You. Me. This weekend. Trunk Show. Okay?
Are you going away this summer? I'm not. But if you are, here's a wee acorn tag to protect your suitcase and make sure it doesn't get lost.
This was made out of all the left-over ultrasuede from last summer's teddy bear-nose frenzy. It's hand-stiched and there's a vinyl covered window in the back so you can see your name. And, though there's no picture to prove it, I also sewed (by hand) my very first button hole for this little guy. You can see one up close (and comment on my crappy button hole) this weekend at the Workroom's Garden Party Trunk Show, which is probably going to be the best day ever.
If you haven't already checked out SMASH ("Toronto's best source of quality salvage materials, vintage fixtures and character architectural pieces") in the Junction, you totally should! I pressed my nose up against the glass one early Sunday morning last month only to see an entire skid of rolls of vintage wallpaper waiting inside. I went back at a more respectable hour when the gallery was actually open and scored the above for ten bucks! In addition to covering almost every flat surface in my home with the stuff, I'm looking forward to lots of bookbinding projects and handmade envelopes.
Ice Cube and retro wallpaper together in one spot! West End Connection, yo.
Moleskine makes really cute watercolour notepads. I bought one last year, thinking it would inspire me to take up watercolouring (the same way I expected their notebooks to make me write, sketchbooks = draw, squared notebooks = cross-stitch, etc.). I'm not sure I have the patience to really understand how watercolour paints work, but they sure are fun to mess around with. Who knew one teensy, tiny tube of burnt umber could yield so many acorny shades of brown? I've also just discovered watercolour pencils and while I'm not sure how real artists feel about these, I think I love them.
I've been spending a lot of time pouring over Playful Type:Ephemeral Lettering and Illustrative Fonts by Germany's Gestalten Press. Makes a Knittah wanna draw (or at least pretend she can).
The month of May was a quiet one for me on the craft front, but I did finally figure out how English Paper Piecing works. Ever since I laid eyes on Johanna Masko's gorgeous cushion that hangs around the Workroom couch I've been itching to learn how to do this. Thanks to some old sewing books I had kicking around and this wonderful online tutorial from Craft (by the way, anyone know what happened to Craft Magazine? I haven't seen a new issue in forever) I was able to get started on my own cushion cover. I didn't mean for it look so 70s, but I kinda like it anyway. Just another thirty or so hexagons to go!
These little guys (and two of their close friends) are on display now at C1 Art Space, as part of their awesome All Dolled Up show (which runs until the end of June). Go on in and give 'em a squeeze, won't you?
A while back I mentioned some nonsense about starting a business. Aside from registering a name (Old Weston, y'all!) and getting a PST number (which entitles one to mad discounts, at Mokuba even!), I hadn't done much else. And then I got some wacky form in the mail sayin' I gotta pay Retail Sales Tax. Well sh!t. I've been selling stuff for about two years now, and have never charged anyone PST, or even kept receipts for things I've sold. So, in order to be a legitimate bidnis woman, that's got to change. Also, if I'm required to pay taxes on stuff I sell, then surely I can write off my expenses - and lord knows there are expenses. I try not to think about how much money I spend on supplies (shoving receipts deep into my recycling bin never to be seen again), but that too must change. So, when I stumbled upon this little project from d*s, I was immediately inspired to create my own cute little filing system. Unfortunately, in my world, one airmail envelope will hold only about one month's worth of receipts so a proper, Knittah-sized file would require some reinforcement. 
This faux bois sticky paper was a lucky dollar store find in April (along with two other woodgrain patterns). I cut out some circles, and then punched oak leaves out of them:
And used both the circles and leaf-punchings to decorate Old Weston gift boxes. Such an easy and inexpensive (one dollar! Not even, since I used only a tiny bit of the roll) way to prettify and personalize packaging.
