My Craftsy Experience (not good)

so I have long been a fan of craftsy...I've got some awesome patterns and tutorials free from them and they often have good sales for fabric. I couldn't pass up the fat quarter mystery box.....so I took the plunge.....

I waited and waited and waited and finally it arrived! I opened it up (swear to god there was a gasp and almost tears) and was shocked at the level of shit I received.....now I know it's a mystery box BUT almost every single fabric is from blank quilting ,,, in fact only 2 are from KIND OF mainstream lines....

The kicker was the doubles, triples and quads of fabric I got. I can see a double or 2 but this is insane...and the fabric is soooooo crappy!

These are all doubles, triples or quads!!!!!

This is all that came in singles

on the left vertically is all the repeats, the right is the singles....kind of off a bit no?

I contacted craftsy and the most they were willing to do was refund my shipping and duty....wow 22$...still out the 40-50$ full of shitty fabric that I will never use! had the listing said you will get several repeats...in fact we won't make much effort at all....singles will be few and far between, it would have been A) far more honest and I would not have bought it!  Would I EVER shop on craftsy again...perhaps,..if t was a huge sale.... would I ever TRUST craftsy, refer them to a friend, share or promo them on any social media in any way like I do most honest shops....nope...not a chance.... I buy alot of fabric...if not for me than for my supply shop.... I figure craftsy will be missing a few hundred dollars a year that I spend with fabric shops....

I'd like to say they cared....but considering they wou;dn't do much i'm not sure what to think. I now it's a mystery box but sorry for my french this is blatant bullshit!  and very dishonest.

all the fabric was paid for by me, and I really wanted to tell you how awesome it was........but it wasn't.... Or how awesome they were in helping me.......but they weren't

eventually this will happen to enoough people and word will get around..... I hope it's sooner than later so nobody else like me ends up in this situation!

www.craftsy.com

I did not want to leave the Delta Chelsea Hotel Toronto

Seriously when I saw the amount of kids in the lobby, and heard they had 1590 rooms I was a bit worried.....

I have a seriously injured foot so I was not sure how much stomping thru the city i'd be doing.....but honestly this plain old school hotel made it just so nice to stay in!

If you've never slept in a delta sanctuary bed YOU MUST!!!! it's the nicest coziest bed EVER... 4 pillows...ahhhhhhhhh it was so nice to sit and spend an after noon with a fine wine and my netflix!


Other than the odd door close and the maids cart go squeaking up the hallway  I HEARD NOTHING,,,,,I saw NOTHING!!! and even though almost every room has a balcony I did'nt even hear the doors all night.


I really didn't do much the first day.....but the second night I decided (after a painful new tattoo) to order room service... I ordered

cajun chicken breast sammy
Caesar salad
all day breakfast
and coffee

(i hadn't eaten all day lol)


IT was wonderful, delivered fast, with tons of condiments, neatly presented and the gentleman that brought it explained the cheque to me, went over my meal, and asked if I needed anything.....it was lovely...only the little white rose it a bud vase was the cute cherry on top....the only thing I hate   AND it's a personal pet peeve.... if you want to charge 9$ for a salad fine BUT STOP USING KRAFT PARMISEAN IN THE CONTAINER.....Buy a wedge and use the peeler ..it's honestly worth it and doesn't cost much more!


The bathroom was beautiful, bright but it could have used a new tub (old school small tub....me not so small)

I think I had an older non updated room. There was some wear and tear but i'll take it....I have NEVER felt so quiet and relaxed... I found it easy to just BE...just sit and be content not going out.

I got the room for 119$ thru livingsocial but would GLADLY pay the 150-170 a night.....SO WORTH IT!  and I was just steps from yonge street.

My check in and out were simple....no suprises...no bs...

I would STRONGLY suggest staying here if you are ok with a non suite, traditional room....it's not fancy but you can't always fake quiet, peaceful and that feeling of being appreciated for your business!





