For a friend...

Happy encouragement!

i have a friend who is finishing her dissertation for her phd.  it sounds insanely challenging and grueling.  she was telling me how she has to go over her paper over and over again with notes...so i thought she might enjoy some happy stickers to put on parts that were done...or at least to decorate it! anyways, they are just a quick sketch for fun...and hey if you need some happy encouragement today feel free to print out and stick to your work.

Weekend Sketches

a message for the forest.

I've been working on some little illustrations over the last few weeks for an upcoming project.  Here are some snaps from this weekends rough sketches.  So excited.  I also have a big post coming about some lovely mail packages I received in the mail recently.  As for my weekend a few things stand out:
1. a long swim under the blazing evening sky.
2. a hazy bbq with so many lovely friends...and then there was that bag full of boxes with black widow spiders...the non-poisonous male kind...they belonged to a black widow spider expert I met that night! So amazing!
3. finding the venue for a very big future event!

Party Sweater.

Lost in a field of flora.

He is lonely.

Mutual respect.

Sneak Peek - Unicorns

Unicorns are ridiculous and awesome all at once.  I am a fan.

I think the bushes are getting sneakier.

Rainbow tears.

Tough Times.

This envelope diorama is not yet complete...but I thought a sneak peek might be fun.  I still need to finish the cut outs that accompany the unicorns and the envelope, and then off it goes in the mail...to who, I still don't know...

Desk Notes...

dance party.

Summer is here...it's hot...and it's good! The weather makes me feel like i am waking around in a dream, sleepy and hazy images float by, occasionally punctuated by bright fresh moments in pools.  Getting things done is of course a challenge. I am currently working on some designs which will hopefully be turned into some greeting cards and stationery...woot woot! Doing some more envelope dioramas...photos to follow...but for now...here are some desk notes...a la instagram...i think the hazy filters and soft focus make them look like you are seeing them what I would like to call 'dream vision'.

Also...
I owe a thank you to Rosalie for including some of my work in her happy thoughts post! Rosalie is a most excellent photographer...her work also uses 'dream vision'. And some good things: these stamps...which illustrate my favourite parts about summer! Thanks J!

breakfast dance.

Bunnies!

More happy thoughts.

shifty business.

Wild Hearts!

Friends found on cottage roads.

Back from the cottage. Sun kissed, lake washed, and full of radiant horizons.  I took along my sketch book and camera.  Found so many wild flowers along the roads that weaved around our home in the woods.  I can't seem to get enough wilderness right now.  Oh and there were ducks! 

And I must pass on some blog love (i am a little behind due to all the vacation...my apologies!)
1. a big blushing thank you to Crystal from the lovely blog House of Hearts for her post about my Kitten Face blog!
2. thank you thank you to my newest twitter pal Kye, for her post all about inspiration and zines!
3. Jeanine also made a lovely mention of my wolf zine on her Saylor Made blog, which has become one of my favourite places to visit! Her newest post about polaroid week got my brain spinning!
4. Robyn is next, who was the recipient of my Raccoon diorama! Her blog is filled with so much mail art awesomeness it makes your heart swell into the shape of an envelope!
5. Huge Thank You to Simone for her post about the Wolves zine...I heart Simone's videos! Watch them!
6. And finally to Sophie from So Lovely Decoration, a site I frequent everyday to dream at, for her post of my work up on an awesome site called 'Ohlesgirls'...so awesome!   

Happy times in the grass. We wear tiny flowers in our hair.

Hiking to the edge of the lake, grass under foot, green stained soles wash clean in water.

Wild flowers, tamed.

Group hug.

The curious one.

Picnics in Letters!

Picnic Time!

I am so happy that the postal strike is over, because now I can get back to filling envelopes to all my lovely penpal's with mini picnics and many other wonderful things! 

We are all friends here!

Canada Day

Journal stories.

Kyle and I spent our Canada Day sprawled out on a picnic blanket in High Park.  The weather was perfect! We sipped on fizzy water, chomped on some delicious pesto pasta, a variety of cheeses, and some blazing fruit salad.  It was positively perfect.  I hope everyone else had a fabulously Canadian day as well.  Oh and of course I took some time out for my journal as well...

A parade of one.

Green Study.

Foxy Fox.

Blue lines.

Random sketches.

Love Letter!

The love letter is thanks to the most wonder Lindsay Zier-Vogel, who gave me a few of these beauties to distribute while I was out and about.

Picnic perfect.

Scruffy days.

I love to bike...a lot! I cycle to and from work everyday and though I absolutely adore getting lost in my city streets, I could do without my scruffy helmet hair.  Unfortunately, style comes in second to safety, so until they introduce a helmet that does not cause me to have crazy tripped out bangs every morning, I will just have to keep rocking my bent up hair do!

Nature walk.

A bright blue bird who excels at jumping and hop scotch.

So i am back from beautiful British Columbia.  What a trip...I attended a most memorable wedding, with a surprise lantern parade that I will never forget, baked pies with my bestie, picked strawberries with my brother, and spent a very relaxing time in Whistler with Kye's family.  I am supremely satisfied and ready to attack Toronto life again.  While in Whistler, Kye and I took a long nature trek.  I was inspired by all the flora and fauna along the way.  Here are a few of the sketches that fell out of my journal....hopefully soon to transform into lovely dioramas. And can we also all cheer for the end of the postal strike! Mail art will resume again! 

Bunny-ish and full of berries.

Cloud gazer.

Bertie, the talker.

The bashful one.

Home Again!

Night Whispers.

Windy hours.

Home on the horizon.