Kath's Things: Old Leather

I would like to begin this post by saying that I do not really support the slaughtering of little (or large) earthlings to make new fashion. That being said, I'm not 100% against where leather or fur comes from. Especially if it's hand-crafted by someone you know has used everything from that animal for a very important reason. 

I have a few leather items in my possession, and they're very important to me. 

The first one is this very old purse.

When I was 18, I went to live in the Swiss Alps with an absolutely lovely family for three months for a school exchange. My exchange partner's parents were antique dealers. 

My exchange parents had come across two of these solid leather pilot bags. They were used by old swiss pilots to carry their flight plans.  They gave one to Claire (my exchange partner) and myself. 

Flight and navigation is a big part of my family. I don't know if my exchange dad knew how meaningful this gift would be to me. It's my most cherished "souvenir" from that exchange (besides all the awesome memories, of course!)

There are two slots for pencils inside, and it fits envelopes/paper perfectly. 

I love this purse. When I wear it, I feel like I'm carrying around something historic. 

Next, I have this belt. Now, if you've ever seen me more than once in your life, you've probably seen me wearing this belt. I've been wearing it consistently since circa 2003, when I nabbed it off my dad. 

My dad came across this belt when he was in the North West Territories, working his first job as a bush pilot. (See why flight is important in my family? ;) )

The belt says "Pelly Bay NWT" and is adorned with images of First Nations Inuit people with a sled. 

Pelly Bay is actually in Nunavut, but my dad was there way before Nunavut got its name. 

I just did a Google Maps search of Pelly Bay and gosh, it's so far north! I have personally never been north of Edmonton, Alberta, so I feel like I can barely conceptualize the northern-ness that is Pelly Bay . 

Classic Winter Kath

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this "series" of blog posts! I can't wait to write more. There are exciting things to come!

Cards for YOU!

Hi friends!

I've been doodling cards for a while now, and I'm feeling good about sharing them with you!

I'm selling my inked cards for $20 for 4, or $6 each. I can mail them to you if you live in Canada for pretty cheap I think, or hand-deliver/meet-up if you're in Montreal.

I'll be making more in the next week, so there will be some for everyone. They're not really holiday-themed, but hey, I think they'd make great gifts :)

You can contact me at katwatson007 (at) hotmail (dot) com

Peace and Love!

Sneak Peek at a blog project coming soon!

Hi friends! I've been thinking about a cool concept for some future posts I'd like to make. 

I'm going to be making posts about stuff that I own. 

I often think about the idea of needing material items, and how we can create meaning or have absolutely no meaning attached to them. In the last several years of my life, I have become more minimalist in what I own, but also very minimalist in what I accumulate. 

Here's what I think makes my things kind of special, and special enough to share with you: most of my things have a "story". I wasn't really aware of this, until a new friend I'd made would often compliment something I had, and then I'd respond with gratitude, followed by a description of where the item came from. I remember her telling me "everything you own has it's own special story!". I hadn't really thought of that before, because I guess I thought everyone's everything had stories too. 

She's right, though. If I'm complimented on an article of clothing or jewellery, you will rarely hear me respond "thanks it's from *insert some store* and it was on sale!"

(Unless you're complimenting my running shoes because yes, they're from the Running Room and I got them on sale. But no one's complimented my running shoes because they're pretty much the same as everyone else's)

Here are a few sneak peeks at things I just happened to already have photos of on my computer. In the next few weeks, I plan on taking good photos of my list of items and categorizing them into appropriate blog posts. I'm pretty excited to share with you all the stories and memories associated with everything!

Handwarmers- Fall, 2015

Belt- Summer, 2005

Toque- Winter, 2008

Scarf- photo from 2008 and I thought it was funny so added it in here