Pinning away on Pinterest

So I finally joined Pinterest. I like being fashionably late to the party. Check it out and follow me if you please! Click right here to see: www.pinterest.com/stuffkellyloves

I've reached 50 pins already! I'm pinning pretty things like this:

Brass Himmeli Hanging Mobile from HRUSKAA on Etsy

It's terribly addictive, as I knew it would be. But why not have two places to document lovely stuff, instead of just one?

I need to also point out that Kelly loves stuff is now new and improved! I now have the domain name so look up in your address bar and see. It's now www.kellylovesstuff.com. Thank you Ray!!!

Happy new year: My resolutions

Image: Art by Sabeena Karnik on behance.net

My hopes are that 2013 is going to be a great year. I wish all of you health, happiness, and love and that all of your wishes for the year come true.

I'm not a huge resolutions person but a few have come to mind that I think are actually achievable:

1) Try one new recipe per month. We tend to eat the same meals over and over and I want to try some new recipes. I'm thinking pasta, vegetables, and soup. The recipes have to be 'real' supper food...not muffins or something like that. In theory, it shouldn't be too hard to find 12 recipes that I want to try...and find the time to actually make them.

2) Go on at least one date with Dave each month. I don't mean supper at the Dairy Queen here (but of course that will still happen)! I mean dress up a bit and go do something different each month. There are so many things happening in the city all the time and we need to take advantage. And I like to dress up!

3) Do at least 6 craft/sewing projects this year. That means start them AND complete them! My sewing machine has been fixed for almost 2 months and my pillows are still not sewn. And I'd love to make some garlands, do some painting projects (painting objects, not pictures), and try my hand at quilling paper (that's what the above picture is). I actually bought this Twirled Paper book at Michael's. And yes, it is for ages 10 & up!

My holiday to-do list

I have 17 days off from work (16 now since yesterday was day 1) and I have a list of things I would like to accomplish. Yesterday was spent sleeping in, taking pants to the tailor, buying some groceries, making a cheese ball and some delicious cheesecake stuffed strawberries (Shawna, I found the recipe here), and having 6 fantastic friends over for a games night. For the 3 who read my little blog, thanks for coming guys! We're lucky to have such great friends - they're all so funny, smart, and just fun to be around. I have yet to clean up the wine glasses from last night but am already thinking about my to-do list for the next couple weeks. 
I thought it might motivate me to accomplish my list if I posted it here and then wrote some updates along the way. So here it is in no particular order:
1) Finish needlepoint pillow
2) Buy material/supplies for making pillows
3) Sew 4 pillows
4) Make boot tray
5) Make and print art for kitchen frames
6) Attach weights to kitchen curtains
7) Hem bedroom curtains
8) Paint and hang up new house numbers
9) Clean make-up brushes and drawer
10) Paint nails
11) Go to the antiques and collectibles show...and find some treasures!
12) Clean silver necklaces
13) Watch 5 documentaries/movies: Being Elmo, Happy, The September Issue, Spellbound, Love Actually(!)
14) Wash mitts/hats/scarves
15) Buy and install record holders for stand

Quite a mix, hey? I've been making my list over the past couple of weeks and now it's go time. Here's a pic of what will be one of my more daunting tasks...sewing a pillow like this:

Dragonette advertisement in May 2010 Elle Decor

Okay, look past the bizzaro sculptures, the blah coffee table, the white quilted couch, the not-my-style lamps, and that folding screen with the big cats...the pillows have some serious potential. Not in the fall colours they are, but imagine one in grey velvet. Come on, use your imagination! It's going to be great (or it won't). We'll see!

Beautiful Fall

I took some pretty pics when I was at home on Thanksgiving weekend. This is a shot from the driveway of my parents' farm:

My mom, my niece and I went for a little drive to look at more pretty leaves:

Many of the leaves had fallen but there were still some magnificent hits of yellow here and there.

This was a bright patch along 'the south road' (being at the farm is the only time I actually know what's north and what's south!):

Pretty stuff! Honestly, it's pretty out there anytime of the year.

My new red coat

So I had a fantastic day with my mom yesterday. We shopped all day and then went to the amazing Keith Urban concert! I could go on and on about how fantastic the concert was (FANTASTIC!) but instead I'll just tell you about the red coat I bought while we were shopping. Here's a little background info that you should probably know: 1) I love red, 2) I love coats, 3) I have many coats but they're all black and/or grey, and 4) I've wanted a red coat for probably 15 years.

