oh hey hallo hi

first, many merci's to all the true hearts who made 2014 a pretty exciting year for my petite craftlife. i'm always humbled by all the support that gets thrown my way. truly, from the top of my heart, merci.

second, now that the holiday madness is over, onto a bit of real life.

i don't think i mentioned it via this blog that in january i begin a one year intensive course in graphic design and multimedia at the toronto film school. 

no that's right, after two years out of a six  consecutive year spell of being in college, i am back at it to navigate this funny little craftlife to a slightly different direction than even i expected. 

after going through what turned out to be the wrong programin 2006, i switched to crafts and design and i found what made my bum ticker light up with almost a constant creativity, heeps of art, and making with my hands. deciding that is what i should follow was one of the best decisions i've made in my life and in a lot of ways has saved my life. for what felt like a lifetime, i had zero drive to do anything with myself. 

since then, i am forever trying to build a creative world around that funny muscle hanging in my chest.

tomorrow is my first day of this new chapter in my life and i'm anxious... in a pretty good kind of nervous and a good kind of excited way. 

so what does this mean for the hearts and crafts? probably no sales in the city, though i will be (finally) getting on a bit of an etsy shop update in the next few weeks. you can expect more handmade to order listings and a dash of ready to ship ones.

i'll of course be sharing any projects i'll be working on during this year and all the heart pops (and farts) along the way. 

stick around if you're into that. 

internally yours, 

sister valentine

envelope snap wallet production

after the Etsy made in canada sale, i was left with three envelope snap wallets!
they've always been a personal favorite and at craft sales. the original pattern was fitted perfectly to use as a iphone 4/4s or ipod case but with the new iphone 5/5c being slightly longer, i had to adjust the pattern slightly for this new batch of snap wallets to fit both phone sizes.

after cutting the linen, i then pre mordant it to have the dye color stay put. in this case when i say dye color, i mean coffee.

when they're still wet, i brush on the coffee just along the edges and where they'll be folded giving it a great old parchment paper look when dried. they don't look like much when wet so the next morning when i piled them all up, it was pretty great to see.

it's kind of funny how just a few stitches can bring much more life to a piece. it tickles my heart some  how the vintage look of the dyed linen looks with the machine embroidered line work of the stamp and postal stamp waves.

since i designed these to be used as iphone cases, i sandwich a light cotton batting padding to each wallet to keep your devices a little safer from dings and falls. i usually would have used different fabrics to the inside separating flap to make each its own but this time i rooted for only a select fabrics to help make easier choices.

i also designed some new stamp designs to make these a little more unisex.
as in all my small batch productions, i maybe already found a favourite!

i'm down to the last few stamps left to hand embroider and then it's on to sewing these together. they'll be put on my etsy along with a couple of other new items in time for xmas shopping.

internally yours,
sister valentine

production mode photo dump pt.3

with days away from the Indie Arts Market, here is the last photo dump for your true eyes.

i had enough time to knock out four new wolf portraits, a personal favourite item. they tug hard on my heartstrings with how so much life is given to those little faces with just a little collar or set of glasses.

you know what to do.

found a touch of a lovely burnt gold suede

hearts pops at every stage

for scale, each portrait is mounted in a thrifted 5x7 picture frame so each is one of a kind

deciding the gentlemen and ladies

this gentlemen are too hip to quit

lady monocle for a touch of class

based the suede one on the Maned Wolf of south america, its color is similar to a fox

waiting on their frames and names

i did a little inventory and planned out my table display but you'll have to come out and see for yourself!

even had a pinch of time to sneak in a little gift to my mounbound self

tomorrow i'll be announcing a little bit of good craftlife news so tune in then and come adopt a wolf thursday!

interally yours,

sister valentine

production mode photo dump pt:2

yet another photodump! which you may see more of, i'm beginning to be a fan. 

i used to always want to write longer posts but sometimes you just can't beat a good ol' picture show.

now go on, git to it!

hand sewn little ears, these are my two favourites. miss pinky there has already been adopted!

not even the entire litter, craftlife satisfaction is what that is

  

i just love packaging these cutie pups up for adoption, them quiet little ears!

i gave a couple pups blue eyes and it won't be the last, oh my heart

finally got to use my handcarved moon stamp on the pup's care tags

individually hand written, when english begins to not look like english

leave no scrap behind. 

dipped into my scraps jar for a new batch of scrappy bracelets

each has a button closure with a vintage or reclaimed button,

these measure about an inch wide and 8" long for a loose fit

found a few favourites, some just always stand out

just so you don't forget, hand stamped cotton canvas backing.

i'll have just one more photo dump and a little announcement so peek back on here soontimes!

internally yours,

sister valentine

wolf pup picture show

et voila! here is a bit of a photo dump from the first week of production mode for the Indie Arts Market at the Gladstone Hotel. 

