Through the lens of a tiny camera

A challenge? A 365 photo challenge?? Why on earth are you doing that??? Actually, at the time, I had no idea. After 80 days, I still don’t really know what pushes me, everyday, to make a “tourist” of myself in my own city. I don’t want to become a professional photographer! As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the proper photography vocabulary and I carry around my tiny silver camera in an old beat-up mitten. However, if you ask me what my first thought in the morning is, I will have to say my daily picture. That’s too bad for my husband ;) My pictures are not showing trendy fashion, breathtaking landscapes or popular events. Taken separately, those images are just pictures taken with a basic digital camera. Taken together, they are a mirror of my life…one day at a time!

You should not judge a book (or a photo album) by its cover. Ok, but why would I want a boring cover when I can have a pretty one? The very talented Ingrid, from words starting with “p” are cute, sent me a few weeks ago the cutest little painting to put on my 365 photo challenge album. I totally see myself in that little "snow girl with camera". Thank you Ingrid :)

A sheep tale

Once upon a time, there was a tiny sheep who really wanted to fit in with the trendy sheep that were eating lushious grass in the meadow. The tiny sheep was, most of the time, minding its own business but once in a while it would do something really compulsive because many other people (hum…I mean sheep) were doing it. The tiny sheep learned that this strange behaviour is called the bandwagon effect (the sheep speaks French ok). Anyway, the tiny sheep saw, god knows where, that a lot of cool sheep were getting a new book called Lines & Shapes (yes, sheep read books and some of them have university degrees). So without a minute to spare, it went into its wool purse to get its wool wallet and took out its visa card (there is no wool visa…we all know that) and ordered the entire collection (6 different books). And when the first book finally got to the meadow, the tiny sheep was a little confused because it didn’t fully understood the concept of the book! That’s what happen when tiny sheep want to mix with trendy sheep ;)

Cat…I’m a copycat

There are those people who wake up in the morning and even before they put on deodorant they have a new idea for a spring dress. There are those people who put the kids to bed at night and invent new felt softies. And there are people like me who patiently wait for the patterns…so they can make the spring dress or the felt softies! Hi, my name is Claudia and I’m a copycat! This weekend, between two overdoses of chocolate, I decided to make a shoulder bag from a tutorial created by Tiny happy. I took my last piece of matryoshka fabric, carefully followed the instructions and after a few hours I was ready to show my new bag to the world. The problem is that I always feel guilty when I get compliments about a project made with a free pattern from a fellow blogger. So when the receptionist told me how nice my new bag was, I went into what I call my "Oscar acceptance speech" mode: "oh...thank you so much (sigh)...but I could not have done it without a wonderful pattern made by a very talented woman who has a blog…blablabla”. From the look on the receptionist's face, I should definitely just had say thank and moved on with my day! Hi, my name is Claudia and I'm a babbling copycat ;)

Cheap therapy

Yesterday, my husband got me a terrarium. We didn't make it ourselves because it's pretty difficult to find moss downtown under 2' of snow. We just added the little plastic squirrel. It makes a big difference!


I was recently tagged by fellow montrealer Linaloo about blogging. I had to put my crafts aside this week because I was in charge of a fancy gala at work. Perfect timing for a little Q&A :)

Why did you start your blog?
I didn't know anything about blogs until last spring when I was getting info on Sweden for a trip. My first blog encounter was Karin's style blog. I rapidly got hooked to that "new world". I wanted to be part of that almost exclusive community but was too nervous about my capacity at entertaining readers. I decided to jump when, bored with work, I needed to find new ways to express my creativity. After 4 months I don't regret it! Oh, yes, I use it to practice my English.

How did you come up with your blog name?
I have a university degree in management so I had to invent many fake business proposals. Once I used aux petits oiseaux for a little assignment in marketing. I always said that if I ever had a store, I would call it aux petits oiseaux but since it probably won't happen I decided to use it for my blog. Aux petits oiseaux means something like "at little birds" which doesn't mean anything but it is also a French expression for being very happy. For example, I'm aux petits oiseaux to know so many interesting people through my blog :)

Do your friends and family know about your blog? What do they think of it?
My parents and a few friends know about my blog but I don't think that a lot of them actually understand the concept. That's fine with me because I can have a different "liberty of speech". Sometimes, I find it easier to communicate when there is a computer screen in front of me. I don't know if that's healthy?

How do you write posts?
I try to write twice a week and it's always very spontaneous. I want to keep my posts short and sweet because...well...I got trained at school to do so! Business people don't have a whole day to read your proposal! (note: I'm freaking out because I didn't realized until now how my studies have influence my behaviors...next thing I know I will be talking about opportunity costs!).

Have you ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments?
Nope. Lets hope that it won't happen.

Do you check your stats? Do you care how many people read your blog?
I got a free stats tracker and I take a look sometimes but I have to restart it after 500 entries. I mostly use it to look at the visitors map because I think it's cool!

What kind of blogs/posts interest you?
I really like crafty and artistic blogs done by "real people". I want to read about honest and true stories...even if that it's not pretty! Life is not alway perfect and it's ok to have "bird nest" hair, unshaved armpits and sandals with socks (even if that's very not classy)! I'm also into photography and design blogs but between you and me, they intimidate me a little...I don't know...they look so "wow"!!!

What do you like and dislike about blogging?
I like to connect and I don't want to disappoint. Man, after that, who needs a psychoanalyst ;)

If anybody want a cheap therapy, consider yourself tagged!

