first things first

Remember that light box that I mentioned a few weeks ago? Yeah - I still haven't built that.

I took a good long look around my office and realized that before I could do anything else, I needed to organize, organize, organize. I have already decided to get rid of the couch (which has yet to be moved out), but there is much more to be done beyond that.

My office has been a complete disaster since November. There were boxes blocking one of the doors, piles and more piles of just everything lying around - it was a wreck. I made it my project this weekend to finally start clearing some of this stuff out of there. 

Like any small-space apartment dwellers, we take what we can get in the way of storage. We're lucky to have three closets and a small storage space (which is another disaster - I'm not yet ready to talk about my chair-hoarding tendencies), but with two adults and a small business those spaces fill up pretty quickly. I'm going to eventually move a bunch of things into my studio (more on that later), but I decided to capitalize on our under-the-bed storage this weekend, to utilize that space better.

My Mom and Stepdad brought up our beautiful old bed frame for us last summer, and the extra height is a storage godsend. Because this is an antique frame, we have our box spring sitting on wood planks that run the width of the frame.

Sexy, right? I've been staring at this mess for months now, lucky me. As you can see, we now have a ton of stuff under there. Summer clothes, books, CDs, a display for coucou salut, our laundry drying rack... It's kind of a catch-all for anything that we don't need ready access to. 

The next step was to HIDE this mess with a bed skirt-type situation. I knew the concept and sewing would be simple, but was unsure about the amount of fabric and time this would actually take me. I have a stash of vintage fabrics, so was hoping I could use something I had on hand. Enter this tutorial. Pinning instead of sewing? Straight instead of ruffled? Right up my alley. Mine didn't even need to be that fancy!

I found a piece of fabric at my studio that was pretty much exactly the right length of the bed, and went to work. We only have one side of the bed that's visible (the other side is against a wall), so instead of a making a full bedskirt, I essentially made a bed curtain to conceal the visible side.

I measured and cut the fabric (it's true - measure twice, cut once - the first time I did this I ended up with twice as much fabric as I needed, somehow...), and then finished it on the two short sides, with a quick once-over hem. I did the same along one of the long sides, and left the other long edge raw. You could totally finish the top as well, but I knew it would be hidden by the mattress, and wasn't too fussed about it. I found some velcro at a local shop, and purchased the male side without an adhesive backing, and the female side with. It ran me about $9.00 for 2 meters. 

I stitched the velcro to the un-hemmed long side of the fabric, with just one stitch down the middle. Again, I wasn't concerned with appearances because it would be hidden. 

I then took the female side of the velcro and stuck the adhesive along the top of our box spring, at the very edge. The last step was to stick the two pieces fabric together, matching up the velcro, and voila! Bed curtain! 

So much better. I'm not totally in love with that tan striped comforter/pink floral combo (although it doesn't look this clash-tastic in person), but baby steps...

Sometimes I'm amazed at how the simplest solutions are the best ones. This whole project took me about 40 minutes, and makes me endlessly happy. And it even gave me the energy to finally hang some artwork:

 

Which looks great with our light fixture and pale grey walls:

Again, SO much better. 

What did you do accomplish this weekend?

Flocon Espresso

Last weekend, I took a break and met some friends at Flocon on Mont Royal East. I had never been there, but fear I may now become a regular. 

Flocon is housed in a super cute space with simple wooden benches and tables, and frames and objects painted with the most perfect vintage-y aqua blue.

I love coffee, but I have a difficult relationship with it. My stomach can be crazy sensitive, and if I cross my coffee threshold, it can mean bad news for me. I can typically handle only half of a small cup of coffee a day. No kidding; if they sold "junior" sized coffee, I'd be all over that. 

I ordered a latte with soy milk, and what I got was AMAZING. I'm not going to wax poetic about a soy latte, but folks - there are many, many people out there who can't get this simple order right. SO many times I've had burnt soy milk, which makes for an unpleasant experience. I'm kind of curious what kind of soy milk they actually use, because this latte was delish. Creamy, smooth, perfect. And it totally didn't wreck my stomach, which was awesome. 

It looks like they also sell Stumptown Coffee, which I've heard good things about. I might have to pick some up one of these days. When you only drink 1/2 a cup a day, you can afford to splash out sometimes.

If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend stopping in for a coffee!

bus blogging

I'm attempting to blog in transit today, let's see how this goes...

To follow up on Friday's post: the weekend was definitely productive, but I didn't get around to building my light box. Womp womp.

I did realize, however, that I need to organize my space a great deal more before I try to work in it. Which brought me to the realization that I need to make more space.

I've never been 100% happy with my office set-up, which includes my prized vintage blue couch. I love this couch, but lately it's just being used as a storage bench for whatever crap I'm too lazy to put away.

J has been gently nudging me to get rid of it for awhile now, but sometimes you just have to wait for the right time. Which is why I finally decided on the weekend to sell it.

