Pantone Colour of the Year for 2014

On Dec. 5, 2013 the 2014 Pantone colour of the year was announced. Radiant Orchid has rosy undertones and is a very versatile colour. It will work well with pinks and purples and contrast perfectly with greens, yellows and turquoise. It gives a real sense of a nostalgic spring and soft, relaxed days out on a breezy day. 

This colour will inspire fashion, graphic and interior design worldwide. It has already hit runways and will soon start. 

I absolutely love pantone and how they have centralized colour. There is so much you can learn and take away just by studying and working with colours. 

My only complaint is that after being the successor to Emerald, it is a little bland. I think I may have been expecting something more vibrant and energetic.

What are your opinions of the new 2014 colour? Are you Pantone obsessed like me?

Check out their website here and the press release announing the colour here. 

Gift Wrapping Booth in Toronto-December 14, 2013

I know I haven't been here for quite some time, but I have a few things in the works that I am hoping to be posted sometime within the next few weeks. In the mean time, I wanted to announce that I will be having a gift wrapping booth at the Silk of Paradise Tea-Party on January 14, 2013.

The host, Sundas from Silk of Paradise is showcasing her latest collection will also be treating everyone to cupcakes and tea. I encourage everyone to come out, this will be a hybrid of a great shopping experience with lots of local artisans from Toronto.

Bring any gifts you need wrapped during for either the holidays or just any upcoming birthdays, anniversaries or 'just because'! You can also get anything you purchase at the event wrapped. If you need a wrapping service in Toronto for the holidays, please send me an email and we can arrange for a pick up/drop off and wrapping options.


Here are the prices for the gift wrapping:

Speciality Wrapping:

Small: $3.50 (jewelry box, DVD, etc.)

Medium: $5 (shoe box, board game, etc.)

Large: $5 (small appliance box i.e. toaster, box of dishes, etc.)

Extra-Large: $9+ (varies widely and price will depend on actual size)

Basic Wrapping:

Small: $2 (jewelry box, DVD, etc.)

Medium: $3 (shoe box, board game, etc.)

Large: $4 (small appliance box i.e. toaster, box of dishes, etc.)

Extra-Large: $6+ (varies widely and price will depend on actual size)

The styles of 'specialty' & 'basic' will be posted online over the next few days. Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for the fastest announcements and updates!

The event will take place at the Artscape Youngplace at 180 Shaw street in Liberty Village in Toronto. If you love to shop local in Toronto and support great artisans and small business owners within the city there will definitely be quite the bunch at this event!

The newest product from the EAT LOVE CRAFT shop!

Here is a project I've been working on for some time now. I have created these really cute iPhone case kits. What do you think? Comment below! 

These starter kits come with one ultra thin clear iPhone case and 3 inserts. Each design is made to fit the case and easy to swap out and store. Change your iPhone case often and get it to look super cute without the bulk! 

There is a total of 5 for iPhone 4/4s and 5 for iPhone 5/5s available now. Each product is $12 and can be shipped. Shipping costs will be calculated after I have ben provided a postal code or zip code. 

Please leave a comment if you are interested and I will be contact with you for shipping & payment details.

DIY Workshop: Bracelet Make & Take

On Monday October, 14 2013 Kaamilah Boutique is having an Eid al-adha hennah night. Kaamilah Boutique is a newly opened store which plays host to multiple Muslim-owned businesses in the GTA. 

I will be hosting a Make & Take for beaded bracelet making from 5-10 pm. Come out, have fun, shop and make a bracelet for yourself to take or make a few to give to your friends as gifts for Eid! These bracelets will look great on their own or stacked.  

You can also buy Eid Decor, Halal handmade marshmallows, gummies, artisan soaps which are organic, halal, handmade in Toronto and lots of jewellery, hijabs and clothing. 

Come out and have a great night out, meet new people and make something! 

Hope to see you there!

Happy Crafting

xo

Playing Whimseybox Catchup

It’s been a while since I mentioned anything about these lovely boxes I keep getting every month. I have to say, the excitement I feel when I get one in the mail doesn't seem to go away. Each month I get them, I feel the exact same way. Here are some images I pulled off of the Whimseybox website for a peak.

I will be posting detailed images with what a list of what exactly is included in each box in separate posts. Here are pictures of what comes in the Whimseybox every month. These range from May 2013-September 2013.

