This weekend, come visit me!

It's finally time to get my show legs back on. Yep, it's been a long while, but I have my first show of the year coming up this Saturday - the Etsy: Made in Canada show (check it out here), right here in Toronto at the historic MaRS Centre Atrium.

Now, if you've been following me for awhile you know that I'm also one of the organizers of this event, which means I'm extra excited. It's definitely been a beast of an event to pull together, but I'm lucky to work with 8 other amazing women between the Toronto Etsy Street Team and our partners for this venture the 416Hustler team. We've been working our asses off to make this second year even more kickass than last years - because if you were there last year you know how insane it was.

We've got more space this year, yes MORE space. We're pretty much taking over the entire ground floor of the MaRS building.  140 vendors including vintage sellers. 8 fantastic free workshops. 100 unreal swag bags are being handed out to the first 100 through the doors at 10am (last year the lineup started around 7am, if you're keen you need to be really keen to get in on these bags!)

As for things thunderpeep... I've still got some copies of my book What Hides in the Forest as well as the usuals, loads more prints and a new notepad featuring Kaippo from the book. I'll have the new Holiday cards and this will be your first chance to get your hands on my 2016 calendar. I'm SUPER excited about it. It's in line with the new direction of my work, so it's a whole lot of new!

This years calendar isn't going to be a flip calendar, it's a very large full year calendar. And did I mention yet it's awesome? It introduces a new collection of prints I'll be launching throughout 2016. Limited edition works all based on original Fairy Tales (well no one knows where the original versions truly come from but these are some of my favourite Grimms/Anderson/Asbjornse/Moe stories) Basically not the Disneyfied ones. Nope. The collection is called Good vs. Evil - and it's going to depict just that. The good vs evil battle in all fairy tales. The first piece will be featured on the calendar and it's based on the Snow White story. If you haven't read the Grimm's version you really should. It's quite creepy. My artwork, not so creepy, but that's ok. I love creepy things, but just can't draw creepy. It's quite tragic really.

I just approved the design today so I don't have a photo of the finished piece, but be sure to follow me on Instagram to get the first peak at it (or just come down to the show and buy yourself one) and oh yeah, I may not have mentioned, this calendar is a commitment piece. It's 13" x 19" and is set to be printed on a heavy 130lb card stock. Yeah, fancy. Starting to see why I'm so excited. Limited Edition. You'll want one. And you'll want to collect them all! I'll do another post on that after I get myself through this weekend.

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Welcome to the same thunderpeep that now looks even more kickass!

Happy Midsummer! I hope it's nothing but sunshine and warm breezes where you are.

Did you welcome the season of sunshine in last night? Hopefully in Fun Fashion {because really why bother celebrating in a boring way?}

Ok, so let's get down to this rebrand and all these new things that I've been working away on.

When I first stepped back to revisit where thunderpeep was it was really just to refocus on the direction I first set out onto. I had no idea that this period of reflection was going to result in a complete rebrand of the company. And honestly it didn't even become clear until about a month ago when I realized I was heading into a very new direction, and I was SUPER excited about it. So both thunderpeep and I needed a fresh new start.

This is the story of thunderpeeps' fresh start. Fittingly debuting on the Midsummer. Kicking off the launch of the Midsummer collection, which be continually rolling out over the next couple of weeks leading up to the Grand Finale on July 8th. But to be honest I've come to the realization that the rebrand will continue to evolve as the year goes on. By the time we hit winter (sorry but it's going to come eventually) and the Polar Night Collection starts to take shape I think we'll all be happily sitting in the company of a brand new thunderpeep!

My work has always had a pretty strong Scandinavian influence. But I've been struggling with my personal connection to my own country and having moved back closer to where I grew up I found that I was a bit more nostalgic (oh yeah and I turned 40 in there and I think it's a right of passage to start reminiscing about the olden days once you hit your 40's) So I wanted to bring a bit more of my sense of Canadiana into my work, in a way to help ground me back in my own roots. It was a struggle to find that right mix. But then after my epic {disastrous?} camping trip back in May I found it. Being back in the Ontario wilderness that I had grown up adventuring in, remembering those fun times and the era that was my childhood and teenage years, it was pretty much already there. I had already been obsessing with old badges of all sorts, from campgrounds to brownies to travelling and those old amazing designs. All these things were all kind of brewing up a bit storm in my brain. And one of the sketches that I'd had that weekend sort of became a symbol for the rebrand. I find that's the way my creativity works. Things brew and brew and brew and then one day it all makes sense.

This was that image. It has actually ended up on one of the cards, and in the new logo. The colours, the design, the vibe. It was all me. At this moment. It's retro feel, it's warm and natural colours. I've worked a lot in white space so this was a bit of a departure, but it was such a natural transition that I went with it. A lot of this styling was already coming through in the Troll and Midsummer books, I hadn't really realized that this was how I was going to bring it all together. The new work and the existing thunderpeep. Does that even make sense? It does in my head, but so does the fact that Trolls exist.

I posted this image as my personal facebook profile pic. Not because I'm even on facebook that much these days, mostly because I wanted to see how it fit when I put it out to people who knew me. And I was pretty surprised at the reaction. I think part of it was that most of my facebook friends are within my age range, so there's going to be a somewhat nostalgic feeling in all of us, but people somehow connected with it in their own ways and that's what I want from the new direction. For people to connect, in ways that don't have to have anything to do with my connection to it. My connection to nature is well documented here and I hope that I can get more people to reconnect with it and see the value in respecting and working to keeping it safe. It's such a huge part of what it means to be Canadian, no matter whether you live in the big bad city or if the country.

