Cottage Week: Wreath

This Grapevine Wreath by seaglassthings would be perfect welcoming guests at your cottage door.

I admit, when I think 'cottage' I don't think sea shells right away. But that's only because I live in Northernish Ontario, where cottage = trees, bush, the lake and fishing; not really 'beach'..and definitely not starfish hehe. But I did stumble upon this beautiful wreath, and it is perfect for all those sea side / beach cottages! The muted colors and the mix of sea glass makes this piece simple and modern, and able to match most, if not all, cottage colour schemes.

Cottage Week: The Country Candle

This Fresh Lilac candle by ajscountrycottage would look so quaint sitting on a table or shelf in it's cute little mason jar.


I have ordered from the lovely ajcountrycottage before, and their candles are amazing, simply. When they state in their descriptions that these lovelies are highly scented - they are not kidding. I had used my candle in my bedroom, and would have have to light it for a little while here and there to keep the scent in my room - so it would be wonderful for a large open space too!

Cat Jealousy

As I was taking my little 'photoshoot' the other day of the new stationery line, my kitty decided to pop up and sit right where I needed him not to be. Of course. He shows no interest in anything, until you show an interest in something lol. The good thing out of all this: he actually posed for the camera - a first lol.

There he is being jealous of the stationery. Silly cat. :o)

The Stationery is Back!

My stationery line was pulled last week since I had decided to update and refresh the look of it. I have completely revised my line: new papers, new envelopes, new sets and new packaging!

It will be awhile until all my new sets are added - I'm thinking that it will be a month long process (especially with my vacation coming up); but I am super excited about it. I think the 'updates' on my line are perfect for it and that it is so much better now! The again, it's my line, so I may be biased heh.


So first, for the paper. It's a deliciously thick 140 lb watercolor paper, with the most beautiful texture ever! It's made from 100% cotton rag. So pretty, and the printers print on it so well - even if they have a hard time taking the paper:



We had to set the printer to label, and give it a little push each time, but no jamming so we're safe!

The envelopes are now all going to be 100% recycled kraft envelopes. The contrast the paper wonderfully, and tend to give the whole set a natural feel.

The sets will be in 3's and 6's once all loaded up - as well as single cards where applicable. The sets of 6 will be in clear boxes, and all sets will have paper inserts to 'brand' them, and give them a more uniform and professional feel. Add a cute gift tag tied on - and they make the perfect gift!

So far, I have a Thank You Card Mixed Set and Five Little Christmas Trees Set available, in sets of three. You can also see more images in my Flickr.

I can't wait to add the rest throughout this month! :o)

Cottage Week: Teacup Set

These beautiful teacup sets by vesselsandwares on Etsy are perfect for curling up with on a cool cottage night, with some hot chocolate.


These dainty teacups are sending out cottage-vibes like you wouldn't believe. The mossy green with a touch of pink, are perfect colors to adorn the tables of your cottage with. Pottery and cottages are two things that are born to be together.

A New Approach to Spooning...

Watch Spooning - Original Watercolor Painting

I love the concept of these watches spooning. It's like, to every couple there is a set of watches as equally matched hehe. I guess it wouldn't really apply to me and my honey though - I just recently got a watch recently, and I'm constantly loosing it. Maybe it's a sign it doesn't want to spoon with my honey's watch? Or, more probably: I'm just prone to loosing things, which is why I didn't have a watch in the first place lol.

The weird thing is...when I started working out this painting, I had a different idea for the female watch. The way it turned out, is actually the watch I had when I was a kid - think grade 6-8 - strange isn't is? Yes, that watch faced the fate of getting lost.

This painting is available in my Etsy store.

Cottage Week: Quilt no. 7

A weekend at a cottage isn't complete with a quilt to snuggle with on cooler nights. This Circular Motion Quilt, by CarolinaPatchworks, is the perfect cottage addition.

