Studio Ghibli Pinback Buttons

The illustrated goodness continues with some of my most favourite Studio Ghibli characters in pinback button form! Take a peek at Calcifer, Totoro, and Soot Sprites:

I seem to have done quite a few Totoro and Soot Sprite themed crafts here on the blog including these pendants (link), some felt brooches (link), and pom pom sprites (link) - but this is my first time trying anything with Calicfer and he was so fun to draw! I've also come to the realization that Howl's Moving Castle is by far my favourite Ghibli film after I did a Miyazaki marathon and had some direct comparison of their wonderful creative cuteness! Yay!  During my week long marathon I came up with all the anthropomorphic goodies for my BFF button sets (link), so once I finished up with those it seemed natural to draw out my favourite characters from the movies I was watching.  Hooray! If you want to get your hands on this trio they're already up for sale in my etsy shop (link) and if you're not a button fan I can make them into magnets or mirrors too! Oh my!

So who is your favourite Studio Ghibli character? Do you have a favourite movie? Do you have no idea what I'm talking about and totally don't get this post? Oh dear! I hope not...

Canadian Mammal Pendants

My creative juices have been flowing at all time high speeds these days.  It may be that I didn't do much creating for the last two years or perhaps my amazingly organized craft room but regardless, it feels great to whip up some new things! The newest of my creations is a line of 1" necklaces featuring some awesome canadian mammals! Here's the most canadian of all the creatures - beaver!:

Isn't he darling on top of his little dam? And the animal cuteness doesn't stop there - check out a wide selection of other canadian furry creatures:

Yeah! You can use all your wildlife recognition skills for this picture right? Even with the two species of bears, deer, and squirrel? What fun! Ok. So I mislead you a bit with the mammal thing. Owls and gulls are indeed not mammals - but the majority of them are so I figure that counts. Plus that owl is trying to eat a mammal? Yup - a bit of a stretch but I'm sticking with it.  Boy do I ever love these. Heck - I even think the back of the pendants look cool:

I'm happy to report that these beauties are lead and nickel free with a nice coating of silver to avoid all your sensitive skin woes - and to top the whole thing off there is a generous long chain if you (like myself) dig the long pendant look:

Obviously these are easy enough to make shorter as well - but I feel the long chain sort of goes with the whole nature, free spirited thing. 

So how did I come up with the designs you may wonder? With a ridiculously enormous amount of work of course!  I started with rough images from a magnificent 1927 wildlife book from my Grandpa's farm and after a lot of high res scanning I did many (many) hours of digital drawing.  Once I got the little dudes to a nice spot, I added some colour blocking to the backgrounds and bam! Time to print, coat, cover, paint, and bezel up those images into their final homes inside those necklaces. Whew! It did end up being way more work than I originally thought it would but on the plus side I am mastering my photoshop skills and potentially peeking the interest of the masses to start studying wildlife biology of Canada! Hooray! Go science!

So what are your thoughts? Anyone out there brave enough to correctly identify all those lovely little creatures? Who is your favourite? 

29 Geek DIYs to Make Right Now

If you aren't familiar with Buzzfeed then clearly you don't get distracted by cool sounding links people share on facebook. If you are familiar then hopefully you have been entertained with their lovely lists of cute/geeky/random things much like this one (link):

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Geeky craft projects? I'm sold! And just in case you needed a further push to check this article out - look who made it as number 28 DIY:

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Yaaayyy! It's me! Well...not actually me...but the soot sprite pom poms I made years back that still live in the corners of my home! Oh I feel special! Happy thursday everyone! 

Happy Easter!

Wishing you the very best Easter full of fluffy bunnies like this one:

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I hope you have a great day full of egg hunts, binge eating chocolate, and enjoying the delights of spring! Happy Easter! 

Tortoiose Cozies

I'm not sure if anyone has a tortoise as a pet - but if you do you need to make it some lovely crochet shell cozies. They are adorable, hilarious, and ready for any holiday occasion! Check it out:

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Ahaha! I laughed way too hard at these and am especially fond of the shark fin! The little tortoise doesn't even look super angry that he is being dressed up either (unlike many crochet cat costumes I have seen)! Too bad I'm not interested in adopting a tortoise any time soon....but maybe I will get one of those robotic vacuums one day and I can make costumes for it. Yep. Sounds like a solid plan. 

that squirrel is ACTUALLY trying to catch that peanut.

