Frohe Weihnachten

This year a new event was held in Vancouver. It was the first annual German Christmas Market. This market features a large assortment of traditional food, unique imported gifts and entertainment. Having a German background, I was practically inline waiting for the place to open as soon as I found out. It has been nearly 6 years since I last visited the motherland, so I was hoping to get my fix through the Market.

My cohort and I went on this German adventure and let me tell you, it was PACKED!!! I should have known better then to go Saturday evening in December…but you know….wait…apparently I didn’t :P While it was no more than 5 minutes in line to enter, I wish I could say the same about the food line ups. Not having had dinner yet and walking through the aroma of various Bratwurst, Raclette, and Roasted Chestnuts, my tummy was about to break out in tears. Fighting the urge to jump into each vendor stall and swipe myself a dish, we wandered through to check out each stall.

While I was a bit disappointed in the merchandise shopping selection, I absolutely loved presentation and atmosphere. There were a large variety of entertainers during the night, accompanied by music, that smell of traditional food again…which stalked my nose….wooden huts decorated in garlands and lights!

We picked up ourselves some Feuerzangenbowle (I wish I had a reordering of my co-workers pronouncing this) which was served in ceramic mugs. Tomorrow I will be venturing out again to this event with a group of my co-workers, and most likely be substituting my Feuerzangenbowle for something along the lines of warm apple juice :)

Pre-Boxing Day Sale

Hello Everyone! Starting now until December 23^rd to Midnight (PST) we are having our pre-boxing day sale. All of our Jewelry and Flasks are 20% off! What better way to finish off your last minute holiday shopping or to treat yourself this season.

We will be posting more Flasks and Jewelry designs this week, so continue to check in for our fresh hot off the press work!

You can check out our items on our Facebook page. Be sure to email us your orders soon at info@tlrstudio.com to secure your purchase and take advantage of this fantastic deal! To receive the item at sale price, orders must be received before midnight on December 23^rd. Shipping rates still apply to orders being sent outside of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, please contact us for further details.


Happy Holidays!

Goodbye 2010 Craft Shows

Saturday was our last craft show for 2010. Time to hit the futon, kick up the legs, snuggle in my Snuggie (yes I do have one) and drink some holiday tea. These last four shows were great, even though a little more hectic than usual. We met a lot of fantastic people, both customers and artists, and we were glad to share our work with everyone. We also send a thank you to Crafty Bunny again for helping us run one of our tables and showcase her work on November 13th. We hope to join forces with her again in the new year

While our candle tea cups and jewelry were the top items this year, we would like to know what your favorites were. Was there something you would like to see that we didn’t have? Or a new and fresh idea you would like us to showcase? Let us know as we love hearing your feedback.

As for now, you can continue to buy any of our items in which you see on our Facebook Page. Just shoot us an email, and let us know what you are interested in. If you live outside the Greater Vancouver area, not to worry! We can send it your way for a small shipping fee (shipping fees are dependent on location of where the item must travel to). Don’t forget to drop us a line if you are curious about any custom work. We are always excited to take part in paintings, drawings, sewn items, jewelry, graphics and more!

Coffee Art

Let it Snow! I love winter. Sure it gets a little chilly, but nothing that can’t be battled out with the use of gloves, hats, boots and the excessive layering system of clothing! Honestly, since moving from Edmonton these Vancouver winters merely remind me of Edmonton summers. Okay, I am exaggerating a little, but you get my point:)

The first half decent snow we got was on Thursday, and of course it was like watching Dawn of the Dead, the zombies were a bit more aggressive though and trying to get on Skytrains and ended up turning on each other…. while the helpless few who remained uninfected were out on the roads driving. I got to be a zombie, it was pretty sweet.

My better half was unable to get to work. Waiting for buses which never showed, and then getting on one which took him on a joy ride, the poor man had a hour walk from his final destination to the core of downtown in hopes to find transit. He made it, but sadly got lost downtown. A call for help was made, and after giving directions I took the last few minutes of lunch to meet up with him. Seeing him soaked, and freezing, we made our way into a coffee shop to warm up for a bit. For the first time ever I was severed art in a cup! You have no idea how excited I was because of it.

I wish I could say, the snow continues, but sadly it has turned back into rain. *Sigh*

Circle Craft 2010

Circle Craft = Inspiring and Tempting. Circle Craft is a very large annual craft fair which takes place in Vancouver during the winter season. Today I ventured out to the event with Crafty Bunny and our partner’s in crime. While Crafty Bunny’s companion was overly thrilled to be going to the event, but I am pretty sure we supplied him with a good amount of entertainment while we were there.

One of the most exciting and unique artists we saw created helmet covers (www.tail-wags.com). Crafty Bunny was ecstatic about the…well…the bunny one, and I latched on to the lobster version. I also was pretty excited about the goldfish. While I do not have a bicycle helmet at this time, I do have a snowboarding one…

We were fortunate enough to get a glimpse of a free glassblowing demonstration. I am pretty sure that whenever I break a glass now it will feel guilty. The time and various techniques they used alone to incorporate the colour and pattern of the piece was MIND BLASTING. While I was truly mesmerized by their work, I don’t think I would have the patience to ever take part in it myself. A few years ago I had traveled down to Tacoma with my family and watched a similar demonstration at the Museum of Glass and since then have grown a new appreciation for glass blowing. Here are some of the artists we saw today:
www.mellonglass.com
www.psdesignsglass.com
www.illuminatiglassworks.ca

One of the pieces by PS Designs was their two and four sushi sets, sadly I don’t eat nearly enough sushi at home to justify the purchase.

