Birthday Date!

Friday night, we celebrated my 28th birthday. These pictures were taken behind Jesse's work's building in yale town before we hit the town.

19 week baby bump!

Outfit details
- black and white striped cami - Winners
- mustard sweater - Target
- floral screenprinted scarf - thrifted
- maternity pants - Zara
- sandals - Urban Outfitters
- black square cocktail ring and earrings - PiecesIEnjoy 
- silk purse - my auntie gave it to me when I was little

PIE Birthday Giveaway - Ooooooo!

Hello folks! So today is my 28th birthday. In celebration of it I am doing two things:

1. Win a Sky Blue Vintage Japanese Glass Pendant by Pieces I Enjoy!

I will be drawing a name on the 1st of October 2012 for the winner. In order to get your name in my hat, you must be a fan of Pieces I Enjoy on Facebook and wish me a Happy Birthday comment here on this post on this blog. The contest will be closed 11:59 p.m. on September 30th, 2012 PST. Only fans from Canada and USA may enter please. 

The winner's name will be announced on October 1st and will be requested to send me their mailing address by e-mail. The prize is non exchangeable and it is lovely! I will of course pay for shipping as well.

2. Every purchase made at my Etsy store between now and 11:59 p.m. September 30th, 2012 PST will receive a 30% refund (not including shipping) made through Pay-pal IF you wish me a Happy Birthday in the comments during check-out. Please allow up to two days for your refund.

Enjoy the rest of your summer! 

Thanks for all of the Happy Birthday wishes in advance! 

Gabrielle

Update - The Contest and Sale are now over! Thanks to all who participated. CONGRATULATIONS RHONDA! You won the contest. Please email me with your address so I can send you your gift. pie{dot}gabrielle{at}gmail{dot}com.

My Matryoshka Doll Collection

The thing I enjoy the most about the best collections is that there is usually a story behind each piece.

When I was a little girl, my parents gave me my first Matryoshka doll for Christmas. I was thrilled! I played with my first set a lot and my mom decided that she liked the idea of giving one to me every year; and so my collection grew. When I was a teenager she stopped the tradition since she thought I was too old, but my collection kept growing because I had not and still have not grown out of it.

Today, I have 20 nesting dolls in my collection and there is a definite sentimental value in each one. Not all of them are Russian or Czech made, but they are all legit to me.

When we moved to North Delta I wanted a place where I could put them on display where I could see them because they were so special. My dear husband, Jesse helped me put up these white shelves in the kitchen.

I really can't say which one is my favorite. There really is a great story behind each one. Here are a few:

This one was given to me by my mother for completing a music theory test for the Royal Conservatory of music when I was young. I worked very hard studying for it and achieved with honors with distinction. This doll has the most number of dolls inside and is, in my opinion, one of the prettiest sets I have. 

Look how tiny it gets! How can I not like this set? There are 10 all together. 

I found this one myself when I was 16 traveling in France. It was a big deal to me that my parents allowed me, trusted me and supported me to go since it was with school and that I would be away from them for almost two weeks.

 This one was given to me from a missionary when I was about 13. He was visiting the church I used to attend sharing what he does with the congregation. He asked that when I saw it, it would remind me to pray for him and his family. It still does and I still do.

 I liked my collection so much as a girl, that I even fantasized about being proposed to with one of these dolls. I imagined opening the dolls up until at last, I would find an engagement ring! It didn't happen that way, but this doll IS from my husband. He gave it to me on our 5th wedding anniversary. It is traditional for the gift to be made of wood for that year. There also happens to be five dolls: one for each year we had been married. He got it from Russian World in Vancouver. What a thoughtful gift.

This collection is beautiful too. They came in handy this month when I helped my mom decorate for a "Garden Tea Party" themed bridal shower. I used my nesting doll collection, the Potted Plants in Ladies' Blouses, and a few old books to decorate each table. They worked so well because I could open them up and they filled the space well. I wish I could have done more, but I only had a half an hour to set up. They were special for the bride to be too since she also happens to have a nesting doll collection!

As precious as collections are, they need to be used and shared. If you have read this and you have a beautiful collection that is collecting dust somewhere: bring it out! Share it with the people you love and display it so you can enjoy it.

Enjoy!
Gabrielle

The Maternity Style Dilemma

A few posts ago I announced that we were going to have a second child! Well, as excited as I am about it, sometimes its hard to feel good about yourself while being pregnant. It might have SOMETHING to do with your hormones doing backflips, blowing chunks, being tired almost all of the time and hopefully not, but yes I do, worry about being ready for another baby.

