News

This Mother's Day, Every Mother Counts

This Mother's Day, Every Mother Counts

on May 07, 2021
This Mother's Day is extra special for us here at Thread & Maple, because it's Sam's first! Sam gave birth to a beautiful baby boy just a little over a month ago. After a tough pregnancy, Sam & Shayne were thrilled to welcome baby Chet into the family ❤️ Unfortunately, not all expecting mothers are destined for the same happy ending. Did you know that in the US, a woman is twice as likely to die from birth and pregnancy complications than her mother was, a generation ago? Even though the US spends the most per capita on maternal health than anywhere else in the world, it ranks 55th in maternal deaths. It is the only high-resource nation with a consistently rising maternal mortality rate. The number of women who die giving birth in America each year has nearly doubled in the last two decades. Women of colour are 2-3 times more likely to die from complications than white women. More than half of these deaths can be prevented! To show our support, we're donating $10.00 CAD of every sale of our new Confetti Cannon Bundle to Every Mother Counts. The folks at EMC work tirelessly to save the lives of moms, by helping improve access to quality, respectful and equitable maternity care in the US and around the world. What we like is that they take a community-based approach, empowering stakeholders at the local level with a focus on underserved and marginalized mothers. Thank you for enabling us to support worthy causes such as this, by choosing our products. With your help, we hope to make a difference, however modest it may be :) To all the fellow mamas out there, we wish you a wonderful Mother's Day! Stay safe and be well! 
Folio Release Giveaway

Folio Release Giveaway

on Apr 18, 2021
Since the birth of Thread & Maple, we've tried to design and select products that we ourselves use often. While we keep notes and reminders on our phones, when it comes to planning and brainstorming, nothing compares with trusty paper & pen. There's something about physically writing things down that helps to see things more clearly, remember important points and envision creative solutions. We created these folios to keep your journal and writing tools beautifully organized. Our newest leather designs are ready for the big reveal this Saturday! Handmade from the same soft leather as our Notions Clutch and other leather accessories, we have 3 beautiful colours and 2 sizes to choose from, to fit both A5 and A4 notebooks. We aspire that our folio will become that 'forever' item that you will use and treasure for many years to come.  We'd like to invite you to celebrate with us by participating in our [finally] Folio Giveaway on Instagram! We're giving away the very first T&M Leather Folio along with a cork pen and A5 notebook this Saturday, April 24th.  Be sure to visit our shop on Saturday to see these and several other new products in store, just in time for Mother's Day! 💕 We're very excited that they're ready at last, we're really pleased with the final product and hope you will love them as much as we do!   ENTER GIVEAWAY
Free Shipping Weekend

Free Shipping Weekend

on Apr 02, 2021
We hope everyone is enjoying a lovely spring long weekend! Happy Easter to all those celebrating! We've spent the winter hard at work trying to improve our shipping rates and options for our US & International customers. We must say, the effort was half selfish, as the sheer volume of "where's my order?" e-mails we've received was astounding and we just couldn't keep up. The lowest cost shipping option via Canada Post doesn't come with tracking either, so all these packages were just out there in the nether of the postal service web of delays and issues. We negotiated our socks off with UPS and are thrilled to be able to offer tracked, reasonably priced shipping that doesn't take months!! US & International customers who've ordered from us in the past month might have noticed that you got your goodies much quicker than usual. We sure noticed, as our Inbox has suddenly become a quiet sanctuary! Ahhhh! All is well with the world! To celebrate this AND the long weekend, we're thrilled to offer free US & CA shipping on all orders over $75.00 CAD ($100.00 CAD for international customers). Hurry, offer ends Monday April 5th @12pm EST. Happy spring everyone! - Sam & Olga
Store-wide Sale & Special Giveaway

