Presenting our 3 week old kitten! + Currently

That's my little baby!!! Bijoux! (French for jewel/jewelry/precious thing, as in a "un vrais bijoux" ("a real gem")) This is our kitten to be. Well, he is currently a kitten. Duh. But he's only a few weeks old, so we can't take him to the new house for another month or so. I got to hold him for two hours today, sitting warmly at the fire. He squirms and meows when you lift him, which worries me, but when I set him down on me, he calms down. I think he's getting used to me, because every time I pick him up he seems to be getting more comfortable, falling in deeper sleeps rather than dropping his head and lifting it up like he's surprised himself off guard like he did the first time I picked him up. Today he even rolled over on to his back and started stretching and licking himself! (or, trying to lick himself rather... it was dead CUTE!) It was brief, but it means he feels at least a little safe on me... right? I think he liked baking in the warmth near the fire, rather than being at the back of that closet, for a change...

I've been seeing people, and this is funny, everyone everywhere allover my blog reader, saying this or something similar: "Everyone has been doing this Currently thing so I'm gonna do it too!". And so, here I am, pretty much saying the same thing.

// c u r e n t l y //

Drinking : My dad's really into juicing, so... today's mix is cucumber, chicory, celery, ginger, strawberry... it's just allover the place. Can't really place the taste, but... it's healthy! Definitely healthy.

Listening : Needed to listen to Lilies (Bat for Lashes, Haunted Man) and stumbled upon one of my all time favorites, Let Go (Imogen Heap, Frou Frou), which feels... really really good. Really don't listen to music enough...

Anticipating: MOVING OUT! G'AAAH! Two days... TWO DAYS!!!

Planning: Waiting for Oli to finish super at his mom's, cause he said when he'd come back, we could go to the house so he can show me how apparently wonderful the curtains we picked yesterday look all set up, and so that we can start putting away kitchen supplies and all my little bathroom things! YAY!!!

Watching: See, that's the thing. You can't have a "Drinking" and a "Watching" in the same "Currently" post. Unless currently doesn't mean right right now, but generally as of late. I'm gonna admit that the listening part was more like... half an hour ago. I am however truthfully watching, right now, American Idol. My dad got this china device that records your PC's live TV and I'm in the room. And I can't help but turn my head around every time Niki Minaj talks because I just can't get enough of her. I mean, Niki Minaj. She's, she's just a whole hell of a lot of something.

Missing: Bijoux! He's in my sister's bedroom with his mom, who's a total cow of a cat. Attacks everyone for no reason, completely unapproachable. Motherly hormonal cat gone wild. So I avoid going in there.

Going: To scavenge for food in the fridge.

Art Schools

The two schools I am hesitating over going to are these:Lionel Groulx, a french college only two buses away with a good art program that allot of my art student friends have been through.

(Image sources: The Lionel groulx website and Journal de Montreal)

1. Lionel Groulx College

which has an apparently excellent art program that many of my art student friends have been through. My issue with this school is the fact that I am not looking for a full college experience that will look good on my CV. I feel that some of the classes might be a waste of my time as I really only want to take classes that are going to be relevant to the kind of work I am going to be doing as a lone artist. I'm not going to be working for a company, I'm going to be working for myself. And time is a factor in all of this. I'll have to check with the school if there is any way to cut the classes I don't feel I will need. I'm not excluding the informative classes verses the technical classes, like history of art for example. I'm thinking more of classes completely unrelated to art, the basic college classes like English and so on. I feel those would be a waste of time and money.

2. Visual Arts Center's Art School

This is not the official image, I took it with Google Maps. This is a school in Montreal that specifies in Art. It isn't just a school, it's also an art gallery from Tuesday to Friday on weekdays, and on Saturdays. They have many classes, from painting to drawing to photography, to sculpting, and so on. Seems allot more... to the point than going ahead with the full college program... package. Honestly this appeals to me more than the college thing, but it is much farther down town, and if I don't have a car and driver's licence by then... ahhh! It's going to be scary for me. I fear Montreal. Montreal is a bit comparative to New York safety wise... verses it's safer surrounding cities. And I have a hard time picturing myself walking around those streets alone in the evenings...

