happy safe, sugary and slightly spooky Halloween!

FAA Lucky Parcel Birdies Sent
Originally uploaded by wandernstarz

31 October 2008, 10:15ish (Typed on QEW)

Wow.... It's Halloween. Bitter sweet Halloween. Believe it or not I am blogging from the highway. No not whilst driving... Premek's doing that. We're are off to Hamilton for a mini-road of sorts.

What are your plans for Halloween 2008? I must admit I am particularly excited about this evening's festivities since last year I was living abroad in Europe where Halloween celebrations were few and fair between.

I'm pretty certain I have my costume all figured out, but to be honest I am more excited to see people dressed up. Pre and post-Paris, people watching be it during Halloween, Nuit Blanche or while sitting at a bakery with a big fish bowl-esque window over looking the street... Is definitely one of my favourite past-times! Are you dressing up and if so, as what?

Speaking of dressing-up, and thereby dresses and other awesome outfits... How I wish I could sew! Can you? If so, I am officially jealous! :D How lovely would it be to have the time, energy and know-how to envision, sketch, and turn fabric and thread into a cute wearable costume?

In fact, I recently came across an individual with a special talent with fabric and thread on Flickr... In fact, she's (wandernstarz) so talented that her cute little felt Ecojot robins displayed here are an inspiration... An inspriration to even a klutz with a needle and thread like me can make pretty little Ecojot robins :)

What are your secret talent wishes? But better yet, what are your not-so-secret amazing talents? Please share in the coments below.

And until next time.... Please have yourselves a very happy safe, sugary and slightly spooky Halloween! A special link for those of you not of the faint of heart... A bit of spooky fun sent to me by my cousin: press here to follow link.

lots of happy eco-friendly halloween love, ej

coveting and flairing

Bonjour tout le monde. Hello everyone. Readership has grown.... Well I would hope so since, I am pretty certain when I started, I was the only one reading... Lol. Excuse me, I haven't yet had my morning coffee and it shows in my not-so-funny humour *wide grin* Thing is, it's been a while since I've blogged, and even when I did... I was never sure how good at it I was. So to all those experienced, even semi-exprienced bloggers and quite simply wonderful readers reading out there...

1. Thank you;
2. Help please... Constructive criticism please.

I figure the highest compliment is when people are actually commenting below. Speaking of compliments. Have you heard of this blog: wecovet.com Turns out, Ecojot recently co-sponsored an online contest. As I ended up commenting, "Wow, and I thought I was ecojot obsessed!" ;)

Although I work with Ecojot, I suspect even the Ecojot team doesn't always know when they are being paid the highest compliment, and being blogged about.

However, again speaking of compliments... How many of you are on Facebook? Even those who reply, "not me..." Come on, admit, you secretly want to open an account! ;) And why wouldn't you...? Check out this application I was recently introduced to called Pieces of Flair. See the beautiful virtual buttons I've been given as presents by fellow Ecojot enthusiasts?

The Ecojot designs may be Carolyn's but a majority were made into flair by Adriana C (from Uruguay). How cool is that? In fact, she and I are going to collaborate and make more higher res versions and also make them easier to find. In fact Adriana, could you please tell us what currently to type in to the search menu, to find your flairs? :)

Okay, so I am learning that the best blogs are the daily short and sweet postings. Yeah, I need to work on not skipping days *angelic smile.* For now... Happy Thursday, everyone. Bon Jeudi tout le monde! Xo, ej

two and three in one...

So I am actually sitting at a café in Kensington Market (Toronto, Ontario) jotting my thoughts since I opted to leave the Macbook behind this afternoon. My friend Premek invited me to lunch followed by an afternoon jaunt to Chinatown and Kensington. We actually just had a very satisfying Chinese bbq lunch under 10 bucks for two of us! Score! We weren't sure where we'd end up post-lunch, mais voilà.. I've decided to stay behind to get some thoughts down whilst Premek does his weekly Kensington grocery run. He promised to bring me back an apple or equally refreshing fall fruit :)

So 'nough rambling... Not sure if I'll scan these pages to add some graphics to today's (and yesterday's missing post... Hence "two and three in one...") Lol, clever, huh? 0:) But I suspect I should spare you all from my messy handwriting. For now anyway... It may be slightly legible, but truth be told, believe it or not, with a little more effort it can be quite neat :) [ Instead of a scan, I've included a capture of workbook ;) ]

So if I were typing, instead of jotting, what would I be sharing... Hmmm.... Well first and foremost, bienvenue tout le monde, welcome everyone! As you may have already noticed, I like squeezing French phrases here 'n there. Living in France for a year will do that to you 0:)

Not sure who's reading this, but hopefully some fellow Carolyn Gavin fans... Since she recently introduced me to her designerjots.blogspot.com readers. Thanks again, Carolyn. In fact, she and I hope to strengthen and titght the link between our two sites, and of course ecojot.com :D over time.... An awesome trifecta so to speak!

Uh-oh baby crying... Distraction kicking in, plus Premek's just come back... I've handed him my iPod to keep him distracted and me focused.