Another vendor which made are day was Diabolo Puppets. These cute and quirky characters were a blast! Without hesitation we started picking up different characters and animating them with the strangest voices. Piranha, Bunny and this other odd fluffy creature which kinda resembled someone’s beard but in a brighter colour…what do you think?

Tumies were rumbling and so we decided we best head out, but we did make one last stop…at the Calgary Fudge Factory. Worst idea ever. We spent $40 in fudge! Rather, Crafty Bunny…I have some money I need to pass on to her. Sadly their website does not show nearly as many flavors as they had at the show such as Green Tea, Garlic, Pistachio, and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans! The men we eager to try the Eggnog version (and dunk it in some Rum of course) but they were sold out :(

I truly recommend going to Circle Craft next year if you have never been. Do try to go early to beat the crowds, and perhaps give yourself a budget J The artists are all very talented, and there is no shortage of variety, thus easily getting the best of a person...and their wallet hehe. Darn it! I totally didn’t do any Christmas Shopping…oh well :(

Craft Shows of November 2010

Well it has been a while hasn’t it? Shame on me, but is has been an insane last few weeks!! Insane is a very nice understatement actually. Art shows, long hours at work, a second job and Avon Calling!

The month started off with Craft Show preparation panic attacks. GRAB THE COFFEE!! With my mom being out, we did not get as much work done as we had planned to. Our first two weeks of November consisted of three shows, two of which were on the same day but different locations. This year our top sellers were jewelry and our new tea cup candles, which oddly enough, we were predicting these to be one of the lowest selling items…well we were sure wrong. Same luck I have with picking the winning lotto numbers…huh…

We have one more show for 2010, which is scheduled on the last Saturday of this month and we would love for you to swing by J The details are as follows:

Name of Event: Christmas Artisan Market 2010
Where: 1287 - 56 Street, Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall in Tsawwassen, BC
Date: November 27, 2010
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm

We were also happy to have Crafty Bunny participating with us at our last show. She was an extremely big help (Thank you so much!), and we were glad to have her showcase her handmade earrings. Unfortunately she will not be at our last craft show, but if you are interested in any of her items, give her a holler on her blog, Craft Bunny.<--Click it…you know you want to ;)

If you are interested in any of the jewelry or candles by The Living Room Studio please shoot us a message on our blog, email (info@tlrstudio.com), Facebook page or Twitter as we are willing to hold them for you if you can not make it to the show. Be sure to get them before they sell out, as we will not be producing may more until the new year.

After we rocked our socks at the three craft shows, we were gladly looking forward to a week of down time, and so was our immune system. Awesome. My second in command got hit and hit hard, and my for some unusual reason my body thought it would be a good to follow his lead. Both of us have been living off massive amounts of veggies, hot beverages, and cold medication for a week and a half. We have also grown a new fondness for our futon and the system of food delivery. Mixed Veggies on Rice for the win! Luckily we are both close to recovery, and should be in tip top shape early this week thank goodness.

Tomorrow we will be attending Circle Craft with Crafty Bunny and perhaps her partner in crime. I will be sure to follow up with another blog, and of course some fantastic pictures! :D  

Happy Halloween 2010!

I’m alive! ALIVE!!! Mwhahaha! I was being held hostage at work, and work outside of work, with its side of work, accompanied by work. Oh yes! And my mom who is out visiting at the moment THE BOSS!

I have been trying to keep in the theme for Halloween for the month of October, as I usually don’t attend many Halloween events. This year, we changed that!

My first embrace of Halloween celebrations for me is always to decorate my house! This year though I kept it ‘low key’ cause I must admit that I have troubles with motivating myself to taking the decorations down when the time is ready. One year I had a Halloween/Christmas house…it was….different…and lasted until Valentine’s Day. *cough* Door hangers, window stickers, moving and light up figurines, candles with their fancy festive candle holders, center pieces, garlands…like I said, I kept it low key this year;) I know this, cause I jipped out on spider webs!

The second task was decorating my desk at work. Can you tell I like decorating? On my whiteboard I have attacked it with gel bats, cats and the text ‘Boo’. I will soon be making an addition of a gel pumpkin. To compliment this all, I have caution tape in front of me, in a ‘bloody’ font. Font…man, design has corrupted me….who says font?

THIRD! This is where I was really starting to get in the grove of zombies! Dragging my feet out of bed, making groggy noises, and blindly making my breakfast in the morning….*drool* As my mom is out visiting, it has been a lot of late night and early mornings.

Fourth. HALLOWEEN THEMED AQUARIUM! BOO-YA! That’s right! The Aquarium was bringing in the celebration as well with their theme ‘Spooky Seas’. There were employees everywhere dressed up as pirates interacting with the guests, and they did not fall short. Having their pirate names, stories, and even accents! They even got the beluga whale mascot dressed up as a pirate. The place was decorated accordingly and there was a special exhibit ‘Skulls, Teeth and Creeps of the Deep’ showcasing skulls of various marine creature. Killer Whale skull = HUGE! We also watched their 4D movie ‘The Curse of Skull Rock’. Unlike my mom and I, R-chard had never been to a 4D movie, so I am pretty sure he was shocked when water was splashed in our face for the first time.

Fifth! I like odd numbers…odd like myself! We took my mom to see the musical Sweeny Todd. I was really cozy, as there were only approximately 6 rows of seats that surrounded a stage on ground level. At first I was a bit worried on how the production would be as I had often been to big Broadway productions in large theatres. Well, you can’t judge a book by its cover, and that was proven with this performance! The acting was exquisite, and their singing made me pretty freaking jealous….haha. I would highly suggest you go….but sadly all the remaining shows are sold out!

