An Autumn Gathering

I went for a walk a few days ago with the boys to collect different leaves, and other tidbits and morsels that nature dishes out this time of year.

It started with acorns. There aren't a lot of oak trees in Hamilton, so I was giving the boys each a nickel for each complete acorn that they could find. I like having little dishes of the outdoors to sketch from.

But then we travelled down to Missouri a couple of weeks ago and hit the acorn jackpot. I had to stop handing out nickles eventually. (but yes, our acorn collection is plentiful;) Now they're on the hunt for berries, moss, fungus, leaves etc.

We arranged the colorful little pieces on a plate and it almost looked delicious enough to eat. (especially with the quail egg shells! We always have these on hand anyway, as Reuben and my niece are allergic to chicken eggs, these are their alternative. And really, they are so much cuter!)

We had a little watercolour party, inspired by our plate of goodies. The boys are still working on theirs, and are looking for even more to add to it.

I made a little nest out of the goodies, and can't wait to make some more. The colours were so inspiring!

This print is now available in my shop

Sketchbook Project

I promise that I meant to mention this earlier. In case anyone is interested, there are only two days left to sign up for
the sketchbook project.

I ordered mine a little late, so I'll have a lot of sketching to do between now and January!

For my theme/topic, I picked "I'm a Scavenger". (oooh, so true) You should see the assortment of leaves, twigs, feathers, moss and fungus that I collected on today's walk...(actually, you  WILL see them in some upcoming artwork!)

If anyone feels like participating, sign up soon!

I'll be posting pics of mine as I go. I'd love to see yours!

They're Back! Soda Can ornaments

People Magazine's Order when they featured my stars in 2008 in People Español and with Sabrina Soto on HGTV

It's that time of year again! The time where I get a craving for shiny metal paper cuts and force my friends and family to pack on a few pounds by drinking absurd amounts of these addictive beverages, so that I may keep the cans and make all sorts of sparkling beauties.

Ok..I kid, I kid. I'm actually really fortunate to live right next to Poco Loco, a fantastic Tex-Mex restaurant who's sweet owners allow me to raid their recycling bin on a weekly basis.

I have, however, gotten Mark to try different beers, based on the beauty of the cans. (Which is no worse than when he gets me to drink beer or pop based on the bottle so that he can make these... ) Let's just say as suckers for pretty packaging, we've tried some fairly putrid beverages, all for that shiny pink can or classy looking bottle with a painted label! Luckily, we've found a few that we do like as well!


These will be available in my shop until the 1st of December. I don't trust Canada Post's shipping past that point.

"Well Poopsie, Ya got em".

Grandma & Poppie, 5 years ago at a "ho down" ;)

We're back from visiting family back home (Kansas) and starting to get back into the swing of things. I'm finally caught up on orders, now for the custom requests. (I received over 160 different requests for stamps while I was away.) Yikes. I have some work ahead of me!

We on a rather unplanned, last minute trip because my Grandma isn't doing very well.
She's had dementia now for quite a few years, but it's gotten really bad, really fast, and I wanted to see her again while she still remembers who I am.

Talking to Grandma has always taken a bit of training and guesswork,  for quite a few years, because she talks in so much slang and abbreviations that you have to guess at what she's saying.

For example, years ago, she'd ask me to get something from the pantry. (in their mud room.) I'd ask where it was.
 "just reach round' the corner and on that dodad. There ya be!" Little things like that. And these got even worse as her dementia has gotten worse.

She did remember me to some degree, but couldn't remember more recent things, like who my children were, or how many I even have. She'd ask me every 10 minutes if if any of the kids in the room were mine. How old were they? Were they boys or girls?

 I'd say "I have two boys, Grandma, they're right over there, the bouncy blond ones."
"oh, well I like that, that's just dandy", she'd say. "Now tell me, ya got me any more?"
"no Grandma, just the two".
"hm. Well that just won't do. I just, you know.."
 (she'd make a lot of hand movements at this point trying to find her words)
"i like a lot of em'. Cause ya know, when somethin' happens, well poopsie, ya got em' ."

