ART CRUSH: JOHN MALTA.

I recently participated in a sweet mail swap with US illustrator John Malta. As you can see here, he does amazing things with colour, texture, lizards, prickly plant life, envelopes, and shaky text. My new well dressed mini lizard painting and the refreshment lover on the tote are both A+. He also makes necklace charms, like this shade sporting cactus (series also includes: melting pizza, bones, big gulps, etc). Check out his website for more! And for those of you not quite ready to usher in the fall with open arms (like me), he's got some sharp summer party shirts in his shop.

ZINE DREAM 4.

Logo by Steph D.
Zine Dream: Facebook / Site

Mark your calendars, cancel your plans: Zine Dream 4 is fast approaching! This annual event is filled to the brim with cool comics, books, music, zines, hand made crafts, prints, and more. Zine Dream is one of my favourite annual Toronto events because there's tons of interesting stuff to check out, and they've got a good casual atmosphere thing going on. And if you're so inclined, you can also enjoy a cold one as you browse! I'm gonna try my best to see if I can come up with a new thing or two before the week is out - the heat is on.

Zine Dream 4
The Tranzac (292 Brunswick Ave)
Sunday August 21st
12-5pm
PWYC

CITY OF CRAFT: THE HAUL.

A generous collection of Trip Print Press prints. Letterpress goodness abound.

A tote bag, card, and notebook by the super charming Lemonade.

On top of the books you can see one of Tara Bursey's index fingers hanging out with a vile of shredded money by Sweetie Pie Press.

This creepy face was made by ceramics manipulator extraordinaire Julie Moon. I also scored one of her ceramic hearts, but it got wrapped up and unwrapped by a dear pal of mine. Trust me though, it's gorgeous.

Gocco greeting card goodness by the Petra C.

A collection of paper greetings by Genevieve Jodouin and Heing Tang. I am officially armed for any occasion.

A couple sets of awesome artist series pin sets by City Of Craft-master Sweetie Pie Press. Featuring a crew of great faces by Sara Guindon and a trio of dreamy kitties by Sarah McNeil.

A piece of art by The Maple Ridge. Unicorns are a-holes. Truth speaking.

I was lucky to win a raffle too. Some wrapping paper, power line printed fabric by Bespoke Uprising, a bag by Anatomy of a Skirt, and Shortcomings by Adriane Tomine. Seriously.

And I didn't get this Doublenaut print at COC, but they were there selling prints and tshirts. D and I just put this up in our home, and I thought it deserved a mention here because it looks so good.

There was tons of other great things I could have easily purchased (like the gold tooth necklaces by Old Weston - those were amazing) but one has to cut themselves off somewhere, right? Right.