Store-wide Sale & Special Giveaway

on Mar 07, 2021
In Russia/Ukraine, where I (Olga) was born, March 8th is bigger than Mother's Day celebrated in May in North America. Not only is it Mother's Day, but it's a day to celebrate all women and girls. You definitely don't want to be without flowers in hand at your mother's on March 8th! Why March 8th? Well, I just Googled it, and turns out the date became relevant back in the early 20th century when women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia. It was mostly celebrated by the communist/socialist countries until the mid-60's, when it was adopted by the feminist movement. In the late 70's, the day became recognized by the UN as International Women's Day. International Women's Day is a day to commemorate all the admirable achievements women have made throughout history. It's also a day for raising awareness of women's rights and gender equality. Thread & Maple is proudly a women-owned small business. Our entire team (now a whopping 4!) are women, and also moms (or moms-to-be in Sam's case!) We invite you to celebrate Women's Day by treating yourself or a woman in your life to something special from our little shop :) From 9am EST March 7th to 11:59pm EST March 8th, enjoy 15% off everything in store! Simply click 'checkout' and the discount will be applied to your entire purchase automatically. Please note that this discount can't be combined with any other offer. BROWSE SHOP   We're giving away a Cork Convertible Backpack to one lucky winner in our Instagram giveaway! To enter, simply share the name of a woman you admire on our Instagram post. For every individual who comments, we will donate $5 CAD to Sistering, a Canadian organization focused on helping women and trans people who face violence, mental health issues, homelessness and trauma. The winner will be selected and announced on Instagram on March 9th at 12pm EST. ENTER GIVEAWAY We hope you take a moment to pay tribute to a woman you admire, while helping to support a worthy cause! Thank you for choosing our products and enabling us to contribute to causes close to our hearts. ❤️
Contributing to Black Mamas Matter this Feb

Contributing to Black Mamas Matter this Feb

on Feb 11, 2021
February is Black History Month. It is a time for honouring the major contributions that Black people have made, and continue to make, across all sectors of society. So we thought it's a perfect time to honour Black Mamas Matter, who do such incredible work to address the issues that impact maternal health disparities and inequalities faced by Black women in America.
Boxing Day Weekend Yummy Free Gift

Boxing Day Weekend Yummy Free Gift

on Dec 25, 2020
This Boxing Day weekend, we have a very special treat in store for you! We've teamed up with Candace from SOAK Bath Co, a fellow Canadian small business, to bring you a very special gift with purchase: the most    DeLiCiOuS   scrumptious   s.a.v.o.r.y   and positively DIVINE   soap we've ever encountered! Now we know that's quite the pitch for soap, but if there was a way we could photograph smell, these soaps would produce the most irresistible pictures ever! The best part (besides the smell), is that each bar is zero waste, vegan and handcrafted with all natural ingredients right here in Canada. Just like our plantable greeting cards, Candace wraps her soaps in a biodegradable seed paper label that grows wildflowers when planted. We must admit we've somewhat dipped into our soap stockpile ourselves, but managed to stop ourselves just in time to be able to run this promotion: Spend $75 or more this Boxing Day weekend & receive a free gorgeous handmade soap bar Offer valid on all orders of $75CAD or more before taxes & shipping made from midnight Saturday, Dec 26 to Sunday Dec 27 11pm EST. We will send you one of 6 different 'flavours': elderberry, sweet vanilla bean, patchouli, lavender, lemon & rosemary or citrus poppy seed. Please add a note to the cart 'special instructions' if you have a strong preference to one or have any allergy concerns. We know you must be all shopped out for holiday gifts, so treat yourself and get this special treat as a bonus, while supporting Canadian small businesses at the same time :) **Please note that any orders placed Dec 19-31 will be shipped first week of January, as soon as we're able to get back to the office. Also, we've received word from the postal office that shipping times are longer than usual due to the holiday rush. ** We wish you a wonderful year-end and a joyous New Year! See you in 2021! - Sam & Olga
Holiday Fundraiser Wrap-up

Holiday Fundraiser Wrap-up

on Dec 20, 2020
Thank you so much for your generous donations and participation in our Holiday Giving Giveaway! With your support, we were able to raise $400 for Feed the Children, which comes to $800 with the 2X match! It's so wonderful to be able to gather together and give to those in need during this holiday season, from the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU! Big congratulations to Barbara A & Heather W who are the lucky winners of our last two On the Go's! While our On the Go's are currently out of stock, we're doing our best to get the next batch in come January. We will open up for pre-order as soon as we can commit to a shipping date! Happy Holidays!
Holiday Giving Giveaway

