wood, wood and more wood

One of my goals this year is to try and use existing craft materials that I have kept or stockpiled over the years... I seem to hold on to a little bit here and there with each project, and now my craft closet is bursting at the seams. I have a box full of different off-cut sized wood veneer... they are all so pretty... still not sure what to do with them... will have to brainstorm this week!! 

where the wild things are

Every once in a blue moon, I will see a movie trailer that blows me away and gets me suuuuuuper excited. Being a mega-fan of Spike Jonze, I am soooo excited about his upcoming adaptation of my fave children's book Where the Wild Things Are. It doesn't come out until October, which seems so far away... but I'm sure it will be well worth the wait. See the trailer here, and you'll see why I am dancing on the spot like a 5-year old in excitement!

collage: girl and bird

A bird theme collage for the weekend... tweet tweet. Only once in my life has a small wild bird landed on my hand Snow White/Cinderella style (creepy pigeons don't count). I held out a handful of birdseed and with a lot of patience, lo and behold it worked! Maybe the secret is to sing to them like in the movies?.. although I think in my case that would definitely scare them away.

my barbapapa collection: coin bank

In a previous post last month, I had mentioned that one of my fave childhood books is the Barbapapa series. I have been collecting random Barbapapa items over the years both old and new, so I thought I would post up one of them today. This is a wooden coin bank I got from a local store (it's Barbalib - the nerdy book reader... er, for any other fanatics out there!). I was so happy to see that a French wooden toy company called Vilac was rereleasing new Barba-items... not sure how I will resist getting more of these! Will update some more from my collection from time to time, so stay tuned!

three press

A pic of bright yellow flowers today, since I'm in a bright and sunny mood this morning... I am finding, good things do come in threes! This week some more great press from three fellow bloggers... check out these postings and lovely blogs. My bird tote is featured on Etsy Item of the Day (thanks Jackie!), a nice little write up on crea8ive juice (thanks Andrea!) and lastly on Handmade by Angie (thanks Angie!)

blast from the past 3

After some encouraging words from last week, I am slowly starting to scan some more of my retro collages (yes, retro as in from the not-too-distant 90s). I must have been in an angry mood the day I made this back in the day... lots of sharp pointy references in this one. I kind of cringe and laugh at the word "Alternative" I worked into it too... it's so embarrassing. 

collage: girl and bird

One of my fave things about spring is seeing and hearing the birds in the magnolia tree outside our window... well, as long as they are the wee voices of the tiny little birds and not the screams from crows or seagulls. Thank goodness we have been lucky with that so far!

Also thanks to Pandapop blog for including me on one their posts over the weekend! :)

snowshoe day

Yesterday morning we went snowshoeing up on one of the trails at Mount Seymour in North Vancouver. After some huffing and puffing and a little bit of grumbling and a few curse words, we were rewarded with some awesome views of the local north shore mountains. Apparently there are several more peaks further on (as in further up), but we'll have to save that longer trek for next time!

butterfly plant

I'm so excited it is finally spring! I think my favorite houseplant knows, since it's starting to grow like crazy! (Yes, I am weird... I have a fave plant ... it's my fave since I like how it looks and it hasn't died on me yet). In the day time all the leaves open up towards the light and they look like butterflies, and at night the leaves close back up again. I have a green one too, but he's my second favorite.

Also should mention that one of my collages was featured on Angela Vandenbogaard's blog yesterday... thanks Angela!

first day of spring

Today is the first day of spring... perfect for a spring themed baby animal collage! I probably wouldn't be so calm feeding a fawn in real life... I would be too scared I would get a hoof to the face! 

Also on another note, the Cabin + Cub shop was featured on HeyIfoundthis.com yesterday... be sure to check it out. Thanks Gabbie for the post!

collage: girl and rain cloud

One of the reoccurring themes in my collages seems to be rain, rain and more rain. Living in Vancouver, it rains here a lot in the winter, so it sort of becomes an unavoidable topic of choice. So instead of complaining, I will suck it up, put on my gum boots and twirl my umbrella until Mr. Sunshine decides to make an appearance again (hopefully, I won't be waiting too long).

blast from the past 2

I posted an early collage a couple of months ago, and got a lot of great response... so I thought I would post up another one today. It's from the same teen angst book of collages I made over ten years ago. While scanning it, a few pieces began to peel, and I am realizing that the crappy low-grade glue stick I had used is slowly starting to lose its stickiness.... the thought of trying to save this book is scaring me... scanning close to 200 pages of these things is going to be such a nightmare.... argh!

happy st. patrick's day!

A little bit of green today since it's St. Patrick's Day! I don't have any clover-motif work, but thought this wee green woodburned birdy would be a perfect start to a lucky day. Hope everyone has a chance to enjoy some green beers today! 

pin sets on sale!

