Thursday, May 09, 2013

Happy Anniversary House


Tomorrow marks the 3rd anniversary of our move into this drafty old house and the town of Brighton, Ontario. Our moving day is a pretty special anniversary.



In the three years we've been here, I think I've given a single update about the 8 months we endured prior to the move. To be honest, my husband would prefer if it was never mentioned again. The thing is, about two months ago, I realized I hadn't thought about our ordeal in a couple of weeks. You see, for over two years, I still thought about what we went through every single day.

Before we moved into this house we spent 8 sleepless months in a neighbouring town. We had left all of our family and friends, and moved 3 hours from everything we knew for the chance to change our stars, but ended up in a nightmare.

We found ourselves in a very pretty house across the street from a commercial establishment that demonstrated absolute disregard for it's residential neighbours and environmental codes and standards, with excessive noise emissions. We found ourselves in a town where the mayor, and city officials would tell citizens that we were "troublemakers" and "shit disturbers" for trying to abate the issue. It was a place that I was labeled as a "drain on society" because it never occurred to anyone that I might work from home. A place where I was told a city counsellor referred to me as "that bitch" at the gas pump.

This wasn't a little bit of daytime noise. I could hear this noise from every room in my house, even the basement. My floor and doors would vibrate from it. It was like having someone stand behind you and hum in your ear, or a plane flying overhead, for hours on end, day and night. I believe the longest stretch we recorded was 36 continuous hours.

The lack of sleep caused directly by the noise, deeply affected me physically and mentally. I cried daily. I would cry at the kitchen sink, not because there was noise, but because I knew it was coming. Things got so bad that I was placed on prescription medication so that I might be able to sleep in my own home, BUT even medicated, the noise woke me.

One night, after hours of continuous noise, we filed a complaint. I told the dispatch not to send anyone because I knew there was nothing they would do, I just wanted something on record. The dispatch was confused and said that any time noise was excessive we could file a complaint and didn't understand why I thought nothing would be done. The police showed up and the officers told us we were wasting their time and preventing them from doing more important things.

City officials outright lied about the situation. They denied all knowledge of the issue despite a full presentation made by affected citizens two years previously. When forced to conduct a sound assessment, a parking by-law officer was sent to sit inside his truck, make notes that the lights were on in our home, and 'record' sound levels of 0 db... an impossibility. There were also claims that no activity was taking place at the location between midnight and 4 am despite video evidence to the contrary.

Now, sleep deprivation and sound bombardment does funny things to person. There were moments in that house when I actually thought to myself "If I just killed myself I could stop the noise!" I knew these were irrational thoughts (so did my neighbour who told me she also had the same thoughts) but I couldn't help it.

The final straw came when harassing phone calls were made because of our involvement in the noise issue... and no one cared. City officials never, ever responded to our frantic phone calls. That should not have been a surprise considering that out of over 50 messages sent to the mayor and city manager we only had seven replies.

We put the house up for sale, disclosed the noise issue, sold the house, and 8 months to the day we moved in... we moved out. (I should add here that out of all of the people in this giant mess our real estate agent was a marvel. Absolutely conscientious and principled, he earned our utmost respect and appreciation during this disaster.)

The day we moved into the Pixie house, the noise stopped, we slept soundly, and our lives improved immediately.

Eventually a proper sound assessment was done at the location and found that the facility was emitting noise up to 80% over the legal limit. Vindication, over a year after we left.

A few weeks later this appeared in a local paper... "We're taking the side of the residents.... politicians failed miserably the very people who elected them. All residents have ever wanted is fair and equal representation." I hadn't cried in the year since moving into our new place, but I shed a few tears reading that.


Truly, it revolts me to think that the people who own and operate that business knew exactly the damage they were doing and yet continued their torture. I remain disgusted by the mayor, city manager, councillors and other city officials who failed so completely and miserably, not only in their professional duties, but as human beings.


BUT, here we are, in this old place, in the ideal little town of Brighton. A town where people wave, say hello and chat to strangers. A real and warm community where we feel like we matter and have a voice. A place where we feel valued, and wanted, and are encouraged to contribute.


Here we are, in our old crooked house, halfway up a hill, surrounded by magic and wonder, feeling pretty damned warm and fuzzy, and oh so lucky, to belong somewhere.

Happy anniversary house.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Flying Bee Theatre with Some Bonus Gorey Goodness

If you spied the Alpha Stamps newsletter this weekend you might have seen a little "Flying Bee" threatre embellished by me. I did a little more work on it for an Edward Gorey themed swap, adding characters from the opening sequence of "Mystery" milling about on the stage. I know that Edward wasn't exactly known for scribbling bees and wasps but his black, white and yellow pallet sort of lend themselves to buzzy thoughts.

Here is the completely finished piece...

The shrine/theatre size is tiny, but very workable at 4-3/4" wide x 3-5/8" tall x 1-3/4" deep.


And a good and proper inside gander...


What did I use?