Holiday Giving Giveaway

on Dec 08, 2020
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The holidays are just around the corner and we thought, what better way to celebrate than by rallying our amazing supporters to give to those in need. This week, we're running a mini fundraiser for the Feed the Children foundation with our Holiday Giving Giveaway. We're giving away two On the Go's to two lucky participants who offer to make a contribution to this worthy cause. Enter to win by donating $3.50 USD or more to Feed the Children, 100% of funds raised will go directly to the Feed the Children Canada charity and your donation will be matched 2X! DONATE TO ENTER While not an entry requirement, we would very much appreciate tagging a friend in our Instagram Giveaway post in the comments to help spread the word :) We will be drawing two random winners this Sunday December 13th at 3pm EST.* While the On the Go's are currently sold out, we'll get them back in stock early in the new year. In the meantime, we thought to put the couple we've got left in our shop to good use! *Open to residents of USA/Canada/UK/EU/Australia. This giveaway is not affiliated or endorsed by Facebook or Instagram
Black Friday Sale Event

Black Friday Sale Event

on Nov 26, 2020
Don't miss our biggest sale event of the year! We're offering 10 amazing deals starting from midnight Friday Nov 27 to 11pm Monday Nov 30 Eastern time.
Nook Baskets are Here!

Nook Baskets are Here!

on Nov 23, 2020
As any knitter knows, an unfinished project carries with it a certain trail of chaos... Needles, stray stitch markers, strings of yarn, and those darning needles that seem to grow feet and walk off any time you turn away for just a second. We embarked on a journey to design a beautiful storage solution for in-progress knitting and crochet projects, that you could leave right out in the open on your coffee table.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

on Oct 09, 2020
This weekend, enjoy 30% off our yarn and 50% off our cork cases with the purchase of any matching notion! It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and we're saying our thanks with some great deals in our shop :) We're so grateful to all our families, friends and customers who have supported our new small business! Thanks to all of you, we've been able to bring Thread & Maple to life. THANK YOU!!!! We're also so thankful to have Sasha join us as the third member of our team! Big welcome Sasha!   *Buy any notion and take 50% off the matching cork case when you add both to cart. Limit 5 cases per order. Discount will be applied automatically, just add the notions and cases to cart :) Offer ends Monday Oct 12 @11:59pm EST. 
knitting project bag with worsted weight yarn

Giveaway! Craft Your Comfort

on Sep 24, 2020
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One of the best parts of being a maker being able to craft your comfort 🧶 Needlework enables us to connect, find comfort and solace in our otherwise hectic lives. There's something special about creating, crafting, watching something manifest by the work of our hands.We aspire for our yarn, tools and accessories to be a part of that sense of comfort. It's that feeling you get when you pick up your favourite project bag and pull out your tools of the craft that feel just right. It's that 'aaahhhh' when you run your fingers over the delicate texture of your finished piece.What is one accessory, tool or finished piece that you just love, that gives you that feeling of comfort? Share your favourite needlecraft item on Instagram with hashtag #craftyourcomfort for a chance to win a Cork Project Bag with wrist strap and 3 skeins of our luxury worsted weight yarn in the colour of your choice. To enter: 1) Follow us on Instagram @threadandmaple❤️ 2) Post a picture of your favourite needlecraft item with hashtag #craftyourcomfort and tell us why you love it. It can be fiber, a project, an accessory, a tool, whatever gives you the warm and fuzzies! We will draw a winner from the photos on Monday, we can't wait to see all your comforting faves!  Feel free to tag your knitting friends in our giveaway post, this isn't a requirement to enter, but gives us the warm and fuzzies!🥰 Participation is valid by posting a photo with the #craftyourcomfort tag 24.09 12pm to 28.09 12pm EST. A winner will be selected and announced on our Instagram 28.09 @ 2pm EST. Open to residents of USA/Canada/UK/EU/Australia. This giveaway is not endorsed by Facebook or Instagram, just us! 👱🏼‍♀️👩🏻
thread and maple office

New T&M Headquarters

on Sep 23, 2020
This month has been super hectic for us, as Thread & Maple moved into its first office space - hooray! And Thread & Maple being the two of us, this meant days of packing, infinite trips up and down stairs, several car loads, one injured back and one toddler heavily dosed on Dora the Explorer. But, in the words of Dora - "we did it!" We're overjoyed that our little baby is growing so fast and veeery relieved to finally have some breathing room! Until this weekend, we've been living among precarious towers of boxes that seemed to permeate every corner of our homes. This is us (as socially distanced as we can be!)This marks a new beginning for our little business and we're both very grateful to be here!
Support Teachers & Kids This September

