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Poppytalk is hosting Summer Colours Week on her blog. Here's the plan: Everyday we have a new colour (theme) where everyone will upload to their photo's to their blogs/flickr, etc. Join in and then upload to the Summer Colour Week flickr group. Each evening we'll post favourites from the uploads of the day here on the blog. Below find the colour schedule. You'll find more instructions at the flickr group discussions section. We hope you'll join us, it'll be fun! June 28 - Monday: Pink June 29 - Tuesday: Yellow June 30 - Wednesday: Green July 01 - Thursday: Red & White (Canada Day)! July 02 - Friday: Blue There are already TONS of lovely, colourful photos up on the Flickr pool , and also check out Poppytalk's picks for Monday/Pink here and here plus some Tuesday/Yellow pics . Learn more about the project on Poppytalk's blog , then submit some photos to the Flickr pool ! Here's how I see the world today, through yellow-coloured

It doesn't beat the real thing, but if you're impatient (like me) to get your paper copy, you can flip through sample pages from Issue 6 of Uppercase magazine online . It looks choco-block FULL of interesting and inspiring articles! I'm ALSO excited ( again! ...or rather, still! ) cause not only are my feet in the magazine, so are my sweetie's! We're the couple with our feet in the water, standing on pebbles. He took that pic on the way back from a fabulous road trip to the Okanagan last summer.

I have just two words for these pillows by Donna Wilson : FUN and FABULOUS. Donna Wilson makes a ton of cute things including blankets, ceramics , and softies ( Charlie the tall monkey and Cyril the squirrel fox are great!) and more. She also recently created a maze using thousands of strands of yarn ! Now that's a place I'd happily get lost in. (via Shayo )

SO EXCITED! Uppercase magazine just posted some sneak peek photos of Issue #6... which includes my photo! And my feet! And my shoes! That's me (and my shoes) on the first page of the article. Photo by Uppercase Photo by Uppercase Uppercase put out a call for submissions for "shoegazing" photos... and mine made it into print! I cannot wait to get my hands (and feet?) on a copy! It should arrive just around the same time as the new yellow shoes that I ordered! Sweet!

Scoutie Girl recently posted a concise but thoughtful piece that definitely strikes a chord with me. She writes about our society's disposable culture, and how the choices you make, even (or especially?) as a consumer, not only reflect your values, but contribute to community, culture and self. Deciding we’re going to commit to spending money on an art class or music lesson, a vine-ripened tomato picked from the farm in the next town over, a professional to service our business, or a piece of handmade clothing is not so much a commitment of money, it’s a commitment to yourself and to the rebuilding of our culture. It’s choice to consume something of real value that nurtures others as much as it nurtures you. Imagine if everyone operated this way... Imagine the positive effect that would have on artists, crafters, local businesses, farmer's markets.. Also imagine the impact on the environment from buying fewer disposable goods that use up energy and resources, just to end

This week's Craft Rock Friday is a 2-for-1, as Lenka has a bunch of crafty stuff goin' on in her music... Here are a couple of her videos that use collage, paper cutting, drawing and painting... "The Show" "Trouble is a Friend" Lenka's album artwork also has a nice crafty style to it - as do her site and MySpace . ( Thanks for the link, Alexandra! )

This felt flower brooch looks oh so happy and summery. The petal structure of dahlias really is goregeous. Check out the tutorial on Holidash to make your own. Looks like a little patience is required. And some decent glue (to aid with the patience thing).

I'm looking forward to the the open studio sale at the Mergatroid this weekend! StudioShop Saturday June 26th and Sunday June 27th 11 to 6pm 5pm Mergatroid Building, 975 Vernon Drive , Vancouver Featuring work by a collective of artists in the Mergatroid Building who include, Su Foster , Eikam , Laura McKibbon (Cul de Sac Design) , HeyDay Design , Dahlhaus , Braden Hammond , Bronsino , and on Sunday only, Karin Jones . UPDATE : A couple of revisions to the above info, thanks to Dahlhaus : "Our time for the studio shop will be from 11-5 (instead of 6). And unfortunately Braden Hammond won't be able to open his studio doors this weekend as he was planning on. The rest of us will be there so if you are in Vancouver, please do come by for a glass of wine and some nibblies while you shop in our studios."

I just finished a ten-week pottery course at my local community centre. I'll write more about it later, but for now I just wanted to say that I love it. LOVE it. I'm picking up a whole pile of glazed stuff, fresh from the kiln, on Saturday, but in the meantime, here are a couple of my bowls... Filled with a delicious snack of mangoes, yogurt, granola and honey. Mmm...

