I use Fiskars pruners for cutting flower stems for both inside flower arrangements and outdoor pruning (of my small bushes). They’re affordable and they last forever.
Fiskars deluxe pruner, $19.99, Rona
20 Below
I have solar lights in my front and back gardens, and I love them. There are no bulbs that need replacing, they’re an inexpensive purchase, and they require zero electricity. Awesome.
Uberhaus solar garden light, $6.99, Rona
long tassel keychain, $14, Chapters Indigo
Here are 2 magazine issues that I think everyone should own:
Style at Home – The White Issue, $5.99
House & Home – Decorating with White, $11.95
Thanks to all friends, family members, and readers who have been sending me emails, tweets, and texts letting me know that they bought them/thought of me when they saw the magazine/think these issues were made for me/etc. It’s been really fun to hear people’s responses to these two issues!
FYI: I own the Style at Home magazine (and it’s great), but I haven’t yet bought the House & Home special issue. Shocking, I know!
Typographer’s Mug, $9.99 each, Mark & Graham
This has been the best $8 I’ve spent in the last few days.
Stoppy door stop, $7.99, Canadian Tire
Keeping the door open to let the breeze in feels so amazing.
Stopping to look at the spring blooms?
Free.
Be Happy Tattly, $5Â
coast marble wine stopper, $7.99, EQ3
A loonie can buy you this Tolsby photo frame from Ikea. For a toonie, you can buy two.
Tolsby frame, $0.99Â
Don’t want to use it for a photo frame? Have a look at the Tolsby hacks here and here.
Another month or two until spring is here? What do you think? Is it too early to make pitchers of iced tea and lemonade?
Tritan 1.6 quart pitcher, $12.99, GlucksteinHome
I LOVE waffles. Love ’em. I also love maple syrup. Put those two together and you’ve got a perfect (any time of day?) meal. Yum. Yum. Yum.
I read about Drip maple syrup in the LCBO’s recent Food & Drink. Great packaging, beautiful website, and I am sure Drip’s maple syrup is pretty darn delicious.
The three maple syrup varieties – blond, copper, amber – are each $20 and can be purchased online.
I bought this peeler over the weekend. It’s a good one*.
Kuhn Rikon Swiss Peeler, $7.38**
*It’s better than my last two (one from Ikea & one from the dollar store).
**Prices vary. I’ve seen them around $4-$10. I paid $5 for mine at Waterloo’s Household China & Gifts.
Perfect little hostess gift…especially for someone who collects eyeglasses!
spectacle bottle opener, $8.99, ModCloth
How hooked up to tech are you? I’m fairly attached to my MacBook and my iPhone, but that’s about it. I don’t have a tablet, Kindle, Kobo, or iPad. Am I missing out on something amazing?
I guess if I do end up getting some other techy gadget, it would give me an excuse to get a cool case for it. It’s all about the accessories, right?
Tech-Ray vision tablet case, $5.99 (on sale), ModCloth
lab evaporating bowl, $16, Jayson Home & Garden
The printed pillows at Society6 always get my attention. This week I noticed the Medusozoa pillow and thought it would look really cool on a stylish sofa or chair.
The Zaza bird at CB2 is not made out of origami paper…in case anyone was curious.
Zaza bird, $5.95, CB2
Have you seen a toilet cleaner more stylish than this one from Planet Luxe?
Planet Luxe toilet cleaner, $15
It’s high on design but does it work? Anyone out there willing to flush $15 down the drain? It’s too luxe for my taste.
I have too many mugs so instead of buying more, maybe I’ll just feature them on the blog and it’ll sort of feel like I own them.
owl mug with lid, $10, Chapters-Indigo
Look at this little guy. How can I resist?
metallic stripe hand towel, $8.70 (on sale), West Elm
What’s in your purse? Lipstick, keys, pen? Yeah, me too. And this…
tape measure, $5.12, Crate & Barrel
It’s so darn handy.
Little did I know that a few months after taking this photo of rows of DAP caulking I’d be loading up my shopping cart with it. That’s what a reno will do – it’ll force you to learn about things like caulking.
DAP Caulking, $2.88
I am looking forward to meeting the DAP at BlogPodium this upcoming weekend. Thanks in advance to DAP for sponsoring the event.
