Out and about in the big city...

Sunday and Monday I went to a Floral Design talk/show in Vancouver

with my boss and another co-worker.

It's a treat to take a trip back to a city where I lived for about 5 years.

I did some schooling there at BCIT for a horticulture program.

Admittedly it was a tough and lonely time for me living

there, trying to make a life,  single motherhood but of course

things all worked out as they should in the end.

I still enjoy getting a hit of the big city especially when you get to share it

with a few friends. We had SO much fun together and even got

a bit silly at times...that's what happens when the country mice visit the city!

Aside from the business end of things we did get to trip around the streets, 

went out for a great meal, saw some good, saw some bad, even saw 

some wildlife of the city kind...raccoons and skunks oh my!

One store I love to check out is called Yokoyaya...it's the sister

store of Daiso, a Japanese discount store. Not quite a dollar store. 

A bit better quality in my opinion.

Picked up a few little bits and bobs like these great waterproof 

fabric buckets...

I'm always in need of storage in the studio and these will work out perfectly...

Since I love sending letter in the old fashioned way...stamps and all, I 

found a few things to make the envelopes more interesting...

 
Sometimes the translations are fun to read...useful AND cute!

I've been searching for thin black wire for several projects regarding my sculptures...sorted!

I also found this sweet little box of addition flash cards for kids but I bought it, again for
storage, but was pleasantly surprised at the illustrations...

 
...I mean who doesn't love 8 flying raccoons with scarves and flags?!...

Or 12 floating elephants?!!...

One other shop that I love is Saje.
They make the most beautifully packaged essential oil products.
The key word is the word 'essential'.
I find essential oils indeed ESSENTIAL to my health and well being.
Aromatherapy equals many things to me.
Well being, relaxation, sleep aid, you name it, it helps me deal with so many things.
I think Neroli, an oil from northern India is one of my favourites
so I picked up a bottle at Saje. It can be hard to find.
It's only 20% pure Neroli because of it's strength...

I also picked up a bottle of a combination scent called Yoga which
has such a calming effect.
Like I said...their packaging is so pretty...

that's about it for my big city report....till next time!

New in the shop today...

 Presenting Miss Hazel the field mouse.

wordless wednesday...

Isn't She grand?!...

                      

                         I went for a visit/workshop at my friend Gillian's house the other day.
(oh, and yummy apple crisp and tea!)

She's a textile artist extraordinaire!

     She makes gorgeous slippers and throws (not to mention a million other things!)

out of up cycled wool sweaters and blankets...

She also does Eco dying with leaves.

This is a printing process using leaves on fibre and adding mordants.

If you want a more detailed idea of the process have a look at this website.
So the first thing you have to do is to soak your fibre in pure vinegar overnight.
We were using 12" wide strips of washed and shrunk pure wool blankets...

Next we places our leaves where we wanted....

We used feather and round eucalyptus (the grey green leaves), cotinus (the round purple leaves),

 alder cones and some native trailing blackberry...

Look at these sweet heart shaped eucalyptus!...

Next step is to roll up your bundle tightly and tie it well with string...

You can do it nice and neat or randomly. I'll show you why later...

All bundled up and ready for a nice hot bath...

Into the boiling water bath we go...if you add a piece of iron it affects the outcome of the colours.

We left our bundles boiling for about 3 hours...

Peeps break!

(Gillian's gorgeous boy!)

Out it comes, looking like a big grub...the bundle, not Peeps...

So have a look at this...

The feather eucalyptus leaves an amazingly distinct orange print.

The cotinus and native blackberry left beautiful purple dyes...

 and the alder cones left very dark brown, heavy imprints of itself...

Isn't nature fantastic?!

All of the incredible mysteries she holds...why orange from grey green leaves?

And purple from bright green leaves?

The faint round shape is from the round eucalyptus leaves that didn't really print,

 although I have seen many examples of it printing the same colour as the feather eucalyptus.

Could just be a different variety.

I really love the patterns and textures of the tie marks...

The second piece I dyed had much more iron in the pot and so made these beautiful

prominent patterns from the bundling string...

This piece I only used the feather eucalyptus...

I absolutely love the results!

I may add some embroidery or some needle felting to it...

For some reason I get a 'Japanese feel' to this...

May be a bag...may be a wall hanging...may be a pillow cover...but lovely just the same.

 The world around us is full of unending gifts and surprises.

I am blessed to be surrounded by creative, kindred spirits 

and the boundless offerings of nature herself.

Thanks Gillian for sharing yours!

You can find Gillian on Facebook...here and here

I love you just the way you are...

We had a customer at the flower shop that we were doing wedding flowers 

for and this is what the bride and groom to be pulled up in to pick up their arrangements...I grabbed my phone and started taking pictures...

So me, a girl who loves a classic car, wanted to know everything about it...

The man who owns it told me that the car originally came into his fathers automotive

shop for repairs. He bought it new off the lot in Victoria in 1945 and had it 

painted with his business logo and info at the same time...

I love so many things about this van...the simple phone #, the aged look of the paint, 

the grill, the lights. the history!

The current owner said he would never change a thing about it.

I said that you couldn't re create that look no matter how hard you tried.

These are original paint cans that the current owner of the car has been collecting over the years.

Same brand as the original owner use to use...

So then he told me how it came into his families hands...turns out over the years, the original

owner kept bringing it in for maintenance and when he retired from his business he offered

the mechanic the van for sale. The mechanic wanted to know how much he wanted for it...

"what I paid for it" says the guy..."$1,287.00".

Needless to say the mechanic bought it and in time handed it down to his son,

 who still drives it today.

How cool is that?!

She's a real beauty isn't she? 

Some things are just worth perfect the way they are.