perpetual calendar slash journal

just over one day till i can begin using this bad girl!

it's a perpetual calendar slash journal! at the end of every day you write something interesting that happened that day and put it at the back. after years of doing this, you will have fun memories of every single day!

i heard about it from design*sponge. instructions here. i love this idea because you can totally customize it to your own taste! instead of a fruit box, i found a cute tin at the thrift store (for a dollar), and the cards i used were vintage (60's, 70's) greeting cards! i already had some in my collection, and the others cost about a quarter each. i still need a few more cards to separate the months, but they can be found over time, scouring the thrift stores!

old sketch

today i read that roger ebert is bringing his show back to television. this is a sketch i did almost a year ago, after reading this amazing article about him in esquire magazine.

it's based on this photo by ethan hill.

obviously, my sketch isn't identical to the photograph, but i think i captured that mischievous twinkle in his eyes ;)

i feel like i should say that i grew up on siskel & ebert at the movies. i didn't always agree with their opinions, but it was fun to watch them (especially when they disagreed with each other), and this was in the days before the internet. you couldn't watch trailers online. imdb didn't exist. no film blogs. no word of mouth on twitter or facebook. aside from reviews in actual newspapers and entertainment tonight segments, the only way to be on top of upcoming movies was siskel & ebert. (oh yeah, and there was entertainment weekly, but i didn't discover that magazine till i was about 14.) and aside from animals, film is one of my first true loves. so yeah, mad respect for mr. ebert.

still researching...

yaks this time. which i love. they're just sooo gorgeous. don't believe me?

oh, hi there!

at the end of the film version of my life, i will ride off into the mist on a yak. or a caribou. or a buffalo. or a mammoth. this film will totally be based on fact, of course.

christmas cards! and embroidery!

it's been years since i've actually made christmas cards, but this year i couldn't find any that i liked. i wanted something earthy, simple but pretty, and not too christmassy. hahah. i already had all the ingredients on hand-- cardstock, brown craft paper (which is one of my favourite ingredients), and old decor magazines (a major perk of working at the library: dibs on booksale items). oh, i also had a stack of unused envelopes, so i made sure to trim the cardstock to size.

i loved this project because it was so quick and easy (which none of my other projects are)! i didn't want to muck around with glue, so i sewed everything down. this worked out well for the inside of the cards, which, with the aid of some dollar store stationary stickers, i turned into ornaments.

and other big news (for me, at least): last night i put the finishing touches to an embroidery project that i've been working on since the end of august. my dearest friend, alayna, is recording an EP, and she asked for some collaborative help to design the cd cover. well, i'd love to show you the end result, but i feel it's not my place until the cd is released. so in the meantime, here's the "wrong" side of the front cover, which i find fascinating in its own right. chaotic mess going on!

zaaaang!

from the wiki page on lions:
"During a mating bout, a couple may copulate 20 to 40 times a day for several days."

i guess that's why they call him the king of the jungle.

fact:

hippos weigh 1.5-3 tonnes and can run as fast as 30kmph.

a few weeks ago i came across a picture book at work, depicting the story of owen and mzee. such a sweet story!

all this hippo research, in addition to the fact that christmas is about 5 or 6 weeks away, makes me wanna listen to i want a hippopotamus for christmas!

i swear, they're smiling:

ooops.

soooo..... H is for hippopotamus.

guh.

literally, back to the drawing board. :)

hi, ena!

so, based off the popularity of "animals for andrew" (a soft book i made for my friends S, K, and their little one), i am currently attempting to create baby book magic once again, for a coworker's new grandchild. i know it's just a kid's picture book, but i do the research and try to make it as accurate as possible! (but of course, aesthetics takes precedence.) basically, i look up the animal's habitat and diet, to figure out the scenery.

today i'm researching hyenas ("animals for hailey". H is for... yeah, you get it).

i found this gem of a photograph:

look, it's a hyena! so cute with a... head... in its... mouth.

also, check out the "in culture" section of what wikipedia has to say about our ferocious friends. i feel it is my duty to redeem the hyena, and make it kid-friendly.