TORONTO - City of Craft Applications are Up (till Aug 31)

City of Craft is a spectacular Toronto craft event that takes place in December at the Theatre Centre (Queen W. near Dovercourt)

The application is up and running online here ... and it's really affordable since so many people come through the space on Sat and Sun.

 

Photo - from Coldsnap Bindery's flickr account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/coldsnapbindery/

Posted via web from painted-tree-designs's posterous

I heart Owls

Here are some Owls I've found on my electronic travels ---

I found Iittala Taika Espresso Cup & Saucer with owl motif at Cloudberry Living, a site that sells Scandinavian design

Polkadot Shop's Stitched Circle Owl card sets are fantastic! (found via Funky Finds)

Estela Lugo's Owl version of Animal Attraction pillows (found via Fawn & Forest)

And these Hootie Decals - stick them to the walk and then can write on them with chalk!

funky stuff to buy - birds

So I've not been very good about posting and figured since I have a ton of webpages bookmarked that are things I would love to own or find totally inspiring or intriguing so a good way to be more consistent is to post some of those and spread the word about other amazing things. At craft shows I always do an excellent job promoting other peoples creations so why not extend that in to the virtual world.


Birds are my favourite so here's a selection of my finds:


Geninne is an etsy shop that has gorgeous watercolours of birds and She also has a blog

Modern Bird Jewelry ~Metalsmithing by Laura Flavin makes amazing bird jewellery and more!

Mama Bird and Baby Bird in the Nest necklace

Kris for Calligraphy has come great magnets and she is a professional calligrapher.
Check out her blog here and her etsy store here

Southern Tweets- Magnet-Go-Round

HANDMADE NATION SCREENING in Toronto!!!! (Feb 26)

image from here


I'm so excited about this... I hope I can get someone to cover my shift at the library of teeth!

Premiere Handmade Nation here:

Date: Thursday February 26, 2009

Time: Film – 7pm Discusssion – 8.30pm-10pm


Location: Lennox Contemporary Gallery
12 Ossington Ave. (near Queen)
Toronto, Ontario



Co-presented by: Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto Craft Alert & City of Craft as part of DIwhy?, an exhibition of do-it-yourself art & craft on Jan. 20- Mar. 1 at the OCC Gallery.

Valentine Bounty at Fresh Collective

the Fresh Collective has a big Valentine theme going on their Blog with suggestions and one of my cards (hand cut hearts) made it onto the blog!

Check out all the suggestions and choices!

http://freshcollectivegiftguide.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentines-day-gift-ideas-part-1.html

it's an exciting day

It's Obama's inauguration today and I'm excited that this is happening in my life time.

To send you off with a smile - although today I'm expecting to see a lot of those - but just in case here is something that will make you smile. It happened in Liverpool station yesterday and it was actually organized by a cellphone company as an ad. But while you watch it, with the sound on, look at the people who are standing by, starting to join in and smiling big.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mUZrrbgCdYc

we all need that ... more opportunities to smile big.

things I have made with the Paper Place's paper!!!

Almost didn't know where to beginning! More can be seen HERE on my flickr page. The Paper Place is my happy place :)

OH MY OH MY CONTEST - The Paper Place (or my land of happiness)

So it's pretty well established that I'm a big time lover of paper. I love working with it and as a visual junkie it's definitely my "drug" of choice. This means that the Paper Place is like my own personal mecca. Walking into the store make me happy. There's so much to choose from it can be overwhelming but my visits always start with a walkabout and then lead to my favourite thing - the Scrap Bags. When ever I can used found objects or recycled goods in my cards, I'm a happy girl... it's also quite cost effective for me since I'm back in school. So the scrap bags are ideal because the Paper Place creates these packages of end strips or smaller pieces in a mixed bag of fun. On the TTC ride home I can't restrain myself from going through the package and seeing what kinds of things have been included. I've also noticed that they've started back up with workshops so I'm looking forward to taking a look at them for the new year. So i was overjoyed when I heard about this amazing contest...

