Well this just sucks!

It's Monday morning and I feel like pouting. I can picture Mr. Hubby rolling his eyes as he reads this because it seems like complaining is one of my favourite pastimes lately. But seriously, I'm so cranky about our broken camera! I want to take pictures and post on my blog and I find that extremely difficult without a camera. I don't usually have a lot to say, but I love to show and tell!
For those of you thinking of buying a little point and shoot digital camera, DO NOT buy the Samsung DigiMax A400! I suppose we just got a lemon model, but it has caused us a lot of grief - enough for me to recommend passing up any of the Samsung products. It seems that the camera works fine when using it close to home, but for some strange reason it does not like to travel. A couple weeks after we bought the camera last fall we went to Punta Cana and the first day we arrived, the camera stopped focusing. Luckily we were there with friends who could give us doubles and take some extra photos for us. When we got home, we sent the camera back to the store and waited 3 long weeks only to get a phone call from their head office telling us that we must have mistreated the camera and that caused the focus to break. We were shocked and so incredibly angry. Harry phoned the company pronto and left a nasty message (Oh, I wish you could have heard it!) so that in a day someone phoned to apologize for making such assumptions and they would fix the camera. When we finally got the camera back it seemed to work great and I was relieved... until our next vacation. We had another instance of broken focus in Whistler and just last week when we went to Ontario where the camera refused to even turn on! Again the camera has been sent out and we must wait forever for the stupid thing to get fixed and sent back.

This is ridiculous and I am now convinced that I must take 2 cameras on every trip. My big clunky manual SLR (my loyal companion and has never let me down!) and the small unreliable but convenient digital camera. What a pain in the hibiscus! Why must the digital world be so unreliable? Why?

Now then. That is enough pouting. Onto another exciting Monday.

Doodles

We're back from holiday in good old Ontario. We had a wonderful time, full of relaxation, family fun, and delicious food which I will post about later. Unfortunately our camera had the biscuit which I will not go into right now because I am still fuming about all the horrible luck we have been having with it. But, as a result, I cannot post any pictures for you of my ongoing life and millions of projects on the go. So, instead, you will have to live with a week of scanned doodles and such.

I meant to post IF this week - the word is opposites. But I really wanted to work with this new scratchboard and an image in my mind inspired from two sources. First, the lighting and environment from this
photograph I found at Gayla Trail's blog. She makes the most beautiful photographs of Southwestern Ontario which make me truly homesick. Also, we spent an evening in Toronto last week and while walking down Queen Street, I got a kick out of all the girls done up to go club-o.

I didn't think subject matter lended much to the IF theme - although the process was quite opposite to my usual workflow. When working with scratch board you start out with a black canvas and use a sharp knife to scratch out the light areas. It really forces one to pay attention to the positive and negative of an image. I also found this to be a fun exercise in composition and light.

Illustration Friday {SkyLine}

I'm not sure where this image originated in my mind. I suppose it is my own version of Peter Pan...with children emerging from chimneys and floating fish whisking them off on some dream journey.

For some reason flying fish are starting to pop up everywhere in my work - I wonder what that could mean?

Happy Day!

The best summer weekend...



I had the most spectacular day yesterday and I really must tell you it was as wonderful as a bowl of fresh raspberries - which was also part of my weekend :) First, my Saturday began with a trip to Vancouver to get some art supplies along with a tasty breakfast at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. Delicious!



More fun stuff to add to my messy work table...



Then I headed to the spa for some serious pampering, all credit to Mr. Hubby for the perfect Anniversary gift. But he always knows exactly what to get me - I am so lucky! This trip included a magnificent facial and some twinkle toes to boot. Needless to say, I was glowing when I came home.



The evening was spent lounging in PJs, watching Coupling with my better half and embroidering some pretty peonies. For us homebodies, the evening couldn't get any better.


Today is all about the World Cup finals and the HBO series, Deadwood, later on this evening with some friends. I have the whole day to work on my Illustration and start getting ready for our trip to Ontario this Friday. I may get some chores done in between, but of course that is not the priority!

Why can't all weekends be this perfect?

You Grow Girl!

I WON!

I won the book from the craftsanity eco-project competition with my sweater therapy story. And now I will be getting the most excellent gardening book! And not only is it informative, creative and crafty - it's also written by a Canadian which makes the prize even sweeter. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival in my mailbox :)



Our patio garden is very pretty this year, but I have to admit we could do better. I'm not so hot at growing herbs so I'm looking forward to learning more about what types I should get for our patio and also how to save some extra cash when it comes to gardening.

We have geraniums (with enough sun I don't think it's possible to kill them...)



And some pretty daisies, lobelia, ageratum and bacopa. They all remind me of working in the greenhouse back in Ontario. Ah yes, southern ontario humidity and sweltering heat. And all that inside a greenhouse! Geez I miss that...not!



Oh, and in other exciting news, my good friend Wendy sent email today to announce that her sister's knitting pattern, Fetching, made it to the front page of the latest knitty magazine And of course, Wendy did all the photos and yes, they are spectacular. Cheryl created a beautiful pattern and I'm already thinking of what colour I'm going to knit them. Now there is a talented family!

Illustration Friday {Sticky}

Well now, don't we all enjoy a little bit of sticky bun once in awhile?

Trial Run

Last week I finally received my Amy Butler patterns! It took nearly 3 weeks to arrive and it looked like the package had been through a paper shredder with a nice little notice from the post office explaining that they were working on improving the handling quality of international packages. How thoughtful! Luckily the patterns weren't harmed too badly and I could still figure everything out.

I quickly began working on my trial run messenger bag - once again using the painters drop sheet as my material. I found making a bag easier than I had expected - just like the shoulder bag I completed last week. I do like this pattern, although I will make some adjustments when I make my final bag. For one thing, there is way too much velcro - everytime I try to open something or adjust it there is always an annoying velcro sound. Also, the bag is really thin - it will be great for library trips and large portfolios, but it really only holds a couple of them. I will probably shorten the length and fatten it up a bit. If I had a laptop, it would be the perfect size.





Also, I couldn't help but knit a flower pin. I found a pattern and quickly adjusted it to my liking. I also used my felted bead as the centre - so cute.It sort of finished off my attempt at the shoulder bag...





That's all for now, I'll be starting a trial run of my other pattern, the Chelsea Handbag, next week sometime. I hope it's as easy as the messenger bag!