Daily deals for paper artists

WARNING: The content of this post is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!

Let's be honest, the cost of quality supplies for paper artists and scrapbookers is ginormous.  Luckily, there are more and more Deal of the Day websites for art and craft supplies, especially for scrapbooking.  I decided to make a list of my favorite ones:

PEACHY CHEAP was the first deal of the day website I've discovered and till today it is one of my favorites.  The process is simple: 1 daily deal Monday to Friday and 1 deal over the weekend.  If the deal sells out fast they often offer something else later that day.  I really like the variety of brands, fast shipping, and the fact that they SHIP TO CANADA!

PEACHY CHEAP also has a "Daily deals for women" site, called A SIDE OF PEACHES.

CROP CHOCOLATE is probably the most addictive site of them all.  It is not just a daily deal website, it's much bigger than that.  First of all, you get several deals throughout the day for very very sweet prices.  Secondly, you do not have to buy right away, you can add your items to La Carte and wait to check out later to receive a sweet shipping price.  Thirdly, there is a sweet, great, supportive community of Chocoholics to interact with.  Fourthly, there is Hot Chocolate option for your order.  Fifthly .... do I need to continue???

Oh, and they SHIP TO CANADA!!!

CRAFTY STEALS is my third favorite deal of the day scrapbooking website.  Crafty Steals offers one new deal per day but there is still an option to buy previous steals and save on shipping.  And if you like sewing do not forget to check out STITCH STEALS for amazing deals on fabric.

And yes, you guessed it CANADIAN SHIPPING!

I am yet to order from CRAFTY CATCH but this deal of the day website features tons of amazing supplies at amazing prices.  Unfrotunately, shipping to Canada is a little bit steep but there is an option to get previous deals and combined shipping.  Current deals do not change daily, instead they are featured for 2-3 days.  I am looking forward to getting some of their goodies soon.

Here is a list of other Daily Deals websites. I never shopped from them but would love to hear your opinion/comments.  Also, let me know if there are other Daily Deals paper craft websites that I forgot to mention.

FLOWERS TO FLOURISHES (no Canadian shipping)

SCRAPBOOK STEALS

SCRAPPIN DEALS N STEALS (might not ship to Canada)

MOLLY'S SQUARE

These scrapbook stores have "Daily Deal" section:

CRAZY SCRAPS

A CHERRY ON TOP

SCRAPBOOKING FOR LESS

KINDRED CREATIONS

STUFF 4 SCRAPBOOKING

SCRAPPIN GREAT DEALS (Canadian store!)

STAMPING SCRAPPING 

SCRAPBOOK.COM and their JILL'S DEALS
PEBBLES IN MY POCKET
TWO PEAS IN A BUCKET

Other fun Daily Deals websites:

PICK YOUR PLUM

VERY JANE

More:

BIG SCRAP DEAL

DOLLAR SCRAPBOOKING

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July kaleidoscope

 

On Friday I shared a small collection of BLOGS that I discovered in July.  Today I will share interesting and fun websites:

• LITTLE ADULTS - photographer Anna Skladmann shows what it means to be young, Russian, and rich
• Really cool COMPOSITE STREET PHOTOGRAPHS OF NY via Flavorwire
• Not sure where I first saw the works of JANNE PETERS but I really like her style
• Writers, painters, artisits and politicians share their DAILY ROUTINES
• A SILLY JOKE a friend of mine shared via Google Buzz
• THE BURNING HOUSE project - what would you save if your house was on fire?

Care Takers by Peter Funch via Flavorwire

That's all for today.  Time for me to go and enjoy a slice of BREAD PUDDING.  Have an amazing last day of July - see you all in August.

July blogroll

 

On the last days of July I want to share my collection of fun, interesting, quirky, useful, amazing, beautiful and exciting links from all over the web.  I found SO many goodies this months that I will have to dived them in 2 parts: today it is all about BLOGS

• Julia Kolker's food blog YULINCA COOKS - all about Soviet and Russian cuisine
•  ASK ANNA any questions about cleaning, organizing or decorating your home - she is an expert of natural and inexpensive home-keeping
• ANNA'S RECIPE BOX - here is one more Anna who cooks (Uzbek food among others), makes jewelry, and takes pictures
• I was not sure whether I like WIT AND WHISTLE for their blog or for their paper goods.....
• Paper and bookbinding by RUTH BLEAKLEY ... me like a lot!
• An inspiring and interesting blog of the artist PATTY VAN DORIN makes me think of fairytales and Johanne Harris books
• MY NEW ROOTS features amazing vegetarian recipes, beautiful food photography and useful information from the nutritionist and chef Sarah Britton 
• And last but not least - LE BLOG DE SOVENA for everyone who gets inspired by vintage fashion photography, like this one:

Image via Violet

Stay tuned for more July finds from all over the web.

