Bits of this and that

One of my favorite birthday gifts this year was an iphone my husband gave me (although it's hard to decide as this year he truly payed attention to my "hints" and wishlist! hehehe). I'm in love with the thing. It's so cool to be able to check out my facebook or twitter everywhere, but mostly, I love the cool photo aps!

As I haven't made many blog updates lately, I though I'd make a resume, with images, of what I've been up to in the last month.

Around the house

Places and spaces

Outside

Lots of beer and lots of sweets

Work...

Thanks for visiting, I hope you have a great day!

Ages later...

Via The Angry Weather shop

Oh my, my. It's been AGES! how are you?! I'm glad to be here and say hi to you :D

I missed my blog but I've been so crazy with work and stuff that I had to set it aside for calmer times.

I'm working very hard for Puces POP, which is a super cool craft fair (part of POP Montreal music festival), my favourite in Montreal because there are always so many awesome local designers selling their creations at puces. So proud to be part of it this time! That's the reason I've been like crazy :) I'm very excited!

I also wanted to tell you I have new vintage rings listed on my shop :) I hope you liked them! I even have a super cool set of four rings, if you like vintage rings, you don't want to miss it!

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you have a great week!

Iveth

Back to business

This is my messy work space. It used to be a cute little office sometime ago but now it's full of tools, supplies and dust. Is OK though, but I definitely think it's due for some cleaning and that my wall needs me to make it pretty ASAP!

But well, in the mean time, I wanted to tell you my shop is open again! My so called vacations are over and even thought I have been working on local orders, new projects and upcoming plans, is now time to turn the production button mode on for real.

Which reminds me I haven't tell you something! I'm super excited as I'm going to sell at the Puces POP craft fair on September 24th and 25th!! This is such a big deal to me as is going to be my first major sale-to-public and Puces POP is one of my favorite things to do in Montreal! I neeeeever miss it, is full of awesome local artists/crafters that made wonderful stuff, and I feel very excited to be part of it this time around. So, as you can imagine, I'm working my ass off to prepare lovely jewelry for the fair and I'm also working on things and props for my booth.

So, if you happen to go to the shop and see I have few listings, that is the reason: I'm trying to build up a decent inventory, but this doesn't mean I can't work on your favorite pieces! If you want something from the shop that you can't see listed, just send me an etsy-message and I can list the item for you :)

And that's the news for the moment! Thanks a bunch for keeping up with me and I hope you have a great week :)

Iveth

Mile-End guide

Just found this awesome post-tour guide of the Mile-End here in Montreal, my favorite neighborhood in town :). We live in Outremont neighborhood, just some blocks away from the Mile-End but we go to shops, restaurants, bookstores, fruit shops and coffee shops over there on a daily basis so we consider it as our second neighborhood :)

This post was made by Amy Johnson and Marilis Cardinal of Puces POP for Poppytalk (and speaking of Puces POP, I have great news regarding it but I'll tell you soon!!) and it's very nice and helpful if you plan to visit Montreal any time soon (This is for you Chrystal!).

Check out the post here!

St-Viateur bagels (my favorites!)

Cafe Olimpico, yummy.

Genaral 54

Drawn & Quarterly

Phonopholis

(All images via Poppytalk by Amy Johnson and Marilis Cardinal)

I wish you have a great weekend!!

Lots of mushrooms

Can you see a face in this rock?

I had to show you my favorite photos of the mushrooms we encounter while hiking in the woods the other day.

Aren't they perfect? :)

We don't know much about mushrooms and we wanted to call them something, so we invented names for them. Very easy names like, red mushroom, yellow mushroom, ghost mushroom, terrace mushroom, mini white mushroom or ball mushroom, among others :)

What name would you give them? which one is your favorite?

I hope you have a great week!

Iveth

Wishlist

Tyrannosaurus card by PAWLING

Gaaaah, like Amelia, I feel so crazy about dinosaurs lately. I don't know if it's because of her obsession for all things dinosaur, or just because there are such cool dinosaur related stuff out there...This card by PAWLING is just awesome, so simple but it screams GGGGRRRRRRRR! to me.

