links | embroidered art cards & more

my absolute favourite type of blog post is one that is full of links. as i mentioned here, i just love falling into an internet rabbit hole! starting at one site, and ending up somewhere totally different like toucan sam (following my nose?). it's even better when i come across a link love or weekend links post and a blogger who does all the work for me. so i figured since i love discovering new and unique links, i should share some of my own each week!

one | my mobile loving heart is eating these cuties right up.

two | can you imagine the time it takes to make these embroidered greeting cards? or diy your own, simpler variation.

three | label and add some class to your book collection with this bookplate download

four | well, these are just adorable!

five | i'm obsessed with finding chic little boy brands like this one

six | he doesn't post that often, but his inspirational hand lettering is worth following.

seven | i really want to make these, but we aren't "interesting sock people" so i would have to buy some first ;)

eight | i didn't even know side snap onesies existed...but does anyone know how the other side is secured underneath?

nine |  celebrities who chose their middle name over their first

ten | is this company the new moo?

eleven | oh, and it's the last day to celebrate national letter writing month by taking 25% off in my stationery shop with the coupon code LETTERLOVER

baby | bloggers to follow

image via using diana app

when i found out i was pregnant last summer, i knew i wanted a lot of advice from other mothers. the catch was... i didn't necessarily want it in person, and i didn't want the pressure of having to respond. coincidentally, many of the bloggers i had been following for some time, such as kathleen, savannah and elise, were now pregnant and navigating newborns as well. although these women don't know me from eve, to me they feel like old friends! and the best part is perusing he comment sections because mothers and pregnant women all over the world use the opportunity to chime in. doing research on a topic is all well and good, but it has been incredibly helpful to read twenty or thirty comments from different people on subjects such as morning sickness, gender, baby gear and breastfeeding.

there were other bloggers whom i started to follow purely because they were pregnant. and some, like emily, tristan, jo and bonnie have blogs i fell in love with for other reasons as well.

all of these women* have different approaches to pregnancy, and different journeys. some planned home births, some ended up having a caesarean (planned and unplanned). one thing they all seem to have in common is that they are strong, creative woman, many of whom have small businesses and work from home.

emily hendersen from style by emily henderson

pregnancy and baby charlie

jenny highsmith from jenny highsmith / maiedae

pregnancy

baby rowan

savannah wallace from maiedae

pregnancy and baby soren

bonnie christine from going home to roost

pregnancy

baby bear

tristan b from besotted blog

pregnancy and baby elle

ravyn stadick from the oregon tale

pregnancy

baby alba

kathleen shannon from and kathleen

pregnancy

bebe fox

elise blaha cripe from enjoy it

pregnancy

baby ellerie

joanna goddard

pregnancy 

babies toby and anton

and of course, my own blog posts!

kaitlyn patience from isavirtue

pregnancy

baby jackson

*i also love all of the names they chose for their children! is there a rule that well known bloggers have to pick unique names...like celebrities?

baby | my husband and support systems

the caption for the above photo is as follows:
in july 2013, jon started growing something - and so did i! i grew a baby for nine months, and he grew a moustache! in celebration of jackson's arrival - he finally shaved it off. i guess it was good luck as little j has all ten fingers and ten toes...and a little moustache of his own apparently!

i have been incredibly lucky over the past five weeks. i always knew my husband would make an excellent father, i just didn't know the extent of it. while "being a mother" and taking care of a teeny tiny baby feels so new to me (of course it does!), jonathan seems to be an old pro. while watching him i could swear he has done it all before. and the funniest part is that i'm the one who did the endless reading, googling and product research. but jon is so natural - at all of it.

the other night he was feeding jackson a bottle and the little guy kept falling asleep. so after a few tries, he got up and went to change him. when he came back i said "how did you know to do that? the books i read suggest changing the baby's diaper if he's falling asleep because that almost always wakes him up. but how did you know to do that?" and he said "i just did."
well okay then.

jon also taught me how to diaper, how to open and close the stroller, how to strap the sniff into the car seat and even memorized all the tips and tricks for breastfeeding (and gently reminds me of them when i get frustrated). 

but it's more than that - it's his whole attitude. through all the crying and fussing, he is so patient/calm/zen/understanding...use whatever word you like, i've yet to see him flip his lid. plus he works all day and then comes home and plays/changes/feeds the baby. he even lets me sleep whenever i can.

when jackson and i are home together all day, i definitely take a page from jon's play book. and like jon, the page says "he's just a little baby, he's just crying to try and tell us what he wants. he's not trying to frustrate us on purpose."

