Every once in a while I come across

a facebook list that I want to share, this one was a new note from one of my old high school friends, I like the list of 3 aspect.

Our schedule these days is pretty hectic, so far this week we've gone shopping for our punk fairy tea party, had a punk fairy tea party, went to the old neighborhood for a Dr's appointment followed by an impromptu picnic and play date. The lower mainland is cooking right now, and all this heat is making it difficult to concentrate on anything other than making a new batch of lemonade iced tea and making sure that we are staying in our own patch of shade. I'll be breaking up the weekly Artist features into bi-weekly features for the next month or so to take advantage of these lazy hazy days.

Here's the list:

Three names I go by:
1. Peanut butter pie
2. Dear
3. Mommy or Mommy Kitty

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Landscaper
2. Waitress in a Pancake House
3. Photographer

Three places I have lived:
1. North Vancouver, BC
2. Calgary, AB
3. Red Deer, AB

Three Favorite Drinks
1. Pepsi
2. Lime Slushees
3. Ceasers

Three TV shows I watch:
1. Dollhouse
2. Lost
3. Fringe

Three places I have been:
1. San Antonio TX
2. Porcupine Plain SK
3. Los Angeles CA

People that text me regularly:
1. no one texts me regularly
2. my husband will sometimes text me
3. but not daily, hourly or by the minute

Three of my favorite foods:
1. BBQ teriyaki flank steak
2. Ginger Beef
3. Lamb Souvlaki with Greek salad, roasted potatoes pita and tzatziki

Draw winner picked: announcement to follow soon

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in my Etsy Anniversary giveaway. I never realized how much work doing a blog giveaway would be. Keeping track of every entry was an exercise in organization. I kept track of all entries by logging them into an Excel file and with all the original followers, new followers and blog links I ended up with 87 entries.

To print out all the entries to draw from a hat would have been too much work, especially in this heat (have I mentioned that we are in the midst of a stifling heat-wave? No? Well we are in the midst of a stifling heat wave and between herding the peanut under shade, into her wading pool and indoors to evade the brutal UV rays I'm finding it a chore to string a single thought together; never mind writing out every entry to throw into a hat. Enter random.org and the random number generator.

I entered the range of entries into the number generator and came up with a winner. As I included those who were already following this blog in the draw, there was a possibility that some of these followers would not be aware of the giveaway and may not be interested in participating. The winning entry is one of my original followers and I have contacted them via Email. i haven't heard back from them yet but I will keep you all informed. as details come in. In the off chance that the winning entry doesn't wish to recieve the giveaway prize I'll redo the drawing and contact a new winner

Friday night my husband left me

to go to the guitarist in his band's weekend long bachelor party. I was worried that a whole weekend with no one to give me a break from the little ball of energy that is the Peanut that I might be a frazzled mess by Sunday night; so I planned the weekend carefully so that I might wear the Peanut out enough that she'd melt into bed at night with minimal fuss.

We are planning a dress-up tea party play date on Tuesday and we did a little getting ready for that. We had frozen Pizza for dinner and went to the outdoor pool that is within 10 minutes walk from our place and stayed up late Saturday night for a kid friendly movie on PPV. Around the middle of our movie we had a big storm descend which led us to some serious storm watching. We had a few good hours of flickering lightening, bright sudden flashes and sharp cracks body jarring booms and rumbles. There were at least four strikes that were close enough that the thunder followed in less than a second. It tapered off around ten, the peanut at about nine.

Sunday morning brought us a new little friend when I brought in a tattered edged pink rose from the garden. We had fun watching the inchworm loop across the leaf he was on and then set him free on the backyard and got ready for a nother swim at the pool.

While I'm sharing, here are two more blogs that I'm really digging lately:


Lately I've been leaning a little towards the work and writing of some of my fellow Canadians. Akane Designs is one of these. An eclectic mix of personal snippets, favourites and art features, Akane also includes shop giveaways and marketing tips for online sellers and product reviews. A true believer in the "share the wealth" philosophy and it shows. Her Blog is beautifully designed and illustrated with bright images and I look forward to seeing what she'll be posting next.

Bees & Trees is simply a beautiful blog full of artist features and the authors own works. I love that in addition to posting their work they also talk about their process, the ideas behind it and the style they are working in. since these are all things that I love to read about and the work that they post and feature is so stunning, I couldn't be happier about stumbling upon their blog. They are well worth a look.

