Lovely Things 11-15-13

Hello, lovelies! Oh my GOSH but I have been ignoring this blog and you all, and I am so sorry for it! I've been in an awful funk ever since my best friend in the world had to go home to England after spending an amazing two weeks with the hubby and I. I miss him so much! Hopefully sometime next year I'll have enough funds to travel to the UK to see him... now there's a goal for the 2014 Create Your Incredible Year!

Since I haven't done Lovely Things in a while, here we go! Today I'm featuring some AWESOME DIY holiday crafts that I've been shown and can't wait to try!

These are utterly fabulous. I'm going to make one to hang over our entranceway.

Cinnamon Christmas Stars

I'm a huge sucker for the current trend of galaxy print, and these are no exception. It's outer space in a ball! I'll be using plastic balls for this craft, since we have cats and need to be careful about having shatterproof ornaments.

Glitter Galaxy Ornaments

How adorable are these? I'll be collecting pinecones this weekend and painting them pastels, gold and silver to put all over the place!

Pine Cone Christmas Trees


This is such a neat idea and I'm going to make one in pink, gold and silver to match my pastel theme!

Christmas Card Wreath


These are so charming, and so easy!

Wee Felt Houses


See you this weekend when I'll be showing you all goddess ways to sack the sucky feelings and days in your life where all you want to do is hide in the bedroom and cover your head.


Love and light,
Mary

Lovely Things 10-9-13

Hello my goddesses! I hope all is well in your world. I'm preparing myself for the next Mercury Retrograde that starts on the 21st of this month and lasts through to November 10th. What can you do to prepare? Check back here next week when I share with you!

My MIL and I went on a lovely nature walk today. It was gorgeous, 19* Celcius, with a cloudless sky. We smelled the dry leaves, took lots of pictures, saw ducks and we saw landlocked Atlantic salmon swimming upstream. We ended the day at Tim Horton's with lattes and pumpkin spice Timbits (heavenly!). It was a perfect Wednesday and I'm going to show you!

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Love and light,
Mary

Lovely Things 9-23-13

Hello friends! It's time for another Lovely Things post to brighten your Monday. This past weekend was fab, full of rain and resting and making my first big pot of chili of the season. Saturday was the Thornhill Village Festival, something I greatly look forward to every year. Our cat rescue group, Urban Cat Relief, always has a booth there and we go help out before walking around the festival. There's always great food, live music, colonial battle re-enactments, a parade, awesome vendors and crafters, and yard sales in the beautiful historic village. Autumn colours are just starting to pop out, too, so it makes for a very pretty backdrop!

It was pouring rain all day though, so UCR ended up packing it in early and going home, mostly because our tent wasn't waterproof and everything (including us) got very wet. Trevor and I had a blast though, buying yummy food and finding some really great things.


The library always has a big book sale during the festival, but because of the rain I was worried they weren't going to have it. No worries though, they just held it indoors this time! They had a deal where you could fill a bag for $5, and that is exactly what I did. I don't even know where to put all these books, LOL!


I'd been wanting a cute patchwork purse for eons now, and these really neat vendors two booths down were selling them for a price I just couldn't pass up. And I'm glad I didn't! I love it so much!


I got these beautiful nesting dolls from a Belarus-based monastery that had been to the festival before and liked it so much that they just had to come back. I have a big soft spot for nesting dolls, which brings us to the subject of this week's Lovely Things!

Nesting dolls, or matryoshkas!

I'm not sure where my fascination with them began, but I'm such a sucker for anything themed with them.



Tea infusers on Amazon! Aren't they divine?



I think it's time for a pair of new earbuds...! These are on Amazon.


These key covers at Amazon are perfect for me, because I have two housekeys! :)


I found this lovely little pattern on My Sparkle's's blog. I want to make a bunch of pastel ones to go on my white Christmas tree!


This fabric from Trinketsintheattic on Etsy is just adorable, isn't it?