I haven't had any complaints from this subscription, aside from the fact that at times I miss a box and then get two at once. I think this only happens with Whimseybox's Canada Shipping times. I have taught myself to forget that I even have a subscription so that when I do get a box, its super exciting!

 If you know anyone that loves this kind of stuff, I think it is the perfect gift. They will always be reminded that it was you who got it for them. More points for you!

Enjoy & Happy Crafting!

xo

 

Finally Back From my Unannounced Hiatus.

Hello Everyone,

Firstly,  I would like to apologize for my absence over the past two months as well as my lack of posts over the months before that. I am finally finished school and am now a month into my internship (which I am loving!) I had such a great summer, I have tons of small projects I worked on that I will be sharing soon as well as new DIYs and workshops that will be coming up in the next few months or so. 

My latest DIY project were helping a friend with her bridal shower. I think that there are tons of Bridal Shower DIY ideas that are easy to do and great for a budget. I made some do-it-yourself pearl bracelets as favours for a friend's shower, I packaged them in a very cute way by wrapping them in white tissue paper, putting a them in clear plastic boxes, layering that with half of a four inch doily and some white ribbon. I garnished the top off with a white gold-tipped goose feather. 

To see how I made these:

DIY: Colour Block Ring or Washi Tape Holder

Hi all! 

So about three weeks ago I made a trip to the Target Canada dollar section. I love this section of the store because I can find the cutest things for super cheap. I think the best days to go are when they are doing a turn around of season and they put up the new things. I am pretty sure these things go fast! The last time I went however, it seemed like they still had this ring holder in stock, so I would go to target and grab one for this DIY colour block ring holder. Although this is a ring holder, I used mine to hold my washi tape and glitter tape. 

Colour blocking is a trend that has been going on for a while, and lately everything gold has also been everywhere. I decided to take both those trends and put them together to create a really cute ring holder that can be set aside from the generic colours available at target. This is an easy and cheap DIY and costs less than $5. It cost me a total of $1 because I already had spray paint on hand (from this project) . You can make this in any spray paint colour, especially if you want to know what to do with leftover spray paint from another project. 

Click through for directions. 

DIY Mason Jar Herb Planters

Mason jars and chalkboard paint? Yes! I have been working on this project for quite sometime (it only takes a few hours) because I was waiting for my pasta sauce jars to empty. I also wanted to make sure I did this project on a day when I was okay to get a little dirty! 

If you have always wanted to own a plant without killing it, this is the right step to take! I am a pretty forgetful person if I don't remember to write things down. That is a major reason why I don't tend to keep plants in my house. I made sure that if I was going to try and take care of some, they should be easy plants to take of and maintain. These are the best plants to have in an apartment. Growing herbs in your apartment is very easy and does not take a lot of space. 

Planting herbs is cheap (I got each of mine for about $3) and you can get them when they are already pretty grown so that way if you're impatient, like me, you can already see the green! I made sure to keep the herbs in a place where I could see everyday so I was reminded to take care of them. At first, I kept them on my desk where I crafted with a small dish at the bottom. After replanting one of my herbs into the Mason jar, I decided to wait until I had enough jars for the rest. It was a messy task, but I enjoyed every second.

Instruction after the break. 

Ramadan 2013: Slow it down

This post will be a little different then my usual ones. I hope that you enjoy reading it, and please comment if you have any questions or feedback! I wanted to give my thoughts on prayer which occurred to me while I was in the midst of my last prayer. I don't know if I could call this advice, I just want to put this out there because I believe that at least even one person can relate. 

Photo Credit: Tavila Disha Haque. July 22, 2012

I hope this does not get any negative backlash, but I thought I would share something that I experienced today while praying Taraweeh Salah.

I usually pray quickly, as if it is a task on a to-do list, something that just has to be done because we were told. I have been doing that for a really long time, but today I prayed differently. I decided to clear my mind, pray with a little more consciousness, really get into the heart of actually praying and taking my time to do so. And let me tell you, it felt great at the end, very rewarding.

Whenever I finish a yoga session, I hear a lot of people saying that they feel so great and have this sense of a 'rewarding feeling' when they leave. I am definitely guilty of saying it myself,  I really do feel that way. Today, after praying, I felt that same way. I know that some people may not agree with my thought process on this one, but it's worked for me so I know it will work for at least one other person out there.

