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?!

My blog-run didn't last very long. I swear the stamina of my youth wanes more and more each year or should I say day, and I seem to become more ADD by the minute. No, second! Okay, not really but I would say that I can be distracted quite easily. Which brings me back to my original reason for posting today and the illustration above:

I'm feeling very sleepy. All I want to do is go back to bed. Our last night of sleeping on my double-sized mattress simply proved how badly we need a new mattress. But soon, very soon, the wait will have been worth it. In 2-5 hours, our new bed is being delivered. Oh, glorious new Clarion bed, I will enjoy resting my weary head and body on you tonight!

There! Short and sweet! Zzzzzzzz.....

I'm on a Blog-kick!

If I could update my blog for as many days in a row as I've eaten cake, that would be grand! This is the fourth day in a row that I've posted... that would just mean another 8 days to match my cake eating kick. I'm not kidding, yesterday was the first day that Matt and I had not eaten cake since Mother's Day. And our mothers weren't even in the same city as us when we got the first cake! The second cake I'll blame on Matt's mom (I love you, Carol). You can see the remains of it in the photo above. The flowers look pretty but they are not that great to eat. We love you, Dufflet, but work on those flowers, will ya?

As mentioned in yesterday's post, some wip photos for you and a sneak peek of a new design or two for tees.




I may need a nap this afternoon since I was awake before 6 am and up by 7 this morning. Not my usual routine but Matt, my hard-working hubby, had an early shoot this morning. Maybe I'll make some tea.

Sw-eeeetness!

I reached 700 sales today, thanks to a sweet buyer from Toronto who first found me when I sold my stuff at St. Lawrence Market! She was the lucky recipient of a free print from my shop. And upon returning home from the post office, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a timely deposit into my bank account. At least, I think that's where it's from. Now I don't feel so bad for spending more than $40 on some much needed skin cream.

Some wip photos to come this weekend.