leaving on a jet plane...

pandacub is officially leaving the country!

I'm leaving later today to fly to Hong Kong with my hubby, sis and brother-in-law! Very excited as it's a 2-week trip and I've never taken this much time off work.

I'll try to get onto the blog at least once or twice while I'm away, and hope to share some photos with everyone soon!

While I'm away, I'm leaving my pandacub Etsy shop open, but no purchases will be shipped until Oct 12, when I'm back. To make up for the delays, I'm offering free shipping on everything in the shop!

See you soon!

september giveaway winner

Just a quick post to say congratulations to Thifa - the winner of my September giveaway for a pair of autumn-inspired bobby pins and matching ring!

I'll be doing more giveaways soon, so keep an eye out for them!

Giveaway: Eyedews Under Eye Treatment

I've been really tired lately thanks to a combination of extra day-job work, trying to get my Etsy shop ready for the holidays, planning for my 2-week trip and just the usual chores and every day life. My eyes are really feeling strained lately, and although I'm usually lucky enough not to get bags under my eyes, they have been feeling really dry and weary lately.

How about you? Is your hectic lifestyle giving your eyes a tough time? Well, I have just the solution! I've been given FOUR sets of EyeDews Under Eye Treatment to give away over on my beauty blog, Cinnamon Kitten!

All the info you need to know in order to enter is over on this Cinnamon Kitten post, so go enter now!

a vacation - oh my!

I'm super excited! It seems like I haven't been on a real vacation in years and I'm finally taking a vacation - yay!

The last trip I took was last November, to Las Vegas, that lasted several days. The last week-long vacation I took was in 2006 to London, so I'm definitely overdue. I've taken a few long weekends here and there, but nothing long enough to really "get away from it all".

Anyhow, this Friday, my hubby, my sister and my brother-in-law are hopping on a plane and jetting off to Hong Kong for 2-weeks! While we're there, we're going to take a side-trip to Tokyo for 3 days.

I haven't been to Hong Kong since I was 16, so it's been a long time, but it will be my first time in Japan. It will be my husband's first time in Asia, so it's going to be a lot of new experiences for all of us.

I'm still debating whether or not to leave my Etsy shop open while I'm gone, but I definitely won't be around on the blog unless I can sneak onto a computer during my vacation. I can't wait to share my vacation photos with all of you!

I'm also going to see if I can snag some fun craft supplies while I'm over there - you know how many cute kawaii supplies they have over there!

tea oh!

I'm trying to wean myself off coffee lately and attempting to drink more tea, especially green tea, since it's much healthier for me and seem to calm me down more than coffee does.

So recently I took advantage of a deal where I could get a $20 gift card to Tea Oh for $10. I bought two of them and used them recently to buy several different kinds of loose leaf tea. I figured, if I have a variety of teas to choose from, then I'll be more prone to drink it.


They came in baggies, so I have to find some nice tins to store them in, but I bought:
Jasmine Flower Green Tea
Sencha Ceremony Green Tea
Decaf Sencha Ceremony Tea
Creamy Earl Grey Black Tea
Naked Pomtini White Tea
Great Gunpowder Green Tea
Mint Condition Herbal Tea

Yummm..can't wait to start brewing!

wordle wednesday

In honour of My Boys (and its untimely cancellation), my Wordle Wednesday is based on the show.

and another show bites the dust

I love great TV. And there has been some GREAT TV in my past. LOL.

I don't have a specific genre (although I'm not a big fan of reality or talent shows) - I love CSI, NCIS, Star Trek, Family Guy, Mythbusters, White Collar, The Sopranos, Dexter, The Tudors, Firefly, etc. I've also lately discovered some great BBC shows - Hustle, Sherlock, Keen Eddie and so on.

As you may have noticed, some of the shows I mentioned above are no longer, and now I must add another to the list. Another of my favourite shows - My Boys - was cancelled today. :(

I'm quite sad. The show was really funny and appealed to me because I'm not really a girly girl, I love sports and growing up, most of my friends were guys, so I totally related to the lead character, PJ. Plus the writing was witty and funny and very realistic.

I'll miss you My Boys. Thanks for the laughs.

cameo love

I love the look of cameos - they make me think of old-fashioned romances and gentle courtships.

Whenever I pick up a cameo to create something new, it always ends up being something very feminine and pretty, although once in a while, I end up with something edgy as well.

