Giveaway :: The Shine Project

A while back, Ashley contacted me about doing a giveaway. I thought that what she is doing is so great and I am excited to have her here today to tell you about it. Take it away Ashley...

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Have you ever had a nagging feeling that you needed to DO something?

But it seemed so hard, that you just didn't think you could...

I'm Ashley and I created The Shine Project to change the world.

Ya, I said it! I want to change the world. Given the challenge, I know I can't do it alone, but I know that it needs to be done. One person at a time.

I created The Shine Project to motivate people to go after their dreams, while serving others around them.

I make these necklaces so we can have a daily reminder to SHINE. $1 from each necklace goes into the SHINE Scholarship Fund which will be given to an inner city school student in January 2011.

This brings us to my next project. The project that requires a lot more help than I can give. In October of this year, I am throwing a HUGE fundraising event. It's a silent auction sponsored by San Tan Ford, and all proceeds will be going to the scholarship fund. If you have any items that you would be willing to donate, you can email me at ashley.theshineproject@gmail.com

I also have a campaign called CHANGE for CHANGE jars! Throw your leftover change for the next three months in a CHANGE jar, and send the money to the fund in October. My goal is to get 100 people to pledge to raise $100 by October... That's $10,000! Imagine how many lives will be affected by that. If you would like to start your own CHANGE jar, or pledge, please email me... You can find more details on my blog as well. http://www.ashlemieux.blogspot.com/

What's up for grabs?

Today I'm giving away a SHINE necklace to one of you readers!

How To Enter: *Leave me some way to get in touch with you*

Pop by Ashley's blog, say hello and become a follower if you would like to! Leave a comment below telling me that you did so.

Additional Entries: *Please leave a separate comment for each*

1. Help spread the word about this giveaway.

2. Tell me what you are most looking forward to about Fall!

♥elycia

what i'm working on :: amigurumi

On Sunday I got a bit obsessed with amigurumi. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong before and now I can't wait to make tons of adorable little creatures!

haha! I think I am concentrating and trying to have a conversation in that photo.

I am really excited about amigurumi at the moment and I have a cute idea that I want to try out! I think I should be able to make my own pattern by now...2 days is enough time, right? :)

♥elycia

ps. isn't Ivan cute? (not crochet related...but from the same day)

Questions Answered :: Blog Related

Here are some answers to your questions! These are all blog related. I filmed this quite a while ago but hadn't gotten around to posting it yet. I still have more answers to come on other topics. Also I say 'like' a lot. I kind of annoyed myself while editing. So, like, sorry.

Blog Questions - Blog Related from love elycia on Vimeo.

Links for bloggers I have met in real life:
Charity - A Lovely Little World
Astrid - A Girl Named Astrid
Kaylah - The Dainty Squid

♥elycia

my day job

Once in a while I get questions about where I work. I don't talk about my "day job" very often because, well, there are much more exciting things to talk about besides where I work. However, my day job is getting a little more fun and exciting lately so I thought I would tell you a bit about it!

this is me at work!

For about 2 years now I have been working part time with my mom doing the bookkeeping for a bunch of vet clinics. Recently, our clinics have teamed up with Albanese Branding to focus more on branding and marketing. This is were it gets exciting...I have been working with them on the social media aspect! I am in charge of our Twitter account, put together posts and help out with the Facebook page and co-administer the Flickr group. I also get to take photos that they use on the website. I am pretty excited about this kind of work because it is super fun for me.

The Flickr group is especially exciting because I get to share all of my cute Farva and Anakin photos with unsuspecting visitors to the website (the Flickr group streams to the website). I know a lot of you lovely readers have pets that you love so, if you want, I think that you should join the group and add your cute photos! I would love to see your cute pets!

Let me know if you join the Flickr group! Ya! I'm excited!

♥elycia

Our Wedding Part 1 :: The Accessories

I am so beyond excited to share our wedding photos with you. I thought that I would share little details of the wedding separately so that I could talk more about everything! I love accessories so I thought that I would start there. Here we go!

I had the plan to make hair pieces for myself and my bridesmaids but with everything else that I had taken on, I realized that I wasn't going to have time for that project. I am so happy with my decision to "outsource" the job to the lovely Kaelah. Kaelah whipped up these pieces for me and the ladies so quickly and got them in the mail *just* before the mail strike! Phew! We were all so happy to wear a little Hive & Honey on the wedding day.

Kaelah was sweet enough to gift me my headpiece. I love that girl! I knew I wanted a birdcage style veil so I attached some netting to a hair comb and added the lovely fascinator. I was so happy with the way it turned out!

The bridesmaids had slightly smaller pieces and I love the way the yellow looked with their pretty blue dresses.

I didn't wear much jewelry for the wedding, but I really wanted to wear this necklace. It is a simple diamond necklace that Ivan bought for me one Christmas near the beginning of our relationship. I love it.

I made Ivan's boutineer and all of the boys' ties. I love the look of handmade boutineers so I knew I wanted to go that way. I absolutely love the way it turned out!
I decided to make the ties because we couldn't find exactly what we were looking for in any stores. We wanted thin, non-shiny ties so I scouted out some fabric and tried my hand at tie making. I think they turned out super cute!

The bouquets were one of my favourite things about the wedding. I made them out of white fabric, 3 different types for my bouquet and 2 for the bridesmaids. I made mine a bit larger and a little more detailed by adding buttons in the centre of some of the flowers. 