Now that I've made the decision, I'm ready to see it go so that I can have more storage and a more functional living space.

If anyone out there is interested, let me know! I really want it to go to a good home!

at the end of the tunnel

Photo taken from my Instagram feed. Follow me here.

Now that I'm finally starting to get my mojo back (wow, that bout of the flu was a rough one), I've been starting to think Spring, and more importantly, my spring collection. 

2011 was a big year for me in many ways, and it wasn't always an easy one. I'm still trying to find the right balance between the day job, the night job and my normal life (I'm starting to accept that this may be a constant battle), so I really want to focus on finding ways to make everything easier in 2012.

One of the great things about doing the One of a Kind Show in 2011 was all of the great people that I met, and most importantly - people who are in the same boat as me. I've always had the impression that most of the people out there who run a creative business have made it. They work (at the very most) part-time, and can focus most - or all - of their energy on what inspires them the most. Well, I was pleased as punch to meet quite a few artists this past year who blew that theory out of the water. Guess what? I'm not alone! There are MANY of us who are still waiting for the moment when we can "quit our day jobs". Even after years of hard work! And while that may seem discouraging to some, it's actually incredibly encouraging to me. I've definitely had moments over this past year where I've seriously considered throwing in the towel, but hearing that other people are fighting these same battles (and winning!) definitely gives me the motivation to: Just. Keep. Going.

And in the interest of all of you out there who are rowing this boat along with me, I’d like to steer this blog in the direction where I talk more about my process and how I’m (attempting) to manage everything. It’s a lot of trial and error, and I’m happy to share what I learn along the way. Safety in numbers right?

So, lesson number one from 2011: GET ORGANIZED.

And, more specifically: get organized enough so that photographing and listing my goods online becomes a part of my production, as opposed to an extra bit that I *sometimes* tack on to the end of it all. I feel like I've been cheating y'all a bit, because I tend to only list online maybe a quarter of the things that I actually make. Which means that if you don't come out to see me at a show, you don't really get the full sense of what I create - which is bad for everyone involved!

This step is a big one, and will require a lot of weekday organizing so that at least some of my weekends can be devoted to photography and photography alone. So the goal for this weekend: finally figure out a photography set-up that works for me in my apartment. This will mean building some sort of portable light box, and maybe even (gasp) organizing my storage room and office area so that I can easily work there without a stack of pillows falling on my head. At the very least, I need to get all of my photography supplies gathered in one place so that I don’t waste 2 hours trying to find my tripod, which is the first problem.

I’m excited to finally start getting everything in place for the new year. 2012 has been off to a rocky start, but I can feel myself getting back on track, and it feels pretty awesome. 

This is my life right now. I don't know what happened to my immune system as the clock struck midnight on December 31st, but I feel like I've been sick for the whole of January thus far.

2012, you are off to one heck of an odd start.

The constant coughing is making me feel like my head is in a vice grip, and it's doing nothing for my motivation. I feel like I've spent more time on the couch - just staring blankly at the TV - in the past week than I have in the past year. I'm just so TIRED.

And I know that I'm most likely in this predicament because I didn't take it easy enough when I first started to feel sick. Note to self: going for a run in -15 weather when you may or may not have a chest cold is NOT A GOOD PLAN.

I can't wait until I feel normal again, and can get back to running, and sleeping normally, and feeling rested. Oh how nice that will be. And until then, I think I just have to wait it out, and capitalize on the 30 minute bursts of energy I do have... sigh.

Good health to everyone out there! Take care of yourselves... I hope to be back on here more regularly starting next week!

2012 happy

We returned last night from a weekend away with friends to Philadelphia, which was fantastic. The above photo is of J, standing in a pile of discarded streamers, coffee cups, bagels (I can only assume) and silly string. We were at the Mummers Parade, in case you were wondering. New Years day in Philadelphia is a sight to behold - I've never seen a city usher in the new year with so much enthusiasm (and drinking on the streets) then Philly. It's pretty wild.

Philly, I really like you. I can sense that you have a bit of an edge and that intrigues me. I also sense that you have delicious food to offer beyond the scope of cheese steaks, but those are pretty great too.

We spent a lot of time walking around, a lot of time eating and drinking, and a scandalous amount of time watching The Food Network when we should really have been out exploring the city. I found that South Philly reminded me of both Pointe-Saint-Charles and Greenpoint at the same time, which was oddly comforting. 

I had an amazing time, but the holidays have disappeared way too quickly. How is it possible that it's January 3rd, 2012, and I'm already back at work? This boggles my mind. 

But that week off? It was gooooood. I took relaxing too a whole new level over the holidays, and I hope you did too. My body and waistline are feeling it a bit, but I know that once I'm back to a regular routine, all will be back to normal.

2011 and me, we had our ups and downs, but overall it's been a good time. I'm really excited for what the new year will bring.

2012 is going to be a good one, I can feel it.