*for the record any review I do weather it's hotels or stuff is paid for OUT OF MY OWN POCKET.
spo I have no reason to sugar coat things!

A second stay at Toronto don valley hotel.... wish I could say it was good.

ok so it didn't totally suck......but boy what a change from the first trip....and sadly so. Check in was easy...we upgraded to a newly renovated room for our 2 nights (extra 30$ a night)  The renovated rooms only means you get a kurig coffee maker, a different colour theme, new carpet and shower.....not a big deal. Oddly our door did'nt even really close unless you really pushed on it....

Our room had a balcony which I thought would be nice as I was with my son....however the view into the condo's next door and the parking lot left ALOT to be desired.....why you would put a kid in a balcony room with no view is beyond me.....I felt like it was perhaps the only room they had available at the time. If I could say one good thing about the view it would be there were rabbits in the garden....but that's about it.



We spent our first day relaxing and not doing much....we went swimming...but this time it was dofferent....there was tons of rust seeping down from the skylight. I understand it's winter and there's condensation but there was ALOT. It wasclear this had been occuring for some time. The pool was kinda scuzzy.....like nobody ever cleaned the tiles around the inner edge and all the scum had affixed to the tile...certainley not like it was on our first visit...and it wasn't even as busy as our first visit.


Dinner was excellent again!



The evening was  a never ending lullaby of the screen door above our room opening and closing all night and people spitting off the balcony......gross



As with most hotels there was a hanger for room service breakfast so  I filled it out and left it on our door and went to bed...IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when breakfast didn't show up......well you see...nobody bothered to collect the card off our door...then I was blamed by the bitchy woman for not putting it out in time when I had put it outside at 10pm......it says to place it there before 2 am... So needless to say I had to give my order to this total bitch in room service who told me to just give her the order as she was very busy. I ordered eggs benedict which was great...and for the boy, croissant french toast....which never arrived...what came instead was 3 tiny croissants that my son would;nt eat. I called downstairs and explained to a very nice man what happened and it all got fixed and my son's food arrived in about 10-15 mins...and he did enjoy it.


We spent the day at the science center.....while leaving our room it smelled grossly of cigarettes. My son has asthma and I am allergic to smoke so this is a reason I only stay in non smoking hotels....I mentioned it to the woman at front desk and her reply was "that's odd they have a balcony, I'll have someone go spray it"  yeah cause that solves the problem.....


it all just kept going wrong.... We did have an awesome fellow at front desk that saved me when the vending machine would not give my son his chocolate bar....he brought us 2 and our twonnie we lost..... sadly this was a highlight of our stay.

Upon returning from the science center exhausted I got to walk with my son down the endless hallway thru the cigarette smoke filled hallway that now also smelled like pot.....when I arrived in our room I called down to front desk....nobody did anything to help...again she informed me she would spray the hall....which most adults know does nothing as far as second hand smoke goes.... my husband was so pissed he told me to phone the cops about the pot....but since I was spending the nights alone with my son I didn't want to start an issue.  But at this point I was getting pissed. The fellow who handles their twitter account who had actually addressed the issues we had sent up some fruit and candy for me and my son.....which was nice but I would have been happier not popping benadryl into me and my son because of smoke allergies (it wasn't slightly stinky...it was the entire length of the hall and especially in front of a select few rooms)

dinner again was great!!!! it always is


After more swimming and my son falling asleep, my husband passed by for a bite to eat on his way to work. I ordered him the burger and cheesecake.... It arrived...wrong. the Burger was fine but the cheese cake was apple pie...the man who brought our food let me know that it was wrong and he would be back with the cheese cake. I wish he'd left the pie....cuz the cake tasted like the cardboard it was packaged in....it was sooooooo bad.....but at this point having 2 of 2 failed room service deliveries I just wanted to go to bed and go home the next day!


Between the smoke, and the staff not doing anything but spraying the hall (which if they did you sure couldn't tell) the 2 out of 2 room service fails, the pool, and the view it was a really really sad stay compared to our first stay. You see, I like to find a place and stay there....almost exclusively. I'm fiercely loyal and spread the word of good places. I told everyone I adored this place....but after our recent stay....well I'll keep looking for a place that will at least honor their non smoking hotel policy......

