Little bit of this & that...

Well it has not been easy times around here since we got back from vacation, tell you the truth it has been very rough.  But everything has to have some kind of silver lining, right...  Or the light in the end of the tunnel, its always there, no?  

Any how, all in all it has been a bit hard to get my art stuff going, and what kind of sucks about that is that I'm taking part of a "art in the park" event on Sunday and I don't have much ready for it.

So I'm here in my {super messy} studio trying to get things ready for it.

Making some extra cards

&

I found some time in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep

I painted on fabric just to try some different designs, not sure if they will mount to anything but they were good therapy while making them.

I did find some time for window shopping therapy the other day, and I found this plant {no idea what its called or anything} and it has the look of a cactus, but no thorns or needles and it had one really cool looking flower pod on it.  So I bought it {so much for just window shopping} and brought it home.

It has been really warm again so I left it outside and thank heavens for that!

Because, the cool looking flower pod opened up, and out came this almost stomach turning looking thing.

And it has hair, looks like the insides of something and it stinks, oh and attracts flies to no end.

As if that would be all, nope, no Sir!  This flower also makes my dog growl at it, bark at it and act odd.

  

I guess I brought home something from out of space, an alien life form

that only flies can love.   So it sits in our back yard, in a corner far away from the deck where we sit.

Blooms on its own, entertains flies and makes us wonder what will happen to it when fall comes.

Any how, that's it from my end, troubles getting things done, housing stinky plants and pondering over the silver lining, it is there I'm sure of it...  I just hope its not covered in hair.

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Mixed bag of December goodies...

Hand printed & painted card

 Been busy around here, art wise it has been about making a mad change over...  Meaning as its getting cold out, I finally had to give in to it and realize that no matter how much winterizing I have done.  My studio space is just too cold to work in right now {sigh, grrrrrr, ugh and blahh}, but thankfully we do have some space downstairs and I will have to move a few things down there for now {until spring}.  The little wood stove cant be used because it cant be insured and those windows with all that wonderful natural light, well all drafty and the floor is so cold it feel like I'm standing on ice blocks. 

So for now I will have my small desk downstairs and just come up here when I will paint on large canvases, see the trolley with my paints?  I got that last fall from Ikea and its fantastic for holding all my paint stuff, it rolls around and I can lift it in to the house when needed. 
And below is two books I got from my mum for my birthday {that was months ago} but its never too late to get something fun in the letter box.  Thank you mum, great gift and its like you knew I need to clean up my space and I been a bit hooked on stamp making... 

Because Christmas is practically around the corner, I have had to clean up around the house too.  So this has included me having to actually move my art stuff downstairs and stop using the dining room table {well, I'm working on it, slowly but shortly I'm sure I find my way down there to the desk that's waiting for me}.   Did a little bit more printing and some small water colour sketches.

Hand printed & painted {acrylic ink, ink and watercolours}

The weather here has been one crazy ride this past two weeks or so, one day we had a booming +17.6c here in Ottawa, a whole new record for this town.  Most people were super happy about the warm weather, but to me its just too strange for this time of the year, its just not normal.  Then today after we had ice rain last night, we woke up to -17c in the wind and every single bit and piece outside were covered in ice.

It looks fantastic, magic and beautiful all at once its like everything is in glass, all frosty and well, to me a dream world.  And when the sun came out, oh...  Just look!!!   Can you see it, every single branch and pine needle covered in ice giving everything a silver glow when the sun hits it just right.
 

Now on to more cleaning, Christmas time planning and hopefully get some of things crossed off my list of things to-do.

Happy December!!

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new cards, tags and twigs...

2012 Christmas printed cards

 Its official, as its far too cold to work in my studio, I have again take over dinning room table, kitchen counters and our guest bedroom for my art.  Sure miss my studio space, but its not comfortable to sit there working on all these smaller things...  However, I can still go in there and blast my heaters and paint on bigger canvases...  But for the small stuff, well the rest of the house will have to do, lol.

Thankfully kids are old enough to leave my things alone, dog cant reach the stuff and dear husband just gives me a grin and walks in to his study (the one and last place here that has not been taken over by me or any paint).