Recipes from the web: Raw edition

Montreal is suffering (or enjoying) a heat wave.  It's way too hot and too humid to do anything, let alone cook.  Last weekend I decided to quickly sauté some veggies and 10 minutes later I was as wilted as my zucchinies and peppers.

What can you eat when thermometer climbs up to 40C during the day?  How about raw food? No, not just salads and smoothies, but a 3-course meal!!!
I have been experimenting with "cooking" raw for a couple of years now and here are my 

favorite easy raw recipes

First course is a bowl of raw broccoli soup.  As you may remember, I am not a big fan of broccoli but the creamy, cool, raw soup was recently added to my short list of favorite broccoli dishes.  I combined 2 recipes: Gena's RAW CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP and RAWDORABLY RAW CREAM OF BROCCOLI. The procedure is quite simple: soak nuts (cashews work great), add vegetables and spices, blend until smooth, and serve.

Image by Gena

Main dish - raw pasta with marinara sauce.  This is a very popular raw recipe and just like with regular marinara sauce, each cook has his/her little secrets.  My personal favorite is ANY PHYO'S VERSION.  The only problem is that no one can take a good picture of it - the whole dish is gone in less than a minute!

Image by Jamie Reed via Hello Yoga in Tokio

Recipes from the web - 2

I think it's time for another round of "Recipes from the web".  For those of you who missed the first edition, click HERE.

June and July are the months of birthdays, gatherings and celebrations in my family: my mom's birthday, father's day, my sister's birthday, my father-in-law birthday and so on ....  Cooking a big filling meal is usually out of the question so we opt for finger food and appetizers.  Here is a selection of my favorite hors d'oeuvres:

Goat-Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

(from Martha Stewart)

Image from Martha Stewart

 I made them back in January (ha ha so much for summer recipes) using a mix of cream cheese and goat cheese for stuffing and they were delicious!!!  I think they could be easily veganized too.

Chickpea Radish Hors d'Oeuvres

(Vegan Yum Yum)

Image by Lolo

This chickpea spread is great on crostinis, crackers, and even as a dip for vegetables.  It was a big hit at my mom's birthday party last week.

Banana Tatin Verrines

(Tartelette)

Image by Tartelette

This simple dessert is SO good on a cool-ish summer evening.  I tried it with pears, instead of bananas as well as with a mix of two.  If you can not find creme fraiche, use yogurt and/or whipped cream.

Recipes from the web

Even when not busy studying and working, I don't always get a chance to take pictures of every dish I cook.  Since I often try recipes from blogs and websites I decided to share some of them with you. Today we have my 3 ultimate favorites:

The Sour Cream Apple Pie 

by Alicia Paulson (Posie Gets Cozy)

Image by Alicia Paulson

This is probably the best APPLE PIE RECIPE in the whole wild world.  The creamy slightly tangy filling and crusty topping go sooo well together.  I've baked it twice and both times there was nothing left by the next day.  Thank you, Alicia!

Baked French Toast 

by Dana (MADE)

Image by Dana Willard

In our household this type of breakfasts are called "piggish": sweet, rich, yummy, and utterly amazing!  I am yet to make this BAKED FRENCH TOAST with pumpkin - so far I used raspberries with a little bit of almond extract and it was delicious!!!

P.S. You can easily veganize it by using soy milk and egg-replacer.

Miso Slaw
(Sprouted Kitchen)

Image via Sprouted Kitchen

As soon as spring can be smelled in the air, I crave light salads.  I think my body gets tired of rich and heavy winter food and is ready for some nourishing greens.  This MISO SLAW makes a perfect light spring supper or lunch - full of freshness and yummines.  I am thinking of having some tonight.... mmmm

P.S. Replace Greek yogurt with soy yogurt and enjoy a vegan version of miso slaw

Bon appetit!

DIY Christmas links part-3

Here is the final part of DIY Christmas series.  Today it is all about ...

Image by Andrew C. via Stock.xchng

Gifts

Dana (Made) shares her tutorials for easy hand-made Christmas gifts.  She also has a post about gift-wrapping.

Maya (Maya*Made) posts instructions for a hand-made oatmeal sachet - an excellent stocking stuffer.

I LOVE these water-balloon luminarias from Wendy (Wisdom of the Moon).  Make some extra to decorate your house with.