It might seem petty, but one of the things I learned from last time is not to give into the frumpy dumps! You know? When you just don’t care how you look anymore and you want to just stay at home in your pjs, eat ice cream and watch Star Trek? Maybe its just me, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who has struggled with this, or a version of this.

I looked back at some of my maternity belly photos this week and realized that when I felt the best: had the most energy, felt the most optimistic and even excited about the future while being pregnant I also happened to have a cute outfit on. I also remember at the end feeling like I had no creativity left in me. That had something to do with it I’m sure.

These are a few of those outfits from my first pregnancy where I still feel good about two years later: 

19 weeks in my first pair of maternity pants from Thyme maternity. In the beginning of my first pregnancy I thought I could get away with wearing pre pregnancy pants with extenders and Bella Bands, but I got to a point early on when I just couldn't stand the feeling of having any restriction on my tummy. The were a definite life saver first time around, and I'm sure will be the second time too. 

25 weeks here! I loved my first pair of maternity jeggings so much, that I went back to Thyme and got the same ones in a dark denim colour. The rest of this outfit is from Urban Outfitters. I was glad to be able to find lots of long non maternity tops that definitely work for maternity. 

27 weeks here. Dark even wash jeggings by Thyme again. A bright non maternity top by Gentle Fawn and non maternity black blazer by Kensie (unbuttoned of course!). This is definitely the LAST picture of my pregnancy that I feel good about. Thats so sad to me now because pregnancy is and should be a time where I felt beautiful! I was growing another human being! Its a miracle. 

This time I have a plan to combat the Frumpy Dumps, among other things. One of the small ways I hope to keep myself aware is to upkeep this blog: including what I wore. I’ve always enjoyed fashion, so why not share it.

So far I think I’ve been doing okay... These are a few outfits I’ve worn so far in this pregnancy: 

13 weeks and barely a bump. Besides my hair, and the fit of the cardigan I like this look. I'm wearing a dress as a skirt here with the the straps tucked in. The dress was thrifted and I wore a simple white cami with it.

15 weeks along here. It was a hot day. I wore this refashioned lace dress over a white cami and slip skirt. Its pretty sheer if I don't. I added a simple thin black belt and black heels.

17 weeks and probably one of my favorite looks because you can barely tell I'm pregnant here, even though I am bigger than in week 15. I found this loose fitting dress at the Bay of all places. Department store WIN! Paired it with some statement jewellery from my PiecesIEnjoy line and presto!

It will probably get harder as the belly grows, but I’m up for the challenge! Hopefully I'll have some more maternity outfits to share in a few more weeks while the bump gets bigger, the weather gets colder, and my creativity gets harder to muster up!

Enjoy the rest of the summer!  

Potted Plants in Ladies' Blouses

This last weekend I helped my mother decorate for a "Garden Tea Party" themed bridal shower for a dear family friend of our. We had these little potted flowers on every table but thought we could make the boring green pots cuter with a bit of love, fabric, buttons and do dads (that's a word, right?). I thought I would share how I did it.

Supplies:
- potted flowers from your local nursery
- unbleached/off white light weight fabric (I used about 1.5 meters for all of my 12 pots)
- glue gun and sticks
- 3" paper doilies, ribbons, buttons
- extra little bits to make each one unique like cameos, bits of chain, lace etc.

Here is how I did it:

1. I started with your regular tapered small green flower pot. First cut a long strip as wide as the height of your flower pots. 

2.Then wrap the fabric around a pot so that there is about one centimeter overlap at the widest part (it's almost like you are thinking of it as a cylinder rather than a tapered pot when you are cutting the fabric you need for one pot). I did one at a time since not all of m pots were exactly the same width. 

3. Hot glue the first edge straight down, starting from the top rim. Wrap fabric around and add a dot of hot glue to the back of the pot to hold the fabric securely down. 

4. Hot glue the last edge down overlapping the first edge. 

5. Pull and pinch the fabric on the bottom to make a gather. This will me an arm. Don't do it too much because you still need some for the other side. Hot glue the fold down and hold it until the glue has cooled enough to hold firm. 

6. Repeat step 5 with the other side. 

7. Fold a three inch doily in half. 

8. Cut as pictured to make two collars. 

9. Plan out the rest of the decoration on your work surface before you hot glue them onto your blouse.

It is fun to make all of the blouses different, but you could all do the same if you wanted, or if you didn't have a mad stash of crafty bit to pull from like I do.

Enjoy!
Gabrielle

1st Birthday Party

Ezra recently turned 1 this last February. At the same time, we were also just moving into my parent's new basement suite (yep we are boomerang kids). My parents graciously offered to allow us to host his party in their part of the house, since we had a ton of boxes in ours.