my mother has also been amazing. which is great because one of the reasons we moved back to ontario was to be closer to our families when we started a family. my mum is a neo natal nurse and takes care of premies at her job. so it's awesome to be able to ask her anything about babies. she's also super relaxed about it all and often talks me down when i start to worry about something. every week she has been bringing us food or allowing us time to sleep or go out while she watches jack. and don't get me started on all the cute baby clothes!

i'm very lucky and want to give major props to all the single mothers out there. it's definitely important to have a support system.

one sweet thing: after spending time with the baby, jon and i have noticed something. when he comes home from work he says "hi sniff! hi schmoo mama!" and i say:

"my god your head is big."

and now jon is noticing it too. we stare at jackson so much that when we look up at each other, we can't help but notice how large each other's noggins are. like...kind of grossly, annoyingly humongous!

art vs. art | shary boyle vs. jess riva cooper

i've loved shary boyle's work for a number of years - i even mentioned it here. when i worked at the kitchener-waterloo art gallery, my colleague and i came across some images of boyle's work in the daily mail. i was stunned by the unique contrast between a traditional medium with a twisted and modern take. i could even do an art vs. art vs. art vs. art if i were to add in another medium and include these photographs by one lonely apricot, or these by robyn cummings.

boyle's porcelain women are hyper feminine - shrouded as they are in lace and flora. but these symbols, generally associated with a calm and delicate nature, are wreaking havoc on each miniature statue - swallowing them whole, eating them alive, blinding them and even decapitating. i find this work endlessly fascinating.

and thus i was immediately attracted to the work of jess riva cooper, whom i came across on artsy forager. in her viral series collection, riva creates small busts of women, tightly wrapped in flowers and foliage. it's anyone's guess as to whether these vines are moving outwards in, or whether they're actually growing from within each woman.

which do you prefer and why?

shary boyle

jess riva

isavirtue | on instagram

for great images of art, stationery, crafts, snail mail and motherhood - follow isavirtue on instagram here.

isavirtue | building an aesthetic

about a year ago, i turned to my friend bonnie, pointed at a wall of coloured cardstock and said "see how these colours work together? that's how i want my stationery shop to look."

for years i've been purchasing my cardstock paper at local shops, or franchise hobby stores. and sometimes i still do. but i realized that by doing so, i was letting the limited selection dictate what i created and sold. what i should have been doing was dictating what i wanted, and then making an effort to find it.

so i finally took the plunge and ordered cardstock online from the same company that made the paper i pointed out to my friend. it was a painful purchase because the company ships from the states, and their product prices are not inexpensive or even very competitive. but they have unique colours that inspire me and speak to the aesthetic i want to achieve in my shop.

for almost a year i only sold black and white stationery. after that i added in pink, and then grey. when i finally decided to add all the colours of the rainbow, i was excited for a bit, but quickly knew i'd made a mistake. i'd done it backwards again! i made envelopes in every colour in an effort to please...well, everyone. even though i hate the colour orange, only like certain yellows, and have never been able to figure out how to make primary green work...all of these hues were available at isavirtue.

so over the past year i tried to reconnect which the shop that i envisioned. i'm hyper aware when it comes to online shops (and brick and mortar as well) that products affect each other. if they don't look good together, they won't be appealing to consumers.

i've scaled down my colour range now, but also added a number of metallics. i'm focusing on the theme of snail mail, and expanding my font range (but still keeping in touch with what i think looks good). i'm also limited the number of pictorial images i sell - although many are popular and available for profitable use, they aren't mine. which means if i ever want my work to be featured on blogs and magazines, i have to provide pieces that consist of my own design. it's also confusing for buyers who often want custom image order - like last month when i was asked if i could "do a kitten playing with a ball of yarn" - that's not the vibe i want my store to give out!

i'm posting this today because i think i'm finally there. i've achieved the look i want and the products work well together. there's still some pieces i wish weren't in the collection (like this, or this), but it would be silly to unlist them when their purchaser soulmate is out there somewhere!*
*and hey, if that's you, email me and i'll give you a discount code ;)

baby | cliches & repetition

before i joined the ranks of parents around the world, i had heard all the cliches. 

"you won't be getting any sleep!"

"you should rest now, you won't be able to once the baby is born!"

"you'll never stop doing laundry!"

"it's a full time job!"

"get ready for some dirty diapers!"

"the time when they are so little will be gone so fast!"

but i've realized now that there is a huge difference between hearing something, and understanding it as the truth. i feel like i should have asked questions when these cliches arose; i should have delved deeper. for example: 

"why don't you get to sleep?"

"will i not have time to read a book or work at my computer?"

"like how often am i actually washing clothes?"

"why does everyone mention diapers so much?"

