Kitten Face comes to life...

So i have decided to start a new side project, a blog called Kitten Face, which follows the everyday adventures of a little cat with a big imagination.

This all sprung from doing the sketchbook project and having to work around a consistent theme for an extended period of time.  I really enjoyed having a focus and a chance to develop all the ideas that were floating around my head.  It also helped me to learn more and refine some of my techniques and skills.

So after this positive experience, I thought that it might be a good idea to maintain some direction in my creative life.  I brainstormed some ideas and Kitten Face is what I came up with. The Kitten Face name has been up on my blog for awhile as a title over an old photograph, and I always thought that it would make a good character.  Then I noticed that a kitten-like character was emerging from all my sketchbook entries.  So I combined them, and voila.

I will certainly still be journaling here, as the song says 'wild horses couldn't drag me away' (such a great image).  I am thinking of Kitten Face as more of a secret world tucked away amidst the vast plains of the internet, full of tiny adventures waiting to be discovered.

water time.

i went swimming this week. blue blue ideas, light and quiet, rolling around under the water with me. i tried to keep up.

working away when i should be sleeping...but had to try out some new things i learned today. this little one is a new character i am working on, who i am hoping to build a little world around...just something that has been rolling around my head for some time...hopefully will have it finished by the end of weekend...will just have to wait and see!

Valentine's Day Bunting.

i decorated the kitchen for kyle with the bunting swatch sweet becky gave me at the love and rummage show. it added a little festivity to our night. i've left it up for the week...kind of like an everyday party. I recommend it.

dedicated to the one i love...

do you ever have those weekends where you just don't want to leave your room. kye and i are renovating our bathroom right now, which means there is a giant hole on our second floor that extends into our bedroom and we have had to move to our spare room to sleep. So far we have been having a great time (once we put the dust bomb that went off downstairs out of our minds) imagining that we are staying in a hotel and that we are on mini vacation every night when we settle for sleep. The new venue is very cozy and we have brought up extra comforters for warmth which has added a more fort like feel to our surroundings. It's like our own little pillow and blanket ark, floating on the third floor, guarding us from that northern beast of a wind that blows past our windows each night...

...essentially we have been hiding.

winter eyes....

through all this cold and bleached landscape, there has been pops of colour and warmth scattered throughout. I like almost everyone I know have downloaded the hipstamatic app for my iphone. And why not, it is so much fun! I am a huge fan of toy camera/holga/Diana photography, I have a vintage Diana myself, which I love to use. I love the lack of control and the unexpected results that you get in your photographs from these cameras. It is such an enjoyable process. I know that my iphone app is not exactly the same thing...but it does offer a little of that same surprise when you finally see the results of your hipstamatic images all tinted and hazy and framed in an awkward way. It's like winter magic.

a warm night of letter writing. that one sheet says 'criminal lovers', it was the title of a beautiful illustration on a card my friend was sending...and it conjured up many great images...been thinking of writing some poems based on it.

Lastly, Jaime's trunk of vintage stamps at the Love and Rummage Craft show! They were all beautiful and delicate! I can't wait to send off some letters covered in these little lovelies...though i am so torn as I also don't want to use them!

letter writing...

of course turns into making stationary...can't wait to mail there notes off!

I also stopped by the Love and Rummage show today and picked up some beautiful cards and vintage stamps! If you are interested in receiving a letter, shoot me an email and I will send you some mail! Along with a few new sheets of stationary!

Snow and lace...

today i watched at least three types of snow fall from the sky. First, large heavy flakes, that glob together and clomp around the streets, like they have heavy feet that just need to touch down. There were also tiny ice pebbles, more like sand, that stung for a second when they whipped at my face, but then instantly erupted into tears on my fiery cheeks. And finally there were those perfect little individual flakes that are like little swatches of lace suspended for a second right before your eyes. Knotted ice, delicate and sweet, dressing the city in frilly elegance. These ones are my favorite.

in a mere couple of months the gravel will show through the ice again and the greenness of everything will once again stain my eyes.

Sundays are for rest.

January is coming to a close. It's late tonight and I feel a little short on words. I had a weekend full of family and it was good. With brother living a giant plane ride away these days, it's nice to get to spend a whole day with him now and again. Plus he's got me hooked to listening to The Music Ninja, a great place to hunt for new tunes. my mom and sister also came into town and we had a day of delicious Italian sandwiches, board games and of course big belly laughs. Maybe that is why i feel ready to crawl into bed and make a cozy fort out of pillows and sheets.


I probably should have had one of these today, instead i made tapioca pudding and wrapped myself like a taco in towels straight from the dryer. it was pretty toasty and sweet. i recommend this activity on a cold winters day.

Winter has grown shark teeth...

so last night i tried to ignore winter's sharp bite and i shuffled over to the Naco gallery on Dundas and to check out what Pal-Sac is all about. The Post a Letter Social Activity Club, meets twice a month and the main goal is exactly how the name sounds...post some letters and be social.

I have to say I loved every second! I went with my good friend Jaime, who has recently started a super beautiful 'mail' blog (check it out) and Jaime's buddy Phillipa, who is now my buddy! See it's very social! Actually there were tons of friendly people all scattered about writing, chatting, and sipping on a drink of choice. There was a lovely lady across from us who was writing a GIGANTIC letter! All long hand. It was so awesome...and I was really envious of whoever was going to receive that epic masterpiece. I wrote three letters, and it was so strange...I haven't written a real letter in such a long time. I used to have regular pen-pals, who I shared my handwritten thoughts with on a monthly basis. I especially remember exchanging long rambling tales with Kelsey, a camp friend, and later a life friend. I have to admit I felt very out of practice last night...what you write in a letter is so different from an email or a text...i found myself describing everything around me...my chilly toes and the warm lamp light, and the stormy snow showering down outside. And I can't spell anymore!

I am rusty, but after last night, I am ready to get back into letter writing shape. So send me your addresses cause there could be some mail in your future.


and you know what else letters make me think of...stationary...i'm totally going to design some!