Le gasp! Two of my favourite things, combined! Kokeshi dolls and nesting dolls!! These are on sale right now at World Market and I think I have to get them ASAP.


And how about some cross-stitch patterns? This one is on French blog Chez Brodagum.




Love and light,
Mary

Lovely Things 9-16-13

Happy Monday, everyone! It's time for lovely things again to brighten your (and my) evening. Sorry I'm so late in the day!

I had a very busy and wonderful weekend. On Saturday I spent time with my girls Liat and Alora again, fasting with them until we went to Liat's mom's place that evening to break for a fantabulous Yom Kippur dinner. We laughed so much, enjoyed the night breeze, and feasted on gefilte fish, challah, watermelon & feta, homemade chicken soup, salads, and more. I am so blessed to have been part of that dinner with my three lovely ladies. Alora, Liat and I went back to their place later and spent the night drawing. I'm so happy to say I've got lots of inspiration right now and can't wait to share it with you! On Sunday I went with a friend I hadn't seen in a while to see Fallout Boy at Echo Beach. Dancing + singing along in the rain and sand was so much fun, even if we did freeze our butts off!

This week I'm sharing some wrist warmers I've found on Etsy. I love wrist/hand warmers SO SO SO much!!! It's one of my favourite things about fall and winter. Once cool weather arrives, on they go, and I'm always looking for new ones. These are ones I've favourited this past week and dream of owning.


[ via TuppersPatch ]


[ via lostanfound ]


[ via mafiz ]


[ via knitvalley ]


[ via katinytis ]


Do you have a favourite pair of wrist/handwarmers? Show me below in the comments! :)

Love and light,
Mary

Lovely Things 9-9-13

Hello goddesses! I hope you've all had a great weekend and are going to have a lovely start to the week. I spent my weekend at my new cleaning job and then with my girls Liat + Alora, enjoying sloppy joes, pumpkin spice lattes, hours in the pool, and an all-night drawing jam. Those girls, along with my other best friend Jonno, are the shining gold in my life.

Jonno is coming to visit us next month! He lives in England, near Leicester. We've known each other for twelve years (we met at Active Worlds, the same 3D chat program where I met Trevor the same year!) and he's been my best friend for the latter half of that time. He's staying with us for two weeks and I'm starting to get ridiculously excited!! YEEHAW!!!

So last week's Lovely Things post was about those beautiful little things of summertime. Now that autumn is approaching like a freight train, today's Lovely Things is all about the awesome little things of fall!


Wearing cozy leg warmers and pretty socks around the house and under tall boots. Yes!

[ via shelterness ]


Enjoying a pumpkin spice latte on a chilly day.



Crunching in and kicking a thick layer of leaves!



Walking or driving around to see the changing foliage, and smelling that wonderfully dry smell of fallen leaves.



Cozying up with hot tea and soft slippers on a rainy night.

[ via picmonkey ]


The smell of a good bonfire where fallen leaves are part of the kindling! That's a smell I dearly love.



County harvest festivals!



Thanksgiving...

[ via Pinterest ]

And Samhain, of course!

[ via Pinterest ]


It's sweater and scarf weather!

[ via Pinterest ]


Gorgeous decor using pumpkins, gourds, leaves, pinecones, acorns, and lots of vanilla and apple cinnamon candles!

[ via Pinterest ]

Cozy gloves, mittens, and handwarmers. I love wearing fingerless gloves and wrapping my hands around a warm cuppa.

[ via Etsy ]

Walking a little slower, taking more time, wending your way home while feeling reflective and warm inside.

[ via Pinterest ]


Apple cider with cinnamon sticks (especially enjoyed with some ginger snaps!)



Going to the pumpkin patch, whether or not you have kids!

[ via Pinterest ]


Cloudy days that emphasize the brightness of the foliage.


And those woolly clouds with purple-grey undersides that scurry across the sky.

[ via Pinterest ]

What's your favourite thing about autumn, lovelies?


Love and light,
Mary