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