New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!

 

I have a few non-businessy resolutions I'd like to share, although truthfully I started on them early because there's no time like the present!

 

I love going on walks. I don't know what I would do without my lunchtime walk with coworkers down our lovely nature trail. However, I don't explore my own goregous neighbourhood as much as I would like. That must change.

I can never decide if I hate cooking or love it. I should love it, since it's creative and productive and involves food. I think it's just extreme laziness that holds me back. I'll need to come up with a strategy to keep me on the wagon with this goal!

I used to read like a maniac but ever since starting to work full-time a few years ago, it's been a struggle to keep up with my growing book piles. I still enjoy reading, of course, but need some motivation to keep at it. So I'm going to do the 50-book challenge for 2014!

I firmly believe there can never be enough hobbies. This year I am going to take advantage of the awesome, crafty city I live in and take as many courses as possible. Screen printing, knitting, drawing, sewing. I'll take them all. Again, it's the concrete motivation that you need sometimes!

I used to be 100% music focused. Playing all the instruments, writing, recording...but now I am so out of touch with this aspect of myself and 2014 is going to turn that around. Because I miss it!

Do you have any resolutions?

Toronto Indie Arts Market

Hello! This Saturday is my first craft show of the Season. (Can I capitalize that like British ladies? Let's go with it.) It's the Toronto Indie Arts Market taking place at the Gladstone Hotel.

I'd like to say I'm ready. And I probably am. But honestly I have no idea. I've only done the one show and since I am introducing a ton of new goodies, I have no idea what will be more popular than others! But luckily I'll have a couple weeks between this show and full out craft-show blitz to get my act together!

I do foresee myself buying more sequins though. Because.

Inspiration: Hand-Printed Fabrics

I'm game for pretty much any DIY, but lately hand-printed fabrics have been catching my eye. Can't find the pattern you want? Make it yourself. There's a screen-printing course at The Make Den that I've been hmm-ing and haw-ing over for a while. However, I don't have the space in my home to really get into this right now. Yet another thing to add to my future dream craft room :). So I guess I'll just have to admire from afar:

Leah Duncan

Coriumi

Nell and Mary

Bookhou

Wood Burning

So I went to Michaels a little while back to get gold paint for this post when I was quickly coerced into buying a wood burning kit. I was not a hard sell. Truth is I was already thinking about using wood burning to make myself a wooden owlswakeup plaque for my home/future craft shows etc. Anyways, I was browsing the paint when a sales associate asked me what I was making. When I told him about the leather bookmarks, he asked me if I had considered heat embossing the leather. Naturally, I was intrigued. He took me over to show me what I thought were the wood burning kits, but it turns out you can burn many things. I was sold.

I tried it out while I was visiting my parents (it sure helps that they had spare pieces of wood leftover from their deck) and quickly discovered that wood burning is extremely difficult. The grain does not want you to burn a straight line and will fight you till the end.

But it sure smells amazing! I'll post more pictures of things I've burnt once I get good at it. If I ever get good at it.

My parents had the perfect piece of wood to practice on!

Waiting for it to get (surface-of-the-sun) hot.

Different levels of burny-ness while waiting for the wand to heat up.

Keeping control was incredibly challenging!

Hissssssss…

Definitely something worth practicing!