what time is it mr. wolf?

These O Clock watches remind me of candy.... Designed and made entirely in Italy. The center faces even pop out, so that you can buy different straps... and for the low price of $39.00, you should start thinking double rainbows people!

Cute packaging too! Available at Walrus on Cambie.

make :: handkerchief wedding invites

Have you seen these vintage handkerchief turned DIY wedding invites from Bird And Banner? You can see the samples that Bird and Banner made for Grace Bonney of design*sponge for her wedding invitations. To make the wedding even more personalized, many male guests arrived wearing their handkerchief invites as pocket squares. Cute!

You can read more about their wedding at design*sponge and Martha Stewart.

Psstt... Etsy Finds Friday will begin again next week!

wedding ideas :: buttons

photo credit: Tracey L. Heppner

Loving these button boutonnières spotted on @traceyheppner 's twitter feed a while back. Interested in finding some of your own for your upcoming wedding or just to add a little "wow" to your outfit? Check out Laurie Cinotto's website here and if you are a kitten fanatic like myself, you can also check out her kitten website here.

it's my birthday!

photo credit: HeyZee

Well, it was my birthday, October 22nd and yes, I did go ahead and schedule to work on two event programs to boot. Money is money and I want to squirrel as much away as possible for the upcoming move. So, we are off to Seattle for the day tomorrow. I'm on a moccassin hunt. My friend purchased a lovely pair, but unfortunately the store here no longer has any and apparently, Nordstroms has some in stock. Fingers crossed.

I'm feeling heaps better. Thanks for all of the good wishes. I'm still a-ok with a meal a day, so I know that I'm not 100 yet, but getting there. Oh, and I am SO over the beef, chicken, fish entree. I don't know if it was the number of dine arounds that I went on this year or the number of weddings or my sickness last week, but I can't do it anymore. As tasty as I am sure it is, no thank you. The last two evenings I went on dine arounds to Blue Water Cafe and Goldfish Kitchen, but had to skip the meal.

Oh yes, before I forget, we bumped into R & S at Angel Cafe this afternoon. CONGRATULATIONS! Need a coordinator? hehe.

london :: mini cooper tours

found via London Relocation blog

Robert just got his UK driving books in the mail earlier this week which often lead to the question of, "Am I going to drive in London?". Which is then followed by "No, way!". A) Almost everything is standard B) I'm driving on the other side of the road C) I barely drive in Vancouver and that's probably a walk in the park compared to downtown London. I know that some of you that have done it before say that it is easier to drive in London than Vancouver, because even though drivers move fast, they have a level of order. You know what my plan is? To get a REALLY good job with a driver. Yeah, wouldn't that be ideal? :) HA!

This is where smallcarBIGCITY comes in. Although, not a commuter service, they offer tours around London by chauffeurs dressed in period '60s attire, set to a '60s music and the best part, they scoot you all over town in a mini cooper! I kind of feel sorry for the two people stuck in the back seat, but we are so doing this! Cars are also available for mini hire - weddings, events, film and for private hire.

At first, I thought they had tours in London given by a group of local hipsters. Well, not quite. Upon closer inspection, I guess the guys pictured would need some skinny jeans.

sweet valentines high tea catering

I came across Sweet Valentines High Tea Catering on facebook the other day. Their mission? "To serve a superb high tea while you and your guests relax and enjoy each others company". Tea with scones and devonshire cream on vintage china? Yes, please!

Sweet Valentines High Tea Catering is an old fashioned high tea experience filled with vintage china, sweet treats, pin wheel sandwiches, homemade scones and loose teas and coffee from all over the world.


Check out their website and put on your high tea fancy. Have some little girls with birthdays coming up? They also do childrens high tea birthday complete with invitations and party hats!

check it out :: day forty nine

illustration and design by mélanie kimmett

I have some kind of cold bug / flu, so I'm taking it easy today. However, I did want to pop in and just mention that day forty nine of Mélanie's a poster a day project was dedicated to us. If you haven't seen her work yet, you can check out my full post over at the got craft blog here or go directly to her website here.

