Friday Odds & Ends

Can you believe it's the last day of September? Where has the time gone? Just popping by quickly today with a few small updates. First, I'm super excited that I'll be guest posting over at Clean & Scentsible as part of Jenn's Ghostly Gathering! I'll be sharing a quick and easy Halloween décor tutorial on October 6 - be sure to stop by and check it out.

In other good news, I was thrilled to find out yesterday that I won a $100 gift certificate to inVU Drapery Co courtesy of Staci Edwards' blog Inspired by Life. We need a window treatment for the baby's room so this couldn't have come along at a better time. I'm so excited to shop - thanks again, Staci!

Rosh Hashanah ends today and we will be celebrating with a special dinner. I'll be back next week with a recipe and review for Apple and Honey Bundt Cake. Apples and honey are symbolic of a sweet new year - not to mention that's a delicious combination!

  

This weekend we'll be visiting our favourite gourd and pumpkin stand so I can create another version of last year's fall planter. It'll be time for Halloween decorations before you know it so I want to make sure my fall stuff gets a chance to stand alone first.

We'll also be going to the Toronto Zoo this weekend - weather permitting! I really want to see the African Penguins. They are endangered and a new species at the zoo this year. The zoo had a clever ad campaign running this summer and it clearly worked on me.

The last of my updates is that I am 20 weeks pregnant today! I have my next ultrasound this coming Wednesday and hopefully baby will cooperate and we will find out the gender. You'll be seeing an influx of baby projects after that!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Party Perfect - Hallmark Outlet Store

This post is for my readers in the Toronto area, or further if you're willing to do a little driving for some great deals. The Hallmark Outlet Store in North York is only open three days each month - the last Thursday, Friday and Saturday - and we'd been planning to go since before Christmas but never remembered when the end of the month came around again. So after missing the March dates we marked it in the calendar and finally made it at the end of April.

I wish I had taken pictures while at the store to give you a better sense but it was really crowded and kind of overwhelming. It is truly a warehouse outlet, just cement walls and cardboard boxes but who needs fancy displays when the prices are this good?! I bought everything pictured below for $10 plus tax.

Gift bags for $1, stickers for $0.25, rolls of wrapping paper for $1 - I was in gift wrapping heaven! I loaded up my arms until I couldn't carry any more without really keeping track of what my purchases were adding up to. Luckily when you're finished shopping, a store employee adds up all of your purchases for you and lets you know the total before you head to the cash register. I think the guy that counted my stuff used some kind of super special discount math because there is no way that he charged me the actual prices for all of my stuff. I think the name of the game is to blow out all their extra stock by any means necessary.

I will definitely be returning. I think the key is to plan your trip for after a specific holiday. They had Halloween and Christmas stuff but there was definitely a lot more in the way of Easter and St. Patrick's Day decorations with those holidays having just passed.

Have you ever been? Are you itching to go now? The store is located at 501 Consumers Rd and you can call 416-492-1300  for their hours. Happy saving!

P.S. For some reason half of my pictures decided to flip upside down and refuse to be turned. Sorry about that!

Fabric Obsession

About a month ago I posted that I planned to use fabric to create inexpensive art for the bare walls of my home. Well ever since then I've been on the hunt for great fabric that I'll want to look at every day. My new obsession has led to me to two online fabric stores with some amazing selections that I just can't make up my mind what to order!

The first site I'm frequenting is Designer Fabrics Online. This is the online version of Designer Fabrics on Queen Street in Toronto. If I order from here I'll love the fact that I'm supporting a Canadian company and that I'll save money on shipping! What's cool about this site is that they'll rent you samples of any of their fabrics which means I could have it shipped to my house where I can try it out with the rest of my stuff and see if it works. Pretty neat! They have a huge selection and a variety of price points.
These are a few of my current favourites:


Clarise - $11.99/yard

Jack's Beanstalk - $26.99/yard

Amari - $24.99/yard

 The second store that has my attention is J & O Fabrics, a company in New Jersey that ships to Canada. They seem to have even more fabrics than Designer Fabrics and their prices look better to me too. They don't rent samples but you can buy swatches of their fabric for $2.00. Their website is well organized and it's super easy to navigate through all the fabric types. They have some really cool vintage fabric and designer mid-century fabric (at up to $130.00/yard!!) as well as a variety of other materials and patterns. Right now I'm loving these patterns:

LA Mod Woods - $8.98/yard

Owls Galore - $8.98/yard

Bliss Floral - $19.98/yard

Now I just need to convince my husband that he likes some of these fabrics too ;)