Trey is my nephew

I am truely inspired by my cousin who organizes this event........ and everything else she does. I, on the other hand are sadly overwhelmed by small tasks as designing the poster. I find it challenging to find the time to organize a bbq for friends, let alone serving food and drinks to hundreds of people- and music, and activities, and auctions. I would like to think that I would do the same if I was fighting for the health of my child. I hope I could.

Tacos for Trey was a big sucess and a blast.

http://www.treypurcell.com/

This is what makes me smile

I just found these hidden in some folder on the computer.

Oskar took them on his camera last summer.

what to say- a year has gone by

I have been meaning to write for months.



It felt like every time I was about to upload a picture, write a post, something else came up. I feel like as a stay at home mom I should have hours and hours everyday to do a couple of simple things. But then I remember I have to sign the kids up for a class, organize a craft for tomorrow, plan meals, grocery shop and make dinner for tonight, maybe exercise, clean up, pay bills and try and fit in some time for a glass of wine and catch up with Clete. And these are the things that are more important right now. I will do the pictures and post tomorrow. And so nearly a year has gone by. Sometimes it is nice to enjoy the wonderful nuances of the day and not worry about documenting them and worrying about if the lighting or angle is right?



It has been a busy year. Full of many ups and downs and many adventures.

Rush Rush Relax

It was all rush rush , but when the day arrived I had a lovely afternoon sitting in the sun and chatting with some other wonderful artists at the BabyCheeks Cute and Small art show.

The owners Deana and Delores had set up the show just outside the doors of their beautiful store in South Surrey. I found the turnout to be small so sales were pretty slow -which was a bit of a bummer, but now I have some inventory for my Etsy site which I am in the process of starting up.

I was lucky to have the help from my 'seamstress' mother in law Gayle, and friends and family who happily took Oskar on outings when Stefan was napping. And Clete definitely picked up the slack. Thank You.

It makes me realize how much time I wasted before I had children.

I hope the sun is shining

Next Saturday this is where I will be. So if you happen to be cruising around South Surrey stop by and say hello. I am looking forward to spending the day with some other wonderful local artists doing work for kids. It is great opportunity to sell what I love doing, but also talk to and learn from others who have the same passion.

I have been busy drawing, painting, printing and sewing. I am really exciting about all the new printed pillows and canvasses and all the other art pieces I have been creating.

While he worked, I walked

And bought a few things along the way.

Fabric from the Purl Bee. A couple of goodies from one of my favorite artists Rob Ryan. And banks for the kids from the MOMA gift shop.

Last week I tagged along with my husband to NYC. Four evenings away from the kids! He worked the whole time but it felt like a vacation to me. We were able to spend some wonderful time together here and there like spur of the moment cocktails at 10:30pm and lying in bed reading the paper and having a coffee in the middle of the day, but I also truly enjoyed the time to myself. It was our first time away from the kids together- and we survived. And they survived and had a wonderful time with Nana and Papa. We will have to do it again soon when Clete can relax and enjoy himself.

Ahhhh.... it is nice to be back.

It is nice to be back into the groove of things again. Between looking after little O + S, doing renovations, and painting murals, I have found it difficult to do things that should be simple like fold laundry (actually putting the clothes away is a whole other story) and more importantly check emails and do new postings.

I have got to hand it to you full time working moms- how do you do it!

So the next couple of posts will make up for the many weeks missed.

My most recent job. Painting a mural for some wonderful clients.

Some of the preliminary sketches

And some of the completed room.

Aloha and Mahalo.

It was been a week since we arrived back from a wonderful 10 days in Maui. I had never been and always dreamed about going. Now as I look out the window and the sleet coming down, I dream about going back.

It wasn't clear blue skies and turquoise oceans everyday, but I think more important then all the fine details, our family of four needed that 10 days all together.

Our mornings were spent mostly at Makena big beach. Our lunches and home. Our afternoons either at the beach across the road exploring, or having a shaved ice/ice cream at some new location determined by Oskar.

My favorite things on our trip- besides spending time with my three boys: sleeping with the sliding door open and the warm breeze, road side stands selling local pineapple, mangoes, avocados, papaya's and Oskar's favorite-fresh coconut, watching surfers at Honolua Bay,

and chasing the waves under an evening sun. Oh yea-and a little town I wish we had more time to explore-Pa'ia. Maybe next year.

xoxo

It has been a week full of valentines related crafts and activities.

We have been on a tight budget this month, but it is amazing (and actually kind of embarrassing) how much stuff we have around the house. With a little creativity and a little inspiration we raided the cupboards to make lots of treasures and treats for dear friends and family.

