7.25.2013

i'm all shook up for the weekend


I'm super psyched for this weekend. Not only am I getting out of the city, but I get to visit with one of my best friends in the whole world. There would be no thunderpeep without runningman :)

I don't get to see her much because she lives in Collingwood and I live in Toronto. Funny too, because my mom grew up in Collingwood, and now my best bud lives there. My boss at the day job, grew up in Collingwood, another co-worker has a cottage in Collingwood. Geez.... this world we live in is way too small. 

The second most awesome thing I'm looking forward to this weekend. It's the Annual Elvis Festival. Yes. In Collingwood. What.....???? Apparently it's a HUGE deal and this is the first time I'm going to be taking it all in. you know there are going to be some fun stories come next week.

For now, you can check it all out at the website

and this...


7.23.2013

Tuesdays aren't so bad


Good thing I was lazy on the weekend and didn't schedule all my posts like I'm supposed to, because today I had something exciting to chat about.

I woke up this morning to a wicked storm in my etsy shop and after a bit of digging it turns out one of the friendship drinking card made it onto the Etsy front page while I was snoozing away. Super Excited over here :) Turns out one of the treasuries I was in for the Christmas in July sale got featured. You can see the whole treasury here. (FYI the sale is now on until the end of July - you can still stock up here)

A lot of sellers really focus on making it to the front page but it's never been a goal for me or the shop, mostly because making treasuries is somewhat challenging for me. I get all distracted browsing through too many awesome listings. But in the past month I've taken up a couple of different treasury challenges through a couple of my teams and am getting the hang of it. This particular treasury was made during the Christmas in July teams treasury challenge... win win.

I'm a HUGE fan of etsy teams, they've been a really welcoming community for me (I've met quite of few of my friends through my local Toronto Etsy Street Team) but also a really great resource. Not only do I learn a lot from my teammates, I find I can help others with the things I've learned and I really love that feeling. I've stumble lot's during my journey to set up this little business of mine, and I'm still figuring things out as I go along (still trying to figure out how to ditch the day job and be a full time thunderpeep!) but if I can help one other artists avoid any one of my stumbles then it's all worth it (well it's still worth it because I love my business but whatever, get over it, I said it!)

I'm off for a super cold drink... have an awesome Tuesday evening (or if it's Wednesday while your reading, happy hump day ;)

7.22.2013

music monday + call to action

I've put it off for awhile now, but it's finally time to start packing again.

No, I'm not moving (although the call of the West and those glorious mountains grows stronger every day) but I do have to start packaging cards... again. And my friends are awesome enough to just volunteer to help with packing. No kidding. (there may have been some liquid and pizza bribery involved in said volunteering, but that's our little secret ;)

Shit wouldn't get done without the help of friends, so this Mondays musical gift is another flashback for all my super fantastic buddies


Happy Monday peeps, hopefully it isn't too painful

7.17.2013

blog love


Remember that blog challenge I was partaking in a few months ago? Probably not because I sort of fell of the wagon. sigh.....

Anyways, now that I'm back on the wagon I thought I would finish all the challenge questions. Today's post challenge: Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them.


Easy - I follow almost 30 blogs on bloglovin, but these are the ones I check out daily.

1. Poppytalk. I'm sure you've heard me share the Poppytalk love either here, or on facebook, and for good reason. Not only is it a Canadian blog, but the topics are wide ranging. From artist features to DIY's to just pretty, pretty pictures Poppytalk is an addiction. Some days I'll get to read about interesting people, their craft and process. Other days it'll just be a feature of artists from the Poppytalk marketplace. I get easily overwhelmed by alot of design oriented blogs around, the massive projects or the super posh spaces they feature. But Poppytalk always feels like your chatting with a friend and I love that aspect. Hopefully we'll remain friends for a very long time ;)

2. Lost Type blog. This one isn't updated very often but when it is, it's with awesomeness. I'm a total type-nerd and this blog mixes some history with a whole load of eye candy for the type passionate! They are actually a type foundry "The Lost Type Co-Op is a Pay-What-You-Want Type foundry, the first of its kind" I love this place!

3. Print & Pattern. Pure Pattern Eye Candy! If you love looking at amazing pattern designs, you will want to head over there. But be forewarned, you may get lost for hours. They also have a book too ;)

4. JulieAnnArt. As a stationery designer, I can really relate to this blog, but it's also a ton of fun. She chats about business related things, but also offers lot's of fun stories, guest bloggers and DIY's. As someone still in the baby stages of my own company, it's really inspiring to read about others ups, downs and struggles.

