Crafting Sunday

In our house, Sunday is a day full of football and crafting [designing/painting]. As you may have guessed I am the one doing the crafting. Today I am hoping to finish at least one of the 4 paintings I have on the go at the moment. They aren't ready to be shared just yet but I thought I would share my inspiration board for one of the pieces. It is usually an image like the ones below that spark a vision for my next painting. I'm not sure where I got these pictures as I plunk them into folders as I see them while perusing the web.

Those are some cool kids

Here's to "back to school" week! I hope all you teachers survived it. How great are these outfits [and styling] from Crewcuts?  Now those are some cool kids.

Pretty truffles

Very pretty packaging for Starbucks Truffles by Hatch.

Java Jolt

 This mornings coffee is tasting particularly good, not to mention much needed, after a bit of a late night.


Plaid Creative has done a great poster outlining the various coffee/espresso based drinks that for some can be a foreign language entirely. I have been wanting to do my own version of this for sometime just as a fun exercise personal project and this may have just given me the inspiration. mmmmm flat whites.

Smells like fall

The temperature took a major drop yesterday making St. John's feel very fall-like and it looks like the colder weather is going to be sticking around. These wonderful posters by Lovely Design give me that same fall feeling. 

Gone Running

Yes I am one of those crazy people who genuinely loves to run.... first thing in the morning. [I told you I was crazy] I have been a runner for quite sometime and I definitely have my very active parents to thank for this. 


I don't think you have to be a serious runner to appreciate these Nike Running ads. 

There is a wonderful place called Ferryland

We were told about this wonderful place, specifically the lighthouse picnics, over dinner out one evening before summer started. Little did we know that we would be frequenting the lighthouse for lunch quite a few times over the course of the summer. You can't really get better scenery and the food... oh the food.


An hours drive from St. John's [lots to see on the way!] lands you in the picturesque community of Ferryland. To get to the lighthouse picnics you follow the signs to a bit of a make shift parking lot and proceed on a nice little 20 minute walk to the lighthouse. Once you order your lunch [everything is homemade! Sandwichs include, ham and brie, curried chicken, seafood medley...] you are giving a blanket and a flag and are told to hang around the lighthouse until your lunch is ready. Within no time your lunch arrives, yes in a picnic basket, and then you are free to go where ever you'd like to enjoy your food, your company and the scenery, which often includes whales. It is truly a one of a kind experience.


Be sure to check out my friend Laura's ferryland post over at Runty Mouse! The picnics were on a lot of our friend's "to do" lists this summer.

A day in the life

I am a huge fan of Fossil. Their branding, their products, their blog... and I am so jealous of their graphic designer!

Pantone Perfect

As summer comes to an end in a couple of weeks I thought I'd share some of Pantone's top colour picks for the Fall. As sad as I am to see summer end I do love digging out my sweaters and boots. [I should note that I haven't really put my sweaters away, gotta love Newfoundland!]

Pantone's fashion colour report for spring 2011 is also out [I know... kind of hard to think that far down the road] but I love the forecasted colour of the season, Honeysuckle! As you can probably tell from a few of my posts I am a huge fan of pink. You can download the full report here.

While on the subject of Pantone colours, I thought I'd share some fun pantone products I've run into in my online travels. 

Everyone needs a bright pink chair.

Well maybe not everyone. I had so much fun transforming lamps that I thought it was time to upgrade to something a bit bigger. This little chair was a thrift shop find [a whopping $3.00!] and after examining the structure I chose it to be my first, and I use this word mildly, re-upholstery project. I say mildly because the cushion was in great shape and simply screws off the chair base therefore making it quite simple to re-cover. The hard part was in deciding what the new and improved chair would look like! I decided to chose the fabric first and loved this bold striped material. I hadn't originally planned on doing the base in pink [raspberry to be exact] but after covering the cushion nothing else looked quite right with the bold stripes. No it doesn't really match anything in our house but I couldn't be happier with my new bright pink chair.

Saturday Mornings

Nothing beats a Saturday morning. CBC Radio One, fresh pot of coffee, orange juice, toast, and this morning, poached eggs! Yes, I took my first stab at poaching eggs this morning and it was a success [and so easy!]. For those who were as clueless as I was, bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling it is time to put in the eggs, the trick is to not let your eggs drop into the pot of boiling water but to crack them into a small bowl first and slide them in; then reduce the heat on the burner and put 4 minutes on the timer. I prefer a medium poached egg so 5 minutes made them just the way I like it. 

