Cigar Trinket Boxes

I've not usually been much of a cigar box fan to be honest. I find that many of the Cuban ones are a little too cheesy for me, not because they actually are I don't think, but have become so due to an almost touristy obsession with them. In saying that, awhile back we stumbled upon a collection of Danish cigar boxes that I completely fell in love with. They're a little less slick, covered in beautiful vintage-y labels and illustrations of leaping stags. Both Richard and I have been using some for our own trinket holding purposes, but we have decided to list some in the shop so that you can have some of your very own!


There will be more, in more shapes, sizes and fancy illustrations, in the shop on Monday.

I hope you're all having a lovely start to your weekend, its amazingly hot here and I plan to soak it up!

xo

Two loves.

Rearranging and deep cleaning is almost complete, and I'm loving the space we've created. Why we didn't have our furniture this way in the first place I'll never know. Our little apartment looks so much lighter and bigger!

So although it's not quite complete, I couldn't pass by these chrysanthemum's I saw when walking home. The look much more pink in these photos that in real life, where they are an almost lilac. I love how washed out the colour is, so romantic.

Love number 2, biscuits. They're a recipe on the fridge type of thing, although I think by now its imprinted on my brain. Thankfully it is on the fridge though, because Richard decided to whip these up to accompany our dinner tonight. Yum!

There is going to be a shop update tomorrow (finally!), so I'll keep you posted!

Pick a card...

I can't believe it's the end of the weekend already! I'm rather spoiled really, as I usually don't work Monday's, but tomorrow I will be with the kidlets and this two day weekend is just not cutting it. Ha! It was lovely though, so sunny! I fully intended to have stuff ready for a small shop update tomorrow, but instead I got on this crazy cleaning kick which lead to rearranging furniture around 11pm last night. I always love it at the time, but then get over it about half way through...right about the time that all my crap is strewn all over the floor and I can no longer walk. Damn. I am loving our new living/dining room though, I'll just love it even more when I can see the floor.


We did manage to rustle up some pretty magnets in between cleaning though, and they should be in the shop (along with the letter brooches and some beautiful vintage danish cigar boxes for keeping trinkets) by mid-week I promise. They're made from some lovely old playing cards we've been collecting and will be sold in little sampler packs to adorn your fridges!

Enjoy your start to the week, I hope Monday goes easy on you!

xo

Thank you, thank you.

It is no secret that I love Etsy. A lot. Ever since an internet friend showed me her little bird portrait pendants (on wood no less, so cute! If only I could find her again now....where are you friend?) and I didn't really get how it worked, I have been smitten with the handmade wonderland.

Oh, how fun to work here!

Now since opening our store, we have both been completely overwhelmed with the amount of support we have received from them. As we package things up and get ready to head down to the post office to ship off our first batch of orders (so exciting! I love the wrapping part!), I wanted to express our gratitude to all those who have chosen our products for gift guides and front pages, or who have sent us messages of encouragement and the like. We have been totally overwhelmed and humbled by how people have responded to our products. We knew that we really loved them, were proud of them and most importantly (I think) enjoyed making them, but you never really know what others are going to think, you know? So, a big thank you to Modish, decor8, oh, hello friend,(keep an eye on this one, I have a feeling there could be a Bliss in a Teacup giveaway in the works for later in the year) Ez of Creature Comforts and the Etsy staff for all your lovely words and encouragement. It is very, very much appreciated!

Letter Brooches and technical difficulties.

I can't tell you how good the weather has been here lately, so lovely and sunny! I've been spending lots of time at the park or beach, picking up seedlings and getting excited about summer fruit (seeing a giant half barrel of cherries at the market today was a beautiful thing!). We've also been busy making some more treats and filling orders for the store and I was so happy to have what I thought would be perfect lighting to photograph our new Letter Brooches last night. Apparently not though, as it turned out these are the hardest things to catch on (digital) film! They're little glass tiles in rather light shades of blue and pink, and every time I thought I would have a shot and snap it they somehow just turned to being fluro white. Argh! Not soft and dreamy romantical like I had envisioned. We tried various backgrounds, eventually deciding white would work best so thank goodness for Richard's Value Village wedding shirt. It was too funny seeing him in a shirt and tie (he's more of a t-shirt and cardy, or plaid shirt kinda guy), especially as it had been taken in from being rather large so was hugely long on him and paired with old cargo's it looked like he was off to a ska concert, haha.

