Four things I wanted to tell you

Lotta Anderson featured in Blueprint

First of all Bradley's reaction to my living room "reveal" was very good, I think he said "holy smokes!" and loved it. The place is feeling much homier these days with just a bit of sorting, cleaning and lots and lots of painting.

The second thing that I wanted to tell you is that I picked up the September/October Blueprint and found an article about Lotta Anderson (of Lotta Jansdotter). I'm a big fan, as I'm sure many of you are as well so I thought you might like to know. I scooped up a copy and am so inspired by the stylish and artistic decor in her home and her work space in particular. The pendant lamp in her living room is exactly what I had in mind for our living room:

Lotta's living room featured in Blueprint

Now I just have to find it. If anyone knows somewhere in Toronto that stocks them please let me know!

Thirdly, I was surprised yesterday to find some clothes at Gap Body made with Liberty fabric! They also had some headbands and hair elastics with flowers also from Liberty fabric. I bought a nightie made with the gorgeous (poorly photographed) pattern above.

And finally our bathroom is not ready for a "reveal" but is dramatically improved so I'll give you some glimpses. First of all, here are some snaps of the "before". There was a bulky melamine cabinet over the toilet, bright yellow walls and matching shower curtain, with peeling paint revealing a Pepto-Bismol pink layer of paint underneath. There was a caramel colour shelf along one wall, and we put up a plain mirror temporarily. There is also an old washing machine and very old clawfoot tub. I love the clawfoot tub but it will need a bit of work - more on that in a later post.First of all we replace the box flourescent fixture with a simple round flushmount. Then we painted the walls cil's "wedding white" which I think is the perfect white, not too creamy/yellow and not too cool/stark. Very similar (I can't tell the difference from the chip) to Benjamin Moore's "swiss coffee". We removed the extra shelving on the walls throughout and lots of odd hooks that were stuck on the walls to hold clothes drying lines, etc. The shower curtain and red rug are from IKEA. We also installed a nice new chrome towel bar and toilet roll holder.
After a surprising amount of effort we finally found a medicine cabinet we liked, this one is from Home Sense. I'd like to add a glass handle to it later, but it has a nickle one now that is perfectly fine. And finally, the nice plain wall over the toilet (that's right I'm showing you a picture of our toilet). We may add artwork here later but for now it's nice to have an uncluttered wall. The cabinet that was there seemed to kind of be looming if you know what I mean. For storage there's a linen closet in the hallway - a new luxury for us! So I can pretend I'm a minimalist...Still to do: window curtains, new plumbing for the tub (it leaks and has old wonky brass piping), including a new tub faucet (the old one is chrome laminate and a bit peely) a new showerhead, and a new pedestal sink/faucet to replace a melamine vanity. Also we'd like to do new flooring and install a new washer/dryer (there isn't really another place in the house to put them.) Finally if possible I love the look of beadboard wainscotting and light sconces - but we'll have to see how we do with the budget!

Read more...

Changing rooms

Bradley went camping this weekend, so I decided to surprise him with a mini "Changing Rooms" in our front room. The bathroom needs the most work, but I can't do a lot of the work myself, so that will have to wait. Aside from the bathroom, the front room was the least appealing.

First of all the walls were covered with the drab caramel colour and I think it made the room look darker and smaller than it needed to be. As you will see we had a lot to ask from our front room since the house is a little bungalow with only 1 bedroom and the front room is the largest room in the house. Please also note the eyesore of a box on the wall which covers the electrical panel and is made from fake wood laminate. Ick! Here's a before picture:
We'd unpacked most of our things so that we wouldn't have stacks of boxes everywhere, so at the start of the weekend this is what the room looked like:
The first thing I did was paint the walls in the same creamy colour as the hallway. It was an instant transformation! I still have another coat to do, but it's good enough for the "reveal". The bookcases will have to be sorted and possibly rearranged or replaced with taller ones, but for now, here's the "later" of the dining area:
I also re-covered the chairs with a 1950s vintage barkcloth fabric. It's a little whimsical but I think it works with the style of the furniture (the table also has a removable leaf not shown). The dining set was a craigslist find for $100 - the original chair covers were bright orange, then recovered (not very well) with four different colours and the fabric was dirty. So that was a big improvement. Here's a detail of the chairs, and the wicker ottomen/boxes that we're using as a coffee table, they also hold all our dvds.This front room is also the living room, so here's a view of the living room area with our couch. As you can see the electrical box is now painted out to match the walls and it's much less noticeable. There's still some blue painter's tape showing because the trim isn't painted yet. Hey it was only one weekend! I wish I'd had Linda Barker or Anna Ryder Richardson helping me out. And ideally Laurence Llewelyn Bowen would be the host as he was in the later episodes of Changing Rooms, he is so funny and witty.
And last but not least, this overworked room is also my studio. Of course I work on the dining room table as well. Another craigslist find was an art deco style secretary desk in a similar style to the one I already had. They only wanted $50 for it (which as you can imagine had me in a tizzy begging Bradley to rent a van and help me go get it immediately before they changed their minds). The desk was originally in a sorry state though. It was painted orange (in a very patchy way) and the lattice mullions were on the outside of the doors and warped and broken. Also the veneer was peeled away from one of the drawers (also in a very patchy way) and so there was a lot of work to do. But now the two desks look pretty similar. My old one still holds all my art supplies, and the new one has sewing and crafts things.
So that's the big reveal - you're getting a sneak peek because even Bradley hasn't seen it yet. He's getting home in around three hours so I can't wait to show him! I hinted that I had done some work in the house but wasn't specific. Ideally he will cover his mouth and get teary, then say "oh my god" several times. Then he'll start pointing out all the great new features and make comments such as: "is this really our house??" and "I can't believe it, it looks so different!" and "look at our new chair covers!" etc. Well we'll see.