Sixth! On Friday my work appeared to be just as festive as myself, and well I am giving them the two thumbs up for that call! Costumes, candy, movies, candy, food, candy…..and a pumpkin carving contest! Not having any idea on what to carve, I posted a request for ideas on our Facebook page. I was given a suggestion for a 3D pumpkin, and well I went with it. This pumpkin….has been a battle as I found it really difficult to carve deep enough through to light up the pumpkin. I ended up doing some research, and discovered a lot of people who make 3D pumpkins either light them up with a bunch of decorative lights inside or use foam pumpkins! I wish I knew how to cheat earlier.

Last night for Halloween, Richard and I took my mom to the airport as she was flying home again. We spend the evening on the floor painting our suggested Halloween Themed painting. With paint, canvases, and candy surrounding us, with horror movies playing in the background, we much enjoyed our relaxed spooky evening together. We have a few final touches but we should have the piece up soon! :)

How was your Halloween? What events did you get up to? I liked my super Halloween October, and I am hoping to continue it from now on, let us know if there are any MUST DO events we next to check out in 2011!

Epic Crafting Day

Saturday was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day. I had met up with Crafty Bunny and one of our friends to embark on a crafting adventure. Crafty Bunny and I started off early by busting out some Hip Hop moves downtown for an hour before meeting up our crafting companion. Smelly, sweaty and sticky we met up with our friend and made our rounds to various stores to collect some supplies we needed. About 3 hours later…. :| we made it to her house to assemble everything.

We were slicing, dicing, cooking, stuffing our face with pizza (oddly enough the slicing, dicing and cooking had nothing to do with food), getting our hands dirty as well as counter tops, listening to Spice Girls….wait did I seriously just expose myself by typing that…crap! Doing showdowns….inking it up, listening to Nsync…wait…crap! I never learn do I?

All our hard work paid off, and it was a great feeling to see the finished product. Sure it was 8 hours later and midnight…but we got it done, and it turned out great!

Yesterday evening I got a call…there was panic, there was worry, there was chaos! Just when you feel the warmth of success cuddle you like a feather down blanket, someone….something….goes and snatches it away from you! Once of our creations decided to rebel and now must go into crafting surgery. I will be picking up the patient this week, and I am hoping that a little TLC and crafting food will help mend it’s self.

Now I know this blog has been a bit vague….the events that took place, and what all was created, but there is a reason why. There is more to this story…but sadly Part Two must be told at a later date. Keep logging in, cause I will be following up on this one in the future! Oh and of course, there will be picture….OH WILL THERE BE PICTURES!

Sewing Extravaganza

We’re back!!! It has been crazy the last little while. We have busy catching up with friends, family, adjusting to a new job, shopping for the new job, shopping in general really (Bench. Sale? What? Really???), dance classes, work, work and some more work! Breathe!!! Not to mention Thanksgiving! It takes a lot out of a person to eat that much food!

Last week the second crafting event was held for the local Craft Group I joined. It was a great get together! We all managed to get a lot of work done and help one another in the process. Sadly though I don’t think it was that exciting for my better half. He was a sweetheart and stuck though the night with us ladies, entertaining us with stories and he himself even made a pair of earrings! But don’t let him know I told you....

Saturday was a late night. It also could have been an early morning depending how you look at it. I stayed up until 4:30am cutting out patterns on fabric for new yoga bags! I managed to get 26 done, but I could potentially make 5 more if I desired. I also was able to find my 'Rice' fabric on the weekend, so I completed cutting out the pattern and fabric for my Halloween Costume. As you can tell I have a lot of sewing ahead of me. I tried to convince my co-pilot that he is an AMAZING sewer, and loves to sew, but no dice. Maybe next time hehe. Last night I was able to complete 3 of the yoga bags, and about 85% of my ‘Rice’ dress for my Halloween costume. I was glad for it to have been a fairly productive night, and not having to stay up until the next day was a huge bonus.

If I can keep up my current sewing rate, I should be done all of the yoga bags by October 20^th, the day before my mom arrives to visit me. Wish me luck!!! Ill need it! *Needles please don’t break, please don’t break*

The Hour of Needle and Thread

Trick or Treat! October is showing up without warning, and the only way I knew its arrival was near is from seeing Halloween decorations in all of the stores, and orange and yellow leaves on the ground.

Back in the day (Junior High, good old grade 7, yippie…) I was introduced to sewing. Rather, sewing with a sewing machine that is. I had done sewing by hand before, hemming pants, reattaching buttons, making clothes for my Barbies, but the sewing machine….*tear* so…so beautiful! The first thing I ever made was Pajama pants that were WAY to big in the waist and MUCH too short. With some time and practice I have improved from this first trial!

Often when selecting my project for sewing it is more often then note complicated and  contains a good collection of detail. These pieces usually end up being a bit more pricey for the more extravagant fabrics and notions which are needed. The second high cost to follow up with is the time invested to get the job done. For these reasons I usually go all out on one sewing project a year, and yes you guessed it! It is for my Halloween costume.

This year I have put my sewing budget a bit lower than I normally would, but creativity has not been sacrificed. This year, Halloween 2010, I am going as…*drum roll*….Sushi! Nom, nom, nom! While I have the design planned out, and I have a very good idea of what fabrics I will be looking for, there is still one question which remains unanswered! Ebi or Salmon? I want both…so tasty…thoughts?

House Boat Party

Vacatioooooooooooon! Woop! Woop! Sadly it is over But it was good while it lasted! Myself, copilot and 4 of our friends went out to Sicamous BC to go houseboating on Shuswap Lake on the weekend. None of us had ever gone houseboating before so we were all really excited, but not too sure what to expect…or pack(oh there is a story!).