Brown and black camera strap by WanderWandering

Been drooling over leather camera straps and I can't decide which one to buy. I need to upgrade my ugly, normal camera straps asap!

Kitted cactus by Odds and Ends

I love, love, love plants but for some reason they don't love me back. It sounds horrible, but they all die when they end up with me. That's why I don't buy plants any more. Maybe I put so much water, maybe they need more sun, I don't know. This little garden of knitted cactus will be the perfect addition to my apartment, plus I'll be sure they will be green forever.

Retro leather camera strap by Magpie Accessories

Another of my favorites in the camera strap department. I love it.

The mini Quinn satchel by New Duds

I've been wanting the Quinn bag from the New Duds for such a long time now it's ridiculous. This bag will be mine one day and that day is not far from now, I say!

Oxfords by Golden Ponies

This shoes look so soft and comfy not to mention extremely lovely. Want them!

There's a lot of leather in my wishlist, gaaah, I just love leather accessories. Feel kind of bad now. I feel like the tyrannosaurus up there. Gggrrrr.

I hope this wishlist is useful for a certain someone *wink,wink* in case he needs to get a present for a certain person which birthday is coming up real fast! *wink, wink* (talking about me and my hubby ;) hehehehehe).

I hope you all have a great day :)

Iveth

Lately

Some photos I took around the neighborhood.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Happy box

A little while ago I sold two pairs of my lightning bolts earrings to a lovely Australian girl. Weeks passed, we waited and waited and the lightning bolts never arrived to its destination.

It's an awful feeling to get an order lost in the mail, not to mention the fear of a disappointed costumer!

So what I did was to notify my lost parcel to Canada Post and replace my costumer's order. What I got in return was one of the best transactions I have got on Etsy. And I'm not talking about monetary transactions, I'm talking about one of those experiences that help you learn and at the same time let you know amazing people.

Helen, my Australian costumer, is the sweets girl. She was a total blessing because if this would have happened with maybe another costumer, probably it'd have been a very stressful situation. But she was so incredibly patience, kind and just so nice! I felt so grateful towards her for her patience and kindness.

And then, a couple days ago I received this :

(Oh, and that's the little one's hand that was so impatience of me, for taking photos instead of opening the box! hehehe she was behind me just asking me to open it!)

Is was a package send by Helen to say thanks for the earrings and replacing her order! I swear I felt like crying, in a good way, I was emotional to have got to know such a sweet person and know she was so happy for having business with me. I couldn't believe it.

Helen, thank you! you are amazing and, as I told you, every single detail in my "happy box" (as I call it now) describes how sweet, funny and kind you are!

For me every single thing was a treat, and that includes all the postage in the box as I LOVE postage and have a little collection :D

Wrapped gifts

Cards

Just AWESOME! (there were adorable illustrations, stickers and stamps everywhere!)

Sewing magazine and gorgeous japanese patterned fabric

Sweet Bestiary brooch

Tim Tam biscuits (Helen even gave me the instructions of the traditional way to eat them!)

Miam, delicious!!!

I'm sure I don't deserve this, as I just did what I feel is the right thing to do and never expected anything but having a happy costumer. I feel so lucky and grateful: Thanks Helen for sending me a box full of happiness!!

Apple, ginger and cranberry cocktails, via What Katie Ate

Hi there!

How is it going? I hope excellent :)

I've been neglecting my blog so much lately. I'm sorry if you came and see just the old post. I'm under a load of work, but as soon as I find a peaceful moment I'll come back and show you some photos of what I've been up to, lately :)

For the moment I want to show you a refreshing cocktail recipe I found, I think is perfect for trying out this weekend, dont' you think?

I don't know where you live, but Montreal is so, so HOT right now. Hot id the literal sense of the word. I'm melting away....

