Beside Herself

Holiday in the city

2010-12-01T12:36:00.000-08:00

We will be participating in a few stellar Holiday craft shows this month. Get your holiday shopping done the crafty way starting this weekend!

Printopolis

2010-10-22T08:42:00.001-07:00

Are you taking part in all the Printmaking goodness happening in the city? We are on day two of Printopolis, Open Studio's International Symposium on Printmaking. There are all sorts of print shows, talks and workshops across the city, take a peek at the Printopolis website for more info.
There's some pretty spectacular programming. If you get a chance, we would recommend you take a trip up to York U's Gales Gallery, to see Printapalooza! A show of former York print program students including us! We're really excited to be back in our old stomping grounds. We got real nostalgic on the 1.5 hr commute up. The opening is on the 28th, we'll see you there.

Plush You! Seattle

2010-10-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

If you happen to be out in Seattle, you should stop by Shmancy, Nancy and Fancy (on 2nd) for this year's Plush You! show. The opening was on the 8th (sorry about that) but the show is on for the next month.
More details on the Shmancy website and some photos of amazing plushiness on Kristen's flickr.

Queen West Art Crawl

2010-09-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend in Trinity Bellwoods Park, as part of the Queen West Art Crawl.

Our friend Takashi was in the show too!

We were lucky enough to trade for one of these little automobiles.

This show actually marked the one year anniversary of Beside Herself. Woo! Happy Birthday to us.

Absolut Summer

2010-09-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

If the posts have been sparse this summer, it's definitely not for lack of activity over here. In fact, busier than ever, we've been working away on a super top secret project. We were hired by Absolut Vodka to create and art installation that we had the delight to put in the spotlight last Thursday Sept. 9th at a Tiff kickoff party: Absolut St. Art. It was a challenge, but it was wonderfully rewarding to see it all come together. We're working on a real gallery of photos to share with you, but in the meantime, here are some photos of the night taken with the disposable camera invites.

They made a drink inspired by us! This is how you make it:

It was elegant and amazing... raspberry!

It was sad to take it all down at the end of the night...

To see a more photos from the night check out the Absolut facebook album.

Plush you video

2010-09-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

Check out this sweet little video of the Plush You show.

...wish we could have made it!

Plush You L.A.

2010-08-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

We've had such a busy summer we forgot to mention that we are a part of a great show down in sunny L.A.! The show is organized by Seattle's Schamncy and is taking place at Munky King.

If you happen to be down there be sure to check it out (and send us pictures!). All the details are here.

WORN fashion journal

2010-07-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

Did you happen to pick up the latest issue of Worn?

If you have, then you might have come across this delightful spread,

It includes a piece by us, inspired by Mr. Don Cherry's wardrobe.
It was a fun challenge to play with an icon such as Don. We hope he likes it.

Here is our original piece

Thanks to Hillary for inviting us to participate. We *heart* WORN

Why ... hello

2010-07-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

Long overdue shop update today.
New cat card and doily sets for one and all. See a familiar face here and see doily goodness here.
Smammich not included.

Trunk show amazingness!

2010-06-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some over-due photos of the Yard sale trunk show. We had an amazing time and got all kinds of fantastic goodies, which will get a post all on their own. We *heart* the Workroom. Oh, and as always, take a look at Karyn's fantastic flikr set here.

The workroom!

All kinds of bright things going on

We brought along our new scarves, new doilies and even some rummage.

Lovely Lee Meszaros of Merit Badge fame!

Delicious snacks. yum.

We fell in love with these itty bitty chalkboard signs by Killside Krafts. Friggin' adorable.

We got all sorts of amazing rummage back here.

mmmm... vintage goodness

There was a great photo booth out back, see all the great photos here.

In particular, you gotta see this cute photo.

Amazing lamp in the Workroom bathroom.

Yard Sale Trunk Show

2010-06-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

We are pumped to once again be a part of a trunk show at the Workroom this weekend! The vendors are amazing and this show will expand out into the back yard of the workroom (fingers crossed for sunny weather). You should stop by and get your craft and rummage fix.

