Making Gift Decorations with Coffee Filters

Thanks for checking out part two of my 'Wrapping Christmas Presents For Our Young Relatives' posts. Yesterday here I showed you the Initialed Gift Tags I made using pages from a trashed book, and today I will show you the flowers I made using coffee filters.Note: these are “crushable” gift toppers, meaning they can be squished and will still look nice. I needed something to decorate these gifts that could withstand being put into a box and mailed. Last year I made these gift tags using vintage Christmas Seals and these Origami Star Decorations that could be flattened to be mailed, and this year I wanted something equally as pretty and practical.Before I proceed I must mention though, that we got all the packages in the mail by yesterday, just in time for the guaranteed be-there-before-Christmas deadline. The task was a tag-team effort, as I did the wrapping and packing up and Nick did the post office runs (yes there were two of them because I wasn't quite ready with one package the first time he went). The poor guy had to stand in line behind a guy who was disrobing most of his clothing and had it all over the floor, trying to pack it into a box to mail somewhere. That was the highlight, among the long waits behind many customers, that only come with mailing things in December. So I guess you could say that 'Nick mailed the parcels in the nick of time, in order to meet the schedule of Saint Nick.'

Making Initialed Gift Tags with Pages from a Trashed Book

Do you save select bits of trash with the thought that one day you'll make something with them? I do, although I have been known to find the stuff I was saving sneaked into the garbage can behind my back at times. And when I do, out it comes again. I promise, one day I will find a use for that stack of berry boxes that I have perched here on the corner of my desk!

Meghan Does a Stand Up Comedy Routine

Last Wednesday Nick and I had the pleasure of seeing our friend, Meghan, on stage performing a comedy routine. I can't tell you how happy I was for her, up there pursuing a dream.

We met 4 years ago at a place we both worked at the time and become immediate friends bonding over our shared love of all things artistic. And as long as I've known her she has talked about her interest in creative writing and story telling. Then this summer she told me about her desire to try stand-up comedy. Being a person who takes action, here we were a few months later enjoying one of her first gigs.

It was held at a club called The Flying Beaver (on Parliament Street near College). While the lighting wasn't the best for picture taking, I'm posting these shots anyway because I just could not miss the chance to write about this happy event.

Cats on the Street

It's pretty easy to get photos of dogs out and about on the streets, as seen in last week's pet related post this, but I find that it is a lot more challenging to get a good shot of a cat. I can't tell you how many times I've spotted one only to have it run away as soon as it sees me. I have tried to follow them but will only go so far, as I don't want anyone catching me slinking around their yard.

So this 'Cats on the Street' post is limited to one live cat and some images of cats I've come upon lately.

(1) I'm glad I got a picture of this cat sticker above when I did, stopping and fumbling to get at my camera out as both my hands were occupied holding heavy grocery bags, because when I passed the spot again a few days later the sticker had been partially peeled off and ruined.

(2) Here are a tiger tee-shirt and a fleece blanket with kittens on it spotted in China Town. It is strange that they are also selling a USA souvenir shirt here in Toronto.

Becoming Grand Again : Sherbourne Street in Toronto

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/sherbourne-street-house-02.jpg" alt="sherbourne-street-house-02" width="640" height="427" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21002 blk-brdr">Here are some photos that I took last month on a street called Sherbourne.