Upcycled ring: glam

Isn't this the neatest ring? I bought it from a gal who upcycles old jewellery with various bits and bobs from jewellery castoffs. The original setting is the lavender-hued glass piece in the middle. You can't see it here, but the setting is very traditional on the side. But the creator has jazzed it up with stones (garnet on the upper right) and other wee bobs from various jewellery pieces.

You can find the creator at Eco Finery. I'm pretty sure she sells on the weekends at a new artisan market in Leslieville, Toronto. Some of her pendants are pretty cool - many are too busy for my style but I did see the neatest one with a large hoop earring as the centre piece, with pretty doo-dads hanging in the centre of the hoop.

I wish I had this talent for re-mixing old bling as I am so attracted to those jewellery-piece grab-bags at Value Village that cost a few bucks and you never know what you're getting inside! But this gal does it!

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Peonies & punch at Nathalie-Roze & Co. 5th anniversary do

Yesterday I popped into Nathalie-Roze & Co for its 5th B-day bash. Owned by Nathalie-Roze Fischer, the Leslieville, Toronto indie boutique features accessories and clothing by local artists. There's also this darling canopied and gated-in terrace where they have events and sell what I hear is the best ice-cream in town.

Nathalie-Roze and crew had the place all decked out yesterday for the festivities. These fragrant pink peonies, reposing beside N-R's famous mango and rose-water punch, remind me of growing up.

Back to the shop, a gorg green-walled eco-sanctuary of lovely hand-crafed jewellery displayed on teacup saucers and cool indie fashion labels. At the after-hours do last night, the change rooms and shop environs overflowed with hipster young women in their 30s (ok, some of us weren't 30!).

You know I'm a jewellery nut. This designer found a way to break and sand down teacups and fashion the bits into beautiful pendants.

And this one - a spoon! How brilliant!

Of course, my pics aren't doing justice to the breadth of what's in store - it was just too hard to get decent snaps of the clothing. Trust me when I say everything is recycled, upcycled or refashioned into a new stylish life.

Hair barrettes and head pieces of old ties! Do you know how many old ties I see when thrift shopping that are made of the best fabrics and patterns?

The lady of the evening wouldn't let me snap a pic of her, for shame, so I will wish a Happy Anniversary to the floating and very peony-like paper puff balls - Happy 5th!

You can find the shop at 1015 Queen St. E in Leslieville, Toronto. Look out for N-R's roster of events on her FB page or Twitter - pretty sure there's a clothing swap coming up.

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A look at a nook

I still have to snap a pic of the vintage jewellery piece I bought in Notting Hill, but until then I'll show you a bit of the apartment re-org I did before I left on holidays.

I love this little corner nook that I refreshed by adding pops of orange: the paisley pillow found at a massive church sale for a buck; the Made in Canada retro glass vase on the top of the bookshelf (thrifted for about $10 if memory serves); the not so thrifty Anthropologie lampshade that I fell in love with when the store first opened in Toronto.

I found the beautiful framed mini picture hanging over the chair - handpainted flowers on black velvet - for 99 cents at a thrift shop. On the back there's a label that reads, "Mrs. D. M. Gowing, 77 Stubbington Avenue, Portsmouth, Hampshire" and then a postal code and phone number. Isn't it just wonderful that this little treasure made its way from England and across the pond to me and my grungy little home?

The silver glass lamp was $5 at a lamp sale; and the wrought iron chair was part of a set I thrifted at Sally Ann years ago, one of my first major thrift purchases in fact. I spray-painted them silver and covered the seats with a tablecloth I cut up, bought at the dollar store. There's grungy style for ya.

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Hipster nuts n' bolts pendant necklace - really

When I first saw this pendant necklace in the case at Goodwill, I thought, "Oh, that reminds me a bit of a Raphael", a Toronto-based jewelllery designer who was big in the 1970s and whose pieces are quite collectible.

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Well of course I knew it wasn't a Raphael - his look is very distinctive and I'll show you the pendant I have by him sometime - but this piece is similar in tone as it has a rough-hewn, industrial look to it.

More so than I thought 'cos when I took a closer look I saw that it was made of screws and bolt-type thing-a-ma-jigs. It's actually really well made, and a statement piece to boot!

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Keep it the same but change it up

An exercise in doublethink: you can keep it the same, yet change the look.

