Christmas Cards, Finished

So happy with the results. The 1D-ness of rubber stamped images can sometimes look a little blah, so I added globs of kids school glue over a few of the snowflakes and then sprinkled some of the classiest sparkles I had. Gave the cards much more character.

I love the idea of embossing as technique to give rubber stamped images a second dimension, something I learned a little about in New York last year at the amazing store The Ink Pad, but it feels like that sort of stuff is a slippery slope to old lady scrapbook country, a place I refuse to visit.

Harbourfront Swedish Christmas Bazaar

For any Christmas-o-phile, any Scandinavian Christmas festival is going to be chock-full of delights. This year's Swedish Christmas bazaar at Harbourfront was my first, and it was everything I hoped for. 3$ cups of the best glogg (mulled wine) I have ever had (maybe some of the strongest, too!) ginger snaps to DIE for, 4 10ft tables lined-up, filled with homemade gnome and elf ornaments, a huge food and candy table, a cafeteria with open-faced sandwiches and meatballs with lingonberries. Yup, that's what I'm into.

The place was packed, I mean packed, and LQ, Stoobes, Reva, Justy and I were there for 3 hours somehow. We were just about to leave, after a second look at the marketplace room, when the lights started to dim and a procession of little girls in white were led in by their choirmaster to perform songs for the St. Lucia pageant. Adorable. Made me pine for my choral days as a kid...

Rubber Stamp Heaven

I have always loved rubber stamping since I was a kid. I guess I love the permanence of them; that you can reproduce an image over and over, however you like, whatever colour you like. I saw this set by Yellow Owl Workshop on a couple design blogs, and had to have it to make this year's Christmas cards. A little pricey, so I used my Paypal dollars from Ebay sales. Just got them yesterday- so excited. They also have for sale a gorrrrgeous nautical set to die for. If you like stamps, that is.

NEW NEKO DEETS!

The title of the new Neko Case record (Middle Cyclone), slated to be released by Anti March 3rd, already has its cover, and the recording finished recently here in Toronto. Pitchfork claims that there are 15 new songs. As always, I am so very excited. Not sure what to make of the cover; typical, if not a little bit sillier imagery. Wonder if the fame from Fox Confessor will have changed much of her songwriting. Can't wait!

Vintage Christmas Glassware

Found these gorgeous numbers, depicting the 12 days of Christmas, at the Sally Ann in Parkdale. Sadly, only 6 of the 12 days could be found. The maids-a-milking is a very pretty one... Love old glassware like this. Heavy duty glass, and images that are beautifully detailed, coloured and quite permanent.

Jack-o-lanterns on Sorauren

Last night for the third year in a row I attended the annual November 1st jack-o-lantern viewing at Sorauren Park in the Roncesvalles Village area. Everyone in the neighbourhood (seriously) drops off their creation from the night before, and lines them up around the park for a look- it is quite spectacular. The estimate for this year was that there were over 1000 jack-o-lanterns, some were sitting three deep the turnout was so great. Some kids got a second crack at wearing their costume, and when we left at 9pm, the pumpkins were still trickling-in.

There were some prevailing themes, lots of political and topical pumpkins. I missed taking a photo of the one that simply said "Melamine" but here are some images of other buzzed about jack-o-lanterns...

Another November, Another H & M Designer Collection

Thank goodness this Rei Kawakubo Comme des Garcons collection holds little that I covet, unlike the Viktor and Rolf collection of 2006, and the Stella McCartney collection from 2005.

LQ took the hit for the Stella as I couldn't get out of work the day it was released to select downtown H&M locations. There was a call, with LQ breathlessly giving me a play by play. I heard her laughing and the describing of a sort of shopping pandemonium that I only guess would rival that of the Thanksgiving weekend in the States. I put in an order with her, but everything had been picked-clean. I got a lovely souvenir hanger, though...

Then there was the Viktor and Rolf debacle of 2006. I was working across the street from the Eaton Centre when the collection "dropped", and thought I would stroll on over a little after 10 and pick up a couple things I had picked-out online. I walked into the store and there weren't that many people- I was sure I would pluck something good. But all that was left were some size 14 wedding dresses hanging on the wall. The store had been pillaged! I walked-around, looking for discards around the store- it was a warzone in there. Women were working in twos; one would gard a pile of clothing for the companion to try on right there in the middle of the store by blanketing it with her body (I saw more than one instance of this) and then they would switch. When they were finished, they left what wasn't being purchsed for the carrion feeders to collect. I, sadly, became a vulture that day, and impatiently waited around for the fashion gluttons to finish trying everything on already so that I could find the blouse I so wanted. Instead, after asking a couple groups if they were finished, I walked right out of the store, embarrased of my mania.

A couple weeks later, upon entering the uptown H&M, I noticed a large rack with a bunch of returned items- bad or impulsive choices made by a fashion-maddened crowd. I picked-up one great piece, notthe one I reaaaaally wanted, in my size, and have worn it about three times. Checking out the upcoming Comme Des Garcons collection, I'm not sure I will be doing anything heroic for this...

SOUTHERN BBQ

On my way to London in August, I had a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. Having a strange affinity for all things southern (well, probably mostly just the food) I was pretty excited to have a meal for the first time in the south- even if it was just at the airport. After some pre-trip research, I hit Brookwood Farms for a pulled pork sandwich and hopefully grits. Their grits looked mushy (I have had them before here in Toronto- they're like a corn paste, sort of, but fluffy) so I opted for the side of greens and the battered and deep fried okra. Everything was soooo delicious,
especially the complimentary deep fried pickle... No, no... I swear this was really good.

SQUASH

Back in the day (about 20 years ago, maybe?) this picture of me, my sis and my cousin Chris was taken at our grandparent's house in Belleville, with a giant squash grown by my grandma. We were all on our way to Thanksgiving dinner last week, and made a pitstop at Campbell's Orchard in Prince Edward County. We decided to re-stage the photo with one of their pathetically small squashes. My b-boy stance is slightly diminished, and Chris seems to look way more excited to be around the squash, but all in all, it is pretty accurate.

AUTUMN GNOMES

After sifting through yet more things in the spare room of the new(ish) place, I came across this little doll-making kit given to me by a co-worker almost 3 years ago. I get into "craft mode" starting at about this time of year, and so I thought it would be a great little project for the week, that would make me feel less guilty about sitting in front of Iron Chef so much. Turns out, it only took about 4 hours of work at most, and the results are so cute! I have never made little dolls before- but these European-designed guys (either Dutch or Scandinavian- not sure) are super awesome. I took a look at the company name on the leaflet supplied, and it said Atelier Pippilotte. When Googled, I came across this store in BC that has loads of adorable and super different craft kits like this one. Where do I get stuff like this in the East???

Here is the website where doll kits like this one can be found:
http://beardancecrafts.com/