treats....

Like Erin of reading my tea leaves waiting for her magnolias to bloom, I am impatiently waiting the treats from our garden.
I love all the veggies and fruit fresh from our backyard and wish they were already ready for picking but while I am waiting there is the pleasure of looking at them grow.

A big thank you to Valerie of cabin+cub for her honest scrap award to us.

10 honest tidbits about me:

1. I feel closer to God when I am gardening and digging in the dirt.
2. Chocolate and lattes make me happy.
   
3. I almost never have manicured nails and am super jealous of girls who have beautiful hands. ( I usually have bits of paint on my hands or ceramic under my nails)
4. Flowy skirts that I can spin in and feel the fabric swish around make me feel beautiful.
5. My husband writes beautiful songs for me and they always make me tear up.
6. I was the shyest girl in the world until Grade 7 when my teacher, Mr. Carter had the boys in my class dress up like girls with balloons for ta tas and it made me giggle till I cried. (I am not sure why I became so talkative after that. I guess it made me see that life isn't always uptight.)
7. I still swing on the swings and slide down the slides in parks with my kids.
8. I miss singing with my sister while we did the dishes growing up.
9. I love the way it feels when my husband whispers in my ear and the feeling that we share so many secrets.
10. Honesty is my very favourite quality in friends when mixed up with love.

I am kind of copying Stacey's method of this honesty award and would love it if you would share an honest bit about yourselves with us.
Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!

feathers or a mobile for the shop.....

I sometimes wish that I had my sister nearby or that my close friends here were a little more into the whole artsy thing, mostly so I could use them for their straightforward opinions.
Nice, right?
I just get into a quandary at times as to; would this sell better or this, etc. Maybe I shouldn't concern myself with that at all but I do kind of need some help in this area, since leaving Starbucks to get away from the whole corporate thing and to spend more time with Bella, we have less money and sometimes it is a stretch to get by in a month.
I probably spend too much on the little things in life.
Anyways, my question for everyone is: Are my new detailed aqua or "sea breeze" ceramic feathers better together as a mobile or on their own for people to feel free to do whatever they want with them?

I have this thing for this shade of blue lately.
It actually has some kind of memory from when I was a child and I am not sure why but I am a bit obsessed with it.
I think it reminds me of a type of salt water taffy that I loved.

we heart sammy rose....

Not that long ago I received a nice little email from Jenny, this amazing Swedish mommy, photographer, blogger and overall really cool girl.
So glad she came to our blog so that we could find hers and her funky little shop.
Ya gotta love her kitschy, fun tee shirts for both babies and grown ups.

along with her fun prints (below) and

the really cute wallpapers (below) in her shop.
Enjoy and have a really fun day!

my favourite flowers from my favourite man....

Don't these look lovely in my vase from Knack? They really are my favourite flower in the world...simple and happy, especially when they come from a man who loves me the way this man does. Flowers for no reason but an 'I love you' are truly the best.
I love red too!
What is your favourite flower?

things that go in pockets like feathers and lockets...

some more work on the hand carved feathers for the charmed with a feather necklaces...
You know you want to be charmed!

new birch tree chains

Hand carved faux birch (they are really pine) tree chains that I am working on doing in some salt water taffy colours to go with our 'travel our woods' stuff.
Coming soon!

the beginnings of our new 'travel our woods' group....

Yes, this group my husband is playing along with me on.
Due to me not feeling so well on the weekend, I didn't quite complete as much as I would have liked and there are still a bunch of things left to do but we did get a wee bit of work done towards this wood and travel based group.
The map on this goose below is of the province I was born in and I thought that was fitting considering it was my first Canadian goose in a series of them. I hope to have enough to create a 'V' flying pattern on a green wall I am working on.
The feathers I drew, Don cut out the shape and then I hand carved them and they will be adorning some handmade necklaces when completed.

So this is just a sneak peak of the beginnings of our 'Travel Our Woods'.

I am a wee bit afraid of saws so Don is helping me out in that area and I am really loving the whole carving and cutting out bits without the saw, so that is my part in the process.
We are trying to get some of the bits and pieces up this week,
so please bear with us.

what a lovely video and pretty song for the day....

If you need an imaginary vacation, it is perfect! I know I could use one today! I found this here.

long weekend and the sleepy poet....

(I can't remember the name of this cute booth above but there was at least 6 booths that we really loved.
They even have a full retro clothing section including shoes and jewelery. It was so much fun! )

Our weekend didn't go as planned, I was kind of ill but by Monday I was feeling a bit better and we went to a huge antique mall in Charlotte, called, "The Sleepy Poet" recommended by Beth whose booth is in the photos above and below.

So needless to say it wasn't the weekend I had hoped for although I did get a couple treasures for Bella and myself and hope to go back to The Sleepy Poet once I feel better to purchase a little pink scale (below) from the Artsy Fartsy booth if perhaps she would put it on hold for me.
Isn't it cute?
Her booth is shown in the photo above and the two below.

I loved those numbers on the table too.
Below are the treasures I found yesterday....

My top 10 free to really super cheap things to do with the family this long weekend...

