Tractors and Pie

Despite the weather, our mini holiday was a success. We spent two nights in a cute little cottage overlooking this beach. It was rainy and foggy every day, but we managed to fill our time with books (I read "The Raw Shark Texts" and "Strawberry Fields" - both recommended), lots of the best pie ever at a local cafe,

and we even stumbled across an antique tractor show in a very small town on our way home. I especially like this tractor because it has a face. Now, it's back to work, but I'm hoping to have more fun times this summer. Maybe even with some sun?

Mini Holiday

I'm off to this pretty place for a couple of days for a bit of a break. See you soon!

Goals

I just finished my first "short week" at work, and "long weekend" at home. I have to say, things are going pretty well. I got a number of custom orders off to the post office, with a few more well underway, I got to clean up my house, I cooked, I made muffins twice (they were from a packet mix - but still...) - all in all, I'm just feeling lots better, and not so overwhelmed by all the demands on my time. But, that's not to say I'm just going to be sitting around - I have lots of goals that I want to accomplish. I'm hoping that writing them down here will help me achieve them, so here goes -

-write in this blog on a regular basis - saying everyday would be setting myself up for failure. Maybe every second day - even if it is only a picture or a few short words.

-make lots of books from my current product line in preparation for Christmas, as well as develop all the ideas for new books that have been floating around in my head. Ditto that for collage pieces.

-keep the house in some sort of decent order, and try to tackle some of the little maintenance jobs that have been building up. Also, continue on campaign of "pretti-fying" by hanging artwork, recovering chairs, etc.

-get up early every morning and take Milo on a long walk. It's good exercise for both of us, and it tires him out so that he has a nice long nap while I'm trying to work.

-take a bit of time to unwind, and don't feel guilty about taking some time to sit in the garden and watch the plants grow.

I'm sure that there are lots more things that I've been thinking of, but maybe this is enough. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Lyndie Dourthe

Lyndie Dourthe makes beautiful and delicate objects from paper. She lives in this gorgeous little apartment in Paris. She is chic and stylish.

I love her work. (Images from petits appartemnents a Paris - ISBN 4-07-250441-6).

Japanese Goodies

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned some cool packages coming in the post - well, here's one of them - a whole pile of Japanese goodies ordered from Etsy seller talktothewind. First up, "Handmade Bookbinding" by Yo Yamazaki (ISBN 978-4-579-20970-5). I had been looking for a Japanese book on binding for a while, and this one is great. Riyo - the proprietor of talktothewind, didn't have it in her shop, but she went out and sourced it for me - how sweet!

There are lots of great projects in here, including the wooden concertina book, pictured above. The only problem is, it's a bit more text heavy than some other Japanese craft books. It still has diagrams, but also lots of text explanation. I think I can muddle through...
Next up - Paper Paper (ISBN 978-4-579-20947-7) - a book of cute paper projects.
I am a sucker for brown paper packages tied up with string. Do you know you can't post packages like this anymore? It makes me a bit sad. Everytime I try to do something cute on a package - it gets a giant bar code slapped over it.

That hasn't stopped me from using my final talktothewind purchase though - these cute rubber stamps that I've been putting on packages willy nilly. Riyo also sent along some cute fabric samples with my order - I will definitely be a repeat customer!

Pile of Books

That pretty much describes how things have been the last few days, pile of books in my studio, pile of books in the shop and pile of books still left to make...

Little Buttercup

Taken at the off-leash park. The white bits in his fur are dandelion fluff.

Double Happiness in Canadian House and Home

One of my bird collages appears in this month's Canadian House and Home! The photo above is part of a story on the gorgeous home of Sappho Griffin, co-owner of the great local shop Henhouse where I sell my books and some artworks. She asked me to create a diptych for her bedroom, which was then photographed for the magazine. Thanks Sappho, for this amazing opportunity - it's so exciting to see my work in print!

For more on my bird collages, check out my flickr, and my etsy shop.

An unexpected source of bookbinding supplies...

When gluing up my books, I use a mixture of PVA and methyl cellulose. I usually order my methyl cellulose from Paper Source, but last night I discovered that I'm nearly out, and I went online to try and find a local source. Bookbinding supplies are pretty hard to come by here, and all the references that came up using Google search were for the use of methyl cellulose in drugs. After a tip from a pharmacy student who works in our office, I discovered that you can order methyl cellulose - and other non-pharmaceutical type compounds - direct from your local pharmacy. So, to make a long story short, tomorrow afternoon I will be picking up a 500 gram jar of methyl cellulose powder that was reasonably priced and will last me forever. As a true nerd, I am quite excited by this prospect. (:

And the winner is....

...drumroll please....Heather! Please send your address to trudi(at)doublehappiness.ca and I'll get your print out in the post. And, if the rest of you also want to send me your address, there will be a special runner-up (sur)prize coming your way in the near future.

I have another announcement to make. People who've read my blog for a little while know that I have a full-time day job, but - this week was my last full-time week for the rest of the summer! I'll be working part-time at the office, and part-time at home on double happiness stuff up until September. Woo hoo! I'm really excited about the possibility of working on some artwork, developing some new designs, and also doing some more mundane stuff - like giving the house a good clean and weeding the garden. I've been flat out with my business for the last year, and working all the time has started to take it's toll a little bit. So - I hope that there will also be a few opportunities for lazing in the sun, long lunches and sleep-ins. I also just want to say that I'm very lucky to work in an office where this type of arrangement is possible, so thanks to everyone there for making this happen.

Right now is not a lazy sleep-in day. Working on some custom orders with the sun streaming in through the window - but I see a walk up to the park with a certain little dog in my future.(: Have a great weekend everyone!

Things to do on a sunny day...

...lie in the grass wearing a red bandana.

Celebrating a Century...

...well, almost. In cricket, a century is when the batter gets 100 runs - at least I think this is what I've been told. Anyhow, I've got nearly 100 hearts on Etsy today - 99 to be exact - and I think this is enough cause for celebration! What I'd like to do is give away one of my (unframed) Hummingbird prints. All you have to do to be eligible is comment on this post. Anyone from anywhere who comments before midnight on Friday the 6th will be entered in the draw to win. I'll do the draw on Saturday and announce it on the blog.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads and comments on the blog, and anyone who has bought a piece of my work. Thanks for all your support and - good luck!

Small Business Tips from Amy Sedaris & Co.

I found this video on YouTube today. It's an ad for Office 2007, and it's probably been around for ages, but I like it. Been having a few days like this lately - where do I sign up for a team of bunnies to whip my business into shape? Sheesk, I'm trying to run a tight ship around here...