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.

Photos about town

I really do love living in Toronto... I grew up in this city but it's always changing so there are new things to find. Like this graffiti artist's work - I've seen the woman's face in a couple of places but this was shot on Queen W just under the railway bridge by the gladstone. I was sad to see that it was go when I went by recently but I guess that means something new will appear eventually.

The Big Bop is a club on College West that's been around for a long while. I've never been inside but while I waiting for the street car I snapped this pic and then played with the colours.

New Littlins

On Saturdays, I have been doing a story time at a local Knit Cafe - In the Loop - and afterwards I tend to hang out with the lovely staff and work on my cards. These are what I came up with last week.

Cats & Dogs

Part of the fun of making cards is trying out new ideas... since I know there are so many dog and cat lovers out there I figured I would give them a "wordle" try... here are the results -

Fawn & Forest (found via Designsponge!)

Such a fun find - Thanks to Designsponge (which if you've not checked out by now... get on it ... it's freaking fantastic)' s spotlight on Fawn & Forest. This pic of their home intrigued using Cork circle trivets on the wall as floating display boards on the wall.

It lead me to their online store which has been added to the list of things that make me want to have disposable income (as a prospective grad student... it's going to be a visual relationship for the moment!)


I love this owl decal










these fabric strawberries by Sian Keegan












They have a blog that even includes a recipe for minty pea pops...see it to believe it!!! A definite experiment for kids who like chocolate mint and for parents who need to sneak peas into the diet.

Eye candy and My next show

The joys of meditating with Paper is that I end up surfing the web and finding lots of fun things. I am going to assume that this will increase when I start my Masters in the fall... I excel at procrastination strategies!

So an interest site I discovered via my stats on my flickr page is FlickrLeech. You find a display of tons of amazing pictures from flickr!

http://www.flickrleech.net/

More info about it is here . Another perfect way to distract - a library of tons the eye candy for the visual junkie.



ALSO I have a sale on this Saturday June 21 - the Big on Bloor Festival

I'll be selling my cards at Bloor St. West and Crawford
from 1:00pm till 5:30 - 6:00 pm.

Things to check out

Things have been BuSy lately! I've landed my cards in two stores, got to take part in the Sassy Little Craft show, heard from the UofT that I've been accepted into the Masters program in Information Studies! Yup June's been good to me so far.

I'm still on such a learning curve with the whole blog thing and now I'm learning more about the trading links and such. So here are 3 for you to enjoy!

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My friend Benita is really creative... she not designs amazing clothes and bags from her label, House of Hsueh.

Benita also has just launched a line of cute wedge shaped toys - We Are Wedges. Her website stories are hysterically funny and Squido is my favourite.

The Wedges can be bought via her etsy store

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Jana of Serendipity Collections has an etsy store that I found while looking at all the wares in the paper categories.

I liked her big mouth card.

She also has a blog .

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Megan of Sweet Clothing Designs was the first person to contact me about my cards from just finding me online... her recycled t-shirts are so fun.

Her blog can be found here


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Sassy Little Craft Show! This Saturday night

Well, this was definitely a week where I wasn't sad about the lack of temp work because I've been busily working on my stock for the Sassy Little Spring Craft Show!

This Saturday from 7pm till 12:30 at the Victory Cafe (1 block south & east of Bathurst and Bloor on Markham)