Friday Friends: ALL The Owls

I have a lot of owls. I love them, I can't get enough of them.
When I visited my grandmother's house when I was young I always admired a mirror in my aunt's old bedroom. I don't actually know who the mirror belongs to, but I do hope one day it will be mine. The mirror has a big purple owl painted on it. You can still see the mirror, but the majority of the space is occupied by that big-eyed owl.

Since then, owls sort of crept out of popularity. I still remember loving that mirror, and looking at it in the bedroom every time I would visit.

Recently the surge of owl popularity has risen again, and I eagerly acquired every owl item that I fancied. I've since gotten a lot of owls in my possession, but of course not nearly enough. I got lucky to find that Garden Works was in an owl sort of mood this past Christmas, and I quickly stocked up on lots of fun owl friends.

Here are photos of all the owls I own (minus a few if I've forgotten them) numbered to show where they came from.

1. Little Owlets (Kiwi on the left, me on the right) from Urban Outfitters. These were bought online. They came in identical boxes, so you'd never know which owl you got until you opened it! When Kiwi left at the end of August last year, he took me (the green one) with him as a little reminder. I got to keep the gray one. They kept us company while we were apart.
2. Door hanging owl! Brought home for me from Hawaii by my very good friend (who knows about my owl obsession)
3. Owl catch-all. Another Urban Outfitters purchase. I went a little crazy one day and bought a lot of things online for when I moved out on my own.
4. Tiny owl necklace from Suzi Shier. My mom bought me this one.
5. Odd gold owl figure. Thrifted.
6. One of the owls from Garden Works sold as Christmas decor. I had a woodland tree theme, and stuck owls, butterflies, twigs and birds in the branches. This fluffy guy was one of them.
7. Twig owl, another one from Garden Works. He sits in my peace lily for now.
8. Rhinestone owl necklace from Forever 21. Kiwi bought this for me.
9. Two small porcelain owl place card holders from Garden Works (on sale after Christmas.)
10. Owl ring from Urban Outfitters. The first thing I ever bought from them.
11. Owl piggy-bank from Urban Outfitters. Love the colour most of all!
12. Sleepy owl painted on a log cut from a Christmas tree. I painted it myself.
13. Gold owl necklace on a long chain from Suzy Shier, another one my mom bought me.
14. White fluffy owl from Garden Works (also part of my tree decor.)
15. Three owl necklace. Gorgeous sparkly owls! This one, Kiwi's sister bought for me and mailed it from New Zealand. I get thousands of compliments on it.
16. Big hollow owl necklace with really long chain, from Urban Planet. 
17. Strange owl carving out of soapstone, it looks like. Thrifted.

Hopefully more owls will get to be added to my collection. I'm thinking of taking up macrame just for the owl benefits. 

-Strawberry

Thrifty Thursday

My friend Kate and I got together yesterday to donate blood. The last time we donated blood together (it was my first time) we had gone thrifting and ate McDonalds before going to give blood. Whatever lucky soul gets our blood will be on a serious sugar high for a while after the transfusion. We decided we would make it a little tradition to have a big pig-out at McD's, donate blood and go thrifting. Well I guess we ate a little too close to the donation, because Kate didn't feel very well after. After eating a lot of cookies, we hit up our local Value Village.

Here are some of the treasures we found.

A blue and pink metal tin, which I hope to fill with wax and make into a candle. I am searching for interesting tins so I can do them all at once. I now have two.
A little glass apothecary jar. I really loved it for the lid which I think is cute. I don't know what I'll put it in yet, but it might belong in my bathroom.

An odd but funny, shiny quail picture. It's not very big, but I enjoyed the 70's style and think it will fit into our new home which is all wood paneling. (If she confirms, anyway) 

 

I knew as soon as I saw this one that I had to have it. I love the 3-dimensionality of this piece. The back looks as though it might be moldy, but I can replace the image if it looks like it might be dangerous. I was also thinking about scraping off the bristly image and drawing my own, maybe a mucha-style drawing. I'm not sure, I think I like it too much the way it is. 

I also bought a gorgeous, long, black, embroidered Chinese coat. It was quite expensive for a thrift store purchase, but I couldn't pass it by. I have two similar coats but they are neither as long or as ornate. I thought it might do well as a spring/summer coat.

Kate picked up this masterpiece. Kate is beautifully displaying it here, Vana White style. I really enjoy the fat baby penguin. I have a feeling Kate and I's houses are going to look very similar once she moves out. If we keep up these trips it will, anyway.

-Strawberry

Cookie Jar Treasure

Yesterday my landlords gave me my mail (and also tried to fix the blown fuse in my suite unsuccessfully and unknowledgeably). A big box made me squeal as I knew what was inside. My mushroom cookie jar! I found it on etsy while looking for a similar owl cookie jar from modern family. Not wanting to spend $100 + shipping, I stumbled across this wee* mushroom cookie jar from Gallivanting Girls. I have often visited their store to look at all the amazing things they manage to find and resell. I'm itching to go out to my favourite thrift stores now!

I have already put cookies in it so Kiwi can open and grab instead of dealing with noisy crinkly packaging that drives me up the wall. People who know me will understand my pet peeve with crinkly noises. Especially at the movies. Well, no longer!

-Strawberry

*Kiwi's regular word for "small"

Dome Treasure

I fell in love with thrifting a little while ago. I have always been interested, but until now my fashion style wasn't vintage clothing appropriate. Thanks to Urban Outfitters and more and more blogs popping up with great vintage outfits, I feel at home donning a tacky sweater with a great long necklace.

I am also obsessed with decorating my house. Trinkets, art and dishes constantly come home with me to furnish our comfortable 900sq ft. suite.

I saw this piece at the store at the beginning of the week and knew I might regret it if I didn't go back for it. Making it out and back just in time to pick Kiwi up from work with this tucked neatly behind my driver's seat.

  

The star under the glass dome is from our Christmas tree. I don't have any storage in this suite, so I've sort of improvised on my home decor. Let's just say there are a lot of owls around.

Similar domes have been sold on etsy for more than what I paid for this one, and they were smaller! I consider it an investment. I have a dumb girlie thought of putting my wedding cake under it, should that moment ever occur. 

-Strawberry