top: c/o romwe

Sunday is usually the only full day I get to spend with D because he works the rest of the week. For some reason, he gets really excited to go out and get some Sunday afternoon ice cream. Like, really excited you guys... I've never seen someone so happy to fill their belly with peanut butter and chocolate ice cream filled to the rim of a waffle cone. There is a local place that we love that is full of homemade goodness.They were celebrating the Queen's Jubilee with some special themed treats too. I might have taken a full loaf of banana bread home...

It was raining miserably before we arrived there (excuse how gross we both look, our hair is out of control). We spent the first part of our day in a garden center getting rained on while some customer who was a "lawn expert" thought it was necessary to tell us what we should and shouldn't plant in our backyard. We left with nothing but wet hair and confused looks upon our faces. Thankfully I was smart and packed an umbrella and my watermelon rain boots. That's being prepared, friends!  Ice cream seemed like the best way brighten up our day, and like magic, the skies cleared and the sun popped out from the clouds as soon as we arrived. Isn't it great when that happens?

(the cards are my new designs in our shop, and my kitty Nugget was just too cute not to include in this post) Learn more »

This weekend half sucked. Saturday I was confined to my couch all day long with a fever, knee socks, warm clothes, and not enough blankets to stop my chills. I know that having a fever is actually a good thing when you're sick, and I definitely think it helped get those bad viruses out of my body, but man... it just plain sucks.

Thankfully it was the weekend, which meant hours of reality tv marathons to help keep me up with the Kardashians. By the way, I really don't think the Kim/Kris wedding was a sham like so many people keep saying... they clearly did love each other in the beginning but it was definitely interesting watching them move too fast and see Kim start to drift away. I really don't think they were the best couple to begin with, but that's just what happens when you don't find the actual ONE and jump into something I guess. As you can see, I had a lot of time to seriously think about this, *sad face*.

Sunday was a little better for me. No more fever and my mom came for a little visit with some soup and other things. She and Dustin went out shopping for a little bit and they came home with a ride around lawn mower. Umm, kind of amazing. After she left I decided to help D start to put together our outdoor shed. I'm pretty excited about all of these new seasonal toys we have been getting lately! I can't wait for our deck and some new trees. If only the weather would cooperate and turn into summer already!!!

I am a week away from releasing that eBook I've been working on! I read through it again on Saturday and added a few new things. I am thinking of doing an FAQ chapter just to cover anything I might have missed, or any questions YOU guys have. So, if you have any questions you want me to tackle about blogging in general or anything that goes along with blogging, ask away! Learn more »

This weekend sure was a busy one! I like busy weekends though, it makes me feel like I accomplished all of those little things that I wasn't able to do throughout the week.  If I have nothing to do on the weekend, I honestly feel useless. Dustin is the complete opposite, and he can vouch for me telling him how useless I feel if I have nothing to do pretty much every time.

On Saturday my mom came over and we made some crafts!  We spent the day in my "craft studio" trying out ideas for Fawn & Flora and figuring out how to make these pom poms:

I also gave Bear a much needed bath and haircut. He looks so handsome now!

More crafts....

I made a ton of smoothies over the weekend too. I am obsessed. My favourite consists of 2 bananas, crushed ice, pineapple juice, and a couple strawberries.

I had a bunch of orders to pack up and ship off too! I'm using this cute heart tissue paper for packaging this month ;)

Finally, I spent a good 3 hours making up another fox for an order. These little guys take SO long for some reason. He's off to a new home now though!

I also marveled at how long my hair is getting...

How did you spend your weekend? Learn more »

*stretch*yawn*
I'm having a lazy Sunday. I just finished reading over all of your sweet comments to Friday's post. Thank you for all of the inspiration, encouragement, and kind words. You definitely all made me think about doing what's right for us, and us alone.

