We took a day trip out to Drumheller and discovered the wonderful mural at the Royal Tyrrell Museum ... it keeps children occupied, as there are so many layers and nooks and crannies for them to explore ... Here are some pictures I took of the mural ...

Just sharing some funny pictures...

Peek-a-boo...it's lovely watching a child grow ... there are small changes everyday!


Here is a hilarious thing - an Obama chia sporting a skullet! We gifted this to my brother's girlfriend who is obsessed with Obama ...I was amused to find his hair growing in this state!

On our walks, Leo and I often go downtown. I have been loving the windows at Holt Renfrew lately, especially this one. I love the cotton candy pompadours on these mannequins!


Finally, something delicious - I made this pansy pistachio cake, I found the recipe in the globe and mail, and I recommend this cake.

I am finally getting around to it...

I want to start another series of portraits, more specifically portraits of women in my life. They will be fabricated in the same manner as my vanitas series - scans (whole and parts) pieced together to form a portrait. However, my vanitas series was personal. And this go around, I would like the portraits to reflect personal stories of each individual woman. The portraits will feature face, hands, etc. and objects relating to her life's stories, memories, etc. Think of these items as a still-life making up a moment or defining who you are.

Quite possibly, I can do a sitting a week, so please email me or message me if you are interested. I plan to have a showing once completed, so portraits will be made public, but you will of course get a copy of your portrait.

I have a slight obsession with anything miniature...I really went nuts photographing/scanning myself with miniature items a few years ago for my Alice in Wonderland/vanitas series...so when I stumbled on this, I flipped!

Miniatures by Annina
slideshow of her work



Diffa Dining by Design Benefit - some pretty amazing tablescapes, if only dining always afforded these kinds of experiences!

Phoenix Commotion in Huntsville, Texas has an amazing business - building low-cost homes out of reclaimed material.

The Phoenix Commotion is a local building initiative created to prove that constructing homes with recycled and salvaged materials has viable place in the building industry. This process uses only apprentice labor and teaches marketable skills to anyone with a work ethic who is willing to swing a hammer. By keeping labor costs low and using donated or found materials, the homes created are truly affordable. No two are alike due to the myriad of materials used, so there is an artistic element that makes Phoenix Commotion homes truly unique. We target single parents, artists, and families with low incomes. We require the homeowner to be involved with the planning and construction of their own home. The result is a person who is empowered, not only by the use of knowledge and building skills, but by the opportunity to become part of a community as a vested participant.

phoenix commotion blog



Wish I had known about this place when I lived a little closer! ALL CITIZENS in Bruno Saskatchewan...is exciting! Perhaps the smallest music venue in Canada, and a great supporter of the ARTS!


BIKO - fun jewellery, like the kaleidoscope necklace pictured below.


a fun fashion designer....then all kinds of artists and illustrators....

EVE GRAVEL BRUNA ZANARDO JODY MORLOCK JESSICA HISCHE DEEMA BAYRAKDAR ALEX CHIU DOO NANNY

and, a couple canadian photographers....

KRISTY-ANNE SWART CAREY SHAW

Finally, colette paperie - hand printed paper gifts, every single item is handmade. Her blog Colette Paperie: handmade favorites is pretty fun too! I like how she colour coordinates her blog posts!

In this post, some blogs and websites I have discovered and admired, there are so many, its been awhile, I have been preoccupied with this little dude:



...and I have been keeping busy with my school work as well...anyways, onto some inspiring blogs and websites...

brown paper journal. description: A floral designer with a penchant for all things growing, visually inspiring and deliciously tasty. This blog has loads of visual splendours!

scoutie girl: the blog with a penchant for the passionately handmade

STEEP STREET: musings by Kelty (photography, web design, print work, custom art)

Malea Gadoury: such nice nice nice! design and illustration!!

Fuller Edge Photography (Calgary photographer with an edge...rock and roll!!!)

gibbous. description: gibbous is a miniature fashion house of hearts & hands collecting bits & pieces of discarded history. we hunt decrepit victorian clothes & stained silk slips. we harvest the lost trinkets of the city. buttons, coins, keys...we probably have something of yours. I am unsure of the fashion, but the photographs are a splendour to peruse!

maya*made is a fine and crafty blog. I especially like her easy paper flower craft.

Red Velvet Art: living their dream of keeping a shop full of independent art and super cute handmade goods.

great map: any kind of map imaginable!

The funky patterns and bold colours in Christin Ciaccio Briggs' paintings are amazing. I also love the shots of her studio, any glimpse into a artist's studio is a treat!

