heft in the mail.

i love you, drawn & quarterly.

i wish i could drop everything right now and live inside this book.

a return to business as unusual.

well, in a few days, this blog will return to its most popular roots as a chronicle of strange travels and independent art on the road.

this upcoming trip may be shorter than previous outings but it is no less manic, crazy and potentially pointless.

this time, however, i hope to be able to publish our travel plans in advance so that you, a sea of friends and strangers, can help us shape our journey into something mildly less insane than we would create on our own. tips and recommendations are highly valued in this pursuit.

until then, i will just leave you with one of the many ways that aitor has become more famous while i have been languishing in endless illness (swan flu?).

sick leave.

i took the picture above of my busy living room coffee table trunk back on friday when i was planning on regaling you, internet, with boastful tales of all the crap i was about to accomplish - two craft fairs in two days (one in brantford), a fundraiser show around the corner and other marvelous wonders.

but then i went to a meeting on friday, came home, took a nap and woke up not knowing where i was. this was the beginning of the most delirious fever i have had since being very little. it's been close to a week and i am just coming out of it now. i did manage to medicate myself enough to make it to the hunt and gather trunk show but otherwise, i have been a shut in for days - and not a particularly ambulatory one, at that.

i do have some pictures and things to go through from last week and the trunk show so i should be filling in some blanks here over the next day or so. but i should also mention that my first big outing will be to haul my weakened ass over to the knit cafe tonight to celebrate earth day amid the plastic corals of our reef display. come, won't you. you can experience my new bedraggled look in person.

but for now...i will attempt a triumphant return to solid foods.

potential in the form of seeding pots.

this is me trying to be useful in that craft blog kind of way. see? i am sprouting things (hopefully) and had to come up with some brilliant way to line all these seeding pots up on our narrow kitchen window sill. after some chin scratching and eyes darting around the apartment, i came upon an answer - the glass tops from old mason jars. i have a pretty big collection of these canadian classics and have even amassed a bunch of jarless tops just in case i happen upon topless jars (and also because we are a bit clumsy around here).

don't worry, this temporary usage won't ruin them. they are glass, after all.

and there you have it. domestic craft lady blog tip.

public art.

i saw two things on my way to get groceries today.

security envelopes: regrouping, reimagining and renewed effort.

above is a big collection of magnets used for the diwhy/ security envelope installation at the ontario crafts council. until this evening, these magnets were sitting in a bag with an equal number of big huge nails. but with the workroom window display coming back to my home shortly, it was time to get things squared up on the security front so that i can wake the project from its hibernation and get back to going through submission and cataloguing.

i should also say that during this fallow time i have come across a few new postal/security projects of note that i wish to share with the world...

1) signature security envelopes by the esteemed tara bursey.
obviously, tara would share obsessions with me - design, art, zines, mail, personal touches, collecting...just to name a few overlapping territories. her totally perfect self-made security envelopes really bring thoughts of safety and identity to the next level. and, as always, she does it with infinite grace and attention to detail.

2) insecurity envelopes by jk keller.
i actually stumbled into this project after being sent this by a friend (pretty amazing in its own right). this mr. keller fellow seems to be onto a great many interesting things. his entire online portfolio was worth the steadfast peruse i gave it. my other favorite project is the paulette ribbon typeface. you'll see. i really get a thrill when math and craft collide. and it's a plus when the results are pretty.

brokeback pontiac approaches.

i just got all the final artwork from the magnificent tyler brett for the upcoming fundraiser i have thrown together to make some much-needed car repairs after the last sweetie pie tour. the show, named brokeback pontiac (thanks, emma), will be a big evening of comedy, art and craft. i am very fortunate to have a lot of talented friends, many of whom have borrowed my car or benefited from it in some manner. so playing the guilt chip, i got to book a pretty superb line-up - not to mention the small silent auction of very special goodies.

for both a mini web page about the show and a preview of the items up for auction (a growinggallery), please look here. and mark your calendars! it's going to be a pretty fun evening.