New stamps inspired by Geninne

Making cookies with friends

Attempting to make chocolate suckers

And a wonderful breakfast at home with the three loves of my life.

My Superheros

I have always tried to steer Oskar away from characters like Spiderman and Batman, but he seem to be drawn to them. He gets excited seeing the Batman symbol graffitied on a sign on our way to preschool, and he can find all the 'Fantastic Four' books at the library within a matter of minutes.

And now thanks to new friends at preschool he has discovered the Ninja Turtles- or when he first told me about them- 'The Inja Turtles". I remember my younger brother playing with them but he was 8- not 3.5 years old ( i didn't even know they were still around)! He now asks questions about them- wants to know their names, want to see pictures and video of them. I have always given him answers to all his questions, and tried to encourage everything he is interested in, but I just don't understand this!

We were lent a book Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones which talks about the positive aspects of fantasy and make-believe violence, and why children need to have these superheroes to identify with. I haven't read too far into the book, but I already disagree with a few of its arguments. I have always felt these characters encouraged violence and made it more acceptable, but his book argues the opposite. We will see-maybe it will prove me wrong.

With a leap, skip and a jump

We survived the holidays! And aside from a devastating flu that we all managed to catch, 2009 is treating us well!

I don't know if it was the all the snow or the cold, and now this past week of fog, but we have been spending a lot of time inside, baking, crafting and doing a lot of reading. We were spoiled at Christmas and it is nice to have the time to enjoy and play with all the gifts we received. Among the many wonderful gifts I opened, these new books are inspiring me.

one of many books to learn new stitches -Woolly Embroidery

amazing illustrations by Olle Eksell

It was my lucky day!

I called Hemptown to see if they had any fabric. I had bought some hemp canvas there years ago to stretch and paint, but for some reason they stopped selling material. Lucky for me they were clearing out their warehouse (and sadly closing down that store), and had lots of precut fabrics at $3 a metre - everything from organic cotton velour to different naturally dyed hemp fabrics. I walked out with pile of fabric and some amazing bamboo/organic cotton shirts to print on and embroider.

A few are gifts for friends and others are to sell ........and a couple are for me.

09.08 Our Advent

Last Year, I saw an inspiring post by Ella where she shared her amazing "advent-ure" . It made me think about how our family might celebrate those days leading up to Christmas - about winter and all the amazing things that we get to do only this time of year. Things that are special and exciting that don't always come from a store, wrapped in a box. We have many winter adventures planned already with family and friends and many things to create. As kids we had always had a quilted advent that came out each year, and when Clete and I met 12 years ago we created our own advent. Now, as our own two little kids are experiencing Christmas, we needed a new "advent-ure". We love adventures!

When I came across this bird pattern from Spool I knew I would have to incorporate it somehow.

Oskar has never been more excited to get out of bed in the morning- to see what message the elves have brought for him for that day. On the 9th they brought him some stamps to make wrapping paper and a they added a "p.s." that he must also have a "big mug of hot cocoa" while stamping- that was the selling point.

In their advent note for today, the elves told us we were having friends over to bake and decorate cookies. They apparently also told Stefan to throw everything all over the kitchen floor.

I have a feeling the elves are planning a treasure hunt tomorrow.

new craft supplies

This post is now a couple of days later then intended after some technical difficulties.

Yesterday after preschool and after a good run around in the park we headed over to Main St to Urban Source. Although we have a cupboard dedicated, and full of art supplies it is always nice to have a few new things to get you inspired-especially when Oskar gets to pick them out himself. With one in the ergo and one racing around filling his basket it was a bit of a whirl win so it was nice to actually see everything he picked out when we got home.

Some of the recycled things he picked out I don't even know what their original use was. Oskar was quick to find new applications for them.

I got a few new goodies too. I have always had a love for letter press.

My first blog...

.....so here it goes!

I have been talking-thinking-planning on doing a blog for a while, as I am constantly inspired by all the sites I come across of mom's, crafter's and illustrators. It is wonderful to be able to share what you love doing.

I am a mom, artist, crafter and illustrator. I feel lucky to love all these things that inspire me everyday.

Besides the hundreds of new things I learned from my kids this week. I took a class to learn something new that I have always wanted to try. Sitting in my closet for the past couple of years has been start up supplies and a book about silk screening. It all just seemed a little bit overwhelming to me until I came across Blim and signed up with a friend for the one evening intro to silk screening class. The studio was freezing, but after a couple of mugs of tea and a box of Pocky (which I hadn't had since high school) we were printing up a storm.