Testing the Craftcult Pocket Shop

Posted by on 07 30th, 2010 | No Comments
It’s so cute!  I’m testing it here to make sure it works. If you want one of your own, go to craftcult.com.
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Exit Through the Gift Shop

Posted by on 07 8th, 2010 | No Comments
Michael Jackson by Mr. BrainwashI went and saw Banksy’s film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, last night at my local university theatre. Banksy is in my top 3 artists so I had high expectations, and I was not disappointed. The film’s an intriguing and hilarious, twisty-turny documentary whose focus ends up being not Banksy but Thierry Guetta,...
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Did I achieve my goal? Um…no

Posted by on 06 28th, 2010 | 4 Comments
If only this were my body, I could make so many purses. The end of June is approaching and I declared in my last blog post that I was going to make 24 shoulder bags and 12 clutches for a dollar goal of around 6000 dollars. Well, people, I FAILED! But I did learn an important life lesson, ie “Don’t treat your body like a purse-sewing robot...
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Recycling is Such a Boring Word

Posted by on 06 5th, 2010 | 5 Comments
this one's gone to live in New YorkThe word “recycling” is so dull. It does not evoke anything like the kind of experience I have been having these last couple of weeks. I’ve been turning leather jackets and the odd skirt and pair of pants into bags. The styling, pockets and seams suggest design possibilities to me that I otherwise...
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Plan for World Domination Extends Into Living Room

Posted by on 04 28th, 2010 | 5 Comments
It’s very exciting–we’re doing a shuffle of rooms in our big old house and I’m moving my studio from what should be the master bedroom to what should be the living room.  I think I’m about tripling my floor space.  I think I’m going to feel crazy in retrospect when I try to remember how I managed to produce so much...
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Pilfering from the Past

Posted by on 04 2nd, 2010 | No Comments
I came across a site of public domain Victorian era ephemera recently.  It was mostly images from greeting cards and advertisements: piles of fruit, little Victorian children dressed for the snow, nude frolicking mermaids and other genteel cutenesses.  I was thinking of using them as sources for fabric designs that I will make on spoonflower.com. ...
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Keeping my Chin Up

Posted by on 03 24th, 2010 | 2 Comments
I’m not a whiner!  But sales are really slow right now and I feel like I’m invisible.  Even though I’m listing new things and relisting a lot on etsy my shop views are consistently down–I aim for 150  visits a day, at the very least, and the last few weeks I’m getting more like 130.  Hellooooo out there!  Can anybody...
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Provocative Title Here

Posted by on 02 24th, 2010 | 1 Comment
The dust has settled (I had lots of projects with Time Limits *gasp*).  Now that I have time and freedom again to make anything I want, I’m a bit flustered.  Partly it’s from eating too much chocolate.  I become very driven, excited and energetic, but can’t seem to focus as well as usual.  So this week I’m doing a chocolate...
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Sartorialist Book Giveaway Winner

Posted by on 01 30th, 2010 | 7 Comments
I know I said I’d draw the winner yesterday, but I have a bad cold, wah wah wah, and it’s affected my name-drawing hand.  So here we go now.   Drum roll, please………….. (Mike draws the name without his contact lenses in)…and the winner of the Sartorialist book is Londontheatre!  Please contact me with your...
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The Sartorialist Book giveaway

Posted by on 01 22nd, 2010 | 6 Comments
We have a winner of the horse changepurse contest.   Please picture a squirrel doing a tiny drumroll…Makiko! You are a one in 13 girl!  Everyone else, thanks for playing.  You’ll have another chance at a win next week when I’ll be giving away a brand new, uncracked copy of The Sartorialist.  In case you don’t know, it’s...
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Free Bonspiel Changepurse Giveaway

Posted by on 01 16th, 2010 | 4 Comments
So I’m starting a mailing list.  If you’d like to be on it, shoot me a message thru etsy, twitter (I’m bonspiel) or just yell really loud with your email and I’ll add you.   You could also post here but maybe don’t post your email, I think you’ll get spammed (by people other than me) if you do that. I’ll be...
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New direction for the new year

Posted by on 01 8th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Hey people! I thought I’d broadcast my thoughts about Bonspiel’s new direction. I tend to think nobody would really be interested, but thanks to your many correspondences about the Doctor bag alone, I realize I have information you might want! Ever since I opened my shop on Etsy (three plus years ago!) I have been struggling to put my energy...
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The christmas craft show rundown

Posted by on 11 8th, 2009 | 2 Comments
One of the things you could fondle in person!Here’s the schedule of local craft shows I’m going to be doing this Xmas shopping season, for you Victorians who wish to buy things from me in person. Those of you who live elsewhere, please note that during the following dates my Etsy shop and my Artfire shop will both be closed, and although...
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Ever wish you were Mugatu?

Posted by on 11 5th, 2009 | 2 Comments
For hallowe’en we threw a house party and I dressed up as Mugatu, from Zoolander. It came together really easily. The hair was the part I was most worried about, and I found a perfect “flapper wig” for 7 bucks at Value Village that was already blonde and parted in the middle with tight curls. At first I thought I could hairspray...
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I am in hell right now

Posted by on 09 24th, 2009 | 11 Comments
this is me, only better.and it is runny, smells like dirt and spinach, and is army green. I’m sitting here with a plastic bag over my head, dripping cold green water down the back of my neck and sometimes in front of my ears. Oh, hang on a minute…there, I made myself a toilet paper choker. And I’ll just shove a toilet paper pompom...
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I am in love.

Posted by on 09 12th, 2009 | No Comments
Last night I fell in love. We met in a neighbourhood yard, next to the apple tree, where Mike and I went to photograph my brother’s band (Town and Country) for promotional purposes. The moment I saw it I thought “what a cutie pie”–then volunteered to hold it so it wouldn’t get wet or dirty in the grass. It settled into...
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Antichrist Supperstar

Posted by on 09 9th, 2009 | 4 Comments
So yesterday I found out that Mike got two free tickets to go see Marilyn Manson at our local mega-arena.  We walked down there from our house,  and got our seats (over on the side/front– good view of the band, not so good sound) in time to hear the  opening band, Die Mannequin (word Toronto!), play about five songs.  They were really entertaining–first...
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Altered Perception

Posted by on 08 24th, 2009 | 2 Comments
In one of the least fun ways possible, I am undergoing an experiment in altered perception.  Dancing all night and taking psychotropic drugs was so 2000!  I don’t do that anymore, because I have moved on to an adventure in deprivation. I’m in the middle of a ‘flu that has rendered me unable to smell or taste anything.  I think it’s...
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Hungry Hungry Hummers

Posted by on 05 14th, 2009 | 3 Comments
Hungry Hungry Hummers from ellen box on Vimeo. Mike discovered this hummingbird nest in our tumbledown garage.  There is a lot of ivy invading it, coming through the ceiling and hanging down inside;  the egg-cup-sized nest is firmly cemented to it.  It’s a fairly sheltered spot, and at stepladder height, so Mike took this footage of the mother...
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My new greenhouse

Posted by on 04 30th, 2009 | 5 Comments
I decided to turn my geodesic cupcake dome that I was using for the outdoor market last summer into a greenhouse.  My most excellent, supportive parents helped me out with a new, proper Caravan  market tent–magnificently generic, bright white and well made, it will create a comforting and roomy shopping environment for the market this summer. ...
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