Facebook event here
More deets here

Oh so many scarves!

2010-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

You may remember that we started this project back in the fall. It took a while to fine tune it but we just finished a fairly sizable edition of wood grain and flowery scarves. You can pick one up at Bluebird Handmade and on etsy soon.

It's a good thing we had all that Canadian flag packing tape...

Print party!

2010-05-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

100 Prints was a blast. Lots of good art, good food and good people. We only took a couple of pictures unfortunately, but we recommend you go check out the complete set of works up for grabs that night. See here.

Joseph Siu and Alda

Beside Herself girls!

Here is the piece that we donated to the sale:

These went home with a couple wearing fedoras.

100 Prints

2010-05-11T08:34:00.001-07:00

We are delighted to be a part of Open Studio's annual fund raising Gala 100 Prints. It's a Printmaking party!

From their website:
For our major annual fundraising event, 100 prints are curated from prints donated by nationally and internationally recognized Canadian artists; 100 tickets are sold for the event, assuring each ticket holder an original fine art print. The minimum value of each print is $375. Tickets are drawn in random order on the evening of the event. As each ticket is drawn, its holder has one minute to choose a print. As the evening progresses the element of chance creates an air of anticipation and excitement.

The Gala is tomorrow, but I have it on good word that there are a few tickets left. Get your ticket now!

More info about the event here and the facebook event here.

Cuteness at the Workroom and cats everywhere

2010-04-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the Workroom on Sunday! There was lots of great work to look at, and we made some really great and crafty BFFs. Here are some photos of the day for you, but to see more (and better) photos, you should really go see Karyn's amazing Flickr set.

Amazing cards and fabric by Melinda Josie. Do you see the cat-flower fabric?! (OMG)

Old Weston's trunk of wares!

Lot's of lovely fabric by Repeat Studio

This cat-face pillow was just one of the many cat-themed pieces we saw that day. Lines by: Davis

Lot's of Owls on the Lines by: Davis table.

Everybody tried on Becky's cute bow shoes hoping they would fit; they were the Cinderella shoes of the day.

Adorable needle book by Needle Book.

All kinds of colour and amazing work with Deadweight ...and a kitty.

The little lady on the right came home with us (so rad). Also, the neon catty fella on the upper left (with green circles) is Sandi's fat cat Oreo. Carolyn also owns a fat cat named Oreo. WEIRD CAT COINCIDENCE!

Cats, and bunnies and bears! Stitch Face had all kinds soft things to look at... and squeeze.

These clocks! *heart*

For some reason the photos we took of Argyle Acorn's trunks came out blurry. Boo. There's some good ones in Karyn's set though. See her pretty hair feathers there.

Oh and this is us.

Cats!

Spring Trunk Show!

2010-04-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

This Sunday Beside Herself will be at the Spring Trunk Show at the Workroom. This will be our very first workroom show and our first craft show of the year. We've been looking forward to this for a while and have been working to get some soft wood grain things ready (hint hint).

Spring Trunk Show @ the workroom

1340 Queen Street West
Sunday, April 18, 2010
NOON-5:00pm

Check out the facebook event or the city of craft website for more details.

excited!

Good times and good art

2010-04-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, thanks for coming out to the opening of One 2 Many! It was a great time. Here are a few pictures, but they really don't do the show justice. If you didn't make it to the opening the show is up for the rest of the month, hours and location here.

Beside Herself corner

The man himself...

Everybody loves milk!

Especially this guy.

This is a collaborative piece everyone in the show made. Can you guess which panel is ours?
Tree stumps!
There was so much more work than what these few pictures show...

See more photos of the set-up and opening night on jim's blog here.

getting set

2010-03-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

There is a frenzy of activity over here in preparation for the One 2 Many show at Steam Whistle (Opening in one week!). There is still a lot to do, but it's beginning to come together and we couldn't be more excited. See you on the 7th okay?

One 2 Many

2010-03-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, we're going to be in a sweet group show at the Steam Whistle gallery. Lots of talent, you should pencil it in.
Facebook event
Steam Whistle Website
One 2 Many Group Show Blog

Now in Technicolour!

