*cough, cough*

Ugh. If you don't follow me on Twitter, then you probably don't know that I'm really sick. I came down with a sudden flu last Thursday and now it's turned into bronchitis. :(

So please forgive the lack of blog posts while I try to rest and recover. It's taking all my strength just to catch up on emails and my day job responsibilities that whenever I have a spare moment, I'm either sleeping or brewing more tea.

I hope to be back up to semi-regular health by this weekend, which would be great since I have a weekend away planned with my hubby, sister and brother-in-law (hopefully the weather is nice and I'll have some photos to share!)

Stay healthy everyone!

pandacub summer sale

Summer is when pandacub is really in full swing - it's a time when everyone is sporting fresh, fun accessories in lots of bright colours and pandacub is full of affordable, bright pieces that can easily add a little "pop" into your summer wardrobe.

So to celebrate the nice hot summer months, I'm having a summer sale and it's pandacub's biggest sale yet! There are lots of items that are on sale in the pandacub Etsy shop - all items in the summer sale are at least 25% off and many are customer favourites.

This is a great chance for you to stock up on some sweet accessories at great prices.

I'm constantly adding pieces to the summer sale section, so check back often! The sale will end on August 20 (which just happens to be pandacub's 2-year anniversary on Etsy).

unscientific giveaway poll and celebration giveaway update

pandacub is celebrating its second anniversary on August 20 (yes, the store opened on Etsy almost two years ago - how quickly time flies!) and I'm already thinking of a spectacular giveaway to celebrate, but I want your input.

Leave me a comment and help me think up creative ways to hold a giveaway! I need help with two parts:

1. What should people do to be entered? Something simple, like the usual "leave a comment"? Or something more involved?

2. What would you want to win? Would you prefer specific items from the shop? Or a gift certificate so you can choose what you want to get?

The more suggestions, the better, so start those creative thoughts and comments coming!

And an update on my previous giveaway that just ended:

Congratulations to the winner of the celebration giveaway - dhesh!

Dhesh chose the flaunt bobby pins in purple (a very popular choice). They're already made and on their way to South Africa!

pandacub wants...ice cream

Toronto has just gone through a week-long heat wave. And since last winter, when it was -39 degrees C and icy, I vowed never to complain about the heat again, I didn't say one negative thing about the heat. But I did have lots of cold drinks handy!

One thing I didn't have a lot of, and would like more of, is ice cream!

Top row:
1. Crochet Pattern - FRUITY ICE CREAM - Play food, $5.99 by skymagenta
2. Ii is for Ice Cream, $14.00 by ModernPop
3. PDF Printable- Kawaii Pink and Green Ice Cream Trucks, $2.50 by paperglitter

Middle row:
4. Personalized Ice Cream Ice Cream Man Bowls with Handles (set of 4), $55.00 by happiestdaysdesigns
5. Roscata Pastel Ice Cream Cone Purse Charm Bag Charm, $18.00 by roscata
6. Big Scoop, $50.00 by CharleneFreemanArt

Bottom row:
7. Cat Art- Stolen Cone - Print, $18.00 by amberalexander
8. with a cherry on top - 5x7 fine art photograph, $15.00 by heidiherrera
9. Grape and kiwi ice cream cone post earrings, $8.00 by mmagda

super smooth legs and a Skintimate contest!

I hate shaving, but I love having nice smooth legs, especially in the summer. So having a great shaving cream is ultra important as it makes the "chore" of shaving legs a little more bearable.

Skintimate has given me a great gift basket to give away to one lucky reader of my beauty blog that will definitely make shaving a little bit easier to handle!

Want a chance to win the gift basket, which is valued at over $80? Go over to my Cinnamon Kitten beauty blog and enter (sorry, this one's for Canadians only!)

Happy Canada Day!

Yay! I'm so happy to have 4 days off!

Today is Canada Day so I wanted to take this oppportunity to wish all my fellow Canadians a very special (and hopefully fun-filled day!)

I will be spending the day relaxing with my hubby after a very long and hard couple of weeks and am looking forward to doing nothing at all.

How about you? How are you spending the holiday?

launch of a new blog

Yes, because I don't have enough to do (besides a full-time job, an Etsy shop, 3 blogs, etc) I've just launched a new blog!

"give me crafty" is a new blog that I hope you will all make use of. It's a giveaway promotion blog because I love handmade and I want to support and promote it even more actively, but I didn't want to flood this blog with giveaway listings, since this blog is more of a personal one.


So, if you love getting free handmade goodies, or you have a giveaway that you want to promote, please head over to give me crafty - the submission process is super easy and I'm going to work hard to promote the blog and your giveaways!

Go to the give me crafty blog now.

i feel the earth move under my feet...

So...there I was, sitting in a meeting room with my manager, discussing my work objectives for 2010 (which my performance review will be based on at the end of the year) and all of a sudden the room started to vibrate.

For the first 5 seconds, we didn't really pay attention (sometimes when large trucks go by or they're moving large furniture in the office, the floor vibrates), but when it lasted for more than 10 seconds, we kind of started thinking, "um...what's going on?"

When other people started peeking out of meeting rooms and cubicles, asking if anyone else was feeling it, we knew something was happening.

EARTHQUAKE!

Yep, Toronto (where I am) felt tremors. Apparently, there was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake close to Canada's capital, Ottawa and the quake was felt in Ontario, Quebec and parts of northern US.

Eeek! Pretty scary stuff.

What's even scarier is that almost within minutes, people were online hawking t-shirts, buttons and other "memorabilia" centred around "Canada's 2010 earthquake". I think it's really silly (and kind of stupid and tempting fate) to buy anything that says you survived a 2010 earthquake when there's still over 6 months left in 2010, don't you?

star sign rings - update 3

What's your sign again?

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!

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 - 2 available
Pisces - 2 available

milestones

I love hitting milestones. It's the same with goals - hitting milestones makes me feel proud, like I've really accomplished something.

So I'm pretty excited to share some awesome milestones my little Etsy shop has hit and will be hitting (hopefully) soon!

- last week pandacub passed 500 feedbacks (all positive)
- the shop is 6 shop hearts away from 1,000
- the shop is only 2 sales away from 450

I'm pretty excited about these numbers, as they are far more than I had every thought I could hit when I first started my little shop. Once I hit 1,000 hearts and 450 sales - I'm holding a contest!

UPDATE (June 16, 2010): I hit 450 sales! Whoo-hoo! I'm also at 999 hearts, so one more shop heart and there will be a contest! :)