Finally finished

After what seems like months...oh wait! it has been months...I finally finished my sleeveless sweater :) The pattern was very simple but most of the time I just didn't feel like working on it. I guess that I didn't get that instant gratification feeling that other projects normally give me. Sadly enough, I think that I'm the kind of person who needs to see positive results in order to go on. Now that it's all assembled (and that I can model it around my loft like a complete weirdo...I should put some music on!) I understand why many people start elaborate knitting projects. You don't get instant gratification but instead you have a real feeling of accomplishment. I think that I will start to work on another sweater but I will use thick yarn...just to give me a little encouragement! And even if I don't progress really fast, I have plenty of time to finished it before next fall!

Out of the bag

Last weekend, I attempted to make a "simple backpack" from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing and, to my great disbelief, I miserably failed! Feeling like a complete loser I had to succeed, as soon as possible, another sewing project in order to feel competent again! At 8:00pm, I hurried to my pile of craft books and decided to start (and finish) a little clutch from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules. Success! I didn’t need, afterall, to sell my sewing machine and all my supplies to another crafter wannabe!

On a different note, Mirka from Oprikka tagged me (my first tag...thank you Mirka!) with a 4 secrets-series. Here it goes:

4 jobs I've had:
Event planner (the current job)
Transport coordonator at a film festival (the crazy job)
Sustainable development marketing coordonator (the best job)
Food service cashier at Dairy Queen (the first job)

4 movies I like:
Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain / Amélie (made me dream)
The shipping news (made me think)
Les Choristes / Chorists (made me sing)
Ratatouille (made me love rats)

4 places I´ve been (with my husband):
New York (our first trip)
Paris (our first trip to Europe)
Sweden (our best trip)
Iceland (our next trip…in june)

4 places I've lived:
Très-St-Rédempteur (little french village in Quebec)
Montreal (big french city in Quebec)

4 TV programmes I watch:
Gilmore girls (I miss that show)
Pushing Daisies (I’m the only one who likes that show)
Access Hollywood (I’m ashamed of watching that show)
Dog whisperer (I should be, with my dog, on that show)

4 radio programmes:
Nope…no radio!

4 preferred food items:
Pancakes (everyday if it was possible!)
Chesse (everyday if I had the money…$$$ in Canada)
Milk (everyday unless I have stomach flu)
Vegetable soup (everyday if I was still living with my mom)

4 placed I'd rather be:
Walking on the pebble beach in Visby (Sweden)
Eating macarons in Jardin du Luxembourg (Paris)
Watching icebergs from a tiny little boat (Labrador - Canada)
Swimming in a thermal pool (Iceland)

Now I have a dilema! Who should I tag? I was very happy to get tagged by Mirka. However, some ladies from my lovely blog list might already have answered those questions! So I have decided to tag bloggers like me...who started in the "business" a few months ago. I tag the ladies at Girl with Curlz, Little Acorn, SmoothPebble and Pondering Ponteuf.

The manly bunnies

Men and women are, I would say, pretty much equal on many aspects. However, when is the last time that you saw your husband/boyfriend overwhelmed with joy at the sight of new Japanese fabric, luxurious merino mohair yarn or colorful felted wool beads? Taking that into consideration, I always think twice before I start a new craft project. Will my husband have the impression that our loft is slowly getting transformed into a doll house? Will his masculinity be challenged in his very own "house" (it's rented)? I believe that compromise is a key aspect in a relationship. I want pillowcases with bunny embroideries. Ok, no problem! I just need to make sure that the little critters, designed by Orange flower, will look manly enough so that my husband will feel comfortable to lay his head on a bunch of bunny butts. After all, that's probably the first thing that he will see as soon as he turned off his alarm clock!!!

Uncheerful little women

A Little Papercut

My Folk Lover

Squirrel on a String

The black apple

The girl with the six button red coat who hated skiing

Hide n Seek

I could write that this morning, when my husband told me that there was yet another storm, I slowly pulled the blankets over my head wishing that I was across the country where the cherry trees are already in bloom. I could also write that going outside wearing wide leg trouser jeans was a bad idea because the wind pushed a multitude of cold tiny ice pellets into my pants and, at a certain point, it almost reached my underwear. Instead, I will write…well, mostly show…the work of three wonderful illustrators discovered on Etsy (where else?). Since I have no background what so ever in art, I decided to call it “cute darkness”. That style is, I must admit, not for everybody but I see such beauty in those uncheerful little women.

Being a little uncheerful myself, I decided to sneek into the nicest room of my office building which sadly enough is the bathroom on the 8th floor. While the receptionist probably believed that I had a serious digestive issue, I took my camera with me and had a little unplanned photo shoot that depicts my new jacket! Can you see the "french pout"on my face? What a day!

Note: I got my jacket at RW & Co (Canadian store).

All by myself

I'm by myself at home on a weekend day! I don't even remember the last time that this has happened. My husband left at 7:00 for work and I have mixed feelings about the day. At first, I believed that it would be super fun to have a girly day: a chick flick, a wardrobe remix (winter vs spring clothes), a little bit of crafts (a yoga bag) and a cup of tea with my very first japanese magazine (cotton friend). In other words, a girl dream! Well, feminists will burn bras in front of my apartment because it seems that I'm slightly dependant of my husband. Not that I can't do anything by myself. I even had a very good time today. It's just that I missed him sitting next to me (playing games on his laptop) when I watched the film, his comments when I came out of the walk-in closet with a new outfit, his blown kisses from accross the room when I crafted and his “interest” (lets not kid ourself) in craft/fashion when I looked at the magazine. Am I a bad wife if I enjoyed my quiet little day alone? Nah, I don't think so! It just means that I love him but that I still need some girly time for myself. Anyway, he can't handle that much: Honey, look at that japanese skirt! Honey, do you think she is a good actress? Honey, do I look boring in that outfit?.......for an entire day!