For gifts under $100 check out the Fodor’s Travel 2013 Holiday Gift Guide. The Made & Found’s very own powder pink drawstring travel bag set also happens to be on the list. Here’s what Fodor’s Travel had to say: “Prim and organized travelers will relish these powder-pink drawstring cotton bags that protect and separate travel clothes. They’re perfect for longer trips and keep lingerie, swimsuits, and dirty laundry tidily tucked away.”

Find them at The Made & Found shop. Also available in singles.

So you’re walking down the street carrying a nicely wrapped package, something like the one you see above. Passers-by are possibly thinking “Oh, how nice! That person is bringing their friend a gift, or bringing their sick grandmother something to make her feel better.” Little do they know, you’re going to your friend’s house to get wasted. However, just because you’re going to get trashed doesn’t mean you have to look trashy. Wrap it up nice and keep ’em guessing.

And here’s how. Furoshiki instructions are actually posted on Japan’s Ministry of the Environment website. Isn’t that kind of amazing? This one is called Bin Tsutsumi 2. All you need is a large square piece of fabric, or a square scarf would be nice too. And two big bottles of your favourite something.

My favourite winter beer (Winter Beard) is back, so I’m ready! Let’s do this!

Super excited to be part of the Drake General Store x Etsy Pop-up shop! A selection of handpicked items are available at the Drake General Store’s Queen Street location as well as their Yonge & Eglinton location from October 17th to November 3rd.

Excited to be a part of the BRIKA Pop-up Shop that launches tomorrow at the flagship Hudson’s Bay! Check it out if you’re in Toronto!

A few new items will be available in the shop soon! Here’s a little preview of two of the semi-circle totes in the new colour palette. They should be up and ready next week. I’ve also been getting ready for a couple of projects that will be launching next week. Yay!

It was really nice to meet everyone who came by yesterday at Evergreen Brick Works.  The Junction Flea just started having shows there this summer. It was the first market I’ve ever done and I survived. Yay! Crashed out as soon as I got home. Here are a few pics. From the show, not of me crashing out.

1. A super cute furry buddy came by for a visit.
2. I was stationed across the way from the Indie Ale House. Cold beer! Yum!
3. Some new fall colours.
4. Sets of travel/shoe bags.

The Made & Found will be at the Junction Flea at the Brick Works tomorrow! Come on down if you’re around. There will be lots of new stuff I haven’t had the chance to update online yet. Hope to see you there!

La Merceria is a super sweet Argentinean cafe and boutique on Adelaide Street that I used to go to everyday when I worked in the neighbourhood. They have amazing empanadas that they serve with the best chimichurri, and those triangular pie things which I forget the name of right now but are sooooo good! And they have homemade alfajores and mate lemonade! The boutique side of the store carries a great selection of housewares and accessories, all of which I really wouldn’t mind having at my house. Earlier in the summer they started carrying some of The Made & Found travel accessories and tote bags, so go check them out if you’re in the area. Have a coffee and stay awhile. It’s the most relaxing place in the neighbourhood.

Don’t be messy! Get yourself organized for your next trip this summer! Select travel accessories from the Natural Dye Collection are 25% off in the shop, from now until August 15th! Items include travel kits, travel cases, and make-up brush rolls.

I stalked some animals at a farm last week. I wonder what it would be like to be a wildlife photographer. Probably pretty dangerous if I was trying to be a wildlife photographer shooting with an iPhone. To get a decent shot I practically had the phone pressed up against these guys. Might be safer to just build some scaled down sets, like a mini jungle. That cat could totally be a black panther. Not sure about anything else though. Doesn’t that fluffy white baby bunny look just like one of those Lindt chocolate bunnies?

I went to the drive-in the other week. I had never been to one before and had heard drive-ins in Canada would soon be obsolete, so it was imperative I went to one as soon as possible. The experience wasn’t quite what I expected though. In my mind I pictured watching a movie outside, under the stars, in the comfort of your own car with the windows down, and a cool breeze rolling through while  eating buttery popcorn and drinking icy Cokes . . .

In reality we were 5 steamy sardine friends packed in a Subaru Outback, with the windshield all fogged up because the mosquitos were so bad we could only bare to open the windows a crack. We sat there sweating and squinting, being eaten alive, determined to have a great experience, for 4 hours. First we watched This is the End, which was super funny and will have to be watched again. Then it was Man of Steel . . . We should have driven away after the first one . . .

Some things to keep in mind when going to a drive-in:

1. Don’t go with more than 2 people, unless you want to be the jerks (like we were) inching your car forward and backwards, weaving between cars across the entire lot, trying to find the perfect spot where everyone can see, while all the other people sneer or laugh at you.

2. Don’t go on a hot night when there are a million mosquitos out, for obvious reasons. Wouldn’t it be great if cars had bug screens you could pop onto the windows?

That’s all. Maybe I’ll try again in the Fall. I just found out drive-ins will not be disappearing anytime soon. There’s one just outside Toronto that’s going digital. Should’ve done my research . . .

A few pics I forgot to post of Marco Cibola‘s opening reception back in April at the Gladstone. I took great pains to get shots with no people in them, but I realize now it kind of looks like there was no one there. Oopsies! There was actually a great turnout.

