WINTER IS COMING

Ursa Minor Fall/Winter 2012 will available for viewing here and on the website next week...stay tuned.

NEWSIES

New for me:

New shoes, thank god. I was down to one pair but now find myself with FIVE pairs from which to choose. This must be what lifestyles of the rich and famous is like.

New earrings from Artworks in Edmonton, basically gold bobby pins as my friend Genevieve pointed out, which brings me to:

New bag. A gift from said Genevieve, a gorgeous linen crystal tote bag designed and made by her. She sells them online *here* and I highly suggest you take a look at them because they are simple and crisp and beautiful. Thank you G, xo.

New for you:

Little parcels ready to ship out all over the world.

Cubist clutch in Electric black. Love this black suede and ultramarine lambskin combination.

Cubist Clutch in Nude Beauty. This is absolutely my favourite version yet - I am all over mixed neutrals.

Suede fringed scarf in Ballet Beige - I have two of these available.

Diamond Clutch in lemon pebble. Once upon a time there were three of these but this is the very last one ever, poor little lemon pebble. As always, you can find everything *here*.

HEART CANADA! 20% OFF!

I heart Canada guys, it's an amazing country to live in and I feel blessed to be able to make my life here. And guess what? It's our birthday this weekend! Happy birthday Canada!

In honor of the holiday, please enjoy a 20% discount in both the etsy & big cartel shops all weekend long (till Monday, midnight) with the code: HEARTCANADA.

Tell your friends! Grab up the last of the Spring stock while you can! Special requests? Send me an email!

DIAMONDS IN THE PALM OF HER HAND

Some weeks ago I made a number of simple & supple 'diamond' leather clutches meant to sit like a slouchy jewel in the palm of one's hand. I sold some at Puces Pop and am listing the few I have left now for sale. See here for details.



Also!! I want to update and change some styles, specifically the Cubist Clutch (see below) and so I'm clearing out the pieces I have in stock now (not made-to-order items) for $60 each. I'm going to bump the price back up again in two weeks, so if you were looking for a cubist clutch to buy, now's a great time. Take note: I will likely not be making more of these styles once they are sold out!


OK! Talk soon.

OUTTAKES

I finally shot the Ursa Minor F/W collection this past weekend with photographer extraordinaire Francesca Tallone and our beautiful model Vanessa Vick. I'm so happy we pulled it all together - things were looking iffy for a couple days there at the end. Collection photos won't be up for some time but I did shoot some behind-the-scenes shots should you want a little preview. Thank you so, so much to Francesca, Vanessa, friends Steve Wiseman & Jody Zinner who graciously let us shoot at their apartment, and to R for shuttling me to & fro and generally putting up with me for the past two weeks (and ten years.) And now I'm getting sushi takeout and watching cop dramas in bed for the remainder of the weekend.

A CLUTCH OF CLUTCHES

Long time coming, as usual, I finally added my new mixed-leather clutches to the shop this weekend. We actually had some sunny weather (for a change) so I was able to take photos on beautiful Saturday afternoon between bouts of book-reading and wine-sipping on the back balcony. All this after a perfect morning spent with Genevieve eating dim sum and wandering down to Reborn in old Montreal to ogle Arielle de Pinto jewels. Just a wonderful day, really, I've been needing one of those.

Anywayyyyy....

I added 7 new cubist pouches to the shop, which you can view *here*. They are all made with favourite bits of leather I've been hoarding over the months and years, and all lined in a natural-coloured organic linen. My favourite-of-the-moment is the Pebble Pink which I am tempted to keep for myself, though I suppose I can always make another should I decide I need to.

Though  I have enough leather to recreate some of these (the Pebble Pink for example) others are one of a kind. Please get in touch if you have questions!

~Evening Grey~
 
~Pebble Pink~

~Lamb's Ear~

~Midnight~

~Neapolitan Cream~

~Whiskey & Water~

~Smokey Sage~

AD HOC

My friend Gini opened up a new shop, Ad Hoc, in her hometown of Penticton this week. She's stocking some great brands and I'm lucky that Ursa Minor has been included from the get go. If you live in or around the Okanagan Valley you must go check it out and say 'hi' for me, maybe pick up some local wine and certainly buy yourself something beautiful from her store. Congrats Gini, I wish you all the best.

CHANGE OF SCENERY

I took a little break from Fall design early this week to play around with some fun(er) projects. I needed a rest from tedious drafting and sampling and decided to make! creative! work! immediately!
I plan to take some better photos this weekend, but for now here's a glimpse of my latest. I hope to add a number of hand-dyed linen scarves and Springy leather pouches to the shop next week - time to add a little colour & pattern to my life.

ULRICA

{Ulrica Silk Duster in washed raw silk noil}

Fall sampling is actually, truly starting to happen, guys. I know I'm a million years behind but this is gonna get done - the middle is in sight.

MANUFACTURED SOLAR SYSTEMS

My little Montreal family doesn't celebrate Easter. Religion interests us, but doesn't inform our lives. We're happy to observe the beliefs of others, but that doesn't mean we've made them our own. What we do like though, and what I in particular cherish, is carrying on the personal traditions of our childhoods, reinterpreting and adapting them into rituals of our own.

When I was a kid Easter meant food. All holidays meant food but Easter meant food + chocolate + chocolate food hunts. It meant decorating sugar cookies. It meant spending time with family and undoing one's belt and relaxing. Cecil B DeMille's 1956 version of The Ten Commandments always played on tv and I was allowed a special pass each year to stay up late and watch. It fueled my love of extravagance & epic & magic and I looked forward to it every year, despite it's dated decadence, un-child-friendly subject matter and nearly 4-hour running time. And we always decorated eggs, always in the same way, batik-style with abstract wax patterning and repeated dying. Our own tiny Pollocks.

It's important to me, now that I'm so far from my family and the people who informed my development, that I continue to observe these rituals I love, despite having to form my own opinions about the holidays they surround. It's important for me to share these traditions with the people who are foremost in my current life. And it's important I still revere and acknowledge the magic and joy they once brought. And so I am continuing on.