We decided to get into the holiday spirit with a contest of our own.

We have put together the ultimate Chiyogami sample pack, an 8.5x11” sheet of every Chiyogami paper we offer in our online store –

637 patterns in total (retail value $1911.00).

Interested in entering? It couldn’t be easier. There are a number of ways you can win:

• First, simply leave a comment below. That will earn you 1 entry in the contest.

• Mention our contest in your blog, (feel free to use the photo above) and add a link to your post in your comment below. This will earn you 5 extra entries.

• earn another 5 extra entries is to add a link in your comment to a photo of work you have done using our papers. Please only post links to photos you have permission to use of work YOU have done.

• make a video, upload it to Youtube and provide a link in your comment below. Let us know why you should be the one to win – doing so earns you 50 extra entries.

The contest will close December 31st at midnight. The winner will be chosen at random and notified the first week of January. Remember, for us to contact you should you win, you must have entered your email address in the appropriate box provided when submitting your post. It will remain private and NOT be used for any solicitation purposes!

SO GO FOR IT .... YOU CAN START SUBMITTING HERE

Toronto blogs I like

I've been horrid about keeping up. School's been a bit of an adjustment to say the least. I've not been keeping up with looking at as many things online as well... who would have thought I could miss temping. So I thought I would share some blogs that I've found by Toronto based creatives. Also Toronto Craft Alert has a link to lots of Toronto blogs.

Kim's Suitcase is Kim Kutner's business with cards, beautiful fabric badges, creatures etc.
She'll be at the One of Kind Show coming up in November
her blog
her store

Benita has two great businesses. We are Wedges is a great site to explore
House of Hsueh is her fashion business with accessories
It also has a facebook page

Girl Number Twenty makes some of the most beautiful children's quilts and other items made from recycled or reworked materials.
Her blog
her store

Karyn launched an amazing store on Queen West, the workroom
(on the North side somewhat west of Gladstone)
You can rent sewing machines and other equipment, fantastic fabrics, patterns,
or take some workshops
Her blog

Illustrator Tania Howells has lots of creations including a new children's book
Her blog
Her shop

"[murmur] is a documentary oral history project that records stories and memories told about specific geographic locations. "
http://murmurtoronto.ca/

My Belle Bijoux has gorgeous jewellery.
Her blog
Her store

Lisa Pijuan-Nomura

Lisa is an artist living and working in Toronto, Canada

Her blog

The Good Catch General Store on Queen West
1556 Queen Street West (at Sorauren) Toronto, Ontario
http://www.goodcatch.ca/

City of Craft is taking place on Dec 13!
http://www.cityofcraft.com/

Sweetie Pie Press creates fantastic buttons.
http://sweetiepiepress.blogspot.com/

Lots of creations by Lindsay Zier-Vogel
http://www.puddlepress.com/

http://thepinpals.typepad.com/pin_pals/

http://thimble.ca/

http://witch-fire.blogspot.com/

http://needle-exchange.ca/

http://tarabursey.blogspot.com/

http://papermuse.wordpress.com/

http://themayberrysparrow.blogspot.com/

http://hideous-birds.blogspot.com/

http://toronto.photobloggers.org/

http://rraz.ca/photo-blog/blog.html

http://torontozinelibrary.blogspot.com/

ENJOY !

I'm a Truant from my blog but it's school's fault!

I've been quite the no show but heading back to school has been a bit of a crazy ride so this blog has unfortunately gotten pushed to the side for a bit.

And I'm lucky enough to have been invited by Jenn of Toronto Craft Alert to help with the posting on the site so that is the blog that's been getting my attention as of late.... definitely check it out since there are always new events coming in left right and centre.