The trip to our destination was a bit chaotic. We all arrived at ‘The Living Room Studio’ pad to have a sleepover party enabling us to leave as a group in the morning. The alarm clock went off at 3am, and we departed shortly after 4am.

As it was the last week of houseboating, we were lucky enough to be given a bigger boat than we had originally booked at no additional cost! There were three bedrooms which worked out perfectly as we were a group of three couples. Not only did we sail the seas (or lake in this case), but also took part in fishing, counting dead fish, board games, card games, Banana Grams, decorating the boat, attacking a piñata (or boat in my case) and roasting marshmallows on our fire to make smores. There was one challenge though…food!

Shortly before our trip, we went on an adventure to Costco to buy all the food we would need for the trip. Well, we bought WAY more than what we needed. We had meat for every meal of the day….every meal…OF THE DAY! MEAT! ALL MEAT! Can you tell the crew was made up of 50% males? Looking at our fridge and cupboards at the end of our first day we decided day 2 would consist of nothing but food consumption and finishing off all our beverages. Sadly the vast amount of meat showed us who was boss!! We all went home with 6 steaks per couple as well as two bags of ribs along with all the other snacks and beverages we had left over.

I am, without a doubt, really, really, REALLY sick of meat at this point. REALLY sick of MEAT! I was so happy to have a veggie sub, it nearly brought a tear to my eye. Since my return my diet has been vegetarian, accompanied by dairy products. While it has been easy enough to made meals at home, going out to eat is a different story.

Two of my co-workers are vegetarians and I was speaking with them about my meat hangover and how I was embracing the vegetarian life for the week. They agreed that yes the selection is limited in restaurants, and often you always have the same items to choose from. Veggie burgers, veggie quesadillas, pasta etc. Also once one do finds a place that they enjoy or has a better selection it is more often than not they continue to just go to that place, new restaurants become a thing of the past. My co-worker Bear-Claw passed along some websites to help me with my veggie adventure, and now I would like to share them with whomever wishes to have a bit more veggie in their life. (I fell like there should be a dance associated with that!)

Recipes:
http://www.theppk.com/

Recommended Recipe:
http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=244

Faking the Meat:
http://www.yvesveggie.ca/index.php?id=20

All in all the houseboating was great! I had a blast, and the company couldn’t have been better! I would love to go again, and perhaps for more than three days in order to really enjoy the surroundings and experience some of the fanatic hiking trails in the area. I highly recommend this adventure, just make sure you are compatible with your party for more than 3 consecutive days hehe. It would also be without a doubt a great mini family vacation! Again…if you are compatible with your party for more than 3 consecutive days ;)

To read more about the houseboating adventure and view more pictures check out the blogs of Crafty Bunny and Laura~She

Inviting Crafty Bunny

Well it is time to make it official! I won the Lotto! Haha…I wish. It’s time for the official announcement of our art shows in November. They money is in, and the papers are signed! Come to one of our shows during the following dates:
November 6th
November 13th- At two different locations
November 27th

We will be making events for the shows on Facebook, so be sure to ‘Like’ our page to get an invite to the event and any future events. I will be following up on our blogs, Facebook page and Twitter with additional information including times and address information.

As we do have two shows on the 13th of November at two different locations, we were in need of some help. We asked our artistic companion ‘Crafty Bunny’ if she would be interested in helping us run one of the shows. She gladly accepted and we are really excited to have her on board. We have also invited her to showcase her own works of art the day she assists us. Focusing on crafting jewelry, her pieces cover a wide range of styles from Funky and Fun, to Elegant and Dainty. This will be her first craft show, and as her pieces are often one of a kind you won’t want to miss the opportunity of checking her pieces out.

Three Suspects

I have not always been the one to try something new. In previous years I was often shy and timid and the thought of venturing out of my comfort zone to something unfamiliar was somewhat nerve-wracking. The thought of failure or embarrassment followed close beside me, and instead of taking a risk I just watched from the sidelines.

As years passed, I slowly grew some courage and decide to slowly tackle new things. A lot of this was influenced by people I spent a lot of time with at school. I had always been the quiet one, and once hitting up my very artsy fartsy high school, things became a lot more adventurous. Risk takers, and thrill seekers were all around me, and they took me by the hand and showed me how to be one as well.

These days I do not feel that fear I once had, and am often excited to try something fresh and new. I have indulged in an assortment of dance styles and even gone competitive, yoga, pilates, exotic foods, motorcycle riding, late night road trip adventures on a whim! And of course art! (Probably wondering how I was going to tie this into the art field of things! Mwhaha). For years it was always sketches, pencil crayons and folk art, but there have been three main people who changed all that.


Suspect Number One: The Mother
AKA:  The Boss
Known for: Fold Art and Crocheting
Story: When I was really young my mom and I would do crafts together from a large crafting book we owned (and still do to this day!). As school slowly took over my life, and work engulfed hers, the crafting was no more. Years later, shortly before I ventured out to the Wild West, my mom and I started to go to craft nights together. We made Rag Dolls, Decorated Ceramic Pots and made numerous bath products such as soaps, salts and facial scrubs. It was nice to be doing something new, and having someone to go with who also was not scared either.

