SOUVENIR Beach House pop up

Souvenir's latest concept pop up shop for Spring is opening tonight! They'll be bringing you a mix of new and vintage treasures, with some exclusive new work from their favourite designers and some new and exciting pieces from their latest group of collaborators. Snap + Tumble starburst cards will be there too for your correspondence and stationery needs!

Project Gallery
1109 Queen St. East
THURS 06:00-11:00pm
FRI 11:00-08:00pm
SAT 11:00-07:00pm
SUN 11:00-05:00pm

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natural body oil

A few weekends ago I participated in an Herbal Infusions workshop put on by the good people of Kinfolk and it was hosted by Julie Clark of Province Apothecary. I'm not exactly sure what prompted the desire to take this workshop because I don't ever remember being so interested in aromatherapy before. I think the main draw was that it was a hands-on, mini crash course of sorts and I can't resist a good DIY workshop. At the end of the 3 hour info-packed session, I came away with quite a few handmade products and the confidence to make some more on my own at home. Of the items that the group was taught to make, I was most excited about the body oil. We had also tried our hands at an herbal infused steam inhalation mixture, a sugar scrub, bath salts and an apple cider vinegar hair rinse. AH-mazing. After letting the body oil that I made in the workshop rest for a day, I used it after a (body sugar scrub) bath and loved it. I had infused the oil with geranium, pine, peppermint and lime for an uplifting and awakening scent to help me get moving in the mornings (Marcus still doesn't sleep through the night!).

Because I loved the body oil so much, I couldn't wait to try to make another, specifically for Marcus (my 23 month old). He's got a couple of dry patches on his legs and I wanted something natural and organic to put on his skin to relieve any discomfort he may have. I sought out some ingredients and started with something gentle for him. In his mixture, I used grapeseed, safflower and apricot kernel oil as the carrier oils. I had some chamomile tea leaves and found some useful sources on the net on how to infuse that in the oil. Of the options given, I decided on putting the oil mixture in a glass and put it inside a water bath in a mini slow cooker and left it on low for 48 hours. Once that was done, I strained the leaves and added some lavender essential oil for a soothing scent and bottled it. So easy and so lovely. 

I named it the Lullaby Oil and made a little label for the bottle in the hopes that Marcus would be able to recognize it as his own and make it a part of his bedtime routine.

After his bath that night, I used it on him and I think he liked it. He certainly didn't object to the leg massage that went with it :)

*If you want to make your own body oil, please do find some resources and how-to's online. I took some information from these helpful posts - here and here. If you can, I would also highly recommend taking one of Julie's workshops!

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Just some Instagram shots of the last few moments of summer. It's been a couple of balmy days here in Toronto so Marcus took advantage of the weather by playing with some water in the enamel basin I thrifted a few months ago. We've also hit a few places around the city, like the Scarborough bluffs. Best time to go is in the early morning when it's nice and quiet. We also tried to get up to the cottage this summer, but we've been so busy that we had to stick around home most of our weekends. One of the last times we were there, it was THE perfect summer day when the water felt like the same temperature as the air. And just last week, while at the Queen West Art Crawl, I stopped into Robber and picked up a new fragrance (OLO's Lightening Paw) and I think I just might wear everyday of the fall season.

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I was recently introduced to a UK band called  Daughter and have pretty much fallen in love with their cover of Get Lucky by Daft Punk. The songs on their debut album are atmospheric, sad and beautiful. It inspired me to put a brush and watercolour ink to some lovely St. Armand paper and add handset type to it. I love moments like these when I'm moved to create something but not knowing exactly what it is that I want to make. It's times like that when you turn to the tools that you love to use so much for work and commissioned pieces that you often forget that they're also there for play time.

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Little Book of Numbers

You guys, the Little Book of Numbers is done! I completed the book last week and am so pleased at how it turned out. It has 13 pages, printed mainly in black but red was used for the back and front covers. I've also included a bookplate with every edition! I personalized the one for Marcus by printing his initials on it. The book is held together by two handy metal rings (which can be opened should I ever want to include more pages). The numbers and words of numbers were all handset and the acquired images were individually printed. This means that one book was hand-fed through the press 79 times!