I also wanted to tell you I'm going to put my shop on vacations for most part of August :) We are planning on going camping and also to the maritime provinces which I love so much :)

I look forward to take many photos and show them to you :)

The most important thing is that I'll take a little break and be with the family (and let my fingers take a vacation, too, hehehe right now I have blisters for all the hard-awesome-work!), enjoying the summer :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Soon on the shop!

I have more vintage rings just waiting to be photographed and listed on my shop :) They are gorgeous! I think I'll have them up in the shop next week :) stay tuned ;)

Thanks :D

Iveth

Giveaway alert!!

Hi there!

I have awesome news to share with you today :) Mayi Carles from Heartmade blog is giving away a pair of my lightning bolt stud earrings to one lucky Heartmade reader!

How exciting is that?!! If you'd like to enter the giveaway, go to Heartmade and follow the instructions on how to participate :) and hurry up because the giveaway ends soon!

Good luck to you all!

Some photos and F.A.Q.

Wow! what an exciting weekend this has been :)

Today at noon there's going to be a new featured seller on Etsy and I can't help but feel a little nostalgic that is going to be over soon. I won't have an inbox full of etsy circles notifications and 24hrs a day of continue FP goodness anymore. Regardless, this experience makes me feel so thankful and so inspired to keep working, I couldn't be happier!

I wanted to post here a couple more images that weren't included on the feature, just so you can have more insight on me and my work space and because I just really like them ;)

And now, a round of F.A.Q. by the people who kindly sent me messages this weekend :D

Q. How do you manage to have a business, a blog and take care of your little girl?

A. I wouldn't be able to manage it if not for: having a sweet, independent little girl who is content of just singing along with me while I work on the jewelry or the computer; having a sweet husband who helps me sand and anneal pieces every time I need; god bless Amelia's nap time; god bless baby tv (not proud of this, though!); god bless I can't sleep before 1am; and one of the most important things is that I've had to learn to live with a little bit of a messy home and the unexpected.

Q.Where do you buy your tools and supplies?

A. I buy all my stuff here in Montreal at 620 Cathcart or the Montreal jewellers paradise. No tool/internet buying for me :)

I love this one:

Q. Why do you charge $149 dlls for a 3cm piece of silver?

A. because I don't sell pieces of silver, I sell my work.

Q. How come your work table is so clean?

A. Well, I cleaned and organized it for the photo shoot :) but regardless, my work space is very clean indeed, I have a two and a half year old and I work at home! I clean and organize my work table every night, so I'm sure the dirt would not be spreading around my apt and Amelia won't be any close to dangerous tools, compounds or small pieces of things she could put on her mouth.

Those are the ones I really had to address publicly ;) it was definitely so much fun getting to know lots of new people, costumers, etsy sellers! And I want to thank all the lovely people who now is following my blog, welcome to Mademoiselle Cranky Pants (which was the nickname of my little girl when she was a new born ;))!

Thank you!

Great news

When I opened The Angry Weather on April 2010, the idea of being an Etsy Featured seller one day was a wild, crazy dream. A thing reserved just to the awesome, wonderful crafters of the Handmade movement. People I would look up to and say "wow, I want to be like her/him". Something I permitted myself to dream of (because I'm a believer of what I do) but at the same time, not dream of too much and better focus on reality.

Today, I find myself on Etsy blog, granted the honor of being the site featured seller and honestly, I still can't believe it. Am I dreaming? Alex, could you please pinch me?

Is it necessary for me to say this means a lot to me? it does! Not only was a wonderful, unexpected surprised to be approached (I had one of those episodes on the back of mi mind of "are you sure it's me you are asking this?"), but to be chosen among so many wonderful people, is just amazing to me. Truly, like I'm dreaming.

So bear with me because I'm taking the opportunity to spread some love!

I want to thank my amazing team mates at the Aspiring Artisans Guild team, Smell Like Team Spirit team, Team Team and the Treasury League team, I truly believe that your constant support and help putting my jewelry out there for the world to see, has been an essential piece in the growth of my business. Thanks too to my tribe (as Mayi Carles says) over at Twitter, Facebook and here on my blog, for keeping up with me and for sharing your advice and experience!