Suspect Number Two: My Partner in Crime
AKA: Little Ham
Known for: Cartooning and Painting
Story: Upon first site I never would have guessed he
was a man with a pencil and paintbrush in his back pocket. Tattoos, ex-piercings, enough guitars to open a shop, torn jeans and a family van? Huh? Art was his disfunctional relationship. I love you, I hate you, I miss you, you just don’t understand! Once those magical sparks set off (wow sorry…one sec, I just vomited on my keyboard)
*INTERMISSION*
…once we started to date:P I lured him into painting again. It was a bit odd for myself, as I was not familiar nor very comfortable with paint. But he was cute :)

Suspect Number Three: Shannon
AKA: THE Shannons
Known for: Knitting
Story: We met in school, so I knew there had to be SOME common interests. Oddly enough we didn’t talk until school was more or less done. A little while ago she decided to dive back into the art of knitting while still tackling other art forms such as designing jewelry. Often when we are out and about, she will spot something she likes but refrains from making the purchase as she says “I could make that!” justifying as to why she should not buy it. Since this popular phrase came to be, I have been thinking the same myself about many products I come across.

These three art gurus have taken me on more crafting adventures then I could imagine. Having their company on the journey too alleviated any worries and doubt I had about not making my grand masterpiece on my first attempt of something new. Painting outside the lines became fun, and trying something new with no experience became a thrill. I still have a long list of things I would like to try, and Shannon’s “I could make that” is defiantly not helping me reduce any of those items….haha.

Good Old Paper

One of our home’s walls has been consumed by a sea of post-its. Written on each post-it is an idea of a future project or current commission works. It was not until recently that this family of post-its came to be. I needed a way to visually see was on our plate to evaluate where time should be spent as well as scheduling estimated completion dates for any new projects. My favorite part though comes when a piece is finished and having the pleasure of removing the post-it from the wall and destroying it.

One of the most recent works which was just completed was a logo for 'Marina's Cuisine - Bakery & Catering Cafe' a company specializing in Russian food. Don’t view the website on an empty stomach! It will most likely result in you putting a flight to Edmonton on your credit card in order to get a hold of one of these wonderful dishes!

This week my partner in crime will be continuing our vector adventure creating original pieces to be submitted to Threadless. We will be posting them along the way, and letting you know which ones we have chosen to submit. Abstract, surrealism, monsters all with a cartoon flair will be his focus. If you have any nifty ideas you would love to see themed as one of the designs give us a shout and we will defiantly do our best to bring it to life!

Go, go , go!

My goodness this weekend was action packed! *KAPOW* Well, really it was just busy and we were constantly on the go. All is well though as lots got done, and being productive is always a good feeling.

Saturday, a group of us ladies made our way to Button Button and Dressew. While I had no intentions to buy anything, I subconsciously knew that I would still find a way to leave each store with items. I managed to leave Button Button with only $18 damage which was impressive. At Dressew I was hoping to maybe find the fabric I needed for my Halloween costume, but no dice. I did however find some lovely pieces at prices I couldn’t pass up, which will be made into more yoga bags in the near future. There was also a couple of guys who came into Dressew and started Flash Dancing in their very vibrant spandex suits! The employees in the store had no idea how to react and just stood and watched with the customers. I was tempted to start dancing myself!

Beads and Buttons. Buttons and Beads. Once we arrived home from our crafting adventure, I began to assemble my pieces into earrings. I didn’t come up for air until mostly all were complete, and man did my fingers hurt. I still have to take photos of 9 more pairs, but the end is near. Sad thing is, as soon as this is posted I will be placing my second bead order…*sigh* Be sure to check out some of the completed earrings on ‘The Living Room Studio’ Facebook page. You can find them under the ‘Jewelry for Sale’ album and don’t hesitate to ‘Like’ your favorites! Keep checking in, as I will be posting some Fall and Halloween themed earrings in the next week :)

An email was received on the weekend asking if we would like to participate in Sublime’s Christmas Artisan Market. With looking into Craft shows we could sign up for last minute, this worked out perfectly. We have now been brainstorming about different shelving ideas, and really cracking down on what we are choosing to sell at the shows. We were also contacted on Sunday to produce a High Res. Logo for a Restaurant which we will be completing over the next day.

Tackling commission pieces while prepping for art shows is a handful, but doing it along side a regular 40 work week is something else! Not to mention I start dance this month. My better half will definitely be taking on a good portion of the work himself this time around…I suppose that is why he truly is my better half :D

Need your assistance... NOW!

So exciting news, and the reason I can't talk long - the Bead order has arrived! So awesome! So because I have inevitably opened the packaging, and will be tinkering and plotting for the next while, I will be brief :)

Today I was on a mission to get in contact and plan out all other craft shows in the Lower Mainland for November and December. Many of the show’s submission dates had already passed, but there were still a few options. While they are still accepting the submissions, their deadlines are coming up fast.

I guess I kinda lied when I said we would need your assistance in voting late September, early October, as your help is needed now! Go, go, go!

Below is a list of items we currently have for sale as well as ones we are thinking about having. Let us know what you think we should sell at the shows, and what your top pick is.

- Canvas Paintings
- Matted Prints
- Cards
- Yoga Bags
- Knitting/Artist's Roll
- Hanging Hug Monster Set
- Hanging Uglies Set
- Earrings
- Coasters
- Candles
- Flasks
- Candle Holders
- Soap
- Napkin Rings

Didn't see what you were looking for? Please suggest it to us and we'll look into it!

The Phone Call

So does anyone know how to grow an extra set of arms? Or perhaps is aware how to freeze time? This month is about to get crazy, I smell it!

Currently the two main projects we are tackling are illustrations for a children’s book and a tattoo design. Recently it has been a battle of finding time to work on these projects, but that all changed this weekend, yay! And then…the phone rang. Some unexpected news was delivered to us. *Dramatic Music Plays* We were given an invitation to be a vendor in a craft show for November :O

After our last art show, we decided we would take a step back and take a little break from the shows. Our plan was to resume them next year in 2011, as we were planning to take a trip to the UK. Unfortunately we could not proceed with the Europe trip due to unforeseen circumstances, so we followed up with plan B. Spend the rest of this year researching, designing, and creating our new vendor look as well as pumping out numerous pieces to sell.

