Stalking & Maple-Cured Bacon Chalkboard

Movember & Winter Chalkboard

Prozac & Signs That Things Aren't Going So Well Chalkboard

Caught Working

I found a photograph of myself online that someone took of me while I was
working on our Spring window! What a sweet surprise :)

Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday

All Plante. All Handmade. All day.

It's that wonderful time of year again! Come on down to see With A Y Design, Lynda Plante, and myself, at Kensington Market this Sunday, July 28th, for Pedestrian Sunday!

We will be located on lower Augusta selling handmade tote bags, purses, cases, wine bags, acorn jewellery, zines, recycled cards/envelopes, and a new line of beaded jewellery and vintage skeleton key necklaces!

Now that the heat wave is over the weather is going to be perfect, so bring your friends and your appetite (there are tons of yummy vendors on upper Augusta!)

See you there!

Media Chalkboard

This week I gave our media chalkboard a fresh new face with 

some classic banner style flair!

Follow Outer Layer online or through your mobile device to get sneak peeks at new merchandise, learn more about your favourite products, and get the inside scoop on staff favourites!

Facebook @ outerlayerbloor

Twitter @ outerlayerbloor

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Chalkboard Restoration

Our chalkboard at Outer Layer was in dire need of some R&R! 

Something to better represent our attitude in the shop and put some pep in her step!

BEFORE

AFTER

After 2 much needed spa days she has been scrubbed, exfoliated, painted and polished 

and is now ready to kick off Pride Week!

HAPPY PRIDE WEEK TORONTO

from all of us at Outer Layer!!!

Wedding Window

Wedding season is upon us! The soft lacy edges of white doilies are reminiscent of the lacy edges of a bride's dress or veil. So what better way to decorate our wedding window than by filling it with panels of sewn doilies, our own veil hanging over the face of the store.

This window arrangement is a lot harder to photograph than the others so if you are in the Annex come visit us at Outer Layer and see it in person!

Father's Day Window & Chalkboard

I thought it would have been funny to simply write, Father's Day...because we're obligated to, but I do love the one about winning!

Spring Window

Welcome Spring!

My first window painting at Outer Layer in the Annex!

Have I mentioned how much I love my job?

The End & Bacon Chalkboard

Ashkahn wedding card design.

Mother's Day Chalkboard

My first chalkboard at Outer Layer in the Annex!

Happy Mother's Day to all you special women out there! Luv you mum! XoXoX

On Display @ Of A Kind

Work is currently up for display, with a select number of pieces for sale, until the end of July, at Of A Kind @ 1037 College Street, Toronto. This work includes, but is not limited to, work that was recently featured in Femmeldehyde Magazine's Issue 04 - 'Neighbourhoods', pictured below.

Mac Love!

Hey hey hey! Now broadcasting from my brand new Mac!!!

I have dreamed of this day for years, and now I've finally done it! Proving that good things come to those who wait, I finally went out and bought myself this shiny new Mac laptop! 

And it has stolen my heart!

Thanks Me! xoxo

Femmeldehyde Launch Party!

Femmeldehyde Issue 04 - 'Neighbourhoods' Launch Party

Of A Kind - 1037 College Street, Toronto

Saturday June 15th, 2013

7pm - 11pm

Come and join us for drinks, music and art at the official launch of Femmeldehyde’s Issue 04 at Of A Kind! In perfect timing with the NXNE festival, feature musician Junior Bob will be playing a set at 8:30pm. So come early!

Work by myself and Patrick Estebar, including work that was featured in the magazine, will be on display for the launch, and will stay on display at Of A Kind well into the month of July.

A huge thank you again to Erika Balint and Lindsey Omelon at Femmeldehyde for making this opportunity possible!

Femmeldehyde Issue 04 - Neighbourhoods

Recently, I was contacted by local arts & culture magazine, Femmeldehyde, and asked if I’d be interested in being their feature artist for their upcoming Issue 04 – “Neighbourhoods”. 