Read more...

New house

Things are going well so far, we love our new house (especially our lovely deck and garden - we have a rose-of-sharon tree which is flowering now and a forsythia that has bright yellow flowers in the spring) but we've been swamped with things we want to fix up.

First of all I could. not. live with the flourescent light fixtures, so those are all gone now. I think they had some extra cold "let's do surgery!" style tubes in them, and it was really depressing. We've also been doing unpacking, painting, cleaning, clearing out some things that were left behind and even a little bit of demolition. There's still so much to do but I thought I'd share some of what we're doing with "before" and "later" pictures, although there aren't quite any "after"s yet!

The first wall to get painted was in the bedroom. Here's the before:It's a tiny room, just big enough for our bed, side table, pax and bureau, and the dark blue was definitely not the right colour to make it look spacious. I love our little wooden bed, and even though we've just primed the walls it already looks lots better. Here's the "later" picture:The hallway and front living/dining room were both a caramel colour that was also too dark. It wasn't doing much for our long hallway. The hall closet doors were pretty terrible, one of them was only half height, with a bit of curtain tacked on the bottom. Both of them were thick and awkwardly attached so that they swayed in and out of the alcove. Here's the "before" picture. I painted the hallway a nice creamy white colour (cil "chalk"), and already it's looking much sunnier. We also added a new light fixture to replace the flourescent light, and that made a huge difference. Once the right sized bifold doors arrive, they'll all get painted white to match the trim and will fit neatly into the alcoves. The bureau will also tuck inside the cupboards once we remove the old chest freezer that was left behind. This is the "later" picture:The kitchen cupboards are icky fake wood laminate and the cabinet by the doorway seemed to jut out and we'd both hit our heads on it. We thought it made the kitchen have a bit of a crowded feeling and we actually have tons of cabinets - much more storage than we had before. The "before" picture:So we took out the cupboards by the doorway entirely - ahh! space! I read in a magazine that every kitchen should have one bare wall and it really does make a difference. It feels more like a room and less like a tunnel of cabinets.And I primed and painted two of the cupboards. I like the way it looks - so I'll be doing all of them. They're odd custom sizes so we'd have to replace them entirely otherwise and that's not at the top of our wish list. I also made some swiss dot type sheer curtains. Here's a "later" picture:So that's all I'm going to show you for now. The craft/art studio is in the front room so I'll be sharing that too when it's in better shape!

Read more...

Leaving home

Today we're closing on the purchase of our new house. And for some reason I felt like saying goodbye from our old home. I can't wait to show you our new house - especially the new arts & crafts "studio" (which will still have to be a corner of another room). The old sewing corner is now completely dismantled and in boxes. It's chaos here right now!

For the last few weeks I've been trying to clear things out, and sort through all our things, rethinking things I've been holding on to for years. We also acquired a few new bits and pieces, some different furniture, and things we never used to need such as chairs for our backyard. It's been so much fun imagining how we want our home to be, with a fresh start and a bit of extra room. But mainly it's been about letting things go.

So it doesn't make any sense that I bought this mug recently at Goodwill. I didn't need it but when I tried to put it down it kept sitting on the shelf looking like something I already own and should remember to take home with me. I've added it to my secretary desk which is the last thing I have left to pack up, since it's full of the things I use every day. I love the brown layers of glaze at the bottom, the pretty oak leaves and acorns but most of all those two sweet owls. I hope they like the new house!

Read more...

