A real jammy time.

My lovely and ridiculously talented friend Heather Sloane Kerr designed me a scrumptious banner for my etsy shop. I have posted it on my blog as well, Isn't it full of wonder! I love it. I have asked her to change the little tag to 'special handmade goodness' to include my other non-knitted stuff.

Here is a little pic I found of us hanging with Heather and Peter a few years ago. :o( It makes me miss them. Sniff Sniff. Darn Atlantic Ocean of separation.

I have been doing a lot of sewing these days. I think it is because wool feels too heavy to work with on these lovely Spring days. So this is the new little craze I have developed for my shop. Ready for my pitch? here we go:

These little brooches/hairpins reminded me of those yummy UK biscuits jammie_dodgers so I have nicknamed them thus.

They look really cute pinned in your hair, on a cardi, skirt or bag.

Here are the vital stats for this particular one:

vintage green fabric
purple sparkly button
lace trim
backed in felt
with a brooch clasp and bobby pin.

It is possible to to slide the bobby pin out when you don't want it or you wanna replace it with another bobby.

And look at how lovely they are all packaged and ready to gift!

I would really appreciate if all you lovely people would spread the jammie_dodger word out there. I would love these little cuties to take of in a big way. And I don't see why not.

Today I noticed the sun was shining and there was zero breeze so I have been sunbathing in the first items of clothing I could find that would warrant a generous coverage of tan. Can you see my discomfort in the photo! It is amazing how one could hide ones 'muffin tops' with a pinch at the back. I am speaking hypothetically of course ;o)

Fashion Apathy

Considering my last post was all a positive spin on my geographical position, I've decided to have a little rant about the negatives. Actually it is mostly one thing that bugs me. I think it is safe to say that the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, is not the most fashionable city on the planet. It may in fact be pretty safe to assume that it is the least fashionable city on the planet.

There is definitely something charming about the complete apathy towards fashion here. For example there is NO irony involved in any lumberjack style that you may spot in New Brunswick. It is pretty easy to stand out, which is nice. So I don't get 'style intimidation' that frequently. The down side of that however, is that there is a serious lack on inspiration for me. This is one of the reasons I am enjoying wardrobe remix so much. I have been forced to find my muses online instead of on 'da street'.

New Brunswick is, and always has been, a poor province. Therefore it is really tricky to find good thrift clothes. Value Village has a little to offer in the clothing dept, but the maritime phenomenon Guy's Frenchys (a thrift store chain) can sometimes surprise me. Part of the reason for that could be because lots of the items from Frenchys come from the States. Trouble is, the items are all relatively new, not much in the vintage realm.

Anyway, I have been considering the prospect of running some sort of 'Saint John Style' feature on my blog. Doing something like face hunter but on a miniscule scale. Though I just don't know if I would have enough material to make it worthwhile**. Plus it would mean I would actually have to venture into the 'city' once in a while.

** I feel I should probably note that i know a lot of people who dress well here. It isn't that people don't know how to look good. But if you are looking edge, experimentation, vintage charm or breaking conventional rules with fashion, New Brunswick is ever so slightly behind Soho ;o)

And on that note, I shall invite you to have a wee looksie at the pictures I took of my items for my etsy shop. I wanted the shop to have a continual feel, so I shot all the items with the same dotty wrapping paper background. It might be a little too girly for me, but it will work for now.

A Year Ago Tomorrow

First of all, a big thanks to those uber cool sisters at painfully hip for featuring me again in their 'thrift stars of the day'. Thanks for mentioning my blog too! I feel verrry flattered :o) Here was the wardrobe that brought me my fame ;o)

As of tomorrow we will have been in Canada for a year! Here is a little catch up for those who are new to me and aren't sure what our story is.

Shane and I are from Belfast, Ireland . When I graduated from my degree in 2006 we decided to sell everything we owned and take off traveling. We booked a flight to Vancouver and planned to backpack all the way to the tip of South America. A week into our trip we discovered that North America is NOT set up for backpacking. So we decided to splurge and by transport that we could sleep in too. We bought a mini-van chucked out the back seat, laid down our sleeping bag and this was our home for the next 9 months (4 months in Canada, 5 in the States).

Enjoying the sunset at the remote Big Bend National Park, West Texas.