2010-03-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

Check out this sweet music video featuring none other than yours truly and about a thousand kittens. We've already made some room in our studio for our MMVA.

THE HEY NOW - BOOK OF CONJURING from MOTIONEER on Vimeo.

Big hugs to The Hey Now and especially to James Reid for inviting us to be a part of this. <3

A special place in my heart for you

2010-01-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

We created a special limited edition of these valentines. These hearts are extra puffy and extra pretty. They come pinned in a wood shadowbox. Perfect way to show someone what they mean to you? We think so. See more here.

Valentines for your sweetie

2010-01-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

"A place in my heart for you"

"Be Mine" kitten

They're up in our etsy shop now, get them while they're hot.

Hey, thet's us!

2010-01-15T14:08:00.001-08:00

Now magazine ran a sweet little spotlight on Bluebird Handmande last week that included a shot of our scarves. Just lovely.

Aaaand we're back

2010-01-11T18:33:00.001-08:00

So it's been a while since we've been round these parts. The fact of the matter is that December got a little crazy and then we went and took some time off. But we've kicked off the new year with all sorts of updates. You will now find an up-to-date portfolio here, and now you can show all your friends you love us here. Yeah, we jumped on that bandwagon.

We're really excited about this year, hope you are too; it's going to be a good one.

Winter Fling!

2009-12-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

We are really excited to be doing one more show this holiday season! All the details about this can be found here and check out interviews with the vendors here!

Get yer cat cards!

2009-11-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

Hey, so the kitty cats are up.
See here and also here.

These started off as a project to make holiday cards for people we know but before we knew it we were surrounded. Literally, cats everywhere. So now were selling them, but the original goal hasn't changed. If you're getting a card from us this year, try to act surprised.

Movies and Makers

2009-11-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

We had a blast at the Movies and Makers show this past Saturday at the Fox Theatre. The show was in the theatre itself, so we had super cozy seats and nice warm lighting.

We debuted our holiday kitty cats at the show. These guys will be making an appearance on etsy later today. Here kitty kitty.

The Fox concession stand was selling cupcakes! yum...

Wish we had taken photos of other tables, but we didn't. You'll have to check out the movie and makers blog to see some of the other vendors that were there.

We should mention how awesome the movie "Handmade Nation" was. If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, go check it out, it just came out on DVD. It's a little on the shaky shaky side when it comes to camera control (carolyn had to close her eyes a lot), but it's really well done otherwise. It's encouraging to see the stories and studios of other incredible crafters and to have the diy movement be put in perspective.

Props to Lisa and Andy for putting this sweet show together and having us be a part of it.

We made some holiday cards

2009-11-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

Kitty cats that you can display sitting up, looking at you, with little holiday greeting cards in their mouths. Give your friends cuteness in a card.

A few photos from Craft off the lot!

2009-11-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

So this was our first indoor show. We didn't think we had everything we would need to put it together, but we're pretty happy with the result. People seemed to especially like our sign.

It was actually pretty awesome to have flat walls to put prints up. No more floppy clotheslines and windstorm disasters.

This is me digging into to some walnut cakes. yum.

These are new. We'll be putting them up on etsy soon.

A big thanks to the Cryptic Canvas crew and everyone that put together this show. It was great to be a part of it.

Movies & Makers

2009-11-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

Another show this weekend. This is a quickie, 10-4 at the Fox theater. We will have a little table there full of printed goodness, including some brand new stuff that is being made as I type! We, of course will not be alone, there will be a bunch of other talented crafters, see the full list here:
http://movies-and-makers.blogspot.com/

The best thing of this show, is that the crafty show part is followed by the film "Handmade Nation". Woo!

So, we'll see you on Saturday, m'kay?

Craft off the lot

2009-11-13T07:36:00.001-08:00

The opening night party was last night and it was pretty rad. Lots to see and many lovely people to talk to. We will be there again tonight and through the weekend. Stop by and say hello or something.

Shows, events, what's going on...

