Where's the Summer Going?

This past week sort of went by in a flash but I feel like I didn't get a lot of work done. Don't you hate that? Here's the latest portrait that I've been working on. It's nearly finished.

Tuesday was a busy day of sorts, but that day turned out to be an "errand day", aka. no work was done. Sigh. First, I met with our new cat sitter who will be looking after Suki and Dex while we're away next month. It will be the longest we've left them alone since being in our new place, and also ever. But I think they''ll be in good hands (knock on wood), as Gail already won Suki over with one of the cat toys she brought over and Dex even came out of hiding to check it out.




Later that day, I dropped off some stock at a relatively new store which is appropriately in Toronto's fashion district. The shop was opened by a fellow former designer from this other Queen street gem and her friend. Their shop has been doing alright since their grand opening in March, but they are seeking more independent and local designers. So if any of you are interested, check them out. Happily, I've already sold a couple of things from the limited stock I dropped off.

Right after I left the shop, I ran into another designer from the Collective, and we chatted about blogs, bikes and life in general lately. After parting ways, I ventured into the new Urban Outfitters on Queen St. but wasn't really enamored enough with anything there to shell out $50 on a shirt. I always consider browsing in shops part of market research though. *wink wink* Yeah, that's what I tell myself.

That evening, I was also fortunate to get an email from a customer who bought one of my paintings recently. Turns out she works in the book industry, specifically children's books, and has offered to share valuable information with me since she knows how tough it can be for children's book illustrators to eke out a living. How generous is that?!

This weekend we're planning on taking in the new Batman movie. Although I'm not a huge fan of the movies so far - I always find the casting of Batman to be a bit strange - it will be interesting to see Heath Ledger's performance, there's been so much talk of it being phenomenal.

Spoiled and a bit soiled

To honour the tradition of giving paper on the first wedding anniversary, Matt spoiled me with a three part gift, as he explained it. First, for the mind, I got 2 huge cat books and an issue of Bust magazine. There's also talk of a 2-year subscription to Bust for my birthday. I'm loving the cat books, especially this one which has tons of interesting cat facts and which I think I had recently stumbled upon online but hadn't mentioned to Matt. Some synchronicity perhaps? The other one will be great for photo references and ideas for new art, which was why Matt got it. What a sweetie!

The second part was for the body. I got a package deal for 90 minutes of soothing massage! An hour for my seemingly always aching feet and 30 minutes for the entire body. I'm looking forward to that in the near future!

And last but not least, for the soul, a Curry's gift card. The card itself is not paper, but plastic, but it's close enough. That will definitely come in handy for supplies, especially a new sketchbook.


While I would have loved to spend money on Matt, my bank account is on the lean side these days, so I honoured our anniversary with a handmade gift. I made a little book about our love story up until now, partly inspired by the one by this clever gal, which I could not resist getting.



I think the gift went over well though. My sweetie shed a few tears while reading it, and said it was the best present he's ever gotten. And I didn't even have time to really finish it... I still have to go back and ink all the drawings and lettering too. But here's a little sneak peek of one of the interior spreads.


I was quite impressed with myself that I was able to do all the drawings in one day, sans eraser too. If only I could illustrate other people's books that quickly too.

The rest of yesterday was spent cleaning up a bit around our place, as the night before we had some flooding from the big sudden storm that hit Toronto and surrounding areas. I didn't snap any photos of the soggy mess, as I was too busy cursing and mopping and trying not to cry. At least we didn't get the brunt of the damage since our unit is the third one in from the side of the building. The other two units had water all over their lower level and one of them had hardwood flooring! Yikes! This is the state of our lower level at the moment. Someone came by yesterday morning to remove our baseboards so they could dry out the walls and prevent any mold from growing, but we weren't home when they came back with the fans last night...




... we were out enjoying a dinner down the street, which was only semi-good, I'd say. The salad portion was certainly generous and I had my first Cosmo, a la Sex and the City. For some reason, I think the one they made was a lot stronger than usual, as it was much pinker than red and it only took a sip or two to feel a buzz.


Whatever the case, I had good company and that made the whole day worthwhile.

It's Friday, already?

The week sort of flew by, with Canada Day being on Tuesday. And I took a pretty long blog break, without meaning to, but life got in the way of blogging. Life being spending time with the kitties and Matt, and working on shop stuff.

The Kid Icarus Craft Sale last Sunday was certainly not a big moneymaker for me, but on the positive side, I met some new crafty and friendly people, including one that I traded with, and another who I bought stuff from. I was looking to get a new wallet and since red is my favourite colour, I happily traded some of my kitty items for the one below.

Isn't the interior lovely? I forgot to get the designer's business card, but luckily her name is in the wallet in case I ever want anything else from her.

And even though I shouldn't be spending money on unnecessary things, I couldn't resist these cuties. They are silkscreened onto organic cotton on both sides, which makes them all the cuter! Made in Toronto, by one savvy mom.



I also spied a fellow etsian as well as three Idol hopefuls out and about enjoying Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market.

A, B and C

A. I tend to go through creative spurts where one thing will excite me and I keep at it for several days or longer, but somehow I always seem to get sidetracked or start to feel uninspired, so stop. That's what happened last week. I added several new ACEO's - including the one above, my current favourite - to the shop and was planning on doing a lot more but... instead I spent the latter half of the week making buttons and preparing stock for an upcoming show and to restock my consignment shops. Perhaps I was a little influenced by this lady's productivity.