Don't forget to help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway! The deadline to enter is rushing this way, you don't want to miss out.

5 questions: Casual Blings and Things

Before we get started, help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway! The deadline to enter is rushing this way, you don't want to miss out.

Have you heard of Mixxmade? it's a social networking site for creative people.

I've recently joined with an eye towards meeting other creative types like me; that's where I came across Jodi of TubbyTabby and her eclectic mix of jewellery made from upcycled game pieces like scrabble tiles and backgammon pieces, not to mention the pendants she makes from American Brick; wooden blocks that were toys in the 1940's.


Tabby's jewelry really lives up to her tag line as casual bling, all her pendants would look fantastic on any day of the week and can even work well for a few not so casual events too.

TubbyTabby's works are unique, colourful and wonderfully designed, which isn't surprising, seeing as she also has a second Etsy shop; TopCatDesign where she sells her graphic design skills. You can follow Jodi on Twitter. As always; if you see something you like, make sure to click on an image for more details.


What got you started?

I really started selling on Etsy purely by accident. My step-daughter was making Scrabble tiles and I saw how cute they were. I happened upon some wooden dominoes one day at a second hand store and started experimenting with those, had fun with it, and realized how much I really missed doing crafts, it just snowballed from there!



Do you have any influences that guide your work?

My only influences are really my mood at the time and my laid back attitude, just whatever happens. I usually have something in mind when I start to create, but without fail, it always, pleasantly or not, goes in a different direction. I guess that's why I consider my jewelry creations very eclectic, ya just never know what I might dream up.



What is your ultimate creator’s block cure?

Usually the best thing is to walk away and come back to it later. I love to laugh, so usually if I'm not creating, I'm not happy about something. The best cure for me is to watch something or talk to someone that makes me laugh, usually takes care of it.


What has surprised you most about selling your creations online?

How much work it takes to get people to notice and purchase. I suppose I just originally thought that everyone would see my wonderful creations and would just HAVE to buy something! I work promoting my sites everyday now, it's hard work! On the design end of it, it's even harder because (no offense to anyone) but graphic design is what I do for a living and I find it hard to compete with the low ball pricing people expect for design work. I feel its the quality of my work that will bring customers in the end, just will take some time.



Rock, Paper or Scissors? Scissors–

I can do a lot with scissors, I even run with them sometimes!

There are certain things that really get me going

You know how sometimes you are going about your business doing your thing and something happens that just stops you in your tracks and makes you think, or pay closer attention, or gives you that push to get started on a whole new project or crumples your facade.


Music can do this; well the right kind of music can do it. There has to be the right hook, the right tone of voice, the right turn of phrase. It has to be the kind of music that makes me want to sing along to, that makes me want to dance around my kitchen with the Peanut.



The Peanut can do this. The pure joy in her face as she dances around our kitchen can do this. Can make me think and consider and want to make sure that her joy is with her for as long as I can keep it there. Can bring tears to my eyes that stream down my cheeks as I am suddenly reminded of my Dad. The cadence of her giggles when I smother her in tickles and kisses can do this. Can fill me up with an indescribable amount of what I can only call love. Can make me want to keep those giggles coming until both our sides hurt and we are both out of breath.

Don't forget to help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway! The deadline to enter is rushing this way, you don't want to miss out.

Updates and a litany of woes

from the sounds of my title you'd think this post is going to be a pretty negative one. Well, it may be a little on the long side, but I like to think that I can usually find the positive in most situations. I'm pretty sure I've been able to do so here. To make up for the lack of photographic illustration I'll be posting a word free post to make up for it.

Before we get started, help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway! The deadline to enter is rushing this way, you don't want to miss out.

Besides the news of my Step Dad's heart problems last week we've been hitting a streak of weird bad luck but more on that later. My Step Dad is home and on the mend. It turns out my Mom saved his life by getting him to the hospital as fast as she did and there are going to be some changes in lifestyle and diet there. It was very hard to be out of the loop last week in regards to wanting to be there getting the blow by blow after they got home and knowing that he's going to be OK make up for it.

In other news over the last three weeks I've lost my mobile phone and had it stolen. How is this then? The phone slipped out of my pocket on the bus and was found by an unknown and dishonest girl who; after answering my phone and assuring me that she would give it to the bus driver to take to the lost and found instead took it and made $60 in texts and phone calls in two days. Lesson learned? Cancel the mobile if or when it gets lost again. Fortunately, when we finally called to cancel service to the phone our provider was good enough to delete all charges to our bill that were not our own.