I introduced the book to Marcus (19.5 months) yesterday and he was quite interested. The timing was good because he is very much into books and has recently started counting. Or rather, repeating numbers when he hears or sees them. He only gets as far as two and skips to eight and nine, but it's still a marvellous thing for his parents to hear it :) The book is nice a small and fits comfortably in his little paws and he has no trouble separating or turning the pages. He even recognizes some of the images, like the birds and the rockets (or "planes" as he refers them to). It was great to see Marcus and the book in action together.

I've only made 10 of these books and they are currently being sold in the online shop. I've also reserved a couple to bring and sell at the Parkdale Flea this Sunday!

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little black clouds

I needed some personal stationery to write a couple of thank-you's, so I quickly printed these flat cards. You'd think that black clouds would be ominous, but not so here. Fluffy, cute and small - perfectly suited to happy little notes.

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Last year filmaker Henry Lu and Art Director/Cinematographer Stuart Campbell dropped by the S+T studio. Here are a few shots taken by Stuart.

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As we live a life of ease
Every one of us has all we need 

Sky of blue and sea of green

In our yellow submarine 

- The Beatles

 Sometimes you just have to print a yellow submarine card.

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colour block play II

More colour block play. It's no surprise that I lean towards blues, greens, whites and neutrals. You can see it in alot of my work. Though, I didn't think that these three colours would mix well but I actually quite like it - what do you think? The print in the middle was my test print and it happens to be my favorite. I'm enjoying adding more and more layers. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop. I guess that's why I carved out some time to 'play' to find out what works and what doesn't.

Good weekend, all! And, Spring - where the heck are you?

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i heart stationery

This is a long overdue post! A big thank you to Charlotte Rivers who invited me to contribute to her latest book, I Heart Stationery. I totally dig this book because it's chock full of paper-goods eye candy and it focuses on techniques and materials from various artists world-wide. Definitely a good and inspirational resource to have on my shelf and it makes a nice gift for that paperphile in your life.

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I am grateful for all that I have and that I'm able to do what I love for a living. This is, in a huge way, made possible by my immediate and extended family. I also wouldn't be where I am today without the support of the handmade community, those who buy handmade goods and specifically those who have trusted me to design and print their projects. A heartfelt, thank you.

A glittering 2013 to you, dear readers. May it be filled with all good things.

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chalkboard signage by Christopher Rouleau

Not only did he help me man the Postcard Printing Station for the City of Craft, my good friend Christopher Rouleau, made the chalkboard signage for the event! He sketched it out the night before and hand-lettered it right there on the spot as the show got underway. He's a star. I can't bring myself to erase it even though the event is over. The chalkboard is now sitting in the studio and I just might even hang it up as is.

Thanks again, Christopher!

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Thank you to those who dropped by the S + T table at the OCAD U Book Arts Fair on Saturday. It was a very relaxed affair so I was able to catch up with a few friends, talk to fellow vendors and make some purchases of my own. I'm looking forward to using the monogram stationery set I got from from Don Black Linecasting's table which was represented by the Kozo Studio family. A new favorite artist is Frankly Franny! How stinkin' awesome is the hot foil stamped vintage card? And I couldn't resist the always well-curated vintage stamp packs by Send More Mail (who now also creates American stamp packs!).

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There's something really satisfying about organizing your cupoards and getting rid of food packaging that makes the kitchen look like a clutter nightmare. The other day, we went to the natural foods store and bought a few items in bulk. Because I refused to keep them in the plastic bags they came in, the goods had to be kept in some kind of other container. So I went to my trusty second-hand store, found a variety of mason jars in different sizes, washed them and filled them up. I also wanted labels that were sturdy but not permanent since I'll either eventually finish or replace the foods that are in the jars. I used my Dymo labeller and was done in a flash. I basically wanted to do all of this during M's nap and was able to finish the job within 45 minutes. Quick, easy, useful and nice to look at.

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printers' soap

I was out of liquid handsoap last week and stumbled upon these Soap Works bars of soap in the store. I'm not sure why I was suddenly interested in getting some of these and abandoning my usual liquid soap. I stood there, in front of the soap bar display and must've picked each one up and gave them a sniff. Then it was hard to decided because they all smelled so darn good. But I settled on good ol' fashioned Oatmeal which is lightly scented and a natural, gentle exfoliant. I've been using it now for a couple of days and my hands feel softer after each wash.

The second bar of soap called Pumice, I just couldn't pass it up. On the Soap Works site it reads, "...we sell it to print shops for the pressmen to clean their hands." Well, how about that? Looks nice, smells nice, works well too.

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