I took what I am told at yoga and applied to to praying my last Salah of the day. I decided that today, even though I was a bit tired, I could take my time and pray. While starting to pray, I decided to clear my head and make myself understand that my list of things I have to do the next day will still be there when I am done. I prayed at my pace. What was I really rushing for anyway? All I planned on doing after praying was just playing games on my phone and really, that could wait.

I told myself I will focus on ensuring that I do three things. I will clear my head while praying, be in the present and not think about all the things I have to do later, those could be left aside and picked up once I was done. I also made sure to sit after praying and use that time to supplicate and make Dua. There have been countless times where I have prayed and then got up and finished. I didn't even make any Dua after spending all that time praying. All I had to do is sit there and ask for anything I am in need of and be thankful for what I have. After I finished praying, I did just that, I got myself to sit for a while longer and appreciate what I have and supplicate. When you finish yoga, you are told to stay when it's done, and try to push yourself to stay a little while longer. This last part lets you cool down and end in a relaxing way. I felt this same sensation of relaxation when I was done. I left the prayer mat feeling rewarded and very pleased with how I had spent my 45 minutes.

Now I understand that this is the way that we have been told to pray, but many of us forget that. We are all busy, have things to do and places to be. When I can take the time out to go commute to my yoga class, spend two hours there and commute back home, I am sure that I am not too busy to spend a little more time and effort into praying.

I know this post is a little different than usual, but I really felt like I should share it and possibly inspire at least one other person. I felt so good at the end and hope that others can feel this way after praying as well. Remember that you will never have time for anything if you don't make it.

-Tasneem

Foldable.Me

When I heard about Foldable Me I got really excited and pumped about this mini paper craft. I put it together in a few minutes and it's had a lasting impression on anyone who's seen it. The first words my siblings said were something like, 'Woah, that is so cool" and asked where I got it. Foldable Me was a Kickstarter funded project and the concept was great enough to be funded within a few days with about 1000% of their intended goal. 

I finally got a chance to put mine together and had some fun placing it in different places within my house. Before I got my order, I was able to make myself similar to how you would make a nintendo wii mii character. It was a fun process choosing from tons of eyes, noses, outfits and more! I decided to build it when I had a good amount of time to play with it (I know, I know...)

Foldable Me offeres free shipping internationally and you can get and make your own mini right here!

Here is my little Foldable Me just chillin' and Hangin' out in my favourite spots. If I could shrink down a la magic school bus, this is probably where I would go. 

This is probably how it would feel to chill in a mason jar, and yes I have a pretty good collection of mason jars. (don't judge me...)

 Here is me, almost born

 Here is me just hanging out with my crafting supplies

 Here is me just chillin' on my typewriter

and finally, who would't want their own #ootd shot?

**This is a sponsored post. Regardless, I will and have only recommended products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. All opinions are my own.

DIY: Canada Day BBQ Inspiration

Hope everyone had a great Canada Day or Fourth of July! I had a blast making this BBQ detailed and coordinated to get into the festive mood! The day started off cloudy, but it turned out to be nice and hot during the evening and we ended with doing some fun fireworks and sparklers! Here are some photos from the day with some instructions for DIY after the break.

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To see how I coordinated everything

Ideacity 2013

Last week I was privileged enough to be able to attend Ideacity in Toronto. If you are following me on twitter, you would have seen me constantly updating my feed throughout the three days. Ideacity is very similar to TED talks. A round up of inspiring thought leaders coming together to listen and learn about new things. I loved what I saw there and was very inspired by the presenters that were my age, who were conducting innovative research  that will better society. Aside from paper, glitter and other crafting menagerie, I love technology. I grew up fixing computers, extracting data from hard drives and working in the mobile phone industry. I am always excited to get the newest gadgets and latest updates on my devices. Being able to attend this conference allowed me to tap into this part of my hobby list. I could have watched how the 3D printer works all day!

