Belated Halloween Post

Well, I have my camera back - Hurray! That means you get a peak at my Halloween costume from this year! Finally.


I was a bumble bee, and my honey-munchkin was a ghost-buster. The little trick-or-treaters were a little confused when he threw out his ghost trap at them, but the parents got a good laugh hehe.

And of course, here's my pumpkin I carved. He was a wee-little bit of a pumpkin, but I managed to get a goofy face on him! :)

I love smelly mail

I got these lovely package in the mail on Sunday from SoStinkingSweet (well, really Friday but I didn't check until Sunday, and now I'm sad I didn't know about it sooner...). Getting Etsy packages in the mail can make any dull-study-filled day wonderful! And in this case, smell so delicious!

I've started with the pink one with starts - Liquid Crack. The rest are still in my office, making it smell wonderful.

Sorry for the bad picture quality, I took it right when I opened it: at night, so there 'had' to be a flash :(

Bundle Up!

Winter is just around the corner for us Canadians....those a little further South might be a bit more time out of fall. Up in Northern-ish Ontario (Sudbury), we've already had a couple snow falls. I enjoy snow...it's pretty and it's fun.

But it is cold...I dislike cold a little...so I've been thinking warm thoughts lately. I also wanted a 'stress-reliever' project, since school is busier now, and sometimes I just want to do something that doesn't have to do with anything else.

So, I started crocheting a blanket! It's a pretty simple pattern - but it's nice and relaxing. :) I wanted to make something really colourful too, if you couldn't tell from the colour selection!

Real Living Magazine

I got a lovely message from fellow Etsian gretchenmist the other day giving me the most wonderful news!

My work is in the Australian 'Real Living' magazine!!!!

(now that explains a few trends I've been seeing)

She was the most kindest, and sent me the article (I'll still be checking my Chapters just in case they do carry this magazine).

A bit of a shopping spree

I've gone on a bit of a shopping spree on Etsy this past week - I just couldn't help myself! It was like another person took me over!

So these are my spoils - traveling through the postal system as we speak!

Lemonade Tote - bayanhippo

I've been searching Etsy for a long while looking for a new tote, and I have a friend who made a recent purchase from this lovely store and had nothing but great things to say about her. So I take a look-see...and this yellow tote just steals my heart! It's nice and big - perfect for school stuff, and it has an elastic outside pocket - perfect for all the little things I loose in my big bags otherwise! Those features, along with the fact that it's yellow...it was a sure thing the moment I saw it!

Seasons Greetings from the Squirrels - farouche

I've been looking at holiday cards on Etsy for a while. I saw these lovely squirrels in an Etsy Finds e-mail, and I was just smitten over the entire idea of the squirrels, and of the illustration technique used. I can't wait to send these out to all my friends! :o) I can't send out my own Christmas cards because my mom and boyfriend get them off me and send them out lol

Tale - Telling Tropical Fish Mini Cards - Papervictory

I always try to send special thank you cards for my custom painting orders - since they are generally larger orders, and there has been a lot of communication with the buyer that I feel that I'm starting to know them, and so I can write more to them in my thank you note. I love these little mini cards with the speak bubbles! I ordered three different sets, and I can't wait to start filling them in!

Liquid Crack Soap - SoStinkingSweet

I bought three bars of soap from this lovely seller, and a bar of shaving soap. Her soaps sound like they will smell delicious!This seller might become a new favourite shop! I'm also quite excited to try the shaving soap, since I never have before and I'm really not fond of the cans of foam (right now I just use my hair conditioner, which gets pricey).

So this was my shopping this week. There was tons more that I saw...but I am moving soon, and need to save a little mullah for expenses which are sure to arise there. What I do know though: is that I'm going to be smelling awfully awesome when I do move! Hehe

It's my Birthday!

I turn 23 today. I won't lie, turning 21 was more exciting...hehe.

Mom's Garden II

Mom plants lots of wildflowers in her garden this year, and some not so wild - it was really a mixed packet of seeds. I took some pictures a few weeks ago, and thought I'd share.

She had a lot of poppy seeds in the mix, and they came out just gorgeous! Some of them were even double blossomed.




I love poppies - I'm sure you can see what influenced my last painting!

Growing up so fast!

I went to visit the farm this weekend - it was so nice out there! It's been about 6 weeks since my parents acquired some baby chicks. Now they're grown (or almost all the way grown) chickens! I was shocked at how they got so big so fast!