Anyway, we're both really happy with them and I'm loving the colours. I also love that there is a rather odd selection of letters (these were just found second hand at a local store), lots of x's and z's. So, if we don't have the initial for your name, but you're a xylophone player or zebra enthusiast then we still have a brooch for you! They will be in the shop tomorrow with some other treats like pretty magnets made from vintage floral playing cards and the like!

Alright, it is the start of my weekend so I intend to bake something very chocolatey, eat ice cream (thank you Amber!) and watch movies. Love it.

It's been a good year.

Today was our one year anniversary. On one hand, time seems to have flown by, while on the other it almost seems hard to remember a time before Richard and I were together. We exchanged cards and gifts this evening over cupcakes, and to our surprise we had both written almost identical messages! Both started with some kind of variation on the classic 'Can you believe its been a year?' sentiment, and then went on to say how we had never been more content or happy in our lives.

I consider myself truly lucky to be able to spend each day with my best friend, that I am in an equal, respectful, loving, creative and fun relationship.

I love him.

Happy Birthday Queen Victoria

Goodness, she looks serious. Really, it is her birthday so perhaps we could've gotten a bit of a smile? Anyway, we've decided to celebrate (the long weekend also..) by having a wee sale over at the shop. We've taken $5 off our embroidery hoop chalkboards, one of which is featured in the Graduation Gifts gift guide!

We've also adjusted the shipping costs on our Writing Slates, as apparently I'd done some crazy calculating and they were listed at about double the real costs! So sorry!

Enjoy your weekend!

xo

Chin up.

I've been off work sick this week, yet again. It feels like I have constantly been sick since Winter started and I am most definitely over it. Seriously, every bug loves to come and infect me, so gross. Aside from generally just feeling gross, I hate missing out on things when I'm sick. I always try getting back to real life before I'm ready and then just end up straight back in bed. So today I'm taking it easy, watching movies (Heathers!) and of course browsing the wonderland that is the internet for things to brighten up my day.

via The English Muse

I recently discovered a lovely blog, The English Muse, written by Tina who also is a celebrity columnist for the Los Angeles Times. To be fair, she really discovered me first, and not only is she super friendly but she also takes the most beautiful photos. I love, love her polariods of LA life, flea markets, Sunset Blvd and roses from her garden...I could go on. I recommend going over to take a peek for yourselves.

Melissa Pavlovic of Poodlebreath was at Got Craft? a few weeks back and I was totally blown away by her brooches, pendants and other ceramic beauties (check out this wall decor, love it). They are beautiful and otherworldy. I really love how she uses colour and a disembodied taxidermy type feel to create something ethereal and lovely (who would've thought I'd type 'disembodied taxidermy' and 'lovely' in one sentence).

And finally, you wouldn't know it by looking outside today, but Summer is on its way and that means picnics, camping trips, lake swimming, (vegetarian) balcony barbeque's and berry picking.

Picnic at Hardy Dam, 1945 via Joey Harrison

Speaking of picnics, this is the year that I will introduce Canada to these treats which in my mind are the perfect picnic food.

Mmm, lamingtons. Although these also come in a chocolate flavour, I surprisingly (being as obsessed with chocolate as I am) love the strawberry kind the best and without cream....or just a hint. Yum!

Have your cake and eat it too.

via RCoshow

Thank you all for your congrats, birthday wishes and entries into our giveaway! It was so much fun reading all your comments, I was so surprised to see so many different flavours of cakes! I did love that almost all of you basically said that you just love cake, period. Haha, so true. Every time a new comment came in, I became more and more hungry/desperate for cake. Anabela, you had me at buttercream. I also must say that one of my favourite comment quotes was from Kate at Greedy For Colour...