after knocking out two pre-orders, i dove right into getting on with the rest of the litter. i've mentioned a bazillion times before of my love of going through every step closer to completing a project which i won't go into again...but i will say there is almost nothing more that can pluck my craft heart strings more than making.

okee now onto the show!

hearty paws, the better to melt your heart with.

completed pre-orders being friends.

craftlife favorites: cutie pie packaging and a happy true heart.

nothing will practice your sewing skills like a production mode.

embroidered logos on every little bottom.

sewn paws and ready to be stuffed.

stuffed wolf pup bits.

i'm on a pretty good schedule for completing this little litter which means i could knock out some other ideas i've had in mind for a good while now, but i guess you'll just have to peek on here or (my instagram feed) soon again!

internally yours,

sister valentine

a true heart in the Gladstone Hotel

mark your calendars and come out to say hello to some new handmade goodies at Toronto Indie Arts Market held at the Gladstone Hotel on thursday august 21st!

i literally stood up from my chair when i got confirmation that my hearts and crafts will be part of a pretty fun market at the old beauty of a building, The Gladstone Hotel in toronto.
before i could even sit back down my craft brains opened the flood gates and my heart was racing as fast as the ideas were flowing! in the weeks leading up to the sale i'll be doing some photo dumps on how things are coming along and maybe it'll tickle you enough to come out and say hello.
ready set: production mode!

                                 

just days before the confirmation, i had finished cutting out a pack of 12 baby and toddler safe wolf pup dolls. they're an original pattern i designed from a comission last year, with little hearty paws and filled with 100% cotton balls for little arms to give a good little hug to. its floppy arms and tail pop my heart pretty hard as i'm sure it will yours!
they'll be available with different accent colors to make it just a little harder to pick one from the litter.

               

i'll have more of a picture show to dump here next week so keep them eyes peeled or follow my instagram (@sistervalentine) feed for some eye candy and heart pops!

internally yours,

sister valentine

bust a wolf!

before the always busy buzzing of christmas i was part of a pretty fun show at Hashtag Gallery in toronto. every piece of the show had to be no larger than 4x4 inches and can be in any medium you wanted. i've always been a fan of small pieces, the viewer has to step right up to the piece for a more intimate viewing.

 i wanted to do something dimensional and decided to make little portraits of my forever loved wolves.  i got to meet some of the true hearts that bought these wolves right off the wall and it made me feel so great knowing how excited they were to take one home. 

my favorite part of making wolves is adding the little noses and eyes bringing so much life to each one, but i never knew how much more life they could take on with a monocle or cutie peter pan collar. putting them into little frames makes them more about the little personalities the accessories gives them like a quirky or interesting family member and (hopefully for the veiwer) not like hunting trophies. ready your true hearts 'cause they are a lot of adorable!

these were more fun to make than the standing wolves, making me of course wanting to make more of this new kind of wolf pack (talk about craftlife troubles) and so, i did just that.
with certain things involving a certain imaginary boy who lives on the moon planned for the spring, i wanted to knock out a good little pack of these before this production laps over with the one.

with this new pack of wolf portraits i wanted to play and experiment a little with larger patterned fabrics then i came across a classy black velvet in my fabric stash that maybe made me gasp. 

yups, velvet. how could i pass up making a top shelf class act wolf? i see another monocled one in my craftlife future and i'm perfectly ok with that.

stuffing the 'experimental' ones gave me a little surprise of how good they looked, they tend to look quite different without stuffing...or ears. 

my other handmade wolves have always been in the gray-black-white colors like the gray wolf but along with the patterned fabric i've decided on some beige and brown wolf bust portraits. the subspecies of the gray wolf, the timber wolf, usually has more brown and beige with a touch of black in their coat colors so i wanted to play with that this time.

unlike the first little pack i made, these wolves will be in decorative vintage thrifted frames so they'll be ready to hang. 

my instagram is on the fritz again but at least i'm able to upload photos at least to share the progress with this pack so peek on there or my twitter feed. 

i'll post again when these pups are good and fully dressed for your true hearts!

internally yours,

sister valentine

little gentleman wolf

my fluttery heart just had to share this goodness i've been working on.

for about a year now i've wanted to make teeny art stuffies that can sit all pretty like on a shelf. i once did a small pack of wolves for a school project but they ended up coming in at about 8 inches from nose to tail. not quite the teeny i had in mind.

i started this little gentleman wolf fellah recently and only started on his mane tonight. using scraps of naturally dyed cotton gauze from my moon quilt and silver threads, i stitched on layers of it around his teeny chest and head.

i'd like to make his shape a little more stylized which means this first version will sit just fine on my own shelf.
i'm nearly done all the textural stitching and have already begun to think of a lady wolf for him. what's a gentleman wolf without a lady wolf?
soon he'll be stuffed and stoic and then will come his lady loup!

internally yours,
sister valentine