Watercolour Resist with Heather Telford

I took a cardmaking class taught by Heather Telford on the weekend (if you click on her name, you can visit her blog, which is filled with beautiful cards she has designed using Penny Black stamps). The cards we made utilized a technique called watercolour resist, where the stamped images are embossed and repel the paint that is brushed over it but the paint adheres to the paper surrounding the stamped image,  The results were quite pretty:

This one was my favourite, as we carefully painted in the flowers, leaves and background:

My friends Maria and Cheryl took the class with me. Here we are, holding our finished creations.

The class was a bit of a reunion as several of my friends from Bizzy B days also attended.  Of course, we had to have a photo op!

We had originally met Heather a few years ago when she came to teach at Bizzy B (a fabulous scrapbooking store that is now closed, much to our mutual dismay).  My friend Janine and I spent a weekend in Ottawa last November and took one of her classes there but decided it would be a good idea to get her to come to Toronto again.  Here's a picture of Janine, Heather and I together:

The class took place in the basement of St. Martin-in-the-Fields church, which is located very near to the Keele subway station.

We all had such fun, we're hoping Heather will come back again very soon to do another class!

Day 7/100 - #100dayproject

Technical Difficulties

Could not get logged on to the Internet earlier today.  Which was confusing and frustrating because my Wifi seemed to be working, my iPad was connected, all the little green lights on the modem were lit up as they are supposed to be.  It took me way too long to figure out that the little button on my keyboard that tells my laptop to make the Wifi connection was turned off instead of on.  I'm guessing that one of the cats stepped on it as they were walking across it yesterday or today.  Which they have been doing all too often.  I think the fact that I am actually using my laptop again is such a novelty to them that they have to check it out.

Ever since they were kittens, Suzie and Matisse have always been fascinated by the computer.

Even if I lay something over top of the keyboard, they still make themselves comfortable.

Guess I should be used to this type of "caterference" by now! ;)

Day 6/100 - #100dayproject

Signs of Spring 2017

We may have woken up to a bit more of the white stuff yesterday morning but it didn't last long.

By noon, it was all gone, the roads were dry and bare and the sun was shining, although a strong, coll wind prevailed.  Today, all was a bright and sunny and I was delighted to spot crocuses in bloom. (This friendly ginger cat came to say hello as I stopped to take this photo, so sweet.)

It's that time of year when winter and spring battle it out. We all now who the ultimate winner will be, I'm just hoping we are now done with winter once and for all.

Day 5/100 - #100dayproject

Yorkville Public LIbrary

Social media often identifies this day of the week as "Flashback Friday".  Thought I'd share a step back in time of my own, which occurred when I visited the Yorkville Public Library this past Tuesday.  It was indeed a flashback to earlier times for me, as I used to visit this branch quite often when I first moved to Toronto in the early 80's.

According to this website, it first opened its doors in 1907 and if you look at that older photo compared to mine above, you'll see almost nothing has changed about the building itself.

Stepping through what I assume are the very same solid oak doors the other night, the only obvious change to the interior since whenever I last visited years ago was the addition of the computer screens positioned here and there. 

There is another old and quite lovely building right next door.  Built in 1878, it is one of the city's oldest active fire halls.

As I stood on the sidewalk looking around, the sirens began to wail and the fire trucks pulled out and rushed off to do what they do.

While the exteriors of the library and the fire hall may not have changed much in the past 35 years or so, it was immediately obvious that the neighbourhood itself is currently undergoing a whole lot of change. Old buildings are being torn down to make way for new. 

Such is the fact of life in a city such as this one, both the old and new exist side by side.  You just never know what you will find in any given neighbourhood, what will remain from days gone by and what will be new to discover.

Day 4/100 - #100dayproject

Toronto The Good

While I was at the Toronto Reference Library the other day (as described in yesterday's post), I popped into their gallery to take a look at the current exhibit called "Vice and Virtue".  It's described as "an exhibit that looks at moral reform in Toronto as it faced rapid growth and industrialization at the turn-of-the-century".


