last little packages

Just packaged up some gorgeous lil Sparky Jones Accessories for a very supa dupa special order ~ oh la la how absolutely exciting! And since my table is full of wrapping papers, ribbons + frou frou tissue, i thought i'd pretty them up, so they looked extra cute under the Christmas tree! Note the retro sewing pattern for tissue..wink. 

Anyways the other reason for showing this lil Sparky life tidbit, is i've found another setting on my camera that i'm really crushing on right now. I changed a dial here, tweaked a # there, up'd the ISO…and voila, a whole new world opened up. I was getting really frustrated + stumped on the photo's i was taking, i felt like i wasn't really learning or getting better….so what better time than Christmas to play with your  old/new toy! 

winding down...

Well things are starting to wind down here for 2013. I wrapped up my last couple of orders that are heading for their exciting new homes.
I brought out a new lil wallet called 'Hello'….they just make me giggle, i wanted to make an accessory to go with a Sparky carrier or just to be held alone for those quick trips to the shops ~ yep a bit late for the Christmas shoppers, but i just couldn't wait until the new year!
Its started to get very wintery around these parts…so leggings, denim dresses + nooks booties are high on the agenda for lil Miss Bea.
Today it snowed like crazy, right when we were going to look at house #241(i feel like thats how many houses we have looked at to date!), however i did manage to stop along the way to take this quick snapshot. I'm not that fond of the snow…but there is a beauty in its serenity for sure!  And its always nice to have a white christmas, just like in the movies :: giggle.

Bo.ttega Weekend

Well i'm pretty sure i could have sold my outfit 100 times over at the Bo.ttega Christmas Market extravaganza this weekend!!! and everyone love love loved the shoes!
Honestly…it was probably the best market i've done yet, the atmosphere was so fantabulously fun, everyone was happy yet relaxed….and so so so funny. Boy did i ever meet some characters (that's my favourite thing about doing markets, is you get to meet such interesting peeps!) I met fabric addicts, red shoe lovers, Australians, cricket loving English folk with the last name Jones, old people, young people, made some new friends + ran into some familiar faces, and the list could keep going! But i'm sure you get the idea!!

Ahhhhhh, anyways luckily i had a few hats on hand, a couple of Humphreds found a new home and i had made a few lil 'hello' purses (i'll be showing you in the next couple of days) which seemed to put a smile of peoples faces :: they really are quite cute if i do say so myself.

And the outfits, my sunday dress(shown above) was quite the hit, i think about 3 different people asked if they could take a photo…i just had to giggle + say 'well, sure why not!' I had actually made a few O.B Jones belts right before i had shut down over a year ago, and thought well hells its Christmas, they're cute + fun and look festively gorgeous, so i may aswell wear one! Its such a fancy lil obi belt too, it has a bit of a red n' green shimmer on the one side + a playful red gingham on the other…all you have to do is wrap yourself up with a deliciously thick red satin ribbon with a big bow + maybe some red shoes and your done!! (oh i do have 2 left if anyone is interested,..perhaps just send moi an email over at jemima@sparkyjones.ca)
And the best part of being at such a splendiferous event..is being around crafty folk. Its kinda nice to be able to talk about indiepreneur life, learn some new tips or get advice and just to be immersed in a culture that understands…well you! I'm feeling totally re-energized, move over Christmas I'm ready for exciting adventure in the new year!
So here are some of the peeps you should have a look-see into :: Nooks footwear
laaf
Bliss handmade
Kai bags
Suzanne Kruse Jewellery
and so many more!

Delia Jones ~ woolly plum.

I finally dug out the winter box!
When i was doing my wardrobe cleanse, i decided that to feel more 'de-cluttered', that i would have a winter + summer box of clothing….and what a fantabulous idea ~ i just opened up my winter box + it was like free shopping with all these clothes that i love, love love + haven't seen for a while! Some of them i was definitely keeping as i had a feeling my waistline would have to return someday..and boy i'm a glad i could squeeze into this lil number.
A preloved item in a maroony tweed. I would have taken a photo wearing it, but am finding the self-portrait a hard one to accomplish with a DSLR camera (any tips would be appreciated!)

