Just a mish-mash of things I'm liking right now. I have just under 3 weeks left of school, and it's going to be a busy time. I've been trying really hard lately to make things for myself so I started making my own envelopes which I've wanted to try for a while, and found some helpful suggestions on the knitted blog. I made yet another trip to DeSerres and must have gotten one of every decorative paper they had to finally try, and it's a lot of fun. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll have a big collection of them. I'm still so excited for my Book Arts and Printed Matter classes next year, what a relief that they both fit on my schedule! A lot of the paper I chose is from BasicGrey, so much variety.

Because of this horribly long winter, I've been looking to Kate Spade for inspiration in a lot of my work. The bright colors always cheer me up.

AND...In the making of a very short birthday wish list, I'd love to have Vitamin P from Phaidon Press in my book collection.

I really like this print by Hazel Nicholls, a good mantra to have. I'm sad that my print class is finished, I really enjoyed it. Maybe In the summer I'll take some more.



I went exploring in my neighborhood yesterday and found such a neat store called Bellissimo Antiques. It has handpicked finds from European markets, and a lot of beautiful contemporary things. The balance of new and old is perfect. I'll be visiting there often, and maybe collect some things for my first place.

The same for henhouse which is also an antique store that sells hand-built things and work by local artists.

photos from Comapany C

I'm excited that Jenifer Altman of Nectar & Light has created a book project featuring 25 Polaroid photographers including herself. The book is titled For the Love of Light: a Tribute to the Art of the Polaroid and is set to be released this July. Hopefully I'll be able to get a copy, I love the dreamy quality of Polaroid photos, and Jenifer's are especially lovely.


I found this little guy on Etsy from an artist called tinywarbler.
Her animals are adorable, I'd love to adopt a few.

long-long weekend

It's so nice to have a small 4 day break, even though the end of my first year is only 4 weeks away. I'm bored because I have no assignments to be done, which is extremely rare. So I did something creative for myself, and not for a school project. I worry sometimes that working so often from observation causes me to lose some imagination. As a test, I got out my watercolors and painted anything I wanted, and as untidily as I pleased. It felt great to make artwork that isn't going to be graded. I adore being an art student, but I think it's important to find the time to keep making things on my own without any limitations. It's strange when your hobby is also your work.

This morning my friend Brittany and I had an online shopping date and found wonderful things on Anthropologie.com, as usual. Especially the Garabaldi cardigan that matches our long love affairs with grey. I also looked at Pottery Barn for a while which I really like...but sometimes the rooms are so perfect they look suspicious. I love the eclectic collection of images that fill up a whole wall, and the other two rooms feel more relaxed and pretty. The beautiful blue eggs photo I found on Flickr from freechild.

pretty transom window from decor8, a beautiful Zac Posen dress that looks like watercolor from the Spring/Summer 2008 RTW collection, and Sonya Dyakova's Paper Alphabet typeface.

Lots of neat new stuff at auto. Missoni bedding, John Robshaw pillow, and 'egg bank'

Paper sculpture, in an e-mail my Writing for the Arts professor sent me, clutch by Club Monaco, and photo from Anthropologie catalogue

Lovely Day

The weather was so beautiful yesterday, I was able to go on on my first jog of the year. It was short, only 3 laps around the park, but very refreshing. I think the new adidas by Stella McCartney collection inspired me a little to get moving after seeing it at Mills, the Holt Renfrew of Halifax, in the morning. I loved all the springy yellow.


I also went into some vintage shops and found a really pretty (and small) Emanuel Ungaro scarf. Perfect to tie around a bag. I'm a big fan of Ungaro, and the 2008 pre-spring collection looks beautiful. I don't usually go into second hand shops unless I'm in a special hunting mood since the disorganization puts me off. The place I sometimes visit named The Clotheshorse is wonderful because Merle Bryant will help you pick out great stuff she thinks you'd like, that you probably would not have found on your own amongst all the happy clutter.




I also paid a visit to Gallery Page and Strange which sits right under my school. The Gerald Ferguson exhibit is going on, that was interesting to look at. His work is currently being featured in the magazine Canadian Art. I love the plasma cut steel oil cans by Cal Lane, delicate pretty patterns done on such a cold solid material.

The Great Indoors

All weekend I've been flipping through this month's Elle Decor and drooling over all the amazing art collector's apartments. The Organic Cheese Shop in the Washington D.C. section looked good, too.

I had a nice and sunny walk on Friday home from school and found pretty papers at DeSerres. Hopefully I'll find a use for them and not be too sad to use my scissors.

The Art of Correspondence

I was completely thrilled yesterday reading my course options book for next year when I found the classes Book Arts and Introductory Printed Matter. They teach traditional and non-traditional processes for binding books, making boxes and decorative papers, and "mail art".
I also chose Typography, Photography, Film History and a drawing workshop.

I'm still trying to find a way to somehow incorporate a desk into my bedroom. I'm sick of working on the floor.

Frost - Winter Print Set from Port 2 Port Press, Papyrus Envelope, Photo from Design For Mankind E-zine, and photo from Ikea.ca