Runs on Coffee and Cream

A while back, Fran from Skulls and Ponies posted about setting up a craft swap. Years ago, when I lived at home, I used to participate in craft and candy swaps all the time. I absolutely loved putting together and sending out little packages. And receiving mail is ridiculously fun and exciting. So I jumped at the chance to participate in this swap.

My swap partner was Kate from Just Kate Crafting and I am thrilled with the swap results! We definitely had similar interests which made it easy to put together my package. I was silly and forgot to take a photo of what I sent but it included a pretty zipper pouch, a kitty kicker for her cats, and some cute post-its.

This was the awesome package that Kate sent me:



Her cards are so pretty! I'm very tempted to frame this to have up all year. It's so happy!


TEA! Yes, this excited me so much. And I swear I'm not a weirdo, but I felt so proper receiving tea from the U.K. Somehow it makes it better. But look at that adorable cozy!

My kitties enjoyed sniffing everything and I had to kick them off the desk numerous times while taking these photos.

This has me back in swap mode.... I'd love to send out more packages! I'm very busy with sewing since I have my biggest show of the year in August. But I'd love to even do a candy swap now, which is basically sending a package full of sweets that are fun, different, and possibly only found in your country (expect some Maple-flavoured candy from here). Then come September I could set up a craft/handmade swap.

Is anyone interested?

xo Jen

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was pretty good. I worked Friday evening and all day Saturday so it didn't feel like much of a weekend for me. Last night we went to a friend's for some drinks and we spent the evening and part of the night out in their backyard. Apparently watching two seasons of The Walking Dead in a short period of a time has put me on edge. Every noise (made by 2 raccoons) made me jump. Dark shadows, stairways, and closing my store creeps me out now because I have zombies on my brain.



I love all the handmade zombie items I found on Etsy, especially all the items with cute zombies!

Have a good night!
xo Jen

Today I watched the season finale of the second season of The Walking Dead. Oh my... I cannot wait for season 3 to start. I thoroughly enjoyed watching The Walking Dead. We flew through the 2 seasons and after every episode I was eager to start the next.

Season 2 had a lot of character development and some episodes were on the slower side but I really didn't mind. I loved watching the characters I liked grow and for some of the characters who annoyed me (Shane, Andrea, Lori) I just spent my time getting mad at them. I didn't go an episode without yelling at the TV because of something stupid Lori did.

Now I'm pretty interested in reading The Walking Dead comics. I'd like to see how they differ from the show.





I love this picture... Daryl became my favourite quickly during the second season.

Have you watched The Walking Dead?
xo Jen

Last Friday, me and Mary went to check out the IlluminAqua concert. They have it on a floating stage along the Welland Canal, which is about a 5 minute walk from my building. Meaghan Smith was opening and we absolutely love her. This was the fourth time we were seeing her live.

Well, being cheap, we didn't buy tickets. We assumed that we'd be able to get a bad view of the stage, but we'd still hear the music perfectly. It was a gorgeous evening and when we walked over we realized there was NO good spot to stand to try to sneak a peek of the stage. I didn't really care since it was so nice to be outside and we'd still hear her.

After about 3 songs in, a woman came to the fence and asked us if we wanted tickets for the show. I assumed she was selling them but she explained she won them and didn't realize she was getting 4 so she had 2 extra. I don't know if we were just the 2 closest people to the fence (there were a lot of people sitting and standing on the outside of the fenced in area) or she noticed us dancing to the music, either way it was so incredibly sweet and nice of her to offer us the tickets. We pretty much ran around to get inside the fenced off area and from there we had a lovely view of Meaghan Smith and we watched the rest of her performance. We were even able to meet Meaghan yet again after the show.




Our initial view.


Our view once we had our tickets.



The 'audience' across the canal.




The 'audience' in the water.


Me and Mary

I'm still blown away that we lucked out that evening and had the opportunity to watch Meaghan Smith play for free and then meet her again. When things like that happen, it makes me realize that there are some pretty great people out there.

xo Jen

I normally spend some time on Sunday going through Etsy and then create a treasury with the great items I have found, but yesturday was a family-filled day for me. So instead, I spent some time this evening going through my favourite items and shops because this treasury is my wishlist for my birthday. It's a little under a month away and I'm starting to get excited for it.



I hope everyone had a great weekend!

xo Jen

How the heck is it the middle of June?!? Where did this month go? I guess all of mine and Adam's future prospects conversations have made days fly by. It'll feels like we've gone on a million walks because the weather has been so warm out. I've spotted many ducks out and about and I was able to feed some baby ducklings last week. I went to the movies a couple times already this month. I saw Snow White and the Huntsman and I really liked it. It was a very visually pleasing movie.


You can see part of my insane fabric collection..


Looking way too excited to be headed to an engagement party... it may or may not be because I had some alcohol beforehand and I've turned into a lightweight with my drinking. You can't really see my earrings but they're HUGE. I love them.