2009-11-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

At last our new NEST soft sculptures are in the final stages of production. Above you will see these dolls in the window of a local shop, Bluebird Handmade. This series is an exploration of traditions; those that are learned in a particular cultural context and those that are learned in the home. It is about our relationship to our traditions and how this relationship and the traditions themselves can change over time, particularly in the context of migration. This piece is about both the comfort and burden of traditions when we find ourselves in new settings. Nesting is an ongoing process.

You can also see them in our etsy shop and in a few upcoming shows.

Craft off the Lot
Craft off the Lot is an indoor art and craft sale featuring artists from across Canada. The show is located in the vacant Chrysler building at 1030 King Street West (also home to LG Fashion Week) from November 12-15th.
Hours of operation: Thurs. 12th is opening night, 7- 11pm.
Fri. 13th (scary) and Sat.14th, 11am-8pm
Sun. 15th, 11am-6pm
PWYC

Hard Twist: New Twist
The original edition of dolls that this NEST series is based on will be installed in the Gladestone Hotel's Hard Twist: New Twist. The opening reception is this Friday from 6pm -9pm on the hotel's third floor. Cover is free. The show runs until January 3rd with regular visiting hours between noon and 5pm daily.

NEST, your the best

2009-10-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Nestle up to this. Our Nest soft sculpts are starting to really materialize now. They'll soon be on etsy, really soon. They're already in a couple stores here in town and we'll be bringing them to a few upcoming shows. Details to come.

All alone.

The whole fam.

We are well on our way to super stardom

2009-10-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

Super sweet interview with us on the Toronto Craft Alert today!

Read all about us here

On another note, keep your eyes open if you are in the vicinity of Bluebird Handmade on Bathurst or Love of Mine on Queen. A few sets of our NEST dolls have made their new homes there.

wooden scarves

2009-10-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Aside from printing piles of dolls, we are still developing the wooden scarves as promised. We want them to be perfect and have been testing our floorboard print on a variety of fabrics. Today we'll be printing a brown on brown and a purple on green version.

Softest wooden scarves ever.

NEST

2009-10-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

We've been working madly on these plush sculptures of nesting dolls. This is a sneak peak.

We're still in an engineering phase. All the dolls are printed on the front so far and we've done a few mock-ups of what the dolls will be like when they're sewn. They still need their labels printed on the back and then we'll be sewing-stuffing-sewing for days. More soon...

HEY NOW

2009-10-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

More photographs by Geoff

"The Hey Now" concert that we printed Louise the Dawn posters for was last weekend. The show was great. Heavy turnout. Even Louise was there in spirit- and posted at the front door. Bassist, James Reid, was wearing our handmade teeth buttons on his guitar strap. Okay, you can't see them very well here. Look closely. See those tiny white blurs? You can just imagine how hot they looked. Good job boys.

The makings of "Louise the Dawn"

2009-10-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

So a few days back we posted a work in progress shot of a poster we were working away on. The project was inspired by the song "Louise the Dawn" by The Hey Now. Charming bass-player James Reid found us at the Cabbagetown Arts and Crafts fair back in September and commissioned us to do a poster for their CD release party. Well, after a couple of long days, it's all done. Like it?

This good lookin' poster will be on sale at the CD release party taking place this friday at the Central.
The Hey Now for details and some sweet tracks. See you there okay?

Also check out some of the progress shots. This is how the magic happens.

Top of the line exposure unit.

Edition of 70... no drying rack. You do what you gotta do.

Sneak Peak!!!

2009-10-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

We are super excited about these floor board babies. They will be up in our etsy store soon... very soon.

Lots of work is going on at the Beside Herself headquarters.

2009-10-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is the very beginning of a whole series of wooden and floor inspired works.

And this is something that we're working on for some cool guys we know. More news to follow on this. Soon!

Also, we have fixed some weird error that was happening with our contact form on our website. Contact away!

Nuit Blanche. Before and After.

2009-10-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

11:00pm

2:00am

Did you come across dolies on your night out? Do you have photos? Did you take one home with you? Let us know!

nuit blanche tonight

2009-10-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Rain or no rain we will be there with doilies on.

c + a

Hello world

2009-10-02T11:36:00.001-07:00

test test test