got craft? this sunday

Just a reminder that Got Craft? is happening this weekend in Vancouver! Come and visit me and over 55 other local vendors... there will everything ranging from ceramics, jewellery, clothing, home decor, stationary, gifts and more! Also, the first 30 people through the door receive a FREE handmade swag bag stuffed with goodies! Hooray! Admission is $2 (kids under 10 are free). Hope to see you there!!! Happy Weekend!

Got Craft?

Sunday, May 2nd

10 am - 5pm

Royal Canadian Legion

2205 Commercial Drive (@ East 6th)

Vancouver

More info here.

bear bums

Remember the post from last week about the orange bear sculptures that sit outside one of Vancouver's Skytrain stations? (see post here for a refresher). Well, thanks to Kristen from Knotted Nest for letting me know about the other half of the sculpture that sits in the Toronto Sculpture Garden! How cool that the bears enter one wall on the other side of the country and come out another wall out here on the west coast. Seeing these orange kraft dinner colored bear bums still bring a "cheesy" smile to my face.

photo: Toronto Sculpture Garden, artist: Dean Drever

culture counts

A piece of exciting news to share today! From over 1187 entries coming from 82 countries, my poster design submission (titled: Interlinking Dialogue) received an Honourable Mention in the UNESCO Culture Counts Poster Competition! Woohoo! As one of the 30 Honourable Mentions, the poster will be displayed online on UNESCO's website as well as printed and used in an exhibition for the International Year of Cultural Diversity, a festival taking place at UNESCO's Paris headquarters in May 2010. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the exhibit in Paris (due to timing and budget... although I would love to! Who wouldn't mind a venture to France for a holiday)... so might try and send some extended family members who live there to check it out. If you happen to be in Paris mid to late May... check it out!

just ducky

I had to post this pic today, since everyone needs an "awwwwwww" moment to brighten their day. We saw this little duck family over the weekend swimming in the fountain outside the local museum... the wee ones are just so darn fluffy and cute, how could I not stop and snap a pic!

did you win? did you win?

Today is giveaway winner day... woop woop! Oh so many great responses to the giveaway (over 100!)... and so many great tips from all of you on how to go green everyday, in addition to earth day. Hopefully everyone has picked up some helpful hints from one another... every little bit helps.

Ok, so who won the lovely Chippy Chipmunk notebook (made of course, out of 100% recycled paper)?... Congrats to Amber! And here is how Amber goes green: I always try to conserve energy by shutting off computers etc. when they are not in use and I have been biking a lot in the last two years since I sold my car. My big eco-friendly push this year is I've started composting! It's actually a lot of fun and very rewarding. Yay Amber!

Feeling the Monday blues that the notebook is not coming your way? Don't fret... there will be another great giveaway come May... so stay tuned! In the meantime, keep on recycling, composting, biking and being green!

magic mailbag

I love getting fun things in the mail... especially when it doesn't fall in the category of bills, junk mail or wrong address letters. So, I thought I would share some etsy goodies I got in the mail this week... two of which I won through giveaways! Woop Woop!... I am one lucky gal!

The first pic is of two cute notebooks I ordered from Earmark Invitations (one for me, one for Roger)... hmmm... can you guess the owl-y one is for me? I can't wait to start using it! The other notebook has a Hunter S. Thompson quote on the cover... one of Roger's favourite writers.

The second pic is a lovely decoupage glass plate from Julie's Adorabowls that I won through BonBon Rose Girls blog... thanks ladies!! I love it! This will have a happy home displayed on our coffee table.

The third pic is a cute russian matryoshka doll lavender sachet I won from geschichtenvonkat (the story of kat)... isn't it cute? I wish there was a scratch-n-sniff portion to this post, so you can smell its springy lavender scent.

Oh, I wish every mail day was like this. Hope everyone has a happy weekend!

ps. don't forget to enter my spring/earth day giveaway... last day is Sunday! Check back Monday to see if you've won!

some assembly required

Roger and I are usually pretty good at assembling furniture... but I think we have met our match. We have started to assemble Bun's crib, and it is taking a wee bit longer than anticipated. After a false start (since the instructions were missing and we had to get them from the manufacturer), things are slowly progressing. I couldn't even fit all the pieces into these pictures, there are so many - these are just 1/5 of them shown here. Hopefully in the next few days, I will have a pic of a completed crib to share with you!

tiptoe through the tulips

I am fighting a bit of a cold right now, so please excuse any typos or really bad grammar that might/will appear. To brighten up today and try to get my mind off this congestion and dripping faucet of a nose, I thought some bright spring pics would be appropriate. I really wish I could say this is my garden, but it isn't.... these shots are from a neighbouring garden down the street. Yes, I tiptoed through their tulips and it was great. Ok, off to make some tea with lemon now... sniff sniff...

ps. don't forget to enter my spring/earth day giveaway!

april giveaway! - win a cute chipmunk notebook

This month is just flying by.... it's already time for the April giveaway! To coincide with Earth Day this month, the lovely prize is this cute little soft cover notebook... oh, how handy this would be to jot down your little notes, lists, and doodles! The notebook is made from 100% recycled paper and features a cute little green chipmunk design. Go green!

Enter to win by posting a comment telling me one way you have gone green... do you recycle, grow your own organic food, maybe you make all of your own clothes?... share some of your green and eco tips, so we all can learn from one another!