I'm almost a little sad.....if they could get staff that valued their jobs or customers they would do very well. There were 2 people in the restaurant that were great, one guy at front desk and the fellow I'd talked to on twitter several times....but dealing with the bitchy woman for room service and the twit that did nothing but order others to spray the hallway when it was REALLY REALLY CLEAR where the pot and cigarette smoke was coming from but still did nothing.....  Well if you don't give a shit....than why should I.

When I blog I also post reviews too yelp, twitter, facebook and a handful of others..... I also provide good word of mouth randomly as I think of it.....I always pay my way and am never given rooms free for reviews.....which is why I can be so honest..... I don't even know if I would stay here again.....unless I got the room on sale or thru a group plan (which luckily i did)  Even the fellow I was talking to on twitter seemed to all of a sudden stopped our conversations when I mentioned how disgusting it is to stay in a hotel that doesn't even uphold their non smoking policy....but at this point....I'm not at all surprised.


I read a review on yelp about this hotel that said "even if you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig" I'm wondering if the first trip I had was just a REALLY REALLY REALLY done up pig.......

CkmCouture - banner design - Highly Recommended

This designer works her butt off to make sure you not only have what you need but a few options to pick from. She designed me a few versions of a main banner and  let me pick the one I thought would work best. Than provided me a few smaller vacation and sale banners.
1 needed minor text edits but it was a great job by someone with a great sense of what they love and how to use it tastefully. I find her designs unique, often dark but still beautiful. I would use this designer again without a doubt if I needed something really original..... Our indie polish banner was made for us in a few days...and we love it

I put these images here for examples  we all know how copyright works so don't steal!!!!! not only is it tacky it's rude



other examples include

AMAZING STUFF!

her shop is on etsy at CkmCouture

Cassandra will take care of whatever your design needs are !

ENJOY!

Hotel Review - Toronto Don Valley Hotel And Suites

Having had a horrible stay at the Radisson, and a disappointed boy on my hands (swimming is one of his great loves) We got an offer to stay at the Toronto Don Valley Hotel And Suites.  It was an offer to good to pass up so we decided to go.

Andrew, who was on staff at night was amazing to deal with. After thoroughly confirming and re-confirming my stay he let me know early check in was fine. When we pulled up to the hotel it was beautiful. It's located in an area of the city that sits on ravine land. A BIG winding driveway led up to a beautifully enclosed entryway where, once we exited the truck we could hear music playing...My son said "mom this IS a fancy hotel..they play music outside!"

We did have a few hiccups checking in with our breakfast vouchers from the girl at the desk who we were not overly fond of....she explained that the breakfast vouchers were not an option, after Andrew had clearly stated it was part of our package...she kept trying to get us to upgrade our room explaining that the new rooms were recently renovated and a totally different color (like I care what color the room is for my sleeping hours)

Our room was an executive king room and was EXACTLY as pictured.

I will say that on their site they rave about the views.....however my view was of the highway and parking lot...this may be off putting to some but my son ADORES watching the highway at night so this was fine for us. The room was FREEZING but warmed up REALLLLY fast with an old fashioned window unit that was a bit complicated to figure out but worked REALLY well!

Our room was SPOTLESS...baseboards and all! Even the old school TV is our room was wiped clean and dust free (I'm not one to care if the TV is flat screen) Our room did not have a fridge or microwave and if I wanted one they were 20-25$ EACH. Thankfully my son is not a baby anymore and we didn't really need it!

The bathroom was BIG and SO clean. I liked the old style red granite counter tops and a HUGE GIGANTIC bonus was HEATED TILE FLOORS  ahhhhhhhhhhhh.....what a treat in the morning. 

Our Internet was free which in Toronto is saying alot as may hotels charge 8-25$ a day for Internet, and it was high speed wireless! 