 I was really excited to learn from all the speakers that were attending the event. I couldn't wait to learn about all the new technologies that are being worked on behind closed doors in labs and studios all around the world. The sorts of things that people see for the future and the depth of research that has gone into these projects is astounding.  research that will better society. A few projects really stood out to me and I thought id share that here
The ones that are in the top of my head are:

• The Cardboard Bicycle 
• The Flying Car 
• Vacuum Tube Travel 

The cardboard bike is a given. It's the closest thing to paper and its just SO COOL. It was inspired by another cardboard project that the inventor had created for someone. He thought that if the technology could work for that, it could work for something else. The great thing about the cardboard bike is that it could withhold a lot of weight, it is coated in a thin resin so it is waterproof and it is very cheaply produced. The only parts that are not cardboard are the brakes and the chain, however, the chain is not metal, but a thick plastic, so say goodbye to your dress getting caught! 

It is the perfect solution to affordable bikes that can be used by everyone, and are great to send to third world countries where something as simple as a bike can change lives.

The flying car's introduction was given with The Jetson's theme song. Everyone has always looked into the future and thought of flying cars and its about time that they are finally here. This car was shown with a video of a working model that was on a runway ready for flying. It showed the car/plan gaining momentum and finally taking off. The video shows the enthusiastic team who are celebrating with loud screams and whoops as they see the project come to life! Their goal is to eventually have something like this in everyones garage, able to open the wings from the sides so they can be tucked back it. They also want to make sure they can get it to fly off straight up in a vertical motion instead of diagonally like planes do now. They have brought these prototypes to trade showed and already have a lot of people interested in purchasing them. I really hope I am able to see this available on the market in the future!

Lastly, The transportation section presented the vacuum tube travel system. This Transportation system makes it possible to travel from Toronto to Beijing in less than two hours for approx. $100 or so.If that is not mind blowing for you, then I don't know what is!It can travel from 350 mph locally and 4000mph internationally. The ET3 system is very futuristic looking, and at the moment they have a working prototype. The tube systems look similar to ancient roman aqueducts in design and would run up above the ground the same way. I would head onto their website to get some more info on this amazing technology. 

I hope everyone can see how awesome these new technologies are and why I am so excited over them! If you can dream it, you can make it. I saw this motto in real time while at Ideacity 2013 and would love the chance to attend in the future! 

Follow me on BlogLovin!

As tons of bloggers know, Google Reader is shutting down on the upcoming Monday. I have been using a mix of the Reader and Bloglovin' for some time now and I love the way that Bloglovin' works. It has an app for the iPhone and iPad, you can set up weekly or daily emails for your feed and it let's you favourite posts so you can go back to them later. 

I used the Bloglovin' tool to import my existing list on Google Reader into the new platform. I actually feel like I am getting more out of my list and reading my blog roll. Having a website that puts all your favourite blogs together into a comprehensive list is pretty handy. You can also organize your blogs into categories within this reader platform which is really handy when you're someone like me who has a whole array of hobbies, ranging from jewelry making, scrapbooking, home decor and even gardening! You also get a preview with images for each feed that helps you decide weather you want to keep reading or not. 

I would definitely recommend Bloglovin' if you are looking for something to replace your Google Reader feed. There are a few other sites and apps that can be used to bookmark blogs. You can use Pocket, Digg, Feedly etc. 

If you follow alot of blogs I would say sign up for a Reader replacement now! Make sure to follow me on your new weapon of choice. Click here to Follow me on Bloglovin'. I also have a Twitter, Instagram(@dasootas) and Facebook account that I update almost daily with things I'm working on as we'll as things from my personal life! Check out the right hand sidebar for links to these pages! 

I should have a DIY post coming up soon!

Happy Crafting!

xo

*Bloglovin Image Credit

April 2013 Whimseybox Content (Finally!)

This box made me really excited as soon as I opened it. It has everything I need to make my own lip balm. I will probably actually use this stuff like, tonight, instead of hoarding it. 

This Months kit included:

• 3 tins
• 3 Popsicle sticks
• 2 tube of peppermint essential oil
• 1 squirter thingie (for the oil)
• 1 bag of carnauba wax 
• 1 bottle of castor oil
• 1 Metre of pink ribbon
• 1 5x7 print

 

 More photos

DIY: 'Paris is Always a Good Idea' Pillow + Free SVG Download

I am always up to help friends when needed and its no different when it's in the crafting department. I mean, heck, I love this stuff, I live for it. As soon as she told me what she wanted made I got the process in my mind and knew I could use it for a DIY so it was a win-win situation.