 (Translation: If something should happen anyone in your family, you have a lot of other people to lean on. Now that she's older and is facing this really scary condition, she still has her eight children. If something should happen to one of her children, they still have other brothers and sisters to lean on.)

Then she pat my leg and said "well, hm. Yup!" and it was gone.
This was one of many short little conversations we had.

Another was about my skirt. She didn't like my skirt one bit. Well, she did. But the problem was, she thought it was an apron, and she thought it was odd that I was wearing it out of the house. (which I actually have done a few times, but that's besides the point.)

I had just arrived and she came slowly towards me and took off my sunglasses, and slowly realised who I was. She then pulled me over to two chairs and sat me in one, directly facing her, as though she were going to interview me. And that's exactly what she did.
First she said, pointing to my eyes, and then hers "you and me both, ya know?" (we both have blue eyes.) Then she slapped her leg and said "garsh darnit". She had lost her words again, and looked around helplessly, wringing her hands together.

Then she started tugging on my skirt and said "now tell me 'bout this. Why d'ya 'spose this happened? Is this somethin' the girls go for up there?" (I was surprised that she remembered that I'm in Canada now, actually.)
I said "oh, I don't know grandma. It's just a skirt. I guess it's a little colorful. I made it.."
She put her finger on her chin and raised an eyebrow and said
 "well, my mother, she used to...you know".
"Momo had a lot of aprons, didn't she?"
"yeah! all kinds. you know. I was just too hot, liked to be outside." (translation: She would have rather been outside on her tractor than inside, wearing an apron and cooking. Although, she did do a lot of that as well. Most of her favorite stories to tell are about when she and her cousin, "Arlie" were out on the tractor.)
"but this", she said, grabbing the edge of my skirt again, "so indoorsie. Not for church". (we weren't at church..but I didn't say anything about that!)

Then she looked at my nose ring (the tiniest stud ever, I swear!) and told me that I had a "boogie" and needed to "go get that fixed." Then she motioned to my Grandpa, pretended to use a cattle tagging gun in my nose, and laughed. He had a little chuckle over that too.

Poor Grandpa, I can't imagine how this would be for him. This was a good day too.
She has days where she's much more miserable, and won't take her medication, or wear her air cast (she has a badly sprained ankle and hobbles everywhere, but won't wear her air cast long enough to let it heal.)

She also thinks that doctors, medicine and air conditioning are the devil.
If we ever talk about medicine, vitamins, chiropractors or massage therapy in her presence, she starts humming this and making "jazz hands" and says "yeah, hokey pokey".
Translation: "it's hogwash. I never needed anything other than sunshine and pond water."

(which is also hogwash, Medicine really could have helped her, had she been on it a long time ago when she first started showing signs of dementia, but she would refuse to go to a doctor.)
She's also diabetic, so add that into the mix and Grandpa has a lot to deal with. Thank goodness one of my aunts is able to be there a lot with her, and help out, give him a little bit of relief.

I feel so bad that I can't be there more, I'm just so far away. Visiting always leaves me feeling a little easier in one sense, since I finally got to see everyone, but homesick too.

I just miss them all so much.

What My Kids Did while at Church Camp...

An empty cabin, 5 boys, a creepy puppet, a porta potty and a video camera.
What a bunch of goofballs!

And the Weeeeeener is...

So clearly my mind is completely messed up, and when I said I'd reveal the winner "tomorrow" what I really meant was "the day I believed to be Wednesday"..which is actually Thursday. Sorry girls.

So, without further hooplah...

the winner is...

drum roll...

Girl Industries!!

Thanks so much to all who participated, twas fun! We shall do this again in July:)

Quit Your Day Job! (ok, you twisted my arm..)

Just a little happy shout, I was featured on Etsy's Storque Spotlight for the "quit your day job" series.

You can read it here!

Also, don't forget to enter below for the giveaway! You have exactly 2.5 hours until the "ballot box" closes!

xo