In other words, the next time you feel the urge to do a room re-do but don't have the energy for a full-on makeover, simply keep the bones of the room the same and change up the sofa, cushions, artwork and accessories.

Admittedly the first look is a little blah, but keep in mind the time of day is different here so the colours aren't popping as nicely.

But I do tend to prefer this look as the jewel tones pop out more. It's nice to know there's a designer's solution for a gal who craves change in her pad but is often too busy or lazy to move all the furniture around.

Often, rotating the accessories and switcherooing the loveseats can do wonders. Then the fun comes in re-jigging the accessories; you can just let go and play.

P.S. Most of the furniture and accessories here are either thrifted or from the trash!

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That's MY kind of centrepiece!

Sorry I've been MIA this past week - I've never gone this long without a post, except, perhaps, when I was in England recently. I've had a house guest - from England, gee coincidence? - for two glorious weeks so have been pretty bust between working, visiting, seeing family, going out, etc.

 

Anyway, back to regular Grunge Queen programming.

When we were home visiting my fam last weekend, I snapped a pic of this centrepiece that has slowly been growing over the years at my sis's place.

The do-it-yourselfer Grunge Queen in me loves the simplicity of this: all ya gotta do is drink lotsa wine and then pop the corks in the glass bowl! Then you can take a dive in, pull out a cork, and reminisce over that particular bottle of wine and what was happening in your life when you were drinking it!

Cheers to inventive decor ideas like this!

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Happy Halloween; Live Long & Prosper a la thrift!!

So here's the final thrift/what was in my closet Halloween outfit: Spock. Inspired by the vintage Sarah Coventry pin you see here - which looks freakishly like the Star Trek insignia that used to adorn the retro costumes - I put together a Halloween costume for next to nothing! All I really had to spend was $7.50 for the Spock ears!

I'm trying to stay in character as I know Spock would look serious. Unfortch I couldn't master the whole raising the eyebrow thing that Spock was so famous for.

This outfit was so easy: I already had the short black exercise pants (short pants were KEY for Spock or any male Trekkie!), and the black boots(square toe: vital) I've had for at least a decade. The blue yoga top was bought second-hand at a thrift shop for a couple bucks this past summer. I added blue eyeshadow liner I had already bought at the dollar store to my lids and voila. I didn't have any black eyeliner, otherwise I would have attempted something a little more extreme on the eyebrow front. Didn't have a communicator, but my Blackberry could have done in a pinch. Happy Halloween!!

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Thrifty Halloween

This was me for Halloween last year wearing a thrifty Halloween costume. I was supposed to be Super Girl but my editor joked I could have been Shopping Girl, tee hee.

The outfit was really easy to put together; in fact I used mostly thrifted items I already had, like the wool-cashmere cape, the Italian suede boots, and the disco belt. The only thing I had to 'buy' was the blue skorts, which I found at my local thrift shop for under $5.

 

This year I think I'll build my outfit around one thrifted inspiration: this vintage Sarah Coventry pin I bought a while back for a few dollars.

Doesn't it just SCREAM "Star Trek"??

It really does look like the little badges they used to have on their shirts in the retro, original series.

I could wear it with a short black dress, black tights and black boots and pile on the green eye makeup and black eyeliner and be some sexed up little Trekkie - OR I could do what I find more interesting and wear it with short black pants, black boots, a blue top (that I still need to find) and blue eyeshadow ... and who would I be?? You guessed it! Spock! Or Spock's sis!

I'm sure I could find those pointy ear things at Value Village.

If you're still thinking of Halloween costumes check out the post I did two weeks ago with Value Village costume expert Meg Allan Cole.

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DIY pink at my sis's place

My sis is a chic is cheap Do It Yourself-er!

Like me, she's in the throes of a household clean up and reorg. Her solution for all the pretty art that her kiddies bring home: cork board pieces sticky-taped to the wall, spray-painted pink to boot.

Isn't this adorable? I love it how all the artwork matches or complements the pink!

My sis used that pink spray can on something else. She's been talking about doing something with this ugly metal tray she found in the trash for months now. She finally did it, and I must say the tray looks 50 billion times better! Before, it was just a tarnished old silver tray. Now it's punchy and sassy.

Way to go sis! I love it when my fam inspires me!

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