Farmer Me

With my farm girl apparel on (pajamas and rubber wellies) I thought I'd take a few quick pictures before darkness interupts my creative process. My husband, son, two dogs and I are all staying at my parents in the country while our new home in town undergoes renovations. I haven't had alot of time outside yet with a few rainy days and a little one to take care of but this evening the rain let up and out I went for a few minutes of visiting with the horses and some picture taking.
The above picture is of my parents back fields. Pretty isn't it? Their property ends a ways back behind the woods. The weather while wet lately has been fairly warm and I haven't needed a coat when venturing outside. The horses in the pictures following are my mum's old girls "Ambra" and "Sierra''. Ambra is an Arab and Sierra an Anglo-Arab. Liam loves the horses and really get's a kick out of stroking their necks and faces. His mummy is hoping he'll turn out to be a real little cowboy when he's older! I so look forward to teaching him to ride!

My New Home!

This is my soon to be new home. It's not exactly my dream house but It's old, it's roomy inside, and it's in a cute little town and I love that! As you can see it needs landscaping work done. I have plans for flower beds, some new trees, a driveway, a fenced backyard to keep my pups and my little bug safe and a vegetable garden in the back.

This is the street it's on. All of the houses are cute and old, there's a park at the bottem of the hill and according to the neighbors it's a quiet street.

Inside needs work. There is alot of work to be done infact. I love the staircase! We are going to paint the old floorboards rather than put new flooring over top to give it a quaint old country house appeal. Downstairs is going to be painted white while upstairs the walls are a creamy color.

There are three bedrooms upstairs. One for Oliver and I, one for Liam, and one for a future little someone. Downstairs there is a living room, dining room, a huge kitchen and a very large laundry room which is going to double as my art studio as it is the size of a medium sized bedroom. The ceilings downstairs are all very high which helps make the house seem even bigger inside. I love this little house!
We won't be moving in till the renovations are complete. My husband is working so hard on getting them done as quickly as he can. I'm sooooo looking forward to when I can start decorating with all of my vintage treasures!

I'm Back!

Well, we arrived in Nova Scotia safe and sound. I must admit it was a tad bit boring just driving and driving. There wasn't alot to look at along the way, whoever tells you a drive across Canada is a nice trip obviously hasn't done it themselves! The scenery became rather dull after we left the mountains behind us and didn't become interesting again till we were in Quebec. If you are visiting Canada don't leave out Quebec City! It's absolutely GORGEOUS! The
old buildings and cobblestone streets are so charming, I wish we had had the time to stay a little longer. My husband and I plan to go down there sometime in the future for a long weekend.

Liam was such a doll! He rarely fussed and was usually all smiles despite the fact that most days we were driving for hours on end. We had the portable DVD player going most of the time entertaining him with his very favorite movie Pride and Prejudice. Liam loves that movie and watched it so attentively.

Both of our dogs were very well behaved. They spent most of their time sleeping which isn't anything new to them.

My husband was just thrilled about my plan to tour Canada's Value Village stores (a usually great source of second hand goodness). Oliver has a slight case of second hand phobia and is never terribly happy about my need to check out each and every second hand store we come across. I visited a Value Village store every day on our trip, sometimes I was lucky enough to visit more than one. So of course all of my souvenirs for the trip are vintage! I found so many fantabulous deals! So many pretty things for my collections!

I am so happy our drive is now over and we're in my favorite Canadian province, Nova Scotia. I love it here and already feel so at home, as if I've always belonged here. I don't miss BC at all! I do however miss my husband's brother's family, especially his daughters and I hope they will one day be able to visit!

Nova Scotia is so different from BC. The people are friendlier here. The lifestyle is slower paced, people aren't in a hurry like they are in BC. There is far less traffic, I doubt Nova Scotia has ever had a traffic jam. The buildings and houses are mostly old here, most at least 100 years in age. Some are run down others not so much. But I like that, I like the character and history of Nova Scotia's architecture. BC is so new, I don't like new. I love the small towns and villages here. In BC there are more large cities where people rarely take the time to get to know one another. Yes, I am sure that this is where I belong.

As for my artwork and Etsy..... I'm going to put my artwork on hold for a bit. Right now I am staying at my parent's place in the country and all of my belongings are packed in boxes sitting in the hay loft of my parent's barn. I will continue to sell original art on Etsy. I have a ton of artwork that isn't yet on Etsy and I have located the box it's packed in so I can keep that all going. But making art right now would mean pulling out all of my supplies and then having to re-pack them once it was time to move into our new place which is too much of a hassle right now. So Etsy will continue to thrive :). I won't be offering prints for now, just originals.

Last Post Till I'm in Nova Scotia!