The inaugural meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild was last night. It was a good event, with a lot of energy in the room. Not to mention a lot of people - I think the headcount was 43 ! The show-and-tell portion of the meeting was really interesting - there were so many different quilts on display - all with different approaches, patterns and colour-stories - made by a range of quilters from veterans to total newbies. The crowd was super supportive and excited - I loved the communal 'oooohs' and 'aaaahs' when the quilts were held up! It's definitely nudging me to start on one of the quilt ideas I've been thinking about in the past little while... I have 2 that are on the must-sew list - and after last night, I now have an idea for yet another quilting project... Which reminds me: I never posted photos of the last quilt I made. I made this quilt just before my nephew was born... and he's about 15 months old now. Better late than never! :) I wanted

Get your funk on, it's Craft Rock Friday! This fun, trippy, watercoloury video was created for the song, "Baby I'm Yours" by the French band Breakbot . Directed and handmade by Irina Daveka at Wizz Studio , the video is composed of approximately 2,000 watercolors painting placed one after another. A perfect  way to kick off summer. (via Black Eiffel )

Here's a fun project from the fabulous Victoria & Albert Museum in London.... V&A's Patchwork Pattern Maker. Just upload a photo and the Patchwork Pattern Maker will create a custom quilt pattern for you! You can even use images from the V&A's collections , which is pretty awesome. The results can end up quite abstract or detailed, depending on the image you choose, plus how many squares and colours you want to use. Check out the gallery to see what patterns people have already created - at least virtually. It would be interesting to see some of the finished, fabric results! If you're looking for a comparable program to make knitting patterns from photos, have a look at  MicroRevolt's KnitPro application for creating custom intarsia patterns for knitting. (via the ReadyMade blog )

Top Stories: controversial bike lanes, Obama on the oil disaster, and... sewing! Nice coverage from Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge on the CBC News...

"We’re just hugging for the picture. When we’re done I’ll walk away quickly. It's almost over." I'm loving Miranda July's new art installation in NYC's Union Square. The collection is called "Eleven Heavy Things" and consists of empty pedestals with just a few handwritten words. Alone they don't make much sense, but once they draw people in, it's a whole other story. The pieces invite you to interact with them - standing on top or sticking your head or a limb into a hole or nook - and then they really come to life. Like a lot of her other works, these pieces are a balance between humour and something a little more serious and melancholy. "What I look like when I'm lying." You can see a lot more photos that people have posted on Flickr tagged with "Eleven Heavy Things". Read more about "Eleven Heavy Things" on Flavorwire and an interview with Miranda July about the project on ArtInfo .

Vancouver textile artist Kirsten Chursinoff has a new exhibit opening this week. If you've ever walked along the beach at low tide, and crouched over a small pool to see what's living there, you're going to enjoy this show... Entitled 'Low Tide', this collection is inspired by the amazing creatures living along the shores of British Columbia: anemones , birds , starfish , and more. Low Tide The exhibit celebrates the details of tide pools and treasures of beach combing with the traditional and contemporary techniques of embroidery and quilting. By layering and combining materials such as cotton, silk and wool, the artist uses the natural texture and unique surfaces of thread and cloth to their full potential. The opening reception of 'Low Tide' is on Thursday, June 17, 6-8pm at the Craft Council Gallery Crafthouse at 1386 Cartwright Street on Granville Island, Vancouver. Kirsten's also giving an artist talk on Tuesday, June 22, 7pm (RSVP to kirsten at c

From the movie, Mr Lucky . (via Kim Werker )

Soccer fans, get ready to freak out, just a little. Look at these amazing sculptures of soccer players.... made from crayons! The pieces were created by artist Diem Chau - who you may know for her lovely work combining ceramics and embroidery . She carved a whopping 66 crayons for this year's Nike World Cup press kits , on a commission from Wieden + Kennedy - the same ad agency that created this year's epic Nike World Cup ad . Each kit contains 6 crayon sculptures of soccer players: Fabio Cannavaro in Antique Brass, Didier Drogba in Copper, Franck Ribery in Gold, Robinho in Silver, Cristiano Ronaldo in White, and Wanye Rooney in a colour called Timberwolf. Check out more photos of the sculptures on Diem Chau's blog, The Pleasure of Tiny Things . (She also does supercute crayon sculptures that don't involve soccer !)