I now own a beautiful red wool coat that I can't wait to wear! I actually put it on when I got home from work today...just because! And I may have also put on an ivory crocheted hat so I could look a little like Natalie from the movie Love Actually:

For real. By the way, if you have not seen this movie, I insist you stop reading this and go watch this movie this very minute (or at least very soon). If you have seen this movie, you should watch it again! It truly is one of my favourites. There are so many great actors and characters and I love the multiple story lines. I absolutely adore the David (Hugh Grant) and Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) story line. He's charming and she is as cute as cute can be.

Before I put on my red coat, I will be saying "Where the bleep is my bleeping coat?" which is one of my favourite lines from the movie (Natalie has a bit of a potty mouth but her British accent makes even swear words charming). Seriously, go watch this movie!!!

Keith Urban tonight!

My mom and I are going to see Keith Urban tonight. So excited! I've seen him once before with my friend Steph and he put on such an amazing show. He is an extraordinary guitar player...amazing to watch! Here's a video of one of his newer songs (a slow, romantic one!):

So good!

More Winnipeg shopping

While in Winnipeg last weekend, I went on a 3-hour shopping date with my fabulous friend NJM. This girl loves home decor just like me! She navigated us around the city so well and we were able to go to 4 stores and picked up some lunch before heading back to her place. Super efficient and super fun! Our first stop was Design Manitoba:

I guess the window signs explain what this store has! Lots of nice furniture but we were even more impressed with the light fixtures. NJM was inspired by some cool art (which she absolutely has to make a variation of since she's an incredible artist!). I saw a cool rag rug and I'm thinking I may need a shaggy rag rug in my house some day soon. I envision a multi-coloured extravaganza of a rug! Does anyone think I could actually sew one of these myself? I may have to do some research.

Anyways, next we headed to Kesay:

I must say I really enjoyed browsing the contemporary section of this shop...the traditional stuff isn't really my thing. We both liked several things here, particularly some pretty sweet chairs. I may have to visit this shop again!

Then we headed to For Space Sake:

This shop has so many great things for organizing your home plus some decor items. I bought a small Umbra garbage can for crazy cheap and a new clock for the kitchen:

It's by Karlsson. I dig it!

We also went to Indigo (yep, the book store) where I got a fantastic white lacquer tray with a wooden interior. NJM got some great white frames and some fantastic owl bookends, that are awesome as just statues:

Yay owls...NJM was inspired by my love for owl figurines for sure!

I look forward to my next trip to Winnipeg and another shopping date with NJM. I have many more decor shops still to see in Winnipeg...4 more on Amy's list (of the blog aDESIGNdock), and I'm sure NJM will show me some others too. And let's not forget there's a teeny little store by the name of IKEA opening there soon!!! Woohoo!

A beautiful nursery: Take two

So back in April I posted about the beautiful nursery of a beautiful little boy named SuperKid (okay, that's not really his name!). Check it out here. Since then, SuperMom, SuperDad, and SuperKid have moved into a new home. They kept many things the same in his new room but also made some changes. I just had to show you some pictures of what his room looks like now. Take a look:

A new layout for the crib and change table and the previous glider was switched out for their yellow loveseat. I also love the addition of the paper hot air balloons along with the paper cloud cut-outs:

So cute! The adorable leaf is still over the crib. And there's some more paper cutouts on this wall:

Here's a view of the wall where the closet is:

I love the addition of the clothes hooks. It's functional but also a great way to display some of SuperKid's cute little clothes. The cute art was made by SuperMom (you can see a closer pic in my previous post).

An adorable room for an adorable kid!

Antique photo

This is a photo that belonged to my Great Grandma that I found while I was going through some of my stuff about a month ago:

I've had it sitting on my desk and I find myself frequently staring at it wondering who it is and the story behind it. I'm pretty sure my Great Grandma had it hanging in her room, with just a dressmaker's pin, with some other pictures above her dresser.

It has a name on the back with the year 1925 but I have no idea who this person could be:

The scribbled out part appears to be my Great Grandma's name and address. So could someone have sent this to her, like a postcard, or did that get written on it sometime after? Such a mystery.

I wish I remembered if my Great Grandma had told me anything about it when she gave it to me. I keep thinking she might have told me who sent it to her, like a cousin or friend, but I really don't know for sure and think it might all just be in my head.

I need to put it in a frame to keep it protected because I just want to keep picking it up and examining it. It's 5 and a half by 8 inches so I might have to get a custom frame or something. I'm very lucky to have all of the things my Great Grandma gave me and I'd like to have more of them out on display where I can admire them. It really is sort of ridiculous that some of the things I treasure most, that are truly priceless to me, are in totes where I can't even see them.