Two new items have made their way into my home recently…
roller frame, $5.99, Home Depot
microfibre paint roller refill, $12.97, Home Depot
and they’ve been put to good use!
I have recently (as in this past weekend) realized that I actually like mopping. I think my new interest in mopping is really because of my new Vileda supplies*. I have the super twist mop and the quick ring pail and both are working out very well so far. And both are available for under $20.
Vileda Super Twist Mop, $9.67
Vileda Quick Wring Pail, $9.67
These are the first Vileda products I’ve owned (I think). Does anyone have any experience with other products from this brand?
*This is not a sponsored post.
By the time you read this I will be in London, Ontario, presenting my 5 years of PhD work to a conference room of examiners. I’m emotional. I’m nervous, excited, happy, sad, proud, confident, and scared. I’m mostly thrilled. If I am successful then I will change my name to Dr. Jordana. If I am unsuccessful, I will cry. Please send positive vibes my way. A lot of them s’il vous plait!
It seems quite fitting that on this very important day (keep calm, carry on) I write a post about office supplies. I have used SO many different types of office supplies in my 12 years of post-secondary education. Today I’m sharing some news about pencils. Beautifully functioning white pencils. The best. They are the Palomino Blackwing Pearl pencils. Palomino just introduced this line of pencils and anyone who loves design and the smooth writing style will be sure to pick up packages of these!
Palomino Blackwing Pearl pencils, $19.95 for 12, Palomino
For those of you who love history…”The Blackwing pencil was first manufactured in the 1930s by Eberhard Faber, but was discontinued in 1998 when the machine that created the distinctive square ferrule (the crimped metal that holds the eraser) broke and could not be repaired.” What happened next? Well, Palomino bought the brand, sorted out the ferrule manufacturing, and brought the pencil back! There’s more to learn about the Blackwing legend and about who uses this pencil.
The Palomino Blackwing Pearl can be bought online at Pencils. If you’re in the Toronto area, you can buy Palomino at the following supply stores:
1. Phidon Pens Limited (Cambridge)
2. Laywine’s (Toronto)
3. Midoco Art & Office Supplies (Toronto)
4. The Paper Place (Toronto)
5. Wonder Pens (Toronto)
Did I jump at the chance to test these out? Of course I did! And I’m a fan. They function beautifully and the square ferrule stands out in my collection of classic HB2 pencils!
And now – here’s a chance for you to test them out too…
GIVEAWAY:
Palomino is offering to send one lucky winner a package of the new Palomino Blackwing Pearl pencils. To enter this giveaway, simply finish the following statement: The last thing I wrote by hand was…. Add your sentence to the comment section below. Contest ends on Monday August 26, 2013. This contest is open to readers in North America. Good luck and happy writing!
Thank you to Palomino & Kim S. for offering this giveaway.
H&M has a home store? What? Available online in the US? Oh, now this is exciting! In no time they’re going to expand to Canada, right?
Cushion Cover, $12.95
There are at least 4 different colours and styles of switch plates, covers, plugs, and switches in my new house. They are making me crazy! I need to change them all to white. It’s the little things that make the big difference right?
Leviton Renu receptacle, $3.78
I haven’t counted how many I need but I’m sure it’s somewhere around 30. I’ll check back in with the final count one of these days.
So…there’s some wallpaper to take down in my new home. The first layer of the printed paper comes off easily and then there’s a second layer – the adhesive layer? – that needs a bit of elbow grease. It hasn’t been that bad actually because I’ve used a wallpaper remover concoction made up a spray bottle full of warm water mixed liquid fabric softener (thanks for the tip Anita!). Once the adhesive layer is nice and damp, I take a spatula to it!
Stanley wall scraper, $7.49US, Staples
I recently learned that the official name of this handy gadget is “wall scraper”. Should’ve known.
West Elm is having a super sale right now. They call it the end of season sale…but I’m not exactly sure what season they’re referring to as I feel summer hasn’t even started!
I spotted a cute owl mug for today’s 20 Below from West Elm’s porcelain collection.
owl mug, $11.05, West Elm
The owl espresso mugs are pretty cute too.
Oh yes – I love this one and pretty much the rest of the card collection at The Paper Cub Co.Â
greeting card, $5, The Paper Cub Co.
This looks like tinware…
ceramic tinware mug, $12.00, Drake General Store
but don’t let it fool you…it’s made of durable stoneware!