I love the antique buttons and found items in the Jewellery by Alexandra Hunt

Because we can: we make great things and we make things great...they sure do, wonderfully designed furniture and themed interiors...who doesn't want a nautical-themed work interior?

things magazine: an online journal (my two cents: of some pretty amazing things!!!)

And finally, when you just want to be inspired...by some inspiring cities, especially some guerrilla moss graffiti!

Here are a few of my illustrations from when I was staying up late at night, the wee babe wasn't sleeping through the night yet...they turned out a little wacky (from lack of sleep, I'm sure?!)

I want to share this video by Liron Kroll. It reminds me of my vanitas series. The video was Kroll's final project of her degree in communication arts. The video done entirely using scanned images, and similar themes of femininity found in my series, beautiful!

Here are a couple new photographs, I am experimenting a little more in photoshop to make the images appear more raw. More of my photographs.




I really like the following two artists for their amazing line work...

Jason Thielke




Gabriel Moreno




And just something fun to play around with...Autodesk's Project Dragonfly is a free floor plan software, which is extremely user friendly and fun to design with.

Axel Peemoeller's way-finding-system for the Eureka Tower Carpark while working for Emery Studio.


reactive paint ... flower maker ... all i can do ... save pens, use garamond font ... i spy with my little eye ... bomomo ... their circular life ... send me something ... dafont.com ... scandalous metropolitan ... the world of 100 ... myoats ...

OneWorld TV - Floating Gardens (IRIN) - Climate Change in Bangladesh

Coriandoline: Friendly houses for girls and boys is a community housing project in Italy. The project was developed through a participatory process. The children were asked about their needs and expectations and the architects and designers listened. The website for this project is amazing...especially exploring the neighbourhood and the different buildings, murals, gardens and hiding spots!

We didn't ask them to design solutions and we didn't hand them a pencil so that they could try to be architects. Spontaneity, innocence, naïf - they are simple solutions to complex themes.

Shown below are some of the childrens' illustrations.

Architecture has been suffering a profound crisis of identity in recent years. The only novelties introduced are marginal and do not have a profound effect on projects; they relate to performance and comfort levels. The great revolution that might liven up the years to come will come from new participation of individuals, and will depend on designers' ability to listen. Participation and listening - especially to people who have never been listened to, the future dwellers. People who have been ignored for a very long time can be an unexplored mine of ideas.

Here is an article about Coriandoline in UTNE.

Some Websites and Projects - Participatory Design ...

Institute for Participatory Design

Participle

Human Centered Design Toolkit

Here is an illustration I finished this evening.


I really wish I could have seen the New Amsterdam Village that was featured in New York City last September.


And it is for this reason:

In addition to the New Amsterdam Village, which represents a more "traditional" version of Holland, a demonstration model of a Dutch greenhouse will be showcased. The Netherlands is a world leader in greenhouse innovations and the Dutch have made great strides in energy saving technologies in this industry. In this special greenhouse visitors can familiarize themselves with flowering lilies, greenhouse vegetables, special micro vegetables and a bumblebee colony. Also a model of the electricity producing greenhouse can be found there, as well as an overview of the latest technologies and research in the Dutch glasshouse construction sector -ny400.org

Oiseaux sells beautiful vintage nameplates, like the one found below.


I love the crafty flower creations of Laurie Cinotto. Pictured below are some of her beautiful paper and fabric boutonnières.


I stumbled on Grant Hanna's website. I really like his painting titled Navigator (My Swampland) pictured below.


Land-Rich's mission is to provide beautiful objects that symbolize the quality, functionality, and sustainability of simpler times. Each quarter they will debut a new edition of products. Below is their Tallow Berry Bulb, now a part of Land-Rich's permanent collection.


Some blogs to take a gander at...

Twig & Thistle Stationary and Crafts
Eat Drink Chic Stationary and Crafts
Treasuring Lovely pattern design by Jessica Gonacha Swift
Tinderbox Dublin-based creative network
Green Wedding Shoes Beautiful and colourful photography of fun-themed weddings

Here is a little of what I've been working on lately...

I am trying to make regular digital photographs have a Polaroid quality. Here is a photograph I took at the fair and have been playing around with. Shown below is the before and after.




At the flea market, I picked up some children's books from the 1950's. I always think the illustrations would make great stationary. I made a couple with some of the illustrations I found.




Finally, I am starting to teach myself patterns, more to come, these are just a few I made this evening.

Here are some of my most recent creations, paintings and bracelets...







Visit my shop to see more of my creations...

Happy Holidays!!!



Have extra socks? Why not make them into sock toys...here is a link to patterns and ideas for sock toys... Scrappy! How to make sock toys, 1958