Do you create unusual embroidery? Leanne Prain, who co-authored the subversive knitting book Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti , is turning her attention from yarn to floss. Her new book, Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery , is due out in Fall 2011, and Leanne is looking for needlework designers to contribute projects. Do you design unusual or unexpected pieces of needlepoint? If so, you should design a pattern for Hoopla, The Art of Unexpected Embroidery, to be published by Arsenal Pulp Press in fall 2011. Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery rebels against the traditional notions of quaint embroidery with motifs of flowers and songbirds. The book will feature unusual stitch work on a variety of surfaces and textures. With off-beat patterns including subway maps, feminist Girl Guide badges, and metal band letterforms; Hoopla will demonstrate that modern embroidery artists are as sharp as the needles that they work with. If you describe your stitch-work as a

Today's Craft Rock Friday is quiet and lovely. "The Thread" is a song by the newly created band, Admiral Radley , a collaboration between Jason Lytle and Aaron Burtch of Grandaddy , and Ariana Murray and Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart . The road ahead is like a thread, still attached to the unknown. You can watch a couple more videos from the band's performance at SXSW on the NPR All Songs Considered blog , and also download the track, "I Heart California" from Admiral Radley's site.

One more for the June event calendar... This weekend is Vancouver Draw Down ! Described as "a celebration of drawing in everyday life", Vancouver Draw Down runs Friday June 11 to Sunday June 13. All kind of events are planned, including a comic jam at the Roundhouse, button making at the Museum of Anthropology, and chalk street drawing across the city. The "Making Place" event at the Vancouver Art Gallery sounds like lots of fun: join in the creation of a gigantic, collaborative, chalk pastel drawing of the perfect neighbourhood. Also, over at the Roundhouse, you can even ride your bike or skateboard through paint to create a big collaborative painting. Check out the Vancouver Draw Down site for the full schedule of events.

Nice cover (!) story in the WestEnder today about so-called "hipster homemakers" in Vancouver - featuring Spool of Thread , Coco Cake , Baker’s Market and the Modern Quilt Guild ! You can read the full article - including a nice close up of the amazing yardstick counter at Spool of Thread (not to mention Lili and Henry!) - on the WestEnder site .

June is a crafty month in Vancouver! Here are just a few of the fun happenings around town this month... Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild is holding its inaugural meeting ! Thursday, June 17, 2010 7pm to 9pm Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge 101-649 E. 15th Ave. Join us on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 for the inaugural meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge! This is the place to be if you love fresh, modern quilts! Come to this informal meeting to meet other fabric lovers, show us your modern quilts, and share your ideas for what this guild could become! Stay tuned for more details (door prizes anyone?). Find out more about the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild , the larger Modern Quilt Guild movement and get more deets on the Vancouver meet-up . Etsy Party! Friday, June 18, 2010 2 pm to 5pm East 15th Avenue, between Fraser and Kingsway Got Craft along with Collage Collage , Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge and RubyDog's Art H

What's more romantic than the love between an archeologist and her mummy? Awww. The video for Josh Ritter's song, "The Curse", was created by the band's drummer, Liam Hurley , who also happens to be a puppeteer. Multi-talented! You can read more about the making-of from Josh on NPR's All Songs Considered blog .

This shelf made from old National Geographic magazines is just brilliant. Doesn't everyone have a huge stack of old issues collecting dust in their basements?

Vancouver crafters have something to celebrate! Spool of Thread is finally opening! After a few months of teasing (and a ton of hard work!), the shop is all set up, with the Grand Opening happening this Saturday. Grand Opening of Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge! Saturday, June 5th 11am - 6pm 649 East 15th Ave, #101 (at the Fraser/Kingsway triangle) Treats and giveaways throughout the day! Spool of Thread is a sewing lounge, offering classes ( here's a PDF schedule for their June workshops ), as well as drop-in sewing time, where you can use the machines in the shop. They'll also be selling some lovely fabrics. The concept reminds me of The Workroom in Toronto. I'm glad Vancouver now has something similar! You can read an article about Spool of Thread on Yoyomama.ca , and get a sneak peek of the shop on the lovely Rachel's blog . LOOOVE the front counter which is covered in vintage yardsticks!! Keep up with Spool of Thread on their website or on Twitter .

It's wet and dreary here in Vancouver... Luckily, there are still some rainbows... The Globe and Mail has a fun article today about the trend (at least online) of multi-coloured rainbow food. Rainbow food is the latest experiment by those looking to inject playful pizzazz to their plates. Using bright new food colouring gels and dusting the cobwebs off old colouring kits, professional and home cooks alike are using dyes unsparingly to turn everyday edibles into eye-popping creations that make Lucky Charms literally pale in comparison. Maybe a few too many chemical additives for my taste, but these rainbow treats sure do look fun.