Support Teachers & Kids This September

on Sep 02, 2020
This month, many kids and teachers are heading back to school with the start of the new school year. Speaking with our friends, family and neighbours who have school-aged kids or are involved in education, what would normally be a time of spirit and joy is now mixed with feelings of apprehension and uncertainty. School closures in response to the pandemic have put a lot of strain on families all over the world. My little one, Mateo, is definitely missing his friends and caregivers with the daycares having been closed. And it's been tough having a little busy-body toddler at home all day with both parents working (trying to, more like!) We are few of the fortunate ones though. As schools start to reopen, kids and teachers are facing a very uncertain year ahead. We want to do our part to help as best we can, by contributing much-needed resources to teachers and students across Canada and the US. For the month of September, we will be donating $5.00 CAD from the sale of every Cork Project Bag (oh yes, they're back in stock Sept 4!) to First Book Canada. They provide books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families across Canada. We will also be donating $5.00 CAD from the sale of every Notions Clutch to Donors Choose, which enables US public school teachers to directly raise funds for much needed supplies and projects. We've set up a giving page where you can contribute to projects that inspire you. A big THANK YOU to all our customers who enable us to contribute to causes close to our hearts by supporting our small business! Stay safe and be well! ❤️
Our First Charitable Donation!

Our First Charitable Donation!

on Aug 31, 2020
With Thread & Maple's two-month anniversary this week, we can't quite believe how old/young we are! The months just flew by, but at the same time it feels like we've been doing this for ages! We're very proud of how far we've come and giddy with excitement to bring all our ideas and plans to fruition. We'd like to thank each and every one of our customers, followers, fellow makers and friends for all the love and support we've received. Thanks to you, our wonderful customers, who have put your trust in our ideas and products, we've been able to contribute close to $1,000 from the sale of our Notions Clutches and Cork Project Bags to @blackwomeninmotion! It may be a modest sum, but we're super proud to be able to make this contribution in our first two months of being open for business. We hope that it helps BWiM to continue the vital work they do, as a Canadian grassroots organization to empower black women and survivors of sexual violence and helping them to gain access to job opportunities during these very challenging times. This year has been very difficult for a lot of people. This business doesn't come without its challenges, but we feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to do work that we love and help to provide for our families, as well as support local charities. We'd like to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of you and we hope that our creations bring a smile to your face, just as you have done for us :) ❤️ Sam & Olga    SUPPORTING KIDS & TEACHERS
New Cake Recipe

New Cake Recipe

on Aug 26, 2020
We've decided to change our Cake 'recipe' :) As of August 25th, our Cake notions storage boxes will no longer be available in black or white. We've instead added chocolate and caramel frosting for a more 'delicious' look. Our original black/white frosting lids were created by a different maker than the bases themselves, so it was quite complicated to coordinate the assembly of the final pieces. We've worked with our woodworking shop in Ontario, Canada to be able to create the lids in the same place, from the same maple wood. These cake boxes were our most challenging design, due to the shape of the frosting lid. We went through quite a lot of iterations of different manufacturing processes, including cutting steel, coating with vinyl, using different kinds of wood and 3D printing. We're very excited to have landed on the final design! To all those who've purchased the black/white version, you now have a truly limited edition piece in your home, as there are only a few dozen of them in the world :) We hope you like the new look/taste of our little cakes!   SHOP CAKE BOXES
pom pom hat pattern

Top 5 Hat Patterns for Fall

on Aug 07, 2020
We love knitting hats, we knit them year round for ourselves and our loved ones. There's something so comforting about wearing a hand-knit hat, plus it keeps you cozy and fashionable. You can never have enough! We've hand-picked our top 5 knitted hat patterns by some of our favourite designers.
Where Have All the Clutches Gone?

Where Have All the Clutches Gone?

