Pago the Seal

I usually love trying something new with anything, sport, food, crafts. There is one craft I refuse to learn because it will take over my life. Knitting. I love knitted sweaters, and every year as soon as it starts to get cold I am eyeing those sweaters up in stores….so bad. As I have decided to refrain from learning the art of knitting and crocheting, I have now deemed Craftybunny my go to person for anything I want/need to be made with hooks and yarn.

She recently completed a commission piece for a co-worker which was a knitted amigurumi Michael Jackson doll, with removable jacket and white glove! She has since sent me many examples of other artists amigurumi work, and gotten myself browsing through 40+ amigurumi related Etsy pages….

I then found something I NEEDED to be made, and put in a request for a knitted seal. Now through history I have had a love for lobsters, and still do, but there is something about those round fluffy white creatures that I truly adore. Having a knitted one just seemed logical…why I don’t know, I myself am still searching for answers.

Not fully aware of the fact that she was going to take this on, she began the baby seal knit! Within a matter of days the little fella was done and I was shocked to see him in her possession. She posted a picture on her Facebook Page, and was quickly flooded with requests for seals. SEAL SALES GALLOR! You can feel good too by purchasing Craftybunny’s seals as every $2 from each sale gets donated to the World Wildlife Fund. I took this picture of my new seal buddy to share but you can view more at Craftybunny's Facebook page.

A Night of Scrapbooking

Last weekend, a couple of the gals from the local crafting group I am a part of and myself decided to have a scrapbooking evening. I use to scrapbook like a mad woman, completing many albums a year, but upon moving out to the lower mainland, and not having had brought my supplies with me...well...its being a while, 6 years worth of a while.

Over the last year these wonderful ladies have gotten me back into this intimate art forum.

Friday was our little event and we decided to go Pot Luck Style. Being veggie free, our food line up consisted of cheese fondue, chicken (a whole chicken I might add!), various breads and salt and vinegar chips (crisps...if you are like my better half aka British).

Craftybunny decided to multicraft while working on scrapbooking pages and making baby shower decorations. No she does not have a bun in the oven....(ha..ha...ha...its funny cause its CraftyBUNNY). Awesome. Calistopolis made some tear jerking pages of her wedding, while I assembled all of my random road trip pictures. We even had a French Cook attend! While she claims she is not crafty herself, he was more than happy to help out Craftybunny with the decorations as well as have Martha Stewart brainwash her with one of her craft books. *Sigh* Martha, how terribly wonderful you are.

A few hours into the evening, the French cook, just! Couldn't! TAKE IT ANYMORE! And needed to make CUPCAKES!!!! Before I knew it, she was in the kitchen baking away, and being crafty in making coloured spirals in each baked good.

The night continued with more scrapbooking, crafting, stuffing our faces with cupcakes and talking, lots of talking. To be expected with a group of women.

The French Cook later messaged me this: 

 
I had a great time friday! Thanks for having me over. I'm glad you liked the multicolored cup cakes :) I hadn't had cup cakes in soooo long. Maybe next time I will do just the egg whites like the recipe says and not the whole freakin egg haha. Make them ubber fluffy!

Either way we are going to have you come out to surrey so we can get you some craft stufffff's

ps. spoon + icing = heaven

pps. I came away with three freakin amazing stories on friday
1 - I don't want to go to the dentist. They're going to tell me i'm a horrible person because I don't floss.
2 - Just hug a carrot!
3 - I'm playing pool but theres a filing cabinet in the way!

--------------------------

As you can tell the late hours and excessive amount of sugar got to us. We loved every minute of it, and I can't wait to do it again!

Father's Day & Summer Sale

Hello Everyone!

To celebrate Father’s Day and being just a week away from Summer we are having a Sale! All of our Yoga Bags, Flasks, Ceramic Pots, as well as select earrings have been discounted. Save up to 30% on these fantastic items. Happy Father’s Day and hello Summer sun!

And the Winner is….

*Drum Roll*

CONGRATULATIONS TO: Pam P!!! This lucky individual has won our giveaway of a $20 Gift Certificate to Sublime Art and Gallery! We kindly thank everyone who took the time to complete our survey, the feedback was awesome.

Stay tuned for future events, contests and prizes!!!

$20 in Free Art Supplies!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen!

To start off we would like to give a big thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to the Sublime Spring Market last weekend. We had a lot of fun and we hope you did too. We can’t wait for this year’s Christmas market where we will be showcasing new seasonal items. That’s right we have it all planned out, art ninjas!

We are happy to announce that we currently have a giveaway going on for a FREE $20 gift certificate to Sublime. In order to be eligible to win, we ask that you please complete the survey which is listed below. We really are interested in hearing what you say, so we have made the survey light hearted and it takes only a few minutes to complete.

The survey will be closed at 11:00pm PST on Monday, May 16th, 2011. The draw for the $20 Gift Certificate will take place on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 7:00pm PST. The Winner will be contacted via the email in which they provided through the survey.