You know, it's sometimes really tough to do something completely for yourself (and your love) without the possibility of hurting others in the process. For example, if we were to run away together and elope (that sounds so magical doesn't it? like something from a Disney movie...) I know that we'd be hurting some of those key people in our lives. At the same time, however, I only want to do what is best for the two of us. It's our love, not theirs. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to go about this because there is still a part of me that wants others there. Of course, you ask D and he doesn't care either way... he just wants to be married and doesn't understand the planning that's involved, even if it's a small, intimate type thing.  It's a guy thing I guess...

Anyways I absolutely loved reading your comments. It always means a lot when people take the time to actually give some insight, so thank you!

I'll leave you with some scenes from the weekend...

 new valentine super soft and squishy plush heart here
p.s. that's a kiss not a duckface... have you learned the difference yet? ;)

 I "decorated" my craft room in the basement. Decorated is so the wrong word. I basically added some fabric to the walls to cover up the unfinishedness and moved some furniture around. This is the best I can do until we are able to start renovating the entire basement. No walls = no fun :(. Kind of tempted to paint the floor different colours though while it's still in concrete form...

Snow. It's been snowing a lot, then melting. This weather is the strangest for January. This time last year there was 4 feet of snow covering our property. I feel bad for the penguins and polar bears :(

Heather and I started a little night time project last night. I completed this new design for her blog, and revamped her shop to match. Kinda love her <3

I did a little online shopping. Got this jacket from F21 (only $16!) and this amazing skirt from Free People ($30 from $150... yes please!).  I also spoiled my computer and bought a new webcam (hint hint), some new RAM because this trusty old fella has been running way too slow lately, and a USB hub. Those last two things are for all my fellow techy nerds.

I got some of the cutest notebooks printed up and they are now in my shop! There are hedgehog ones and fox ones. There are very limited supply right now while I see how they do. If they decide to sell, I'll order more in. Either way, how could you NOT need a notebook?!?

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Sunday is my winding down day. Dustin works Saturdays now as well so I only have Sundays to spend the entire day with him. Yesterday I spent relaxing like I said I was going to do, and making some new little plush magnets in the meantime.  I also managed to set up the Christmas tree by myself and surprised D with it when he came home.  I'm pretty sure he was just relieved that I didn't have to force him into helping me decorate it this year haha.

Things I love waking up to:

Cute emails in my inbox... and this little guy fast asleep in his daddy's spot... complete with pillow and everything. My two favourite boys <3

There is a peek at my new vehicle!  I am in love with it. It's perfect and probably the warmest thing in the world!  Hello, it has butt warmers. I'm pretty stoked about this because after driving a car from 1995 for six years, features like this blow me away.

Our recent guilty pleasure has been this delicious pull-apart rosemary bread and this spinach/cheesey dip from M&M Meat Shops.  I am in heaven whenever we eat it.

Here is a shot of the Christmas tree all up and decorated!  I'll take proper photos later, but for now this will do. That room is going to be so festive!

Lastly, the most unattractive photo of my eye ever in existence.  My eyelids were completely swollen Fri-Sat because I am an idiot.  I've had this happen a few times and always thought it was certain makeup I was using... so eliminated those eyeshadows from my collection. After it happened yet again on Friday, I thought it was a certain brush I was using... but after some research I found out that the brush I thought it was, was synthetic (My normal brushes are goat/pony hair... that sounds so weird, but they're MAC anyways.  This brush I only use occasionally turned out to be synthetic (Urban Decay).)  Apparently, synthetic brushes are hypoallergenic so that ruled that out. In fact, I should have been more allergic to the animal hair types than anything, which I use every day without issues.

Then I did some more detective work and realized that before I was using my eyeshadow, I wiped my brushes on a piece of toilet paper. After my eyes were bugging me throughout the day, I used toilet paper and makeup remover to get it off. It got worse.  Then I realized that this seemed to happen every time toilet paper was involved.  Don't ask why I use toilet paper... I do my makeup in the bathroom and it's the closest thing haha. So anyways, not to self: Never use toliet paper to remove makeup again. I'm back to normal now, but now that I know what's causing it I'll knock on wood that it never happens again.

