Mad thrifting skills (or luck)

The McGill book fair was great! I found two vintage atlases with amazing maps, a Nature atlas with incredible illustrations and funky hand illustrated book about Canadian coins. Not sure what those will become yet. I'm sure I'll come up with something eventually.

As I already mentioned (I think) I use a lot of second hand and vintage materials in my crafts. To get these materials, I do frequent several second hand shops. I try to support charity shops, just to get the double good feeling. First, finding great treasures and materials AND support a good cause.

I've been making some really great finds recently on these trips. Last weekend I found the recipe box and a few books, this week it was the book fair.

A few weeks ago, during the thanksgiving weekend I was visiting my in-laws and made a few stops to second hand stores around their neighborhood. I dropped by the Village des Valeurs (Value Village) and found some great treasures there too. Besides the more common haul of a few books and LP records I found an awesome scarf!

It's a beautiful yellow Coach silk scarf. The condition is impeccable! You can still see the creases where it was originally folded, couldn't believe my luck. The pattern, logo and tags are all correct, so I'm confident I found the real deal. Couldn't be happier!

Pumpkin Patch

We went today to look for some pumpkins. I wanted one or two big ones for carving and a couple of small ones so I can try out that awesome fanged pumpkin from the post from yesterday. There's quite a number of small, independently owned grocery stores around the area, so I try to support those whenever I get a chance.

Lucky for us, we found a good selection of pumpkins from the first one we went to and now I'm the happy owner of a very small pumpkin patch. (Ok, they aren't growing, so does that count as a pumpkin patch? probably not, sounds better than pumpkin collection though, don't you think?)

We got a nice big one and three miniature pumpkins. I already went to the dollarstore (oh, dollarama, what would I do without you?) yesterday and got a pack of vampire teeth. I guess the packs are for wanna-be vampires who grind their teeth (get it? so, they'll have spares. hehee... umm.. sorry. I'll try not to make bad jokes again...)

Anyhow, check out the pumpkins! I left them outside on the patio/balcony/whatever, I figured it's cool enough outside so they'll keep until next weekend.

What's up Montreal - Old Skool Crafts Halloween fair

More Montreal craftiness this weekend at St. Michael's Church (105 St. Viateur, corner of St. Urbain).

If you're in the neigborhood, drop by. Sounds like a fun way to spend a few hours on a Sunday (or Saturday). Open from 10am to 6pm or October 22nd and 23rd. Apparently there's a cupcake raffle!

Friday Inspiration

It's almost time for Halloween. I'm a big fan of the holiday, you know, with all the candy around... And since they are packed into smaller sizes that regularly, you can eat so much more. (flawless logic rocks)

In all honesty though, I think the reason why I enjoy Halloween so much is that it's pretty new to me. It's a North American Holiday in the form we know it now. Even though it is apparently becoming bigger in Finland, it wasn't like that when I was a kid.

Anyhow, as has become the tradition, we're hosting a Halloween party this year. (and by "we" I mean my husband and I, I'm not a crazy cat-lady who refers to herself and the cats as "we". Just wanted to point that out) I don't do a lot of decorating, but usually insist on carving a pumpkin and getting a few decorations for our place.

Found on Pinterest, originally from Martha Stewart

Pinterest has already proved it's worth. These pumpkins rock! I must try to make these. I'll post pictures once I have something to show!

What's up Montreal - Free movies on Saturday morning

There's a charity event for Starlight Children's Foundation this upcoming Saturday, October 22nd. Free movies at the Cineplex movie theaters. The doors open at 8:30 AM and the movies start at 9AM.

For example the Cinema Banque Scotia on St. Catherine's in Montreal is showing movies like "Harry Potter and the deathly hallows, part 1", "Green Lantern" and "Legend of the Guardians" all starting between 9AM and 9:40AM. The sale of certain concession items benefits the Starlight Children's foundation. Click on the picture or HERE for more details.

If you're up for some movies and supporting a good cause, you should check it out!