With this new style I started to re-design some of the older cards, and bring in new designs with the new stylings. Moving forward I'll be focusing mainly on everyday cards like Birthdays and Friendships only. Those are the things that are natural to me. I get a lot of requests for wedding pieces, but to be honest doing them with my somewhat sarcastic sense of humour doesn't really work. I'm not really the warm fuzzy mushy type. I'm not going to make warm fuzzy mushy things. That just wouldn't make sense. Although there is one new engagement card in the mix. It's pretty much everything I would say to someone I know who's getting engaged - and have! One person I initially showed it to thought it was mean. I laughed knew it had just earned it's place in the pack (FYI it's no meaner than the divorce card, it's just wasn't fuzzy enough for said individual)

Here are your new thunderpeep friendship cards. The re-design of the BFF card you've seen, but there's also the Friendship Foundation card, and the first breakup card. I mean it doesn't just have to be for a breakup, it's a good piece of advice between friends. This actually came out of a custom request!

There's also all the new birthday cards (buttons aren't included with the cards yet but will be later on this summer)

And lastly in the new card roundup… there's that engagement card.

Eventually almost all cards are going to be getting a re-design to fit in with the new look. All these cards are now available in my Etsy shop! Tomorrow on the blog we'll be looking at all the fun new things in the Society 6 shop. And next weekend we move on to even more exciting new stuff.

And of coarse, along with the new look is the new logo/branding. It's not a massive departure from the old branding, but a definite upgrade. It definitely has the more Canadian feel I was looking for, without straying from simplicity of my other influences. It will actually change it's colours based on the seasons (this is spring/summer so this fall you'll see a whole new colour way for fall/winter to go along with the Polar Nights themes) You'll notice that my social media sites have all been re-branded as well. Because there's technically a whole new logo. Eventually the website will get a makeover but that won't be until later this year. SO many fun new projects are coming that will tie in with the new look (yeah, especially the badge aspect, you know I HAD to find a way to make that happen…)

And finally, because I know you're just dying to know more about the books… They'll officially be launching on July 8th. They are going to press in a little over a week and I'm still putting the finishing touches on it but we have the venue and we have the date. As part of the Danforth Mosaics "The Danny Loves Music" series I'll be hanging out with Crystal in the LEN tent with the books and all the new goodies that go along with it. There'll be great music, fun folks and hopefully nothing but sunshine. And since it's a bit of a long wait for the book, each week between now and then I'll be revealing something new to the collection, exerts from the book and giveaways.

Thanks for tagging along on the journey. Here's to many, many more adventures in our future!

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Meet the 2013 Polar Nights Collection

I'm super excited about this years Polar Nights Collection. I got so busy last year and didn't plan well ahead and well... you know the fallout. No Polar Nights at all :( I am such a bad winter lover.

So, this years collection had to be Extra Special. Super Awesome. SpEcTaCuLaR. And honestly I'm in love with this years collection, it's especially close to my heart (and not just because of that giant Troll ;)

The story started back in the summer when I decided I really wanted to expand upon my Troll characters, give them more of a story and maybe even a new Troll. And then I started watching Frozen Planet. Haven't seen it? You should. Since humans are doing such a great job at destroying the Arctic I figured a big intimidating Troll would be the best Defender of our frozen wonderlands. And he'd be the biggest and baddest of Trolls.... the GrandDaddy of Trolls. And he needed a catchy name (and leg warmers) As much as I'm inspired by so many Nordic and Scandinavian stories and design, I did want to try to do something a bit closer to home, and with a large part of Canada being in the High North this works perfect for an Arctic themed collection. So Arctic Troll's name is a Inuit and a bit Scandinavia. I found the word Siku, which in Inuit means "Ice" and this word is so close to a scandinavian name I love = Suki, so I figured it was the perfect name for this new Troll. His decoration is inspired by Norwegian sweaters and Inuit boots and his colourings are all shades of ancient glacial ice.

Here it is.... Starting with Suki - Defender of the Arctic, and his 4 Arcticland wildlife buddies. For the next 4 Fridays I'll be showcasing a different featured animal, to help you learn a little bit about all that is at risk right now, in our Arctic regions. If you are looking for more info, you can learn all sorts over at the WWF's website.

The Polar Nights will be available starting at the One of a Kind in Toronto (November 28th to December 8th) show with card sets and prints, and during the show $1 from each piece sold will be donated to the WWF and it's efforts to help protect the Arctic. As of Saturday, the Society 6 shop will have all the illustrations available as canvas prints, totes, iphone/ipad cases etc. The Arts Market will be stocking the card sets after OOAK as well as framed prints. Hopefully more venues will be stocking this goodness soon too!

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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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Stationery love UK style

Last week was National Stationery Week over in the UK. A celebration of written communication, with the purpose of trying to inspire the nation to pick up a pen and get writing, especially the younger generation who are caught up in the distractions of online and phone chatting. I didn't find out until a couple of days in (to which I have to admit I was kinda embarrassed - how did I NOT know about this!) but I was so excited when I did. I first caught wind when my super fun Holly Goose stationery set was featured on 2 UK blogs, one right after the other. Both were featuring some amazing stationery, to show people that writing letters is so much more fun than just writing between the lines on boring old lined paper.

As a confessed stationery addict, I'm always spreading the love for hand-writen letters so I'm all over the idea of a whole week devoted to stationery. I'm all inspired... I think we start this over here in Canada. We've got some amazing designers up here but Canucks seem to have lost their urge to write to each other. And you know that makes me sad..... so I'm just going to have to step up and do something about it! Let's get writing Canada!

Thanks to both RedOnline and MissMagpieDesigns for the stationery love you showed thunderpeep during your Stationery week! Head on over to their sites to check out some of their awesome.

MissMagpieDesigns has some super cute bird illustrations....

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