A random draw will be made next Monday, April 26th, so check back to see if you win! Please remember to include some sort of contact info (etsy shop, blog, website, or e.mail address) and please only one entry per person. Good luck to everyone!

sweet swag

I have been busy with production for the upcoming Got Craft event coming up in early May, Vancouver's largest indie craft fair. Yesterday, I finished making all my swag. Swag???... you ask? Oh yes, the first 30 people through the door receive a free, yes F-R-E-E, swag bag stuffed with crafty goodies from all 55 vendors. These swag bags are so coveted in fact, past fairs have resulted in line-ups around the block from attendees just wanting to get one! So here is a sneak peek of the swag I am putting into the bags.... bookplates! I have put together little pairs of bookplates for each bag! Hope you can come visit!

Got Craft

Sunday, May 2nd

10 am - 5pm

Royal Canadian Legion

2205 Commercial Drive (@ East 6th)

Vancouver

More info here.

ps. my April giveaway starts this coming Monday!!

orange you glad to see me?

Just outside one of the local skytrain stations here in Vancouver (basically our city subway system) sits a trio of giant day-glo orange bears. Pretty hard to miss them... they are pretty fluorescent. They somewhat remind me of fake cheese and macaroni, but in a good way of course. They are one of the many new public sculptures that have popped up around the city for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Check them out at the 49th Avenue Langara station, if you get a chance... they will make you smile and perhaps say "cheese" too.

quaint quince

I feel like a fresh spring image today... so how about some quaint quince blossoms? I like these as much as cherry blossoms... ahhh... so fresh and pretty. I find I have to fight the urge even harder from taking a pair of shears to them though, since they grow lower down compared to the taller cherry trees (oh, they would look so fancy inside my house). But I will resist... I don't think all my neighbours would appreciate coming out to see a sad bare quince tree. Will continue my hunt around the neighbourhood for more fresh spring blossoms and blooms to share (and not to cut, of course).

happy birthday roger!

Today is my hubby's birthday... Happy Birthday Roger! We had a great birthday weekend and had a wonderful brunch (eh-hem... made by me), visited the Vancouver Art Gallery, took in a movie (yes, we saw Hot Tub Time Machine in all its 80's cheesiness), went for a lovely dinner at a french bistro and had some cake. Here is the cake I made... um, not from scratch, since I don't really bake. Do you recognize the character?... it is Cheburashka! (I had posted about him a couple of months earlier here). Well, I can't say I would ever win any cake decorating awards here, since bake is not my forté, but, hey... I tried. You will be happy to know most of it has already been eaten, though.

sweet treat

I headed down to the local bakery yesterday and picked up a few sweet treats - some polvoróns. Made from toasted flour, milk, butter and sugar, they are a lot like shortbread cookies, but a bit more powdery and less greasy. (That is the chocolate one you see there, and yes, it tastes as yummy as it looks!) All the little polvoróns even came wrapped in pretty coloured cellophane... so I had to snap a pic to share. Yummy!

baby beluga

Ok, now I have that darn Baby Beluga song in my head (so apologies if it just popped into your head as well). Just wanted to share with you a custom woodburning I just finished. From time to time, I get special requests for specific animals and names for the woodburned wall panels I make.... I've had requests for birds and other forest creatures, but this is my first beluga whale. The client requested white sides, which I think match the beluga theme quite nicely. Can't wait for this little whale to swim to its new home. Check out some of my other custom panels here.

my oldest friend

Meet my oldest friend. It was bought at the hospital gift shop on the day I was born by my dad. I always called him the "orange dog" and never did get around to naming him... I guess "orange dog" just became its name. He used to have eyebrows too, but those have long since disappeared, hence the constant look of surprise. I have a feeling I was responsible for his eyebrow removal at some point... can't quite remember. I will have to give him a good wash and re-patch his nose (it is slightly askew and in danger of falling off) before he can meet little Bun in the coming months. But can't wait unitil they both become friends as well.

easter monday

The morning after a restful long weekend is always the hardest... I am so envious, jealous and a little bit bitter of everyone who has today off... but I think that is just the Monday morning, pre-coffee blahs talking right now. So to try and turn the blahs around and start off on a brighter note, how about a nice spring image for this Easter Monday. Lots of sunshine yellow daffodils up and around our neighbourhood... looking at them should help brighten my morning. Hmmm... and maybe hitting the store later and stocking up on the freshly discounted Easter chocolates... that may just brighten my day too.

collage: the whispering bunny

It is Easter long weekend starting today, so a perfect day to share a bunny themed collage. This one is called the Whispering Bunny... the reason being, I actually don't know what noises a bunny makes. Do bunnies even make noise?... and what noise do they make (besides breathing and the thumping of their little feet). Is it ironic that they have such large ears and are one of the quietest animals?... oh wait, but maybe this is so they can hear each other better. Hmmmm... someone please enlighten me. Ok, got a little off tangent there... hope everyone has a Happy Easter weekend!

more coasting coming your way

I got a fresh supply of thick cork last week, so am busy making some more woodburned (well, technically cork burned, in this case) coaster sets to replenish the dwindling amount I had left from the winter. I was surprised at how popular they were at the last holiday craft fair... so am glad I managed to track down enough supplies to make some new sets for my next upcoming craft fair in early May (will keep you posted about the event closer to the date). There are plenty this time, so I'll be putting some sets in my etsy shop too... check them out here! Perfect for Mother's Day, bridal showers, or for those who like to have a little fanciness sitting under their drinks. :)