The day after the Peanut's birthday party we decided to hit the Jazz festival at David Lam Park in Vancouver. We used to go every year for an afternoon of good music and people watching. When I was pregnant we decided on the Gastown venues so I wouldn't have far to waddle and we'd be closer to the Seabus if the Peanut decided to show up a week early. Since then we've missed the festival, and this year was no exception. After we moved into the new place after the fire, the ball joint in the left front of the car broke causing $400+ to fix. On our way to this years festival we passed the library downtown and lost the right side tire to the other ball joint. One very loud noise and some fancy driving by my husband later we were double parked on Georgia with tourists posing in front of the car and pointing at the tire. We've since donated the car and joined the Car Co-op with very positive results.

Have you ever been awakened from a deep deep sleep by a creepy crawling sensation? Like say some unknown insect type thing has somehow entered into your ear at the ungodly hour of 3AM?

For those who have pondered this and other survival questions I will tell you:

You get that little bugger out by any means necessary, as fast as you can.

Then you attack your ear canal with an arsenal of things that should never be put into your ear based on years and years of professional medical opinion ie. elbows, q-tips, hot water and hydrogen peroxide if you have it; among a few other things.

What this does, is give you a little peace of mind while you stew over the possibility that the bug you squished out of existence while trying to get it out of your ear canal did not

A: have a friend who got in undetected and is setting up house out of reach of the above mentioned ear contraband.
B: bite you in the ear while you were mercilessly removing it from existance.
C: start to nest in there because you really value the ability to hear things.
or in a related to C option D: come from a nest that was (as in option A) previously undetected by you.

Then you visit a Dr, who thinks your story is very interesting ie. something he's going to tell all his friends in order to make a sensation at his next cocktail party; and examines your ear with that really nifty ear and throat instrument so that he can tell you that everything is clear up there, not even a thin coating of earwax to be found.

Then, and only then do you consider the irony of reading about someone who had a bug crawl into their ear the week before and being totally grossed out by it, and having the same thing happen to you and being totally grossed out by it (or is that irony? Ever since that Alanis Morrisette song I can never tell for sure)

deja vu all over again

When my brother called us on Sunday (something he never ever ever does) it was deja vu all over again for me. I was a little confused for a second or two when he let loose with the news that Dad had had a heart attack. My first thought was of my Dad and then my brain translated for me that Barry, my Step Dad was who he was talking about.

My step Dad has been around for almost 1/2 of my life and I couldn't have asked for a better second Dad. He's rough and gruff and he's treated my sister and me as if we were his family from the start all the while being careful not to try and take my Dad's place. Hearing that he'd been struck down like that was a blow. Not being near enough to know what was going on first hand was really hard.

I've mentioned before that my Dad passed on when he was 36. He had his first heart attack when I was pretty young and heart problems followed him the rest of his life. He had a fairly rare condition that caused his body to produce obscene amounts of cholesteral which would collect in his arteries; which was the cause of death in the end, all of his arteries slowly filled up.

Barry comes home today. With a list of things that need to be changed in his lifestyle and a small handful of pills that need to be taken for a little while and a smaller handful that will be needed for the rest of his life, he's been cleaned out (only the main artery going into his heart was blocked, the surgeons went to work and shunted, ballooned and scraped it out; the rest were all clear and any damage to his heart is at bare minimum) and needs to take a month off of work. It's a hell of a way to add more R&R to his schedule. We are just glad and breathing deep sighs of relief that he's recovering well.

And this, among other things is why my posts this week are a little sparse. I'm hoping to be back on track with my regular posting schedule by next week, in the meantime there is still time to enter my Etsy Anniversary Giveaway. I promise it's a fabulous prize; tell your friends and let me know you did.

There's been a lot

going on with us over the last week or so. My posts will be a little more sporadic over the next little while as I try to get my head in the right place. I'll be posting about what's happened in the next little while.

There is still time to enter my Etsy Anniversary Giveaway. Tell your friends and let me know you did.

5 questions: I am a weirdo

Before we get started, help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway!


One of the things about Etsy I like (and there are a lot of great things I like about Etsy) is the favorites feature; not only can I keep track of the fabulous products I drool over and covet almost jealously, but I can find my favourite artists and artisans with the click of the mouse. In addition I can also check out some of the artists and artisans who also like me. This is how I found Susarto, this weeks featured artist.

