Happy Hobbit Day!

Wait! What?

Yes, you heard right. Today is Hobbit Day since it's mentioned in "The fellowship of the Ring" that September 22nd is the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Also, consequently, it was the day of the 'long-expected party' that begins the Lord of the Rings and the day when Frodo became the sixth Ring-bearer, preceded by Sauron, Isildur, Déagol, Sméagol (also known as Gollum) and finally Bilbo.

welcome from Lothlorien,new version by breathing2004 on deviantART

The more you know...

You're welcome! I know you all were dying to know this! (Ok, I know at least some of you knew this already. I love you!)

Please direct any Lord of the Rings related questions to the comment section!

Finds from FanExpo

I'm so excited about the things I found at FanExpo. I could've bought so many things, but I was good and only got the things I absolutely wanted!

I got three books. The first one is the Pieces of Wonderland I already mentioned in the FanExpo post.

Next one is The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide. It's an amazing book with gorgeous illustrations. I mean, come on, all sorts of creatures from the Star Wars universe! The wildlife is divided into sections according to the planets they live on. The creatures include some obvious one like the Tauntauns (most notably seen in The Empire Strikes back) and Sarlaccs (Seen on Return of the Jedi) but also a little less known ones like Ottas and Urusai.

Finally, I found Fairy Quest: Outlaws. A friend told me about it and just like that, one copy happened to be there, on the table all by it's lonesome, just waiting for me. The art is beautiful and the topic is exactly what I love; new adaptations of old, traditional stories. In this case, fairytales.

Like I mentioned I met the illustrators behind Pieces of Wonderland and they both sketched on the book alongside with their autographs. How awesome is this?

I did collect a ton of business cards and brochures, here's just a few of them. Obviously the expo guide as well. That's the booklet with Batman on it, if it wasn't clear from the large friendly letters spelling FanExpo.

The other purchases is the print of Batmobile by Ron Gyuatt. It's the Tim Burton Batmobile (guys, these are important details!) and a part of a series of three Batmobiles.  I loved pretty much everything and could've easily bought half a dozen posters just to start. Very nice guy too. Once I have decided where to hang the poster, I'll share a better photo.

Below the Batmobile is a few small cards (A pet Narwhal for Max's room) and a couple of stickers from Rosey Cheekes. If you like cute things, you need to check her work out! She's just as cute as her illustrations! I had a nice chat with her about the Expo experience as a whole and it was so nice to get a small business owner's view on the whole experience.

Another purchase also for Max is the creature on the lower left corner. His name is Mr. Jefferson and he's from The Monster Factory. Picking out the right one was interesting...*)

And finally a whole lot more Star Wars! I bought 100 Star Wars postcards. So yeah... There will be many Star Wars filled letters...

The black and white characters are stickers by Jesse Rayburn. I snatched up the last dark side one and got a few others too. Need I mention he was very nice?!

Since I'm on the topic... Every single person I talked to was great. Ultimately I felt extremely welcome and had a blast. 

So, what do you think of my finds? Any that appeal to you? Please share your nerd-loves!

*) Since Max is not yet able to articulate what he likes, we scoped his reactions to various monsters on the table by showing them to him one at a time. Interestingly enough, some were not interesting to him at all while other seemed to grab his attention. While we were picking up and putting down one monster after the other, the ladies at the booth were very patient with us, quite enjoying seeing Max's reactions, another lady at the booth also stopped to watch. Now, that's totally fine, she was quite lovely and showed one of her favorites to Max. It was one of those Max was not really interested in. It did get a little odd, though, as she kept picking up the same monster and kept saying how that is her favorite. After every monster we showed Max, she showed the same one. Over and over again. I'm not sure why she was so insistent. I guess she really liked that one...

FanExpo 2014

I briefly mentioned on Facebook that I was going to FanExpo. I was very excited to go and it surpassed my expectations by far! I figured it would be great, but it was so much fun that I came back a bit overwhelmed yet incredibly, tremendously inspired!

This was the smaller part of the expo... The other side was much bigger.

FanExpo is basically a gathering place for fangirls and -boys. Whatever your fandom is, you'll find others there too!

There's an incredible artists alley, where you can meet international and local artists, both already established and those new to the industry. You can get sketches drawn just for you and chat about your favorites.

I had a total fangirl moment meeting Kei Acedera and Bobby Chiu. I am a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland as well as Tim Burton, so you can imagine how excited I was to see the concept art from the people who designed characters for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland! I actually saw a book of their illustrations first, squeaked a little out of excitement and wanted to buy it immediately. Only then I realized I could actually get it signed. That the incredible artists were actually there! So, now I have the book with sketches from both of them!