Gift Wrapping

I really like these four creative gift wrapping ideas from Jeromina Juan (Paper Plate and Plane).
Ez (Creature Comfort) suggest using earrings as part of gift embellishments.  She provides a couple of inspirational photos.
Jessica (Two Shades of Pink) had a three-day gift wrapping marathon (wrappathon???). Day1, day2, and day3. 
Moe (Cross My Hooks) shows how to crochet pretty gift-tags and cute red and green stars (click here for the stars tutorial).  She also shares a video to illustrate how to finger-knit a ribbon out of tissue paper yarn.  You can use it as a garland or to wrap your gifts.
And here you can find a collection of gift wrapping ideas from Marianne (Songbird).

Jessica Jones (How About Orange) has a tutorial about paper bows (the ones you use to decorate gifts with) made with magazine pages.  She also inspired Kristen (Big Box Detox) to make felted bows.

Katy (No Big Dill) shared her tips on easy gift wrapping using yarn, label stickers, and other easy-to-find supplies.
Ash and Kimmy (Green Eyed Monster) show their collection of green gift-wrapping ideas.
And here is another gift-wrapping collection from Sasha (What. No Mints?).
Last, but not least, great DIY holiday collection from Maya (Maya*Made).  She's got it all: ornaments, gift-wrapping, and decorations. 

Part 1 - DIY Decorating
Part 2 - DIY Tree Ornaments 

DIY Christmas links part-2

The first part of DIY Christmas series is here
And the third one is now available here
 

Image by Ivanna Buldakova via Photoxpress

  

Tree Ornaments

A very easy tree ornament with a special tradition from Tracy (Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures).  You can create your own tradition following her description. 

Beth (The Stories of A2Z) had an ingenious idea of faux capiz shell garland.  And if you scroll just a couple of post up, she generously shares her tutorials for other Christmas tree decorations.

Another easy decoration ornament, this time from Elaine (The Little Blue House) - a perfect project to make with children.

If you are a crocheter, like Vickie Howell (Vickie Howell.com ) you can make this adorable amigurum tree ornament.

Kim (Paper Zone) posted a video about 3-D paper snowflakes.  Made with silver and blue or red and golden paper they would look perfect on a tree or as a part of home decor.

And if you want something more challenging, follow Kim's instructions to create a geoball ornament.

Jeromina Juan (Paper Plate and Plane) explains how to make no-knit mini stockings.  Aren't they adorable?

And last but no least Dana (Made) shared a tutorial about A, B, C family ornaments.  This tutorial is a part of BlogNog series at say YES! to Hoboken.

Click here to view the whole series

My other favorites from this series are Small Advent Packages which could be used as a decoration and Mini Christmas Presents


Next time I'll share some interesting and easy gift-wrapping ideas.

DIY Christmas links part-1

Christmas is less than 3 weeks away and the blogosphere is buzzing with recipe, decoration, and gift ideas.  And while I am waiting to start decorating myself here are some of my favorite DIY holiday projects.

Image by Renata Osinska via Photoxpress

Decorating

Lisa (Recaptured Charm) offers a step-by-step tutorial about a Christmas Yarn Wreath - great way to decorate a door of a knitter's house.

Another idea from Jessica (How About Orange) - modern paper ornament which would look great as a part of Christmas decor.  Click here for step-by-step instructions.

Kathrin (Annekata) spent Black Friday making beautiful simple paper stars. A great project to make with children on a snowy day.

Candace (Sparkle Power) shares instructions for a whimsical paper dollie garland (via Smile and Wave).

Although these lacy crackers were designed as a wedding favors by Olivia Kanaley (A Field Journal) they would make a great Christmas decoration. (via The Bride's Cafe).
Check out this fun Christmas tree made out of old magazines.  Step-by-step instructions are provided by Ash and Kimmy (Green Eyed Monster). 
Gorgeous decorations made with old book pages Alisa Burke (Alisa Burke).  This girl has tons of ideas.
I LOVE Lisa Tilse's (The Red Thread) wreaths.  She made them from paper doiles, Christmas paper, and thin Chinese paper.
A simple and cute decoration: a star made out of a toilet-paper roll.  Thank you Michelle (Muffin Tin Mom) for instructions.

What are your favorite DIY Christmas projects? 

Part 2 - Tree Ornaments 
Part 3 - Gifts and Gift Wrapping

Award

I got my first award - the Brilliant Blog one. I was so excited last night that I even had a hard time falling asleep! Thank you so much, Susan, for nominating me. By the way, you should check out her blog (Knitting Alone).

Now it is my turn to nominate 7 bloggers to pass the award on. It is not an easy task considering the number of knitting (and not knitting) blogs I like. I will let you guess the number, it is a 3-digit one.

