Two Pounds of Craft in the Stash

It's Trunk Show time again! Things are a little different this time around as some of the city's crafty finest are cleaning out their closets for the first ever Pure Rummage Sale. You might've seen these people before - you've seen their crafts, you know their style, you're gonna want what they're gettin' rid of.

Yours truly will finally be letting go of some beads I've had since I was just a wee Knittah - lots of inexpensive plastic stuff, but lots of stones, pearls, glass and wooden beads too (the ones pictured above are hand-carved and from India - hard to part with, but I've been holding onto them for over two years and still don't have any plans for them). I'll also have the last few handmade paper envelopes and gift boxes left from my last trip to Chimanlal's in Bombay - these have made an appearance at the last few Trunk Shows, but this is the last of them, I swear.

And probably some bits of fabric, a few wool pashminas and other scarves, some paint sets for kiddies, and a stack of books - good ones! So why dontcha come on over to The Workroom this Sunday (October 18, from noon to five), have a snack, chat with your crafty pals, and stock up on some supplies to get you through the winter?

Week 46: A more grey than black board.

Do you like making lists? I do. It's even more fun when you can write them on a chalkboard. So I decided to make a chalkboard because I like fun and lists.

The first thing to do was pick up some MDF. After reading about Karyn's adventures with her Twinkle Board, I made sure to buy something light enough that I could carry home and that I could simply nail into the wall - I picked up a 1/4 inch-thick 2x4. Then I ventured over to West Toronto Paint for chalkboard paint. Much to my delight, they also stock small tubs of magnetic paint, and tintable chalkboard paint - which meant I could have a Bennie Moore "Kendall Charcoal" grey magnetic board which would look way better against my Stonington Grey wall. The magnetic paint also acts as a primer for the chalkboard paint and after about four coats, it started to work!

After two coats of the grey chalkboard paint it was looking pretty good, but it still needed a little something. I had some Stonington Grey paint leftover from last Fall, so I used that to coat some cotton doilies, which I then printed onto the finished chalkboard.

And there she is!

Week 45: 4 kids + 1 rainy afternoon = Oh jeez.

This past summer, Knittah HQ was swarming with out-of-school Lil' Knittahs. And with all the rain we had, it wasn't long before yours truly ran out of ideas for keeping them entertained. So after the DVDs had been watched, the iPods shuffled, and their tired little bodies Wii'd out, Mama Knittah showed us all a game she used to play back in the day, using nothing more than a crudely drawn grid, sea shells for dice, and whatever was in the kitchen cupboard for men - we used almonds, cashews, pine nuts and pennies. It's basically like the game Sorry! except there's some math involved and you have to make it to the center of the grid and then back home again. This primitive (yet wildly amusing) game quickly became The Sh!t around here, replacing all manner of high-tech gadgetry and widgets.

And then my 7-year-old niece showed me how to make paper lilies by tracing and cutting out the shape of her hand.

And then my 3-year-old cousin showed me how to draw a boy.

Week 44: Always a Bridesmaid Pt.2

This summer a long-time Old Weston supporter and bride-to-be asked me to make a bunch of acorn necklaces that she could give as gifts to her bridesmaids. What an honour! I never woulda guessed that these acorn trinkets would be so weddingy - this is the third time a bride has approached me for some acorn action - and I was more than happy to do it. But to be honest, packaging them up in little brown boxes with ribbon and personalized, hand-stamped cards was the part I liked best.

Week 43: Dolla, Dolla Bill Makeover - Pt.4

1 boring Gap sweater + 1 doily

= cute new cardigan!

Calendar Girl

Check it out! Yours truly was featured as Miss August on the Chatelaine craft blog, She's Crafty. Thanks for spreadin' the love, Katie!

Junction Arts Festival

Last weekend was the Junction Arts Festival. It's kind of a strange event.

A few years ago this part of town started to get a lot more interesting but even then, I never woulda believed the Junction would have transformed into what it is now. Heck, just this summer a New York Times profile of the Junction made me sputter my spicy chai. Anywho, a while back the annual arts festival featured, well...art. The past few years, not so much. Lately it just seems like an excuse for the shops along Dundas Street West to spill their wares out onto the sidewalk (don't get me wrong, with all the vintage and antique salvage shops in the area, this makes for some really great shopping), and featuring lots of vendors selling imported Kashmiri shawls, knitted, rainbow-striped Guatemalan leg-warmers (you know the ones I mean), and roasted corn. None of these things are bad, but it kinda feels more Flea Market than arts festival, especially given the reputation the 'hood has recently earned for going from "skid row to hip." Nevertheless, I check it out every year and each time, something (or rather, someone) surprises me and this year was no exception. I guess I've been living under a rock because up until last weekend I had never heard of Karli Strohschein and her squeal-inducing sculptures. Her hand-built clay forms and crazy firing techniques make for the most magical, beguiling little creatures (raku sculptures) I've ever seen, I had to take home a handful.

These will hopefully become part of a terrarium sometime soon (c'mon, all the cool kids are making 'em). Then I had to check her out again on Sunday to grab some of her barnacle-like sculptures that I hope to hang on my wall and will share some photos once they're up. So, while the festival might not be all that (yet, anyway), there are some very special things to be seen there every once in a while, kinda like the 'hood itself.

Week 42: Acorn Porn

Something I've been meaning to do for a really long time is set up an Old Weston Etsy shop. I still haven't done it but I'm a little bit closer, thanks to the lovely Danijela Pruginic and her fantastic photographic talents. Here she is in action:
Danijela photographed one of my nest pins earlier this year (it was a prize in the Toronto Craft Alert Crafty Slacker Giveaway) and I was so excited to see a professional product shot of my work that I had to get her to shoot everything, and she did! Not only do I love the pictures, but she was a doll to work with, an absolute peach (she even had snacks at her studio!) Here's one of the acorn shots (but you'll have to wait until the shop is open to see the rest):

Thanks, Danijela!

Week 41: Always a bridesmaid...

Possibly one of the biggest accomplishments this summer was gocco printing my dear friend Emily's wedding invites. She totally thought it couldn't be done, but after a few mucked up screens and design changes, we were well on our way. After a couple hours work we were eating barbecue and feasting our eyes on a living room-floor covered in about 150 gocco'd invitations. Good work, Em, I think it was well worth the effort! The wedding is only a couple weeks away, in not-so-nearby Combermere, Ontario, and will be held in a cozy clearing in the woods. I've already begun working on a fancy, feathered headband to wear! Aside from saving a crap-load of money, I'm glad Em was on board for this little project, 'cuz nothing beats crafting with your pal.

Holy crap, it's Labour Day already.

Well, hello. Long time no blog. Let's just say I took the summer off...

Canadian National Exhibition, September 2009

This time last year I promised myself I would finish (or at least work on) a new project every week and post about it here, and that by today I would have crossed 52 items off my to-make-and-try list. Well, there has indeed been a whole lot of crafting going on, but not so much documenting, so I guess I'm halfway there. Over the next few days, this blog will be updated in a rat-a-tat-tat-rapid fire-machine gun-like fashion in an attempt to get all caught up and share with you what I've been up to for the past twelve weeks (aside from all the book reading, puddle jumping, sun bathing, window gazing, park picnicing, and midday napping, that is). But for now, my fellow worker bees, one more day to enjoy the last of a lazy Summer, and feel the buzz of a full-throttle Fall, you know? Happy Labour Day, y'all.