Go for a picnic

It was our anniversary the other day and Dave had the great idea of going for a picnic. After work, we stopped by the grocery store and bought a baguette, cheese, fruit, cheesecake and some other yummy things. We do own a picnic backpack (which we've actually only used once) but we just threw everything into a big blue cooler and headed to a park.

Oh my, it was fabulous! Nothing fancy but we had such a nice time. We brought two blankets and laid them out over the grass, plopped down our cooler, and sprawled out while we ate, talked, and enjoyed the scenery. My friends, you need to go for a picnic. Seriously. So relaxing! I think it's good for the soul.

Picnic blankets from huset

I think what is key to a successful picnic is a big blanket. We used two smaller fleece-type blankets which worked very nicely. I loved being able to spread out our food, move around and lay down without ever touching the grass. Not that there's anything wrong with grass but blankets are much cozier!

So before summer is over, grab a big blanket (or two!) and some yummy food and go have a picnic in a pretty, scenic place. I don't see how it could possibly suck. I don't think anyone has ever had a picnic and then thought to themselves 'well, that sucked'. Ever!

Something else that certainly didn't suck was my present! Sorry to be a bragger but my husband is the best husband I could ask for (and not only because he buys me very nice things!). He did buy me a very nice thing that came in a pretty blue box which I posted about here. And thanks to our friend Steph for picking it up at Tiffany & Co. while she was in NY. Sneaky! I was very surprised and may or may not have jumped up and down and screamed just a little.

"New" chair

Last weekend my grandma and I reupholstered my $35 chair I bought at the flea market (a long time ago!). Here's what it looks like now:

It looks sort of grey from far away but it's a neat black and white pattern. Here's a close up of the fabric:

It's soft and pretty cozy to sit on! A vast improvement from the super scratchy and super unattractive fabric that was previously on the chair:

This is a pic from October 2010 when I started taking off the fabric. Yikes...I am not exactly speedy with some of my projects, am I?

Once I took off the fabric, I sanded the legs a bit and then spray painted them black:

The chair got a new back and some layers of cotton batting for a little more squishyness:

There's my fancy staple gun. That bad boy sure fired a lot of staples! I pity the person who ever ends up with this chair one day and decides they want to reupholster it...I may have used a few more staples than necessary! We also used tacking strip on the chair back that caused my grandma and I a lot of physical and mental anguish...okay, I'm exaggerating...but it wasn't very easy!

I don't have any pics of putting the fabric on since my camera battery was dead (and I didn't take my charger home...smart stuff) but here's another shot of the finished chair for your viewing pleasure:

It's home will be in my office/the spare room. Thanks grandma for spending 4 hours working on this chair with me! We now understand why it costs so much to have things professionally reupholstered...they work hard for their money!

A beautiful nursery

This weekend we were visiting some very special people and I just had to show you some pictures of the nursery of a beautiful baby boy. When you see this nursery, you won't be surprised to learn that the SuperMom of this SuperKid is a super creative and talented person. She has such awesome style and it shows in this pretty, calm, and cheerful room. I'm sure SuperDad also contributed in lots of ways because he has great style of his own (I will one day have to show you his awesome basement setup)!

Here's a view of SuperKid's room from the upstairs landing:

It just looks so fresh when you catch a glance as you come up the stairs! I just love the colour scheme. Here's the change table with darling little shelves hanging above displaying some books and other sweet little things:

How adorable are the paper cloud cut-outs on the sloped ceiling? And that leaf! So great:

I love that red chair and insisted it be in the photo shoot! And look at this cozy little space:

Remember how I mentioned that SuperMom is super creative and talented? Well, if you doubted me for even a moment, here's a close-up of the art (hanging in the above picture) that she painted:

She painted a picture of SuperDad as a little kid. So cute! And the other one is her as a little kid:

SuperMom even drew in their current little dog because she's such a special part of the family. How fantastic to have such personal art.

SuperKid is a very lucky little boy. He couldn't ask for a better room and he has the most extraordinary parents too. Thank you SuperMom and SuperDad for letting us stay with you. We miss you and your SuperKid so much already!

I want a cat...someday

I was talking to my mom the other night and she was telling me that she has a new cat at the farm. It showed up out of nowhere (perhaps someone dropped it off) but she's welcomed it because she figures it can keep her other cat Maggie May company over the cold miserable winter. Maggie has a little house out on the deck and there's room for two. Miss Maggie is such a lovely girl and I hope she will become friends with the new no-named cat. I need to think of a clever name and then call my mom! My dad has given it a name but I can't repeat it on my blog!