Prepping for Craft Shows is a dangerously good event for my creative side. I will take out a bunch of paper and just start to fill it up with ideas of products for the shows and drawing little images. I always like to experiment by bringing something new to the table (cheesy pun intended) to see if it is a hit or not. Problem in the end is choosing which ones to work into the shows, as I usually want to take them all on, ambitious I know. Having a blog now, I hope you will help us in this Journey of decision making. Feel free to play this in the background as you assist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS6OTogk-s8

Late September, early October we will be including pictures and surveys to see what you would like us to showcase in November. Expect some crazy ones as we will be drinking LOTS of coffee, and of course Energy Drinks. Also feel free to post comments as well on the threads as we love hearing any detailed feedback you wish to provide.

Stay tuned! *Fade to Black*

Mix it up!

A long overdue post by the other half!

As you can probably tell, we have a lot of different projects going on all at the same time, and most of the time we jump to and from them in no particular order. Lately, our attention has been divided between children's story illustrations and detailed tattoo design. On the one hand they are similar in that we are doing lots of work withour trusty pencils, but on the other hand, it's a very different mindset. For me, it's a lot of:

"How is this going to look on a page?"

vs.

"How much detail can I fit into a small place on this person's arm?"

Last night, we were up very late (shocking, I know!) working on these drawing projects and I got a lot done on something I don't do very often; A very detailed and realistic pencil drawing of a human being! I am quite happy with how it turned out, especially as I'm not hugely confident in my pencil skills, at least when it comes to drawing anything that resembles reality.

That being said, when we had our good friends over today for an Art Day™, I decided it was time for a break from the meticulous drawing on 8" x 10" with a 2B, and mix things up by bringing out a long neglected 40" x 48" canvas.

Yeaaaah! That's more my style! But as I said, it's been long neglected and has looked like this for some time. But today was awesome for progress, and I was in a groove, so 7 hours later it looked like this:

There's still a lot left to do, but it was great to take a break from the scrutiny of pencil drawing that will one day permanently adorn someone's flesh to quite literaly getting my hands dirty and splattering my imagination onto canvas!

Tomorrow will likely bring me back to the 2B and a smaller scale, but it will be with a refreshed mind and eye, so I'm looking forward to it. Moral of the story - Mix it up!

Craft Night

Friday was the craft group’s first get together. As we have now expanded to a fair size group we decided to take advantage of Michael’s Craft Night. They offer out their facilities one a month for people to use. Registration is required as they only have so many open seats, but this was the perfect way to supply our group enough room for their crafting needs.

Michael’s also supplies some crafting materials for the evening which came of great use. Stamps, ink pads, embossing tools and more. But there was one tool in particular which took the spotlight and stole the hearts of all of the crafty-craftersons. The Cricut Expression Personal Electronic Cutter *tear…so beautiful*. I had seen this magnificent piece of machinery in the store before, but made sure not to step too close to it after seeing it’s price tag. Temptation was great for this machine. One of the member’s of our party went to go look at the different models in the store, we talked about applying a coupon, the fact it was on sale, all chipping in, making sure we come back each month to the Craft Night to get our fix…it was bad. But the machine oh so good!! *sigh* The machine did not leave with us, thank goodness.

In conclusion, the Michael's Craft Night with the crafting group was a huge success. We met new people, got new ideas and tips, got work done, and all around had a really fun time doing it. I will defiantly plan out better what to bring, as I brought many supplies I did not even use.

It must be Opened!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a problem, and I fully admit in having this problem. I can not for the life of me keep packaging closed. Remember when you were a kid, and someone just got you a new toy. You are super excited to open it and play with it!!! So you run to the car, cause sitting in a car somehow grants you permission to open the toy? That was me, time and time again, and I am pretty sure I never grew out of it. How do I know this? Oh! Let me tell you : ) Also, don’t worry. Once I got to the car, and attempted to open the toy my mom was sure to tell me “Wait until we are home!”

When I got home from work yesterday I noticed on the table a slip to pick up a package from the post office. I was informed “it must be your bead order” by my co-pilot. I was ecstatic! Probably more than words can describe. Bouncing up and down, scrambling to get my shoes back on, making sure I had my ID all while saying “I gotta go get the beads!! The beads!!!” I started to think of all the items which I would soon be able to get my hands on. Mwhahaha.

My partner in crime asked me if I was really going to go get the beads considering we were meeting up with his family for dinner plans shortly. Knowing full well of this, I said yes, and shot out the door. I did some serious speed walking, with a combination of running to get to the post office. I also warned him before my departure, that he may have to restrain me from bringing the beads to dinner….to oooo and aaawww at…

Standing in line, giddy and bead happy, I handed my paper to the post office worker, and waited eagerly as she went to the back to find the package. As she steps out from the back room, she carefully hands me a ….Avon box?! Awww man. Along side my regular 9-5 job, and The Living Room Studio, I also sell Avon, and I had completely forgot I would be picking up the orders this week.

So as mentioned, it is obvious that I am a little kid at Christmas when it comes to these things. But this goes for anything, not just “gift” items, and this was proven once again today. I went to Save-On in a quest to purchase munchies! As I left the store, the chip bag was opened and I began to consume them on the way home…

I am pretty sure I will never break out of this : )

Rock On

I have big news! This weekend I went camping for the first time…ever! Hard to believe I know, but I guess that is what happens when you are born and raised in a city. At least for me anyways.