1. picnic at a playground....(this one thank you to a lovely blogger, Jasmine)
2. build a teepee in a forest or in your backyard...(we have done this almost every year or a fort in the woods near our home)
3. play frisbee golf at a nearby park...(my brother in law makes his own course and it is way more fun when you come up with it yourself)
4. if you have bikes...haul them out to nearby trails or make a Starbucks run and buy one or two Venti blended drinks and ask them to split them into small cups (being a barista , I know I always thought families that did that were adorable and very smart..I even give them extra sometimes...shhh)
5. take the family downtown to a city nearby where nobody knows you, park, turn up the music a tidbit, get everyone out on a sidewalk and randomly start disco dancing.
6. play old movies and snuggle on the sofa
7. make a family portrait on the sidewalks with sidewalk chalk
8. explore little towns near where you live for yard sales or fun little shops...we do this way too much...but you have to do it with new eyes and go into places you normally wouldn't go, like that little fruit stand that looks so cute or the little Indian market, etc. Pick up some stuff for a quick easy lunch like sandwiches and make it in a pretty little park. (bring some plastic dishes, a bag and a table cloth from home to make it easier on the wallet)
9. family swim
10. hike somewhere new and stop for slushies on the way home, split one with your honey...(they are always too big anyways)

I want to make this green space travel case that I found on Design Sponge by Paige Russel from my old home town in my 20's, Kelowna.
HAVE A SUPER FUN WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!
thank you again, Erin!

happy long weekend and a big thank you to erin of....

for having my art in her "Friday faves or end of the week links."

She has a wonderful blog and a fun little stationary etsy shop as well.
So while I am coming up with something super fun for our Friday post...
check her out!
Thanks, Erin!!

we heart cabin+cub....

No, I didn't forget our 'we heart' day, it just took me a little longer than I thought it would due to a certain wee little Bella who didn't want to cooperate. (she is sweetly napping now...YAY)
We love the woodburning, collage and print work done by Valerie of Cabin+Cub for its simplistic and memory inducing qualities plus it does help that she is from my favourite city in the world, Vancouver, B.C.

I used to do woodburning as a kid and although mine never looked this lovely, they still make me reminiscent.

My heart longs to be simple and minimalistic but I fail miserably due to my love of kitsch.
Somehow Valerie's work captures the simple, modern cabin of my dreams.
You can't help but love the clean lines, perfect use of space and a cuteness that seems grown up and makes you smile.

She has a wonderful etsy shop and an adorable blog. Her blog won me over with the photos and her love of Barba Pappas....which I have been smitten with since my family first got a television when I was 12. (my mom thought t.v. stunted creativity but with shows like that...how could anyone lose thier creativity?)
I hope you all love this wonderful blog and etsy shop as much as we do!

on the road again...

Here's a peek at some new work that
I hope to have in the store by this weekend.
(Every time I do this I see that I REALLY need a new camera.)
If I leave the flash on it glares and if I turn it off and move even slightly it looks foggy.
Maybe I should start a buy dee a Nikkon donation page...heheh...or have everyone hint to my sweet husband that I would really love one for my birthday.

On another note, these pieces make me so excited for the long weekend.
I want to do something fun with the kids.
Any ideas, that are reasonably priced?
Let me know what you are all up to and have a wonderful day today! xo

thank you to the lovely michelle...

of Blue Moss for displaying my lucky feathers in her spring day post!
I love the gorgeous jewelery she makes and her amazing sense of style.
She made my day.

my first ever before and after...

I found these 70's esque pictures in
Marshville, NC at a secondhand shop
and thought perhaps they had
some potential with their curly frames.
So I bought them, took them home, spray painted them
with a white gloss plastic paint.
Then printed out letters from Word in a font I chose
and pasted the letters on
with an acrylic polymer emulsion
from an art supply store in Charlotte, NC, coated them with a spray of gloss protective varethane
and...
Ta Da...

(Not too shabby for my first try at before and after work.)
I think I now have a hankering for more junk to play with.

iron and wine for the day...

For the little hippie girl in me...
I love how this song relates to growing up, becoming a part of the 'American dream'...swallowing the pill that society tells us we should: be quiet, make money, be without compassion, just sit back and not change America until the eagle (America) becomes a flightless bird, without the voice of justice and truth. (Perhaps that is just my perspective on the song but I think it makes me realize how we all in some ways have become fat and spoiled by Americanism and forget about what is really important when we get caught up in this lie of commercialism and self centered capitalism.) Whatever the case may be it is a truly beautiful song and I am sure you will enjoy the listen. (plus he is from the South...YAY...he also reminds me of a very hairy version of Don playing his guitar.)

new purchases in kitchen and wooohoo...bella is finally walking...

So I think that is where the owls and old camera picture are going to be housed for the moment anyways.
Below is a video for all the family wanting to see Bella finally walking.
Breanna is at my desk and the lawn is being mowed by Don so the sound is not so lovely but here it is:

old tyme marketplace, marshville nc....

OLDE TYME MARKETPLACE
121 N.WHITE ST.
MARSHVILLE, NC
704-942-6258

First off let me tell you, I am so not a country girl. However that being said, I really fell in love with this little village, that Randy Travis hailed from and the movie, "The Colour Purple" was filmed in.
In fact I fell in love so much that Don and I are considering begging the owner of the building across from this cute marketplace to sell us his wonderful place.
(It is pictured at the bottom of this post.)

Beth Swanson owner of 'OLDE TYME MARKETPLACE' makes country living look like the most artistic lifestyle ever.
She finds beauty in the most mundane things and creates something new and breathtaking from the simplest things.
It is inspiring enough to make me think about being country.

She is from Ohio and has a different take than most people on country.
I love the whole primitive, find beauty in simple things and make them look amazing attitude of her shop.
She is so sweet too and makes the experience of her place have an even greater depth and ambiance.

above: Beth at work

If you get the chance to check out her shop in person, it is a wonderful experience but
if you can't check her out here.

The picture, wax melties and cleaning cloths are from her shop.
Her prices are amazing.
(The owls are from a secondhand shop in Marshville.)

above: The building we are dying to purchase.