I really hope the new kitty will stick around so I can meet her at Christmas. Just hearing her talk about the cats and some of the funny things they were doing made me think about how much I miss my cats and how I really would like to have another one day.

Here's a pic of my Cheeky. She was such a beautiful girl:

I had her for about 6 years and she was so fabulous. She was the prettiest girl in the world and she knew it! It's almost like she strutted...if a cat can strut. One thing that she used to do that amazed me was that she would let out a distinctive little meow whenever you coughed or sneezed (especially when my brother did...so loud!) and she'd give you a look like 'excuse me, you're hurting my ears man'. She seriously did. My brother and I would fake cough or sneeze just to see her do it. She was a tiny little kitty when we got her and I loved every minute that she was around.

Then there was my other beautiful girl Measha. I love this picture of her all curled up behind the couch, which was one of her favourite spots:

We got her when I was 4 or 5 and she lived until she was about 17 so it used to feel like she had been around my whole life. She also had such a great personality. Not a princess like Cheeky was though. Measha was more of a love-me-or-leave-me kind of girl. She really never cared for being held. She would occasionally curl up beside you and then the next minute she preferred to love you from afar. And by that, I do mean she would shoot you a look like 'you're alright but don't even think about coming close to me'. I loved her soft little paws and how she could miraculously open the cupboard door where her food was kept with them. She'd continuously paw at it until it would finally pop open. The cupboards had a magnet closure and you really had to give them a tug...it was amazing how she could do it. Such a smart and pretty Calico girl!

I miss both of those girls so much. They were so important to me and I'm so grateful to have grown up with pets around (I also had a dog at the same time...I'll tell you about him one day too!).

Now the sad thing is that Dave is really allergic to cats but I'm determined that we can find one that will be okay for him. I try to like dogs but cats are always superior in my mind. I love their personalities, how much cleaner and less stinky they are, and how much more independent they are. They are so smart and I love their attitudes...whether good or bad!

This picture is a kind of cat called a Devon Rex. It's owned by the writer of a blog I read called Fine Little Day (see it here). It's name is Hiro:

My hair stylist loves these cats and was telling me that they are more hypo-allergenic than other cats. I love Hiro's big ears and eyes and little wrinkles. It's a kind of weird-cute that I dig. With a look like this, how could this cat not have an awesome personality?

Still blooming

I can't believe that my pink African violet is still covered in beautiful flowers. I showed it to you on March 23rd when it first started blooming. That's 8 months of continuous blooming! I can hardly believe it.

Take a look at this beautiful picture my 3-year old niece took of it this weekend:

She also took a picture of my smaller violets on the kitchen table:

Some pretty fine photography I must say.

The Trews. Love.

The Trews recently added this little video on their site. It's of a soundcheck when they were in Calgary (not too long after their amazing show here in S'toon). I've watched it more times than I should probably admit! My oh my...oh my. I adore them. I really do. I listen to their albums more than anything else on my iPod and I just can't wait to see them live again. This last show was my fifth time seeing them and it was just so great. The Trews doing acoustic = awesome. I love their electric shows too but that acoustic show was extraordinary!

Anyways, these guys are amazing musicians...and my love for Colin runs deep I tell you. Perhaps there is even a picture of Colin on my desktop at this very moment...I'll never tell.

By the way, if you remember the post about how I was longing for a guitar, just want to update you that my friend Sol lent me one of his and I took it up for a bit and then quit. Yes, I'm a quitter. I just don't have the time right now. Maybe one day I will try again. Listening to The Trews makes me love the guitar so much. Watch the video and listen particularly at 2:44 and 3:06 and you'll see what I mean.

Me being spoiled continues

So I have birthday money from my parents and my grandma and I've decided to spend it at hemslojd.com, a fantastic site that sells beautiful Swedish stuff. My mom mentioned that she was thinking of ordering the birdhouse that I went on and on about a while ago (I posted about it way back in January) but then she decided to just give me money instead. So I'm going to order it! I think I'm going to go with this red one (but this yellow one is also pretty great):

I can't get over the little birdhouse on the birdhouse. Ever so cute! I certainly don't care for the pigeons that I see around our house...but I kind of like the robins...and I do like the little sparrows that occasionally sit on our fence. I may attach a little sign below my birdhouse that says 'little birds only please'...I'm sure that will work.

