Lapis & Llamas

When I was 8 or 9 my mom gave me a brooch of a pink nylon plastic elephant with a clear rhinestone  eye.  I loved this pin, more than any other piece of jewelry that I had at the time.  Sadly that brooch and the majority of my childhood artifacts were all picked up by a junk collection company a couple of years ago.  The great thing is that I see this brooch for sale on Etsy every once and awhile, so I know I can pick one up when I want it back in my life.   Pink Elephant Pin @ The Vintage Mart With that memory as the inspiration for this post. Over the past 4 years I have been able to find a few Buch + Deichmann pins, thanks to " Talize "(a second hand shop down the street) I have found them in 3 different styles, Dolphin, Mask, and the Bird.  The bird is my new favorite.  Here is some information on the company that use to make these gem.  B+D( Buch + Deichmann)started up in Denmark in the early 70s.  Buch + Deichmann made jewelry till the late 80'

I'm a big fan of using and purchasing second hand craft supplies. We have some great local places where I get a lot of my stuff at such as Talize, Value Village, BFM, Goodwill, Worth a Second Look.  You can pick up some great grab bags with an interesting mixture of things.  It gives you the opportunity to use new supplies that you would have never picked up at "Micheal's".  An added bonus to helping the planet by reusing and recycling, is that these grab bag don't cost too much.  This grab bag cost my $2.99 Let take a look at what came in the bag. First are these great bells, 15 little bags in an assortment of styles and sizes. Approx. 142 bells! I have great project in mind for these, and will post about when I get it done. Next, are the beads. 10-60" strands of gold tone beads in 4 different sizes and styles.   All the packaged bead came from a bead shop in Arcadia, Florida, Jenefa Arts & Crafts.  As far as I could find, this craft sto

While checking out my usual thrift stops last week, I came across this great gem.  The Great Turtle Race.  This board game is in great shape with all the pieces included. It is a Parker Bro. game. Made in Canada from 1976. Ages 3 to 10. Here is a Canadian commerical in french. You get 3 plastic turtles a spinner and the board you use is the inside bottom part of the the box.  It's a bright pretty colorful box.  The board inside also spins when the turtle goes on "wake-up" mode. We played with my 6yr old niece. She loved it, thought it was fun and silly.

  We were out and about yesterday at our usual spots, looking for gift ideas, when I found some pretty exciting vintage jewelry pieces. The first thing I spotted was this D'Orlan gold tone brutalist style choker.  Now this D'Orlan necklace is nothing like the ones I use to sell at the jewelry counter at The Buchart Gardens.  Those one are the kind with the glass beads and semi-precious stones.  My mother gave me her set, which was gifted to her by my father when they first came to Canada. So on returning home I started to do some research. I found a couple of good sites. Vintage North was a really good source and so was Creed Canada .  Some of the information I knew from before but I learn a few things.      Here is a short summary: D'Orlan was founded in 1957 by Mr. Maurice J. Bradden.  In the 50's he became Mr.Boucher’s protégé.  Mr. Marcel Boucher was a prolific designer of costume jewelry and his names signify quality materials and craftsmanship.  In 1979 (

Every September 18 in Chile they celebrate their Independence or Chile’s Fiestas Patrias .  In Chile they have a 3 to 10 day party.  Store and offices close on the Friday at 1pm and don't open up till Tuesday.  It's a huge celebration that I've always wanted to be in Chile for.  My dad always told that I should witness it once in my life because it is impressive and you get eat a lot!!  Great food is everywhere and lots of red wine for drinking, "fondas" they are like fairs, fireworks, musics, parades.  People are everywhere happy, dancing the Queca and in festive spirits. Here in Kitchener we have a good size of Chilean population.  The neighborhood I grew up in was a Latino filled complex and this day they always have a dinner with music dancing and Empanadas!!  Yummy, yummy Empanadas.  A traditional meal that you wash down with a Pisco Sour. Picture taken from Cachando Chile So this event got me thinking about making Empanadas again.  We make the

Two Saturdays ago Tamara and I ventured to the Niagara Region.  This was the last long distant trip Tamara will be taking for a awhile.  I feel privileged that she chose to spend it with me. We also wanted to go see my nephew's girlfriend Roller Derby team play in St.Cathrine. The bout did not start till 5:30 so hung out in Niagara, mostly at the Casino.  Tamara is over 8 months pregnant and walking around outside, sweating did not appeal to her.  We got to play a bit of the slots and have the buffet for dinner.  It was a good time. Here is my Outfit of the Day! My new red belt from Talize for 4 bucks, makes me feel like a Super Hero. And I have to be honest, I love my Cork wedge heel red shoes but they hurt my feet like a bitch, so I quickly traded them in for flats. Roller Derby So this was my first time at a live roller derby bout.  I have to say that I loved it and I am so damn interest in learning more and possibly joining a local team. What I love was tha