A Makers Canadian Adventure

Parliament Hill, by @tscrochetshoppe

As Canada celebrates its 150th birthday, we're excited to celebrate and honor the maker life with Canadian makers! One such maker is Tanya of T's Crochet Shoppe - hailing from Ottawa, Ontario - who's embarked on a special social media adventure to celebrate her love for Canada. As a maker, Tanya specializes in creating modern and classic women's and children's accessories that are both trendy and cozy. She's constantly inspired by her surroundings, from fashion runways to the great outdoors, and pours that inspiration into her designs. We're excited to share Tanya's maker life and her T's Across Canada journey!

Hi makers! Tanya here and I'm so excited to share my maker Canadian adventure that I've embarked on this year! Over the last seven months, I've been on this exciting journey and I'm thrilled to share it here in the OML community. So what is T's Across Canada all about?

T’s Across Canada is a fun project that I launched in January 2017 to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday and to showcase some of the most beautiful places across our country. I started by posting a photo of a coffee with a red maple leaf cozy in front of the Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, and asked others to join me in sharing some of their favourite Canadian places. To kick-off this adventure, I mailed free maple leaf coffee cozies to the first 25 people who reached out to me and wanted to participate!

Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto ON by @florencehazel

A fun fact about me is that I am a Fellow of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and our motto is, “Making Canada better known to Canadians and to the world.” With those words in mind, I wanted to come up with an idea that would combine my love for geography with my small business. And that is how T’s Across Canada was born! (Thank you to @madebymudge for coming up with the name of the project).

Laurel Creek Conservation Area by @sodivine_crochet

It's been super fun to send cozies all across the country! I've mailed cozies all over – British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia! From there, my coffee cozies have been photographed in cities, parks, hiking trails, museums, offices, airports, cars and more! My coffee cozies have even travelled with Canadians to parts of the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia! How cool is that?

Royal Ontario Museum by @northern_knots

I had huge hopes and goals for this project, but to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how the project was going to turn out. But I was hopeful that I would get at least a few good photos from the group. I also learned early on that it isn’t easy to capture the Canadian landscape with a cup of coffee in the photo. I have soooo many failed attempts on my phone, ha!. 

It is so heartwarming every time I am tagged in someone’s photo and I am able to learn a little bit more about where they are from. One of the best personal outcomes so far has been when people tag me in places that I haven’t visited in years, and it brings back so many great memories. I’ve been lucky to have travelled to all ten provinces (no territories though), but there are still so many Canadian destinations on my bucket list.

Hermitage Ruins, ON by @knitbrooks

One of the most fulfilling parts of this social media adventure has been the response from so many great makers (can we talk about how fabulous this picture is by Kelly of Knitbrooks?)
I realize that not all of my followers are Canadian, but I’ve even received comments from those south of the border who have enjoyed learning more about Canada. And that’s all I could’ve really hoped for out of all this, and it makes me happy.

Lake Louise, AB by @bloomingpurls

Some of my favourite photos from the project have come from @bloomingpurls in Alberta. Adlineh is lucky to live in one of the most visually spectacular parts of our country, and has shared photos from Banff, Lake Louise and Canmore. It has been way too long since I’ve visited the Rockies, and seeing her photos has been very sentimental for me. I’ve also enjoyed seeing photos from @sodivine_crochet who happens to live close to where I am originally from. Her photos are a wonderful trip down memory lane.

Waterfall Trail, Gatineau Park, Quebec by @kvallevand

All in all, the best part of taking on this project has definitely been the friendships that I’ve formed with complete strangers who offered to help me on this journey. Not only has it been a fun platform to showcase Canadian destinations, but I have learned a lot too. Every time I post a new photo, I do a little research and provide my followers with a short description about the location. I’m hopeful that this project doesn’t stop after this year, but that people who purchase my Canada coffee cozies in my Etsy shoppe will continue to share their photos for years to come! 
xo, Tanya @tscrochetshoppe

How are you celebrating Canada's birthday? Share your Canada #150year photos with us @ourmakerlife and connect with Tanya to support her cozy adventure and maker life @tscrochetshoppe

Happy making!
Kelly, OML team