On our trip we fell in love with Canada, we were utterly homesick for it the moment we crossed over the border. to the States We loved the wide open spaces, the slower pace of life, the breathtaking landscape and the amazingly friendly people.

Banff National Park, oh Canada.

Fast Forward - we returned from our trip to partake in some further education. Shane was to do a PhD at Kings College London, and I was going to train in law at the College of Law, London (this is what got me passionate about law). As we roamed around London, looking for a place to live, we felt claustrophobic, daunted by the rat race and overwhelmed by the cost of living. We very quickly (within days) decided this was not for us. And what better time to step out and live our dream of moving to Canada? We booked a flight and left London as fast as we could. We chose to lay down roots in New Brunswick, the most overlooked province (what can I say? we are Irish, we love the underdog). It is breathtakingly beautiful here, spacious and friendly.The road to Fredericton, NB
(we saw a baby bear on this road once)

We already had some great friends here that we met on our trip, and that circle has blossomed in the last year. We used the inheritance money I got from my mum to buy our beautiful little house with a stunning view and we renovated it big time and furnished it with yard sale furniture.

The view form our living room!
the fog hovers over the river in the morning sometimes

So one year later, we are living in pennies and still unable to work. But we don't regret this decision one bit. We are still in love with the little spot on the earth that we call ours. And we are part of a caring community that know how to party. With some friends

** apologies for the length of this blog! I tried to liven it up with lots of pics :o) Just feeling a little reflective today.

Tonight I am getting together with my peeps to watch the masterpiece that is Donnie Darko for the umpteenth time. I will never grow tired of it!

The Secret Society of Gingers

I have been wanting to write about this for a while. Though it will be hard to cram all I want to say about the trials, tribulations and joy of being a redhead in one go. I think it may be the first of a series.

Ginger , copper nopper, carrot top, rusty brain the list goes on. These were a few of the names the average redheaded kid gets thrown at them. I cannot express how much I haaaateeed my hair growing up. I haaaaaaatttttttttteeeeeeeeed it. I used to beg my mum to let me dye it a different colour, but she would never let me. She told me that she didn't understand, that I was the envy of everyone and that I would have to stick with it for now and that I'd like it when I was older.

There seems to be a kind of solidarity between redheads. Perhaps it is the persecution we recieve early on that unites us, but anytime I see a natural redhead I seem to give them a nod. It is a little bit comparable with the feeling Mac users get when they see another person using a Mac.

I have always been a bit obsessive over any redhaired female celbrity. I was addicted to My So Called Life. I loved looking at pictures of Tori Amos but my most fav redhead has to be...Karen Elson.

It was only a few years ago that us redheads seemed to be truly welcomed by the fashion industry. Now we seem to be a pretty regular occurrance in the pages of vogue. My old hairdresser in the UK used to cut Elson's hair in the old days when she had no eyebrows (that is my claim to fame ;o).

Instead of boring you with the reasons for my Elson adoration, I will let you have some time with her yourself:

My Muxtape

I just discovered the craze that is Muxtape. It is a simple little site to upload your fav music mixes to and share with your friends. I made a little playlist of some of my favourite tunes, you can hear it here.

And on that note I decided to take some better pictures of my Cassette Tape Bag. The old photos had snow in the background and, of course, that is just sooooo yesterday (literally yesterday - we have been having nice above freezing tempretures these last few days).

So I teamed it with a matching outfit and tada, here she is (most of my bags have been female so far) in all her glory:

Greeeeeeen

95% of the time I use Canadian wool from a factory only an hour away. Last night however, I could not resist these colours. This wool cost more than usual But I thought I could knit a bag in my regular wool and then use this fancy stuff as a flap or something.

I also got the linen napkins last night from the wonderful Value Village (how do I love thee? let me count the ways). I love the color. I'm thinking I can use them to make some pretty corsage brooches.

In Value Village I was also hunting for some granny boots. Granny boots? you ask! Well, it was here that I first fell in love with granny boots and I know you will too (but don't tell too many people, keep it on the down low). No success last night but I am keeping my eyes open.


Today, I am working on a bright red crochet flap for a grey bag, and watching endless episodes of the Gilmore Girls (one of my many addictions). It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it!