In all the hustle and bustle of cleaning out closets and getting our place ready to sell, I forgot to mention this incredible Handmade Holiday Gift Guide over at Bloesom Kids (my FAVORITE blog by the way). She has included my Calendar...Thank you Irene! But all the other items she has included are so darling! So unique and great for you and the kids. Click here to get connected to list of items and their online locations! Oh, and check out her most recent post today...an OPEN house with the makers of LMNOP magazine. I love peeking into people's homes! So much life and creativity here! But thank you Irene for the mention!
Color me, Dress me up, and take me trick or treating.
Remember the fun Addie and I have been having with Paper Dolls? Well, time to do some paper-dolling together. This is Mazie, named after my great-grandmother. Though I don't remember her, I bet she was as cute. I may just get some paper dolls in the shop...all colored and ready to play with. But I thought I would test the waters first and also let you have fun coloring in all the details! Get some ideas on how they look colored here.
So have some spooky fun! This Mazie is a lot like my daughter...you never really know what she is going to wear...Especially for halloween. A vintage-y witch, a french Dutchess or Little Red Riding Hood. Have fun choosing! Download the Free HIgh-Res PDF file here.
Feel free to spread the word and tell your friends with a link here.
Happy Halloween!
What you dream is what you get. SO DREAM!
(Addie in my espadrilles)
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last you create what you will.
George Bernard Shaw
My motto of the week. For years we have been dreaming of a house. I personally, have been dreaming of a cottage cozied up in a deep green forest with only birds and deer for neighbors. And for the upteenth time, we are on the search to find it again. And I truly believe that what you want most will in fact become a reality as you turn that wish into action.
So, this week, is get the condo ready to sell week. I have high hopes to get some more wonderful treats out for you this week in the shop, and I will keep this motto close to me as I go for it.
This week I imagine:
A clean sparse apartment to show
New art and goodies in the shop
And maybe that cottage in the woods.
Or at least...A house with room enough to be a mom AND an artist. We have been feeling a little crammed lately, but oh so grateful to have a roof over our heads.
Here's to dreaming! Make a wish, Make it happen!
I won!
Holy Cow. I really can't believe it. But I have to tell you.
I actually WON the marie-antoinette inspired dress from Grosgrain. I am still a bit in shock! With 1,003 entries, the odds were as slim as they come! I never win ANYTHING, so actually, about 6 months ago, I just stopped entering my name in giveaways since it just seemed like such a waste of time. Well, this dress obviously caught my attention, and since I have a daughter who literally says things like "Oh mother, you truly look lovely today", would sleep in necklaces and lace if I let her and can be found singing to her "true love" when ever she enters a grove of trees, I had to enter. Oh I am glad I did! I can't wait to show you pictures after it comes in the mail. This woman is AMAZING and I think that she is pretty much a genius when it come to children's design. Check out her other designs here. Oh...and the best part. She is opening a shop in two weeks! Oh the world is a sweet place.
The red cardinal and other things.
I am really excited about this print. I remember as a girl sitting at my kitchen window at the snowy forest behind our house so calmed by the misty gray that winter brings. I really love the magic in the winter forest...so delicate and quiet. But then the Cardinal would come and draw my complete attention. He was like a sign of hope. My heart would race, and I would beg him to say a while. It amazes me the God would be so creative to think of making a RED bird that loves to come out in the white winter. He is such an artist:)
And so, this new friend of mine gets to meet this little fellow and share a moment. or two. or three. Just a stare. nothing more is needed to be filled with warmth of the red bird.
So...A new print for the shop! And this same image is going to be used for my GIFT CARDS coming up!! I am so excited! I think these are so precious, and I would love to get one of these in the mail, or as a present!
The way these will work is simple:
When you order the gift card, you will specify whether you want this emailed to you or snail-mailed to you. I will then write, or email you, the CODE that the recipient will use when purchasing. To redeem the gift card, all your recipient needs to do is to email me at the email listed on the card, and I will fill the order!
Simple, eh? Hope so! (there are more details in the actual listing in my shop)
Ahhhh....though it is still fall, this print is making me long for the quiet snow!
Let them eat cake.
I have been following Grosgrain's blog for a while now. Every week she sews a new dress or outfit, and then gives it away. She is kinda brilliant. And I REALLY wish that I, the 618th comment, would win something like this. But honestly, the sheer creativity of this woman is astonishing! This is by far the most lavish of them all so far, but have a look...she is one talented gal! She is actually inspiring me to sew a lot more than I am right now!
Sneaky treats.
This is not a picture of Ian's belly button, but rather a picture of a new compartment for storing chocolate. You see, Ian came up with the brilliant Idea that if he could stuff his belly button with the mini chocolate chips we have in the cupboard, no one would know he was sneaking. As smart as he is, he still doesn't know about the "melt in your mouth-not in your hand" body heat predicament. Poor guy learned the hard way that chocolate doesn't stay in your belly button long before melting. I don't think he minded though...melted chocolate is just as good. I think he just got a thrill that his body had the perfect compartment for storing treats!
(PS: picture taken after wiping his tummy!)
Huge shop update.
In the beginning was my shop. And the shop was my world. And my world revolved around my shop. I didn't sleep. I made art and art only. And after two months was over, I crashed. And I cleaned my house. And I didn't create art because I wanted to be sane...and have a clean house. And I got very sad.
Then one day, a blessed man came and said "I will take the kids out all day on an outdoor adventure and you can stay home and enjoy a quite house." And I said, "Will you marry me?" And he said, "You already did." And then I kissed him. And then I went into my studio and locked the door and barricaded it from all distraction (including food) and got to work.
And now...I have art. It doesn't look like much when I consider I had a day all to myself. But art is SLOW folks. That is just how it is. And how it should be. And this wasn't even done in a day. It was finished in a day. I may just need to call that blessed man back and tell him my children need a second all-day-outdoors adventure. And I know he will say "yes" because that is what married people do. They give lots and lots to each other. And then after I kiss him again, I will make more gingerbread waffles. 
We also have "The Rocket Launch Club" print in the shop now, with (shhh...don't tell) some free pdf downloads in the works coming soon.
And, in my efforts to get this in the shop with some other storybook dictionary prints, this one never ended up in the shop. But here it is now!
Well, there you have it folks! Whew! I can't wait to get my hands into my sketch book again. Maybe I really DON'T care about a clean house....
Meanwhile: Visit the shop!