Summertime...

...and the livin' is easy, puppies are lounging...
...and the poppies grow high.

My first commission!

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to be really busy working on a project, and well, here it is! It's my first commission, one of my clients asked me to make it for her bedroom. The brief was that the canvases had to be 18 x 30, with a turquoise background - and possibly include some cherry blossoms. The turnaround time was fairly quick - about 3 weeks. I had an idea about composition right from the start - I wanted the little birds to be looking at one another, and to kind of do my own take on the traditional Chinese scroll painting. Once I decided to use papercuts, "coloured in" with Chiyogami paper, it all came together. I really enjoyed working on these - the process of making the cuts and choosing the patterned paper was a lot of fun.
This is a closeup of one of the birds, which shows the detail and pattern in the paper a bit better...
...and here are the cherry blossoms. It was such an honour to be asked to do this commission - I so admire my clients taste and style, and she really put a lot of faith in me. She'd only seen my books, never any other work I'd done, but still asked me to do these for her. Doing this project has really given me a boost and opened some new possibilities for me. I will be working on some smaller versions of these canvases over the summer, and I'm really excited about it. I'll keep you posted...

The kind of week it's been...

....I accidentally drove down a footpath on campus (it was a wide one, ok!) and had to back up 100 metres to get out....I was wearing these very slippery - but very comfy - flats this morning and on my way to get coffee I fell down and skinned my leg...I am such a novice dog owner that I was using the wrong brush on Milo and he developed all these matts in his fur that wouldn't come out and - as you can see, he has now been shorn within an inch of his life. Sigh...little things, but they add up!

...On the upside - I have a long weekend coming up...I'm happy with how my new project is going...and my grandma is visiting soon. There's always a silver lining - and I think Milo looks sort of cute this way!

....UPDATE - I just managed to spill a hot cup of tea all over my desk, myself, my chair...Friday cannot come soon enough!

Right Here, Right Now....

It's a beautiful Saturday morning...I'm trying to think of what to do with these Chinoiserie panels I found at Value Village...
There are fresh lilacs on the mantel...I've drunk so much coffee that I'm getting heart palpitations...
I really like this mirror my mom gave me...I'm feeling very inspired, but I'm still managing to procrastinate!

Albums

This always happens, I sign off and say that I'm not going to post on my blog for a while because I've been busy - and then suddenly, I'm more compelled to post than usual! A couple of people have asked about the album that was on display in my studio photos, so I thought I'd post a couple of images. I love this particular paper - I like to that that maybe if Hiroshige had lived through the psychadelic 60's, he might have created something like this in his "pink period."

This is the album open - I love the combo of pink and red, so I used red paper for the pages, and interleaved them with vellum.

While I love the bright coloured papers, sometimes I like to work with a more subdued pallette. This paper pattern always reminds me of the 1940's.

Some old black and white photos would look lovely on these pages. Now, I really must sign off - if you'd like to see more albums, please check out my flickr page. Cheerio!

More Studio How-To

My studio makeover was featured as a "flickr find" over on Apartment Therapy hometech today! This prompted me to post my final requested "how-to" - the paper hanger. It's so simple, really simple...
I just screwed curtain harware in to the wall - this is from Umbra, and I chose it because of the way it sticks out from the wall. Then, I got two lengths of chain and some dowels from the hardware store...
Then, it's just a matter of hanging the chain from the curtain hardware, sticking the dowels through the links in the chain and - voila! Hang your papers, and you're done.

Now, I'll just share one final detail of my studio, and stop talking about it! Last week, I found this kimono in the $2 bin of my favorite used clothing shop. The colours go exactly with my studio, and it nicely fills up my once empty wall. I've been busy working in here over the last few days, and it's great to have such a functional space, and be surrounded by the things I love. Actually, I'm going to be so busy in here, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next. I am working on a special project, and it's going to take up a lot of my time over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for the details....

From this, to that...

Sukey 2 saw the photos of my new studio on Flickr, and asked for details of how to build the desk and paper hanger. As you can see from the schematic drawing that my husband made above - this may be more difficult to explain than I thought! But, it was fairly easy to make.

