Guest Blogger Picks: Tara Bursey.

When City of Craft happens next month, Toronto will either be a winter wonderland, or-- more likely-- just relentlessly cold. I can't help but associate the last few City of Crafts with trudging through ice, snow and sleet carrying everything from bookshelves to a life-sized knitted skeleton to wine boxes and milk crates overflowing with zines. As nice as the winter months can sometimes be, my choices below evoke more carefree, temperate seasons filled with sunshine, snacks, see-saws and sea breezes.

1. The Maple Ridge: Wacky Illustrated Signs
I fell in love with these signs when I first learned about The Maple Ridge before last year's City of Craft. I adore the hand-lettered fonts, colours and sign shapes. Can you imagine an entire house labelled with these signs? Rich eccentrics: why don't you do this so Andrew can make a small fortune for himself?!

2. Sweetie Pie Press & Deadweight: Charm Pins
One of Sweetie Pie Press' latest pin sets is also one of my all-time favourites of the series. I especially love the eye, which reminds me of the pretty-yet-slightly-eerie painted eyes of an Egyptian sarcophagus.

3. Scouts Handmade: Pennants Bunting
Ahhh...being away from home, this bunting made of scavanged pennants reminds me of my own collection of souvenir pennants back in T.O, especially my Canadian National Exhibition one. I miss them!

4. rc boisjoli: Porcelain Peanuts
What a genius idea! Beautiful packaging, too. I wouldn't want to bite down on one, though.

5. Wolfe Island Woolworks: Tasty Looking Yarn
When I look at this luxurious yarn, I think of the best parts of both the summer and the winter: being warm and cozy when it's cold out, and wandering around a street fair or midway in the summer with a huge, fluffy cone of cotton candy.

Tara is an artistic jack(queline)-of-all-trades who does everything from sculpture and installation to zines to crafts to performance art to writing to curating and organizing. She is a regular contributor to Toronto Craft Alert, and is currently living and studying Art History in Baltimore, Maryland. She curated installation and exhibition programming for City of Craft in 2009 and 2010. Though she is sad to miss this year's fair on account of being out of town, she is already looking forward to next year's model.