Well, this is the last post I'll be writing in my current mess of a home in BC Canada! After I finish typing this up I'll be moving out of the way so my husband can take our computer apart and stick it back in it's box. I might be able to get a post in while on the road with my laptop but I won't make any promises. Tommorow the movers come and take our stuff away and then we'll be on the road! I'm sure not looking forward to this drive! I hate long drives and boy will this be a long one! I'll be sure to post as soon as I'm able and let you all know how things went! Till then ....... lot's of love to you all!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!!!!

Erraticus Zine, You MUST See it!

Just recently I found in my mailbox a wonderful surprise! Erraticus zine! Have you seen it!? You must see it because it is fabulous! It's a little magazine full of beautiful artwork put together in such a way that it gave me instant inspiration. Unfortunately all of my art supplies are packed now! But seriously! I LOVE Erraticus! It's lovely! It is put together by only ONE person!Melissa McCobb Hubbell creates this piece of joy right out of her home and prints it up on her printer. How fabulous is THAT!? And the really exciting part for me? Melissa contacted me a while back about my artwork and asked if I would mind her including it in Erraticus! So, the little piece of joy that arrived in my mailbox has two pages featuring some of my collages! Neat huh?! I'm so flattered! I think I will probably subscribe once I make it to Nova Scotia, I like it that much!

Erraticus Zine Website

Melissa McCobb Hubbell's Blog

Garage Sale

Well, the garage sale was a huge success! We had it this weekend and made a little over $800 selling mostly $1 and $2 items! It was a great deal of work and boy was I ever tired when all was said and done but I did enjoy myself. So many nice people came and I really enjoyed chatting and helping out my customers. One little boy, maybe 11 or 12 years of age wanted a computer game. I was selling the game itself plus 3 expansions for the game. His grandpa was going to buy him one of the games which I was selling for $5 so I threw in the 3 expansions for free and you should have seen his face light up! He was adorable! And so polite and sweet! He gave me such an excited and very happy thankyou which made the whole garage sale worth while :) . My sister and her husband showed up on Sunday and sold some of their things. They are moving as well (not to Nova Scotia though) and needed to downsize their collection of odds and ends. But, Holly (my sister) and I wound up trading items back and forth. She walked away with a set of my dishes as well as a few other decorative items and I came away from her selection of goods with a fabulous burnt orange oriental carpet and some craft supplies as well as a little Appaloosa horse pin that I couldn't resist being an Appaloosa lover. After the sale was over and Holly and Sean were on there way home, my husband and I took what was left to Value Village (our local second hand store) and I had just enough time before the store closed to snatch up some lovely old doilies as well as two fabulous lime green rice bowls that I just HAD to have. Next we drove over to my husband's brother's house for a visit and to do our van's brakes for our trip to Nova Scotia. We had a very busy but wonderful day that I enjoyed so very much!

The Chubby One Finger

Is that picture too adorable or what!? Sorry, I'm being a mum right now and loving babies. I was taking a brake from packing by looking at a bit of Etsy when I happened across that lovely picture and I felt like sharing it. If you'd like to have it on a note card you can get it from Jennifer Boston on Etsy HERE.

I love chubby baby hands! When I was pregnant with my little bug one of the things I looked forward to the most was touching his hands. They were so small and chubby. Now of coarse they're huge and chubby because he's monster baby :) He likes to point at things right now with his cute little one finger. That's what we call it, his one finger, as if it's the only one he has :)! He points at everything, and if I want to make him smile all I have to do is kiss the end of that one finger and he immediately grins because his mummy is so very funny! Being a mum is pure joy, even on the tough days when you don't want to get out of bed (at least for me it is).

So Busy I Can't Even Provide a Picture for This Post!

Oh my goodness am I ever busy! I have till just a bit before the end of the month to pack all of our stuff for our move from BC to Nova Scotia. And there's still soooooo much to do! I'm pretty much doing it all myself, my husband has to work on a reno job right now and that leaves me with an Etsy shop to run, a baby to care for, a house to clean, and a whole lotta junk to pack! And if that weren't bad enough, before the month is up we are going to have a huge garage sale to sell off hopefully at least half of our stuff. That means that I don't just have to pack, I have to unpack everything in storage, sort it, sort everything not in storage, then decide exactly what goes to Nova Scotia with us, what goes to the garage sale, what goes in the garbage and what goes to the second hand store. I have to do all of this in a tiny tiny tiny house with a one year old baby milling about the boxes and junk deciding just what to play with and what to destroy while mummys not paying close attention! Liam loves to unpack after I pack each box and then while I try to repack he enjoys quickly unpacking what I just repacked! It's a long process :)

It's tough getting rid of some things but at the same time I look forward to not having to think of needing storage space once we're moved. I'm really clearing things out! Anyone who shows up at my garage sale will be pleasantly surprised at the mass of very nice and well cared for treasures! No junk at this junk sale!