It's described as "an exhibit that looks at moral reform in Toronto as it faced rapid growth and industrialization at the turn-of-the-century".

On display until April 30th is a collection of photos (such as the one above) and artifacts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries examining the regulation of various vices such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gambling and prostitution. Even things that we take for granted today, such as Sunday shopping, used to be highly regulated.

One of the items on display is a large journal from the Toronto jail, set out the names of those incarcerated, their occupations (stone cutter, servant, prostitute), fines charged, etc.


The handwriting of the entries is simply divine:



If I'm being completely honest, I have to admit the thought of stealing said journal did cross my mind but of course, that would be illegal! ;)

Day 3/100 - #100dayproject

A New Passport

My friend Cheryl showed me her new passport on the weekend and I just had to get one for myself, which I did last evening.  It looks like this:

I got my copy at a shop called Page and Panel, which is located in the Toronto Reference Library, just north of Yonge and Bloor.  There is a website for the passport (click here) but it says they are sold out.  However, there were several copies on hand at the shop noted above.  A Google search reveals that the passport was created by a Toronto designer by the name of Noah Ortman (or so it says here).  

The idea is that you visit each branch of the Toronto system and get them to stamp your passport. My first stop was, of course, the front desk of the Reference Library.  The two women there were delighted to see the passport in use (they had heard about it but hadn't seen one in person before) and told me I was the first to ask to have mine stamped.  There was a short and energetic search for a stamp and then for a stamp pad (note to self: take one with me?!) but eventually a stamp was found that had the name of the library on it as well as "Performing Arts".  I figured that might be as good as I was going to get!

My next stop was two short blocks away, at the Yorkville branch.  The clerk there was quite dismayed by the somewhat messy image that resulted but I quite like it.

Of course, no trip to the library would be complete without a book to take home. In this case, I checked out a murder mystery called "The Baker Street Translation" by Michael Robertson.  I simply couldn't resist the airmail stripes surrounding the cover of the book!  I didn't realize it is the 3rd in a series, so I went online to the library system today to order a copy of the first volume to be delivered to my local branch.  I'll let you know if it's any good.

Stay tuned for more on the Vice and Virtue part of yesterday's library visit!

100 Days Starts Today

Once again, it has been a while since I last blogged. As soon as I sat down to write this one, I was reminded of some of the reasons why I haven't:

1) it takes a while for my computer to warm up.  in truth, only a couple of minutes but in today's instantaneous world, that seems soooo long!  Then again, if i turned it on more often or even left it on in the first place, it would be quicker.

2) as soon as I sit down at the keyboard, at least 2 cats at a time start walking back and forth across the table in front of me, climbing on top of the keyboard, lying down on the keyboard and just generally making a nuisance of themselves.  They're super cute but just not helpful!

3) my wrists hurt.  Having my laptop set up on my dining room table is not at all ergonomic but then again, I'm sure I'll survive.

4) Blogger issues.  They have abandoned their iPad app completely and the iPhone version is just too tiny to work with, which lands me back here, dusting off and firing up my laptop.  Not sure if I'll be able to upload photos quickly and easily, we'll see how that goes.  (For today, I have added a random shot below. It took longer than I would like to upload it so that might need some adjustment going forward but it works for today.)

But you know, I've been missing my blog.  I had the thought that I might try to post something for 100 days in a row as part of the #100dayproject, the 2017 version of which starts today.  Or so I heard on Facebook but when I Googled it, there seem to various versions with differing start dates.  One group has a caption that reads: "One thing. Every day. x100".  I like that.

You may recall my last foray into the #100dayproject (you can read about it here:  my-draw-and-dump-project. I lasted 50 days.  It was great but time-consuming to both sort through things with a view to decluttering my home and then draw everything I was going to donate or throw away.  I should have committed to do one or the other.  But still, 50 days in a row is nothing to sneeze at!

So stay tuned. Can I do it? Care to join me?