I liked how all information was written directly on the wall with pencil, and that you could see the texture of the wall in the writing. And look – some people!

Spent last week in Prince Edward County out in the perfect weather. On the way up we stopped to check out an Airstream trailer our friends decided to buy. We laid around for a day on Sandbanks beach, watched a few sunsets, took hammock naps, and ate and ate.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the physical act of writing. I remember doing a lot of handwriting in pencil in grade school, and one day my teacher decided my cursive writing had improved enough to “graduate” to erasable pen. It was a pen called Erasermate I believe. It had blue ink and an eraser on the end. It didn’t write very smoothly, but it was erasable for the most part, and I remember being excited to no longer have to use a pencil. Either tiny things made kids happy back then, or I was a big nerd.

This memory came up while I was flipping through Andy Warhol’s Time Capsule 21. Andy Warhol used to keep everything and anything and toss it into a cardboard box, which was taped shut and put into storage when full. And then he’d start another. At the time of his death he had 612 of them. This book documented everything that was in Time Capsule 21. The items that really stood out to me were the letters, notes and stationery, which were all handwritten or typed with a typewriter, and slightly wonky. Personal touches and charming imperfections. I miss these things, and sometimes I forget I miss these things, and then I miss them again.

I found a new use for the large travel kit the other day as I was doing some cleaning and organizing – knitting bag! I’ve had balls of yarn, needles, and partially made things lying around everywhere, so I tossed it all into a travel kit.

I was thinking that if I kept knitting all summer, I’d be ready when fall comes back. But maybe knitting in the summer is kind of weird. Knitting wool things while you’re sweating? It would be like smoking while laying on the beach on a hot humid day. Odd right?

Theme of the week: Circuitousness.

1. Circular drawstring bags – Sewed up a stack of circular bottom drawstring bags to ship out, and I’m testing out a new colour – turquoise!
2. Circular weather pattern – Feels like we are going continuously from spring to winter, spring to winter. This morning we got rain, hail, then snow. If only the circle could widen a little to include summer.
3. Circular doughnuts – Krispy Kreme after yoga practice. Yum!

Next week (Thursday, April 4th to be exact) Marco Cibola‘s show It’s About Time will open at The Gladstone. It runs from April 4 – 28 and will feature his new works on paper. For details check out the poster up top. If you’re in Toronto, you should go! You should go! You should go!

First photo: The latest Cibola Christmas card. If only the holidays could be so chill . . . I also love when Christmas things are not super Christmassy looking. That way you can keep them around after and not get depressed.

Second photo: Two prints waiting for frames.

I recently got this pattern book, Drape Drape, in the hopes that I will start making clothes again. A friend gave me 2 bolts of fabric – one roll of black knit cotton and one roll of white. I figured if I skipped a few steps like drafting the patterns myself and finding the perfect fabric I’d be more likely to just do it. Sometimes it’s nice to just make something easy and not stress about spending hours on something that might not turn out. Although some of these patterns don’t look look super easy. Let’s see . . .

These could be the perfect summer throw-on clothes. Easy like sweatpants, but won’t give away the fact that you just spent the last hour on the couch eating poutine. And they might even make up the perfect effortless travel wardrobe.

. . . for eating ice cream sandwiches.

1. There are no line ups or crowds of people wanting to taste every flavour.
2. It doesn’t melt as fast.
3. It’s cold outside, but it’s warm inside, so there’s really no difference. It might even be more satisfying, like eating ice cream while watching people exercise.

This super amazing monster sandwich is from Bakerbots. It barely fits in your hand and definitely won’t fit in your face without some effort, but so worth it. This one is filled with London Fog (Earl Grey) ice cream. Another interesting flavour to try is Bellwoods Stout. And if you’re adamant about not eating ice cream in winter, they have plenty of yummy pastries and cakes ready to get in your belly. My favourite is the Oreo cake or Oreo cupcakes.

There are also vegan and gluten free options if you’re of that persuasion.

It’s about that time of year when summer sandals for the next season start trickling out online. For the past few years I’ve been searching to no avail for simple, flat, black leather sandals. When it comes to shoes I prefer ones that will last and can be repaired, so I can wear them “forever and ever!”. That’s how I justify buying things to friends who think I’m nuts for spending “too much”. I just don’t believe in buying badly made, throw-away things. Maybe I’m old-school, or maybe I’m an old lady who should have been born decades earlier, but I just love, love, love going to the shoe repair guy and picking up my freshly buffed, repaired shoes with new soles. It’s just so satisfying! And they keep looking better and better. Oh, I suppose there’s one exception – sneakers/running shoes. There isn’t much you can do with those.

Anyway, I’m liking the Rag & Bone Leyla sandals up top, and below that, the Common Projects ones I missed the boat on last year. However, there’s a new development this year. I found a sandal making workshop with Rachel Corry, run by Gravel & Gold. I think the next one is in March. The only problem is they’re in San Francisco. Although, the cash for two nice pairs of shoes or sandals could pay for the workshop and the flight from Toronto. Hmmm . . .