Valentine's Chalkboard

Femmeldehyde Magazine DIY Feature

Femmeldehyde Magazine's Issue 07 - Craft is out now!! Check out my DIY feature on how to make easy no-glue 3D paper ball ornaments, as well as the rest of this wicked issue and others on the Femmeldehyde website.

Another big thank you to the Femmeldehyde Magazine dream team for having my contribution to this great local magazine!

Stalking & Maple-Cured Bacon Chalkboard

Movember & Winter Chalkboard

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

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

Tumblr @ outerlayerbloor

Instagram @ outerlayer

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

Teanu Reeves

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

Lovin' the Teanu Reeves from a few weeks ago!

10 Tips To Rock It At Your Next Craft Show

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2012

10 TIPS TO ROCK IT AT YOUR NEXT CRAFT SHOW



Starting out a crafting business can be scary. Most of us start online through an Etsy shop (or something similar). A great way to gain exposure for your company is to showcase at local craft shows and fairs. It’s an opportunity to network and give customers a chance to see, smell, touch your products.

Going to a show for the first time can be intimidating. I have been participating in craft shows since 2007 showcasing my handmade cards and paper crafts (Made by Jacqueline).

Last year I started a new venture the Made by Hand Show, hosting craft shows. As we begin a new year, I thought it would be a good time to share my 10 TIPS TO ROCK IT AT YOUR NEXT CRAFT SHOW:



#1 GOT CHA: You have 3-5 seconds to grab a customer’s attention.

#2 DISPLAY: Space, Clean, add height or risers to grab the customers eye

#3 DEMO YOUR PRODUCT: (ie. if you sell jewellery wear it, demo your products if you can) – have a sample out that people can touch, feel, taste.

#4 WHO ARE YOU? When a customer walks by do they know who you are and what you're selling? Think about a banner or a sign.

#5 ATTRACT: Attract Customers to your booth - Free samples, Candy, games, prize draw.

#6 ADVERTISE: Tell your contacts what booth you’ll be at; maybe offer your present customers a discount for coming to the event. This is where social media and your mailing list comes in handy.

#7 SMILE: Be friendly, start conversation ‘hello’, SMILE (there is nothing worse than a vendor that seems uninterested, grumpy or bored at their booth, it turns away customers).

#8 PRICE IT RIGHT: Vary price points (for example you may have a piece that is $100 but also make sure you have something in the $20 range or lower to grab impulse buys).

#9 BUILD: Have a mailing list on your booth so customers can sign up. It may lead to a future sale and it helps build your client list.

#10 FOLLOW-UP: Post event follow-up with everyone you meet (promptly after the show). It can be as simple as a quick “Thank-you for visiting my booth”.



* These tips and other local event/vendor information can be found on the Toronto Etsy Street Team's Blog

Collective Storytelling

Collective Storytelling

Hashtag Gallery - 801 Dundas Street West, Toronto

February 18th-19th, 2013

Opening Reception February 18th, 2013

My collection of matchbooks and matchboxes is being curated as part of the upcoming show, Collective Storytelling, which explores the relationship between collector and object.

"Objects possess the ability tell a myriad of unique stories, and our ability to arrive at these stories relies on our built knowledge and personal experience. Objects are witnesses to the past: they may act as historical and cultural indicators, and they operate as emblematic of our own experiences through semiotic association. However, the collected object speaks most audibly about its collector – it is symptomatic of many possible human emotions: memory and nostalgia, love, loss, desire, aesthetic appeal, and almost always, some degree of longing.

So the questions that I want to pose are: what can a collection tell about its collector in their absence? How much can we deduce from the objects alone, and how do these ideas become shifted or enriched when the collector’s intent is factored in? How is meaning created within the triadic relationship between the collector, the collected, and the viewer?

The deeply personal connection that we share with material culture is inextricably linked with our contemporary sociocultural condition. The phenomenon of collecting is a direct product of late-capitalism, and collecting is indulging in excess: it has no necessity or practical purpose, but it provides us with some sort of personal fulfillment. Thus, an exploration of collecting is in turn an investigation of social behavior and value systems."
-Erika Balint, curator

Collections from:
Krystina Plante, Deidra Klieb, Jaime Rosteing, Ahmed El-Hindy, Kimberley Wilson, Jen Weddell

City of Craft 2012

City Of Craft is taking place this weekend!!

