Princess Bubbles Creates

I love shopping on Queen St. in Toronto.  It has the best stores!  Checkout the ridiculous fabric I bought!  How fun is that?  I know it is over the top but it makes me happy.  I will use it judiciously don't worry.  I bought some orange fabric like this a while back and used it on a book cover.  It looks fantastic. My sister is coming next week and we have plans to spend a day shopping on Queen St.  I can hardly wait.  We will have a blast together.  Having a sister with similar interests is the best. 

I spent a good part of the afternoon puttering and tidying in my studio.  I really must post some pictures of my studio.  It is probably my favorite place in the world.  It is good for my soul and I need some good soul time right now.  I love organizing but mostly I love being able to find my stuff when I want it. 

I love Inktense watercolor pencils.  When I saw that Derwent now makes them in a block form I couldn't resist buying them.  The color is vibrant and intense as the name implies.  If only I had known that they make a 24 pack before I bought the 12 pack!

 I was really inspired by the idea of stitching on Japanese papers.  I love spirals so this paper was a natural choice.  I want to explore this idea further.

Who knew that you could get such a vibrant print from Crayola markers?  Crayolas transfer really well onto wet watercolor paper.  There is a lot of potential with this!

Last week I went to a lecture by Nancy Jacobi of The Japanese Paper Place.  She is so passionate about Japanese paper.  She is fascinating.  What is it about people that are passionate?  They make whatever they are talking about so interesting.  Japanese paper can look so delicate but it is amazingly strong.  Nancy showed a piece that was crumpled and then stitched.  You can imagine my excitement!  I couldn't wait to crumple the sample that was given to me.  The more I scrunched the more cloth like the paper felt.  The top picture shows three sheets of the washi paper I purchased.  The bottom picture is the piece that I crumpled and scrunched. 

I went to Scrapfest yesterday.  What a zoo!  I thought that there might be some good shopping there but it was way too crowded.  I doubt I will go again.  It was not worth paying to get in and then fight the crowds. However I did find a good deal on Smooch Inks.  I can't wait to play with them.  The colors are fantastic.