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