Polar Bears Day 2

Day 2 - All about Polar Bears!

Now that you've adjusted to the fact that I'm blogging 2 days in a row, I've got some fun tips about Polar Bears I bet you didn't know. And if you DID know then you should go make yourself a big cup of hot chocolate, with marshmallows of coarse, and grab the embroidery floss, because today your get a freebie embroidery pattern featuring some of my Arctic creatures. But first…

Some Polar Bear Facts

• Polar bears are the largest bears in the world - weighing from 352-680kg

• Seals are their typical prey and they would have to eat about 45 a year to survive 

• They are the Arctic's top wildlife predator

• The life span of a polar bear is 25 to 30 years

• There are approx. 20-25,000 polars bears worldwide but 60% of them live in Canada (woohoo!)

• Their status is listed as: Vulnerable :(

• Have a thick coat of insulating fur that covers up a nice layer of fat - to keep them warm in one of the planet's coldest environments

• Fur even grows on the bottom of their paws!

• While their fur is white, to help camouflage them in the snow and ice, their skin is actually black to help soak in the sun's warming rays.

• Females give birth in the winter and usually to twins (awwww!)

• They will dig a den deep into the snow drifts to help protect and insulate them from the elements

• Cubs will live with their mother for around 28 months, while she teaches them all they need to know to survive the Arctic.

Crafty Fun!

As many of you may know, I have a wee side project with my good friend Quilter Steff called Pickled Herring Design. We create really pretty quilt and embroidery patterns for all you sewing friendly folk and for today's perk I thought I would create some embroidery patterns of the Arctic creatures from this years Polar Nights collection. These patterns aren't even for sale - super exclusive for all you hard core Arctic fans. Download the pdf here

And lastly, a little video about Polar Bear senses

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Welcome to Polar Bear Week!

It's been awhile now since my Polar Nights collection launched and it was a bit hit during the Holiday show season - but it doesn't end there. Things have been quiet here for a bit too long, and you'll learn more about that next month, but for now we continue to celebrate all things Arctic - and in particular all things Polar Bear. For all you folks in Eastern North America I'm sure you're just about done with winter and the cold, but bear with me for the week. I think you'll have a great time!

What is Polar Bear Week?

The World Wildlife Foundation started Polar Bear Week as a fun and educational event to help raise awareness and funds for their Arctic Campaign, which supports the on-the-ground work from Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay, to ensure that Arctic habitats are conserved for all the amazing ice-dependent creatures that life there.
Last years event helped raise money for all sorts of projects including new scientific breakthroughs in understanding sea-ice changes and its impact on Arctic species, engaging directly with more than a dozen local Arctic communities and developing High Arctic maps showing key areas to protect, to inform planning and development in the Arctic.

Why the Polar Bear?

Really? You have to ask that? Who doesn't love a Polar Bear? They are by far the most iconic and recognizable of Arctic animals (don't even get me started on that unicorn of the sea that no one seems to know!) And it's no wonder really as most polar bears spend their entire lives on the sea ice and have evolved to thrive there. The impacts of climate change directly affect the bears, where they live and how they eat, as summer is extended and winter ice continues to thin out, there is a real long term threat to their population.

For the week I'll be posting some fun facts, videos (not my own, I haven't met a polar bear yet) crafty downloads, just for fun downloads and if you head over to my Etsy shop, I'm donating 100% of the profits for ALL sales (yes that's all, not just the Polar Nights collection pieces) to the WWF's Arctic Home campaign AND if you spend $25 or more you'll get a FREE limited edition 8" x 10" thunderpeep polar bear print. Awesome!

If you don't need any paper goodies, you can also donate directly to the WWF campaign here and be sure to follow them as well, for even more Polar Bear Week shenanigans! You can follow them on twitter and instagram.

If you want to decorate your electronics with some polar bear awesome I made some fun wallpapers for your screens below. Feel free to download them and enjoy. Just click on any of the images below and it will pop up in a new window. Right click the image and download it onto your computer, select it as your new wallpaper and voila! you now have a super Fun image on your screen. (please note that these images are for personal use only they are not for resale)

for your phone!

wallpaper for your screen!

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Polar Bear Love

Like I need an excuse to celebrate all things Arctic, but the WWF is back with it's annual Polar Bear Week this February 23-27th and we're all on board this year! (and with the weather we've been having in Toronto it kind of seems appropriate)

So be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram for all the fun facts, photos and a pretty sweet etsy shop event!

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hello

It's finally real winter here in Toronto. 

I have been distracted by snow. 

You'll have to excuse my blogging absence.