Anyways, so as i was deciding what to wear with my new old tweedy goodness….n' Delia Jones in Woolly Plum was almost jumping out of her box (i found the perfect vintage tin to keep all my Delia Jones in, i'll have to show you asap!) at me.  How excited was I….excited, ecstatic, over the moon, in love, Woolly Plum was the perfect accessory to adorn my pretty lil waistcoat.  I'd tried out a couple o different arrangements, but this one was by far my favourite! So what do you think??

The give ~ away project.

Okay so here is the deal.. 

I have 3 pairs of Betsy Jones earrings to give away! And why is it a project….well because they are perfect lil gift to be passed onto someone that is dear to you! (kinda like a pay it forward, act of kindness thingy!) Yes, i'm making your christmasing life excitingly easier + all you have to do to enter this sweet lil contest is like ...'the Give Away project' post on the Sparky Jones Accessories Facebook page + in the comment section…write your most  f a v o u r i t e  christmas word…..could be ho ho ho or joy or any of those cheery festive words! Now unfortunately it might be a touch late for those international folks, but we might just be able to squeeze in the shipping deadlines to the Canada + the US :: HoooRay! 

 So good luck my friends…..oh so how is the lucky winner chosen?? well for the most fantabulous word of course!!  So be creative...

NB :: Competition will close at 3pm(PST) this afternoon,  so that i can hurry down to the Post Office + ship that cute lil parcel stat!

only when.

Only when you have too much to do, do you find the time to got through your cotton spool bin ~ wink!

This Weekending.

Sleeping Beauty illustration via the Graphics Fairy

Well this weekending, was kinda eventful in a non eventful way.  We really seemed to have a lot on the go, but every time we needed to go out…Baby Bea decided that she desperately needed a nap!  She was a complete Sleeping Beauty! Sweet but very inconvenient ::giggle!.

First up… we were house hunting!….which used to be fun…. but has now turned into a never ending task.  We're not too picky, but finding an appropriate sized house with all the bedrooms somewhat near each other seems to be non- existent around these parts.  We seem to be needing a touch more space, as our little family, sewing areas, doggies and guests from afar, seem to be a bit much for these tiny walls we call our home. 

And it just so happened we had some travelling peeps from Australia coming our way on saturday!

 Yes'm, in this tiny world we live in, my sista's friends from Perth, Australia had some work for a few weeks, in the next town away, so naturally... not really knowing them, but having some long lost connection, we thought ' hey let's catch up!!'  It was a complete vacationy treat for all of us i think, we wined + dined at the Poplar Grove Winery restaurant 'The Vanilla Pod'.   Delicious eats + great chats in Australian accents…loved every minute! 

Sunday brought us a visit with Santa!  It was our first real outting to a complete nutso kiddyfest event…there was  blow up thingys, plastic toys on mass, eats, a Santa + pressies.  Bea was loving it, but as predicted…there were tears on Santa's lap!

So in between the housing, scrumptious food + the santa gymboree,  i managed to do a bit of sewing!  Sparky Jones is going to be at Christmas show  at Bottega farm inn + Studio this weekend coming…so i have a bit of fine tuning to do before then...

Honey Box Blue

Throughout the summer i would often take a drive along a road that was spotted with wineries, orchards +…. honey boxes.  And being the usual way of things…i never seemed to have my camera on me at the right time ~ grrrrr.  Here were these rustic lil busy bee honey making havens in all odd colours like chartreuse, blues + aquas…in between picturesque fruiting trees…would have made the bestest award winning snapshot!

So inspired by these gorgeous honey boxes, i created a Humphred in the same colour scheme!  All i needed was some fabulous woolly goodness....

f a b r i c   h i s t o r y  ::

Chartreuse tweed was always Byrce's favourite.  He had great plans to recover all the sofa seats in his 1960 Airstream trailer, only he had way to much of the stuff!  Lucky for us…there was enough to make a few Humphreds + a couple lil things! Thanks Bryce for over calculating!!

Honey chartreuse on the front, and a bubbly heavier chartreuse tweed on the back, makes for one smart handsome Mr!

All trimmings + handmade bias binding were handcrafted from a most dapper preloved Navy blue home linens

And those buttons….found them at  'Button Crazy'…a business that is totally dedicated to vintage buttons, run by Miss Darlene (you might remember i visited her a lil while back)

Anyways Humphred definitely fits my Mollie Makes, map of warm places + my brown pen quite nicely.  And yes he is currently available in the Sparky Jones Etsy shoppe!