The Birthday Sale!

Today marks the first anniversary of the Sophster-Toaster shop! It’s been an exciting year full of ridiculous goals being set and achieved. Timid goals like making my first sale and making my first sale to someone who wasn’t a supportive friend were set early and achieved… eventually. More adventurous goals like being regularly included in treasury collections and actually making a profit were then officially set and achieved after months of constant learning and perpetual improvement. Then recently, on a whim (and pressure from my father-in-law), I set the wondrously unattainable goal of having one of my items featured on the front page of Etsy and was then promptly shocked when it happened… a week later. In a curious attempt to settle once and for all the power (magic?) of setting goals, I started focusing on my shop’s international appeal with the goal of bagging my first international sale. A few weeks later, I was delighted to send three tenderly packed parcels overseas.

None of these feats, goals and exhilarations could have been attained without all of the people who took a minute to look at, love and share the beauty I strive to create everyday. So… to thank all of you lovelies, I’m having a BIG, weekend-long birthday sale to celebrate my first year and thank everyone who helped me achieve my crazy goals. Continue reading

Homemade Pizza Pops

My friend loves everything with the word “pizza” in it, so for his birthday party I decided to make some homemade pizza pops. I started by making the secret family pizza dough recipe the day before and put it in the fridge to age overnight (skipping this step will result in a dough that is tight and difficult to stretch). In the morning I portioned the dough into 3 oz balls,  prepared the ingredients and assembled a some-what organized assembly line.

Assembly area is a more fitting description.

“Assembly area” is a more fitting description.

Continue reading

DIY Saturday IV: Making Curtains II

This week, I finally made curtains for the windows of the front room of my apartment. I’ve lived here for two months now but I was determined to stick to my $40 budget, which meant waiting for my choice fabric to go on sale. Once it did, I purchased six metres to dress two floor-to-ceiling windows.

DSC_0106

Continue reading

How-To: Jell-O Cube Shots

Everybody likes Jell-O shots, you see them and you know that you are going to have fun. Then you try to eat one. You look it over, examining the container to form the best plan of attack. You tip the cup and try to subtly sip it out but it doesn’t move. You wrap your lips around it and try to suck it out, you feel your dignity slipping away faster than the Jell-O. You wait until no one is looking and guide your tongue along the edge of the cup, trying to loosen the surly shot. You scrunch the cup, trying to squeeze it out into your waiting mouth; you get some of it out, but not enough to give up. You have nothing left to do but look your friend in the eye, bear down and shove your whole tongue in there, not caring when the cup slides under your upper lip, reminding everyone of that time your dog smushed his face up against the sliding glass door, but you don’t care, you defeated the jell-O shot!

Continue reading