire it up and do something else. The cost is prohibitive though - it costs the same as a decent used car. There was a scrapbooking section and a crop corral. Again, I didn't buy anything here as nothing caught my eye. I was really surprised at that. Usually I go a little crazy when it comes to paper. But I did cave and bought two beautiful balls of yarn called "Marble" dyed in blue, purple and green. I want to make something special with it, like a shawl or maybe a hat and scarf set. We'll see!

Nice Needle Tools

Here's a post that I saved as a draft back in July!

One thing that has always interested me are nice needle tools. It seems a shame to have to make do with cheap plastic bits and bobs. When my great aunt passed away ten years ago, I thought I would find something fun in her old sewing basket. It would seem plastic bits and bobs existed in the 50s too.

Searching online was fruitless. When I did find nice needle tools, they tended to be made from sterling silver and really $$$!

Quite by chance, I found a cool little store called The Stitcher's Muse in Nanaimo. I couldn’t have missed it - because it was conveniently connected to our hotel. It was everything any crafter would want in a store - cozy and packed to the gills with everything for lace tatting to hardanger.

Had I been employed at the time, I would have bought more than the three things below - a magnetic needle holder, a needle case and a mother of pearl embroidery winder. Perhaps it's just as well to have a reason to go again.

Bird Humour

Just testing out the new official Blogger apply - the unofficial one I used to use had ads. Anyhow, I am alive and hope to reconnect with my online friends!

If there's one thing Muffin loves, it's bread. He'll slice through a bread bag in seconds!

Back to School!

I popped into Staples on Labour Day for a couple of things and instantly regretted it. It was like being in a toy store at Christmas! I felt sorry for the staff. This year I'm taking two classes a semester - all evenings except one on Saturdays. And then, unfortunately, I will have to give it a rest because I have literally run out of money to attend ACAD. It's not the cost of classes or supplies, but the cost of living while going to school, and I'm hesitant to get a student loan. In this regard I can really sympathize with the younger folk, especially after finding out how much it costs to live in residence. My one class is on science and technology, which I'm pretty jazzed about. The other is on Canadian art history. After looking at the class outlines, I think I overdid it. I'll have several essays and a group presentation to work on. I'm going to have to cut down on craft sales this year as a result as well.