Made By Andi

A CRAFT SHOW ROADTRIP!

On saturday morning, Curtis and I work up at 4:45 am, loaded up his truck and drove three hours for a craft show called Mercer Collective. We had heard great things about the show so we thought we'd give it a try and do a day trip!

The closer we got to Edmonton, the more snow there was! By the time we arrived, it felt a little like a blizzard with TONS of snow! I wish I took a photo of the outside of the building to show you.

Mercer Collective is put on twice a month. They just started last month, and from what I hear the first show was absolutely packed. That's pretty sweet for a first show. Saturday was a bit different. As I said, there was pretty much a blizzard outside. But there was still a very big crowd that came through. We had so much fun. The live music was so great, and it was a lot of fun to see some old faces and meet some new ones! Below are some photos of Curtis's Van Charles Art display...

I wasn't selling my stuff this weekend, I was just there to support Curtis! He made some amazing art work, prints and phone cases. I'm always so blown away by his creativity and what he comes up with. It's something I'd never be able to do!

One of the new faces I met was Justine Ma from Paper Hearts Studio. She killed me with her amazing calligraphy!! Oh lordy, she's good at what she does! Aren't these prints so amazing!?! You can find them in her online store.

Also loved the beautiful soaps from Bluebird Hills Farm.

Uggggh, I was so in love with this wood display!! It's so genius really. The artist, Dave Curoe found a wood burl and had it sliced in half. Using both the texture and smooth side is such an amazing idea to display his jewelry, which was lovely I might add. His pieces were very simple in design with a masculine touch - my kinda style. You can see his work upclose in his online store. My personal favorites that I saw at the show were this ring and this ring. 

These adorable ceramic cups are by Christina of August Studio

I'm a sucker for independant coffee shops and there was an amazing one in the Mercer Collective building, called Roast. I ordered a few soy lattes throughout the day from here. The lack of sleep from getting up at 4:45 am started to wear me down...

Once the show was over, we packed up and drove home. We pretty much passed out as soon as we got home and then slept for 12 hours that night. We were soo pooped from the day. ha ha. It was a really fun experience though. Sometimes it's just nice to get out of your city. We forsee doing another day trip to Mercer Collective in our future...

 

VAN CHARLES PHOTO BOOTH

At the last Market Collective, my boyfriend was the featured artist and designer of the photobooth! The design was incredible - he really made his own work come to life in a very fun photo installation. He created a large wall banner of his artwork that people could stand in front and then hand drew animal images that he printed in large scale for people to use as masks. Hands down this was one of my most favorite Market Collective photobooths to date - and it's not just because I'm biased. The quality and simplicity of the concept made it really incredible. Here are some photos I took while he was installing his work. Check out how people interpreted his work in to their own photos here and here. So fun!

What do you think? We still have that lovely backdrop rolled up and stored in our apartment along with these great animal faces. I've been racking my brain trying to think of a creative idea to display this beautiful animal drawings on our wall. Somehow just putting them up on their own doesn't quite seem like enough. Hopefully one day we have a studio big enough to put the mountainscape up on one full wall. I would love that so much!

 

 

 

 

JULY'S END IN PHOTOS

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I certainly did! The weather was incredible here. I spent the weekend visiting with friends over coffee, bike riding, organizing my apartment and doing some long overdue spring cleaning. (photo courtesy of Suzen)

My lovely friend Suzen and I took a bike ride around the city, riding though some of my favorite spots including Mission and Inglewood.

Had to stop and admire this gorgeous garden. I love that everything is donated to charity.

We were on our way to River Walk, a new initiative the city has completed in the East Village. An area of Calgary where its pioneers started the city, but in the last couple of decades had become a bit of a wasteland for drugs and not so good people. They are creating a whole new community down there and have just completed phase 1: The River Walk... a place to hang out and enjoy.

I had my birthday this month, one of those milestone birthdays that us ladies don't really like to think about. It has made me think a lot about what I have accomplished in my life and what I still want to accomplish. I plan on spending August doing a heck of a lot of organizing: apartment/studio organizing, business organizing, and goal organizing. I want to really be prepared for the Fall this year as it is a great time for me and Hoakon + Helga. I plan on sewing sewing sewing and stockpiling. That way I can feel a little ahead of the game when things start to really get busy again.

BITS AND PIECES

I've been busy busy lately with work and play. Spring is such a great time of year! Here are some bits of my life through Instagram. {P.S. You can add me on instagram @madebyandi... or if you don't have it you can view my photos here}

Can't seem to get enough flowers lately. I'm also obsessed with filling my house with cactus plants as I just don't get enough sun in my windows for everything else.

Two new purchases, and ikat rug for my living room, and super comfy moccasins.

A new project I'm working on. It's been soooo fun! Stay tuned, I can't wait to share with you...

Last but not least, road trippin' and hiking on long weekends. Life is good.

MY AVENUE MAGAZINE FEATURE

I'm pretty excited about this! Avenue Magazine featured me this month. This is a Calgary based magazine and they do a monthly feature on local Calgarians and their personal style. All of the outfits are from my actual closet. It was such a fun experience! I got to be pampered for the day with a makeup artist and hair stylist. I had a photographer and art director style the photos and it was shot in a beautiful historical site called the Lougheed House. So so amazing! You can see the article online here, or read the magazine here.