We bought four 4x8" sheets of 3/4 inch MDF board, and three sheets of 1/4 inch MDF board. I wanted the desk to be really long, so we made the desktop 8 feet long and 2 feet 4 inches wide. Also important was the paper storage - I wanted lots of flat drawers. So, what we did was basically make a "cube" measuring 2 feet 4 inches high, 2 feet 4 inches deep and 3 feet 5.25 wide from the thicker MDF. The cube was butt jointed together and had a backing to make it extra strong and secure. On the sides and back of the cube, we attached "brackets" made of small scraps of wood that would later hold the shelves. How many of these you put in would depend on how many shelves you decide to make. For paper, the shelves only need to be a couple of inches high, and we included eight. We stuck each side of the cube together with carpenter's glue and further attached with wood screws once the glue had dried. We cut the thinner MDF into 3 feet 4 inch shelves and placed them on the brackets.

The other "leg" of the desk is another set of shelves. My advice in making these would be to decide what you are going to put in them, and then make the shelves to fit. I envisioned baskets fitting perfectly in the slots, but couldn't find any in the exact dimensions I needed. The method is basically the same as the paper storage cube - glue, then screw. The height and depth are the same, it's just the width that differs. Also, the shelves would be made of the thicker MDF to support heavier items. Finally, everything was primed and painted and became the desk you see above. Phew!

This may be oversimplifying things a bit, but hopefully, it gives you a bit of an idea of how things came together. I am feeling a bit sleepy, so I'll explain the paper hanger in another post. It's a bit less complicated - I promise.

Living in a disco...

At about 8:30 pm tonight, the disco ball that I hung from my chandelier as a Christmas decoration was reflecting light all over our dining room. It was so pretty, and it lasted for only a couple of minutes. I'm glad that I procrastinated about this - it's staying up.

New Studio - Part Deux

Sorry, I hope that this isn't overkill, but I thought that I'd talk about my new studio a bit more. I'm really enamoured, I keep peeking in there and checking things out. Anyhow, this is a view of the other side of the room, with all my Japanese papers hung up on dowels. You can also see my &*%$! filing cabinet that we finally managed to get up the stairs - with great difficulty. I'm glad we did though, because so much stuff fits inside.
I've displayed a few of my favorite things on top, including my cherry blossom lantern and hello kitty alarm clock. I also got to use my craft booth sign again - more cherry blossoms.

This here's my cork board. I freshened it up with a coat of white paint and I think that makes everything pop even more.
One of my albums - I hope to make lots more of these in here.
Milo likes the new space too - he comandeered a spot near the window, and stole the fuzzy leopard print cushion that I used to sit on. What Milo wants, Milo gets! I've got a few more photos of some room details over on my flickr page.

I'd just like to finish up this post by saying that you can create a great workspace on the cheap. The materials for my new desk cost only about $200, and apart from my cutting equipment, no one piece cost more that $50, most were actually under $10! For example, the paper hanger is made from cheap wooden dowels and lengths of chain hanging from curtain hardware. I had to scout yard sales, junk shops and clearance sales to get most things, which can take a long time - but that's half the fun. Necessity, or in my case - cheapness, is the mother of invention! If anyone is interested in details on how we made the desk and paper hanger, I'd be happy to share - just leave me a comment!

New Studio - Part One

The long awaited new studio is finally complete! I've been planning it for ages, and Martin built me the desk a couple of weeks ago, and I've been pulling everything together since then - but it's done! The rest of the house is a shambles - but my studio is done! The thing that really makes the studio great is the desk. Martin worked really hard on it, and I love it. It's 8 feet long (!), dwarfing my previous work surface which is now the cutting table you see in the middle of the room. The new desk has got big shelves for baskets and books but best of all...
Do you see that curtain? It's hiding... Lots of flat paper storage! I am so happy to finally have a place to store my flat papers. I couldn't afford to buy new flat files, or find any used ones, so Martin rigged this up for me and I think it's great. I've covered it with a curtain because I didn't want to paint every single shelf - I know, pretty lazy - but there are a lot of shelves! There's lots more to show you in my new space, but right now, I need to kick back with a cup of tea and relax. I'll show the rest tomorrow...