All in all a great start to a long weekend. 


Tape strips and other fabulous freebies available at pugly pixel.

September

I can't believe that September is here! 

Signal Hill Sunset

A perfect way to end an adventure filled weekend [not to mention the last weekend in August]. Sunset at the top of Signal Hill. I am slowly but surely getting through all of the photos I've taken over the past few weeks but I couldn't resist sharing these right away.

Fell in love with a Boler

On my walk to work this morning I spotted a very cool Boler parked in a driveway. My mom has always loved Bolers [along with VW vans] and apparently [after my reaction to seeing one this morning] I love them too! I came across some of their old brochures [1974] that I had to share. I love the arial view shots!

Art School Cliché Spotting

Very entertaining site dedicated to spotting Art School Clichés. 

Off to download the app!

St. John's Staycation

I took my first stay-cation this year and it was incredible. My mom [and a few other special visitors] made her first visit to St. John's. Between the hiking, boat tours, great food, whales and puffins there was a point where I had to remember that I actually live here! When you get caught up with working so much sometimes you forget to really enjoy the place you live and what it has to offer. 

From top left clockwise, a perfect morning for a signal hill hike, Cape Spear light house, exploring Cape Spear, a very Foggy but still delicious lunch at Ferryland Lighthouse Picnics, can't not take pictures of those colourful row houses, the girls on board O'brien's boat tours.  

Newfoundland Hotel

Love this! Newfoundland Hotel Luggage Decal from 1944.

Broadway... well worth the wait in line!

More pics from NYC! Radio City Music Hall, Pre Broadway show, cardboard cut-outs of the stars [no cameras aloud in the theatre] and top of the rock! Poster in the top right corner designed by Heads of State. 


A few things we learned... There is a second TKTS booth! At the corner of Front and John. Still a tiny bit of a lineup but nothing compared to the times square booth. We opted for a visit to the top of the rock over the Empire State Building. The line ups are much shorter [we actually didn't even wait in a line up] and the views are still spectacular! 

City that never sleeps

I wasn't sure what to expect, weather wise, upon arriving in New York. Aside from a few random rain showers we couldn't have asked for better days to be walking around the city that never sleeps... and walk we did. There was not a half hour left unexplored. From Broadway to Off-Broadway, Hells Kitchen to Central Park.


I thought it would be fun to create fun vintage inspired photo boards to post some pics of the trip. Below, some famous NYC landmarks. More boards to come!

New York, New York!

Finally getting back to normal life after a whirlwind past couple of weeks! Between an amazing stay-cation with special visitors to a fabulous long weekend in New York with my two best ladies, it was a jam packed! I am surprisingly rested and refreshed! Lots of posts to come that will include pics of the trip and lots of updates on projects I am working on.

Love this ink drawing by Erin Burke

The Veiled Virgin

It's incredible what can be found in your own backyard. The Veiled Virgin is one of those things. It is a piece by a renowned Italian Sculptor, Giovanni Strazza. Carved entirely out of one piece of marble, it is truly breathtaking. You don't have to be an art lover to be completely taken with the craftsmanship and engrossed with trying to figure out how was able make the veil appear to be translucent. Strazza's work can be found in the Vatican Museums and the Archbishop's palace. Photographs do not do the piece justice but I have included a few. The piece is located at the Presentation Convent here in St. John's.

Shoe Clips

I am in love with these shoe clips. Such a great way to give your flats, heels, wedges [any shoe really] a beautiful makeover. 

Little Man

I spotted this little man well over a year ago walking by the office I worked at in Toronto. Initial sketch was done on paper then I recently scanned it and played with illustrator painting tools to finish him. I have been trying to get back into sketching regularly. Nothing beats a fresh pencil and blank page but I am also really loving the colour and effects of illustrator.

Anatomy of a Gummy Bear

I love these prints by Jason Freeny. 

Let there be light

It was this lamp in the June/July issue of Lonny mag that provided me with inspiration for my most recent d.i.y project.

I spotted this gold lamp base at a local thrift store. For $1.99 I couldn't pass it up.

I thought it would make for a much brighter finish if I did some coats of white and I am quite happy I did. I ended up doing about 3 coats of the white.

I used a whole can of Glossy Sunshine Yellow and spotted this bright patterned shade from Homesense and I couldn't be happier with the result!