So my nominees are:

Knitting on Impulse
a Whistler-based knitter who dyes the most beautiful fiber, makes jewellery, and takes picture of the magnificent West Coast.

SweetP Knits
I have mentioned Gabes in my previous post. Her posts always put a smile on my face, maybe it is because of her beautiful knitting, or maybe it is her cute children, or maybe it is the pink background of the page? Whatever it is, reading her posts makes me smile.

Sel and Poivre
Can not quite remember how I found this blog but it is yet another blog with beautiful photography, knitting, and interesting posts.

Ysolda
This young lady is quite famous in the knitting community. If you do not know her - rush over to her blog. She got nice patterns, tutorials, and you might be able to attend one of her lessons.

We heart yarn
What can I say? I am a sucker for beautiful, clean designs and a nice mix of knitting and nature. Yet another visual candy (with reading substance!)

Anna's flying needles
Although I have never commented on Anna's posts I have been lurking around for a while. I really like things she knits.

And the last but not least ..... well it was hard to decide, so it's a tie between these 3:

Two little bunshees
Heart felt
The akamai knitter

I know I was suppose to nominate only 7 but there are just too many talented bloggers and it never hurts to spread the joy and brilliance, right?

Discovering

I really like finding out new things and the past several days were filled with happy discoveries.

Here is the first one:



Hemingway's "Super Stitches Knitting"- a gift from my non-knitting coworker. I have been looking at stitchionaries available at the bookstores and on Amazon for a while. I am not ready to design my own sweaters yet, but I would like to try my creativity and knit a scarf or a headband using different stitches. "Super stitches knitting" seems to be perfect for that. The book is divided into sections including: "knit and purl", "lace", "fair isle", and so on. It also has a section with tips and instructions on casting on, binding off, colour-work, and fixing errors (that one will be useful). I can not wait to create my own project using some of the stitches from the book and I think I know what it might be.

The second discovery was a long awaited first issue of Debbie Bliss magazine.


There are several interesting items in this magazine and overall presentation and design are very beautiful. I think Debbie Bliss magazine will be one of my favorites.

The last 2 discoveries were online magazines. The Inside Loop - UK based knitting magazine and Knotions. Both look very interesting and I will be spending some time reading the articles and choosing patterns I like.

There was actually another discovery or should I say an acquisition (yet another gift) but I will dedicate a separate post to it once I take proper pictures.

What I will be knitting tonight.

Do you have those days when a certain word, item, or a song keeps popping up everywhere? Today was one of those days for me. It started with Esya (aka Urwen) sending me these images she found on one of LiveJournal communities:

They are all part of Luisa Cerano's collection
"Look how cool these bracelets are" said she.
And indeed knitted bangles are pretty impressive. I have seen pictures of bangles made simply by wrapping the yarn around the wooden/plastic base but it was the first time I saw knitted ones. And considering the popularity of the fabric bangles these will get popular soon.

I had just enough time to finish the conversation with Esya when Gabes (aka SweetP) posted this picture on her blog:


Not only prooving my theory about knitted bangles being "cool", not only explaining that this could be a very neat way of trying new stitches or making swatches, but providing us all with a link to instructions of how to make them!

If you want to have the latest "it" object for Fall, hurry up over to See Mi Knit, pick up some leftover yarn, and get to work. You have four days left until the First of September.

P.S. Do not forget to say "Thank you" to Gabes.

Blobs

I am back to civilization and knitting. Sorry for leaving abruptly but I was hiding in Toronto for over a week and since people from whom I was hiding tend to read my blog I had to stop posting for a while.... These people are the reason why I could not show my crocheted project until now.
Here is the last picture of "almost finished" secret project:


And here are all the balls and arms assembled into 2 "blobs":


Same blobs but with the hand-made card:


These are modified Doug and Gordo from Crochet Me book. They do not look much like the original ones (I hope Kim Werker would forgive me for that) - I used a completely different size of yarn and had to improvise with the eyes and "costumes". I wanted them to look more like a girl and a boy, since they were part of the wedding gift for my two wonderful friends.

Twist Collective

Twist Collective is out! I know, I know you all are aware of it, you actually knew about this Canadian project for a while (I found out about it this morning, thanks to Lin), some of you submitted patterns, others were posting sneak peaks on Ravelry, and those who were completely oblivious to it read Yarn Harlot's blog post. But hey, I am a bit slow these days.
I had no clue that Twist Collective existed until early this morning and I had no time to post about it because I was running late to my driving lesson (told you, I am slow, I do not know how to drive, at my age!). So even if you have heard about it already, hear once again, and go check it out!


