a day in the life of danielle from dinosaur toes

Welcome to the second post in the day in the life series here on the Sadie blog. I'm so excited that the talented Danielle from Dinosaur Toes is sharing a day in the dinosaur toes workshop with us all. Here we go!

my days are pretty uneventful and spent most offen in my pajamas, but i wouldn't trade them for the world because i can't imagine ever enjoying another job so much!

i'm out of bed by 8 and my first order of business is waking up flojo so i can catch up on all the kisses i missed while we were sleeping.  the sun rises and sets on flojo, and my day wouldn't be the same if she weren't with me every minute of it!

once flojo is awake and has done her stretching and we're caught up on kisses, we open all the curtains, water the flowers, watch the birds, and because of the time of the year, sometimes i'll go out and pick a few flowers to have around the house.  the pink flowers are rambling roses that i cut from down in the woods.  chris and i keep saying that we're going to go dig some up so we'll have one in our yard!

a little later in the morning kona and i will walk to the mailboxes and take packages for the mail lady to pick up, or we'll walk up and get the packages she left for me.  depending on how warm it is, we may keep on walking for a while so he can sniff and i can exercise.

once i come back in i get busy making jewelry, taking pictures of jewelry, adjusting pictures, updating my website, and my favorite part...eating!  while i'm working on jewelry at my desk, i keep a drawer on the left side opened as it's flojo's play drawer.  she loves shredding boxes, then tossing the bits around, all while squealing like a little pig.  it's so entertaining, and i find myself putting down whatever it is i may be working on just to watch her!

I love this glimpse into Danielle's day and the beautiful photos she chose to share! I really wish that I lived in my own forest full of rambling roses, too. Be sure to check out Danielle's wonderful blog and the gorgeous Dinosaur Toes shop! And thank you to my lovely friend for sharing! Next week will feature a day in the life of Rebecka from absynthindustries (Sweden). Can't wait!

five friday favourites

rocky top soap shop

the world traveler by happymine

vintage matroyshka kittens by ethanollie

I wanted to start by sharing a few of my recent Etsy favourites with you. First of all, I ordered some soap from the Rocky Top Soap Shop and I love it! Quick shipping, lovely packaging and beautiful soap. I ordered the activated charcoal soap and a sample of cucumber yogurt. (Yes, Jacqui! I found the charcoal soap I was looking for and I've got one for you, too!) I think next time I think I might try the tea soaps. Do you order handmade beauty products from Etsy? Which shops are your favourite?

Next, my friend Jasmine just opened her own Etsy shop, happymine. Check out her fun illustrations and show her some love! There's nothing like a good adorable animal-themed card to make someone's day.

And then (I always seem to find the cat-themed objects) aren't these nesting dolls kind of amazing?

I recently ordered a necklace from one of my favourite shops ever, Dinosaur Toes. Kind of a thesis-motivation present for myself. This chalcedony bullet necklace was tough to resist...next time! I'm super excited for the piece I picked to arrive. I have a great pair of earrings that Danielle made and got my sister a bullet and amethyst necklace for Christmas last year. My favourite thing about Dinosaur Toes bullet necklaces is that Danielle gets the shell casings from her own target practice. Definitely check out her shop and blog!

chalcedony bullet necklace by dinosaur toes

Shall we end with a video to start the weekend off a little early? I think so:

Chad's from Calgary, my adopted hometown. He makes all the music and draws the animations. Awesome. Happy weekend, everyone! News: I'm updating the Sadie shop on Saturday and a day in the life starts on Monday!

let me tell you about my weekend

This post might sound like I'm gushing...because I kind of am right now when I talk about all of the things I'm about to cover. Besides the fact that school is extremely stressful for me right now, I have just had the most amazing weekend that has really helped put things in perspective and has given me motivation to just get 'er done between now and when I hand in my final draft of my thesis paper.

the sadie set up, portobello west

First of all, I did Portobello West this weekend and had a really great time meeting a ton of Vancouverites, talking about the jewelry that I make, and seeing (and tasting!) what other people make. Amazing and so much hard work and fun! Thank you to everyone who cruised our table, stopped to chat, or bought something. Every purchase means a lot and I'm so happy that my work is off to loving homes! And thanks for eating our candy, too...there was no way I wanted to bring all of that home with me tonight!

antique photo from the edmonton antique mall

Last night after the fair ended we went out for dinner with some friends to a restaurant that I'd had recommended to me a long time ago, but I still hadn't made good on my promise to go. Woah! I've been missing out! Check out the size of that dosa. Jeff is pointing at it for scale. And the before and after photos? A little explicit maybe, but I'm pretty proud of how much food we packed away. Saravanaa Bhavan specializes in all vegetarian South Indian cuisine. It's really affordable, central, and delicious. You should really go!

After the craft fair today I swung past my friend Matt's because he finally made good on his end of a trade we made. I gave him a couple of records from my record collection and he made me cookies with pretzels in them. He used pretzel M&Ms, which I think it a brilliant way to make pretzel filled cookies, and I'm definitely enjoying them more than I would enjoy the records I traded! Everybody wins!

AND THEN...I came home and saw this extremely lovely post on Dinosaur Toes. I sent a holy mountain necklace to Danielle as a thank you for all of her support in the first few months of Sadie and certainly had no expectations that she'd share it with her readers! I really love her work, and you should all check out her blog and shop. Her support has meant a lot to me, and if you like what I make, I know you'll like what she makes, too!

One more thing and then, I swear, I'll get back to work (and eating dinner). My very amazing, incredibly awesome babe-of-a-friend Heather just gave birth to her second son! I am so excited to meet him at Christmas and give Heather and Doug and their entire beautiful family a big squeeze (well, not too much squeezing on the baby!). I feel like my family just got a little bigger and the cuteness factor in my life has definitely just been taken up a notch or ten! Congrats a million times over to Heather and Doug and the new big brother. I love you guys!!! I promise you apple doughnuts are in our future!

Thanks to everyone who was part of making my weekend so awesome! I hope that you all had a great weekend, too! Now, back to those CAD drawings for me!

dinosaur toes

Have you visited Dinosaur Toes yet? It's one of my favourite blogs these days and one of my favourite Etsy shops. Danielle's posts are so beautiful, full of gorgeous photos and generous glimpses into her life. Since I live on the west coast, I love getting an insider's tour of east coast life. Dinosaur Toes is not only a blog full of pretty posts! Danielle also makes extremely lovely jewelry, and I can finally say I'm a proud owner of one of her pieces. Check out the wonderful porcupine quill earrings that I got from her shop! After looking all over for the perfect quill jewelry, I purchased these as soon as I saw they'd been posted. They are perfect! Simple and delicate, and super comfortable to wear. You should definitely take a look at her other pieces. I'm currently coveting this necklace. She combines hammered metals, crystals, and other natural materials into truly unique (and did I mention affordable?), elegant pieces. I'm a big fan, and I hope you will be too after checking out the Dinosaur Toes blog and shop!

no. 295 porcupine quill earrings by dinosaur toes

P.S. Do you like my new header? It's a photo of my favourite tree in the neighbourhood this time of year!