What I love most about this quilt, is that the artist used a simple - but still interesting - design, with beautiful, vibrant patterned fabric. I'm not a quilt expert, but that's a 1st place ribbon combination to me. It was really hard to choose a quilt from her shop - since they're all so wonderful. But it was the color combination that caught my eye; I absolutely adore the color that she incorporated - I cannot stress that enough. With a piece like as precious as this, you can get guaranteed that there is love in every stitch.

Stopping and smelling the roses...

It's so easy to stop and smell the roses when they're sitting beside me in my studio all the time. :) This is one of the lovely orange blossoms. As it gets a little older, the petals turn a nice pinkish shade. It's like a sunset in a blossom!

To those who read a couple months ago about my rose plant purchase - yes, this is still the same one. It's doing quite well and it hasn't even come close to dying yet :) I think my favourite part about this rose plant is that it's not the typical red / pink. The orange blossoms are just so cheery.

Olive Tree

Just popping in to share a new painting! 'Olive Tree' was completed a few days ago, and it's time to shine is today.

I didn't go into this painting to paint an actual olive tree - but when I was done, that's what came to mind. And after looking into it, I found that there was a lot of olive tree-related symbolism in Ancient Greek / Roman times. It symbolized abundance, glory, wisdom and peace just to name a few.

The olive tree is mentioned in so much ancient literature, and by many famous ancient authors, such as Homer.

In Greek mythology, it mentions that Athena gave the olive tree to the people of Attica, and that this won her the patronage of the city of Athens over Poseidon.

I'm not sure how accurate this story is, since translations differ and so forth. But it's still an interesting thought.

Another Storm and some delilahs

Lots of new work this week again! First it was the calendar yesterday (which got an excellent response, I was so excited to finally share it with everyone!), and now some paintings today (and more yet this coming week). I want to get all these online before my 'vacation' (Starts July 30th....Eeee)...9 days and counting!

First is this miniature painting - Storm II. It's almost ACEO size, just a tinge bigger. The fields are highly textured with a 'cracked' pattern, and there's a little bit of texture in the left white clouds from the paint as well. I love painting these little guys. Best yet - the art easel is included! This cutie can go right from the mail package onto your desk!


Next is a very colorful watercolor painting, Delilah. It started off a little doodle, and then once I realized a color scheme, I had to paint it! It seems like these white outlines keep on coming back ever since my River Rocks painting - I have a love-hate relationship with them I think hehe. This painting doesn't really have an 'orientation' - that is, it can be put whichever way you want!

The 2010 Calendar

The 2010 Calendar is now available in my shop! I got it out much earlier than last year - so there's no rush for those who are thinking of gifting it for Christmas. It took a lot of work, but it's here!

It has 12 new designs, as well as four old designs from 2009 - so you can use it sooner this year :o)

It comes with a super cute case to display them in, and it sits upright on your desk - just sit it up with no fuss and there you go!



A wall calendar is soon to follow this week. So if you're limited on desk space - or just prefer things on the wall - stay tuned!


There's a lot more picture of the calendar and all it's month in my listing, and on my flickr site! Available in my Etsy and Artfire shops.

12 Grain Buns

I've been more in a bun-mood than a bread-mood, so I thought that I would try my hands at making buns - I had never done these before! When I went to the store (bulk barn = love), I planned to just get whole wheat flour, but then a 12-grain variety caught my eye - Had to use it! So, my whole wheat buns were going to be 12 grain buns.


What , you may be asking, types of grains are in this 12-grain flour. Your answer - deep breath - hard whole wheat flour, whole spelt flour, kamut flour, granola oats, ground flax seeds, quinoa seed, amaranth seed, barley flour, whole rye flour, dark buckwheat flour, hulled sunflower seeds and hemp seeds. The non-ground seeds really gave a nice texture to the buns.