We were spending the day at the science center so we left for the day.

Upon our return we had some dinner....I can honestly without a doubt say it's one of the best hamburgers I have ever had EVER! it was great! My son had a cheese pizza that he FINISHED so it MUST have been great! I also had a whiskey sour which was soooo good! The waiter was very pleasant and understanding towards my son (the boy has adhd, autism and odd, so his behavior is sometimes difficult in places new to him) The fire place across from our table and tv's were a great distraction. I was also REALLY surprised about the bill...it was far lower than expected and way better than many hotels. The teal, white and cream decor in the restaurant and thruout the hotel is so lovely and clean!

To top off a great day we went to the pool.....WOW. The pool is amazing! first of all it's a perfect circle and the entire roof is a skylight. But better yet it's WARM!! the first hotel we have stayed at where the pool is so warm it's surprising!. As it got darker, several big ornate coach lamps turned on automatically....and as it got darker the ambiance almost became a romantic candlelight pool....had it not been for my child, and several others that is! But it was so beautiful! The hot tub was REALLY hot, and they even have have a family change room which is so smart. Upon our return in the morning, it was a totally different feeling. Bright and welcoming!

(the lounge chairs are not the same and I saw no drapes but the rest is the same)

Would I stay here again? I'm already trying to find an excuse too! With INCREDIBLE winter rates starting at 99$ or 2-4 night packages from 84-95$ a night why not enjoy a STAYcation! 

Other incredible features

The most comfy bed and pillows ever!!!

room service from 6pm-11pm

a little shop open from 9a-11p

Some rooms have balconies

a seasonally available outdoor pool

it's SO quiet! 

Toronto Don Valley Hotel & Suites - Toronto, Ontario (ON)

175 Wynford Drive, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1J3

Contact: 416-449-4111 | Fax: 416-385-6700 
Email: reservations@torontopreferredhotel.com
 Website http://www.torontodonvalleyhotel.com/

A handmade christmas part 1

So in an effort to buy every single gift for christmas handmade or making it ourselves (ok I may buy a video game for my son) I decided to share my purchases.

I instantly fell in love with Mountain Scentaments on www.craftcafe.co. Her soaps stood out to me and than I saw MAN FRIENDLY felted soap. Having a dad who treats his body like a 5 yr old on summer vacation at the dump I thought this would be perfect for him. Half soap, Half wash cloth. They smell amazing and they are HUGE!!! Well worth the 8$ paid per bar! they arrived fast, well labeled and I am thrilled!!!

I picked this fishing one in irish tweed

And this one in Winter pear 

Now I havn't used them but if the quality and care shown in the item and packaging reflects the soap i know the receivers are in for a treat (i may give one to hubby)

This is one of those shops that I want to go back and shop in....i'd be curious to see what's new. The shop owner is a delight and conversations were replied to promptly.

I strongly urge you to try this shop. 

CLICK HERE FOR MOUNTAIN SCENTAMENTS

Product Review - Performance Colors

Years ago when I became a mom I kinda gave up on make up. Five years later I looked in the mirror and hardly recognized the tired, blah face looking at me. I ran across this etsy shop called Performance colors.

She offered a great range of items all handmade, and available in samples too. Her one deal of 3 lipsticks for 10$ was too good to pass up... I went thru all of them about 25 times and settled on

 

  Rocket 

                           
                                                                  cheekie monkey

                                                                                  Ruby




I love them all and they feel great and last a VERY long time. If, like me, you can't wear read you MUST try ruby...it is the quintessential red for non red wearers. Cheekie monkey is more sheer than it appears and is equally lovely for a more plain look. Rocket was not for me but it is super pretty if you don't have the skin tone that I do.




I also ordered some concealer samples in fair and light. I'd given up on this stuff years ago. it was cakey or looked like I was wearing concealer....however this formula is silky, smooth and spreads and blends like nothing I have felt before. SERIOUSLY impressed. A serious must have and I will buy some soon.

