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made by me

after posting my snail mail to emma, today i’m sharing my mail for gracie.

gracie had asked for a picture of a person making cookies. i immediately thought i would do a french baker and have a little story for him. i named him monsieur gaston and his story is that he’s a baker in paris who has to make beacoup de cookies, cupcakes and cakes for a big fashion designer’s 50th birthday party. he’s writing to gracie to ask for her help to do some of the baking.

i made 2 cutouts on this card for some extra fun- the top cupboard door opened to show what’s inside, as well as the oven door, to see the cookies baking inside.

have a look below. that’s all for now.
laura.

gracie's card

laura's card

gracie's card
gracie's card

gracie's card
gracie's card
gracie's card
gracie's card
gracie's card

my mommy cousin, kristy, recently told me how her girls needed some practice with their writing. i decided to make them each a little story card on a topic they had requested in passing last time i saw them.

emma, the cooky kid she is, asked for a picture of a desert. i’m guessing she has learned something in school, or on tv about deserts so her imagination is running wild.

as plain as deserts are, this was quite the challenge for me. as you’ll see below, drawing camels isn’t really my thing. i used 2 sheets of cardstock from michaels, my favourite black ink pens from dollarama, and plenty of pencil crayons. i started off with getting the basic shapes down and slowly filling them in with colour and some extra detail.

i wrote a little story about my camel, who i named clara. after having drawn her with 2 humps, i did some research and found out that the 2 hump camels apparently only live in china and mongolia, so i worked that in to the story. i had clara the camel go on a little adventure with her donkey friend into the mountains; i made sure to look up the animals who live in the area to be accurate (not that an 8 year old would know). this was just meant to be a starting point to get emma thinking about a kind of story she could write.

once the pieces were done, i stapled them together, licked the envelope shut and sealed it with a stamp. now i’m waiting to get some snail mail back from emma.

stay tuned for my snail mail to gracie!
laura.

emma's card

emma's c

emma's card
emma's card
emma's card
emma's card
emma's card
emma's card
emma's card
emma's card
emma's card
emma's card

my cousin kaitlin is getting married this september and she asked me to do the design work for her big day. she came to me for something hand-lettered, fun and floral. she knew she wanted to work the colour navy into the design, but everything else was pretty much decided as we went.

step 1 was hand-lettering, and lots of it. i always start my sketching with a black ink pen in my sketchbook, then photograph the sketch with my iPhone, send it to myself and photoshop the sketch. once i clean it up to my liking, i take it in to illustrator and make it a vector image so it’s scaleable. from here, it’s time to play with colour, layout and adding actual fonts to get the design down.

below are just some of the doodles i worked on while sketching out the concept. stay tuned to see the final product.

laura.

kaitlin + jason monogram
kaitlin + jason
kaitlin + jason
kaitlin + jason
kaitlin + jason
kaitlin + jason
kaitlin + jason
kaitlin + jason

the ouc home & garden show has come and gone. it was lots of work to prep for, set up, and get the design pieces done ahead of time, but was definetly a success.

i got to go home to ottawa for the weekend to see the show, as well as to celebrate my sister’s birthday. i packed light, so i have some iphone shots to share with you today!

welcome to the show! my dad cut out these wooden signs for the entrance, then my mom painted them to coordinate with the poster i had done for advertising.

The Home & Garden Show
This Way

the church was selling flowers and plants from laportes in ottawa as a fundraiser. they were so popular they sold out.

ouc flowers
ouc flowers

i set up the display for my dad’s woodcrafts. he is a cabinetmaker by trade, and has recently spent his spare time making birdhouses, drink caddies, letter trains and toy cars. have a look at the photos of his product. he is the most talented dude i know- tradesmen are just so skilled! i even picked up a birdhouse for myself- white with a copper roof made with my grandfather’s copper.

dean weatherston woodcrafts
dean weatherston woodcrafts
dean weatherston woodcrafts
dean weatherston woodcrafts
dean weatherston woodcrafts

i designed the first business card my dad has ever had for this show. his talent and word-of-mouth has always been enough for him to work with. they are super simple, but the great thing is that they’re printed by cards of wood on real oak. i thought this was a great touch for him since wood is the main material of everything he makes!

i also ended up selling some of the goodies my friend steph and i used to make when we were both living in ottawa. we had a registered business called lou&lau after our childhood nicknames, and sold at craft shows. we hand-silkscreened on american apparel tees, tanks and hoodies, as well as made jewellery using new and vintage material. check out some photos of my little table setup i snapped with my iphone .

laura weatherston
laura weatherston
laura weatherston
laura weathers ton

the last of the lou&lau merch, as well as dean weatherston‘s woodcrafts will be on sale june 14th from 10am-4pm at the parkdale united church in ottawa. 429 parkdale avenue.

hope to see you there!

