Catching up

>> Thursday, May 03, 2007

April is a busy month for us, we have four birthdays to celebrate now (including mine) and of course Easter. For my birthday Bradley took me to Montreal for a lovely long weekend staying at the same B&B as we did before. The weather was gorgeous this time, so we had a great time walking around and I had some handmade coupons from Bradley for both a ribbon spree (see above) and a button spree (see below).
Another one of my other Bradley presents that I loved was the blue floral fabric I used to whip up this large messenger bag before going away. I used some dark brownish khaki twill for the exterior and used pale blue twill to line the inside, and the floral for the outer flap, and to line the pockets and strap. This bag turned out to be exactly what I needed, light enough to carry around all day but big enough to stuff full of extra things on the way home. The fabric is Denyse Schmidt's "flea market fancy" and comes in a variety of colours.
Other than crafts shopping we also did some geo caching (Bradley's current passion) and ended up hiking around on some nice trails on the mountain. We also saw a very inspiring show at the Beaux Arts museum, about Disney and the artists that inspired Disney. I had the thrill of seeing some of Beatrix Potter's artwork in person, including a sample illustration for Alice in Wonderland that she made to send to publishers. Why on earth she wasn't commissioned to illustrate more books before publishing her own is beyond me.

The other highlight of our trip was finally meeting my extra-talented fellow illustrator, Susan Mitchell. I'm planning to post more birthday and Susan goodies in my next post!

And finally, before leaving I was commissioned to illustrate a book for Scholastic, and so that's been keeping me busy since then. It's a wonderful story (with a lovable dog in it) and it's been a real treat to work on it. Of course I'll be sharing the artwork for that in the next little while.

10 comments:

sew nancy May 03, 2007  

love the bag. was it your own pattern as well? and the goodies are a nice treat. happy bday by the way -you know you are my birthday twin-
i posted my ribbon and trim spree i had at m & j today as well
cheers
ps - love my needlebook!

Anonymous,  May 03, 2007  

Hey awesome about the Scholastic Book!! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Congrats!

I love buttons too. I have a collection of gold ones on my kitchen knook table. There is just something so nifty about them. I have wonderful memories of playing in my Grandmas Buttons.

I sew too. I think your messenger bag turned out wonderful!

Anonymous,  May 03, 2007  

Happy Belated Birthday! It sounds like you had a wonderful getaway :)

elisabetha May 04, 2007  

wow...i wish i had a Bradley in my life....;)
those buttons are lovely! happy belated birthday!

Anonymous,  May 04, 2007  

Great ribbon photo! I really like the bag too. The shape is really cute.

Stephanie May 04, 2007  

Thats awesome- Im glad you had a great time!

Anonymous,  May 07, 2007  

That Bradley is a keeper! But you know that. The bag is beautiful and that exhibit sounds magical.

Unknown May 08, 2007  

Glad you had a great time in our city! :D

Cloudberry May 09, 2007  

Your bag is beautiful!

Anonymous,  May 27, 2007  

congratulations on your book commission! i'm really looking forward to seeing your work for it.
lovely messenger bag, too- it looks very practical and stylish at the same time.

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