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Our
recent trip to Cuba gave us a lovely week of relaxation, with a
wonderful day-trip into Havana with a private guide and driver - and a
really cool car
(a gorgeous '56 Ford Fairlane, in case you're curious - see below).
We loved seeing the sights, and also learning a bit about these 2 guys
that show Canadians around their country for a living. Ricardo loves
pretty pop stars, and shared his fave Inna videos with us. We'd never
heard of her, but she's this massive international star! So we're
sending him buckles of sexy Inna and sweet Taylor Swift as an extra personal tip for the great day we had. 
Out came the
mini-collection "Herald and Mod": 3 designs on large glass ovals. The
latin titles on each roughly translate to "salty sweet", "night life",
and "smart ass", and are available as pendants, cocktail rings and new
scarf clips. 
Show info:
January: A special project for the Gladstone Hotel's 5th anniversary of their reopening - a 6' glitter cake for the fabulous Miss Fluffy Souffle to jump out of. 
You bet it was a good party!
February: Photoshoot with Alias Dance Project to promote their upcoming show; we used Sleeveface as inspiration. We were all a bit annoyed that a local radio station released a huge ad campaign with the same concept the same week as Alias' postcards were printed, but it didn't really matter.
March: One of our fave clients Julia got us to paint Nosferatu in glitter on a velvet vest. We made glass buttons for the front that had the original vampire in shadow - a still from the 1922 film that is still plenty creepy.
April: Alias Dance Project had us create an lounge environment for The First LP, their first full length production. 
We also celebrated Robin's 40th in Vegas with a group of good friends; all that glamour and glitz make us very happy. Yeah, we took a limo to dinner.
May: Trixie & Beever (our performance alter-egos) posed for portraits that would be part of 10X10, a project that had 10 queer
photographers take 10 portraits of people who had contributed to the arts community. Paul Buen took amazing photos, and we were thrilled the glam and goofy ones of us sold.
June: One of our fave custom projects is the zookeeper buckles (they have no glass bead due to animal safety). This year we did the elephants for a staffer that worked with them. (We're sorry to see you leave your home, guys.) We also headed back to Art in the Park Windsor, with much better results than last year!
July: We were once again lucky enough to travel to Cape Cod for summer vacation, and our mostly-annual "Cape Cod's Got Talent" performance
night with all our super talented friends and family was one of many highlights.
September: Our first Cirque du Soleil show - finally. Now we are super-excited as our friend Natalie-Claude is going to be a lead clown in this year's touring production!
October: Dressing up is so important in our lives and when we can attach it to charity even better. SOY takes care of our queer youth and is one of our charities that we are thrilled to support. Especially when we get to bowl as the "disco prom from hell" team and freak out people on the bus.
November: Beever's Roast. I turned 40 and my friends roasted me good - burn baby burn. We created a "Beever Lodge" set and the guests were invited to dress in lumberjack chic; you've never seen so much plaid and glitter in the same room.
December: Craftshow time with One Of A Kind (year 11!) and holiday studio sale and with that lots of interesting custom work. Custom work highlights: Morrissey, Megadeath and Warren Buffet Christmas tree ornaments.
It's our annual holiday studio sale: 
Thursday, November 24 to Sunday, December 4, 2011
Weekdays & Saturdays 10am-9pm, Sundays 10am-6pm
One Night Only! Late Night Shopping
Thursday, December 1, 2011 10am-11pm
Click here for more info!
Tonight we'll celebrate the launch of Liisa
Ladouceur's Encyclopedia Gothica at the Gladstone Ballroom in Toronto. (London Ontario, you get a chance October 13 at Nite Owl. See Liisa's site for details.)
Last month we took our first trip to the Shangri-La of luck: Las Vegas. As an extended celebration of my 40th birthday, we traveled with a pack of 12 friends for 4 dizzy days of fun. We're not really gamblers, but when in Vegas.... I won a bit at slots, and was pretty pleased with myself. The redheaded darling in our group eclipsed my win by turning $1 into $115, and her hilarious, infectious frenzy provided one of the trip highlights. Somewhere around 5am after some late-night pie, 4 of us sat down to play blackjack in the classic downtown Golden Gate casino. I barely knew what I was doing, but won 3 blackjacks! Again, a low bet, but the big payoff was going to bed feeling like a winner in a place where many people lose. 