But snow always wins ;) 

(but big fun things are also in the works…)

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evolution of a dragon

this month i've been participating in the #30DaySketchChallenge over on instagram and i'm still trying to get in the groove of sketching a little bit of something each day (unexpected renos mean having my bed in the middle of my studio space which has added a bit of challenge to the work schedule as i'm constantly tempted to lie down for a nap and build pillow forts!) i was quite surprised at how unnatural it seems. i can doodle all day long in illustrator but taking it back to the traditional pencil and paper i keep drawing a blank (quite literally). so it is definitely a challenge, but one i'm up for.

one of my first sketches was the start of a dragon i wanted to do for one of my new love cards. since i'm so much more of a digital sketcher i never finish these pencil or pen drawings so i thought it would be fun to show how it evolved from that original drawing.

the top left is the original challenge sketch and then, since i love everything to have some patterns on them i traced the original multiple times on tracing paper (because if i'm going to draw it's definitely tracing paper and ink for me) and doodle out patterns and then finally take the final concept into illustrator, colour him up and then voila… there he is on a super sweet new card (seriously this pick up line would totally work on me ;)

i'm loving him! he's definitely going to show up on more stuff soon

first one who uncovers the hidden symbols will win of these cards - leave your answers in the comments

check out the love dragon and the other fun new love cards now in the online shop here and popping up in our stockists soon!

anyone else taking on any challenges this month?

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the year that can go away now

that was 2014 for me. Until December rolled in. 2014 was a challenging year. Both professionally and personally. But as I sit here on the first day of 2015 I remember that it's the challenges in life that truly define you. Or should I say, how you overcome those challenges is what defines you. And I feel soooo ready to get 2015 started!

If you follow me on social media (instagram is my personal fav so go follow me now because 2015 is going to be even more fun to watch play out) you'll know I took a step back and hibernated after the One of a Kind show ended. I was completely burnt out and honestly needed to digest everything before I could share it. I'm kind of introverted that way. I don't really like to share personal stuff with people, honestly even with friends (except for those handful of close ones!) And my personal life was suddenly the most interesting part of my day. Well sort of. Lot's of unexpected business stuff was playing out as well but it was all too overwhelming for this little peep.

And since I'm navigating away from Facebook I thought all of this makes for great blog content. And I do need to write more. I feel like a different person going into this year, and I want to share that journey of growth. I learned so much from others this past year, that I want to be able to share my growth with you.

Oh My God. So sappy. Not what some might be used to. But that's the way I'm rollin' these days. I'll do a post more on the challenges that were 2014, but this is New Years Day, a day to celebrate and look forward.

This year the business is moving into some very different directions. Can't tell you all of that now, but here's some fun new things.

I'm not sure if you've noticed but I have a huge green heart. I love the outdoors and yes I'm not afraid to admit I have Tree Hugger tendencies (or if we're talking winter I prefer the term Iceberg Hugger - but we're talkin trees here) I definitely feel out of sorts here in Toronto. It's not that the city doesn't do great things for the environment, but it's definitely not as much of a focus as I am used to, and what I think it should be. So not only am I making the personal pledge to do more (yes you can always do more) but thunderpeep is going green too. Not only that, I'm also pledging to do more to remind the world why the human

As of January 1st I'm switching over from the great FSC papers I've been using to a 100% Post Consumer Waste card stock for cards and any paper products will be printed on a wheat/fibre mix paper (yes I said wheat paper). Envelopes are going to eventually all be the awesome new brown bag envelopes you may have noticed I used for the Holiday cards. 100% recycled and 20% post consumer waste material. I won't be using anymore coloured envelopes. Cards sleeves are a necessary evil but I've found some that are actually certified compostable. What??!!! Yesssssssssss! So excited. All these things are great and I'm so happy with the move, but it will also bring a slight price increase, but that won't come into effect until February 1st. So head over to the online shop and stock up at the old prices ;)

I'm really excited to launch the first new collection of 2015. I'm feeling a lot of love lately. I've been spending a lot of time with some great friends and well, this single lady has a very fun new secret crush, all of which has led to some very fun new lovey cards (you know I don't really like to use that Vday word ). All this love and going green led to the naming of the new collection, The 50 Shades of Green collection. I know right! So Excited. These cards are a bit more sweet than saucy. That's just how I'm feeling these days. And they are the first cards to come out with the whole Tree Hugger treatment. I'm aiming to fully launch them the week of January 5th to give you lot's of time to get some for your special friends.

Lastly, my trip to Iceland has been postponed. But don't be sad, I'm sure not. You're going to be super excited when you hear the travel plans I have instead. And just between us, I'm now aiming to spend next New Years in Iceland so that'll still totally happen.

Oh yeah, I'm also dubbing 2015 as the year of the Trolls.

More to come…. How about you? What are your big plans for 2015?

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