The rest of the recipe (with my variations):

• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar (I used honey)
• 4 cups whole wheat flour (I used 3 c. whole wheat, 1 c. 12 grain flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast
  

I only used one cup of my new found flour mostly since it was a lot heavy, with more substance, and I wanted my buns to still be airy and fluffy - and not heavy lumps. I may try more next time to see how it goes. Despite only having one cup - there was a lot of crunch from the grains

So I cheated and used the bread machine to make my dough. Once done, I let it rest under a bowl for 15-ish minutes to rise. I cleaned my kitchen while waiting. Then I shaped it into 8 round buns, trying to handle it as little as possible. I let them sit, covered with wax paper and then a towel for 30-ish minutes. I went to participate in Etsy virtual labs.

When they were all risen and ready. I put them in a 350 C oven for 15 minutes on a baking stone. I didn't have cornmeal to dust the stone with, so I just used some more 12 grain goodness, and it worked well. After 15 minutes, I took one and tapped the bottom - it was hollow sounding - so they were done!


And that's my first bun-making experience. Wow recipes make long blog posts hehe.

The beautiful greenery

I've been working on a flower painting today and yesterday. Here's my partner in crime sleeping lazily all over my desk - sometimes I wonder how I get work done there with him sprawled out hehe.


The two plants on the left are a rose plant (the bigger one), and a little pot of basil growing. They don't really get much direct sunlight, so I thought the rose for sure would die. But they are doing wonderfully well. The rose is actually just about to start it's 4th round of blossoms since I've gotten it in May!

And I thought I'd share the view from my huge studio window. It is beautiful and I see amazing sunsets some nights, very inspiring to work at:

No wonder I get bear visitors in my apartment's parking lot! Hehe. Ps. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger :)

Giraffe Week: Giraffe Snail Mail

This giraffe stationery (giraffe no. 11) by 27designco is beautiful way to mail a hello to a close friend!This striking black and white coloring is so bold and modern, and immediately drew my attention to the set. I think that having the giraffe continue onto the other side is such a great idea, and very well executed in this piece. This lovely set comes with 8 folded cards, so plenty to send them out, and keep one for yourself!

So what are you waiting for? Send some giraffe snail mail!

Love Petals and a Storm

I have two new paintings to share - it's a big week for painting updates on Etsy...and there's still some more to come!

Storm I - Acrylic on stretched canvas

This storm painting for my artbyangie Etsy shop is done on such a cute scale. It is almost ACEO sized, measuring at 2.75 x 3.5". Right now it's sitting on my desk still from it's 'photo shoot' - it got me thinking that this sort of art would be perfect for an office / desk setting. The perfect splash of art! It even comes with a mini art easel to display the work.

He Loves Me - Watercolor on watercolor paper

This watercolor painting holds true to the school-girl-crush-years. I know I'm guilty of picking flowers and using them to determine if he loved me or loved me not. I won't lie...if ever I got a flower whose answer did not please me, I would just pick another and another until I got the answer I wanted. The two images are on one piece of watercolor paper; I didn't feel it was right to separate them into their own pieces.

Peeps in real life:

Isn't that just the cutest thing ever? A yellow fluff ball - they are really really soft when you pick them up. My parents had just gotten some day old chicks the last time I went home to visit, about 30 of them - the chick in this picture is about a day and a half old. So, so so cute!

Despite their young age, they are quite personable and entertaining to watch. They such curious, 'pecky' animals. I was slightly horrified the first time I went to see them - they were sleeping, and a few of them looked so limp and dead...I took them for goners. My mom laughed and said that's just how they sleep...and sure enough, like they knew we were talking about them, they jumped up and started pecking away again.

Unfortunately, they're not so cute anymore. I've been informed, that in about a week that have lots of feathers already growing in...and have turned towards the less-cute, adolescent term of life. Lol.

Giraffe Week: Giraffe earrings

This pair of sterling Giraffe earrings, by zoebijoux, are just too precious!

I always choose stud-like earrings over dangly ones (Unless a special girls-night occasion). Being both simple, with beautiful detail, these earrings are amazing! Each set of these earrings is 100% handmade by the artist: cut, polished and sent out!

Fireflies

I've added this new painting, Fireflies, to my Etsy shop yesterday.