And I've also decided to order some Christmas decorations. I've wanted this electric candlestick for a long time so I'm going to get it:

Love it. It's very Swedish! And there's one more Christmas decoration I want to get. Dave has a rule for me that I can only buy one new Christmas decoration a year but I'm not sure these should even count...it is my birthday money and all. We'll see how this goes down. I predict that I will buy these...plus one more thing to be determined at a later date! Anyways, these little guys are called tomtes and I adore them:

They're very fun! And I think they will look pretty sweet with my other Christmas decorations. I like cutesy!

Me...spoiled?

Indeed I am. Spoiled rotten really. It's not even my birthday yet and I've gotten a bazillion presents! And I just want to show them off! This is what Dave surprised me with:

The beautiful carved horse is a dala horse that he ordered from swedishness.com (straight from Sweden!!!). And I couldn't be more excited to read these books he got me! The first is Tiffany Style: 170 Years of Design - be still my heart...I may have mentioned once or twice (or maybe a few dozen times) how much I love Tiffany & Co. and I can't wait to drool over this book of pure loveliness! The other book is Valentino: Themes and Variations - again, my poor heart...I open this book and I'm pretty sure it races just a little! If you haven't noticed, I do throw around the word 'love' every now and then...but please be assured I do love Valentino. Every image of the fashion he created is a work of art I tell you! I can't even imagine how many times I will look at these books after reading them the first time! Thank you so much Dave!!!

And I also got a super gift from my friend Steph...who is also super by the way! It's a Riders toque that I will be rocking at the Grey Cup. Thanks Stephanie!!! Take a look at how cute it is in all of it's stripey goodness next to a little ivory crocheted number I bought myself today with some birthday money from my grandma:

Aren't they both great? And do you know what else is great? The Trews! If you don't know The Trews, what you must do is immediately go to their site to find out about them and also buy any one of their albums (or preferably all of them) so you can listen to one of the greatest bands in the world! Dave, Steph and I went to their acoustic show in town last night and it was so unbelievably good. This is the fifth time I've seen them and they put on the best live shows ever. Do I love The Trews? Yes, I do indeed!!!

Accessories week: Day 5

Okay, it's taken 7 days to accomplish 5 days of accessories. Oh well! Yesterday my accessories were garden gloves and a dust mask because I spent the afternoon cleaning out most of the garden. Today we went to the mall so it was an excuse to get out of my comfy clothes and wear some accessories! This is what I went with today:

I wore this pretty flower brooch I got from Stella & Dot. I really really like brooches. I only have 3 but I want more! Perhaps this makes me uncool....if it does, I'm okay with it! I thought I'd add a little edge with these skinny little black bangles. Yes, for me these are edgy! I can't remember where I got them but I like them because they fit my wrist well. I have pretty small wrists so most bracelets are way too big on me. Things could be worse, I know.

I'm not sure how you've felt about my accessories week but I sure liked it!!! It forced (or maybe encouraged) me to wear some of the accessories I have that I don't wear enough. I won't subject you to another week of this, but I am going to keep wearing more of my accessories this week too!

Accessories week: Day 4

I sure do like to walk on the wild side. Today I wore 3 accessories! And of course I had on my earrings and rings but I don't count them since they're everyday things. Here's a peek at my Day 4 accessories:

Another headband! I've had this headband for probably a year and I've never worn it. I know the bow isn't huge but I feel like it's bigger than it is. I had the day off and we spent the afternoon on Broadway so I figured people there wouldn't think I was super crazy with a little bow on my headband. I'm not sure I'll be putting this headband in the rotation though because it hurts my head...and I also secretly fear that if I wear it to work I will see a preschooler wearing the same one!

I also wore my pretty little necklace I got at Tiffany & Co. in Vegas this summer. I sure do love this necklace! The bracelet is stolen from my mom's jewelry box (well, not really stolen...I did ask her). I love the little engraved flowers on the circles. Simple and pretty.

Accessories week: Day 3

It's Thursday and it's Day 3 in my accessories week. Kind of odd but that's the way things are going! Not a lot of planning went into today's accessories. I went with a scarf because I thought it would keep me cozy on a miserable day. Then I threw on a brooch. Here's a pic:

I tried to take a nice pic in case you're getting bored with my accessories posts! It's all uncentered and whatnot. That's about as crazy as I get. In case anyone wonders, I got the grey scarf at Urban Outfitters and the flower brooch is from a flea market. And yep, I rocked these with another cardigan today!