7 Random Things About Me

I got tagged a while ago by Khadija and didn't get around to it (until now). I think I was thinking about it too much. So here it is, finally,

7 Random Things About Me

1. I am hooked on Bubbleblaster. When I'm planning my day in the morning I play Bubbleblaster and kind of space out and make mental lists. I like video games where you don't have to think and can just stack and group things which then disappear with a satisfying little noise. This is why the only game I ever played before Bubbleblaster was Tetris - it took a long time to wean myself off that! Then Bradley introduced me to Bubbleblaster.2. One of my all-time favourite shows is "To the Manor Born". It used to be on Tuesdays at lunchtime when I first started freelancing and I would actually run and turn the t.v. on. I even wrote it in my datebook so I wouldn't miss it. It's not on anymore but Bradley bought the dvd for me. In case you didn't know, it's a 1970s British sitcom about a widow who is forced to sell her estate after her husband's death and continues to live nearby. It's hard to explain why, but the bossy main character is just so funny and lovable.
3. My children's book illustration hero is Beatrix Potter. I think her artwork is magical, and have ever since I was very little and was captivated by Squirrel Nutkin and Miss Tiggywinkle. When the movie "Miss Potter" came out I rushed to see it. I thought it was so beautiful and generally wonderful that I actually got teary.4. I'm a sugar addict. I love cupcakes, what am I saying, all cake, cookies, puddings (all kinds), pie, jam, fruit, ice cream and chocolate bars. Preferably with some kind of nuts and/or caramel. I'm the person over the age of 9 that still wants cotton candy when I go to theme parks.
5. I love small kits. Compact containers with little things in them that are useful. I once bought the survival sardine can at a camping store. It's a sealed sardine can with everything you need in a survival situation, such as firestarting cube, matches, hook for fishing, small candy (to keep the spirits up (see #4) and string, etc. I had to open it up, and then added a miniature copy of The Arabian Nights so I would have something to read and resealed it all in a small tupperware container.
6. I read all the time. I'm currently reading "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and I have to say I'm a bit shocked. Not because it's shocking now, so to speak, but I keep imagining what they must have thought of it in 1928. Incidentally because I'm a children's book illustrator I don't put any racy content on my blog. So if you're a parent you don't need to worry.
7. I collect bird stamps. I started collecting stamps when I was little, then stopped for around 27 years. Then recently I found a collection of used bird and flower stamps at Goodwill. I loved the vintage illustrations and I bought a couple of lots on ebay. I don't mind if they're used stamps so it's very inexpensive. I spent a few evenings soaking stamps to peel off the bits of envelope on the backs and it took me right back to cosy times doing the same thing while sitting at our kitchen table when I was little. This post has some pictures of some of my favourites.

Read more...

Flea market apartment

After: the curves on the backs are my favourite detail of the dining chairs

Lately I've been doing a lot of furniture collecting and refinishing for our new house. It's funny how with each move I've felt the need to upgrade. After buying a condo suddenly my old wooden IKEA $129 couch just wasn't good enough. This time we actually have enough room to have a living/dining room and I thought it would be nice to have some dining chairs instead of the kitchen style table and chairs we have now. Also our loft bed is staying in the condo and we needed a new bed.

The first (and actually necessary) thing I found was a nice vintage wooden bed on craigslist. Most of our things are secondhand things I found there and then refurbished. I love it because it's like citywide swapping - I also sold some things we didn't want anymore. The bed was such a find because I really wanted a Victorian cottage style bed with turned posts. It just turned out that the only one I could find in that style was only $50 - such a bargain.

Before: doesn't look that great but has potential!

It's a nice solid hardwood, but was painted a heavy dark blue colour. I sanded it (just a bit - it's such a chore) and primed and painted it a creamy white. Now I love it! (You can see the finished bed in the background of the chair pictures.)

Before: I wanted to show the chairs looking terrible, so you can see how much they were transformed!

The second thing we found were some dining chairs that needed a little work - also $50. When we arrived to pick them up the woman told us she had two more that we could have for $15. She had tried to remove the arms and they were a bit of a mess. So now we have a nice matching set of four! They had a yucky pink plush on the seats, also the wood wasn't great, so I sanded, primed and painted them a very pale grey. Then I reupholstered them in a light tan linen type fabric. Now I love them.
This kind of upholstery is so easy. The seat is usually held in place with four screws at the back, after you remove the base, take off the old fabric by prying out the staples or nails (or get your husband to do it while he is watching Dr. Who - thank you Bradley!). Then add your new fabric on top and staple it in place snugly, going from side to side. The only tricky part is folding the corners so that they look neat - it's really trial and error and remember it's ok if it looks a bit messy on the back because it doesn't show once the seat is reattached.