It never fails, you always find the sweetest, craftiest, most unique and innovative merchandise amongst the vendor booths at City of Craft! A unique gift for anyone on your xmas shopping list!

December 8 & 9, 2012

Saturday 11:00am-6:00pm

Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm

$2 Admission

Children under 12 FREE

The Theatre Centre

1087, 1093 & 1095 Queen Street West

The Weeknd

The Weeknd - Wicked Games

Support local talent! And when I say talent, I mean talent!

I've really been feeling The Weeknd's music lately, and when I found out that The Weeknd, or Abel Tesfaye, is not only Canadian, but reps the Toronto/Scarborough area I flipped, and had to buy The Trilogy, which is hands down the best CD compilation I've listened to in a long while!

Neck Of The Woods

Neck Of The Woods

Nov. 29th - Dec. 5th, 2012

Norman Felix Gallery - 627 Queen Street West

Opening Party:

Nov. 29th, 7 - 11pm

$6 entry fee - includes prizes, giveaways + a gift basket raffle!

Poster design by Emily Kouri

22 Artists. 1 City.

What Toronto neighbourhood are you closely connected with and what would it look like through the eyes of artists and designers?

Neck of the Woods celebrates the spirit of Toronto neighborhoods and it’s diverse communities. Twenty two local artists will showcase a body of work that expresses their personal connection with a specific Toronto neighborhood.

FEATURED ARTISTS

Suharu Ogawa

Rosena Fung 

Shane Fester 

Andrew Dunn Clark

DRONE

Tiffany Huta 

Emily Kouri 

Richael Laking

Kevin Morris

Pearce Cacalda

Robin Luoma 

Krystina Plante

Gil Chen

Marc O'Brien

Sarah Prior

Tyler Armstrong

EL BLACK

Vincent Luk 

Pallavi Thampi

Patrick Estebar

Justin de Lima 

Olivia Mauceri

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCES

Wood + Wires Productions musical performances

Live musical performance by A.D.C

Poetry reading by Ellie Anglin

Nail art by Pinky’s Nails

Headmistress handmade fashion accessories

PUBLIC ART PIECE

Hashtag your Instagram pics with #neckofthewoodsTO and the NOTW team will add it to a collection of public images, where they will then be projected on the gallery walls during the opening event! They will contact you personally if your images has been selected.

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Norman Felix Gallery 
Cobs Bread
Coriander Girl 
Headmistress
Sweet Flour Bake Shop
Wood + Wires Productions
Onsite [at] OCADU Bookstore

Find out more by visiting the NOTW blog @ www.notwartshow.blogspot.ca

Join the facebook event page HERE

Black Sheep Press - Toronto's Best Parties

Local magazine, The Grid, has featured the Black Sheep show in this weeks edition of The Night List, a prediction of the top 5 best parties to attend in Toronto, during April 5th-11th!

Go Black Sheep! We're everywhere!! We can't be stopped!!! BAAAHHH!!!!

Highlight:

Thursday: Black Sheep, an OCAD printmaking exhibition

Gladstone Gallery, 1214 Queen Street West, second floor. #WQW Free. Runs until April 24. Doors at 7 p.m.
Looking for a custom throw pillow? Maybe fund a rad t-shirt line upstart? If you’re looking to stumble upon the next big nu-art thing being birthed in this town, stumble no further than OCAD’s thesis exhibit. The exhibit’s namesake, the “Black Sheep,” is merely the beginning of realness, and what I’m taking as an allegory for the incoming generation’s craving/quest for the unique among the complacent and conservative. Look for lithography, etching, relief and screen printing transformed into sculptural, installation and bookmaking projects. Themes include: “the death drive to post-human transformations, folklore to popular culture, collecting to cultural persistence, and traditional ideologies from the Classical to the Romantic.” Ones to watch: nature-led Melissa Cormier, visionary-of-all-trades Jimmy Brannen, and rebel girl Kaelan Karjalainen. Find out more here, and watch a promo video from the class here.

Pick up your copy on news-stands across the GTA!
Visit the website for their full review