Introducing.......Nestlings!

Here they are, the project I spoke of in my last post but didn't have pictures for. I managed to take some decent photos and couldn't wait to get them on the internet! These little birds are called Nestlings, I sculpted them from paperclay which I then hand-painted in acrylics. The nests are made of bits and pieces of yarn, ribbons, buttons, lace and other such lovlies. The white velvet leaves are vintage. Each nestling is different and I plan on making more of them as soon as I can get a chance. My favorite is the blue one which I've named Henry :)

A New Product in the Works!

I've been busy trying to come up with ideas for various items to sell on Etsy lately. So far I've managed to think up two new ideas which I hope will be well recieved. The first is sort of like a dreamcatcher but not exactly. I've done five so far and am still working out the bugs and trying to improve on them. The above pictures are of 4 of the five. The pale pink and white one was my first attempt. I wasn't completly happy with it so I moved on to the next which was the last picture shown, the pale purple and white. That one turned out nicely but I think I could do better. The other two, rather brightly colored ones were my fourth and fifth tries and I'm already much happier with these. I think I still need to stop at the craft store and pick up more supplies including some more little birds and more beads.

The next project doesn't have pictures yet so I'm keeping it under wraps until I can take some decent photos of them. I will say though that I really like the results of this particular project and I think other people will probably like them too :)

Such a Lovely Weekend to be Sure!

I had a very nice weekend! It was busy to be sure but I enjoyed it so! My sister Holly and her husband Sean came down from Pemberton (near Whistler BC) to stay for the weekend and we went out and had a lovely time. We ate at a favorite restaurant where they had some sort of a kitchen mishap and because they were so busy at the time everyone in the restaurant had to wait quite a while for their food. This actually turned out to be a good thing though since I had ordered a rather expensive meal and we wound up getting 40% off our entire bill because of the wait! The manager was very nice and I felt so badly for him having to go around and apologize to everyone in the restaurant. I hope there weren't any mean customers for him to deal with as it wasn't his fault and I can only imagine what a tough job it would be to have to deal with cranky customers.

My sister and I went shopping at our favorite second hand store and I came home with a number of gorgeous treasures! In the pictures above you can see them. I found a lovely tea-cup, a little sugar bowl, a huge and absolutely gorgeous dark pink Indian sari covered in embroidery, beads and sequins, a large amount of shear pale pink fabric with dark pink and yellow roses, 6 lovely white crocheted doilies (not shown in the pictures) and a fantastic vintage metal alarm clock made in France (also not shown in the pictures). We also stopped at the scrapbook store and I picked out some new ribbons that are all fabulous!

My husband and Sean went to various stores and did some window shopping and when they came back they presented each of us (my sister and I) with the most beautiful roses! How lucky I feel to have such a thoughtful husband! He also bought me some new bath towels for the bathroom in a lovely pale creamy yellow that looks so very nice with our shower curtain :)

More Goodies Added to Etsy!

Last night I added the above collages to Etsy. They are all originals and are for sale at great low prices! The pink flamingo is already sold but the rest are still available. Click HERE to go check them all out :)

Somerset Studio Submissions

I've decided to try submitting artwork to Somerset Studios magazine. The above images are pictures of my "Vintage Halloween" submissions. The top picture is a collaged portrait that I did with Lizzie Borden in mind. Lizzie Borden has always been a person I have found interesting and considering that she supposedly murdered her parents with an axe many years ago I figured she would make a good vintage Halloween theme for my art. The other piece is in person a very textured painting. I used cardboard, embossed papers, buttons and tissue paper to make the background and then painted over it in acrylics. Both paintings were done on canvas board, the Lizzie Borden collage is 8x10 in size and the other is 5x7.

Hugely Big Good News!

