Go go Gocco!

I'm sorry for my short absence. I've been feeling a bit under the weather, but I'm back in almost full force and have been able to catch up on my Christmas presents. I have loads to share with you! I will start where I left off on Friday, with my mystery package from Japan. What was in this package, you ask?


It was some much needed screens, light bulbs, and ink for my Print Gocco print machine. Exciting!


I hear you- what the bleep is Print Gocco? Well, it's a portable screen printing machine from Japan invented in the 90's. The machine has not evolved much since its inception, and have stopped production on it's supplies. Up until this year I was able to find what I need to run it here in Toronto, but now I must etsy it up and have them send from a Gocco hoarder in Japan. It prints 4"x6" screens so it's great for cards. It's a little wasteful in supply consumption and can be pricy, but it's very convenient and easy for home use and the end result looks great!


I'm using mine to make my annual Christmas card and a few extra goodies. Consider the following posts a Gocco 101. I'll post links of where to find machines and such in these posts. For now, check out the save Gocco web link above for more info.

Only 9 more sleeps until Christmas, so back to work for me!

Are you pumped for the holiday too?

One down.

What a Friday!

I am succumbing to a cold- surely I will be fully infected by the end of the weekend. My wonderful carpool driver is sadly also sick, and shared her cold medication with me this morning. It was just a Buckley's tablet, but it kept me high and spaced out the whole day. It made for an interesting work day, to say the least! I'm back from my cold tablet induced trip, and have been quietly embroidering on my couch all night.


I've started on three more presents. Here is the embroidery project.

This week I had a young lady of the high school persuasion contact me and ask me to mentor her on the design process for her computer arts class. Through my many years becoming and being an artist I've been lucky enough to have some really wonderful people help me along the way and I can only hope to pass on whatever knowledge I can. Perhaps she will let me post her final project for all to see.

This weekend I plan on doing some resting, but mostly working. Tomorrow I go to pick up a special package that will help me with my Christmas cards. I will tell you about the contents in my next post.

What are you up to this weekend?

New stitch in the arsenal.

It's snowing! I relish this time of the year as it's the only month that I enjoy snow. It really gets me in the Christmas spirit. Speaking of, I am almost finished my most ambitious present I plan on making this year. I was a little iffy about if it would turn out or not, but I'm pretty proud of it coming around the home stretch. I even learned something in the process. I found the need for a blanket stitch- I've never encountered this is my embroidery adventures. It wasn't hard and it looks great! Here's a sneak peek.



Full reveal post holiday.

Are you guys making presents this year? Love to hear about them!

Feeling friendly.

Good morning! Today I write you from carpool central, inching north on a Toronto highway on my way to my day job. What can I say- I take my moments to blog when I can get them!

As December arrives, so does the flurry of holiday gatherings. This weekend marked the beginning of the season for me. This ties in to another one of my guides to lead me to independent worker status:

Don't forget to hang out with friends and family.

Again, sounds super easy, right? I find though that when I am busy at the office and have to come straight home to work that I often spend time alone and don't make the extra effort to visit or call. It so important to do this as they keep me sane when things are nuts. It's a goal of mine to spend more time with my peeps this year. Friday night I got to hang out with my book club peeps for a festive holiday dinner sans books.





My crafty friend Julie hosted at her beautiful home (note the amazing lighting!) and we did it potluck stylie. See those potatoes? That's my contribution. I didn't cook them, but that's something to get into in another post. The dinner was delicious, and followed up with some cozy conversation.


Snuggie style, of course.

Friends rock.

Goodbye, Miss Sherlock.

Hope you are having a humping hump day. I know am! I started my corporate work day super early today and because of that I'm now sitting on a GO bus that's homeward bound. I am off to make a special delivery tonight. It actually ties into another item on my list of things to do in order to go freelance 24-7. It's actually a simple concept, but at 8 pm when you have dinner dishes to do and a load of laundry to fold and you've been up since 6 it's not easy to get motivated to do it.

Email people.

That's it. Email art directors, other illustrators, friends, family, and in the case of today, general inquiries. Someone who saw a show I put up at a Starbucks a few years ago emailed me out of the blue and asked if I still had one of the paintings and if it were for sale. Old self would read the email and tell myself I would respond later and then totally forget. New self emailed her right back, and now one of my paintings has a new home!


This is one of my favourites. Lesson learned: you never know what will come of an email.

Now here's a shot of Ramona, who helped me wrap the painting for delivery. So cute.


Keep on humping!

Claire loves... embroidery

Merry is the perfect word to describe how I feel when I'm embroidering. I can happily sit for hours in front of the computer acting as a TV and stitch away. This is going to come in handy this year in line with my new agenda. One of the key steps to ultimate corporate freedom is saving money. Those that know me will understand that shopping is my addiction. Much like an alcoholic I'll even hide it from people. Christmas time is always the worst. This year I plan on and intend on making as many presents as possible. This is a bit of número UNO! Off to a good start!

The times, they are a-changin'.

Remember me?
I hope so.
If not, My name is Claire. As my mother says, I colour.
I have not forgotten about you, but have felt one million miles away from being able to function as a blogger. To be completely truthful, this year I have not had an easy time of functioning as much of anything aside from a corporate employee. If you look back to the beginning of this year, I was so excited about 2010. I started it off with a brand new job at a large Canadian retailer as an apparel graphic designer, a position I held at Sears Canada for four and a half years prior. For me, Sears was good because their offices are right downtown Toronto, and I live right in the heart of the city. This new company's offices are in Mississauga, which is to Toronto what New Jersey is to New York City. My first true commute. Traffic has become my mortal enemy this year. Every day I spend at least an hour and a half on a highway, and and hour on streetcars on top of that. At first it was not so bad, and I have an amazing car full of car poolers that have been sent from heaven to take me to work and back, but after a year I really notice the time that I've lost. When you calculate it over a year, it's more than 365 hours. That is 365 hours that were taken away from friends, family, boyfriend, and most importantly, my illustration career. I am really feeling the toll at this point. I've just completed 36 hours of over time for my employers, and I feel now more than ever that my priorities are shifting. I have always only wanted to be an illustrator. There is always that fear of making the rent and paying your cell phone bill that has kept me snuggly in a 9-5 world instead of jumping off the deep end and seeing if I can really make it as a freelancer. This is my time. This is my clearly focused goal. My friends Morgan and Michelle have both decided to make major life changes this year and it's inspired me to start making serious steps to get myself to the freelance career that I've always dreamed of but has always just been out of reach. I am going to use this blog now to track my progress, and keep myself accountable for the steps (and mis-steps, let's be honest) that I'll be making in the next few months. Of course, I will also mention a few things that I love. This way my loved ones can make sure that the time not spent with them is well spent on chasing my dream.

So, here we go. Getting back to blog world was step numero uno, just so you know.

Here's some more work to thank you for reading this super long post.

G'night.