I bought a jewelry stand!

I needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air today (so many hours of Olympics watching!)...so I went to Urban Barn to look for a jewelry stand. They had three out of the four Umbra stands I posted about. Here's the one I bought (the Icelet):

You can hardly tell what the stand looks like! So much jewelry!!! I have 8 necklaces, 4 bracelets and 1 brooch on there. All of the necklaces except for one have double or triple strands so I think it makes it look like even more.

At the store, I debated between the Icelet and the Teegem, but I thought this one would fit more plus it was taller. The Partridge one was cute but not my fave. I think the one I got will do the trick! And only 25 bucks to boot! Thanks to Dave, Steph, Danielle, and Sol for your opinions!

I need a jewelry stand

So now that I've accumulated all of this wonderful junk jewelry, I really need a place to put it. I looked on Umbra's website and found four jewelry stands. I've seen all of them around the city in various shops although I never really had a good look at any of them. I really am undecided on which one I like the best. Here's some pictures...which one do you like the best?

1. Teegem (From Umbra)

2. Partridge (From Umbra)

3. Icelet (From Umbra)

4. Bijou (From Umbra)

Tell me what you think! So you know, I have about 7 necklaces and 5 bracelets...although they wouldn't all have to be on there (I could rotate). I'm planning on putting the stand on my dressing table to add a little glam! Perhaps it will inspire me to dress myself up every once in a while too!

I love junk jewelry

Yep, I love junk jewelry! I mean that lovingly. Perhaps the terms costume jewelry or fashion jewelry is more up your alley...but whatever you want to call it I have accumulated more in the last few months than I have owned in my whole life. I've always been one for a simple gold or silver chain (and of course diamonds are my best friend...and always will be!) but these days I'm really falling for some surprisingly big and chunky jewelry (well what I call big and chunky jewelry). Of course vintage is all the rage right now and I've definitely jumped on that bandwagon. Take a look at what I bought at the flea market this past weekend:

I got all 3 for 30 bucks! What a crazy good deal! The tags say they are from the '50s - '60s. They definitely look old but are in quite good shape. The red beads look a little orange in this pic but they're a nice cherry red. The black ones are made of glass. And the silver bracelet is pretty chunky but I think it's very pretty. So this is the new me I guess...a regular at the flea market! Who knew?

Weekend project: My office (Part 3)

Well I didn't make tons of progress in my office/the spare bedroom today but we did hang a canvas up over the spare bed:

I bought the canvas at Michael's and attached the flowers (they're from Umbra). I like the white flowers on the white canvas. Plain but nice. And the pic gives you a look at the bedding. A little wrinkled up from standing on the bed to hang up the canvas! I mentioned the $12.99 duvet cover/pillowcases from IKEA in a previous post. The quilt on the end is from Home Outfitters. I sure like green lately! I have big plans to sew a throw pillow after I was inspired by one I saw at the Flea Market this weekend. Keep tuned for that!

I also bought some spray paint and did one coat on some frames for my art wall. I sprayed them in the garage then brought them in the house and put them in the basement but I sure can smell paint in here. They're not picture-worthy quite yet!

Weekend project: My office (Part 2)

I made a little progress in my office/the spare bedroom today. I added some accessories to my desk and the nightstand. I also spent some time trying to figure out what to put in a few of the frames for my art wall above my desk...it could take a while before it all comes together that's for sure! Anyways, here's a pic of the nightstand now:

I moved the orchid from our room. The wooden bowl was a wedding gift from the minister who married us (her husband made it and it's so nice), and my silver bird has finally found a home! On the shelf is a grey box to hold the alarm clock (it's an eyesore and can just come out when we have guests) and a few books. I just used stuff I already had and I think it looks all right for now!

Here's a shot of my desk (minus my laptop):

There's the IKEA lamp I talked about in my last post and I added a little jar my mom gave me that she got in Sweden, the Dala horse was a gift from Dave (he ordered it from Hemslojd), and the artificial daisies are also from Dave (they were attached to the wrapping of a birthday gift he gave me probably 8 years ago - I love daisies...so bright and cheerful). Oh how I love the simplicity...no clutter makes me happy!

