etc.

I’ve had my mind on all things retro lately: the arts & crafts movement, art deco design & architecture, mid-20th Century pop-culture iconography. I’m not sure how this current preoccupation got started, all I know is that lately I find myself drawn to intense colours (teals, oranges, reds), clean lines, and wacky retro icons, like circles and sprockets. This is a first for me!

In the spirit of all things retro, I spent hours in Photoshop last night, installing fonts, playing with dingbats, designing suitably retro headers, and working out a colour scheme, the results of which are here. It feels ever so old school to me, as far as blog design goes that is, no drop-shadows, no rounded corners, and dotted borders even, how very 2002! I can’t stop looking at it at the moment but I know it’s one of those designs that I will become weary of quickly, so I will probably just revert back to the previous design with nary a word (this is actually the same theme, I simply updated the colours, images, and a few other CSS elements; this theme has good bones, which makes it pretty easy to tweak).

Here are a few places that provided inspiration and assistance by way of ideas, fonts and eye-candy:

• font diner (some excellent free fonts here)
• Fullmoon Graphics (great for web/graphic design resources)
• Misprinted Type
• Tack-O-Rama (a staple for free retro web design resources. Their dingbats rock my socks. And you don’t want to miss their design page.)
• Retrolounge (warning: time suck. Don’t visit unless you have a few hours to kill.)

A weary sort of day. I often jump into a short work-week full of vim and vigour, with a robust list of to-dos and the very best of intentions, but two short days in and I am burnt out. Shouldn’t four days off replenish your energy reserves? Shouldn’t I have some sort of storehouse of punch and spirit to carry me through a mere three-day week? One more day and a busy weekend to follow, with Crafternoon Tea on Saturday and Doors Open Toronto on Sunday. Punch? Spirit? Don’t fail me now!

I haven’t forgotten that I owe you Mailbox Chronicles Part II. I’m just poky.

Day four of my four-day weekend and the sun has finally decided to poke his head out, all warm and inviting (that’s the morning sun, over on the left, casting a shadow upon our living room wall of our bikes hanging in the porch).

Shall I weed and mulch to-day? Shall I sweep away the tree pollen and winter grime off the deck and get out the patio furniture? Shall I stroll up the street, stopping only to browse in the library to gather approriate sunny spring day reading, before settling in at a coffee shop patio with words and tea? Shall I head up to the studio and spend the next few hours sketching ideas for Plush You II softies? Shall I crack the spines on the five books I have from the library on the topic of distance education and pedagogy in an online environment?

There are things I want to do and things I should do, I’ve spent much of the morning in a state of indecision, performing mental somersaults and making deals with myself: first a should, then a want. Rinse, repeat.

Such masterful negotiating!

It is not, perhaps, the brightest thing to do to begin fussing with one’s blog template at 12 am, for it will surely lead to at least an hour of code and CSS wrangling, and then, before you know it, all potential for sleep has fled, and all you have to show for it is a couple of minor heading alterations and a larger font or two.

That is all, my PSA for the day. And now I am taking my book to bed with me, good night.

Floaty happy to-day. There isn’t a wisp of a cloud in the sky, the sun is high and bright, and there was enough of a nip in the air this morning to make the grass gleam and the sidewalks shimmer. Shimmering sidewalks! I got to campus so early that the rabbits were out, lazy and hoppy, gathering whatever it is they gather beneath the trees.

We’re going to San Francisco! Not at this very moment, but in a few short months! I have a conference to attend in Monterey this Fall (which, in itself, is exciting enough — it’s a conference I’ve always wanted to attend!) and the mister and I decided that we should make a trip of it and hop skip over to SF while we’re there and, oh! I’ve always wanted to go to San Francisco, so I am delighted! It won’t be for many days but I’ll take what I can get (and, hey! My favourite bag people have opened a store on Hayes street! Hip hip!).

I’m on the cusp, a few short hours away from the start of a long weekend with no plans other than to weed and mulch the garden and ready the deck for morning tea-drinking and newspaper reading. Four days off, it crept up on me! So, do forgive the purple prose and embarassment of exclamation points, would you? So happy, I’m lightheaded!

Guess what? I’ve already blogged more this month than I did in all of March & April. I feel like I’ve refound my blogging feet! And in good time for this site’s birthday (four years!), which I think I’ll celebrate in some significant way this year. And by “significant”, I mean something a bit more than the off-handed mention the occasion usually gets. Ideas are percolating!

On to installment #1 of mailbox show & tell. First up, a massive book shipment, possibly the biggest ever to hit my doorstep.

Chapters Indigo (a Canadian amazon.com, with actual bricks & mortar stores too) is having an insane 80% off deal on a short list of random titles, on which I found five titles I had on hold at the library. 80% off + free shipping = happy reader!

Next up, thimble’s Button of the Month Club installment for May. I’m a big dork when it comes to buttons, especially wee cute ones like these, so I was thrilled to see these on my doorstep a couple of days ago (I might have squealed). And, the best part? Five more months of surprise buttons! Thanks, Laural!

And finally, 4 yards of vintage ribbon that I am absolutely in love with (as much as one can love ribbon, that is. And I’m sure some of you know how much that is) via eBay. I have no reasonable use whatsoever for 4 yards of ribbon, but look at those donkeys! And carts! And that other red & blue blobby thing! Who could resist?

To-morrow: art in my mailbox!

I did so much sewing this weekend that I broke the needle on my sewing machine. I think it was well worth it.

For two of the best mothers I know: a kitten for the mister’s mum and quilted placemats (inspired by this fantastic post) for my mum. And a happy belated Mother’s Day to all the other mums out there!

I have an epic post in the works, a post parading all the wonderful mail that has landed on my doorstep over the past few weeks. It’s such a monster, in fact, that I think I might break it up into multiple posts (the mail has been that good). Anticipate!

I’ve been having sewing dreams again. Sewing dreams so good and thorough that I woke up a couple of mornings ago with a fully-formed, well-thought-out (well-dreamt-out?) pattern for a card holder. You might remember that I made a bunch of these a while ago, but what you didn’t know was that the method I used was so ridiculously convoluted (including all manner of folding and ironing…enough said) that I could not bring myself to sit down and make any more (and I’ve promised them to three people!). Sewing dream to the rescue!

I’m ashamed to admit it but it took a dream (!) for me to figure out the very simple, very common sense method for sewing two rectangular pieces of fabric together, described here. Gah! So, anyway, these card holders are up for grabs in the shop, and I’ll keep sewing them until I have another inspirational sewing dream (which I’m really hoping will be about curtains or slip covers or something else I need to learn how to make!).

There’s way too much time-wasting potential with this one! O, the possibilities! Found at loobylu.

Sebastian loves loves loves his perch by the kitchen window, especially in the early evening, as the sun goes down. To-day I went over to administer a little chin scratch and he immediately collapsed onto his back and gave me his “I’m going to need a tummy rub” eyes. The camera was nearby.