pom poms!

Ineedtomakethese - pom poms recipe here.

drawings of lines

i love/hate it when i find something i love so much that i wish i had come up with it myself. 

by victoria haven

there is a secret little event in the works.  if it realizes itself i will announce it in the new year.   these illustrations poke my favourite brain buttons and tie in perfectly with the three dimensional structures i've been turning around in my head.  i mean, i have to do something with all that yellow tissue paper i have left over from our wedding craft explosion. 

Type Camp

i wanna go to Type Camp!

from the type camp flickr pool

i think i'd choose India or Bauhaus. 
oh! turns out they had one on Galiano Island!  i might explode! i need to find out more!

jumpsuits

i love jumpsuits.  one-pieces.  rompers.  whatever you want to call them. 

photo by Antonio Civita

i had two goals for my christmas party outfit this year.  it would've been one or the other.  the first was the find something to wear with red tights.  the second was to find something to wear with my friend's mom's burgundy heels from the 70's.  i have achieved the latter.  yay!

flickn awesome

One or two of my photos will be shown at the Vancouver Is Awesome fundraising event, Flickn Awesome, on December 2 at the Fortune Sound Club.

it's not this one!  i'm just teasing. 

but you'll have seen it (or them) on my flickr before.  

I haven't decided if i'm going to go yet since i don't know anyone else who's going to be there.  Admission is $10 for the rest of you who didn't submit photos.  There will be a slide show and free photo booth! 

Anybody planning on getting married soon?

Jocelyn - you could have used mice instead of birds! Taxidermy mice wedding toppers.

future cabin

if i ever had a cabin in the woods it would definitely look like this:

image credit unknown :(  anyone?

neck-o-liss

Couple weeks ago Jocelyn and i made some felted ball necklaces. I think mine turned out okay .. for someone who has never made a necklace in their life. I'm going to try making more though .. i like rolling balls and stringing them together ..... heehee. balls.

movies for rainy days

i watched a lot of movies at home this weekend.

1.  Coco Avant Chanel

this was more of a romantic story than i wanted it to be, but it was a very touching one, detailing Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel's life before she became one of the most influential fashion designers ever.  i'm not sure i'd recommend it, but who doesn't love Audrey Tatou?

2.  The September Issue

a peek into the production of the largest issue of Vogue magazine, the september issue (US).  i think this was supposed to be about Anna Wintour but stylist and creative director Grace Coddington kinda stole the show.  i thought i was getting tired of all the jumping editorials they do in US Vogue but Grace Coddington is so much more than that.  Grace is unassuming but also incredibly stubborn and assertive (much like Anna) but she puts together the most amazing editorials.  one of my favourites (not featured on the show since it's a few years old) is with Natalia Vodianova as Alice in Wonderland, in which designers are also dressed up as characters from the story.

 

Above with Christian Lacroix and Stephen Jones.  See the rest of it here.

3.  Man on Wire

this one failed to capture me except for a few moments, probably because i had only eaten 10 soda crackers all day and i chose to watch it right before bed time.  andrew had to jostle me awake several times.  but the most incredible moment is when he describes looking down from between the Twin Towers, something he'll never see again and a view that no one else will ever see.  that was totally inspiring to me and reminds me of how i love to look down when i'm rock climbing.  my experiences will never be as unique as his but i'm happy with what i manage to do.  :)

weekends make me tired

and that's a good thing.  i usually spend all week just being bored.  i think i live for weekends.

friday was my birthday!  my favourite person in the world made me a vegan chocolate rum pudding cake.  i totally recommend it, but don't use a springform.  just use a regular cake pan or you're in for a mess.  it was so good i didn't miss the ice cream, although everyone else there had a good squeeze of whipped cream or frozen yogurt. 

saturday i went to the Cloverdale Antique Mall with Marcia and Jen.  We didn't find any nice antique frames that were affordable but we came out with a collection of mid-century gems, including this awesome casserole dish that Marcia generously donated to my birthday cause.

and here is Jen wearing a scarf made out of a fox that we found on the first floor. it looks a little shocked, but that's only because of the fake plastic teddy bear eyes. 

but today and yesterday are boring because i'm sick.  i've been sipping Blue Sky Jamaican Ginger Ale, eating soda crackers, napping, and watching movies.  i should have known i was getting sick since i had firey shooting torso pains all day at the antique mall.  boo!  today i'm feeling much better so i will spend it doing laundry, learning spanish, and sipping more clear liquids.  i even ate a banana!

