Argh, Be My Matey!

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for old calling cards.

 Long before business cards, people would carry a calling card, to let a friend know that they stopped by. To read more about them, see here.

Calling cards are what inspired me to create this size of valentine. I have a few of my great grandfather's old cards that he received as a child from school friends-not just for valentines day but for other occasions as well.

They're beautifully printed and embossed in gold and silver, often professionally printed with the senders name. These cards are simply all together classy!

I was really surprised to hear my grandmother explain that even children had their own cards for special occasions. How glorious!

I started making a few for my boys, and they absolutely loved leaving these special little
messages for people.

While these are much more silly and childish than the ones my great grandfather,

"Master Freddy Mayberry" received, they're sure to be fun for both the sender and the recipient!

Petey Pirate Valentines - in my print shop.
Also, some sweet little birds for the slightly less obnoxious at heart.

Both designs are created from my hand carved stamps. Rather than hand stamping each
card (as I've done in previous years) I've had the images scanned, and turned them over to
a professional printer. The colours are beautifully vivid-and this way I won't suffer from carpel tunnel syndrome from hand stamping each one;)

Yarn Bombing

Hamilton is a weird place. We're a town known for a history in the steel industry, the Hamilton Tiger Cats (cfl team) and notoriously known for our steaming man hole covers. (really.) Our newest development is becoming fastest growing arts community in Canada. YAY!

We do have our share of setbacks, mostly political-you can bet that if anything good or successful is going to happen in Hamilton, the politicians won't have a hand in it. It will be purely spontaneous, and almost by accident. Our city councilors will and do manage to mess up even the easiest tasks and planning... I won't go into that right now though, as that would take hours.

Luckily, one thing Hamiltonians are really good at is spontaneity. We've got a few quirks here and there that are fun, but also rather odd. Like our dancing guy.
I've had the privilege of seeing this guy dance around Hamilton more than once. This guy has moves!
There's rumor that he won't dance in the same spot more than once, so I'm glad someone finally has taken a video.

We also have a dancing "Cowboy". (by Cowboy, I mean a cowboy hat and boots, but much to our disgust this also involves a white leisure suit and a nasty big 'ol belt buckle. *shiver*) He sings, and shuffles around town, and will occasionally ask a passer-by for some coin so that he can buy his favorite kind of cheese. Thankfully, no one has that on video-that I know of.

Our newest curiosity is "yarn bombing". Now I know that our city isn't the first to experience this-I've heard about it elsewhere. But I'm really glad to see this kind of happiness around my city.

I keep seeing these little surprises popping up all over the place. I don't know who's responsible, but it's fantastic. And especially when it was over Christmas! What could be more festive than a tree wearing a sweater?

Photos courtesy of the sweethearts of the White Elephant . (the most fun little shop in downtown Hamilton.)

I'm constantly on the lookout now-I can't wait to see what other little nutty tricks our city has up it's sleeves!

St. Lucia Day

In spirit of St. Lucia day, I've chosen some of my most favorite scandinavian style items to feature!

violuepaperarts

handyjan

robinandmould

roddyandginger

mengseldesign

tialys

abelcarver

minthome

BCharmer

mostazaseed

sweetina

SimonysArts

LoveSal

Last but not least, My own dalarna horsie! I've used him on a lot of Christmas ornaments and wrapping paper!! He looks extra handsome on felt;)

(an old pic my mom had of me doing the st. Lucia day routine-obviously we never took it very seriously as I think that it was the advent wreath that we used, and I was still in my work uniform...)

Christmas - Santa Lucia Sweden

For those of you who were wondering... "what the heck?" Why does
Corrabelle have a picture with candles on her head?

Mrs. Wilson's Brood

Just sharing a new original watercolor that I've listed in my shop- based on the tragedy of Mrs. Wilson.

Mrs. Wilson, you see, was our finch (or rather my sister's) who had such a compulsive need to lay eggs, yet none of them ever hatched.


However, she didn't seem to notice. She would simply carry on and building her nest.
 She and Mr. Wilson** would sit on their eggs, day and night, in hope that one might hatch. However, if an egg proved to be taking too long for their liking, it was tossed out of the nest and into the food dish.


**may Mr. Wilson rest in peace-we will discuss his suicide at a later date. It's much too soon to talk about it.
Mrs. Wilson is now happily settled in at a retirement home though, where she may meet another Mr. Wilson.


A side note: If any of you ever does have a finch who is a maniac egg layer, do not remove the eggs from the cage and leave them in a dish on the dining room table for observation. They so closely resemble cadbury mini-eggs and can be easily mistaken by an innocent (and later very disgusted) passer-by. Please don't risk it. I speak from experience.

Happy Hanukkah from us to you!

Watercolor winter wonderland

A quick post only to share a few recent designs for my Christmas cards being sold at

AllSorts Gallery.

White backgrounds weren't actually an intentional theme, which is kind of funny because I normally don't leave such empty spaces. I find it refreshing though:)