Um…of course!! Not only am I honoured that they would want to feature me, but I also feel so privileged to be able to contribute to Femmeldehyde – to be a part of such an inspiring, on-the-mark initiative, a real labour of love from the talented and tireless Erika Balint and Lindsey Omelon, who are an absolute pleasure to work with! I hope to work with them again in the very near future.

A million thanks! xoxoxoxox

Read or download the full Issue 04 - Neighbourhoods.

Make sure to check out their archive of previous issues on the Femmeldehyde website. 

Also, check out their awesome blog to see what they're up to and get the inside scoop on what's poppin' in the local art community!

Omeros Zines

Been working on a real labour of love for the last few weeks,

a zine which illustrates Derek Walcott's Nobel Prize winning book, Omeros.

Acorn Love!

So much acorn love from one of my favourite VIP customers! 

Thanks for all the online shout-outs Tina!

Modern Day Art Attack

Hot Chip, Boy From School

Hot Chip has always been known for being wildly artistic as musicians, and equally innovative with their video production. I especially love the video for Boy From School because it holds nostalgic value for me, and countless others of my generation, reminding us of everyone's favourite part of the show, Art Attack! I wonder, was that their source of inspiration?

DIY Ceiling Lampshade

So I have a ton of randomly shaped/sized boxes left over from a previous installation, which are made from Eska board and wrapped in rice paper, and since the paper lantern I had been using as a ceiling shade all these years was starting to look pretty shabby, I decided to use one of the boxes to make a new shade!

I started by using one of my Crayola metallic gel Spider Writer pens to repeat a simple swirl pattern on a piece of frosted Mylar which had been traced to shape. Once the design was completely dry I scored and folded the traced edged inwards towards the designed side. I lined up the Mylar with the inner edge of the box and used an archival PVA glue to adhere it. Tiny eyelets screwed into the upper inside will allow me to suspend the box from the light fixture. And then voila!

Fit For A Princess!

This is how adorable little girls rock their acorn necklaces!

Easter Cupcakes

These adorable and wickedly yummy Easter cupcakes made by the talented Sarah Albuquerque, were the bell of the ball at last weekends Easter dinner party! I especially love the all blue Robins egg cupcake!

Teanu Reeves

We've got some pretty awesome chalkboard artists working next door to us! 

Lovin' the Teanu Reeves from a few weeks ago!

Fun @ The Zine Fair

The 5th Annual OCADU Zine Fair was a ton of fun and a great success! There was a huge turn out and some really interesting local book artists in attendance. Glad I brought all those extra copies of Wood Panel That Shit! cuz they sold like hot cakes! We had the music pumping, sorry again security, and the popcorn popping all day! Great people, great atmosphere, great day! Thanks again for having me!

The view from my angle. Look at all those lovely acorn tops!

Our neighbor from the OCADU Zine Library brought a button making machine for people to make their own custom buttons! It was tons of fun! I thinking I ended up making 8 for myself!

Picnic baskets made for an awesome display unit, and I was actually able to fit all of my merch inside. Look out summertime! This picnic basket of goodies is going to be strapped to my bike rack and mobile!

Handmade/printed matchbooks for sale.

Hundreds of different handmade envelope/card sets to choose from.

Acorns All Day!

Got The Weeknd pumpin' on the surround sound today in the studio, while I work on a brand new batch of acorn jewellery. It's like I'm makin' love to a tree!

All photos are from my Instagram. Follow me @krystinaplante

Unfortunately, my online store is under reno at the moment so if you're interested in purchasing information drop me a line via email: krystinaplante@hotmail.com

My army of baby acorns, patiently waiting to be drilled.

Every girl needs her Dremel.

Baby acorns are adorbs!

My fav part - colour coordinating and getting the assembly line ready!

Fresh batch of acorn earrings!

Decided to spruce up my own acorn necklace while I was working on new merch.

100% Acorn necklaces.