The road we traveled on to get to our camping spot was an adventure and a half. I am pretty sure I don’t need to go for a massage for a year now. Also to my discovery, a collection of wrenches, canvas stretchers and cans do not make good wind chimes. While it took us 2 hours over a 37km distance to find our getaway location, but it turned out to be the perfect spot. Our closest neighbours were a 20minute drive away and there was nothing but us, trees and a river.

Saturday was baking hot! Oddly enough, the river was ice cold! My feet went numb after being in the water for about 20 seconds. Not able to swim, we had for find a different means of entertainment. We decided to make some art…but not of the typical kind. Our first attempt was at making a bridge, but after some ruptured structures, and some close calls with our toes, the idea was scraped. We began working on separate pieces. At the end of the day I made a cute little home. This home is structured from stone, complete with a slate roof top, hardwood floors, cobblestone walkway and stone lined garden bed. Listed price is at $1,000,000.00 (this is a steal of a deal for a waterfront property in BC).

My partner (often in various disguises) constructed a stone pillar, which he refers to as ET. His original piece shattered…all over his foot…and had to be remade, to what you see here :D

When the evening came upon us, we had to find a creative way to cook our steak as our cooking trays went up in flames. Literally. Even though this plan of attack failed, cooking steak in a pot did not! We also had numerous fights with bugs, and a combined scar count of 47 from that day:( At night, when we were all snug in bed, everything seemed well, until a rainstorm hit us. The noise of the rain woke us to leave us battling with our tent, as half of it was blown out of the ground due to the wind!

All in all I really enjoyed my first camping trip and I can’t wait to go again. Maybe this time I will remember to pack cups, a frying pan, more blankets and a whole lot of bug spray!!!

Fighting Cookies

Yesterday was a late night and not an intentional one either. A group of us local crafty-craftersons came together to place a huge bead order allowing us to make the best use of the shipping fee. Our ordering Guru called me in a bundle of frustration after hours of attempting to submit the order. After changing browsers, deleting history and the whole shebang, still no luck.

I offered to help and jumped on the website, stat! I carefully added bead, after bead, after bead. We had assembled 5 pages worth…..and half way through I started to get pop up messages regarding my cookies, unfortunately they were not the edible kind. I went to the website’s FAQ page hoping to find more information, and sure enough they had a tutorial, yay!

Did you know, being up for 16hours, adding 5 pages of beads to a virtual shopping cart and spending multiple hours attempting to submit and confirm a bead order MAY affect one’s actions? I do, and I learnt the hard way *sigh* While doing the tutorial, I deleted my cookies and had to re-enter the order to my shopping cart…in the drawing below the dinosaur represents me, while the egg is completion of the order…sad thing is before I deleted my cookies I said “But if I do this it will delete my order….”

 Not to worry! Around midnight I was able to complete the order only to find out that I forgot to add two beads to the shopping cart. I then placed a second order, and phoned head office at 7:30am today to see if they can combine the orders. They were able to, thank goodness :)

Well I know how to go about this come winter when I place a second order. I will also no longer be submitting an order when my system is exhausted. Trial and error I suppose, but please everyone keep your fingers crossed that there is no more error.

Glamorous Ears

About a month ago, Crafty Bunny contacted numerous crafty-craftersons about placing a bead order on ArtBeads.com. If you love doing beadwork I highly recommend that you don’t go to this website, as it is very dangerous for your wallet. It will also impact what you eat for the rest of the month :P

Last week, I put some time aside to go through the numerous pages of beads (and you can bet I did go through each and every single one) to assemble my order. My first total came to $109…OUCH! But after much thought about each piece, and determining if I did have a project in mind, or I was just adding it because it was shinny, I managed to bring it down to $22! Quite impressive if I say so myself! This means I no longer have to survive on KD this month!

The Bead order is going in this week and YES I am super excited. I will be crafting ten new pairs, mostly with Swarovski crystals, some charms, pearls, and wood beads.

There is one I am particularly excited for but I will have to keep it a secret for now J Our Facebook page (the Living Room Studio) showcases all the earrings we currently have for sale, so be sure to check it out! Once these new arrivals are crafted we will be updating Facebook with pictures of these pieces.

Until then (as I am not sure how long shipping will take) I pose a question to you about what earrings you love most? What style? What material? Small? Big? Simple? Complex? Myself I am a sucker for big, bold but simple jewelry, and wood is on the top of the list for materials. One of my favorite pairs are large wooden hoop earrings, to follow is a set of slim black wooden rectangles. My mom (aka earring guru) on the other hand loves abstract pieces, anything flashy and unusual she is sure to make the purchase!
Be sure to let us know what grabs you, and we may just have to craft something up inspired by you!

Eight Days of Sleep

These last few days have been pretty rough. My body has started to crash and it has been very difficult to even stay awake to get anything done out of work over these last two weeks. Not really the situation I wish to be in when we have so many art projects to wrap up. Explains why I have not been blogging recently.

Friday I decided I was going to crack down and just work! I got supplies which would keep me trucking on through the night, and Save-On was in full support of it considering Energy Drinks were on sale! Score! So I sat my toosh down, put everything I needed around me so I wouldn’t have to get up, and what do you know! I fell asleep, pencil in hand, 3 hours later. Not what I was looking to have happen. *Sigh*

Saturday was a get together with a bunch of friends to go bowling, as one of our friends, Anna, was out visiting from Quebec. Oddly enough I probably should have spent more time with her as she is a drawing nut!!! I am pretty she was born with a sketchbook (eep! Poor mother!).

Sunday has rolled around, and again my sleep caught up to me. I passed out at around 7:00pm and then work up at 10:15pm….it may have to do with the heat we are having? Not quite sure.