B. In any case, I think I have enough buttons to last for a while now.



C. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this Sunday for the craft show I'll be doing. The way the summer has started out it feels more like Spring with all the rain we've been getting. For those of you in the Kensington Market area, please come by and check out the vendors who will be at the Kid Icarus 1 year Anniversary Craft Sale! It's pedestrian Sunday so the streets will be car-free.


p.s. the title of the post refers to A for ACEO's, B for buttons and C for craft sale.

and the sun is shining in this rainy city...

for now, anyways. I think it's supposed to thunderstorm yet again, this afternoon. The weather this past weekend was as fickle as my mood was the past week. My week had its share of ups and downs so I didn't really feel like posting anything. I'm still having a hard time getting my thoughts out...

See, while I would like people to believe that I have my life under control - as much as anyone can - and my business is thriving, for the past several months I've been job hunting. Much to my chagrin and as much as I don't want to have to work outside of the house again, the winter months were harsh. And well, with mortgage payments and the need to eat, getting a part-time job has become an essential part of my living equation. But for some reason or another, I can't seem to catch a break. My most recent potential job, which I had to pass a test for - which I did - got put on hold until the end of the summer. I found that out on Monday.


Come Wednesday, when I took Suki in to the vet, it was confirmed that she has asthma. So she now needs to take pills for the rest of her life to keep it under control. Just one more expense to add to my list. But of course, she is like our baby, so there's nothing I wouldn't do to make sure she's okay. Dex, too. Life just wouldn't be the same without them around. Look at face... how can you resist?



So, it was one of those weeks that I had to question "What the hell am I doing with my life?" I feel like I've accomplished certain goals that I've wanted to, but really wish that I was in a better place financially. I'm thankful that Matt has been working for a great company for nearly a year now. But I know that he would love to be in my position - save for the financial struggles - working on his own projects. Why does it have to be a tossup between a steady paycheck and doing what you love to do? I know it doesn't have to be... the real question is how do I make it our reality? Having a steady income, doing what we love. Hopefully soon, I will be able to say that is our truth.

Today's lunch was brought to you by Starbucks!

Because of the sudden heatwave today and since I was out running errands, I dined on a Starbucks caramel frappucino for lunch. Yeah, I'm a healthy girl. I planned on doing aerobics when I got back but we all know that's not going to happen today. The weekend has almost begun and I'm choosing to enjoy it already, by blogging, of course.

Our black and white munchkin looks like she's ready for mischief here, but she's been coughing again for the past week, so I'm taking her back to the vet next week. It's so strange, almost like clockwork, every 2 months she will start coughing and it usually goes away on its own, but this time it's lasted longer. The doctor said she only has a mild form of asthma, if that's even what she has. I just hope it's nothing serious.



Our other furball turned 3 this past week. Not really sure when his birthday is - he was supposedly a year old when I brought him home 2 years ago at the end of May - but I was a bad kitty mommy because I didn't remember to give him birthday hugs and kisses until the end of the day that I chose as his birthday. Sorry, Dex! We love you!



Here are some shots of some t-dresses that I silkscreened for a friend this past week. I think they turned out really well and hope they sell like hotcakes for her.




Last, but not least, a new button set for the the shop. I've printed some shirts and totes as well but have to take some better photos of them before listing them.

Summer, Weddings, Sex and the Kitty

It's the first day of June, which means it's the start of our Summer Promo at Fresh Baked Goods. Well, tomorrow is the official start, since that's my day at the store and I still have to paint the window telling everyone "We Love Cats!" Originally it was going to be just a month-long promo focused on cat-themed items in the store, but we've decided to extend it for all summer. There'll be freebies given out with purchases, draws for various prizes donated by the designers in the store and other fun things, such as putting your own cat portrait up on the store window! Hopefully it will get customers involved and bring out all the cat lovers in the city.

I've got two new designs finalized and just have to make the screens up now. Wonder Cat and Wonder Kitty will be adorning shirts and bags and the like very soon.


Taking the initial sketch to the final design always seems like such a long process for me. I tried to speed things up a bit with PhotoShop but it didn't work out as I'd thought it would, so in the end, the computer just serves more as an aid rather than my main medium. I always debate about whether or not to do the design with Illustrator but I find that I like the hand-drawn quality of my images. There's something about stuff that is too clean-looking that kind of turns me off. But that's just my personal taste.

Here's the finished portrait for a friend who's getting married later this year. She asked me to make magnets to put on her invites after seeing the ones Matt and I used as wedding favours for our wedding.

The magnets are nearly done. I'm just waiting on the magnet backings to arrive.



And what about the sex, you ask? Matt and I took in the Sex and the City movie last night and despite not so great reviews from the critics, we both found it entertaining. There was even a lineup to get in to our theatre, which we never had to line up for. Then again, it was the opening weekend of the movie, which we rarely make it out for. My only complaint about the movie really was that Smith Jerrod's character was not portrayed in a great light, when you compare it to the show.
The rest of the audience was entertained too, so who cares what the critics say?!