Pin sets are now on sale in the cabin + cub shop! Each set comes with six 1-inch pins and are now 50% off -- on sale for $2.25... get them while they last! :)

collage: heart gun

A lovey-dovey collage to share with you for the weekend... I like to think that he is sort of a modern day cupid.

spotted in holland

How very exciting! Jan from Poppytalk was nice enough to send over a press clipping the other day from Eigenhuis & Interieur. Sent to her by an artist from Holland, the article lists her wonderful blog (as well as many others), and to my surprise, features two cabin + cub designs!... woohoo! The fawn and swallow designs are from my bookplate and greeting card designs. I think this is a good kick start for me to try and start making official press kits this year :)

room6

Nestled in Deep Cove in Vancouver, is one of my favorite shops to visit. Designated as a shop carrying "special things for nice people," Room6 definitely has no shortage of splendid things for the many special people in one's life. New stock of decor, stationary, jewelry, accessories and clothing arrives frequently, so every visit always brings great surprises. Be on the lookout for some of my wood burnings here too!

more marimekko

I thought I would share another Marimekko piece that we have in our little home. This one is newer (I think you can still buy this pattern from any Marimekko store) and it is the fist stretched wall hanging I had attempted to do myself. After a lot of stretching and staple gunning, it turned out fairly straight... yay! It hangs across from our vintage Marimekko piece, so they live as a happy pair.

collage: blowing bubbles

The forecast for this week in Vancouver is supposed to be pure sunshine... so I am crossing my fingers that Mr. TV Weatherman will be right and not let me down again. Anyways, thought I would post a bright and sunny collage... nothing like blowing colorful bubbles, while wearing a sunny yellow sweater!

orange conspiracy

Not sure what's going on... but my last six sales from my etsy shop this past month coincidentally have all been orange wood burned panels... and all to different buyers from all over! Ohhhhh... its like an orange conspiracy... heehee. Perhaps it's the hot new color for spring and this is a not so subtle message to me to make more orange things!

nha trang pics

The final installment of our Vietnam holiday photos... this batch from our recent time in Nha Trang, a beach city with aqua water, sandy beaches and umbrella drinks.

The view from the plane flying into Nha Trang.
My lazy attempt at a photo, while relaxing and resting under an umbrella on my beach chair... sigh, I wish I were there now!
Preparing sugar cane on a side street. There are street vendors that have sugar cane presses that basically juice the canes and sell the yummy sugary drinks.
View of the city at night.
The band on our small boat tour, which also happened to be the crew, the guides and the cooks. The drums were made out of plastic containers and wood. My husband Roger got dragged up to the front for a karaoke version of "Yellow Submarine" with the band (unfortunately, I have been forbidden to share this video with anyone).
The "floating bar"... notice the bartender pouring glasses of wine in the middle. Our boat (which was generally full of 20 and 3o somethings) was joined by another boat, a seniors' tour from Denmark -- I have never seen a bunch of seniors party harder!
A giant tranquil Buddha on a lotus overlooking the city.

collage: craft thoughts

I am so excited... the craft collective I am a part of, Hob Snobs Craft Collective, has been accepted to participate in the popular One of a Kind show this coming October in Vancouver! This will be my first large trade show. I have only done smaller craft shows in the past, so am a tad nervous... gulp. I guess now I have more reason to get brainstorming on those crafty ideas and kick start production!

decor8

I woke up yesterday morning and found one of my little collages "catching butterflies", featured on Decor8's Favorite 8! How exciting! I am a big fan of  Holly's blog... so much eye candy, inspirational and beautiful things featured daily, and many familiar etsians as well. Check out the posting here.

hoi an pics 2

Ok... so I guess we did take quite a few photos on our trip.... only two more small batches to post.. I promise! These are a few more from Hoi An and the surrounding areas.

This was the giant Buddha on our excursion to the Marble Mountains... basically a set of mountains made of natural marble with caves/caverns that contain several temples. I am still grateful I did not slip and fall and crack my skull in some of the tight spots we had to scurry through.
The Japanese Bridge in Hoi An, one of the main attractions in the old town.
Oh yes... it's SuperBono!... I guess his do-gooder persona spans the globe! This was in one of the local bars.
Rice workers in a field.
The local marketplace... if you can believe it... scooters try to drive through here too.
One of the temples at the Marble Mountains.
Champa ruins at My Son, which is in the jungles of Vietnam. There were swarms of people there... not an easy feat, but I managed to get a few people-free shots. :)

collage: ceci n'est pas une pipe

My ode to surrealist René Magritte's painting "Ceci n'est pas une pipe"... I couldn't resist when I found this vintage image of a pipe. I don't smoke, but I find it strange that with the amount of people who do smoke, very few have taken up the old fashioned pipe... it smells a whole lot better than cigarettes or cigars.

hoi an pics

Some more photos from our Vietnam trip... this time images from Hoi An, a small town near the centre of Vietnam. Designated a Unesco World Heritage Site, the old town was quite and serene.

A view from the water. 
The view from our hotel balcony overlooked a rice paddy field... so every morning we would watch the local farmers tend to their crops.
One of Hoi An's specialty goods are their lanterns. At night there are rows of vendors along the streets all lit up with these colorful lanterns... it's quite mesmerizing in person, hard to capture in the picture.
There were a lot of merchants walking around town selling their wares... food and bottled drinks mostly. There were also a high ratio of tailor shops (you can see one in the background)... they would make anything you wanted custom fit... no joke - show them a picture of your fave designer dress in a magazine, and one day later you'll have it ready to go for a bargain.
There were an abundance of temples in the town too... at times, it almost felt like more temples than people.
Rows of spiral incense hanging from the ceiling of a local buddhist temple.
Rows and rows of cyclos lined up and ready to shuttle tourists around the town... only big tour groups seemed to ride them... we didn't end up riding one since everything was actually very close on foot ...they seemed more for novelty than practicality. Another batch of pics coming soon!