on Jul 22, 2020
Our shelves are nearly empty as we send out the last of our first ever batch of Notions Clutches today. Our babies have left the nest and are on their way to their new homes *tear* We thought we'd use this update to answer some of our FAQ's in the past few days, so here goes! Q: "I missed the boat and the Clutches are sold out! When can I get one? Are they here yet? Are they here yet? Are they here yet?" A: We're so touched that you guys are so excited about our products, thank you! Our leather workshop is in full throttle and we have our next batch arriving second week of August. We've opened up preorder on them so you can secure yours now and they will ship August 17th at the latest. Preorder Now Q: "I placed my order but it's still not here. When is it coming? My tracking link doesn't work! Is it here yet? Is it here yet? Is it here yet?" A: Almost there! If you selected "Small Packet Air" or "Flat" shipping options, they don't come with tracking. Canada post seems to be using their order numbers as stand-in tracking numbers so they don't show parcel location. Not to worry, your items are en route and will be with you any day now! If you've ordered in the past week, we were a couple of days behind getting all the orders out the door just because it was such a flood from Grocery Girls fans, but we should be all caught up today :) Q: "When will you have more Cork Project Bags and tassels in the shop?" A: We should have more bags and tassels in by end of August. We've also gotten requests for wrist straps to be available as optional add-ons, so we're making those as well :) They will be attachable to the zip if you need to take your project bag on the go. Q: "Can I have my cake and eat it too?" A: You can definitely have your cake (not sure about eating it unless you're really craving maple wood!) Our next batch of cakes should be ready by end of this month. This one will be small as our woodworking shop is knee deep in birdhouses, but we will shift back to cakes next month for another round. Q: "When will you get more seashell stitch markers?" A: We have a few sets left that we've put up for sale yesterday, but it's a small batch so they'll likely go quickly. But don't worry if you miss them, more are being made as we speak! We're hoping to have them in by early August. Q: "Why are some items available for preorder and not others?" A: We make items available for preorder as soon as we have a concrete date of when they will arrive and be ready to ship. We want to make sure to provide you with a date we're confident in, before we accept any payments for items currently out of stock or not yet released. We give T&M members first dibs on pre-orders and new product releases, so be sure to join and subscribe to our newsletter :) Q: "What new goodies are you cooking up?" A: We're full speed ahead with our product pipeline and can't wait to share our new products with you all! You can expect at least one BIG new product release every month and 1-2 mini ones in between. Next up, we'll be expanding our cork product line and launching more home craft organizers. We've got new unique stitch markers in the works and definitely more of that luxurious leather coming your way! Stay tuned to our newsletter and Instagram for all the latest :)
The Notions Clutch

The Notions Clutch

on Jul 06, 2020
The T&M Notions Clutch was our very first product idea and we thought we'd share its journey, from its very humble beginnings: This frame-worthy artistic rendition was the first concept drawing that I sent Olga during one of our numerous phone chats back in 2019. I always have a couple of knitting projects in the works and I found myself often frustrated with my knitting organizers. I have lots of different project bags and pouches, but my notions often got lost in their various inner pockets. I would end up just having scissors and stitch markers scattered in a tray on my coffee table as at least I could easily grab one from there!   For me, this knitting tool organizer layout just felt practical. I wanted to create something that I myself would use. I laid out my most used knitting tools and we designed the case around them. Our set of essential knitting notions is built around the tools that I use every day. We set out to create our 'dream notions organizer' and create not only quality knitting tools, but beautiful and unique at the same time. The first thing we did was scour the internet and visited several craft shops to see if we were reinventing the wheel. We were really surprised by the paltry offering at some of the craft supplies stores, where this was literally the closest thing we could find in a local Michaels shop. From there, we went on a wild ride of prototypes, including, but not limited to, this oddity which somehow materialized due to a miscommunication between us and one of our leather maker candidates: We didn't get discouraged though and after several more iterations and 'auditioning' different leather makers, we got closer to our vision: After months of prototyping, we were thrilled to have the Clutch in production: Until finally, thanks to Pavlo and his team of super talented leather crafters, our idea is finally a reality: And today we're on the edge of our seats waiting for the first Clutches to make their way to their new homes! We'd love to know what you think of them, so if you ordered yours, please take a moment to leave a review with photos of you using it! It'll be like watching our child take its first steps :) If you haven't gotten yours yet, be sure to take advantage of our members-only $15.00 CAD discount when you buy the Notions Clutch with at least 3 notions from the bundle. Sign up for a T&M account to reveal this limited time offer! Bundle & Save 
So, here we are!

So, here we are!

on Jul 03, 2020
It's not *exactly* as we pictured it, launching our new business during a worldwide pandemic and general chaos, but alas, here we are! If we're being honest, we definitely had some second thoughts in March when the whole world seemed to turn upside down in a heartbeat. But, thanks in part to our very supportive other halves Shayne and Marcelo, who encouraged us every step of the way, here we are! It's hard to believe it's actually happening! We've been 'launching next week' for so long that it seems surreal... Thanks so much to all of you for your support and encouragement leading up to our launch, it really gave us a boost to get over the finish line! We hope that you like our creations, because we have so much more in store ;)