Remember that adorable squirrel I posted about yesterday? Isn't he darling:

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Well - as it turns out the guy who took the picture did NOT photoshop that peanut in there. What!? Yep - that squirrel is actually going after that peanut. Great job James! You can see loads of his other lovely squirrel pictures on his deviant art account here (link). 

Squirrel trying to catch a peanut

When I came across this gem of an image it was too good not to share:

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Why yes - it is most likely photoshopped - but it is still super cute and entertaining and it sort of reminds me of when I find pyrex dishes at thrift shops! Haha! Happy Wednesday! 

Oh hello.

I am a sucker for cute animal pictures. I spend a little bit of time everyday checking out cute fuzzy creatures on the internet and am particularly fond of this picture:

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Oh hello raccoon! I also wanted to post this in case for some reason my sister decides to read my blog since she has an irrational fear or raccoons. It's also her birthday today.  You think I'm being cruel? It's payback for that cotton ball dispenser she got me for xmas a few years back (I hate cotton balls). *shudder* 

Kitchy Fish Friends

While I was still living in Victoria I came across this pair of anthropomorphic fishies at a vintage shop downtown.  I got super excited about them and promptly snapped them up to bring home. Aren't they dear?

When I showed Fraser my magnificent buy and how awesome they would be in our new condo in Kamloops he told me that, "We better put those in the ensuite bathroom so people don't think we're weird." Uhh...Fraser - have you seen the decorations in our house? If guests think these fish make us weird then clearly they shouldn't be hanging out in the bathroom at our house! These lovely pals did end up in our ensuite, but I put a framed moustache and monocle cat in the main bathroom so it still has some quirky personality...

pusheen!

I've been a fan of Pusheen the cat for quite some time.  He's everything I love - adorable, a cat, chubs, and full of personality! If you haven't browsed through his blog I definitely recommend it (link) when you're craving some cute gifs. 

Fraser also happens to be a Pusheen fan so this past xmas I decided to make him his own version of our favourite little grey and black pal in crochet form! Isn't he a cutie?

Oh Pusheen! He melts my heart every time I see him and I can just imagine all the cat-like hijinks he gets into when we aren't home (most of which probably involve binge eating). 

He was pretty quick to whip up and probably would have only taken one evening if I wasn't trying to make him behind Fraser's back and not spoil the surprise. I got the pattern here (link) and since I'm quite proficient in amigurumi, found it super simple to follow along. The only change I made was using slightly larger safety eyes than the ones recommended. I am super thrilled with how he turned out and he is now enjoying his new home on our radio in the living room! Hooray! Are you a loyal Pusheen follower too? 

quite the culture

Looks like my goal of blogging more hasn't been the most successful but sometimes life just gets in the way it seems. I've been having one heck of an unproductive time since moving back to Kamloops as our home renovations are still in progress (but ALMOST done), we haven't actually finished unpacking (eep), and my chronic illness has progressed to the point where I can't work and trying to rest and feel better has completely taken over my life. Oh dear! 

On the bright side of things - I have had lots of time to read loads of scientific studies and novels on dealing with chronic illness (seriously - it's great. I love research) and I got the opportunity to make a whole whack load of little pseudomonas microbe plushies to send to some lovely ladies (and their lab cohorts) for xmas! My pinched nerve pain has left my left arm/side very limited so these cuties took quite a bit longer than my usual pace but I did it! And boy am I ever happy with how they turned out:

I hope these darlings are enjoying their new homes in the warm hands of those San Francisco pseudomonas lab geeks! I even made a nice little stop motion video showing these little opportunistic pathogens reproducing! Check it out!

Quite the pseudomonas culture growth on my couch today. Now to ship these babies off to their new home in California!

A video posted by Kate McCurrach (@scientific_culture) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:46am PST

Hehe! We can send our thanks to Fraser for that one since it was his idea to do the video in the first place. Thanks hubs!

That little spout of creative progress left me hankering for more so I've been working on crafting up all sorts of lovely creations for xmas presents this year. Not working has tightened by budget quite a bit so I decided I may as well use some of the craft supplies I have on hand and make things! Unfortunately that also means I can't share my creations with you until after santa arrives - but I can tell you I've really been stretching the old creativity muscles and making all sorts of different and unique things. Oh and not to worry - I am still rolling along my slow road to recovery and hopefully be all healed up sooner rather than later! Hooray!