I was very excited about this painting. I got the idea walking home one night, and fireflies were going off everywhere - like mini nightlights.

The cute little fireflies were so much fun to paint in this piece, and it makes me smile so much :o)

Giraffe Week: All God's Children

This painting, All God's Children, by paintallnightstudios on Etsy is remarkable.


The colors and imagery is beautiful, not to mention the fantastic texture - I'm a fan of textured paintings. Paintallnightstudios is filled with other gorgeous paintings like these, be sure to check them out!

Mom's Garden

I went to visit my parents this past weekend. One of the best parts of visiting them in the summer, is my mom's garden. It's so big; and I always get to bring so many fresh goodies back with me. So here's an overview of her garden:

A lot of plants are still in their 'baby' stages. But there was plenty of fresh lettuce, green onions, herbs and sugar snap peas. Oh, and I can forget about the darling potatoes that are just starting to be ready - so they're really small and super cute - the perfect size for roasting :)


My mom also has sunflower, various flower, tons of different peas, green beans (and yellow ones too I think), strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries - and some other berry I forget the name of, sweet corn, summer squash, eggplant, cucumbers, green peppers, garlic, and probably more. She is a busy lady! I can't wait for everything else to be ready!


1. Sweet Basil, 2. Potato Flowers, 3. Peas, 4. A line of Green Peppers, 5. Green Beans, 6. Sunflower plants

Giraffe Week: the t-shirt

I'm going to start this week's theme, with a Giraffe t-shirt by rainbowswirlz that I've had in my favourite for awhile:

I'm really starting to like the colour yellow for a clothing choice, and this shirt is in the perfect shade! The giraffe print on it is just perfect too: it covers a lot of the tee, but it's not to overpowering - and although highly detailed to the core, you know exactly what it is! Love, love love this tee :)

In the studio

These are some of the paintings that I have been working on, in addition to my paintings and commissions from my Jellybean's studio:

1. Ocean Painting Progress Shot (detail), 2. Fish Progress, 3. Painting progress shot, 4. Cityscape progress

I have many more in various "stages", but I don't have photos of them up yet. I'll have lots of watercolor paintings to share with you these upcoming weeks, mostly from my Jellybean's studio - so stay tuned!

Weekend 12 Under $12

So here is what caught my eye this week! I love Etsy window shopping! Although I wish it was all real shopping :o)


1. Fire blossom bobbies, Cultivar 2. Tropical Oasis bobbies, DaisyChains 3. Peach Mum Earrings, Nomsa 4. Pink Freshwater Pearl Earrings, Liciabeads 5. Teal and Pink romance bracelet, marbe 6. Daylily earrings, heatherberry 7. Hand illustrated card set, strawberrypaintbrush 8. Jane Ellen Thank You Cards, clearlytangled 9. Off the hook card, crackeddesigns 10. We Heart Robots ring, MelissaAbram 11. Lime Vegan Cold Process Soap, longwinterfarm 12. Blue Cotton Candy Apple Jelly, bovinebubbles

Cloud Week: Horizon Storm

You can almost feel the distant thunder in this painting, Horizon Storm, by Ambera.


I love all of Ambera's paintings, so it was difficult to pick one. But this one has a farm-ish feel to it, reminding me of watching the storms come in at my parents farm, although this painting is based on a fire-event as described in the listing. The colors and composition are striking. I have been trying to paint clouds for some time - playing with different mediums and techniques - and Ambera's work is truly an inspiration.

Another Friendly Visitor

We had another bear visit in my apartment's parking lot the other day:

This bear was smaller then the last, and lucky the day was nice and still bright enough to get way better photos of it. I was quite entertained by this visitor.

Unlike the last bear, this one was not well seasoned in the getting in and getting out of the garbage bin routine. It had a hard time balancing and trying to figure out it's footing, often getting a foot stuck here or there, and tumbling to the out or inside.

