Author: avery

Covet Garden’s Holiday Gift Guide on Etsy

fidoodleblocks
My pals at Covet Garden are featured tastemakers on Etsy. They’ve put together a few different collections of their favourite finds, including one called Holiday 2013 Gift Guide.  The best part is, every item in their gift guide collection is under $50. I love that they included the winter blocks by Toronto-based Fidoodle (pictured above).  Clara already has two Fidoodle wooden block sets, and I would love to add these ones into the mix!

They’re adding more items often, so click the “follow” button to get updates as the gift guide grows.

Love in NY

harry-met-sally

Confession time. I love the movie When Harry Met Sally.  And one of my favourite parts of the movie is the little interstitial bits, where real-life couples tell their stories of falling in love.

One of my blog readers, James, emailed me last week with a link to Tales of Woo, a video series of real New Yorkers telling their stories of meeting and falling in love. It’s like a real version of When Harry Met Sally. Wonderful.

Thanks for sharing James – I really enjoy Tales of Woo.

20×200 is back online!

kitehill

firstsnow

Well, kind of.  20×200 is dead hibernating and the team behind it has just launched You Should Buy Art, a similar site that’s in beta while the new 20×200 is being worked on. You can jump over there right now and get some very affordable art that was leftover from 20×200’s demise. Like Christian Chaize’s Praia Piquina or Sharon Montrose’s adorable Baby Deer. I’d love to have both Kite Hill and First Snow by Paul Octavious, pictured above.

Looks like they’re not shipping to Canada though. Boo.

You Can Rent a weeHouse in Ontario or Upstate New York

GeorgianBayweeHouse1

GeorgianBayweeHouse2

Ian and I have a dream of one day owning a shack in the woods. Some place we can escape to in order to get away from the city. We both LOVE the idea of a prefab, modular, modern building – one that is simple and features a lot of windows, so as to not compete with the nature around it. I was playing around on Alchemy Architects’ weeHouse website, and noticed that there are TWO weeHouses that are for rent within an easy drive of Toronto. (!!!) One is on Georgian Bay, and one is on Seneca Lake (which is where we visited around this time last year, on our upstate New York / Finger Lakes getaway). I’m bookmarking both of these for summertime rentals. The hard part is… which one to choose?  =)

[images of Georgian Bay/Cawaja Beach weeHouse Modern Cottage via their rental listing]

Make/Design/Shoot in Toronto – A Guide

Make Design Shoot - Toronto Guide

The awesome team at 4ormat has put together a PDF guide for Toronto newbies who are here to make, design, or shoot (aka creative and nerdy types).  Of course, I can think of more stuff that isn’t included, but overall, I think they’ve done a great job with the guide.

4ormat also makes an online magazine for the creative community called Explore Create Repeat. I subscribe by email, and look forward to a new article every Monday.

You Need to Watch This.

chalkboard

Designers, creatives, heck, anyone who wants to do any kind of work with integrity:  You need to watch this.

And then maybe afterwards, you’ll write something on your chalkboard wall to remind you, like I did (pictured above).

PS – I know I’m bordering on “inspirational poster” territory here, which is disgusting. but I seriously buy into this one.

Time to Start Thinking About Ordering Holiday Cards

holidaycards

Yep, it’s that time of year again. It’s chilly outside. Thanksgiving is passed (here in Canada, anyway) and Halloween is around the corner. And I’ve started thinking about Holiday Cards.  You know I love making personalized photo Holiday Cards online, and my go-to spot is Tiny Prints.  Three years ago my order got held up at the border (which is a problem with customs, not with the supplier) so Tiny Prints quickly reprinted the order and sent me replacement cards with expedited shipping, at no extra cost. Now that’s customer service.

I was poking around Tiny Prints’ website, checking out the new designs for 2013. I love the ornament cards, pearl white shimmer and doublethick matte paper cards, and clear cards (how cool is that?). It’s also super cool that Tiny Prints has cards by designers I love, like Dwell Studio, Lotta Jansdotter and Rifle Paper Co (remember these ones I made two years ago with a Rifle Paper Co design? Swoon.)

Of course, one of the most important choices is which photo to use on your cards. We’ll probably do a little family photo shoot in the next week or so (my brother-in-law takes excellent photos). And then I’ll have to make my choice! Right now my favourite cards are the ones pictured above:

1. Shining String ornament card
2. Yuletide Cheer flat card
3. Pure Snowflakes clear card
4. Gleeful Glitter ornament card
5. Blissful Blizzard tri-fold
6. Golden Holiday flat card
7. Merry Snow Globe ornament card

I promise to let you know which one I pick, and how they turn out!  PS – if you’re having trouble picking a design, you can get 3 free samples to help you choose. Use promo code 3FREESAMPLES for that deal.