Scrap Happy

My hours of work yesterday were amazingly unproductive. I managed to make just one card that I'm kind of happy with, and discarded my other efforts. I am trying to come up with a design that employs my scraps, is simple and beautiful. I like this card, but feel that I'm not quite there. However, I do have a few other ideas that I'm going to try out, which I hope will be little closer to the mark.
Following on from my last post, yesterday did end on an up. We had a yummy dinner at Il Mercato (thanks to some kind sponsors), then came home and watched a cheesy B-movie that I really enjoyed - it was called "Mindhunters" and starred LL Cool J, Christian Slater and Val Kilmer. The premise was implausible, the acting atrocious and they gave the make-up artist free reign with the fake blood and scars. In other words, throughly, mindlessly enjoyable!

Blah, Blah, Blahhgg....

Feeling a little bit "blah" at the moment. Had a day of ups and downs - breakfast and giant whole milk latte at Uncommon Grounds (up), meeting up with a friend to check out a craft fair (up), finding a groovy green parka at Frenchy's (up), trying on a gorgeous japanese inspired dress and looking like a heifer (down), trying on another gorgeous dress and looking a bit less bovine, slightly more foxy (up), finding out the dress was not 60% off as the sign in the window had indicated (down), leaving the shop sans dress (down), trying to buy appliances at the Bay and running into snags (down), coming home and having a veggie sandwich with gouda and a bottle of beer (up), trying to work on some cards and nothing working right (down), giving up, messing around with the digital camera and going on the computer and writing this post (down). I think that we are going out to dinner tonight, so hopefully the ups will begin to outweigh the down - but, it seems to take double the ups to cancel out all the downs.

Hot off the presses....

I am working on perfecting a series of post-bound albums, and I finished one tonight. They will incorporate the same elements as my small books - mainly ribbon and Japanese paper - but also offer more flexibilty in that pages can be added and taken away. This one can accomodate one standard 4x6 photo per page, but I am making others that can fit two. I am not sure how many pages I should include, so if you've got any feedback on this, I'd love to hear it. Well, this has officially been the most boring blog entry ever! Good night, and good luck.

Lazy Weekend

I had a pretty lazy weekend. Went to a town called Truro that's about an hour from here to visit my mom and grandmother. There is not much to do there, so visits are always nice and relaxing. I helped my mom pick out some fabric for her bedroom, worked on designing some greeting cards, ate loads of yummy food and began knitting a shrug. I am wondering if choosing the shrug for my second project is a bit ambitious, but the instructions seemed very simple, and it will be cool to make something that I can actually wear. I got some really gorgeous and soft Alpaca yarn in a dreamy blue/green colour that will be perfect for spring. However, I am not sure if I will be wearing it this spring, as progress is pretty slow. Although I enjoyed my lazy weekend, I have lots of book ideas and projects to finish, so it's back into the studio tomorrow. But, right now I hear a glass of red calling my name...

Shop Update...

My books are now being sold in another great Halifax shop - Duly Noted. It's a very cute boutique specializing in cards, invitations and all things paper. I think that my books and the store are a perfect fit. If you are in town, go and check it out and buy lots!

What I'm reading now...

I really love to read. I always have a book (or two) on the go, as well as loads of magazines and craft and design books. I also got a few books around Christmastime that I am currently working my way through. I just finished a book called "Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden that I think is fantastic. It's the story of two best friends, who are from the Oji-Cree tribe in Ontario, fighting in the First World War. Not only did this book let me learn a lot about native culture at that time, but it has a narrative that makes it unputdownable. Highly recommended.
The book that I have just started to read is called "The Turning" and it's by an Australian author called Tim Winton. It's a series of stories, and although I have just started reading the first one, I can tell that I'm really going to like it. My favorite book by Tim Winton is called "Cloudstreet" and I really have to recommend that one. It's a rambling saga about a couple of quirky families in the 1940s. While the book has a lot of humour, it also quite tragic. It's one of those books that gets you really involved with the characters, and you feel as though you know them.
I am always looking for recommendations too, so if there is anyone out there reading this, let me know what books you've read and loved.

Doppelganger

I created this doppelganger to represent me in the profile of my blog, but I can't figure out how to post her up there, so I thought that I'd write a post about her. Strange that I am talking about some bits of paper as if they are real, but anyhow, she is wearing my glasses and she has my penchant for fake bead necklaces. She also has hair that she can't control, and like me, has been asked on occasion whether she is wearing a wig. For the record, I don't wear a wig.

Knit Porn

It's been a long time since I did a post, but I have surprisingly little news. One thing that I have done during my blog "hiatus" is take a knitting class, and the results are displayed here. I took the photo against the leopard print cushion in my studio, and I think it looks like some b-grade hand model porn. But, I digress. The knitting class was loads of fun. I did it a new place that's opened up here in Halifax called "the Loop." It's a great place, with lots of wonderful yarns and patterns and things. And, I did find the knitting very relaxing. Now that I've finished the gorgeous (?) armwarmers that you see here, I hope to move on to bigger and better things, like a scarf knit with some delicious fuzzy yarn. Stay tuned....