Hmmm... Well excitedly, interest has begun to trickle in for my pilot ecojot art project. In fact, thoughtful Tanya B (of Toronto, Ontario) kindly messaged me shortly after I announced my new blog and project on Facebook and me about an art project by two illustrators in New York and two brother illustrators in Ireland:

Just thought I'd tell you about an art journal collaborative that one of my fave illustrators worked on. It's called Book, and two guys in New York and two guys (brothers) in Northern Ireland worked on it over the course of a few months. I think they used Fed Ex. Here's artist Duke Riley talking about it: http://gothamist.com/2005/10/05/duke_riley_artist_owner_cherry_bomb_tattoo.php

How cool is that? As my older brother claims they say in Thailand... A little "same same but different." Now if only I could successfully convince Tanya to be one of our ecojot fan participants (hint hint, nudge nudge).

On y va... Come on... Fellow Ecojot Fans and Friends... Sil vous plaît... Please consider participating. A handful of you have begun to express interest but have also expressed concern and worry that you're not an artist per se. Well, I beg to differ... After all art is subjective and meant to be expressive... Oui? Yes? Right?

With all that said I hope all those reading will help spread the "Call for Ecojot Artists and Fans" word... After all when all is said and and done, it's all about having fun, becoming more eco-friendly and eco-happy... With ecojot's help :)

xo, ej

first 'n first of many

Okay, it's a week from Halloween, which technically means it's a week before my made up, virtual, Facebook Ecojot Page Warming Party comes to a close. Needless to say, I gotta get my ecojotter butt in gear ;D

So here's the deal... Here's my small-BIG (first of many) ecojotter idea:

What: MM Ecojot Sketchbook Art (Pilot) Project.

[What does MM you stand for other than milimetre, you ask? Well it stands for Musical Moving (and perhaps even occasionally magical moving, since I have frequently semi-accidentally swapped the two). No, the sketchbook doesn't play music, however do think musical chairs, but replace the chairs with just one sketchbook and my title will start to make sense.]

Who*: 12 artists + 12 ecojot fans + 6 cool eco-friendly exchange locations

When: The next 2-3 months. After all brilliant ideas take time, right? ;)

Where: All artwork within provided ecojot sketchbook. Exchanges of sketchbook will take place between 6 participating cool eco-friendly locations (and me). Completed sketchbook to be scanned, featured on an online gallery at ecojot.com, and hopefully also displayed at a real Toronto gallery.

Why: The concept is simple... (See PS below for more gory detail on how this all came about)...

How: First come, first serve, call for:

• 12 Toronto-based Ecojot Fans.
• 12 Toronto-based call for Artists. We still need 8 more. So far, we have...

1. Former Finance Guy Turned Aspiring Architectural Student / Furniture Designer / Painter : Louie Tucci
2. TV Writer: Adam Jack + tbd graphic artist
3. Design Consultant: Lisa Canning
4. Most recent additions: Graphic Designers | Animation | Photography Duo: Alienor and Sarah
   

Artists and Ecojot Fans: We wish to represent various art mediums and disciplines to be featured within our sketchbook (fashion, poetry, architecture, literature, screen-printing, music, the possibilities truly are endless).

Ecojot Fans and Artists:
Simply email me at: ecojotter at gmail dot com with the following:

Name;
Address (email and snail);
Digits (cell, home and/or work);
Why you want to participate;
How** you plan to contribute to the sketchbook; and finally
A promise that you'll stick to my ecojotter "house rules" suggested guidelines***.

Please keep whys and hows to a maximum of 250 words :)

• 6 eco-friendly exchange places to be announced, but so far, we have...

1. Atomic, 965 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M6J 3X5 -->Visit Lawrence's store, not only is it retro / vintage cool... Lawrence is so much fun to chat with! You can tell him Ecojotter sent you ;)

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*Note: Participants (artists, fans and locations) do not need to purchase or own an ecojot product to participate.
**How: Each ecojot fan will be allowed 1 page (both sides) and will be alloted more if requested in advance. The 8x8" sketchbook we are using only has 75 pages, so we are counting on each participant to only use the number of pages they are alloted.
***Guidelines: Although sponsored by Ecojot, this is my own personal art project. I simply ask that you be respectful of all participants, and note that this intended to be a family of all sizes, shapes, colours and beliefs friendly art project.

Preference will definitely be given to those who emphasize an interest in being or becoming more eco-friendly and a more eco-friendly savvy consumer in general. After all, that is my own personal goal :) Besides we can always learn a litle more about how to save our earth, right? I am not a lawyer, so I don't know what other guidelines I am suppose to cover or mention.... So I will simply end with this...

Bottomline: Please remember the purposes and goal of this project: fun, art, not just eco-friendly but friendly, respectful, and just plain cool art :) Those who forget this will be asked not to participate. Cheers and looking forward to receiving your entries.
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Over and out, and lots of ecojot love, ecojotter.


PS (ie. more ramblings)-- A little wordy text i originally under the Why section (if you like detail, read on): Truth be told, I originally had much bigger plans for this first interactive engaging ecojot art project. I had visions of a sketchbook magically moving and being filled with beautiful art from participant to participant via Canada Post with postage sponsored by Ecojot and myself, Ecojotter. However, after a brief brainstorming session with Mark Gavin of Ecojot, we agreed for this first project... Let's go local, reduce our carbon footprint, and play musical sketchbook by passing it from ecojot participant to participant in person, by hand! It is after all hopefully just a pilot project. If all goes well, I want to try this in more than one town, city, province... Goodness I'll be honest... Wouldn't it be cool to go global and go country to country somehow?