"won't every hour feel like it's inching by with a baby?"

and now i know the answers: you don't get to sleep because the baby needs to be fed every few hours. during the day you are a constant sentinel. and when he does sleep, you never know whether it's for twenty minutes or two hours. you might be able to find 5 minute increments and you may even find a way to use two hands but for the most part, the baby just wants to be held. you are washing clothes every other day (that's just the baby's stuff). going through three or more outfits in a day is totally normal - plus burp cloths, towels, sheets etc. diapers feel all consuming because you do it more than ten times a day - and ya, it's kind of gross. surprisingly, although time seems to tick by slowly when you are trying to calm a fussy baby, you are so consumed with keeping it alive and getting to "The Next Thing That Will Calm" that suddenly it's a week later. and then another week, and then another.

speaking of the next thing, holy goodness repetition city yo. i feed this little sniff, and then i change him. then i put new clothes on him, then cuddle or talk or soothe. and then it's time to feed again followed by...you guessed it - more changing! all day long it's this pattern over and over. more specifically it's feed, burp, change, clothe, swaddle, cuddle, sleep. sometimes we fit in an outdoor walk or a period of time the what to expect lady calls "quiet wakefulness" - or as i like to call it "The Time I Can Do All The Things." 

it's funny because i like repetitive tasks. when i worked as a server i liked rolling cutlery. when i'm at the gym i like to use the weight machines and do "reps." when i make my stationery, i love creating in bulk. the look and meditative nature of repetition pleases me. but those things have an ultimate goal - i fill the bin with cutlery and go home, i do some thigh crunches and eventually gain muscle, i cut and paste envelopes and when i've created 25 for a custom order, i'm done! but with a baby i have trouble seeing the finish line - because there isn't one. and if there is it's so grandiose and long term i can't really focus on it.

in order not to sound to negative (i'm just working out my feelings ya'll!*) i'm going to share one sweet thing** each time i do a baby post.
the thing: when jackson wakes up, especially in the morning when the sun has come up, and he has slept for just a bit longer than normal, he is sweetness beyond words. i unwrap his swaddle to let out his limbs and he stretches out his whole body in the most adorable way. his face contorts as he yawns and pushes his arms into the air. he's so cute when he does this that i find myself wanting to eat his face. not literally of course, but i want to swallow his cuteness up in such a way that it becomes part of me and i can have it all the time. luckily he's hungry which means he's going to let out a cry anyways - so i use this opportunity to ferciously kiss him all over.

* i'm sorry i just said "ya'll" ya'll
** i can't promise it will only be one thing - he's so cute!

isavirtue | on bloglovin'

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art | hukurou illustration

when i lived in victoria, my mother came to visit in early march. granted it snowed while she was there - a freak storm that was entirely unexpected at that time of year on that particular coast. but despite that, she kept commenting on how green everything was - the trees, the grass and even the flowers and shrubs (she planted flowers in my garden during aforementioned snowfall so that should tell you something). but still i didn't get her exclamatory statements about the greeness. i guess after having lived there for seven months, i was already jaded and took it for granted how alive the land was year round!

but now, living in ontario and seeing the snow melt - i'm reminded at how winter ravages everything. the ground is brown and muddy, all of the trees are bare and everything is dead. i have no doubt it will snow again, even in april. still, the weather has warmed a bit, and when i open the windows i can hear beautiful birdsongs all day long.

i love the illustrative nature of these artworks. though i couldn't find much about the artist, hukurou illustration can be found here. like the scene outside my window, there is a hint of colour and an abstraction of sunshine that makes me hope for spring.

baby | a newborn photoshoot

this is just a little photoshoot of my new mini human. here's jackson john, working all his angles!

baby | birth announcements

although i knew the first few weeks with the little sniff would be hectic, i felt i would be remiss (as a lover, advocate and purveyor of snail mail) if i didn't mail out birth announcements. so, even with the new canada post costs for lettermail, i chose a small selection of family and friends and sent out some simple postcards.

i have this snail mail themed "delivered with love" stamp...and i'm totally tickled by how it works in this scenario. because the little sniff was delivered with love as well! i embossed that statement on the front in raised silver ink. and on the back i created a postcard with jackson's pertinent birth info. for funsies, i matched the style to the shower thank-you cards we sent out last month.

art vs. art | linnea strid vs. alyssa monk

while getting my artsy forager fix this past week i came across this post on the artwork of linnea strid. i was struck by the similarity between her images of water on the human face and a previous collection of artwork by alyssa monk. 

both artists depict variations on similar themes; including faces floating just beneath the water's surface, and steamy shower scenes (not that kind!). while i prefer the expert realism of alyssa's hand, there is something about linnea's portraits that feel contemplative. her faces appear to be using the water as a way to hide, or let go. whereas monk's women come across as somewhat playful, and more relaxed.

more alyssa monk + realism

linnea strid

alyssa monk