Kei Acedera and Bobby Chiu

The selection of comic books is overwhelming! You can get hard-to-find artbooks at a really great price. Honestly, the affordable price is just a bonus though, some of this stuff is hard to find! Let's be honest though, a lot of the stuff I had no idea existed. But I did want it once I saw it... I did stay within reason with my purchases, but I got some great stuff! I'll share those in another post.

The entire spectrum of accuracy in one photo: Stormtroopers vs. Assassins

I didn't dress up, but I did wear an event-appropriate t-shirt. There were so many amazing costumes! I was a tad shy to ask people to pose for me, but I got some photos of some pretty impressive costumes. The photos don't do them justice. I did dress up my son Max in this incredible onesie gifted by his awesome aunt.

I love everything about this photo: Batman, Smaug and Legos! Does it get any better?

 There were also a ton of celebrities making appearances. As it so happened Norman Reedus, a.k.a Darryl from the Walking Dead, was there just as we walked in. There was quite a bit of screaming. The list of celebrities was quite impressive: Nathan Fillion, Patrick Stewart, Stan Lee, Elijah Wood, William Shatner and Adam West. Just check the whole lot HERE

Talk about crazy costumes...

I was enjoying myself and realized that the whole thing was bigger than I anticipated. Next year I will go for two days. I also decided that one day I will be an exhibitor there. Not sure what I'd sell, but I have time to figure it out. One day...

All in all, it was amazing. I want to do it again!

Link Love for your Sunday

Needless to say, I spend a lot of time online. Besides my blog and my two online shops, I also read a ton of blogs, articles and tutorials. Somehow this week I've bumped into some really interesting things that I thought you guys might enjoy. I also saw some positivity inducing posts and videos that are added in the mix. Pick and choose the ones that you feel would hit home!

Gender and its Implications within Modern American Tattoo Culture - An excellent and informative paper about tattoos on women. I love tattoos and I love history and I love interesting research papers... So, I pretty much love everything about this. If the topic interests you, I urge you to read on. I might put in my two cents on the topic later.

Five Rules for life - A surefire dose of positivity your day. Just read a few posts and you start feeling the positive effects. "The premise is simple - people from all walks share what they believe are the most important rules to follow for a happy, successful, and fulfilling life."

Seeing Eye People - Another one from Improv Everywhere. If you're not familiar with the group, please take the time to go through some of their older events. You can't help but to smile!

Kicking people to the curb with Amy Poehler - She's awesome to begin with and this quote from her just adds to the general awesomeness.

If you've read or seen something you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments!

Have a lovely Sunday!

Scavenger hunt - part two

As I mentioned yesterday, I also sent out a package to my assigned partner and promised to share what I sent once I received confirmation that it had been delivered.

My assigned partner for the swap was Cam. He's a musical theater student living in New York. You can find his post about the package and his reactions to it right HERE. He has more photos over there, so I'll just share a few.


This is the city explorer's kit. I clipped some newspaper articles about language, photos and poutine (yes, very important). I added a few maps, one of the Plateau, a metro map and wrapped the whole thing in a larger map of Montreal. I also added a few flyers I really liked. I also included notes and comments on the various things I sent. And finally I topped it off with the favorite photo I've taken of Montreal.





Out of the list of 10 things, I ended sending Cam a package full of mail goodies, something not square or rectangular, a bad day survival kit, something describing me, the city explorer's kit you already saw and finally a small gift. You can see all the photos from Cam's blog.




I wrapped it all in tissue paper and finally a map.

I do think he liked it, which makes me very happy.

I would also like to mention that, YES! I am indeed a Tetris master! It makes so happy that you noticed that Cam! Seriously! Growing up in a culture emphasizing humbleness and teaching us that bragging and boasting is bad, this is the one thing I will openly admit being proud of! My spatial conceptualization skills are out of this world. I have mad packing skillz! And YES, I win at Tetris! Damn straight peeps!

Please listen to this while thinking about how amazing I am at packing my suitcases for traveling

Thank you!

Friday Inspiration - Books, glorious books

I am the quintessential book-nerd. And I'm proud to admit it! One day I will have a library book-nook. I have decided, so it shall be done. Might happen when I retire, but I want to have a space for all my books to live happily ever after.

There's so much I could say, but at the same time I feel words are, ironically enough, unnecessary.

Source: house-fashion.ru via lily on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Katri on Pinterest

Source: paokyta.tumblr.com via Laura on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Source: bookporn.tumblr.com via Meg on Pinterest

Source: houseremodelpins.com via Karin on Pinterest

This post is dedicated to all you book-nerds out there.