The night before the wedding we had a nail painting party so that all of the girls could paint their nails yellow. I thought yellow nails would look really cute with the blue dresses. I think the combo is really lovely.

I wish I could say that these sweet little gloves were my idea but I must give credit to the lovely lady in the photo above. I love the way they look and they added a cute retro touch.

Oh, I love shoe photos! I originally wanted yellow shoes and finally found some via UrbanOg thanks to my sweet pal cb. I ordered these blue ones as a "backup" because I thought the yellow ones might have been too big. When I tried both pairs on with my dress and saw that the blue was an EXACT match with the bridesmaid dresses, I decided that I had to go with these ones.

I told the bridesmaids to wear whatever shoes they wanted but to try to stick with grey, nude or white. I think it looks really cute that the girls are wearing different shoes. Great choices ladies!

As soon as we started to plan the wedding I requested that Ivan and the boys wear Converse. I personally love my Chucks and I think they look awesome for weddings!

Oh my gosh! This post turned out super long...and it's just accessories! I hope you guys enjoyed and I can't wait to share more with you!

♥elycia

EDIT: I forgot to mention...all photos are by our lovely photographer Kara Lodder!

what i did :: ivan's birthday

As I mentioned, one week ago today was Ivan's birthday. Earlier in the week Ivan's mom had us over for a birthday dinner and got this...

It was a super delicious vegan carrot cake from Cake & Loaf. Nickey even used buttons like she did on our wedding cake! So adorable. And seriously, this cake was so yummy. I can't even...*drool*...ok, I need to stop talking about this.

Luckily today we are on our way to the 'soft' opening (family & friends only) of Cake & Loaf bakery so I will be able to get my vegan baked goods fix shortly. I'm not 100% sure of when the grand opening is but I believe it is sometime in September. If you live in Hamilton (or will be visiting) the bakery is on Dundurn and Homewood. Pop by once they are open (and tell them elycia sent you).

♥elycia

ps. oh yeah, here are some instax photos of the birthday boy on his birthday :)

cute!

5 fave friday

Today I am spending the day at Ivan's work because we are going to a party out this way later tonight. I have plans to get a bunch of drawing done but first...here are some things that I love!

5. Connect Design

I discovered this shop through Sandi's blog (adalou vintage) and I love it! Two of my favourite items are the watch diary and the iPhone DIY case.

I neeeeeeed that case! Immediately, if not sooner.

4. Meredith's super adorable crocheted hot chocolate. You can get it with a little pocket so it can be used as a gift card holder. Meredith! You are a genius!

Also, this...

Um, wow. I love it.

3. Yellow dresses

supayana vintage

decades baltimore

Honey Sweet Dress

2. Dip dyed hair

I love the two tones in Mary's hair. Mary, you are so cute I am basically dying!

Meredith's blue is super pretty too! I love it! Another person killing me with cuteness.

I am currently trying to decide whether to dye the tips of my hair purple-ish blue or so the whole underneath like i did before...

Any votes?

1. This crochet bunting tutorial. love!!!

so pretty.

Well, I'm off to get things done and possibly squeeze in a quick thrift trip. When I say possibly I mean definitely. I hope everyone has a great day!

♥elycia

thrift find :: pyrex and nesting dolls

Ivan and I are in house hunting mode at the moment and along with that comes my favourite part...hunting for things to fill the house with! Last week Ivan was a thrift hero and discovered these lovely pieces.

A whole set of Pyrex mixing bowls in pretty much perfect condition! I love this Spring Blossom pattern too! Oh yes, it was an exciting evening.

On the weekend we went to a Antique/Flea Market and came away with these...

I am so in love. I paid a little more than I would have liked too but I did get them for 50% off so I can't complain too much. I have been looking for a reasonably priced set of nesting dolls for so long! I was pretty pumped to find these ones. They are so adorable.

And, I found a new Polaroid Spectra camera. Just before the wedding my uncle gave me a huge stash of Spectra film and his camera...

...but then when we were visiting Kaylah and Kevin, my camera just decided to stop working! Didn't it know we had big plans for that film! Anyways, I needed a replacement camera and I just found one on Sunday!

As you can see from the photo, this pack of film doesn't have the best colour. But some of the other packs he had turned out looking like new! I'm crossing my fingers for more great packs. (Although I do kind of like this washed out look as well).

Have you made any exciting finds lately?

♥elycia

what i did :: Watson Family Homestead

Last Friday Ivan and I went with my Dad and his sisters to the house they grew up in. This house was built by/for my family in 1852 and was passed down through the generations until my Grandpa sold it in 1981.

The people who bought it then still live there today and they were nice enough to let us come over for a visit.

My dad helped make these stones that formed a path around the side of the house.

Beside the house was (Ivan's favourite part) a huge vegetable garden and a bunch of fruit trees.

We got to peek around inside the house as well. The people living there now had these cool terrariums!

And, probably my favourite part...

This was a little tiny area that my Grandma used as a kitchen. The tiles and the scallops! Oh my gosh, I nearly died. So pretty!

It was really special to be able to see the house that my Dad's family lived in for generations. I loved hearing my Dad and his sisters reminisce about different rooms in the house and little details they remembered. I am so happy that I tagged along for this little adventure.

Do you have any 'family homes' that are still in your family?

♥elycia