I made a giant Think Twice Dice prop die.

This summer I wanted to get crafty! And of course everybody is totally aware that once every 10 years I have to make a giant prop and take fun photos with it (in 2015 I made a giant pencil) so I really wanted to make something but I wasn't sure what. But my friend Justin was all like "make the Wask dice!" which was actually such a good idea because I love how it looks sitting in my apartment right now!

It's mostly made out of styrofoam and it was an enormous amount of work - obviously I had no idea what I was signing up for. Here's a cute behind the scenes pic!

The photos are from the talented Justin Poulsen - if you haven't checked out his work before, definitely go look at his creative portfolio or his new online shop Wurs Mart!

Blog update on a snowy fall day.

Hi. It's been a while since I did an actual blog update! And above is a cozy little snapshot I took in September of my dear creative space (looking much more interesting now than it did in April 2022!) and I'm very grateful to still have this familiar Toronto apartment that I've now called home for over 8 years (insane!).

Anyway, I still can't believe Blogspot/Blogger is still around as a free service and every single time I log into this place I'm expected to see some sort of message like "Blogger is going away forever on this date!" but it somehow still hasn't happened yet so I'll keep blogging I guess.

The past 2 years for me have been a LOT. A lot a lot. Often, my creative projects were completely halted or basically being made at 10% of my usual pace. But I'm still excited to keep doing creative projects and started new hobbies, so you'll hear about those new hobbies on here eventually.

Also, like 90% of my blog is broken now. Long story short: Flickr deleted like a thousand of my photos and I didn't know it was going to happen because my Flickr is connected to my ancient Yahoo mail account that I log into once every 5 years. (: I have backups of the photos, but to re-link and update the photos is going to take me an eternity, but I'll try to start chipping away at it soon. Wish me luck and sanity. Take care.

Shopify Milestones Award

Early this year I got a Shopify Milestones award for reaching 10,000 sales on Wask (and Shopify is the e-commerce platform for it). Considering my little online shop started as an obsessive side hobby of mine, I’m proud of this achievement and figured I’d share it here. 🥰 Thank you to anybody who has ever bought one of my strange product creations, or shared my store to a friend, or commented on my work!

Upside down sarcastic smiley balloons.

Anyone else overuse the sarcastic smile emoji in their lifetime??? 🙃 Yeah same. That's why I made a balloon version of it! Check out the "I Hope You're Happy" balloons on Wask. (:

A straw that looks just like a pencil.

The latest Wask product is a pencil straw! Because I was surprised you can't already buy them. They're awesome. Check out the "School Sucks" straws on my shop!

Penchi - A new kind of pencil shop!

Introducing my second online shop - Penchi!

I've always had a love for wooden pencils (and stationery in general) and every now and then I'd be brainstorming new fun pencil ideas for my other brand, Wask. Well my brainstorming session lead me to a lot of weird ideas that got me looking into small-batch custom stamps on pencils.

Once I learned that hot foil stamping machines are quite accessible and easy to use, I decided I can turn this into a whole thing separate from Wask. The best thing about making small-batch pencil sets with custom designs is that I can experiment with shapes, placements, layering, and colours until I find things that work for me, and I don't have to make a thousand of one design (like you often do in mass production of ordering from manufacturers).

Go check out my current pencil sets and feel free to give me ideas for future pencil designs! :)

Cilantro-shaped soap.

I have the "cilantro gene" so cilantro always smelled and tasted like soap to me. It turned out it's more common than I thought! I created a product based on my experiences - turning cilantro into actual soap. It's called "Cilan-troll" and you can buy some here. :)

Matches that look like pencils.

The newest Wask product are little yellow pencil... matches! Check them out here.

A little tree air freshener, except this one's for your desk.

The latest Wask product is a little scented air freshener specially made for your desk! It’s a two-piece pine tree that slots together to form a little standing decor piece that looks beautiful and smells fresh too.
Buy one here!

A compact piggy bank that holds one coin.

Once again, this new product is an old idea I had for years but wasn't sure if I wanted to make it or in which form. But I made a 3D printed prototype and I thought it was super cute so I went for it. :) It's a tiny metal piggy bank and it's designed to snugly fit an American or Canadian quarter!

Check it out here.

New product: "Sticky Fingers" magnetic bookmarks

I've wanted to make some magnetic bookmarks for a while now after seeing so many designs online. But I didn't really know how to "Waskify" it for a long time. And here's what I came up with! You can check out the "Sticky Fingers" bookmarks on my shop.

New product: The bird poo enamel pin

At one point this summer I started thinking about how there are SO many pigeons in Toronto, and despite mostly living here since 2014, I still haven't been pooped on by one. And since people say that it's lucky to get pooped on by a bird, I wondered if this meant I was living my life short of luck? Sooo I decided to create my own luck! And this is how the Lucky Number Two enamel pin was born.

Catch-up 2023!

Hey! It's been a while since I did some writing on here. To start, here are some fall photos taken of me last weekend! I miss summer already.

So in the last couple of years I've moved away from full-time work to freelance work in the world of advertising. But I'm now leaning towards focusing on my business and the world of physical products - which is kind of funny because this is the year I made the #8 Art Director in Canada which is definitely a bucket list achievement for me!

This year has been super good for my online shop, so it's been inspiring me to dig even deeper into creating physical products. It's something I never get tired of (I just don't get tired of working on creative projects in general!).

Since the pandemic hit, I haven't really felt in touch with the creative community around here, so I hope that I can find new things to be a part of. Later this month I get to talk to kids about my "13 Animals" project (it's continuously finding new audiences!) and I realized I really like inspiring younger people to do the projects they're excited about.

I'm also going to be one of the Reviewers at Portfolio Review Night 2023! So once again, I'm looking forward to giving advice to young creatives.

To be honest, I've found it harder to be inspired this past year, possibly because there are so many distractions in the world lately - so much negative news, too much "content" to absorb, too many problems. So in a way, I kind of just want to shrink my world a little bit and get refocused. I've been cutting down on browsing social media, but I've found that I end up just filling that time with other things like video games, which might not really be all that different? Haha. Idk!

TTYL. :•)

Socks that are happy, and sad, and happy, and sad!

The latest addition to Wask are some socks that you can wear happy or sad... or change it around as you go! Buy the "Cotton Eyed Toe" socks here.

blogTeaO - a bubble tea blog!

So ever since I started drinking a lot of bubble tea, I decided to start a blog that reviews various bubble tea locations in Toroto and the GTA. But only locals will understand the funny blog title!
Site: blogteao.com

A little bit of podcast fun!

I recently had the pleasure of chatting to Dan Alan on his super fun podcast, Graphic Design Is Fun! Go check it out!

A ring that's also a real candle. 🔥

The latest Wask product is a ring that has a candle in it! It's called A New Flame. You can read more about it on the Wask Blog!

The mug that cries.

The latest Wask product is a coffee mug that has a smiley face on it, except its eyes are holes. If your pour too much liquid into it, it cries out. 😭 Buy the Flooded With Emotions mug here!

The "Death Wish" Birthday Candles!

The latest Wask product is these cute little cigarette candles that are suited for weird birthdays! Check them out here. :)

Teeny tiny baby push pins!

I've wanted to make these tiny push pins since 2017. There are just certain things in the world that I want to see tiny and these have always been one of them! So they're finally real! You can buy the "Pinsqueaks Push Pins" on the Wask shop here. :)