OAKLAND FLEA MARKET

On one of my last days in San Francisco I got to check out the Oakland Flea Market. After driving out of San Fran and getting lost for a little bit on deserted Sunday morning roads, we knew we were on the right track when we started to see traffic and lots of it all going to one place. The super large parking lot was FULL by the time we got there. It was incredible. Once we got in, oh lordy, was it ever overwhelming! The rows of vendors was endless. It was a beautiful day and with the concrete it really felt like a warm summer day (at this time in my own city we were getting over 10cm of snow!!). I couldn't believe how big this thing was. It was amaaazing!! It's expected that wherever you are traveling you will find different types of vintage and antique items, and many things at the Oakland flea you just wouldn't find in Alberta, especially in such an abundance. A lot of it was priced reasonable but not cheap. These vendors knew what they had. I couldn't stop snapping pictures of everything. I figured it was the next best thing to purchasing, seeing as I really couldn't take much home in my suitcase. Maybe one day I will drive a giant wood paneled wagon down to the U.S. and hit up a bunch of flea markets. You U.S. folks are lucky that you have these!! Do not take them for granted!

Beautiful First Nations crates and $30 antique grain sacks

INCREDIBLE old US mailman bags and Southwestern turquoise jewelry... these two booths were my faves for obvious reasons. Below was the line up to get your stuff taken to your car. Caraazy.

 

MY TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO

Like many people feeling cabin fever due to the cold weather in January and February, I was having a case of the winter blues. I know it's time for a vacation when I start to feel unmotivated to work, so at the beginning of March I planned a last minute trip to San Francisco. A very dear friend, Brook Fung of Peeko Apparel recently moved there (oh how I miss her so) and nothing beats visiting a city where someone knows the ins and outs. The weather was incredible (in comparison to what I got to see everyday where I live). I was by the ocean, smelling the cedars, having bonfires at night, laughing with great friends and eating great food... what more could you ask for from a vacation!? Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip.

Even though I had my own personal tour guide, I still had to see the famous landmarks obvi.

We went to Muir Woods with every other tourist and their dog on a very warm and sunny saturday. We spent more time driving and trying to find parking than in the actual forest. Still, SO worth it and SO fun!!

We also spent an afternoon at Fisherman's Wharf where I drooled over the fast food seafood area. I'm still daydreaming of that place, it was so incredible.

I also couldn't stop drooling over all the beautiful buildings. Especially those that had Art Nouveau touches to them. This is my absolute favorite art period purely for its romanticism. I couldn't believe how many of these beautiful buildings were home to really gross commercial stores like McDonalds and credit/cash places. So sad, so sad. (p.s. I'm having a tough time finding out any historical information on the building McDonalds is home to on Jefferson Street Fisherman's Wharf... If anyone knows anything, please do share!)

All in all it was a much needed vacation and so great to see a friend that I miss so much! I LOVE San Francisco and I already want to go back!!

 

DEEP FREEZE

The city I live in is currently in the middle of a deep freeze this week... It is -31 ºC (-23 ºF) !!! Yeah, I know. gross.  Since it began on Sunday, I just can't seem to get warm in my old apartment. I've been wearing fingerless gloves and lots of layers as I work in my studio. Static has become a regular occurrence with anything I touch. Going outside is only for last resort circumstances, ie. running out of food (but I will probably turn to old boxes of kraft dinner before I go to the grocery store). Luckily it should warm up this weekend... -10ºC doesn't seem so bad at all, almost tank top weather, he he. I just put up a large tote bag update last night. I had plenty of jackets that were perfect for my tote style so I thought I'd do a big ol' tote update. On monday I hit up a huge thrift store sale and bought over 40 jackets, and you know what that means, next up for bag updates is the Navajo Tundra... yes they are for sure coming back to the shop! I've been getting a bunch of you asking where they have been and I just haven't found the right jackets for the Tundra lately until now. It is my most popular style and keeping them stocked in my shop seems to be a hard task. I'll be doing a big update on Sunday of only Navajo Tundra's so if you've had your eye on grabbing one, this is your chance. In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying much more balmy weather conditions than I. Please do share!! Weather bragging is encouraged!! Looking forward to sewing again without snowpants on (kidding). Have a lovely week everyone! -xo p.s. This pic is one I took 5 mins from my parents place outside of the city before the deep freeze. The prairies sure are a beaut.  

JORDAN KLASSEN presents KINDNESS EP

Last September a very talented friend of mine Brock Mitchell, asked me to help him out with a film he was doing for the musician Jordan Klassen. I am a huge fan of Brock's work so I easily said yes. A week later I had searched the city for a long flowy white dress (as per Brock's request) and came up with an incredible vintage 1940's wedding gown from a local thrift store. Together along with our friend Angela, we went out of the city and I proceeded to run through wheat fields and forests for the late afternoon. It was a fun day and definitely nice to be part of someone elses creative project instead of my own. Below you will find the finished product, and incredibly stunning video for Jordan Klassen's Kindness EP shot by Brock Mitchell. (p.s. Take a look at Brock's film series Shot At The Dark. You will not be disappointed.)

JORDAN KLASSEN presents KINDNESS EP from Shot at The Dark on Vimeo.

 

 

WHAT ' S NEW

Winter is officially here in my city! Lots of snow this past weekend and finally a chance to break out my new boots! I've been working hard this past week. Long hours in front of the sewing machine, sipping spicy teas and eating oatmeal with cinnamon and warm apples. (yum) I just added lots of beautiful bags to the shop, most of which I'd like to keep for myself, to be honest. I'm also prepping for an art market coming up this weekend in Calgary. If you have your eye on a bag in my shop, you may want to grab it before this weekend as it may not be there afterwards! If you are in Calgary this weekend, be sure to stop by and say hi!