The survey can be found here:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CCWPYRXDE/

The Technological Touch

Never, ever, did I think I would have  a job or career which heavily involved the use of computers. My family did not get a computer until I was the age of 13, which seems hard to believe when I see 5 year olds gaming this day and age. Sure we were blessed with the original Sega, Sega Genesis and N64, but a computer? Pft. Any school work which required it was done at school, at my Computer Savvy Uncle’s home, or at my best friend’s place.

Once we did get a computer, I began to live a life full of PC gaming (did I really just play 13 hours straight of Sims? Wait my summer is over? I swear I just started Playing Neverwinter Nights an hour ago…), MSN, and “Uh-Oh”…ICQ. Oh and….Neopets *Hangs head in shame*

While I have moved on from my excessive gaming and online chating, the online word has still engulfed most of my waking hours, just in a different way. These days…Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Cintqs make my knees weak! Having an education in Web Design, Graphic Design, Digital Animation and now a career in the Film and Game industry…

With that being said, why, OH WHY, have I been cursed with the technological computer touch of death!? Our main computer we used to do all of our digital art and personal use I managed to put in a 2.5 month coma when I installed SQL…I then infected our borrowed laptop with a army of virus’, but only shortly after I killed our Xbox 360’s Graphics Card after doing Insanity…but it is okay cause when I got to work I made one gaming console die…..right?! *sigh*

Tonight, is recovery night. My knight in shining armor was able to wake our computer from its long slumber, but sadly trying to transfer its files to a safe destination was another battle. I will be going through all of our files and folders to keep what is necessary and hopefully have better luck in transferring to a safe sanctuary. Not being able to do so, means…well we lose everything Stay tuned………

The Mad Rush

Well this year has been nothing but full steam ahead with its motto being: "resting is for losers". We have a long list of pieces to pump out, also have some very unusual ideas we are excited to create. You will be seeing and hearing from us much more frequently. Also, expect some contests, surveys and free prizes in the near future!

To get the ball rolling, we are happy to announce that we will be taking part in Sublime's 2nd annual Spring Craft Show. 

Our previous guest Craft Bunny will also be at the show for her second time with Sublime. This time around she is sharing her table with a one of our friends who is a new to the artist community. Both gals will be selling a wide range of jewelry pieces :) Richard's mom will also be at the show with her intricate Celtic pieces, soaps and much more.

We happily invite you to swing on by and check out all the fantastic handmade creations. It is also the perfect opportunity to finish up that last minute Mother's Day shopping!

Sublime Spring Market
Location: Tsawwassen Town Centre
Date: May 7th, 2011
Time: 10am-4pm
Website: www.sublimeartsuppliesandgallery.ca
We look forward to seeing you! :)

Our triumphant return...

Hey Everyone!!

It has been ages hasn't it? Last we spoke and wrote it was back in 2010, shame on us! The year of 2011 has been a busy one. Our new year started off with an adventure out to Edmonton to see family and friends. Our return was welcomed by busy work schedules and job hunting and just when everything became calm, our computer went on the fritz and died. That was long ago now, but we still have not fixed our computer, which has really hindered us in making blog posts and updating our Facebook page.

So we were lucky enough to get a laptop loaned to us, and funny enough, the day I was going to do a blog post the laptop became infected with 31 viruses.....*sigh* You may have noticed this all play out on our Facebook page or Twitter. ONCE AGAIN! We are back! The laptop it healthy again! Woot!

Even though we have not been the most active on your Community pages, you can bet your bottom dollar that it has been pretty hectic in our studio.

Last night was particularly productive, with the R-Unit finishing a painting and immediately starting a new one, which is looking good already!

The mood was just right for a painting night, with some good comedy on the tele and as always good company. But one thing that made things all fall together was Richard's decision to reel in his over-active brain and let his paintings happen. He feels that his best works are things he doesn't plan too hard, if at all. Often he will start from a line or a shape, or a very vague idea and just dive right in. With that, he also decided to stop trying to be so creative, and play a bit with his "old school" or normal style. Dark, moody, abstract and surreal imagery with a touch of lightheartedness and sometimes even comedy. This is where he enjoys to play most of all. And that brings us to a point that we discussed late in the evening.


Sometimes we as artists, crafters and designers feel that we need to be creative. Now that may sound silly, as we are creative, it's the nature of what we do. However, we can spend time thinking about a new project, trying to come up with new ideas, trying to find new subjects, to push the proverbial envelope, and we can find ourselves getting nowhere, the dreaded artist's block (similar to it's writing cousin). Yet we all have a particular style or technique that we enjoy doing, and often comes out in our work anyway. Sometimes, in a way, being less creative can be better. You can perfect a technique or an execution, elaborate on a previous subject, and you may find that your work from this point is actually more satisfying than what you were trying to "create" or think up.

At least that's what we discovered for ourselves last night. Doesn't hurt to try!

And here's the finished product from the Moto's paint session last night: The Last Flower in the Valley (Just for you)