Other things that happened this past week:

• Two of my lovely sponsors held a giveaway 
• I added some new pillows, magnets, plush and other items to the shop!
• This weekend still has the 25% off everything in my shop sale going on!
• I finished a blog design for The Curious Pug
• I gave you all another holiday Free Printable!
• I broke down my multitasking tips
• I made some new stock, including my favourite bunny yet!
• I made some cool scratch cards (diy coming soon!)
• I shared with you a whole whack of handmade black friday deals!

What did you get up to this weekend? Did you spend all your money during Black Friday, or did you choose not to partake? Learn more »

I thought that this week was a bust. I was so frustrated for a few days because the new printer I ordered to do custom prints for my shop arrived, and was broken out of the box.  Aside from that, some other annoyances kept happening randomly.  Then I started writing this post... and I realized that despite the frustrations, some pretty great things happened this week.

This week:

• I had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my little fam
• I introduced you to all of the wonderful women who are hanging out on my sidebar this month
• I completed this blog design for the lovely Irene of Irene's Closet
• I received some pretty awesome advice from a dream
• I completed a blog header design for Mode Blogs
• I got the best package from one of my fav people!
• I launched the start of my Christmas merch in my new shop!
• I got some of the most awesome boots in the mail
• I went for a nice Fall walk with D and Bear, and watched D try to catch a GIANT fish in our back river.
• I created a custom Shop app for my Facebook page! As well as the one you can see at the top of my right sidebar now!
• I am giving away a Tan Fawn to one lucky winner over at The Shine Project scholarship raffle! (Go now!!!)

Not too shabby huh?

With all of my new Just Lovely Things headbands <3 It's a great look, isn't it?

I'm so ready for the weekend. What did you accomplish this week?

xo Dana

thewonderforest.com

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Guess what friends??!  My momma is amazing and surprised us with a brand new central vacuum today!  If you remember my absolute dissatisfaction with my other vacuum, you would understand how freaking excited I am! She is the bestest!  I cannot wait to try it out and burn the other one!

We spent the day together being crafty and rearranging my furniture. My mom is the best at that... she is the furniture rearranging queen!  It's a talent I'm sure.  We then spent some time at the dollar store looking for sticky labels we could print on. I could probably spend hours in the dollar store. It's so huge and has everything...Everything except sticky printable labels :(

When we got home we started working on a couple of crafty projects for an event her work is having. One of the features of the event is this little "candy bar", where the guests grab themselves a cute little gable top box filled with candy.  We made 100 fancy little custom cut labels for each box that read "a sweet treat", and then crafted this big bunting banner for the display:

It reads "Candy Bar" and was fun to make, with the help of my little Cricut Expression.  I adore that machine and wish it existed when I was still in school. I would have had the best project displays ever!!

I love crafting with my mom. We used to make things together all the time when I was a wee one.  I'm just glad she carries the same artistic gene as me :)

Speaking of which, she also brought over my old portfolio, and in it sat this ancient sketchbook that I forgot even existed.  It was covered in mod-podged disney clippings and the front was totally stuck to the inside of my portfolio. I had to pry it off and ruin my super classy cover job. 

I used to draw Disney characters daily when I was about 11-12 years old. I was obsessed. I'm also taking this opportunity to use the following pics for #6 of the photo challenge, Childhood Memory. These sketches are dated 1996...

Day 6: Childhood Memory

I LOVED anything Disney and had big dreams to be a Disney animator one day.  I was able to draw most characters from memory, which actually surprises me because if I were to attempt that now, I would have no idea where to start.

Isn't it funny how we forget things that used to come so easily?

What is something you used to do as a kid that you lost your skill for?

xox Dana Learn more »

Hey loves! Have you entered the {just.lovely.things} giveaway yet?? Do it!

This past weekend seemed to go on forever. Probably because I took Friday off. My mom came down and we hung out and and ate pizza.  It's ok because it was the weekend... that's a good excuse to eat horribly right? I got to show her my craft table and she was highly impressed.