I know bear's are a serious issue, especially in urban settings where people can get hurt - but I couldn't help loving this entertaining little friend (I was also three floors up and way out of it's reach lol)

Cloud Week: Ciel 1

This ciel 1 mixed media photograph by labokoff is a new take on bright blue skies.I find that the combination of a painting and of a photography makes this piece truly unique and interesting. I really like the border around it too - it feels as if I'm looking out of a tiny window into a beautiful day.

Rainforest

Rainforest - Original Watercolor Painting

I've posted a new painting in the shoppe a couple days ago - inspired by the non-stop-rainy weather (although it looks like there might be some sun today and tomorrow...rain forecasted again for Friday...). This painting was so much fun to do - I loved painting those cute little raindrops!

Cloud Week: Rainy Day Necklace

Rainy days aren't always bad - sudlow shows here that rainy days can be kind of cute with their Rainy Day Necklace:


There are a lot of cloud necklaces online. But, I really like how this one incorporates a single glass 'raindrop' bead. This sterling silver neck piece is sure to make anyone smile when the rain has got them down!

How could I resist?

I got my hair cut a few days ago - and I got them to cut bangs! Now, understand, I haven't had true bangs since I was a wee little one. That being said, I'm not used to them yet - but I'm still quite excited about them.

Cloud Week: Snip Shirt

Okay, so this v-neck shirt Snip, by phippsart, isn't 100% clouds - but it was too awesome to not include!

I love the funky / pop-ish concept put onto this shirt. It's just so abstract and unique - and far from generic, perfect for lazy days lounging and starring at clouds :)

Pink Orchid Print Now Available

Just a quick blurb about my Pink Orchid piece - I posted about it a long time ago here. It's now available for sale as a print!

Prints available at:

Baby Basil

I have really been wishing to have a garden lately - especially since my rose plant has been rocking - going on it's third round of blossoms! So while my green thumb is at its best: I have started growing some little Basil plants. It was a herb that I enjoy using a lot - and so I will like having it at my finger tips!

Here's them starting to sprout up. They're so cute and tiny...

Cloud Week: Sky Cloud Field Landscape

Summer skies are here - clear blue, sunny days. I've been meaning to give painting skies a try, and I have a piece just in the baby stage of this. But until then, let the cloud-inspiration begin!

The perfect summer sky is summed up in this lovely sky oil painting by talented artist, Jennifer Shears (JShears).I'm always memorized by cloud paintings. I epically like how the colors are so vibrant. The grass is definitely greener in this piece! Is it just me, or does the far left cloud kind of look like a unicorn? :o)

Pounce Sunday: ljphoto

I've brought back my weekly Pounce feature - showcasing new shops on Etsy.

This week's shop is ljphoto, selling fresh and colorful photography!

I love the way that she capture nature and adds a splash of colour without being so overwhelming. I think that this Orchid Print is my favorite, I can't resist the bright pink!


Give her shop some love! :o)

Why hello there...

So I had a visitor a while ago, a bear - some already know this. But I thought I'd share my picture of it since I have my computer / internet back and functioning. He / she was pretty cute...although I was safe on the third floor. I'm sure they're not so cute if you run into them closer lol. It's trying to jump into the green dumpster.

Weekend 12 Under $12: Red Accessories

This week's 12 under $12 (The first of this lol) is themed Red Accessories. Happy weekend shopping!


1. Red Hydrangea Hair Pins Set of Three, Zoelicious 2. Dorthy Button Studs, nenygq 3. Cherry Blossom Headband, nerdburger 4. Polka Poppies Little Bobbies, Cultivar 5. Big Flower Hair Clip, ticklebean 6. Spots and Strips Felt Brooch, cityroad 7. Sammy the Monster Pin, oddsblobs 8. Red Elephant Scunci Pony O, vickiesuniquebows 9. Sweetheart Hair Clip, pinkberryboutique 10. Crochet Three Strand Headband with Poppy Pin, brokenhallelujah 11. Petals of Romance Eye Mask, BibBon 12. Reclaimed Wool Sweater Brooch - True Love, thejunebride