 We did lots of balloons, since Ezra loves them! We tied them all across the banister, on chairs, on toys, and above lamps. I wish I had more pictures of some of our decorations, but I kind of had my hands full.... to say the least.

I have a lot more appreciation for Pinterest after planning this party... Especially for planning the food. We wanted to have a classic kid's birthday party; no theme in particular, just lots of colours and fun food. We can always do themes for his party's later on.

A few items on the menu from Pinterest were:

Rainbow Fruit Skewers
Oreo Pops
Hummus and Bell Pepper Octopus

 

We really wanted to start a birthday tradition with our family. I found a pack of 3 foam crown from the dollar store. Each year, the idea is to add one significant item to the crown and our children get to wear their crown on their birthday during cake time. Since it was only Ezra's 1st birthday, and it was a classic party, we simply cut out a felt "E" and glued it on.

My Favorite Local Stores to Bite the Craft Bug

I've lived in the Lower Mainland (Greater Vancouver area) my whole life and have scouted out some awesome shopping locations for the creative individual. Here is my list of go-to places:

Birkeland Bros Wool Ltd - (Vancouver)

Birkeland Bros is my absolute favorite place in the lower mainland to go for beautiful yarn! The staff is super friendly, knowledgeable and eager to help you out. The prices are higher but expected since the quality just can't be beat. What is amazing is that this is a Vancouver company that has been in its original location since 1939 and still run by the same family! When Jesse and I got married in 2006 I wanted to make a warm shawl (pictured above) and found exactly what I needed here.

Dressew- Downtown - (Vancouver)

I go to Dressew to get CHEAP yarns, fabric, buttons and costume accessories. They have quite the variety of crafty items at a liquidation price! The quality is fair too. I'm so glad that they take debit now! They used to be a cash only place and I never carry cash around anymore. Some of the staff are a bit unfriendly... especially when it is busy there but if you go early in the day and follow their rules (no food in the store and don't touch the scissors!) you can usually find friendlier faces if you needed help finding something in their Goliath sized store. If not, enjoy the hunt!

Opus - (Downtown, North Van & Granville Isl)

My all time favorite art store is Opus. My favorite location is their Granville Island store because I found they had the most variety and quantity of products. You might have to put up with a few nervous looking Emily Carr students but they hire the friendly ones to work in their store.

Rokko Fabrics - (East Vancouver)

Rokko Fabrics has an amazing amount of variety of fancy to casual fabrics in their store for the amount of square footage they have. The prices are great if not the best next to liquidation prices. A big bonus... no hunting because everything is very well organized.

Urban Source - (Vancouver)

Sometimes you don't know what project you are going to do next until you walk into this store. They have obscure little items like little scraps of papers, rubber, magnifying sheets, containers and fuzzy balls? Every time I go in they have something new. Its always worth checking out when I'm in the Mount Pleasant area. The best part is that most of these are being saved from a landfill.

Welk's - (Vancouver)

One of my favorite discount stores! They carry dishes, household items, toys, gardening supplies, storage bins, canvasses, pretty paper, beads and the list goes on. It is relative to a candy store... really. As far as comparing the prices to a conventional dollar store, I've found them cheaper. Plus its in one of my favorite neighborhoods: Mount Pleasant.

Capilano Rock & Gem - (North Vancouver)

Whatever level of jewellery maker you are (from hobbyist to professional goldsmith) this is a place for you. Jewelry makers from all over the lower mainland seek out this store for knowledgeable staff, great product and competitive prices. As much as I enjoy to shop online, nothing beats seeing and touching my supplies before I make a transaction. Plus, this store is family owned. 

Dollar Max - (Richmond)

There are so many dollar stores in Richmond, but the Dollar Max located a few blocks from Richmond Centre is my favorite. They have low prices, even for a dollar store, and nicer quality and variety than the others. There is something about dollar stores that make me a bit queasy (who had to suffer to offer me a huge package of popsicle sticks for $0.99?), but sometimes you just can't find your typical dollar store items anywhere else!

MCC Thrift Mart - Abbotsford

Finally a reason to go to the valley! This is the queen of all thrift stores but please don't tell anyone. Not the best for clothing, but as far as finding books, housewares, lamps and furniture (there are two building to check out one across from the other) this is the best place. I wish I had a huge house that I could fill with furniture to refinish from here. In the same building where you find the furniture they have a plethora of frames and old lamps. The ladies that work here are all volunteers and as sweet as cherry pie. All profits go to the charity... nice!




Now go shopping!