Jan Svankmajer

Today over lunch in Cloverdale, next to the awesome Antique Mall .. i was trying to remember the name of an artist who does stop-motion short films - Jan Svankmajer. I thought he was German .. but he IS in fact Czech (Jen smiles here).

Here is a clip from his 1988 (not 1930's .. hehe) version of Alice in Wonderland.

scale models of mountains

these terrain models break my brain.

Grosse Windgälle, 3187 m (Switzerland) 1:2,000, 163 x 307 cm, 1938

by eduard imhof (1895-1986)
more pictures here.

edit: i love that the one on the top left is labelled as "climber's view."  that's totally what it's like!  minus the scary black sky.  

to be a cartographer!  oh, who am i kidding, i just admire maps and things. 

photo tuesday

jonathan mutch via iso50

very nice bike

baby gifts

a little while ago a friend of mine had a baby and i got started on a quilt for him, the first quilt i would ever make.  i found the cutest blue fabric with an orange and yellow giraffe print.  i cut out all the pieces, measured a few yellow and red strips for the borders, and started to pin everything together. 

the kid is now three, they've packed up and moved to the other side of the country, and the quilt is still in pieces.  i really owe them something. 

now i think i've put my foot in my mouth again for another baby by submitting myself to a project i haven't even started yet and this one's 5 or 6 months old now.  i want to make a poster with an animal for every letter of the alphabet, Charley Harper style.  at least he's not old enough to read letters yet. 

a few more pages of this giant biology book.

i don't think i could be as graphically precise as Charley Harper.  well, maybe i could, but it would take me a few years to finish the poster.  i think i'm just intimidated by the idea.  i have a list of animals already.  i should just get started! 

more crochet

Last night i made another attempt at this crochet pattern i've been intimidated by from Knot Sew Cute, found here on Etsy. I think it's going alright ... although it's starting to wave a little which worries me a bit ... I've also started collecting acorn tops (little brown turd-like things, top right) which i think i might want to attach to some fuzzy felted balls of wool :)

birds

i found a spot for the dorky cake topper birds i made back in june.

the planter is something i picked up in Hong Kong a couple years ago at G.O.D., coolest housewares store in the universe (initials rhyme with "Live Better" in Cantonese).  i think it's cast iron or something 'cause it's super heavy.

today!!!

i got my birthday gift from my boyfriend's little sister way out in Alberta :::: THANKS JANELLE!!! You totally made my day!!! Awesome, awesome, awesome!

This gift was handmade by the lovely and talented woman behind Catzilla Crafts who can be found on Etsy here. I sort of have a thing for cacti. And yes, that is my giant blurry head in the background :)

photo monday pt. 1 - max wanger

max wanger, the inspiration for our wedding photos (and many others in the world), is selling prints and t-shirts now!

i'm definitely going to buy one... or two.  :)

 

weekends are for arts and crafts

yesterday we made necklaces with some felted balls.  my balls were lumpier and larger than marcia's.  hers were smaller and smoother.  BALLS! 

pictures of that later.  also, i'm picking up some film from London Drugs tonight so stay tuned.  I love London Drugs. 

next saturday we'll be hunting for antique frames to make these framed chalkboards that marcia posted about a few weeks ago. 

which reminds me, i've been saving this picture for a while.  i love pine cones and forest plants and kraft coloured paper.  i think i'd like to make an illustration like this one. 

by hellohandmadepaperie

gold

i would like to have each of these.

 

lots of cute pieces made from found vintage things at verabel on etsy.