Today I went to a flea market (for 5 hours!) with my friend Alissa followed by some clothes shopping with my friend Steph. What a great day! At the flea market, I got some vintage jewelry (I'll post about that another time!), some coins, a pot scrubber, banana bread, and some frames. What a random bunch of things! The frames are for my art wall. Here's a look at what they look like now (the glass is out in preparation for spray painting):

They're quite small and I really have no idea what I'm going to put in them yet. But for 4 bucks I think they are going to make a very cool addition to my art wall. And yes they may be vintage but I have no guilt about painting them at all! That's tomorrow's project!

Weekend project: My office (Part 1)

Well the time has come for my office/the spare bedroom to start coming together! Tonight Dave brought up the newly painted furniture from the basement. And it doesn't even look too bad! My amateur painting skills aren't as sketchy as I thought they might be. Here's a shot of my little desk:

I love white furniture...it just looks so fresh! The desk used to be birch (It's the MIKAEL from IKEA). Next step is to accessorize it up! I just had to set my new little lamp on it first! Dave and I went to Edmonton last weekend, and of course we went to IKEA! The lamp is called LYKTA. It was 52 dollars cheaper than the one I wanted from EQ3! Man I love IKEA! It was so busy this weekend but I loved every second! It's absolutely my favorite store.

Here's a shot of the painted nightstand:

I bought it at JYSK and it used to be Espresso-coloured. Dave drilled holes in the bottom and put in the casters from the desk to give it a little more height. And in the pic you're getting a sneak peek of the new bedding...also from IKEA (called JORUN FORM). A duvet cover with two pillowcases on sale for $12.99. What a deal! I LOVE that place!

My new (but very old) art

Here's the newest addition for my soon-to-come art wall that will be above my desk in my office. It's a calendar from 1955 from my grandpa's old business. My grandma gave it to me a long time ago and it's been in a tote because I couldn't just buy a frame because of the odd size. So I got it custom framed at Michael's and I think it looks fantastic. My pic of it is a bit dark but it'll have to do.

Very vintage! I love how it says 'Phone 14'...can you imagine? My art wall is going to be quite a varied collection. It won't be too much longer until I get the hammer out so I can hang up all the pretty white frames! I just put the last coat of white paint on my desk and the nightstand tonight. This weekend I'll start putting the room together so stay tuned for some pics!

Happy Valentine's

Hope everyone has a great long weekend and a happy Valentine's day! If you're a lover of the day, here's something lovey...a pillow that has 'love' written in 19 languages:

From Urban Outfitters

And if you're a non-lover of the day, here's something non-lovey! A bar of soap:

From Urban Outfitters

So since I strongly hinted about what I would like for Valentine's day, my wonderful husband took me to EQ3 today so we could get the lamp I wanted. He figured he may as well take me along since clearly it wasn't going to be a surprise! Sad to say they didn't have it. Maybe I'll check back or maybe I'll find another lamp somewhere else...and sometime soon!

IKEA = a better world

If you know me, you know that I love IKEA. My house is basically an IKEA showroom already and if I lived closer to one I would have even more stuff from there...really! So a while back my friend Alissa showed me this book:

Image from betterworldshopper.com

They rank companies from A to F on their social and environmental practices (I bought it on Amazon, if you're interested check it out here or just ask me nicely and I might lend it to you). So if you haven't already guessed, IKEA is making the world better! It's categorized under retail stores and got an A-! They're also named a corporate hero. Not really surprising...they are awesome in every way!!!

Just out of interest, I looked up a few things that I ate/used today:

Corn flakes: C+

Aveeno lotion: B-

Dole fruit cup: B-

Ferrero Rocher: C

HP laptop: A-

Not bad. However, the Dole fruit cup is from Costco (D+) and the Aveeno lotion was bought at Wal-Mart (F). Tsk, tsk.

Blue shoes? Yes please.

The other day I was at the mall and went into Aldo for a quick peek and I saw the most blue shoes I have ever seen! And I decided I must have some. I don't own any flats that are not black...and I think it's time to shake things up! They just scream spring...and right about now I would like it to be spring. Since I was in a rush I barely had a chance to look at them but after a little laptop window shopping I think these are my faves:

Labuff, from Aldo

I love this colour. Seriously. Love them and must go try them on...soon!

Stakoe, from Aldo

Also very nice! What do you think? If anything, I can already imagine all the compliments I will get from the kids I work with (e.g. "I like your blue shoes", "I have blue shoes too", "Why are your shoes blue?" - okay not really a compliment but I'll likely hear it).