Have a great knitting weekend, everyone!

Good yarn

Take a look at these gorgeous knitting images. They are part of "A good yarn" project - a yarn store that has more than just yarn.
I was not sure which image to choose for the last-day-of-July post but this one is too funny.

Useful

From Label-free blog via Lime & Violet

Knitters'

No knitting pictures today. I am a very very slow knitter these days. However I picked up a copy of Knitters' magazine couple of days ago.

They have shawl patterns as well as an article by my favorite Cat Bordhi about sock knitting (what else). The issue also features several nice summer tops and since I am too chicken to knit a big sweater, a nice top or cardigan could be a fun project.
Here are some of my favorite designs. I will appreciate any suggestion and colour changes:





To see all the designs from this issue of Knitters' click here. You can also browse through past issues to find a model you like.

And I can not not show you a beautiful sock pattern by Cat Bordhi:

They are called "Spring Thaw Socks" and it seems like they are made of snow, first spring leaves, and snowdrops.

It is quite obvious that all the images in this post are taken from Knitters' website.

Contest

I LOVE knitting community (all those people behind blogs and Ravelry profiles). It seems to be a very friendly, helpful, and entertaining bunch full of stories, photographs, FOs, stash, yarn give-aways, and contests. Just today I left a comment with a question on Monika's blog and got a detailed answer via email in a matter of minutes!

Yarn contests seem to be big in the knitting world. No wonder - who can resist an addition to the stash collection? For the yarn-addicts here is a contest from Knit Witch and Amia yarn store:

Just click on the image or HERE to read the instructions.

Good luck to all of you!

Addition to my stash

July has been busy .... busy with work, trip to Toronto, meeting friends, and knitting. It was also busy with discovering new yarn stores and getting additions to my stash. If you are looking for a place to get a lot of different yarn you have to go to Toronto's Romni Wools.

I have read several reviews about the store. I also seen this picture on their website. I was expecting a big place but felt like it would be more of a warehouse and that I would not like it there. One thing for sure, the place is HUGE. It is the biggest yarn store I have seen so far. And yes, it has a bit of a warehouse-ish ambiance, but hey, they have SO much yarn that it is hard not to look like a warehouse. By the way, apart form different yarn they also carry a great selection of needles and hooks by different producers.

Seeing this colour/texture explosion I almost broke down in tears (now I know how my sister feels when she walks into an art-supply store, and why Urgwen becomes "not quite her usual self" in the bead stores). I felt overwhelmed by the beauty and shear amount of yarn. I could have not walked out without purchasing at least something, so here is my small addition to the stash:


This is a beautiful sock yarn from Araucania. I will admit that the colour combination is not my first choice but since I have been stuck on blues recently I let my sister pick the colour and she fell for this one. I doubt I would be making socks with this, I can envision a beautiful scarf or maybe a pair of warm mittens. The colour of this yarn is 501 and here you can see all the subtle details of it.

Romni Wools has the greatest selection of sock yarn. I wanted some darker and earthy colours and found this:


I am struggling to figure out the name of this one. I know it is German but would like to know how it is called.

And finally, I could have not walked away from the gorgeous Fleece Artist Suri Blue (the colourway is called Dandelion). It will be definitely turned into a shawl some time soon.


If you want to see other colours Fleece Artist makes this site has a beautiful collection with all the names.

Don't you wish your slipperS WERE hot like mine?

I finally have a finished project to share with you. Now I have 2 sexy slippers – “woot woot woot” - like my sister would say.


It took me a while to finish the second slipper, probably because I was dreading the knitting of ties. Remember, I made a mistake when knitting the ties of the first slipper and it made my knitting life so much more difficult. I did not want the second slipper look any different so I purposefully knitted the ties in a wrong fashion. But now, all of this is behind and I am enjoying my super-warm Twinkletoes.


There are a couple of mistakes (they are all on the sole so it would not be noticeable), also the second slipper is slightly looser at the back – this is what happens when you wait too long before completing the project.


And what would look nice with these slippers? A pair of matching socks. Here is a beginning of “Cablenet” in Regia #5769. I am very excited to attempt this rather difficult pattern. I would not stress myself with knitting it fast – it would be one of those “knit a bit when feel like it” projects.


Since I am sharing my progress here is how the felted purse looks like:


It is growing pretty fast and I am excited about felting it. By the way, is it me or felting is super popular today? While in Toronto I saw Toronto Outdoors Art Expo and was amazed to see several stands with felted purses. I also noticed felted items in different clothes/accessories stores. I better hurry up to learn this technique if I want to stay “cool”.