'I think this is the hardest question I could be asked food-wise but I think a carrot cake with cream cheese icing... but the carrot cake is only there to act as a ladle for the icing'

Haha, so so true.

I guess I should really get on with the results (thank you random.org)! I'm actually doing this as I type, all very exciting. The winners are...numbers 4 & 7, Anabela and Lili! I will be emailing you both to get address info, slate/earring preferences and such.

Like I said, I had lots of fun doing this, and as I have never won a giveaway (and am always secretly bummed) really I just wanted everyone to win. Which means I will for sure be doing some more giveaways soon!

Oh, and look! We were lucky enough to be featured on the front page on Saturday. Not a bad birthday present for a new wee shop.

Right, so I best get back to work. I have some Spring Blossom earrings to make for Lucky Rooster and a movie to watch. I hope you're all enjoying a lovely start to your week!

xx

Birthday

I love birthdays, and although it is a little strange being so far away from friends and family on days like this, cupcakes and a picnic by the beach definitely make up for it. Sadly, Richard is studying for a big Stats (eww) test tomorrow. I know, why would you schedule an exam for a Sunday? Crazy talk. Anyway, he was rather tied up with studying so Amber and I trotted off to grab some yummy food and sit and chat on the grass. She even bought me that sweet lemon cupcake up there, so so good. The frosting!!

Vancouver really turned it up today, it was beautiful down at Kits Beach, although I felt rather conspicuously more clothed than most people there. We found the best chickpea salad to snack on (as you may have noticed, we forgot forks...its not at all that Amber has no manners. Really, I don't think either of us has any problem with eating with our hands, haha) while we people watched and talked doula, and tried to will all the cute dogs to come over and visit with us.

Excitingly, I came home to find that Richard had put aside the books for a bit to make me this delicious flourless chocolate almond cake. Fancy, I know. It even has espresso and rum in it! Ooh la la. I am actually eating some right now, in bed with chamomile tea. How perfect is that?

Giveaway! (pass it on)

Inspiration Hoop

I'm back! So sorry for staying away for so long! Richard and I have been working hard on making products and taking photos for our little shop, and I'm really excited to announce that it's ready! Head on over there for chalkboards, pin boards, writing slates and spring blossom earrings! Here are a few sneak peeks...

Writing Slate - Politeness edition

Spring Blossom earrings

Embroidery hoop chalkboard - cameo edition

Writing Slate - Owl

Working together on these was a lot of fun and we're both rather proud of our work. I definitely feel pretty lucky to have a husband that also doubles as partner in crafty-crime! We got to spend last weekend at Got Craft?, Vancouver's most fantastic indie craft fair, meeting blog readers, catching up with friends and getting some positive feedback on our products. I wish I had photos of our stall, but partly I forgot and partly I just could not make the lighting work for me.

I do, however, have a quick shot of us bringing our wares home...and a small friend that came back with us!

While at Got Craft, I got to meet up with a blog friend of mine, Kate from Tinywarbler. I have been dreaming about owning one of her amazing soft toys for some time now, so I was rather excited when she mentioned doing a trade! She is just lovely also, funny how the internet brings people together! I would highly recommend going to take a peek at her shop over here.

Aaanyway....giveaway! Because I just passed my first 100 posts, because we survived our first craft fair, because our shop is open for business, because it is my birthday tomorrow....and because we love you all (hello new readers!) we would like to spread a bit of of the Bliss In A Teacup love and excitement. Two lucky readers will receive a writing slate (check the shop to decide which one you love best) of their choice, a pair of spring blossom earrings and some other treats we'll rustle up.

All you have to do is leave a comment, and because I'm feeling birthay-ish, tell me about your favourite flavour of cake. I'll draw 2 winners at random on Sunday evening pacific standard time (fancy, right?).

*Edit: The giveaway will end at 12am PST - hurry, hurry!

Happy weekend!

xx