Ring-ding-ding-ding

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better than Ylvis' "the fox" song and video (link) take a gander at this ridiculously cute t-shirt design (link):

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Yep. It was pretty much destine to trigger an explosion of "what does the fox say" merch - but the cuteness of this one snags my attention for sure! Look at those little pudgy (and happy) dancing fox moves! Ah! I'm melting! If only real foxes were so jovial.

Taking a Moment

Since fall is in full swing, and we're making our way into October - I have come to the realization that I have been living out of a suitcase for five months now. Although I do keep telling myself organization, unpacking, and regaining my sanity is right around the corner - it may end up taking a tad longer than expected.  I'd like to look on the bright side of things and just imagine Fraser and myself like two little squirrels hibernating in our little hole (bedroom) on a tree (condo) with a whole bunch of growing (renovations) to do! I mean just look how darling this guy is:

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Aww! Those little fuzzy whiskers get me every time.  Progress is slowly coming along and even though we have loads of work to do before unpacking can happen, it will happen at some point. That's a plus right? I think so. Oh...and I will get to those wedding thank you cards one of these days....I hope...

oh dear

This picture makes my heart happy:

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Don't you wish you were all cuddled up with a giant cute bear too? Maybe that's just me. I have been spending entirely too much time resting lately - but it's on doctors orders! My costochondritis (a.k.a. this awful chest inflammation that feels like I have an elephant constantly pressing down on my chest making it much too difficult to breathe) hasn't left me alone. It's been going on since May and with no signs of improvement I've had to take leave from work and focus all my attention on healing up so I can hopefully survive the summer (and my wedding - which is in less than a month now)! Eeps! I will try my best to keep the blog updated when I'm feeling spry, but this flare up is really throwing a kink in things. Rats. Alas - I'm sure I will now be very experienced with what a heart attack feels like and will only grow from the situation! So if it's quiet around here it's probably because I am napping...What have you been up to lately?

squirrel chair

Squirrels are most definitely my favourite rodents out there and this little teal squirrel chair is just darling:

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Isn't he the cutest? Mini squirrel furniture certainly adds to the squirrel appeal if you ask me - but I've already proclaimed my love for these little fuzzy creatures so I may be bias. I do however, not appreciate them as much when they are throwing pinecones at our roof in the wee hours of the morning at the lake...but I can still appreciate their adorableness right? How about you? What is your favourite rodent? 

uncommon zara

I've been enjoying the sunny weather and so have the happy squirrels in my neighbourhood! Now if only I could see one like this guy from Zara Picken (link):

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Oh the colours, texture, and cute/quirky subject matter is a triple win! And if you like this one you should stop by this post and see a whole bunch of other images to woo you over (link)! Which do you like best? Next to this squirrel I must say the queen stamp one is pretty sweet...

Math Meme

I must say there is nothing quite like a lolcat math joke:

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Ahaha! How enjoyable! Now if only it was was showing an acute angle and not something closer to a right one... How is your week going? See anything cute lately? 

meowy wednesday!

It's official - I have a new favourite internet cat. Her name is Meme, she looks amazingly similar to Pudge (link), and I just love following her Instagram feed (link)! I'm not sure what it is about those calico exotic short haired kitties but I'm a sucker for them! Just look how darling that little cat yawn is:

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Oh Meme - you're so cute! In other fun life news - Lindsay has decided to pop by the island for a last minute (very much overdue) visit for a few days and we will be having some relaxingly good times! Hooray! Meme and Lindsay! What a Wednesday! 

Happy Long Weekend!

Hooray! The long easter weekend is almost here! To celebrate the little bit o' time off here's an adorable bun bun:

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Oh what a cutie! My parents are coming down for a visit this weekend so hopefully we will get up to all sorts of fun things I can share with you next week! What are your plans for Easter?

True Companions

Apparently I'm all about the geekery this week since my geeky beau Fraser is coming for a nice long visit (starting today)! We have loads of amazingly fun things planned - like cleaning, organizing, and picking out supplies to fix up our new place! What a pair we are! And since we're on the topic of great companions....check these two out:

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Hahahaha! What a wonderful image! It actually really makes me want some skim milk (out of a red solo cup) and chocolate chip cookie...while watching Star Wars...but maybe that's just me. I mean who really needs an excuse to eat more chocolate cookies? Happy weekend! What are your geeky plans?