Wow! So much has happened here in the last week! All three of us are down with a bad cold, AGAIN! So I'm sitting around trying to ignore my aches and pains. My husband quit his job because his boss was intolerable and verbally abusive. Ever since he quit he has been so much more pleasant to be around. The constant abuse he suffered at work was beginning to affect his mood at home. He's quite a bit happier now and I'm so very happy for him. Apparently a great many of the guys he was working with are currently searching out new employment for the very same reason!
But the biggest news of all is that we have decided to move! Not just across town though, no, we are moving across country! We have made the big decision to pack up and drive to Nova Scotia! We are sick and tired of living in BC, land of NO oportunity. Did you know that the average house in BC now costs about 1 million dollars?!! How crazy is that?! There is no future for us here, even if we worked our bottoms off and saved every single penny we would never be able to afford a home in BC. Most people, unless they start out with a good deal of money have no future in BC. We want a home of our own and would also like to have another baby before I turn 30, it's possible in Nova Scotia. We are going to sell most of our things (I'm keeping all of my vintage pretties and art stuff of coarse) and then we are going to rent a U-Haul trailer and drive the looooooooooong drive to our new home! We don't have a job or house waiting for us but there is plenty of work for people with my husband's experiance and rental houses aren't hard to come by there. We'll stay at my parent's for the first little while until we find a house and job.
I'll still be making art up until it's time for us to move and my Etsy shop will remain open. My husband has a renovation job to do before we leave so we have some cash for the trip and so we can trade in our van for something more reliable. We should be leaving in about a month and a half. I will set my computer, printer and scanner up at my parent's so that I can keep my art and Etsy going uninterupted, well except of course for the time we're driving there. It will probably be a 12 day drive, I think. Exciting huh?

Second-hand Goodness

If you're anything like me you love second hand stores! I personally prefer not to buy my clothes at these stores as I like having the knowledge that I'm the only one that's been in my clothes. I do however LOVE to look for special little treasures like dishes, old tins, and other lovelies just needing a good cleaning to bring them back to life. The above pictures are of some of my favorite finds over the past few months. I only get to go to these stores when my sister is in town for a visit because my husband has "Ew! The used thing touched me! Hand me a handywipe!" syndrome and he refuses to make trips to my favorite old things store (I don't drive and we only have one vehicle anyway). My best buy is sort of visable in the third picture above, it's a vintage suitcase! It cost only $5.99 and is in pretty good condition, not a thing broken on it!

Etsy Shop Update and Plenty of New Artwork!

The above images are of artwork created since the last time I posted on my blog. Some are ACEOs some are on canvas board and others were done on stretched canvas. Many are available on Etsy if you see something you like feel free to hop on over there and check them out! Also remember that all of the images on my blog are clickable for a larger view :)

In other news, I'm currently trying (or still trying I should say) to figure out commission pricing. I must admit that it is incredibly difficult to decide on such a thing! Commissions usually cost more than already made work but at the same time I charge very little for already made work as it is because I'm new in the world of professional art and I think it's best to start out incredibly affordable. I know that currently there is no way I'm being paid for my time, which doesn't bother me because I realize that to be successful you sometimes have to start out making next to nothing. But I also don't want to do commisions for too little because they are much more difficult to do (at least for me). Such thoughts are a jumble in my mind and I feel as though I will burst! The good news is that I own a very good broom and a good strong vacuum so if I do happen to burst, my husband won't have too much trouble with clean-up!

Illustration Friday.....My First Time!

I've never participated in Illustration Friday before. Partly because I've never had the time and partly because I as of yet hadn't really been inspired by any of the topics chosen. But when I saw that this week's theme was "garden" I knew that this was my week to try it out! If you've seen my artwork in the past you've probably already figured out that I love flowers. I think my scrapbook paper stash has more floral prints in it than anything else and I love anything to do with roses. The above image is my contribution to this week's Illustration Friday. Enjoy!

ACEOs and other such lovlies on Etsy!

Yes, I have once again updated my shop. I decided to also offer ACEOs in original and print form for those of us who are close to pennyless and would like some cheap art. So far I just have originals to offer but when I have some time I will offer tiny prints as well. You can see the available artwork in the above pictures. I really enjoy making these tiny works of art! The small size is so fun to work with. I especially enjoyed the little landscapes. I plan on doing more of these as well as other themed ACEOs. For anyone wondering an ACEO is just like an artist trading card but it is for selling rather than trading.

I also added another 5x7 collage to Etsy, this time the subject is a bunny! You can check all of my new art on ETSY HERE.

New Artwork and Originals on Etsy!

Just a new artwork update this time around! The pink flamingo is a painting I recently finished which is available as an 8x10 print on Etsy. The other pictures are of two 5x7 collages I just finished today. The original collages (not prints) are both available in my Etsy shop HERE. Both collages are priced very low. That's it, for now at least!

Oh....What a Lovely Day!

Today was SUCH a nice day! I worked on some collages, spent time with my little bug who was in such a cheerful mood, did my usual workout routine and then I managed to get in a half hour walk before it got dark. On my walk I visited with a sweet little bay weanling Quarter Horse and an adorable Miniature Donkey. These two are always willing to visit when I walk by, they are both super sweet. Liam also seemed to enjoy them :). I also found another bird nest to add to my collection. Definately a lovely day!