Also: http://bookshelfporn.com/ (you can thank me later)

P.S. I also want this:

Source: farm7.static.flickr.com via Emily on Pinterest

Coloring Book Snail Mail Tutorial

Yeah, that's right!

This is actually a fun little project, and super cheap, that I came up with quite accidentally. Let me tell you how I became to own a Batman coloring book.

I have awesome friends and some of those said friends are totally cool with (or in tune with their inner/outer nerds) liking awesome things like Batman. So, as it happens I went to Dollarama (I can't tell you often enough how much awesome stuff they have, seriously) to look for bubble-wrap and saw these glossy and awesome Batman booklets over at the kids section. I open one of them and find it's a coloring book and, more importantly, it comes with stickers. Immediately I'm thinking of Mary and decide to purchase this booklet so I can send her Batman stickers.

The sheet of stickers was too large to send in one piece, so I sat down to start cutting them into smaller pieces. As I was doing that I realized I could use the pages and covers too... And I realized tht there are two other peeps I know who would totally appreciate superhero mail, Sanna and Erli. So, I ended up making two lined envelopes, two cards and some Batman confetti.

This is how you can make something similar as well.

Take the booklet apart carefully, you'll want to keep the pages fully intact, not cut in half. This shouldn't be hard as the cheap-o dollarstore booklet was stapled together. Cut the pages into envelope shapes**. You can use an envelope template to do so. To learn how to make one yourself, check the envelope template tutorial HERE.

Cut the lining shapes**.

**Note: Pick the pages for the envelopes first. You'll need, not only bigger pictures, but the ones that have a focus on the middle of the page. Then you can pick the best ones from the leftovers for the lining.

Would you guys want an envelope making tutorial as well? A kind of a basic how-to which you can apply to a whole lot of other projects?

Assemble the envelopes.

Cut the covers of the coloring book into cards.

Finally, cut any leftover paper snippets with cool pictures into confetti to stuff the envelopes with.

And of course, no comicbook-superhero-snailmail-awesomeness is even complete without a speech bubble address label. Drawn on paper and glued on the envelope.

And, done!

Now, tell me is this the coolest, most awesometastic snailmail DIY ever??? Geekiest for sure!?!

Edit: added a link to the envelope template tutorial.

Latest finds - books, maps and superheroes

I haven't shared any thrift shop finds in a long while. Partially because I haven't spent much time treasure hunting and the times I have gone, I haven't found anything interesting enough to share.

Last Friday I felt like I needed a little break and took an afternoon off from my usual schedule to go for a walk. Somehow when I decide to "go for a walk" I end up at a second hand store or a thrift shop. I don't know how that happens, a total mystery. (Does this ever happen to you?) I think it helped that I hadn't been to my regular shop in a while, because I found some pretty neat things.



Two vintage atlases and some old maps. The maps are especially nice find and I already have a use in mind for them. I'll share it with you guys once I've finished. The larger of the two atlases is a Spanish one from 1992 and the real treasure is a French atlas of the world from 1978.



I also found a few other books, "Curious George" and "the hole in the hill" as well as a Pillsbury dessert cookbook from 1968. The photos in the book are awesome. As much as I'm tempted to try some of the tasty-sounding recipes, this book will be made into envelopes. How much fun would pictures of pies and pastries be in your mailbox?

The last treasure is a picture book of Mont Saint-Michel. It's absolutely beautiful with large, high-quality photos of the details of the castle. It's falling apart pretty badly, but I can make such beautiful things out of these pages. I'm really excited!



Finally, I couldn't resist cheap comic books. With 25 cents a piece, they were a steal. I grabbed a few that I think I'll read first and then see what I might make out of them.

Have you found anything fun recently?

Natural History Museum - NYC

I felt today would be the perfect day to share photos of what we did last Sunday. We sent a better part of the day at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The museum is impressive and you've for sure seen it featured in movies and TV. It's been featured in movies like Night at the museum, Miracle on 34th Street and Spider-man 2.

As much as I'd want to share everything, I'll stick with some of the highlights (and some of the photos that turned out well, it's pretty dim in there).


The main entrance is already pretty impressive.


There are dioramas everywhere. Those are the large 'display cases' with animals in their natural habitat and in action. They're frankly quite impressive. And pretty large too. Obviously the size is often correspondent of the size of the animals displayed. These things are hard to take photos of though.


Leading up to the Ocean hall, was a wall of all sorts of creepy crawlies. Not my favourite... Chris seemed interested enough though.


The hall itself was impressive and not least by the gigantic whale hovering over the two story hall.



A few other impressive marine dioramas.