 Kiwis and probiotic yogurt have become my new obsession.


I got a 'trim' this week... yeah, it's like 2-3 inches shorter. I'm annoyed because I was liking my length recently but I needed the ends trimmed. I need 3 months to go by so I can get back to this length.









Today has been a day full of errands and baking for me. Tomorrow is Father's Day and my Grandad's birthday so we'll be heading into Hamilton for some swimming and then dinner. I'm excited to get in my parents' pool.

How is your weekend treating you?
xo Jen

Life has been full of ups and downs lately. Our small household has been a bit of a stressed out zone. Adam has been studying his butt off for his provincial exam that he just took today. And not only has he had to focus on studying, but we've been having some major discussions about our future. We have found out this year just how hard it is to find a paramedic job in Ontario. Well, any job really. There's too many people and not enough jobs. But now that he's finished school we have to figure out what we want to do and where we want to start laying down roots. Moving out of province has come up and it's becoming a serious possibility.

Have any of you moved far away from where you grew up? Are you still there or did you come back? It's a scary thought and it feels heartbreaking to be so far away from family. The idea of a brand new adventure is also exciting though. The thought of living near the ocean has also become apart of my daydreams now too.

This should be a very interesting summer for us. I'm trying very hard to focus on right now and not get swept up in where we're going to end up. All we can do is wait to find out if he's made it to the next step in these other provinces. So until then I'm making a point of enjoying every day.

So on to some pictures....

We've gone out to garage sales a few times now and we've been somewhat lucky. My best day so far found me these treasures:



These were still sealed!!

And of course a bit of kitty love:


Seymore keeps going into the empty recycling bag recently. I have no idea what his fascination is.


Can you see the faint, second rainbow to the left in the picture?? Yeah, there was a double rainbow that evening!

I'm making a point of finding beauty and inspiration every single day no matter where I am. It makes life that much better.

xo Jen

How was your weekend? Mine went by fast and was pretty uneventful. I worked both Saturday and today. I didn't mind working yesturday since it was rainy all day but today was hot and sunny out. I was so jealous watching people out the store window. Everyone was in shorts and sandals and I had customers in buying pool toys and water guns. We did go for a nice long walk this evening after dinner though. That was nice and we encountered a mother duck with her 8 babies along the path. It was really cute and sweet to see.

This weather makes me want to eat an entire tub of ice cream but I've been trying to be good and have just been consuming popsicles instead.



I found so many adorable ice cream fabrics on Etsy while I was searching for ice cream items. I may have to buy myself some ice cream fabric since it is almost summer.

Have a good night!
xo Jen

Well, we are back to summer weather here! Our apartment is hot and I'm living off popsicles. Even though the heat is making my place sticky, I'm loving the sunshine! At work I'm lucky to have giant windows along the front of the store so the sunshine just pours in. It instantly lifts my mood.

This wonderful weather has me wanting to throw a small party with drinks and snacks.


Cake Vodka


Fish Bowl Punch


Apples Nachos


S'mores Dip


Cookie Dough dip

I need a reason to make one of these dips because if I don't have company over I'd probably eat it all myself.... with a spoon haha. Also, I need to try the Cake vodka. I'm not a big drinker and lately when I do have a drink, it's a glass of wine. But cake flavoured vodka?!?! It sounds like my kind of alcohol.

What are your favourite summer recipes?

xo Jen

So I finally finished watching Bones. I just need  to catch up on this past year's season. Finishing up the boxsets was kind of sad. I think I may have to buy all the seasons to re-watch the show again.

Now I have moved on to watching Shameless. I'm only a few episodes in but so far I'm enjoying it. There's definitely certain characters and actors that have drawn me in. I'm also watching Season 6 of Golden Girls. I love that show so much! It's absolutely hilarious. I bought the entire series a while ago so I'm just slowly going through it.



I recently finished up Batman The Animated Series as well. Every show I was watching finished up about the same time it seemed. Even me and Adam finished up Adventure Time around the same time. I decided to start Gargoyles for when I'm crafting since Adam owns the seasons. It brings me back to my childhood. It's a great show.



Me and Adam are finally getting around to watching The Walking Dead. We're only 3 episodes into the first season and it's awesome so far. Every episode is like a mini movie. Of course watching the show has made us discuss our zombie apocalypse plan. I really don't think I'd last long and if I did it would only be because of Adam.



I'm still reading our X-Men comics. I'm finally reading issues from the 90s and I was just introduced to Gambit! I'm going to take a small break shortly to catch up on Morning Glories and to finally read Fairest.

What shows or books are you into right now?

xo Jen

It has been a rainy weekend. I've spent most of my time inside sewing, watching TV, and drinking lots of tea. Thoughts of throwing a tea party still fill my mind, especially on rainy days like today.



I'm about to make some gingerbread cookies so I have a snack for my tea later.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!
xo Jen