Thanks Mél!

london :: blogs to follow

photo credit: Liamatom

I have insominia, so I figured that this would be a good time to post about London. Ha! Being 8 hours ahead of Vancouver, London is just starting their morning.

If you are thinking about moving to the UK, here are some blogs that you may want to check out.

Expat Blog: People blogging about their experience living in the UK wth a heavy London focus

Canuck Abroad: A forum travel site about Canadians living in the UK. Focuses more on Visa / passport information, getting set up in a new country, shipping belongings - logistics of moving.

Canadian Expats in the UK: Another great forum covering everything that goes into a big move such as immigration, emotions, fun things to do, pets, food, driving, etc.

Do you have a blog or forum about moving overseas that I should check out? Let me know!

pastries ... life ... things to come

I know it's been a week since I last posted. It's been a bit crazy with contract work, weddings and the upcoming Got Craft holiday show. Not to mention that I have 12 days of craft fair shows to prepare for this year. Yeah, what was I thinking? Gah!

Yesterday was the first day off that we had for a long time. I'm proud to say that the only thing we had listed in the calendar was dinner at Vij's with friends moving to Vernon next week, but my goodness, we fail at doing nothing! With lotus events, there seems to always be something that can be worked on and I'm so used to doing multiple things at a time, that I just don't know what to do with myself when asked to relax. Well, besides napping. I'm a champion napper.

Hoping to post some past weddings, tons of wedding inspiration, our plans to move to London and life soon. There is plenty to share, but if you do encounter a long period of silence from this blog, check over at Got Craft and if you still don't see any new posts, then I'm most likely buried under a pile of fabric and paperwork.

Psst... New Town Bakery in Chinatown has the best butterfly pastries in Vancouver. I've been eating these since I was a little girl when my family would go shopping in Chinatown each Saturday. So flaky, buttery and the edges are dipped in sugar giving it an extra crisp! For 85 cents plus tax, you can't go wrong.

wedding ideas :: paint chips

via Martha Stewart

We had a bride and groom use this idea for name cards for their wedding last month at the UBC Boathouse. Their weddings colours were turquoise and red, so she picked up paint chips in different shades of those two colours.

Brillant!

london :: cost of living

photo credit: field_tripz (images have been polarized)

Whenever we mention that we are moving to London, usually the first response, is "wow, it's so expensive there". Yes, London isn't cheap, but neither is living in Vancouver.

We went grocery shopping the other day and after that Sainsbury has online grocery shopping, Rob decided to hold a little experiment of his own. So how much would our groceries cost us in London? Here's the results!

(this is what the grocery shelves sometimes look like if you go shopping after the lunch hour - seriously)

Below are some price differences:

Avocado- $1.89 vs £1.19 ($1.92 conversion)
Broccoli Crowns- $1.70 vs £0.61 ($0.98 conversion)
Block of Jarlsberg Cheese- $5.49 vs £1.45 ($2.35 conversion)
Organic Eggs- $5.99 vs £4.00 ($6.47 conversion)
Gala Apples - $2.86 vs £1.00 ($1.62 conversion)
Chicken Thighs- $6.67 vs £3.00 ($4.85 conversion)

At the end, our Save On Foods bill was $128.83 vs £75.00 ($121.32 conversion) from Sainsbury. Pretty interesting, eh?

Etsy Finds Friday

Etsy Finds Friday is a speckle of random things that have caught my eye on etsy.com. Great ideas and lots of inspiration for your upcoming wedding or to add a little handmade love to your life.

photo credit go to the respective shops listed below

(From left to right)
Top: Sweet Knitting, Art Deco Dame, Coco Rose Couture

Middle: Skippy Designs, Mrs Eliot Books, Sparky Jones

Bottom: Three Blue Bee, Timeless Vintage Vixen, Vintage 50's Eyewear