Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Some Unlisted Poppies

Besides Freedom Clothing Collective, that is the brick and mortar hub for my poppies, there is one other local store that offers my pieces a temporary home. That place is Wild Bird, a store ran by two wonderful women, Paige and Anna. They approached me about two years ago with an offer to sell my re-envisioned furniture in their store. Located in the Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton (622 Mt. Pleasant Road) area of Toronto, this location offered a good introduction to a different part of the city.
Poppies sold at Wild Bird are not listed for sale anywhere else and are thus left somewhat invisible to the online audience. On my recent visit to the store I snapped a few pictures of my pieces in their well curated space and am sharing them with you in this post.








Monday, April 29, 2013

More Poppies - Turquoise dresser

Later on this week I will be taking off on vacation and am trying to finish off as many pieces as I possibly can. This one didn't make it to Etsy yet as I don't think the quality of photography is en par, but I would still like to share it with you. Hopefully the camera situation will get fixed soon and better pictures will become the norm. For now it is my phone camera that will have to do. (Besides the camera, it is the lighting that is not the best as these pictures were taken in my basement :( )
Hope you can still like...

I went as far as to paint stripes on the basement wall. I kind of like the look along with the empty ornate frames and may have to adopt it in my bedroom later on this year (when I get to it))







Thursday, April 25, 2013

Reconstructed necklace



My mom bought me this necklace many years ago. It is a chunky statement peace and I love it,  but unfortunately every time I wore it it cut into my neck so badly that I could not wear anything else for a while. I presented this problem to my friend, jewelry designer, Katie, the creative force behind  Kathryn Rebecca and we started a discussion on how to make the piece wearable. Before long Katie sent me some images containing her ideas and after some creative back and forth, here is the end result.




Katie removed a total of 6 discs from the necklace and included soft leather ties to the newly separated chain. The leather is soft and all of a sudden the necklace is very comfortable to wear.
She used two of the 6 rings and turned them into these fabulous earrings that she embellished with some gold coloured enamel paint.

Monday, April 22, 2013

New Poppy - Grey-washed dresser/sideboard





This piece of furniture did not need a bright coat of paint or flashy knobs to make it stand out. It offers an abundance of storage in beautifully lined and smooth sliding drawers. Solid wood construction makes is sturdy and durable. Perfect for bedrooms but can also serve as a sideboard in the dining room or as a room separator (console behind your couch).


This piece is now available for purchase in my Etsy store.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Fundraiser at Freedom Clothing Collective




We are very proud to have a reputation as a small business that supports local designers, artists and crafters.
Our store is the vehicle through which we promote the creations of local artists. Without them, there would be nothing to decorate our front window to make it welcoming, fill our shelves to their limits, and cover our entire walls in colour and inspiration.  In fact, there would be no store at all.
Recently we had to part ways with our camera, which helped us showcase the beauty of our products to the fullest and expose them to a wide group of potential buyers outside of our store.  Our funds are very limited, so we are currently unable to replace our camera.
So we turned to our partners for help in the form of in-kind donations and, unsurprisingly, they have been extremely generous in donating pieces of their work to raise funds.

From April 19 to May 2, we will dedicate a portion of the store to the selling of donated merchandise. All of these items will be marked as 40% off their regular price.

On May 2, the fundraising will end with a customer appreciation event that will take place between 6 and 9pm.  On that night, remaining items will be reduced by a further 10% and the entire store merchandise will be 15% off as well.

All items available for purchase as part of the fundraising event can be seen on our Facebook page.
To show that helping local community is always on our minds, we will share all the funds collected through this event with Eva's Initiatives, a charitable organization that supports local at-risk youth.


Here are just a couple of the goods that were donated







Thursday, April 18, 2013

Sneak Preview of the New Poppy

Here is just a small snippet of what turned out to be a gorgeous grey-washed dresser. Graced with soft lines and nine drawers this piece is a true beauty and I can't wait to fully introduce it to you next week.


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Necklace Crush

This necklace is from my favourite handmade jewelry and home accessories designers - Australia's own - Dinosaur Designs. They have become known for their fashion accessories and home decor objects made of colourful resin but have since introduced a jewelry line in silver.
On my upcoming trip to Melbourne I definitely plan on checking it out in person. For now it is available for pre-order as it will only become available on April 22nd.

16 beads coral fan necklace

Monday, April 15, 2013

Latest Poppy - Coral Tall Boy Dresser

This piece has been in the works for quite some time. It looked pretty plain and boring in its original brown state, so I thought that several coats of coral paint would give it the life and vibrancy it deserves.
Six sturdy drawers offers a ton of storage and it's solid built provide a guarantee to last you a lifetime.
This dresser is now listed and available for purchase in my Etsy store.



Thursday, April 11, 2013

Jewelry Making Workshop with Torched Studio

*this post has been written in collaboration with my buddy Karen Carrillo from Koocoo and is also shared at Freedom Clothing Collective's blog

***
Last week Karen, Emma and I visited Torched Studio, a locally based jewelry studio run and managed by our friend and fellow designer Yvonne Villeneuve. Yvonne is the creative force behind the beautifully crafted and brightly coloured enameled jewelry you can find in our shop. Beside creating beautifully crafted accessories and home decor herself, Yvonne also teaches enameling classes and offers you the benefit of creating your own piece of enameled treasure in just one afternoon. We had so much fun with the process and encourage you to try out the same. You won't be sorry you did.

So much fun to look at Yvonne's stash of jewelry beauties
appropriate reading materials
Emma and I hard at work
Drilling some finding holes for future chain or string
do not use the lifting-spatula-tridenty-thing as a sword... not safe!
Out of the kiln, into the water, into the pickle, wipe with some baking soda and clean and shiny pieces you have!
Like baking you sift the fine glass particles onto your base
last firing (of many!) and then some filing to make all the edges smooooth. 
Fronts
back sides are equally pretty!

finished piece with help string 'chain' and detailing
We took the beginner course but there are several for you to choose from including one where you work with precious metal clay! What!?
Here are the details and listing of classes:

http://torchedstudio.wordpress.com/classes/

Not only is Yvonne a talented artist she is stellar at her social media. Check her out at any of the following:
www.torchedstudio.com 
www.torchedstudio.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/TorchedStudio
www.torchedstudio.etsy.com