These are the two schools I have to consider. I will have a decision to make soon, so I'll be thinking it over.

Shipping a Canvas Painting

I haven't blogged here for some time because I've been spending all my free time from school boxing, because Oli and I will be moving out more or less in 9 days from now. This is both very exciting and very tiring for me, as I sort through the mess I've let accumulate, that used to be something of a bedroom.

I came across a painting of a clown girl I'd drawn a few months back and couldn't really picture this one on any of our walls. I figured I should look into how I would go about selling it, if I could manage to. How does one ship a canvas?

This video on Youtube shows how simple it is to ship a 20x16" Canvas with this company's simple shipping supplies. It's called the Canvaspak.

I looked it up on their website and it says that for this size of canvas, which is exactly the size I happen to need, it would cost £50.18 for a pack of 10. In other words, About 79 Canadian dollars, divided into ten. The packaging cost would thus be of less than 10$ for a canvas, which is better than I had expected.

Now I wonder how much it is going to cost to ship this to the US, Canada and Worldwide... It's going to be funny shipping things out considering my mom just got a job at my preferred post office! Life is getting so strange for me. All these new things in store for my near future... I hope this change in lifestyle will be refreshing. I'm actually counting on it.

Supplies restrock + Shop updates

I've really been on vacation these past few weeks. My plans for my shop were kind of all over the place and I guess I needed to clear my head to start thinking of the right directions to take. Now I feel ready to dive back in.

This weekend, Oli and I went to Omer Desserres, which is the place to get art supplies here in... what, Quebec? 

I got myself a bunch of supplies:

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• 5 tubes of metallic/glittery acrylic paint. (REALLY effective!!! I tried it on my skin and it's really something.)
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• A pack of sculpting tools
• A very thin paintbrush
• Stretchy cord for jewellery (GOOD stretchy cord, hopefully. The last 3 bracelets I tried to do exploaded on me! Dollar store + me = over)
  
  
• Cutting tool (to make my own stamps out of foam sheets)
• 2 Coasters ready to be painted on
• Two 16"x20" canvases, which is as big as I feel safe permitting myself to use (the larger ones are still a little intimidating for me... but I'll get there eventually!)
  
  
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  Etsy shop

  Apparently, having multiple themes in your shop is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as your personal style ties them all together... So that means allot of time saved for me. Few!

  So I guess... I'm free to start any kind of project I'd like for the shop? I should make a plan!

  PROJECTS IN MIND:

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  • "BunnyBoxes" (drew the idea on Paint as seen above)
  •  Sculptures shaped like Hersheys Kisses / Droplets
  • Paintings IF I can figure out how to ship them
  • Jewelery (necklaces, bracelets, earrings too, eventually)
  • Digistamps
  • Painted Kleenex boxes & Painted jewelery boxes
  • Boxes / Bags with prints on them (prints meaning stamps I design and make on my own, printed on to objects)
  • Origami decor
  • Painted Stickers

  
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   Looking forward to getting back into my shop. Oli and I are moving out in 3 weeks. Things will be easier for all of us then, and life can move on! For now, my time is going to be invested in boxing all my things... this is so exciting!!! 

This week's Polyvore sets

Set 7 ( JAN - 4TH - 2013 ) by tiffany-gabrielle featuring zucca

Set 6 ( JAN - 2nd - 2013 ) by tiffany-gabrielle featuring retro dresses

Set 6 ( JAN - 1st - 2013 ) by tiffany-gabrielle featuring slip on boots

set 5 ( DEC - 29 - 2012 ) by tiffany-gabrielle featuring white stockings

New Book: The NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern

Since I got my Kobo mini eReader, I've been loading it with books I've been meaning to read. My family rents all their books from the library, but because I like to take my time reading between other things throughout the day, a book can last a month or two in my hands. This is why I prefer to own my own books. No pressure. I can take all the time I need. And because actual books are too costly for me in their 20-40$ range, eBooks are more suited for my budget.