 

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over the past couple years i’ve seen many drawing challenges on my facebook feed, as well as on pinterest.

this year for my cousin’s twin girls, emma and gracie, i decided i’d make up my own drawing challenge for their eighth birthday. they are always getting me to draw with them when i’m home visiting, so i thought this would be a hit.

it’s always fun for me to come up with a creative gift idea that doesn’t break the bank- but one of the best parts of this for me was the packaging. i hand-lettered a card for each of the thirty days and wrapped every day separately. for thirty days, they will be unwrapping a new drawing challenge.

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this was day 2 | emma’s self-portrait

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and gracie’s self-portrait – she’s got a picasso vibe going on with this one.

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to finish off the gift, i got them their very own eco jot sketchbooks that i am so find of.
wrap them all up in my pam garrison paper from papayaart.com

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a few months back, i was back at home in ottawa for the weekend. i spent the weekend crafting with my mom ramping up for the upcoming craft sale my parents church is putting on. my mom had pulled out her scrapbook paper and some old comic books so we tested out a new diy project of blocks for the kiddos.

my dad rounded up some scrap wood and cut us some 2-inch blocks we used as a base. we then used mod podge to glue on the paper we cut out. to finish them off, we brushed on some acrylic paint around the edges to give the blocks a vintage look. take a look.

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super easy diy and fun way to spend the afternoon. if you’re in ottawa, be sure to check out the home & garden show, may 24 at 9am until noon at the orleans united church! 1111 orleans boulevard.

oh, and i also made the poster to advertise. mark your calendars!

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well the bazaar has come and gone and it was a huge success! i’m so happy it all went off without a hitch. i saw how much work my parents put into it, let alone all the other members of the church who have been busy like santa’s elves making crafts for months.

here’s a few photos i took while setting up on the friday and then again at the bazaar on saturday.

can’t wait to see what they come up with next year!
laura



pet shop booth: this mouse-cat-dog-combo display comes from a museum in ottawa. how much do you love the pet tie?



birch tree candle holders at the christmas booth. these sold out right away!


look whooo got a gift card for christmas! owl gift card sleeves that i’m obsessed with.

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tutus for all the little kiddos. they were quite the hit!

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goofing around with my little cousins emma and gracie.


i made letter templates for bunting banners for every booth. my mom and all her bazaar lady elves stitched them all together.

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i scored this antique washboard from a man’s mother in new brunswick and these antlers from the vintage booth.

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handmade wooden toy cars made by my old man.

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ornament hangers to jazz up your tree. i designed the packaging.

corkboardcreative_oucbazaar06upcycle booth: so many caddies made from old wood. some even use grillwork leftover from a job my dad did at the governor general’s home.

the time has come to start designing the 2013 gift guide for trove!

i pitched  the concept of a gift guide two holiday seasons ago as a change from the regular newsletters i design for trove. the owners at trove, carolyn and barbara, loved the idea that it could be made into an online flipbook (sadly for me, no real printed copies).

i’m just ramping up to start the gift guide for 2013 and can’t wait to see what goodies make it in to the book. in the meantime, check out a few pages from the 2012 guide below.

check back in december when the guide is ready for your little elf eyes!

trove 2012 gift guide

only 43 days until christmas… get your shopping lists ready!

laura

only one week to go until the big orleans bazaar which means my parents have me working away on all the last minute pieces they need to be designed- posters, price tags, extra signage, you name it, we’re on it!

below is a few of the pieces i’ve just completed. posters for volunteer recruitment, bazaar goals and additional booth signage. come out in person and see them all together!

grab a coffee & friend for some christmas shopping next weekend, november 16 from 9am-2pm at 1111 orleans boulevard for bits of baking, carefully crafted items, vintage finds and much more!

i think i will be personally offended if this event isn’t a big success (no pressure).
hope to see you there!

bazaar volunteer recruitment

bazaar 2013 goals
bazaar signage