5. Uppercase Magazine. Following along with Uppercases' process as well as the other design oriented goodies they offer, appeals to the former publication designer in me. It was especially heart-wrenching to follow along with their struggles during the recent Calgary floods, thank you for sharing your experiences. Plus, if you follow them on Bloglovin they have an awesome "love" button that shoots our animated hearts when you click it. You know I hit that button for every post - because who doesn't love to watch animated hearts!

There you have it. What are some of your favourite blogs?

7.15.2013

Music Mondays with Heat & Hornets!

I'm always up before everyone else on the weekends, which works perfectly, I can head out and get all my errands run, have a nice peaceful walk in the morning sunshine and then have time for work or social times. I had a bunch of awesome ideas that I was finally going to have time to work on, just me and the backyard patio, the forecast was for nothing but sunshine, I had a fridge full of cold "drinks" and a whole new Madonna mix in the itunes.

Well, apparently the construction crew working on the renos next door to me were up even earlier than me.... tearing down the whole front porch. That front porch housed a massive hornets nest. You can imagine what happened then. A whole bunch of pissed off hornets converging on MY front door step.

I'm totally girlie afraid of bees/wasps/hornets... pretty much anything that will sting me. I literally leapt from the door, about 10 feet down the walkway and just ran down the block. I didn't even care if the workers were laughing at me. I was outta there.

This also meant no backyard work sessions - those hornets were all over the place. So.... I spent most of the morning adventuring around Leslieville before heading home to put on my card designing cape, cranked the Madonna (must explain that the mix came up when a coworker wanted some old Madonna to listen to at work, and after going through the olden goldies of Madge's career I couldn't stop getting into the groove!)

So... as you are probably guessing, today's musical gift is some vintage Madonna. One of my favourite songs (I once wrote a spoof version of this song for a school project, wish I still had that...)

Happy Monday!


ps. the hornets seem to finally be gone. Hopefully they haven't built their new home under my front stairs.....

How was your weekend?

7.11.2013

christmas in july sale

I don't do sales in the thunderpeep shop very often. In fact I really only do Boxing Week and Christmas in July, and of coarse the Box of Misfit cards at shows. So if you're looking to stock up on some of the awesome thunderpeep stationery currently in stock NOW is the time. Some of these products are going to be discontinued so this will be your last chance to get your mitts on them.

Sales starts today and runs until July 21st and is open to peeps All Around the World :)


7.08.2013

new music monday

I'm starting a new trend here on the blog. To share some new music with you every Monday, to help us all get through that first day of the week!

When I was in College I worked for the student newspaper, and in each issue we listed our production playlist. I thought that could work well over here. I can easily get lost in designing for hours on end, so a kick ass soundtrack is absolutely necessary!

For the very first New Music Monday, I'm going to share a band that I'm completely new to from iceland called Sigur Rós. They do sing in Icelandic (which is next on my list once I conquer Norwegian) so I have no idea what the lyrics say, but who cares. You get completely wrapped up in the melody, I'm completely in love with them and I've really only listened to one album.

Enjoy.... :) and if you have any songs/bands that you love to work to let me know. I'm always looking to discover new bands.


7.07.2013

rainy sundays...

It's been a struggle with summer so far. The rain. The humidity. The 2 go hand in hand here in Toronto. But only 2 more months to go, and all the focus on Holiday designs and booth building have been keeping me distracted.

I have all the plans set for my OOAK Christmas booth, the new Arts Market booth AND almost figured out my Danforth East setup (which will turn into the OOAK one really) I discovered last week that one of my day job coworkers studied some carpentry and willing offered to help me build my masterpieces. Yay thunderpeep!!! And don't worry, I'll have pics of the whole process, and hopefully some funny stories along the way.

For now I am curling up away from the rain, enjoy my sunday evening and getting lost in a crazy new Norwegian TV show called Hellfjord. As you might have noticed I'm a huge fan of Norwegian cinema and after one episode I am so totally hooked, and it's helping with my learning to speak Norwegian. Tak!

I wanted to post a trailor for you... but there none to be found with the subtitles :( oh yeah and if any of you have seen Dead Snow, that gross dude in the yellow and brown hat is Roy! And he's so nasty awesome in this show (also to note a sequel to the best zombie movie ever made - Dead Snow - is now being filmed. Can you say Best News Ever - except maybe a sequel to TrollHunter - and I mean sequel NOT Hollywood remake )

So, here's the trailor for Dead Snow. Watch it. You can Thank me later ;)




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