THIS is my first eBook! Started reading it this summer but I had to return it 1/4 through. I loved it and swore I would pick it back up one day.

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The circus arrives at night, without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within nocturnal black and white striped tents awaits a unique experience, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stand awestruck as a tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and gaze in wonderment at an illusionist performing impossible feats of magic.

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is underway - a contest between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in "a game," in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

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"The Night Circus made me happy. Playful and intensely imaginative, Erin Morgenstern has created the circus I have always longed for and she has populated it with dueling love-struck magicians, precocious kittens, hyper-elegant displays of beauty and complicated clocks. This is a marvelous book."
— Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife

"Every once in awhile you find a novel so magical that there is no escaping its spell.   The Night Circus is one of these rarities -- engrossing, beautifully written and utterly enchanting. If you choose to read just one novel this year, this is it." 
— Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology

“A riveting debut.   The Night Circus pulls you into a world as dark as it is dazzling, fully-realized but still something out of a dream. You will not want to leave it.”
— Téa Obreht, author of The Tiger’s Wife
  
"Pure pleasure...Erin Morgenstern is a gifted, classic storyteller, a tale-teller, a spinner of the charmed and mesmerizing -- I had many other things I was supposed to be doing, but the book kept drawing me back in and I tore through it. You can be certain this riveting debut will create a group of rêveurs all its own." 
— Aimee Bender, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

 “‘Dark as soot and bright as sparks,’  The Night Circus still holds me willingly captive in a world of almost unbearable beauty. This is a love story on a grand scale: it creates, it destroys, it ultimately transcends. Take a bow, Erin Morgenstern. This is one of the best books I have ever read.” 
— Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader

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Christmas Gifts

So thankful for all the things I've received from my family for Christmas this year. Thought I might share a few of my favorites.

A STARBUCKS gift card and gift basket

including two mugs with the STARBUCKS logo on them, for Oli and I to use in our new home when we move out in a few weeks from now. (Can't wait to see them in our cupboards)

A snowflake covered Lasenza robe that is extra extra comfortable...

(At the end of the day, I like to take all my clothes off and wear just this, because it feels so amazingly soft on my skin...)

A KOBO Mini eReader in white

Perfect size to fit in my palm & fits easily in my coat pocket.

(I've already loaded it with 14 different eBooks!)

A medieval-like moon shield necklace made by InmostLight on Etsy

I chose this gift myself. It's bigger than I thought, and the chain is shinier than I expected, which are both pleasant surprises. I put it on almost every day and love showing it off.

A large textured black journal by C.R. Gibson
(with a beautiful pattern of diamond shapes in light-grey and white allover the beginning pages and end pages, and a bit on the template of every page in between)

A pack of 5 of my favorite pens, "PILOT G-TEC-C4s"

I use these to write in my diary, to correct my work at school, and to draw. The perfect precision and ink flow allows for it to be easily scanned and edited, and it's ultra thin tip (0.4mm) allows me to make small details, like several thin lines to compose a full head of hair, and so on. No other kind of pen that I have used has ever been able to beat the quality of these particular pens.

A recipe book that is perfect for a girl like me who is about to start cooking for two on a daily basis for the first time in her life. All I've ever really made is... spaghetti sauce, pineapple ham, tuna cheese rice casserole, sushi, ratatouille... and... omelets? They're all pretty basic. This book tells me how to pick, keep, peel, and cook all kinds of different foods, with a bonus of 60 recipes.

Almost everything one (or two rather) would need for a kitchen. Pots, pans, knife set, dishes, utensils... practically everything. which is a huge help to us.

(* All images in this post are from miscelaneous external sources *)