Hurry up!

That's a note to myself. I've been working on getting a new studio together for the last couple of weekends now (that's my old one, above) and I can't wait to have it finished. It's nearly there, but a few frustrating things are holding me back. The main one is that I can't get the filing cabinet I got from work up the stairs. It's a neat old filing cabinet, and it's going to be my main storage unit in the room since I won't have the cabinets along the wall that you see in the old studio (which will now be the spare bedroom). Also, I opened the new blinds I got for the room and discovered that there was no hardware, and, the baskets I bought don't fit in my new, custom built desk - so it's back to the shop I go. Sigh. But - I am hoping to have all of these issues sorted out by the end of the weekend and show you some photos soon.

Weird Things

I've been tagged by Tash at Poppyseeds to list 7 random things about myself. For some reason, I thought I had to say 7 weird things about myself, so that's what I did. I am a bit sleepy, so I'm not going to go back and change them now. Anyhow, here goes - both random and a bit weird -

I don’t have prescription sunglasses so I wear really big sunglasses over my regular glasses and everyone laughs at me. See Exhibit A, above. Really bad photo - and you can kind of see my real glasses under the sunnies. No wonder everyone laughs.

I have really long toes. I can pick things up with them, curl them into a fist and nearly splay them out into a Vulcan-type salute. See Exhibit B, below. As you can see, I am also ghostly white, even in the height of summer.



I love salt. When I was little I used to make salt sandwiches on white bread. Recipe – Salt one slice of white bread, top with another slice of white bread. Enjoy! Where were my parents? Actually, I could kind of go for one right about now…

I almost always wear mismatched socks because I can’t be bothered matching them up.

I’ve had a monobrow since second grade. Thank goodness for waxing!

I hate ketchup. The look, the smell, everything. I don’t even like sitting next to someone who is eating ketchup, but I am getting a bit better about this.

I always have to be reading something or I feel totally lost. In the absence of books or magazines, I will read cereal boxes – anything!

I won't tag anyone else, but you are most welcome to play along anyhow. Maybe just write one weird thing in the comments? Thanks for tagging me Tash, it was fun. And now, good night!

Kitty Lovin' Blogs

I recently received comments on my blog from Sabine of Cats & Quilts and Danielle of Pussman & Co. Both are from Belgium, are children's book illustrators, and both love cats! I'm glad that they commented on my blog, because I've loved discovering both of their blogs. They do such wonderful illustrations, and share lovely craft and project photos. I would recommend checking them out!

Warning - Gratuitous Puppy Photos follow..

My mom bought him this outfit. The back says "Ready to Snuggle." Not very dignified, but he seems to like it.

Button Swap!

I received my sweet vintage button swap package from Joan of roseandpie. As well as some lovely buttons, it included great paper scraps, stamps, tags,ribbon and cards. All my obsessions bundled into a lovely little package. Thanks Joan!

Long time, no blog

Sorry for my unexplained absence from the blog. We had some holidays last week, and went away to the beautiful Annapolis Valley here in Nova Scotia. We had a great time staying in a cute little cottage on the beach. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos, because my camera ran out of batteries as soon as we got there, and I had forgotten my charger. It also rained a lot, but we relaxed by reading books, drinking wine and eating, lots of eating! Above is a photo of what our view from the cottage would have been like on a sunny summer day.
We went for a drive one day, and discovered this grouping of little hobbit cottages. This one is called the Blue Cottage, and they were built by Charles MacDonald, owner of a local concrete company. I can't describe how strange it was to come across these fantastical little structures in a fairly isolated little spot. The cottage can actually be rented for holidays - maybe our next trip?

I've also been very busy making books, and Martin has built my new studio table. It's all very exciting. I hope to paint it over the weekend and get the studio set up ASAP. We had a great holiday, but it's good to be back.