Saturday morning, Dustin and I woke up early to get our garage sale hopping started!  I always scope out the best ones in the newspaper first.... I've even gone as far as making maps on Google with all of the points of interest pinned.  Sure saves time driving around looking for some ;).  This time though, we just headed over to the one that immediately caught my eye... the ad said it had "craft supplies", need I say more?

When we got there, there were two happening beside each other. The first place had some pretty nice furniture and this amazing antique looking floor lamp.  It caught my eye but I was sure they were going to want at least $20 for it.  That's when I saw the jaw-dropping $2 price tag attached to it. WHAT?! Mine!

Then, we headed next door.  I saw a table full of unused fabrics and am pretty sure I squealed with excitement.  I started picking through it all, putting aside the ones I wanted. The woman hosting the sale brought me a box and I offered her $5 for whatever I could stuff into it. I knew in my mind I was totally lowballing her because these were definitely worth more than $5, but she looked at me like I was crazy and said "Oh no dear... One dollar."  !!!!!!  I was like "What? are you sure?!" and she was... but I felt bad so I gave her $3 instead haha.  She then told me to take it all. ALL OF IT?! I was shocked once again.  I told her that I didn't need all of it and that I was going to look at her other items too.

As we were getting ready to leave, she came up to me again and started piling fabric on me!  "This one looks nice.  Oh yes, this is a good one too..."  I was laughing as this lady was unloading the entire table on me.  She literally gave me the WHOLE thing and wouldn't take no for an answer!  Finally we were able to leave, a huge box of fabric in D's hands, and me, with a pile of fabrics so high in my hands that I couldn't see where I was going.

We drove the opposite direction to hit up our last garage sale of the day. Normally this would have lasted a couple hours, but we were so tired from waking up early.  I had been looking for a small table with a shelf on the bottom for quite some time... and at this sale I just happened to find one! Only $5!

So overall this garage sale trip was a success. I spent only $10 and got some awesome things! Is it weird that I feel a sense of accomplishment over silly things like this??

On Sunday I finished that piece of furniture that I asked for your help with!  I decided on a colour thanks to you guys, and will post about it soon! (probably tomorrow).

What is your greatest garage sale find??

OH p.s. I've added a couple new things to my shop!! Check them out:




xo Dana Learn more »

Do you ever just have one of those days when you wake up and everything is frustrating you... and to top it off you have an extremely busy day ahead of you?

That was my life today.  I jumped into Monday knowing all of the work I had in front of me and was on a mission to get it done.  When I have days like this, there is just no point in even hoping that I will look cute or have the patience to properly do my hair.

The first hour or so of my morning consisted of me getting angry at my own reflection because nothing was looking right on me, and my hair was just not cooperating. "I don't have time for this!" I actually yelled this at myself while throwing my comb at the bathroom mirror.

Enter: mismatched comfy clothes.  I ripped off what I was wearing and threw on the first thing that looked comfortable to me. I introduced my hair to a clip and pinned it out of my face and I was through.  Off to tackle the millions of things that awaited me.

Does this ever happen to you? Or am I just insane for getting frustrated when my daily "get dressed" routine just isn't working out?

In other news, this weekend seemed to go on forever.  D's friends from the States were visiting since Thursday so we had a full house.  After they left on Sunday, we completed the final extended version of Lord of the Rings.  I had never seen any of those movies before, so about a week ago D and I made a pact to watch them all and love them.

First one I was totally into. I liked the story and adventure aspects, and it didn't even seem like I had just sat on the couch for 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Second one was good too... and third, also good. However, I could have done without a bunch of the fight scenes.  I much rather would have seen more magical-ness (new word?).  The fighting in the third one just seemed to drag on forever... was it like that in the non-extended versions too? And how come every time Frodo and Sam would look at Mordor from on top of a mountain or something, it always still seemed SO FAR AWAY!  Even when they finally made it there, it was still miles away. They should have just hopped on one of those giant eagles and flew to the top. That's what I would have done. I was also pretty proud of myself when I suggested to D that they take an eagle back down the exploding mountain at the very end, and watched that actually happen.