I also like to thank my dear friend Marie of Markhed Designs, you have been a guide to me, my Etsy guru and hero, I'll never been able to thank you enough! You rule!

Thanks to my amazing costumers for believing in me and wearing The Angry Weather jewelry with so much love and pride! you are awesome and the best fuel there is. Thank you for your support and the opportunity you give me to keep growing!

Most importantly, I thank my wonderful husband, for being my number one fan and the sunshine of my days; for staying up late with me helping me sand and solder pieces; Your love and support mean the world to me. You are the stone upon which everything builds up. And last but not least, I thank my little, wonderful girl, because she is the inspiration behind it all, the energy that keeps me moving and the force that make me smile every day.

Wow, it's like I've won a Nobel prize! but I just wanted to make sure you know how much your support mean to me and how happy I am to be an Etsy featured seller!

THANK YOU, and please check out the feature here!!!

YAY!

Iveth

Some behind the scenes from the feature photo shoot. It was fun and a pain in the ass all at the same time :) Little one getting bored of waiting while husband took some photos and screaming "mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" oh, and my work table is not that organized and neat in real life :S

Soft pink, teal, blue treasures.

Some treasures from my Pinterest pin boards.

From Teenangster pin board

Here (Thanks to Clemence Herbillon for the link!)

From Zime Illustrations pin board

Here

Here

Here

I'm loving this color combo so much!

Oh, I also want to tell you I have a new shop banner :) you can come to The Angry Weather and check it out :) I'm so happy with this change and so thankful with my talented friend Altynai who did an amazing job designing my logo and is still helping me with my business cards, stickers, stationery and so on :) Thanks Champs!

I hope you find visiting my shop a lot more interesting now with the changes I make!

Thanks :)

New on my shop!

The Lost Button Brooch, for details visit my shop

Hi there!

I'm so happy to tell you I have a new Item on my shop and it's one of my favorite pieces. This may be because I love brooches so much and then, I love buttons. Mix them together and it's like SO cool for me!

The design of this piece was one of the first I came with when the "lost button" shower of ideas came in, but is until very recently I was able to finish the actual piece. I hope you like it :)

This is going to be such an exciting week for me, well, a very busy week that will get awesome at the end. I so wish I could spill the beans right now, but I can't! please, please, please keep up with me because I have amazing news to share with you soon!!!!!

Other awesome news is that the Canada post strike-lock out-thing is ooooover! You have no idea how stressed I was last week, with many orders lost in the mail limbo and another bunch in my desk waiting to be shipped. Well, they are still there waiting but, tomorrow the postal service will resume and I'll be first on the line to drop off my orders!!

Things are looking good ;)

I wish you a beautiful week!

Ring obsession

Yes, I have a ring obsession. Ever since I was a silly teenager I loved to wear rings more than any other kind of jewellery. And when I was on my twenties my fingers where full of rings of different sizes and shapes. I haven't changed that much since (on the ring love department, at least). As you will see on the photos below, most of the jewellery I use more frequently are rings.

I must say though, that brooches are my favourite jewellery thing, but for some reason I wear them less frequently. Maybe is one of those silly things on the back of my mind that says the things I like the most are for special occasions? hm mm...

In those photos you'll see the things I wear the most and that I always keep handy ;)

My little jewelry plate with the jewelry I use the most and my vintage ring collection on the side

Amelia's silhouette necklace, angry cloud necklace, my whirlpool ring, bubble ring, green bead ring, Louise Koo's silver and wire ring, organic shapes ring, branches, Markhed Designs green pearl ring (which was Marie's Christmas present to me :) gold stacked rings (a gift for my dear friend Ale), my rocks from the desert ring (sneak peek for the fall line!), lost button earrings and lightning bolt earrings, phew! That's was long and pointless. Thanks for bear with me through my inventory, hehehehe.

Have a great day!