All over Tumblr you can find the 'Paris is Always a Good Idea' Pillow. Since we could't find it anywhere else, Doing it Yourself was the next best option! 

I loved how this pillow turned out. It makes me want to just make burlap pillows all day. I used an electronic cutting machine for the stencil. An alternative to the Silhouette Cameo is simply a print out and an X-acto knife. 

(Please excuse the photos, in all honestly I was too excited to get my real camera!)

A Paper Store & Organized Weddings

I spent my Sunday in Kensington Market and had such a lovely day. Each time I am in the area I make sure I go down to Kid Icarus. Kid Icarus is a screen-printing shop in Toronto that has now turned into a full fledged gifts and stationary shop as well. 

They also offer screen printing workshops in Toronto. I took a class while I was in my undergrad and the owner of kid Icarus had come to give us screen printing lessons for only $10 or something that was really cheap. I am so glad that I took the class and got to know this lovely establishment. It has gone from being a tiny little store on Nassau to a nice large apace on Augusta. As I walked around the charming little store (while I tried really hard to not touch things, and even harder to not buy too much) I came across a book titled 'handmade weddings.' And I fought all my might to not purchase it. I love handmade (obviously) and know that if I ever get married I will be taking the handmade route for sure. I can't wait to plan, organize, create and finally put together such an event. All that crafting will be so lovely! 

If there is one thing you should know about me, it's that I absolutely love weddings. I love the celebration of love anytime and weddings are always such great events where everyone is happy, celebrating and loving. Also love putting events together and planning to the tiniest details. 

Pinterest User Types. Which one are you?

Last week I posted about the strategic way of using Pinterest. I left you guys with a list of the typical Pintrest User. I have amalgamated a list of seven and will be explaining these further in this second and final post about Pintrest users and usage. 

So once again, to recap, here is the list:

1.The Liker

2.The Repinner

3.The Organizer

4.The Creator

5.The Curator

6.The Explorer

7.The Home Pager

1

1

11.The Liker: This liker is the kind of person that really just scrolls down the 'explore' menu. This user is the one who does not really follow anyone, does not make or use the boards and really just uses the social media platform in a gallery type style. The Liker is constantly liking photos, not really clicking through to the original source unless they are highly interested. They also have a ton of likes collected on their like page but don't really check it, its messy and unorganized. If at any point they do check it, it is because they remembered that they 'liked this on Pinterest once.' 

2.The Repinner: This is the person who scrolls through the explore menu and saves the things that they like for later by repinning. This person uses the default boards on Pinterest and just repins to fit into one of the already-provided categories. They are willing to go the extra length to save what they like, and organize it in some type of broad way. They may go back to their pins to recall something that they once had pinned, but they will have a harder time looking for it because they have a smaller amount of boards to house a larger amount of pins

3.The Organizer: This is me. I am an organizer. I repin, I organize and I have many boards so that I can organize as exactly as possibly. I have a board for each category that I put together. I curate through those who I am following and through the explore menu. At times, I repin from blogs and my own blog, but not as often as I would like to. I create each board very specifically to make sure that I am not throwing together two categories into one. I do have one or two boards that are broader categories for things that fall under similar things but I still need to organize. Think of that junk drawer you have (or Friends' Monica and her mess closet!)

4. The Creator: This is the pinner that uses Pinterest to put up their own content. They are really good at getting their content repinned by sharing it on other social media, by having an active account. They have stuff repinned and liked as well, but their main focus is the push of their own content. 

5.The Curator:This is the pinner who goes around on blogs, different websites and searches all over the internet for cool things that could they could pin that appeal to them. Most of them are also organizers, they create specific boards for things to be put on and each thing they choose creates a sense of style that their account possesses. Content curation is something that is an art and alot of corporate accounts 

6. The Explorer: This type of user is similar to the liker. They browse. They look through the explore menu, they don't like things or pin things. They have an account just for the use of being able to browse through the different categories in the Pintrest explore menu. 

7. The Home Pager: This pinner follows people, they don't do the work on their own. The people they follow have the boards organized the same way they want and they only browse through their home page. They find people to follow through blogs, twitter and Instagram. Usually these are blogger's accounts who have already built up their audience. 

After reading through these descriptions, which pinner type do you fall under? Did you think you were different prior to reading this? Are there any types that should be added together?

That's it for now!

Happy Crafting.

xo