Check out Robot A Day

Erin of Anatomy of a Skirt has come up with a great new project. From Mon to Fri, she creates and posts a different version of her robot pouches. She adapts them to a completely new style every day (mermaids, ninjas) Most robots have a limited run (usually 5 to 10 sometimes a bit more so they get bought up fast)

Scratch Espresso Bar & Gallery - Bathurst just south of St. Clair W

Today I went for a wander and of course as the usual for this summer, the rain started. Thankfully it did since I found myself a nice new little cafe to frequent.

Scratch Espresso Bar is located in the old scratch gallery building at 1358 bathurst street.

They keep with their past as a gallery by displaying artwork on their walls and are really friendly. I like the big long table by the front where tons of magazines and papers lay for patrons to flip through. I have a feeling I'll end up there a fair bit more when I start my masters since they also have free wifi.

Hours - Monday - Friday 7:30 - 6:00 & Saturday 8:00 - 6:00

photo by hobvias sudoneighm found via google search
see it here granted it's hot chocolate but it's such a great photo i couldn't resist

the joys of find your USB camera cord

I don't know a lot about photography... I was fortunate enough to get some exposure to photography, developing film, etc when I was in highschool but I'll admit that I don't really know how best to use my pretty point and shoot digital with all its unknown features. I know that I really like light and how it hits structure (architecture, nature, etc.) So here are some of my favs.

Finally admitting it...

It's time to come clean... I have a fear of fabric and sewing. I've been taking advantage to a slow summer with lots of reading about techniques with paper, collage as well as embroidery and some sewing. In quite a few of the books, people share why they create and their inspirations. I want to be like the people who just dive in and play around but my block seems to be that I don't really have a clue how to start. Yup, the ostrich with its head in the sand syndrome... not sure how to make something well so I don't get started. But this is a pattern I'm trying to break and admitting the silly fear is the first step I suppose.

My mum has always been an amazing sewer. She made me dresses, toys including a doll that looked like me, and xmas decorations like this beautiful angel we would hang for the holidays. I love its cheeks!

She can make anything from a pattern but it was never something that I sought out. I do remember making a pillow case for my doll house and I'm pretty sure there were tears involved.

My friend Kat was spectacularly generous and gave me her old sewing machine when she upgraded machines. I've done a couple of sewing workshops but would like to take something a bit more intensive to help me wrap my mind around fabric and such. Sew Be It Studio is my first choice because I met the owner Dilys and she was fun, encouraging and really practical so I figured her course would be a good fit for me.

But for now, in the interest of saving on cash since I'm starting school in the fall, I'm going to just try and dive in. I've got some felt from my mum and that's the least intimidating in the fabric world so I'm going to try and make a stuffed bird. Birds have always been lucky creatively so far so it should be fun. And by putting it out there in the public domain, now I have to make something... it's a strategy that's worked for me in the past.

My love of all things library... well the Toronto Public System

It seems only fitting that I'm going into Information Studies (modern day library studies) since I am one of the public libraries' biggest fans. My brothers also fall under that category as well but funnily enough I don't remember going to the library with my mum really - but she was a law librarian. Yay Audrey.

I'm a big user of the hold system - request a movie, cd or book and it eventually appears at the branch of your choice. I tend to have my holds at the maxed out level - 50 things!

Recently I've been doing searches for books on making cards, collage, paper art, embroidering, small business, design, story books of illustrators I like and general craft/arts books... with the occasional cookbook. Really I would just like to go out and buy all the books and keep them but at the moment the cost and space requirements are not viable.

So here are some of the books that I've really enjoyed:

Collage unleashed : paint-bind-stitch-play
By: Bautista, Traci.


The impatient embroiderer
By: Emerson, Jayne.


What do you do with a tail like this?
By: Jenkins, Steve


Alter this! : radical ideas for transforming books into art
By: Hennessy, Alena



The crafter culture handbook
By: Spencer, Amy,




The crafter's companion : [tips, tales and patterns from a community of creative minds
By: Torborg, Anna.