I also received some eyeshadow samples and lipstick samples. One of the eye shadows worked beautifully for me.....the eye shadow wore beautifully thru bus and subway trips all day, a 3 hr tattoo session and all the way home....it creased the TINIEST bit (I have hooded eyelids and this is typical) but a quick wipe with my finger and it was seamlessly blended perfectly again.


Despite the amazing product, Tiffany is so amazing and ever SHARED Where she gets her tiny sample pots and I picked some up.... Most handmade artists feel this huge competition among each other and value their suppliers and rarely share info...So when a seller so easily shares info, tricks of the trade and so on it says alot.


I would easily score this a 10/10  no complaints....and I know for a fact that I would gladly go back and buy full sizes of the concealer, and eye shadow...along with my new fave lipstick....

Thank you Tiffany....I was losing hope on finding affordable quality make up! Me, my husband, my non frumpy friends....we all thank you!



You can find Performance colors at  http://www.etsy.com/shop/PerformanceColors   I honestly think you'll be amazed!

The design Gods sent me an angel - Beepart

Part of having an ADHD 5 yr old is the constant change. It's like our entire life should be made of repositionable vinyl.

We talked about his love of fishing and the Octonauts and decided to do an under the sea theme. He went away with dad for the weekend and I got started!

I am a sucker for shopping handmade, and local, ran a search, and came up with Beepart on etsy. The designs seemed to be perfect. The owner Neil is very convo friendly, patient and worked with me as I had a budget. We changed the sizes from what was listed which was nice. I didn't have to lose any of the elements, just adjust the size.

In the time it took to get here (within days) I painted the remainder of the wall (his room was half blue and half green) blue. With out taupe rug it was already looking like a sandy ocean theme. Forgive me as it was not until after I painted that I thought I should have taken a before picture of his room. Mom has ADHD too. There were so many colors to pick from but I finally settled on lime green,bright orange. and dark grey.

 

Now before anyone says "how hard can it be to apply a decal to a wall....let me tell you it can be really hard. BUT if you follow Neil's rules that he includes it's FAR ore pleasant (i found this out after trying to apply one decal sans directions)

While I waited for the paint to dry I happened to find this set at sears. I didn't by the fancy cushion....just the bedding....it was on sale for 70$ plus I had a 10$ gift card and a 10% coupon NICE

His old set was street signs and those babyish construction vehicles in light colors and rounded corners.

Neil's shop Beepart is available here ----> BEEPART SHOP

SO after a few hours and only a tiny credit card (my fault) The end result was the happiest boy under the sea! 

please not the sports theme bed set was bought by daddy 6 months before our son was born......and of course, he has NO interest in sports.

 

                                         

Beepart on ETSY

Ps I forgot to mention. All the green bubbles and shells were included free as part of the sheet. I would without a doubt shop here again, and you should too.

MAIL BAG - and EARLY haha I suprise myself sometimes!

Yep.....the CNE is in town....that means the end of the summer. It's 11 days until back to school..I lucked out and had a boy who hit that grows really slow stage this year so he needed nothing for school.....however that does'nt mean I did''nt but him stuff anyways!

I got some labels like these....  Honestly I do like the product but it took awhile to get proofs, and than tok longer to arrive. But the labels are fun, vibrant and very sticky. These were purchased  at The Lollipop Label Shop
 I would give this shot a second try though for sure as the fints, combo packs, and pictures are so cute.

This is not my sons name either but it's the site's photo.

I bought my furry son a nice gift!!! He's our 74 lb goldendoodle co-jack (long story)

We ran across The Fyber Stud thru Heartsy. A man crochet artist that is funny, patient, actually cares about what he sells, has amazing attention to detail and a shop worth spending a bit more for a great item. I read theu and just fell in love with this thinner crochet mat.

I'm really hopefull that the dog will hate it and it becomes mine...Thanks Rohn we will be back to shop with you  Click here for  TheFyberStud

more coming soon.....

Also we will soon be doing our first giveaway soon!