They get to grow a lot more too - I wonder how big they'll actually get! They're so funny to watch too: they pick 'battles' with eachother and have stare-downs. I love this picture that I look below at the gate - it's like an 'evil' chicken hehe

Painting Video Diary!

So I decided last night to create a painting video diary on YouTube - completely random, so real reason for it, except that the idea came out of no where.


So I posted my first video. It's pretty short - I wasn't sure of the software and stuff, so I wanted it to be short just to keep the frustration levels down. Miraculously, it was pretty easy! So hopefully the next one will be a bit longer!

I really like this video mostly because you actually see how big that seascape painting really is :o) Also, if you have a YouTube account, please feel free to add me as a friend / subscribe!

My Red Quinoa Experience

So to start, I follow an old friend / colleagues blog - piecurious - and she did a whole bunch of entries on various whole grains for breakfast. And then, when I was at Bulk Barn one lovely afternoon looking for some flour - I stumbled upon the various grain that she had talked about. It was the Red Quinoa (even organic too!) that caught my eye. I bagged up a bit and brought it home. It's been over a month now since that time.

The red quinoa rinsed and waiting - it's actually more colourful, my camera and the light just weren't working together today.

And now, today I was searching through my - I must say very messy and crowded - cupboards, looking for a side to make for dinner. Nothing really appealed to me - I didn't really want to "cook" anything. And I came across an almost empty box of couscous - why I keep only remnants of foods, when I know I can't do anything with, is beyond me! I got the idea for a cold couscous salad - but alas, I had no couscous. Just then, the little bag of red quinoa caught my eye - I had always read that it was 'similar' to couscous...how similar, I wasn't sure since I had never tried it. But what could go wrong, really?

Waiting in my cute heart measuring cup to be boiled

I cooked it as the directions stated on the little leaflet of instruction I had stuffed into the bag with so I would remember what it even was - really bad memory in this head over here. And then I put it into the fridge to cool.

Now, for the building of the salad. My mom a few days ago was kind enough to grace me and my roommate brother with goodies from the garden. By graced, I mean my fridge is packed with garden stuff - which is good for the body, but difficult for grocery shopping to get other, needed, essentials. Anyways, I just randomly started grabbing at different items and chopping them up.

I ended up putting in some zucchini green peppers (from the store, not yet ready in mom's garden), green onions, carrots and spinach. I would have added cucumber too - but I accidentally ate them all while reading the last few nights. Like a huge bag's worth - opps.

All my greens waiting for the dressing and quinoa

Next to the herbs: cilantro - or coriander as some call it; one of my fav herbs! and parsley. To this I added some olive oil and vinegar - to make a vinaigrette, and some pepper and a little garlic powder - I had just run out of my fresh stuff..sigh

Once the red quinoa cooled, I mixed it all up - it was so pretty, with all the greens contrasting against the vivid whole grain-ish quinoa. Nothing was measured - I just threw in whatever as it suited me - the best sort of cooking, I think. But it could have done with some lemon or lime juice and a little less garlic - there's enough in it I think to kill a vampire! (Twilight and old-school Buffy / Angel fans beware! )

My pretty salad :o) It's a little more than 1/2 quinoa - despite how it looks to be more veggies here. Little white curls came out of the quinoa while cooking - what a lovely surprise!

Overall, it was delicious. The cilantro really shone through, and the salad was fresh, tasty and fulfilling - with a hint of bad breath after from the garlic.

Back from Vacation!

I'm back from vacation now - well I have been a few days, I'm just a little more settled now.

Beach at Port Elgin, Lake Huron, Ontario

It was such a wonderful week and a half-ish. We spent the first weekend at the Paisley town civic long weekend festival, Beef Fest. It was filled with lots of music, silly games and best of all friends!

Sand turtle!

During the week, we hung out with friends we were visiting and went to the beach - so relaxing and the water was just beautiful!

Then we took a little day trip to Toronto to see the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)! It was amazing! I had never been before, and there was just so much to see! I don't have any picture - didn't even bring my camera - since I knew that I wouldn't have been able to take pictures within the gallery - although I saw some people 'sneaking' picture of the Group of Seven every now and then...hrm.

Lastly, we came back to Paisley for one of my honey's childhood friend's wedding. It was beautifully done, and we spent the night dancing away.

So for my vacation 'Cole's Notes' : lots of friends, lots of sun and lots of food. I'll need to do double time at the gym for the next few weeks....

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)

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.

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 :)

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

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)

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.

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...

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.