We just finished a long weekend here in Canada and I used a lot of my free time to catch up on some reading.
I am just about finished Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In and I highly recommend it. Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook, shares her experiences as a woman in the business world and gives advice to readers about going for what you want, valuing your skills, and taking initiative to explore new opportunities. She urges women to recognize their potential and to speak up. Instead of holding back, as many women do (and studies suggest as much), Sheryl Sandberg encourages us to “lean in”.
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, $15.92, Indigo
I’m curious to know if any of you have read it. What did you think?
Oh – Alfred. What a helpful little guy.
The Alfred hook, $15, Baba Souk
Alfred was designed by Paul Coconut of Six Point Un and is made in Quebec.
Izola‘s stainless steel collapsible travel cup is the perfect gift for the avid traveller in your life. It’s easy to throw in a carry-on bag whether you’re travelling across the world or off on a weekend camping trip. Two thumbs up for the design and function of this little accessory.
Izola travel cup, $18 US
Want to see the cup in action? Have a look at this video (with one of my favourite songs!):
Have a look at what other Izola items I’ve had my eye on here and here.
Many thanks to Lauren at Izola for sending this my way.
Spring is (almost) here. Time to get a-cleaning!
 cleaning bottle, $12.66, Crate & Barrel
I like this concept of a cleaning bottle. It comes with a recipe book of natural cleaning solutions. The all-in-one bottle has a built-in lemon juicer which not only looks cool but probably serves its purpose quite well. What do you think? What are your own favourite cleaning products?
I love supporting Canadian designers around here and today I am happy to share Penny Paper Co.‘s personalized note pads. The Classic is one of my favourite styles.
Penny Paper Co. classic note pad, $14.95
I also think the confetti collection is quite cheery and would make a sweet gift.
I started tennis lessons last night. Oh, what fun! I’ve played tennis before but I’ve only ever taken lessons once as a child. I was happy to discover that my moves on the tennis court are decent but I’m definitely looking forward to improving my backhand as it’s beyond weak at the moment.
So it may come as no surprise that last night’s tennis lesson has provided the inspiration for today’s post. Aren’t these vintage tennis dress patterns awesome? I spent more time than I meant to browsing the pattern selection on Etsy this morning. It’s so interesting to see how the styles change over the years. The white fabric options remain pretty consistent (woohoo!).
tennis dress pattern (1968), $7
tennis dress pattern (1960s), $12.55Â
vintage tennis dress pattern (1975), $4
retro tennis outfit pattern (1971), $4.50
vintage tennis dress pattern (1973), $5
tennis dress pattern (1970s), $6.25
tennis dress pattern (1978), $7
Let’s face it – half the fun of tennis is the outfits. Right?
I love this reusable tote from Mimot Studio – it’s simple and functional. It can hold up to 25 pounds and it can be easily folded for storage. Who doesn’t need another stylish reusable tote?
Tyvek reusable tote, $16, Mimot Studio
Mimot Studio also makes a sweet Tyvek lunch bag that is also under $20.
Anyone who has eaten a meal at my place or has eaten lunch with me at work knows that I use cloth napkins for everyday – not just for “fancy” times. I switched to cloth napkins about five years ago and I have two main sets – both white (one set from my mom and one set from Johanne – they both know me so well!). I find cloth napkins really nice to use – why wipe your mouth with rough paper napkins when you can use cotton? I wash them often and I iron them sometimes.
I’m now inspired to make myself a new set of (mostly) mis-matched napkins like Elsie did from A Beautiful Mess. She bought her fabric from Etsy shop Stash Modern Fabric and so I obviously had to browse the shop to see what fabrics might suit me.
Summersville Spring Collection
Prices for half a yard of each of these fabrics range from $4.50-$5.00 (USD).
I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to order fabric directly from this Etsy shop or from Fabricland but I do know that my new napkins will be black and white (surprise!). And if I’m feeling wild, I might just add some red. Woah.
The World Figure Skating Championships are coming to London, Ontario next month. This is going to be a great event in the city and it’s sure to bring people downtown (which always makes me happy).
figure skater art download, $3.99, Tuesday Mourning
I love the photographs used on the wristlets and hats made by Colorado-based Haiku Moving Company.
wristlet, $12.48, Haiku Moving Company
p.s. I will be in Dallas, Texas next month. Any recommendations?