Happy Monday!  It’s starting to feel more and more like Christmas with all the lights going up, decorations in the grocery store and the cooler weather rolling in.  What a wonderful time of the year.

With this wonderful time of the year comes festive parties and get togethers and the need for cute hostess gifts.  Here I bring you what I think is a cute and unique hostess gift or to add to your fireplace mantle for christmas decor!  All of the supplies, minus the spray paint, were bought at Dollarama!  Oh to live in the suburbs…with a Dollarama in close proximity.  When I was in Kelowna I popped in a few times and loved strolling the aisles.  I bought a few nick nacks, including a mug with a sweater.  A few days after my sweater-mug purchase I was scrolling through Oprah’s favourite things and you’ll never guess what one of them was.  Yup.  A sweater-wearing mug.  How cool!  Mine cost $3.00, I think the ones in her magazine were $10.00 and they are exactly the same.  Go get one.

But back to my dollar store hack.  Here is what you need:

 Animals from the toy section, candles in mason jars, and crazy glue (not pictured) are all from Dollarama.  The gold metallic spray paint is from Wal-mart and oh my I have so many ideas of how I will be using the rest of this can.

 Simply spray, let dry, and then crazy glue the animals on the lids.  This probably didn’t need an explanation, but I’m in a chatty mood, and I have no one to talk to.  Jude-dude is sawing logs and Matty-boy is writing a final exam.  It’s just me…and my thoughts…and this blog…and chocolate wafers…and tea in my sweater-mug…I love tea in the winter…

Click here for other creative ways to use dollar store animals. I just love how they go from basic children’s toy to a statement piece!

And a quick update:  The Christmas Artisan Market that I was apart of last weekend was a huge success!  Tray’s Anatomy was very close to selling out and it was a dream come true actually having the chance to sell my creations.  I am so thankful for sweet friends that stopped by to support and for my gorgeous, penguin-sweater-wearing Mama for travelling all the way from Kelowna to help me sell sell sell and babysit.  I just love her.

 xo

Jillian Marie

 Happy Monday!  It’s starting to feel more and more like Christmas with all the lights going up, decorations in the grocery store and the cooler weather rolling in.  What a wonderful time of the year.

With this wonderful time of the year comes festive parties and get togethers and the need for cute hostess gifts.  Here I bring you what I think is a cute and unique hostess gift or to add to your fireplace mantle for christmas decor!  All of the supplies, minus the spray paint, were bought at Dollarama!  Oh to live in the suburbs…with a Dollarama in close proximity.  When I was in Kelowna I popped in a few times and loves strolling the aisles.  I bought a few nick nacks, including a mug with a sweater.  A few days after my sweater-mug purchase I was scrolling through Oprah’s favourite things and you’ll never guess what one of them was.  Yup.  A sweater-wearing mug.  How cool!  Mine cost $3.00, I think the ones in her magazine were $10.00 and they are exactly the same.  Go get one.

But back to my dollar store hack.  Here is what you need:

 Animals from the toy section, candles in mason jars, and crazy glue (not pictured) are all from Dollarama.  The gold metallic spray paint is from Wal-mart and oh my I have so many ideas of how I will be using the rest of this can.

 Simply spray, let dry, and then crazy glue the animals on the lids.  This probably didn’t need an explanation, but I’m in a chatty mood, and I have no one to talk to.  Jude-dude is sawing logs and Matty-boy is writing a final exam.  It’s just me…and my thoughts…and this blog…and chocolate wafers…and tea in my sweater-mug…I love tea in the winter…

Click here for other creative ways of using dollar store animals. I just love how they go from basic children’s toy to a statement piece!

And a quick update:  The Christmas Artisan Market that I was apart of last weekend was a huge success!  Tray’s Anatomy was very close to selling out and it was a dream come true actually having the chance to sell my creations.  I am so thankful for sweet friends that stopped by to support and for my gorgeous, penguin-sweater-wearing Mama for travelling all the way from Kelowna to help me sell sell sell and babysit.  I just love her.

 xo

Jillian Marie

Bob

Let’s talk hair as, recently, I got the chop.  I feel very lucky that my best friend is also my hairstylist.  She is uber talented and blows me away with her creative eye for colours and cuts (she also has an amazing blog, with a must-see giveaway at the moment – click here to check her out!)  I had been trying to grow my hair out in order to hop on the ombré train but with my hair-type – thin and not much of it – this process was proving to take a long time.  By the time my hair would be long enough, I would have been sending Judah off to Kindergarten.   I was also liking how easy it was to throw my hair up in a messy-bun and be done with it for the day.  As a new mom, time in the bathroom is short and sweet, so the messy bun went from a wanna-be hipster look, to my everyday lazy look.  (Now I just let Judah pull off the hipster hair.  After his Dr. Phil doppelgänger phase his hair now only grows on the top, just like every guy living on Main St.)  So, in need of a new do, I started searching Pinterest, and with great joy discovered short hair can totally pull off the ombré look!  I was in shock and awe.  I thought it would look a little ridiculous, or chunky but it actually works!  I texted Kelsey as soon as I discovered it and decided I would get my hair shombré’d.  Short-Ombre.  Spread the word.  Hey, YOLO and FOMO had to start somewhere.

Now, in my limited bathroom time, it takes me 5 minutes to blow-dry and another 5 minutes to flat iron.  It is simple, yet feels chic and with a bolder colour choice makes it my fun new accessory.

And let’s be honest…this is the real scene as these photos were being taken…

Now that I am having fun with my short new do, and Becki is always coming up with something funky when it comes to her long gorgeous locks, we decided to start a new column on the blog in the New Year.  Check back for ‘the long and short of things‘ where we will take turns giving tips and tricks on different ways to style long and short hair.  How fun!

xo

Jillian Marie

ps.  Vancouver friends – less than one week until my craft fair debut!  Come on out and bring your friends!  All details here!