happy v-day to my readers

all my love.

in the words of a few musical artists near to my heart:

love is gravity

if my heart was a compass you'd be north

grand pianos crash together when my boy walks down the street

i can't help falling in love with you

if you were falling then i would catch you, you need a light, i'd find a match, 'cause i love the the way you say good morning, and you take me the way i am.

if my heart was a house you'd be home

valentine count down craft 3

And to wrap up this valentine countdown, a flower for my sweetheart ...




Ingredients:
two chocolate hearts (i used lindor because they are melt in your mouth delicious), three colours of paper, elastic, wooden skewer or stick or stem, tape

Method:
Rip or cut 3 hearts out of two different colours of paper (one set of hearts should be slightly smaller than the other). These will be the petals.
Poke a hole in the bottom corner of all of your hearts and thread them onto your skewer. Arrange them in a pretty flower formation - attach elastic under the petals to hold them at the top of the skewer.
Cut leaves out of the third colour of paper, and attach to skewer/stem with tape.
Using tape rolls attach the chocolate hearts back to back with the skewer sandwiched between them in the centre of the flower.
Fini! A rose with a heart of chocolate for your sweetheart.

valentine count down craft 2

valentine craft number two! butterfly kisses:
















Ingredients:
chocolate hearts, paper in three colours, twist ties or pipe cleaners, tape, face stickers (optional)

Method:
Cut or tear two hearts slightly larger than your chocolate hearts.
Then cut or tear two more hearts of a different colour that are slightly bigger than your first set of hearts.
Cut a butterfly body out of your third colour - a little bit like an eight without the holes.
Twist your twist ties into spirals.
Using your tape - stick everything together! That's it!
You can write a message on the wings or on the back of your Valentine (though it's easiest to do this before you attach the chocolate).

valentine count down craft

no matter how i feel about the silly made-up consumer holidays... i have to say i kind of love valentine's day. mostly, just because heart shaped crafts are so cute. so here is the first of three ideas in my count down to v-day: sweet rosebud valentines. i'll be making these with my Brownies tonight!







Ingredients:
lollipops, construction paper (flower colour + green for leaves), glue and/or tape.

Method:
This is a nice craft because it's pretty obvious how to make it by looking at the finished result. But in the interest of a complete how-to:
Cut out a heart the size of your lollipop candy (i trimmed the sharp corners off my lolly wrapper to make it prettier - just be careful not to break the seal).
Write your message on one side of your heart.
Fold your green paper in half and cut a leaf shape, leaving a flat edge at the fold (this will wrap around the lolly stick).
I used tape to assemble the whole thing: using tape loops attach the heart to the candy and attach the two sides of your leaf to the lolly stick.
Fini! Super easy, and super cute.

time for s'more firelight

Signs of Spring are coming swiftly now so I figured it was time to use the fireplace one more time before it gets too warm for indoor fires. Also, making s'mores in your own living room is too much fun!





Take gaggle of girls, freshly baked graham crackers (thanks Alyson), some delicious fair trade chocolate and a bag of marshmallows then combine with crackling kindling, woodsmoke, firelight and generous amounts of laughter. Enjoy.



woodland creature crackers!















mmmmmm....

Yours Truly - store launch!

It is my pleasure to announce that Yours Truly officially launches today on Etsy.


















Browse the store to find hand-made froufrou: jewelry, drawings and design. Custom orders are welcome.

I was hoping to have it launched more in advance of Valentine's Day but one can only do so much when waiting for felt to dry. Plus the last couple weeks have been full of excitement around Victoria, what with the weather improving enough to ride bicycles, the Film Festival, and free dance classes, awesome performances to attend and interviews to give (fingers crossed for the latest day job attempt). However, despite delays people within Canada will still have a couple days to place orders that will ship in time for the day of romance.

It's pretty exciting! All this work and now it's out there - for real - for keeps. Now i just sit in wait of that first sale - that is, sit and wait and felt.

Fingers crossed...

dancing feet

My last ballet class was several years ago - a long hiatus from something I had been passionately doing for the fifteen years prior.

Tonight felt like a homecoming: resting my hand on the barre; the piano music tinkling in the background; going through familiar stretches, positions, exercises... wonderful.

I've worried a long time that going back would mean immediately breaking myself - as in my hip would spontaneously dislocate if i even thought the word "turn out" and sharp crushing noises would result from any kind of jumping or bending. But turns out i'm still strong, just in different ways.

What's really gone is the mind-to-muscle connection to learn choreography. In the past someone could show me a series of steps, and I could then instantly repeat them, recalling them perfectly. I've lost that, hopefully i can get it back if i try. I think i need to be challenging my brain more in my everyday.

Anyways, this post was also an excuse to show off my completed leg warmers (my first actual knitting project ever, by the way) which took months but finally got to perform in their natural habitat tonight at ballet class.