Martha @ Michaels

A new Michaels craft shop opened down the road from my house last night, and I went to check it out. Much to my delight, they had the new Martha Stewart Craft line in stock. I had been looking forward to see what was on offer, and the verdict? Well, it’s mixed. Everything is beautiful, as you would expect, and also very pricey – this was to be expected as well. The range is mainly focused on papercrafts, with scrapbooking items, food packaging and craft kits. The things I loved about the products on offer were the colours – beautiful and muted. I bought a few spools of ribbon in colours I had been looking for – beautiful corals, teals and greys – all toned down a notch. Lovely! There were also lots of nice papers, cards and tags in these gorgeous colourways. Even the craft tools – scissors, rotary trimmers, punches, etc. – were in a lovely dove grey tone. A nice change from the bright orange tools you often see in other ranges.

The disappointments mainly had to do with price. She had some gorgeous linen storage boxes for ribbon that would hold about 6 – 8 spools, but at $24.95 each, I could never afford to switch my huge collection over. The craft kits would look very familiar to regular readers of the magazine – I had seen them all in previous issues, projects like the tissue paper flowers - an image of one I made is above - were packaged up in kits with the pieces pre-cut at a price of around $15. To assemble the materials you would need to do the project would cost much less, and having all the items pre-cut is taking away half the fun. But, I guess if you aren’t particularly crafty, or are short on time (and have lots of cash!) the kits could be an option.

To coincide with the new product range, Martha is launching a crafts website in May. You can register to be notified when it goes live, and to get regular updates. I, for one, have already signed up.

Vintage Button Swap

My swap partner Joan, of roseandpie emailed to let me know she received her package from the Vintage Button Swap. Now, I'm free to show you some images of the buttons I sent off to her. Above is a close-up of the outer package...

Here's what was inside - some spools of vintage ribbon, a little accordion book, a small bird, and of course - BUTTONS...
And, here is a close-up of the buttons that I sent. I hope that Joan likes them, and gets to use them in some projects. I expect to get her package any day now, and look forward to sharing some of those images with you.

Recent Work

I've been working on a few photo albums recently - I'm seeing a client on the weekend and promised to have a few new "spring-y" designs. Ok, the brown isn't especially spring-y, but I like it.
How much more spring-y can you get than pink cherry blossoms?
Maybe red and pink cherry blossoms on a blue sky? All the albums have very colourful pages inside too - robin's egg blue, fushia and red respectively. Now, I must "spring" into action and make more books. The puns just keep on comin' around here....

The Postman Only Rang Once

Ok - I'll start this off by saying that I think that is officially the corniest blog post title ever! But, I was quite thrilled to come home on one day last week and find that the postman had indeed rung once, and left many wonderful things.

First - my Print Gocco order! I haven't had a chance to unpack and use my Gocco yet, but I am so looking forward to giving it a go. And, I can't say enough about the speed and professionalism of etsy seller feltcafe, who I bought the gocco from. It took about a week after I placed the order for the Gocco to reach me from Japan, even though I asked for a number of additional supplies that feltcafe proprietor Liz had to go out and buy.

I had also ordered a few books and albums from Amazon, and a part of the order arrived last week. One book that arrived was "Flea Market Style" - something I've been wanting for absolute ages, but for some reason never bought. I'm so happy that I did though - flea market style is really my aesthetic, and the book is so inspirational. It will join my other fave home design books "Found Style" and "Canadian Country Style" on my shelves. I know that I will look through it again and again, and be inspired again and again.

The other book that I ordered was Barbara Gowdy's "Helpless." I have loved previous books by Barbara Gowdy, who explores and normalizes the darker side of human nature in many of her books and stories. I was first drawn to her after reading her book of short stories "we so seldom look on love" featuring stories about necrophilia, transexuality and siamese twins. She has an amazing way of getting inside people and making us understand them. The subject matter of "Helpless" is also confronting - but I am sure that it will make compelling reading.

Finally, but also most wonderfully and surprisingly - I got a package from Shona of lala dex press that included tapes of "Extras" - a show that I love but cannot watch here. I haven't watched them yet, but I am so looking forward to it. Thanks Shona - what a fantastic surprise!