Susarto also goes by the name SusanMoloney. She calls herself a painter, a weirdo maker and a thing creator and there could be no better way to describe her or her shop; full of lush paintings, prints of her original paintings, the most adorable plush creatures, which she calls the Weirdo's and an assortment of photographs, magnets and bookmarks as well as the most amazing hand bound zines about life in Ireland through the eyes of an American. Browsing Susarto's shops and blog is an exercise in inspiration.

Susarto belongs to the Etsy Plush Team and the IrishRougeArtisans on Etsy, she has exhibited in local galleries and has work included in a number of private art collections in the US, Ireland and England. In addition to Etsy and her blog (which features some of the most amazing art), you can find Susan on Flickr and twitter. I was very interested to see how Susarto would answer my questions and I was not disappointed:

What got you started?

i have no idea what started me...i know that i would draw and draw since i could hold a pencil (or crayon). i always said i wanted to be an artist as a kid. always.
my dad was a "commercial artist" (that's what they called graphic design back then i suppose) but i didn't know what that meant. i thought he was like picasso or something.
i would give him a paper and pencil and say "draw."
i wanted to see how to draw things.
he did, a little reluctantly, but he really wasn't bad ;)















Do you listen to music when you create? What's on your play list right now and why?

i always listen to music when i work.
my very favourite singer is chris cornell...so i have a lot of him on my playlist, soundgarden, audioslave...
but i love tom waits. he's very inspiring to work with.
stevie wonder, jane's addiction, massive attack, tool, and on rainy days, i like to listen to billie holiday :)
why would be a tough question...music sets the mood for art i guess. and paintings seem to look like the songs.
i listened to tom waits mostly when i made my train paintings. they are sort of tom-ish i think :)







What is your ultimate creator’s block cure?

go out!
look at stuff.
notice what you notice, and all of that...

i love going to the mutter museum in philadelphia (and old medical museum) and/or taking little adventure walks by the canal up by new hope, pa. my husband has a motorbike and we go on little trips through beautiful back roads. stuff like that.
if you can't get out, look at stuff on the internet. you can see most of the world that way ;)




What life or art lesson have you learned that has shaped your work?

i think life just shapes your work whether you like it or not. but i recently have learned to just go with what feels natural to me.
i used to think i had to be able to be really good at oil painting...otherwise i wouldn't really be a "painter", but i don't always want to do that. so now i do what i feel the need to do. i'm much happier that way, and i get better results.

Rock, Paper or Scissors?

whenever possible, i'll take all.
if i can only pick one, paper.
you can make almost anything out of paper.
even rocks or scissors.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

one year on etsy give a way celebration

So I was doing my morning ritual of checking Etsy, the blog, facebook and twitter when it occurred to me that I must be nearing my first year anniversary of being an Etsy shop owner.

So I double checked and Lo and behold my one year anniversary is today!

As I found out with the Peanut, the first year is a big challenge full of sleepless nights, life altering changes and the greatest joys. It's pretty much the same with the Etsy shop. So how am I going to celebrate?

I've put a lot of thought into it, I've hemmed I've hawed, I've lost some sleep..... OK I haven't lost any sleep but I did do some hemming and hawing and when all the hemming and hawing was done, my throat was hoarse and I'd made my decision:

I'm going to give something away!

I'm going to give one lucky reader a set of four 5"x 7" Borealis Photographs, to see the photographs that make up the set click here:

Of all the rules to win, only one is required; the rest are all optional.

The rules are simple:

• Follow This Blog (required; for one entry)
  [anyone already following me gets an automatic entry]
• Post here and tell me your favorite item in TMCPhoto store (for one extra entry) you can also tell me why you like it if you want to make me blush.
• Blog about this contest on your blog with a link to this give-a-way Blog (for 5 extra entries)
• Buy something from my shop (for an astounding 10 extra entries)
  

The deadline for entering is July 27th at 8:00pm PST when I will take all entries put them into a hat and make the draw. I'll announce the winner here on Tuesday July 28th. Good luck

donkeys, deer, dwarves and urns or at least one of each

I've moved up one block and started collecting the PCGS there now. Last week I shared my most favourite garden decor there. What I've shared with you so far is only a small percentage of what is actually on display. I could document house by house but there are so many duplicate statues that you and I would soon be bored by it all.

This weeks statuary is located in another yard that has decided against an abundance of greenery in favour of a rock garden and painted cement figures.

