Weekend Rap with no paper cuts!

Whew. This past week was exhausting. Even the weekend, gone in a flash. Mind you it was a fun flash, but still. It really is true when they say "the older you get the faster time flies". Gosh....

I had stacks of Christmas cards, and notepads and paper all sorts just waiting patiently for the big packing party weekend. I thought, no biggie, it won't take us long. Lesson learned. Plan LOADS of time for packing piles and piles of cards. Like more than one evening kind of time.

Packing and tying and stamping oh my! Plus my first attempt at gluten free pizza. Successful weekend all around.

This time of year is busy for everyone, so trying to get a group of my friends together in one place, at one time was challenging. Life happens. But my friend Steph was a trooper. She came, I fed her, she packed, and cut and folded and tied for hours. She also brought Kettle Corn. And good chats. I have to say it's the first time since we met last Spring that we really sat down and chatted about all sorts. I got to know her a whole lot better. And I'm really happy for that. She's definitely a refreshing addition to my life!

And did I mentioned we packed? It was overwhelming how much work packaging really is. Cutting all the cord for the tags, cutting enough cord for the hundreds of card sets that needed to be tied together. That alone filled Friday evening (along with more of the Halloween Horror Fest). But it's almost all done. At least my One of a Kind show stock, forget about the Etsy and Brick and Mortar stores I have to stock. Being a small business is draining, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's funny how this kind of work for some random workplace would be crap, but when it's for yourself and you're surrounded by friends and good chats (not to mention good eats) it's an adventure. Oh yeah, did I mention I made my first gluten free pizza. I used Bob's Red Mill pizza dough - so not totally from scratch, but it was so tasty. I think next time I'll have to add some spices to the dough, it was a bit bland. But I found some Sheep's Feta to top the pizza and holy moly it was SO tasty. Unfortunately the cupcakes I attempted failed miserably. I blame that on the oven, I've made the recipe a billion times with tasty results. But my current oven has some issues....

Hopefully next weekend I can wrap up the majority of all my packaging, and turn my attention to my display. I have it planned out in my head, just need to build it now. 1 month to go, plenty of time ;)

This musical Monday contribution is for my packing minion Steph, and all the other small business ladies out there. A little Annie & Aretha for you!

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Weekend Rap

Last week SUCKED. I don't know what was in the air, but it was one of those weeks where everyone seems to be off and nothing goes right.  This weekend was a welcome retreat. And I do mean retreat. I burrowed in and worked the weekend away, watched some scary movies and played with the kitty cats I'm looking after for the next week. You may have seen pics of Brutt on my Instagram but now she's got a younger bro, Jasper, who's a bit of a diva. They get a long for the most part, but if I pay too much attention to Brutt then Jasper gets a bit jealous and gives a wicked stink eye!

Brutt and those soulful eyes ~ Jasper is just a big sucker for attention

The pressure is on to get everyone ready for One of a Kind. I have a gal in my building who has been doing the show for years and she was giving me some advice on how much stock to bring and now I'm starting to think I need to plan on more. MORE. Oh my gosh, my little house is already stuffed to the gills and so much packaging needs to be done. Plus I have to start planning my online stock and all my lovely stockists. The Joys of small business. I do have a packing party planned for next Saturday. Putting all the little elves to work stuffing and wrapping and cutting and stamping.

On some really FUN thunderpeep news I put the finishing touches on both my 2014 calendar as well as the Polar Nights collection. I'll be test printing this week and then the calendar will be available next weekend and the Polar Nights on November 1st.

The Calendar is a collection of typographic works of some goofy and perhaps somewhat inspiration sayings. Kind of like the cards, but not really occasion based. I realized last year that the season illustration calendar was a harder sell when my customers are all over the globe. Not everyone has the same seasons at the same time as I do here in Toronto. There are some really funny ones, and some will make their appearance as cards next year. Oh yeah, and I forgot to tell you, in 2014 I'll be officially switching over to silkscreening all the cards, not just limited edition ones. Yay. That will mean some re-designs, but that's all good!

As for the Polar Nights collection, I may have mentioned that this one was inspired by my love for the polar regions and this year I stayed closer to home, focusing on the Canadian Arctic. The illustrations feature and new Troll character as well as some Arctic wildlife among polar scenery. I'm in love with the collection and I was showing the cards to a coworker who is usually my first test market and is a pretty good gage for what will be well received, and she was ooing and awing and giggling so I'm super excited to bring it to everyone else :)

As it is still October, the month of all things horror, I watched a lot of scary movies this weekend. That means I didn't have any musical inspirations for your Monday video. SO.... how about one of the most awesome music videos ever made, that features Vincent Price. Can you guess?

Happy Monday peeps!

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Long Weekend Rap full of Good Food and Thanks

As you may have heard, it was Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada. An extra long weekend to spend time with friends and family, enjoy big feasts, sleep in and even take naps. It also meant I had lot's of time to finish off all the work in progress, including the Holiday Collection, which I posted about yesterday, finishing up the 2014 Calendar and the Polar Nights Collection.

I can't wait to share the Calendar - hopefully I'll get a test print this week so I can share it with you next weekend. This years calendar is 12 months of extra special quotes. These ones are just too damn special special for regular old cards, so I decided to use them on the calendar. All month long you'll be able to see them and have a little giggle. Who wouldn't want that?

I'm really excited to launch the Polar Nights Collection next month. I didn't release one last winter so I had to make this one extra special. I wanted this collection to be more personal and Fun. I'm been wanting to created more Troll stories and illustrations and as I was working on a new one, he kind of evolved as a bit of a super Troll. The Grandpappy of all Trolls and since I wanted the collection to be a bit more Canadian inspired, I figured he should be from the Arctic - the Protector of the Arctic. Because we need one..... That's all I'll give you for now, maybe a few more sneak peeks before the official launch at the One of a Kind show ;)

That's what I was up to this weekend, on top of dinners with friends and making my first ever Gluten Free stuffing. It was surprisingly easy (this was my first time ever even making stuffing from scratch). I had this basic recipe from GlutenFreeGirl and the toughest part was finding the right GF bread. I certainly wasn't make it from scratch! My house smelled sooooo delicious while it was cooking, I think one of my candle making friends needs to make a sage scented stuffing candle. Yum! It turned out ok. A bit mushy and not quite as flavourful. I think my next attempt at Christmas will be more adventurous, maybe some cranberries. Any suggestions?

Instead of leaving you with the soundtrack of my weekend, I thought I'd leave you with something a bit more festive... you can watch the entire Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on YouTube!

How did you spend your weekend? 

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