Finally for the bedroom I've reupholstered a small piano bench my parents gave me several years ago. I don't have a "before" picture - it was a charming bamboo and monkey print but in colours that didn't match anything else.I love this new elegant fabric I found on Queen West, it's white linen with bamboo details.They didn't actually have any left, and I was so disappointed but I loved the fabric so I bought the sample pieces from them (for $1!) thinking I could make a cushion at least. It turned out the sample squares were folded so there were two rectangles, one of which was just enough - without a centimetre to spare - to cover the bench. And another piece leftover for a cushion. I used a plain cotton underneath since linen is a bit transparent. Also, it's meant for occasional use only, so the fabric didn't need to be extra sturdy.

So that's what I've been up to, and why our place is looking like a flea market. You know, the kind where you're worried you're going to knock something over. But in 3 weeks everything will be moved into our new little house!

Read more...

Bird sketches

I just finished a new series of bird illustrations, this time done in pencil. At the risk of sounding odd, I was excited to rediscover the 3B pencil. I got into the habit of using a 2B because it doesn't smudge as much, but the softer pencils do shading beautifully, and you can get nice dark black tones as well. The image above is the layout I decided on for greeting cards that I'm planning to have printed today.

In case anyone is interested and doesn't know, the typical yellow pencil that everyone commonly uses is the HB. But artists generally prefer a softer lead, the larger the number in the B range, the softer the lead is. Ie, 6B is a very very soft drawing pencil, nice for shading and can create very dark black shadows. It also smudges very easily (can be good or bad depending on what you want) and the lead can also break more easily and need frequent sharpening. The H pencils get harder as the number goes up, so for example a 3H pencil may be good for drafting where you want light clean lines, no smudging and no need for dark shading.
This one is the Eastern kingbird.
This is the Tufted titmouse. He's my favourite. Not my all-time favourite bird, which is the robin, but my favourite in this series.
This one is the Yellow warbler.
And finally, a goldfinch.

Read more...

Cutie Mary Blair coaster set project

This is a little project I just finished which is very easy - anyone can do this for sure. I started out with an old coaster set from Goodwill. It had a plain wooden box and all the coasters had the same Kate Greenaway illustration. I love Kate Greenaway, but this particular image was a little bland, and also they were all the same.
I found my new illustrations from an old Golden Book anthology. Before you are horrified, please note the very bad condition of this book! (Still hard to cut the pages though). The reason I used a book rather than illustrations of my own are because I needed something professionally printed that wouldn't get damaged if it got a little damp. I wanted to be able to actually use the coasters!The next step was to trace the coaster onto a piece of white paper, then cut out the rounded square shape. This gives you a little window so you can frame the exact part of the illustration you want to have on the top of your coaster. After you have determined the placement you can trace an outline in pencil then cut it out. I find that it's best if you make it slightly larger than the coaster, then trim the image once it's attached to the coaster.
I attached the images to each coaster with a little pva glue. I found this kind of glue at an art shop, but other glues would probably work. The tricky part is to brush on enough glue so that your picture adheres everywhere, but not so much that it ends up wrinkled. Try doing a small amount first, then if it's not enough gently lift the paper up and reapply a bit more glue. I found the best amount is the amount you would apply if you were painting the coaster. I didn't add glue to the top of the image - this isn't decoupage - you don't want damp glue on the bottom of your drink!

Finally I primed the wooden box and painted that white. If you already have the glue, an old book you can cut up and some paint, this project can be very cheaply done. I only spent $1.99 at Goodwill for the old coaster set. And look how cute the finished set is!
These illustrations are by the wonderful Mary Blair. Look to vintage Golden books if you'd like to see lots of lovely illustrators. I found some other stories in the book illustrated by Garth Williams, and some by Richard Scarry. It inspired me to see earlier work by these artists (and cheered me up). Just a reminder that most artists aren't overnight successes.

Read more...

Updating the shop!

I thought I would try out this new Etsy Mini feature, here are some of the things in my shop!

Etsy Buy Handmade clairelmilne

Read more...

Jewellery making weekend

I had such a nice day today going for one of our loooong weekend walks. We went to look at some bike shops for Bradley, and I got to visit Arton Beads, Romni Wool, Fresh Collective and Red Pegasus. I found a notebook with a vintage bird illustration on the cover at Red Pegasus (and covetted some silver acorn earrings). I also bought a beautiful skirt at Fresh Collective and lots of beading supplies at Arton. Starting last night, I've been making jewellery once again and I've been putting new things in the shop.This time I also did the photography outside, which of course is much better light and the colours are truer. On the way home I collected stray leaves and twigs to use as backdrops.I go through weeks where I just don't feel like creating, then suddenly I'll get inspired and I can't stop! Lately it's been busy in a good way, because I've also been working on my Scholastic book and I really like how it's turning out. I wish I could share my pictures, but I have to wait until the book is published in the fall.

Read more...