a little holiday cheer

The dinner table at my Mom's -- I love her red wine glasses!

We're off to a friend's house tonight to celebrate the big '09 but I wanted to share a few pics of my handmade gifts. This year I made the same thing for everyone -- pillows! My little sister gave me the idea -- she's moving into a new apartment in a couple of days and wanted some new pillows for her new place. The pics I took of her pillows didn't turn out for some reason but you can kind of see what I made through the fuzz.


The second set is for my other sister -- I wanted to give her something fun to brighten up her living room.


And finally -- a set of pillows I made for my Mom. I think they look perfect with her couch!


That's it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year celebration. See you in 2009!

~lealou

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone! I'm at my Mom's house now for the holidays where I'll enjoy lots of turkey and sweets. There is A LOT of snow here in Eastern Ontario so maybe I'll do a snow angel or two too.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!

~lealou

a little obsession

Can I tell you how "busy" I've been in the past little while? I say "busy" because all of my "free" time has been used up with a little series of books written for teenagers... Ok I'll just come out and say it: I'm obsessed with the Twilight Series of books. There's something about a vampire love story that really makes my heart flutter. I told C not to give me the books -- it's just the worst time of the year to be head over heels with something other than sewing (don't the Cullens know I have Christmas presents to make???). Ok enough of that.


I have been sewing I guess. A week or so ago I did my first ever little craft event. I offered to set up a table to sell my stuff at the market bazaar at work to help raise money for United Way. Although there weren't a lot of people passing through, it was a really great experience because it got me out of the house and away from the computer. The best part was to see people I knew from the office "You made all this stuff?"


The Clara Clutch

I managed to sell a few things, but I still have lots left so I've put it all up in my shop. I can't really guarantee it'll get to you by Christmas, but if you're reading this from Ontario you'll get it for sure (some of you may even get personal delivery from moi!) And to keep with the theme of the original purpose for making these things, I will be donating 10% of all sales to United Way until after Christmas. How cool is that.


The Zoula Zip

View the rest of the items here

This week I'm dedicating my time to making the rest of my gifts for my friends and family. There isn't A LOT to do (who am I kidding) but it is still stressful (really, I love the pressure). I'm not sure if I'll get back on here before the holidays so if I don't -- Happy Holidays! I can't believe it is here already to be honest with you -- it really crept up this year.

later gaters
~lealou

a house, a rockstar bride and a paris bag

Well hello there!

Wow it has been a while, but I've been quite busy! In the past little while my husband and I have bought a house and sold ours! It has been a whirlwind to say the least. Currently we live in the east end of Toronto and we happened to find a house closer to Mark's work in the west end so we took the plunge. But that meant getting our house ready for sale. Since we live in a little bungalow, the preparations weren't too bad and we managed to sell our house in a matter of 4 days. Pretty crazy, especially in this "economic downturn" (ugh I hate that phrase more than anything....sooo over used.)



Anyway now that the house is sold I'm back to sewing (and making a mess of course). I've been happy with the response to my etsy shop -- well not in sales in the shop, although I did sell all my totes, but more in custom orders! The latest order was a revamp of The Paris Bag. Rockstar Bride is a gal I lived with in uni and she has started her own event planning business "Hot Pink Petticoat" on the side. Oh and did I mention she just had HER OWN rockstar wedding? Pretty fun. Anyway, I really love this bag... RSB wanted something that was bright and matched her new pink logo, but she also wanted a splash of black. So we melded together two vibrant Anna Maria Horner fabrics for this fun tote she'll have for all her work.

The best part? It's reversable!



As for other projects, this Friday I'm helping out with a Market Bazaar at one of our offices. I'll have a little table where I'll be selling colourful totes, zip pouches, coasters and clutches and 10% of sales will go to United Way. I'll have pics next week on that. Right now though, I have to get to work (my real job!).

Happy Tuesday.
~lealou