There are quite a few things in my shop that feature cameos. I love them so much that many of them are part of the "cameo collection".

beauty giveaway

Just a short post to let you know that over on my beauty blog, Cinnamon Kitten, I'm giving away a jar of MD Perricone Cold Plasma cream, worth $150 USD.

If you want to try out this award-winning cream, go enter now!

wordle wednesday

Time for me to play with wordle again!

A Wordle is "a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text as well as words that were used more recently.

Instead of making a wordle using this blog, which I've done for the past couple of Wordle Wednesdays, I decided to "wordle" my Etsy shop with some cute results. :)

(If you click on the image, you can view a larger version so you can read the words more easily.)

Next Wednesday I'm going to "wordle" another Etsy shop, but which one? Maybe yours! Leave a comment in this post with your shop link and you may see a Wordle made just for you next week!

september giveaway

I'm kind of sad that August has come to an end. The start of September means that the summer is pretty much over and it's time to start thinking of cooler weather and *ugh* the impending winter.

The other day I squeaked in horror when I saw 3 red maple leaves on a tree that had otherwise green leaves. Oh no! The leaves are changing colour already? I'm not ready! I'm not ready!

I guess there are some bright sides to September:

- I have a trip planned for the end of the month (more on that later!)

- I have lots of pretty jackets and sweaters to wear

- the NHL hockey season is starting up again

- ....ummm....

*sigh* Ok, I can't do it. I'm still in "summer mode".

I know that some of my readers are on the other side of the world from me, so as I move into the cold seasons, they're moving into their summer (lucky!), so no matter where in the world you are, I want to know - what are you most looking forward to this September/October?

I'll do a random draw from all entries received for this lovely autumn inspired bobby pin and ring set.

Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment on this post telling me what you're looking forward this coming season (whether it's getting cooler or warmer in your part of the world).

Want extra entries? (you must complete the first step above before doing these)
- 1 extra entry: Follow this blog. Leave a comment telling me that you've become a Follower (or that you were already a Follower).
- 1 extra entry: Become a Facebook fan at http://www.facebook.com/pandacubshop. Leave comment telling me that you've become a fan (or that you were already a fan).

- 1 extra entries: Follow me on Twitter (pandacubcafe) and tweet about this contest (use the tag @pandacubcafe so I can see your tweet). Leave a comment letting me know you've done this.
- 10 extra entries: Buy anything from my pandacub shop. Come back and leave a comment letting me know what you bought and your Etsy username.

Remember to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!

Notes:
- This contest closes at midnight (ET) on Friday, September 17, 2010.
- Winner will be announced on this blog shortly after the contest closes.
- This giveaway is open worldwide.

GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE!

star sign rings - update 4

As we start moving into the fall seasons, I'm already starting to plan for my pandacub Etsy shop.

As most people can imagine, the holidays are a pretty busy time of year, so keeping on top of what's going on in my shop is really important - if only to make sure that everyone gets their purchases in time for the gift-giving season!

So, just a reminder that my very unique star sign rings are in limited demand so shop early to avoid disappointment!


Even though I've been searching constantly, I still haven't been able to find any more of these stunning vintage intaglios, so I can definitely say that these rings are VERY rare and unique. As I've mentioned on this blog before, I only made 2 of each symbol and unless I can uncover more intaglios (and it doesn't look good), this will be it. Many of the zodiac signs are already sold out, so get yours before it's too late!

Check out this great Look Book outfit that includes my Taurus star sign ring!

Here's an update on what's available:
Aries - 1 available
Taurus - SOLD OUT
Gemini - 1 available
Cancer - SOLD OUT
Leo - SOLD OUT
Virgo - SOLD OUT
Libra - SOLD OUT
Scorpio - 1 available
Sagittarius - SOLD OUT
Capricorn - 1 available
Aquarius - 1 available
Pisces - 1 available

wordle wednesday

Time for me to play with wordle again!

A Wordle is "a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text as well as words that were used more recently.

I get the prominence of "Sherlock" and "Holmes" considering I just did a feature on Etsy sellers inspired by Sherlock Holmes, but look how big "finished" is! It must be because of all the books I've "finished" reading in my quest to read 50 books in one year.

(If you click on the image, you can view a larger version so you can read the words more easily.)