One of a Kind Show

I am so excited to have a business trip next week to Toronto and even more excited that it coincides with the One of a Kind Christmas Show & Sale.  The show happens twice a year (the Spring show falls around Easter) and I tried to go at least once a year when I was living in TO.

The show isn't your typical 'craft show'.  First, it is absolutely massive and takes hours to get through the whole show.  Second, every type of craft is available at all price points and the curators for the show ensure there is a mix of artisans to meet everyone's taste.

Here are the booths I'll be stalking:

Artwork by Kelly Grace

I love Grapefruit Peppermint, Spiced Pumpkin and Cranberry Vanilla

Old Island Stamp Co.

Children's toys by Fidoodle

Amazing printed textiles by Bookhou

And that is just a VERY small sample as each time I visit the show I always find a new and original artist. I also tend to finish most of my x-mas shopping and am planning to bring a large suitcase with me   on this trip to bring back lots of goodies.

Weekend Happenings

Here's what I was up to this weekend...

Felting Christmas ornaments (no judgment on first attempts)

Baking peanut butter banana muffins

Scoping out window casings

Lest we Forget

Books - A Second Life

After my uncle passed away this summer, my Mom found some books in his apartment that she thought I could use for various decor/craft projects.

The "I See All - The World's First Picture Encyclopedia" has five volumes and is exactly what it sounds like, an encyclopedia of pictures rather than text.  Each page is jammed with various snippets of black and white pictures of definitions, historical events, famous personalities, etc.

I looked the books up on-line and they aren't worth a lot and don't appear to be rare or overly unusual so I don't feel too bad cutting them up.

The biggest project I'm going to use them on is to wallpaper my upstairs office nook.  The inspiration is from one of my favourite stores in Toronto,  Love the Design.  The owner, Christine Flynn, wallpapered one of the walls in her store with pages from vintage books.  I love the look and think it'll be perfect for a small space.

I'm currently going through the books and pulling pages with topics related to design and other personal interests so the images I see each day are ones I really love.  With five volumes though, there are a lot of extra pages so I'm looking for a few other crafts to do.  Some ideas include:

Table runner

Wreath - tutorial at Katydid and Kid

Wrapping paper

Run the pages through a printer and add new images

And the list of potential craft projects goes on and on and on.