We decided to see one of the special exhibitions and chose (shockingly) "Our Global Kitchen". When you get tickets for the changing exhibitions, you'll get a time to go there. It makes sense since this one at least was fairly small and any more people would've definitely made it near impossible to actually enjoy it. This was actually the only time in the entire museum it felt crowded. There was a chocolate making stop along the way, which was constantly packed full of people.


The best parts for me of the exhibition were example meals of people all through history (yeah, I'm sure that wasn't a surprise for anyone). With the dim lighting, it was hard to get photos where both, the explanation and the food were properly lit. I found this one of ötzi pretty neat, but I loved the details on some of the others. The displays were set as the dining spaces of the period they represented and meals built specifically for the historical characters, like Jane Austen (ice cream) and Kublai Khan (the first fusion kitchen).


The most impressive things were all the skeletons.



Dinosaurs! Not going to lie, the dinosaurs might have been the deciding factor when Chris and I decided which museum to visit. MoMa doesn't have dinosaurs, just saying...

There were exhibits on Polynesia...


...Africa...


...and Asia.


I took a few hundred photos easily and would've loved to share them all! Once I gave the camera to Chris for a bit, I continued taking photos with my phone. And towards the end I was exhausted and ready to go to sleep, but kept on going after brief break amidst all the exhibits. What a nerd!

I loved this place and will happily go again one day.

I have a ton more photos from NYC, I'll show them to you soon and maybe a few more from the museum too...

The Year in Review - part 2 of 2012

You can see the first half of 2012 in the post below. Here's the recap of the second half:

July

In July we had visitors staying with us and we were wandering around town all times of the day. We went to see fireworks and spent a lot of time at Jean Talon Market. Brinner made an appearance at the McGill university and I made some great finds at the thrift stores again.

July was a month of bridal showers, I attended one and helped organizing another. I made shower favors for the second one. I suffered an identity crisis and saw the Muppets live.

August

In August I spent a lot more time with wedding related activities. I was asked to photograph a Nikkah ceremony, I showed some details from the shower I helped organize, a few of us girls took the bride to be to a relaxing spa getaway in lieu of a bachelorette party and I went dress shopping, but came home with the most beautiful shoes in the world.

Chris and I spend a weekend in Quebec City, walking around and eating well. I fell in love with books (again!), learned how to make granola bars and went bonkers ordering Korean stickers from eBay.

September

September felt long and scattered. There were exciting things like being featured in 365 magazine and finally finding that one elusive item I've been looking for a long time. It was also the month were George got sick and I lost my creative groove. I tried different approaches to creating, starting from painting the bedroom and trying my hand at collages. I baked cookies, killed zombies, watched an amazing documentary and talked about books. A lot.

When September was coming to a close I geeked out with friends and finally started getting creative again.

October

October was a month of big days. It started right off the bat with my nephew Ryan being born on October 1st. Then the second of the weddings for this year got under way on Thanksgiving weekend, this is the one where both Chris and I were in the wedding party. And the party just continued on October 10th where Hipstercurious turned 1. I also discovered some ancient Egyptian artifacts and started employing complex vernacular to substantiate my intelligence.

As all the celebrations were done, I started preparing for Halloween. We carved a pumpkin that became Evil-Bob, I discussed costumes and made a bat card tutorial.

November

 [I think this is my favourite photo of the year]

I started November with a better plan for the blog, followed by an unsuccesful hunt for discounted Halloween candy. I was over the moon to be featured in the Discover Paper Holiday guide and that fueled my creative endeavors. I started making a ton of one of a kind ornaments for the December fairs. I found some beautiful vintage ornaments and made a DIY advent calendar tutorial that I know at least one person found inspiring.

I enjoyed the dark nights, said goodbye to fall and welcomed winter.

Chris and I set a new high score and celebrated the second anniversary of getting hitched in Vegas.

December

December was awesome in more ways than one. Obviously because of Christmas, but also because of two crafts fairs, Old Skool Crafts and Puces Pop. Besides that, my work was featured in two major places; Urban Expressions and my first print magazine feature, Koto Living.

We got a bit of snow first and then a whole lot more, which really allowed me to stay in and make some awesome DIY projects, such as a vintage ornament wreath, a winter scene complete with a plastic deer and of course some marshmallow chocolate pops, all with tutorials of course.  I shared some details about my tree and a peek at my home.

2012 was an awesome year. On a more personal note, it was unexpected in many ways, but definitely fulfilling in others. Thanks to my blog, I learned new skills and made some new friends in Laura, Jess and Mary. I had a successful year with Brinner and developed in leaps and bounds when it come to running my own business.

I'm still not quite done with finishing off this year and I have tons and tons of ideas and plan for the next. Stay tuned!

What were the highlights of your 2012?