i heart julie morstad (part 2)

After sharing my love of Julie Morstad's artwork I happened upon an exhibit of hers at Collage Collage. It was a beautiful collection of, fittingly, collages. A bonus was that they were also offering black & white prints made exclusively for the shop that are meant to be a diy colouring project.

I don't quite trust my colouring skills so I think it will stay as is which is just fine because it is really lovely as is.

I must mention that Collage Collage deserves its own "i heart" post all to itself. If you are in Vancouver your should make a trip there (and grab a coffee up the street at Le Faux Bourgeois). You can expect fun art supplies, beautiful books & magazines, stuffies for both big & little people, amazing art work, a beautiful aesthetic, classes and best of all this lovely lady.

winter cabin

This is where I would like to be holed away this winter season. With a wood burning stove indoors and snowy birch trees outdoors.

This illustration is on the inside cover of one of Alice's books, Hare and Guy Fawkes written by Alison Uttley and illustrated by Margaret Tempest. You can see more illustrations from the book here

i've been featured!

I am thrilled to share that my Etsy shop has been featured not once, but twice today!

• The first feature is on iGail. Abigail is a fellow Etsy seller and is generously highlighting other sellers on her blog. You can check out her cute shop here. 
• Secondly, I have been included in Etsy's Gifts Under $50 Guide. There are some amazing handmade goodies in the guide so you should check it out and get your holiday shopping started.

Speaking of the holiday season I must admit I'm starting to feel in the mood! I listened to an old This American Life Holiday Spectacular and all of a sudden it hit me! I got the urge to make Alice a Christmas stocking, pull out my decorations, turn on some Sufjan Stevens and of course bake some cookies. And it isn't even December! This is not like me but I think I like it.

Here are a few blog posts that are inspiring my mood:

• retro mama's partridge ornament tutorial
• domesticali's eco gift wrapping ideas
• wee wonderfuls' christmas wishes stitchettes
• sew mama sew's entire handmade holiday tutorial series

anyone else feeling the same way?

i heart julie morstad

I was recently reminded how much I love Julie Morstad's work. We finally framed some of our favourite pictures by her that we have been hoarding for a couple years now.

This series is from Julie's book Milk Teeth, a beautiful collection of her drawings. We bought two copies so we could keep one in tact and cut up and frame the other one. We went on a bit of a frenzy and put up three sets of her drawings around the house!

One of my favourite drawings in this book is also the cover art of one of my favourite albums: Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. This is such an intriguing picture by itself and it is even better as part of the series in the book. You should have a look for yourself.

Julie has also illustrated two children's books, written by Sara O'Leary, which I love. I can't wait until Alice is old enough to sit through them.

And finally I also have the ABC cards, which Mike bought for me as a birthday gift this year. I want to display them and really like Mi's idea to hang them by clips on a string in her daughter's room.

Obsessed? Maybe but who can blame me!

Obviously I'm not the only one who loves her work. Check out these articles for more information about Julie's work (here and here) and of course her own website is well worth the visit.

Enjoy!

the fall of the wall

Last month France's Royal de Luxe street theatre company performed "the berlin reunion" in commemoration of the Berlin wall falling twenty years ago this week. It was an amazing piece of theatre using puppets to tell the story of a giant and his niece, a little giantess, who had been separated by the wall. The giant had successfully destroyed the wall and reunited with the little giantess and they were now walking the streets of Berlin, together again.

This several-day performance took place in the streets of Berlin and drew 1.5 million people.

Take a look at some amazing photos from the event here. I hope you find them as magical as I do.

{link found via katie did}