GREETINGS FROM THE BASEMENT.

Looking for handmade goods to give to all your favourite friends and family members this holiday season? Check out these two craft shows coming soon: A Handmade Holiday & City Of Craft! They each include a diverse list of impressive makers. I dare you to leave either event empty handed.

As per usual I've left everything to the last minute (you can't teach this old dog new tricks!) but pressure tends to be a fairly decent motivator for me. At times. My new apartment has a laundry room that I've commandeered as a screen printing shelter. It's a little low in the ceiling, but having a door to close on all the messes I make is a pretty great development indeed.

A HANDMADE HOLIDAY.

A promotional video for A Handmade Holiday by My City Lives.

A YEAR'S SUPPLY....

Tomorrow we release our record, A Year's Supply of Rabbit's Feet. So you know I'm going to get a little sentimental about it here. This record took us quite some time to make, and I'm really happy with how it turned out in the end. My bandmates/pals and I took our sweet time, trying to make an improvement while still maintaining some of our roughness. We experimented a little bit by adding some piano, a little violin, and a few expertly played dollar store windtubes (ha). And we were able to accomplish a long time goal of ours by pressing it to vinyl. Anyone that's been in a band before can appreciate how much patience is required for long term projects, but at the same time how fun and rewarding it can be to work with others towards a common goal. And at the risk of sounding like a total sap (who cares!) I really enjoy making music with these guys (and taking breaks from making music to drink beers, play darts, sit on picnic tables, eat pizzas, light fireworks, etc).

A couple reviews: here and here (thank you).

AQUA & YELLOW.

WITCHY WOMAN.

It's been a while since I've made one of these.
Gotta dust off the pencils and scanner for such special occasions!
Current likes: witches, fortune tellers, and slightly askew text.

ELEVEN

11 songs for October.

BROOKLYN DIARY.

Currently enjoying my copy of Brooklyn Diary. It takes a look inside the daily lives of twenty-one Brooklyn artists, documented by ten different photographers. It would have been fun to have this book when I was in Brooklyn this summer. Interesting profiles, useful recommendations, and no shortage of beautiful photography. I was particularly excited to find a peek into Tim Harrington (Les Savy Fav!) and his families home in Williamsburg. Definitely interested in checking out more books by Lines & Shapes in the future.

LAYERS.

New homestead hangables: this screen printed poster by Burlesque of North America. It's big and gorgeous in real life. I love the furrowed brows, the green green grass, and all that top right Rococo text business. Inspired.

1976.

Happy Birthday Louis.

GUINNESS CAKE.

Recent adventures in baking: this recipe from Katie Quinn Davies.

Her blog has such gorgeous food pornography photography.

CABIN #6.

This past weekend was ladies weekend. We drove up to Lake On The Mountain in Prince Edward County - a small grouping of cabins where they also brew their own beer! Crisp fall air and coffee on the lake = the best. I made some rustic looking graham crackers for smores (my obsession with recipes from Smitten Kitchen is apparently never ending). As you can see from the look in her eyes, Whitney was a master of marshmallow manipulation. Besides enjoying the gorgeous scenery, we watched a movie at the local theatre (The Town), bought vegetables from a farm using the honour system (amazing), locked ourselves out of our cabin (to be expected), played an exciting game of Personal Preferences (do you prefer kiwis or injections?), and bought copious amounts of baked goods for the ride home. Though I do love Toronto, I constantly fantasize about moving to a cottage or to the country (a practice I'm sure is common to all city dwellers at one time or another). I think it's safe to say that we've got a new tradition on our hands.

WEB TREATS: INK MAGIC

Found Via Poppytalk

Have you ever wondered how ink is made? Here is an interesting and rather stunning short film about how ink is made at The Printing Ink Company. Produced by Vepo Studios. I love how it's made type pieces - especially when they're so gorgeous and feature dramatic piano scores!

FORWARD MOVING

We dropped our record off this week. In about a month or so it should return to us all pressed and printed and real. Yes! In honour of this overdue occasion, we've posted two new songs here: Curses and Dead Ends

(CAMERA) PHONING IT IN.

Random Moments #1537 and 1538 . . . coffee in the park and darts at the bar.
I read up on the rules for darts today. Lesson learned? We did not follow the rules.
Currently feeling that familiar end of summer / start of fall shift. Bring on the cardigans.

DO YOU WANT TO GO FASTER?

I love fairs. The flashing lights, the artery clogging food, the tacky plush prizes, the pushy game masters, the cover bands playing Bruce Springsteen songs in the Budweiser band shell - all of it. My sister came to visit me this past weekend and we got the opportunity to partake in one of our favourite family traditions - The Zipper. Long gone are the days of me voluntarily putting myself into ride after ride, but this one is still a must. To pass on it would be criminal. My sister (who has always been the more daring of the two of us) is a cart shaker and always tries to her best to freak me out. My only disappointment of the night was not coming across the deep fried butter (whoa!). And to continue with the apparent theme of our weekend - overpriced beers, overcast skies, and overindulgent food - we also went to a Jays game. It was nice to see you, little sis.