Dewey Decimal Holiday Sign DIY

You know you're a cataloguer when... You make an interchangeable holiday sign using Dewey decimal numbers. To create this sign, I chose a book-themed border and printed it off, leaving the center blank. I then made separate rectangles that included the Dewey decimal holiday greeting along with a corresponding image. Both of these steps can be customized to the images you would like to use. After the rectangles were printed, I laminated the bordered page as well as the holiday greeting rectangles which I trimmed afterwards. I took self-adhesive velcro circles, attaching 2 to the front center of the bordered page and 2 to the back of each rectangle. To make sure the velcro lined up with each rectangle, I placed the velcro circles on the bordered page first, with the adhesive of the rectangle velcro facing up, and pressed the rectangle onto the velcro. When I removed it, the velcro was stuck on it and perfectly lined up. You can find the Dewey decimal numbers for various holidays below.

New Year: 394.2614

Valentine's Day: 394.2618

Easter: 394.2667

Thanksgiving: 394.2649

Halloween: 394.2646

Christmas: 394.2663

Cheers,

Kaylie

Library Book Cart Names

 

Cat and Log

As a library cataloguing technician, I am part of a Technical Services team that uses a lot of book carts. So, we decided to name them! But we couldn’t just give them any old names! We needed puns! It all started with my two small cataloguing book carts which I named Cat and Log (because CATaLOGue, get it?) and then it grew from there. We have some colourful book carts that are named song titles based on their colour (example: Cherry Pie for the red cart) but I’m just showing the library pun book carts in this post.

The Great Cartsby

Fahrencart 451

The Cart of Venice

The Cartcher in the Rye

The Wonderful Wizard of Cart

For Whom the Cart Rolls

The Old Curiosity Cart

Cart of the Flies

Cheers,

Kaylie

Birth Decade Treat Basket DIY

Last year, my mom turned 60 years old. I wanted to give her a unique gift, especially since she just happened to be born in the 1960s. She loves candy so I decided to put together a basket of treats that first came out in her birth decade! For this project, I researched treats that came out in the 1960s because I didn't want to just restrict this project to candy. Did you know that Pop Tarts came out in the 1960s?! I chose treats based on what still existed and what I could get a hold of. After acquiring the treats that I was going to include, I printed off photos of the original wrappers or old advertisements for each specific treat and taped them onto the treat with the year it came out. This gift can be customized for anyone's birthday. Just do a search for treats that came out during their birth decade. CandyFavorites.com has a great retro candy timeline outlining the history of candy decade by decade from the 1840s to the 2020s.

Cheers,

Kaylie

My First Spell Jar

In recent years, I have become more interested in witchy stuff. I really identify with my Finnish side (a quarter of my family is Finnish) so I think that’s where this interest stems from. The Finns have a great connection to nature and it makes total sense when you find out that Finnish Paganism existed before other religions were introduced to Finland. I have looked through plenty of witchy books and am constantly figuring out what practices I connect to the most. A lot of witchcraft is going with your intuition and what feels right for you.

 

I have seen lots of spell jars and wanted to try making my own but was always nervous to do it for the first time. What if I messed up? I had to remind myself about witchcraft being about what feels right to ourselves. A witchy friend from work had her birthday in October and I wanted to give her a witchy themed gift. What better time to try making a spell jar for the first time? I specifically made a protection spell jar for her and it felt even more special making my first spell jar for a witchy friend.

 

I sat at my altar (unfinished because I’m still working on it) and cast a circle by visualizing a ball of light coming my heart and growing into a sphere around me. I then lit a white tea light and cleansed a small jar by placing it over top of the flame to put it out and let the smoke swirl inside. I then poured in some sea salt, added herbs and plants (I chose ones that are for protection so I used a bit of cedar bough, a piece of oak leaf, rosemary, and thyme all of which came from my family’s land), added a piece of quartz (also for protection and came from my family’s land), and wrote PROTECTION on a piece of paper which I rolled up and placed inside. I then put the cork on the jar and lit a long white candle which I used to pour melted wax on top to seal the jar. Then I closed the circle by visualizing the ball of light growing smaller and coming back to my heart.

 

Of course, this was only my first spell jar and I’m still learning but I definitely figured out some things that worked for me and some that didn’t work. I really learned to trust my intuition with this first spell jar.

Cheers,

Kaylie

Summer Freedom 2019 Playlist

Summer Solstice was on Friday. The warm weather is here. My family has opened up our pool for the season (although I still haven't gone swimming yet). Yes, Summer has finally come to Northern Ontario. That means that it is time to turn up the music and have fun while soaking in the beautiful sun before it disappears again for half the year. For me, Summer brings the feeling of freedom so I decided to base my Summer playlist this year on that wonderful feeling that anything is possible! Also, I like making my Summer playlists a bit longer so this one has 20 songs.

Check out the playlist on Spotify here: Summer Freedom 2019 Playlist

Cheers,

Kaylie