This week is going to be hectic! I have a funny feeling I will be seeing some overtime hours from work, and there is a lot of drawing I need to pump out. Any suggestions on how to keep moving, keep motivated and most importantly keep awake? Off to bed again, haha, oh man…I kinda remind myself of this cute little pup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zVCYdrw-1o

Dare to be Different?

‘Dare to be Different’ that was the headline of today’s 24Hour newspaper. I remember my younger years when being different meant one thing: get ready to be teased and made fun of! YAY! Sad but true! Being different was not fun as a kid, and I will never understand it. I much lacked the confidence to stand up to anyone who pointed out anything non conformist about me. I remember being called out for having tear away pants which were not brand name! It wasn’t enough that I was keeping up with the oh so trendy styles back in the day. *sigh* What ever happened to those pants…?

I have to thank my High School for not abiding by they rules of “normality”. I remember people coming to school with abstract designs painted on their face, pants made of bubble wrap, and grad dresses made of things found from a recycling bin! I finally had my own look myself, and was free to work it baby, work it! Haha.

Today’s paper article talked about how Japan’s very popular ‘Lolita’ (http://www.lolitafashion.org/) fashion is making its way to Vancouver. While some people are fanatics, others just can’t help but stare. This reminds me of a time when I went to visit some old friends at a different High School. I snuck my way in, and walked through a hallway of ‘Jocks’ and ‘Preps’ and OH how I got the most interesting reactions! I wasn’t sorry my jeans weren’t Rockin Republic but rather rocking with zippers, safety pins and holes. I wasn’t sorry that I was not wearing Gucci on my feat but rather some thick soled kicks. I wasn’t sorry that my shirt wasn’t Guess, but please  rather ‘Please guess if these rips and tears were on my baggy black hoodie before or after its purchase’. I wasn’t sorry, because it no longer phased me to think twice about they thought, as it didn’t matter.

 Whether it is clothes or art, just rock it. *Head Bangs*. Do what is you! Don’t be scared to go outside the box, it’s often the most fun place, and the best way to show your creative side.

A Garden of Art

Inspiration. It can come from anywhere. I mean heck, I have seen scuff marks on my wall and shouted out “Oh man! That looks like a dolphin eating a hamburger while riding on top of a train! Richard you need to draw that on paper!” And then it just confirms with people the fact that I am truly crazy….

One thing I can say for sure though, is I always get inspired and greatly motivated when going to an art or craft show. Numerous talented people, with such a wide array of ideas! It makes me want to plant myself in an empty vendor booth right then and there and just start arting it up! I have begun to start taking a note pad and paper to the shows to jot down any ingenious breakthroughs I have while there.
This last weekend, I went to ‘Art in the Garden’ for the first time, and without a doubt will be attending next year as well. Even though the weather was terrible, I was still blown away by the UBC Botanical Garden’s beauty and all the art pieces tucked away in its seclusion. It was the perfect venue with its bohemian atmosphere of live music, nature and art.

I made my rounds to all the displays, stuffed my pocket full of business cards (Typical of me), and inhaled a lot of lavender….Richard’s mom, Belinda Llewellyn, was one of the vendors, and just as me, she is indeed a lavender fan! While her focus is watercolour paintings of Celtic knotwork, she also frequently sells pens, rosaries, soaps, and the very dangerous but ever so good lavender bags!

November there will be a lot of noise on the blog about art shows. While there are ongoing shows throughout the year in spring in summer, fall has a tendency to be packed with them due to the winter holidays. Hopefully you get the chance to go and venture to them as well. If not, be sure to login and I will gladly keep you posted.

Light Sleep, Deep Dreamer

Sleep….hmmm…I have heard of this. Not sure how I go about acquiring it though. I think I did have a taste of it last night though, oh around the wee hours of 1am or so. Wouldn’t have been so bad if I knew I didn’t have to wake up in 5hours to go to work, and worry about hearing the alarm.

Sadly it is my own fault. My brain was racing, about everything art related.Well mostly. Not sure of a time when I am not thinking about bills or my next trip to Bench! Guilty. Seriously though, blogging, what to blog about, commissions, when to finish the commissions, general random art ideas…apparently I am very inspired at 1am in complete darkness?

So I had a thought, it came to me in a dream you see…and now I need your help. One of the biggest, yet simplest troubles I have run into with our craft shows is displaying our earrings. I came up with a nifty idea while trying to doze off and it would love your feedback. Drum Roll please!

Ta-da!

I also decided to turn our business card into a cute little sticker. Stick it on a book, wallet, card, locker, wall, desk, computer anywhere you want!

 
What are your thoughts on the earring card as well as the sticker? Do you LOVE IT! Or think my art ideas created in dreams should not enter reality?

Let the Magic Happen!

Well it is our first day here, blogging away, and I don’t know where to start! I guess by thanking Crafty Bunny for introducing this to us. If you are photography fanatic be sure to check out her blog and follow her 365 Day Project.

While the ‘The Living Room Studio’ has been up and running on Facebook for quite some time now, we decided to spread our wings and get acquainted with other social networks.

You can expect we will be pouring our heart our about our art, other’s art, opinions about, frustrations of art, art relating to art and its opinions of art with a side of art, but we hope to also capture your interest in our own process’ and crazy daily lives. If that doesn’t work, well hopefully our dry but witty humor will :)

If we ramble on too much, and blogs just isn’t your thing, look for us on twitter @sugarham, Sugarham at Etsy and of course Facebook. Our website www.tlrstudio.com is currently under construction, but we hope to have it up and running very soon!

It is great to be here! Now enough Jibber Jabber! Let there be art!