So last night I dreamed of Hobbits and wished I had a cute little house with a round door... and that is my story.

OH NEWSFLASH! I just hit 1000 Facebook Fans! Which means, my friends, that I will have a giveaway for you soon!!!

xox Dana

top: wildfox couture; sweats: primp; fuzzy socks: gift. Learn more »

Friday night started off pretty normal. D and I made a campfire out back while we waited for his friend to arrive from Michigan.  I roasted marshmallows as usual while D kept the fire going by cutting up 2x4s with a hand saw... yes that's how we roll. Even though our backyard is a forest, for some reason he insists on cutting up 2x4s the whole night.

Sorry for crappy cell phone pics...

I was cuddling my little Bear and we were having a good goofy time. Soon after, I noticed Bear just standing there with his back towards me. I told him to "come" to me and he didn't move. I proceeded to walk him around the fire pit towards the house, and suddenly my little Bear was not at all himself.  He stood there, his legs wobbling like he was about to faint.  His eyes looked glassy and tired. I picked him up and put him on the deck. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him but I knew something was up because I have never seen that look in his eyes before.

He sat down on the deck and I poured some cold water on his head, thinking that maybe he was too hot or something.  The whole time I was holding his head up because he looked like he was about to fall right over.  Then he threw up, and pooped at the same time. Something else I had never seen him do before. We brought him inside and laid him on the cool tile floor. He just laid there, panting and so sad looking, as I pet him and squirted water in his mouth with a syringe.

I was scared. I didn't know what to do and I had no idea if he should be taken to an animal hospital or not, and if he were to go, I had no idea where the closest one was.  Did he eat something poisonous outside?  Was he overheated?  I curled up on the floor with him with tears in my eyes and wished for him to get better fast.  I kept talking to him and telling him I loved him and he was going to be ok (because I like to believe he can actually understand me... ;)) and did all the things that I would have done for a human... got him a cold cloth for his head, made him try to drink water, etc.  I had no idea if these things would make a dog feel better or not, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try... and I couldn't just NOT do anything.

After about half an hour of laying there together, I got up to get something from another room. The little sweet boy pulled himself up out of his sickly state and followed me.  I was so happy!  He was moving again!  I sat with him some more on the carpet of our living room and he instantly started to look better.  He even started drinking the water I was providing for him out of the syringe. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a fun way to drink, because he wouldn't touch the water directly out of the bowl.

Then one of our neighborhood friends knocked at the door. Bear was back to his old self and ran to the door to greet him.  I was shocked at how fast he recovered from his random bout of deathly sickness.

This morning, I went out to the fire pit to clean up a bit. What did I find on the ground where I first noticed him being wobbly? My marshmallow stick with some marshmallow goo on the top.  I then put it together... the little guy was eyeballing my marshmallows all night long, and had probably tried to eat the goo on the top of my leftover stick.

The moral of this story: never give a dog a marshmallow.

Bonus fact: one of my nicknames for Bear has always been little marshmallow.
I'm just glad he's back to normal. I don't know what I would do without that little face.
xox dana Learn more »

Here is my finished painting that I mentioned I created over the weekend. It's a simple reminder to myself to look for the positive in situations.  "When life gives you lemons... Make lemonade!".  For some reason I had this image in my head for the past few days and a strong desire to make a vintage looking sign.  It measures 12"x20" and is painted on a wood board.... because apparently when I have no canvas or surfaces to paint I dig around my garage for a suitable blank slate!

I haven't painted in a while so this was my motivation to get back into it. There are some things I would have liked to do, and some I would have done differently, but all in all I think it turned out ok. I am my own worst critic! Vintage was what I was going for though, and I am happy with it. :)  It looks great in our house too!

What is your favourite inspirational quote?
xo Dana

p.s the winner of my $25 Shop Credit giveaway is....

Congrats Rebecca! Please check your email!!!

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