Jul gris (Swedish Christmas pig) print

 So I have been busy with my stamps, prints and cards.  Saturday I was finally able to get away a bit, I drove down to the west end of town and visited Annika (owner of Truly Swedish Design store) and she was again so kind to me and now she has my Christmas cards as well in her store. 

The cards are of the little red Robin, but I have also added three new prints.  They are of the traditional Swedish Christmas straw goat, Christmas pig and the little red wooden candle holders. 
My next project has something to do with something else that I totally love about winter, lets just say it has to do with kicks and sleds...  More to come soon!!!!

Yesterday, it was fantastic winter weather, cold and frosty with hint of fresh snow on the ground.  And today, well it is nothing like before, today its grey, wet and in the plus temperatures.  I hate it, I want snow and winter, but if I cant have it and its just too blahh to be outside (even the dog refuses to go out in it).  The next best thing to do, is to decorate a bit and do some art and that's what I have done all day here.  Had some more fun with my stamps I made, did some gift tags and then played around with a bit more and made this little painting below.

Two birds in winter blues

 For the decorating and creating Christmas mood in here, one of my favourite ways to do this is by fresh plants, twigs and berries.  And yesterday while I was in the west end, I of course had to go in to my very favourite flower shop Tivoli.  I just cant get enough of that place and its super fantastic in there right now, they have all their Christmas decorations and plants out.  And of course I had to get some sweet rose hip, red dogwood twigs and a little cute bird.  Just love how it all looked in the brown paper.

Happy December and First Advent everyone!!

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Christmas Blog Giveaway...

I have been having so much fun with the stamps I made and I made a new Christmas line for this year, I know its too late to book in to any art & craft shows for this year, but that's okay I still wanted to make them and why not share some with you.  After all that's what Christmas is all about and its not too late yet to mail some out...

I'm also doing this, because I have had a lot of fun with this blog and all the people that I have met through the years this way, both through my own blog and other great artists and crafters blogs {and so many other great bloggers, decorators, cooks and even a camel farmer}.  I have met people from all corners of the world, people that I would not have met if it had not been for the "blogger world".  I know I don't always answer back to every comment I get here, but I want you to know that I do read them {each and everyone} and I really do enjoy them all. 

So to all my dear followers and visitors, this is what I have for you....

A chance to win 6 of my new hand printed & painted Christmas note cards, and all you have to do is place a comment and tell me what is one of your favourite moments of Christmas or the holidays that you celebrate {one of my favourite moments of Christmas {Jul} is when we light the first Advent candle...}

That's it, just a small comment and on the 25 of November I will pick a name and it will be mailed... or I should say my trusted secretary Charlie the dog will do the picking {he loves digging through paper for some reason}.  Good luck and thank you again to all of you for all your past wonderful emails, comments and for visiting my blog space : ) 

Happy November everyone!!! 

Mari

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Cold & Warm....

Been a bit of a world wind of times here, but good news is that the house sold and it all went rather fast {only 4 days on the market}.   And our Lindsay has been having good days and not so good days, so that has taken most of the time, life had to be on hold at times.  And it has been a bit rough to say at least...  I haven't had much time to draw, sketch, paint or scratch anything for fun, but for the little time that I did manage to get, I have sketches very little {will post that later}and played around a bit with some photos I took before.  I'm making them in to cards.

Life is rough, hold on!

 First picture I took last fall, just felt very fitting to many things right now.  The second picture I took last Friday, and it was a very bitter cold spring day {even snowed a bit, yes snowed... ugh}.  But I love how these buds on this tree looked, I think its either a cherry tree or crab apple tree {any thoughts?}

Spring

Today, first day in a very long time, it finally started to feel like spring is finally here.  Blue sky, getting a bit warmer, birds singing and tulips coming up and even some in full bloom. 

But here is to spring!!

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winter wonder land

Our first snow storm came with a bang, winter is finally here and it is putting me in the mood to paint, create and finish some of my old projects. I Went for a morning walk with Charlie, and I just love this time of the year. Now it really feel like Christmas is on its way. Last night I spent most of my time down in my studio, made some Christmas cards (yes, I'm late sending them out). God Jul is Merry Christmas in Swedish, and the paper hearts are a traditional Swedish Christmas decoration that are hung in the tree with goodies in side of them. I'm going to make a few pictures so you can see how they are made.

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