Masonite Theatre Shrine Kit
Small Theatre Curtains Collage Sheet
Graphic 45 Papers
- Graphic 45 French Country Rendezvous
- Graphic 45 Kraft Reflections Straight to the Point
- Graphic 45 Communique Shutter Speed
Brass Flying Bee
Thin Fleur Dresden Borders - Black 
Baroque Dresden Borders - Black 
Egg Cup
Metallic Mini Brads in 3 Colors


Thursday, May 02, 2013

Mother of All Craft Shows

I have a love/hate relationship with craft shows. I love meeting people and talking about my work. I hate lugging my gear all over the place. I decided this year that I would not do any craft show events.

Then I saw a juried show called 'The Mother of all Craft Shows' with proceeds going to Fixed Fur Life. Ah, what the heck...

So this Sunday I'm off to sling my wares at the show at the River Inn in Corbyville/Belleville and I'm kinda excited about it. I'm so excited I even made some new stuff!

Loads of little Pixie Books... blank inside so that the users can actually write in them :)


They are quite tiny!


And there's some new little fairy bottles too. 

Anyway I'm quite excited and if you happen to go, stop by my booth and say 'Hiya!'

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Happy May Day!


First thing's first... HAPPY MAY DAY! I love May Day. To me it signals the true arrival of spring. The buds are bursting, the daffodils are blooming and everything seems so lovely and fresh. I'm absolutely jealous of people who live in areas where it's celebrated in a grand style. I think next year I might have to erect a May pole and invite a few people over to dance with me :) No matter that my celebration is a bit quiet... I'm still send you all great big wishes for wonderful golden opportunities and much happiness in your households :)

Second... that little ducky is Professor Dukinschnof. He's a new friend at Pixie Hill and soooo flipping cute. My husband is very worried about this fellow because he's become a bit of a pet rather than potential confit. Here's a bonus photo of the Prof. giving me the "Seriously? More photos?" side-eye.


Thirdly... last night I hobbled together a little retail display for my Cellar Fairy cards. I think I'm going to improve on the design then make a few more for my retailers as it looks rather tidy.


And finally...


Check out the sneak peek of the new paper collection from Graphic 45. It's a bit of a departure from their other collections but I couldn't be more excited about playing with them. I've got a number of ideas bumping around my noggin' already!

Monday, April 29, 2013

A French Bundle


I wanted to create a special introduction project for Graphic 45. Inspired by their new French Country Collection, I've made a little memory bundle.

This particular collection stirs my imagination to think of clean bed linens, table cloths and curtains in a little French cottage. So, I thought to myself; "Imagine visiting a cottage in Provance and finding a bundle of memories tucked into an old dresser drawer!"


The bundle is tied together with a bit of matching blue ribbon, it is not bound. I wanted this piece to appear to gathered over time rather than formed.

When untied the you can explore the contents of old photographs, old French stamps, vintage postcards and even a love note.


Each of the 'pages' is actually an ATC. I thought that perhaps each card could represent a different memory or experience.

 A beautiful night time adventure...
 
An evening with friends...
Special people met along the way...

 When finished, the viewer can collect all the bits, bundle it back up, and tuck it away for someone else to discover.


Saturday, April 27, 2013

GRAPHIC 45 HERE I COME!

Have you heard? I MADE THE GRAPHIC 45 DESIGN TEAM! Woo hooooo!


I can hardly believe it. What an honor! WHAT A THRILL!

Check out the entire design team and all of their fantastic work.

 Annette Green– USA
Clare Charvill - United Kingdom
Karen Shady – Australia
Maiko Miwa – Japan
Maria Cole – USA
Miranda Edney – USA
Olga Struk – Ukraine
Rhea Freitag – USA
Romy Veul – Netherlands
Susan Lui – Singapore

P.S. Did you notice my Alpha Stamps design team mate Rhea Freitag also made it? 
Go Alpha gals!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Fairy Fashions and Early Birds

I was going to post this later this evening but I'm terrified to leave my desk for fear the the delivery man will arrive. I KNOW that as soon as I get up and hop in the shower there'll be a knockin' at the door and Padfoot will be barking like a maniac and I'll have to run downstairs dripping wet because the package that is arriving today should have been here two weeks ago and I needed it before yesterday! So I'm sitting put and posting this project a little early instead. 

On to the fairy fashions...


Aren't these adorable! I created them with Alpha Stamps April French Fashion Kit. The dimensional mushroom stickers aren't included in the kit but they are sooooo fantastic. They are a little bit sparkly in the very best magical sort of way. Absolutely one of my new favourite products. *SWOON!*

NEWS FLASH! Alpha Stamps is having a giveaway of EVERYTHING you need to create these fairy fashions... including those divine mushroom stickers! CLICK HERE

Here's a gander at each of the frocks....




Also, I have a new collage sheet exclusive to Alpha Stamps called Just Wings. It's so brand spankin' new that you're getting an extra sneaky peek because it won't be announced until tomorrow!


I readily admit that I created this sheet for completely selfish reasons. I really, really want to play with some translucent wings so I made these thinking they'd be pretty with the light shining through them. And, because I like bang for my buck, I've crammed that page with as many pairs of wings as possible. There's over 50 pairs of wings on that sheet! I can't wait to see what lovely things are made from it :)