Flowers on my mind...

Honestly...all i can think about these days is Spring. Been playing around with floral patterns.  I integrated the one above into a new Kitten Face post.  Tonight on my way home from work it was pretty much 'slushing' which means rain/snowing/sleeting.  I felt like giant blobs of slushie were falling all over me.  It was kind of hilarious.  Also final note, a big thank you to my wonderful new blog friend Sophie, who included one of my journal pages in a compilation of lovely images.  I love roaming through her posts for inspiration and just happiness.  Oh and you must check out my new favorite stamp ever made!

So many lovely letters...

I have been getting so many awesome letters in the mail these days, thanks to all the lovelies that i have been writing with over at the Post A Letter club nights.  In the middle of this long winter, bright and warm messages in the mail box make everything snap crackle and pop.  Sometimes I don't want to open the pretty envelopes, but that feeling lasts maybe a couple of seconds before I dive in to find the colourful secrets handwritten all over beautiful stationery!  So much joy!  Thanks to all my superstar penpals for these lovely messages!

Unraveling the seams of winter...

It is around this time of the year that the skies open up again and we start to see the sun setting and the edges of the sidewalks escaping from their icy tombs.  I feel nothing but relief, and hope.  I know winter is not my most favorite season, but I guess there is something to be said about moving through it.  Bleaching away everything from the last seasons, starting fresh and hungry for more. The landscape breaking out like fireworks, like an anthem at it's highest note.  It is exhilarating and I can't wait...and yes, I am totally listening to Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine while I write this...so much drama splattered against this late late night.

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!