Last Monday was the Peanut's Birthday

and we spent the day doing whatever she wanted to do from tea party time to building a bridge with blocks. She helped to bake her birthday cake and ate all of her dinner (scrambled eggs, toast and bacon with watermelon slices, as per the peanuts request) and still had room for cake. We frosted the cake with lime butter cream with cherry jam filling and decorated the top with three of the juiciest raspberries from our garden iced with chocolate frosting dots to look like ladybugs. It was a great day and a little sad too because now at 3 the peanut is no longer a toddler but a pre-schooler, next year I won't be able to call her a baby anymore. She had her birthday party this weekend, followed by a BBQ party at our friends place. All in all it was a busy weekend and I think I need a nap...

While I'm sharing, did you check out the amazing give-a-way from last week yet? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I win the grand prize.

If you're interested in finding some great new blogs to read here are a few of my favourites:

Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom is a new one for me, I've been following Mrs B on Twitter for a while but only recently stumbled across her blog and boy am I glad I did. She has links in her blog to some other wonderful blogs as well as recipes, art, pagan parenting, kitchen witchery and of course some wicked product reviews. In amongst all that fabulous stuff is the odd give-a-way, on of which is for the most amazing Tarot Decks ever. full of retro 1950's housewife images it's just too kitschy cool.

With my own recent addiction to caffeine in full swing, and my obsession with following creative blogs, I started following Caffeinated Frenzy way back when I started my own. Frenzy was one of the first creative blogs I encountered and I've been following her ever since. In addition to writing about her adoration of caffeine, Frenzy also blogs about her knitting and other random things that she just can't help but share. She's a good read and I have to say that I have been known to covet some of her sweaters and hats.

5 questions: Punk Mommy Pottery and More

This weeks feature artist is not only an exceptional artist but also a good friend in real life. Once upon a time Auvery, of PunkMommy went to the same art program as I did at Red Deer College. So I have had first hand experience of both her process and her personality and a few of her and her husband's beautiful peices in my personal collection to prove it.

As is often the case, after our program ended we went our separate ways, she married the big mountain of a farmer/sculpture/clay artist from the year ahead of ours, and together they started Reid Road Studios in Ponoka Alberta. Through the magic of social networking sites (thank you facebook) and the fabulous community that is Etsy; we've reconnected again.

On my recent trip back to Alberta I had hoped to drop in on Auvery and her family, but time constraints (trips to our home province are chock full of visiting family and more visiting family) as well as an exciting new addition to Auvery's family altered our plans. Auvery, her husband Joe and their son Koda brought home their new son Grant while we were in Alberta and I thought it would be best to take a rain check and visit on our next trip, when her now expanded family will have had a chance to bond and become settled.

While I was happy for Auvery and her growing family I was a little bummed that I didn't get a chance to see her studio first hand. I've seen photographs and their studio is stunning and makes me a little green with envy. It's a nice shade of green though; it brings out my eyes and makes my hair look shinier and it has more to do with how amazing I think their space is and the work that they do in it is .

Auvery's Etsy shop Punkmommy is full of work that really shows off the playful and experimental talent I remember seeing way back when. To keep up with what's happening at Reid Road Studios you can join the Reid Road Studios Group on facebook where Auvery and Joe often post photographs of their new work; it's worth a visit. If you are fortunate enough to be in Central Alberta, you can see her work in person in the Gallery on Main in Lacombe, plus she and her husband Joe's work can also be seen at the Alberta Craft Council Gallery in Edmonton in a show called "Hitched at the ACC" the theme is couples who work in craft together which sums up her marriage in a nice neat package.

I know you're itching to see what she had to say so here goes:

What’s the best thing about being an artist?

the best thing about being an artist is... all the extra cash it brings in..
not...it's not the money at all...it's building on a spark of skill I had naturally (a person would do much better financially with computer skills or even nun chuck skills) and sharing that...as it grows it will be great to be my own boss and work from home to be around my kids

What life or art lesson have you learned that has shaped your work?

life lesson...learning the realities of my personality through seeing myself in my work...i can only work in certain ways with certain results,trying to be someone else or please others is like swimming upstream and when i've made something honest i see myself in the work, it's not always what i want to admit, but i learn



Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

i love to work to music...i play typically ambient/chick music...i love to have it loud but not overly distracting.
i especially love-Neko Case
-Sinead O'Connor
-Neil Young
-Enigma
-Sigur Ros
-Bjork



What is your ultimate creator’s block cure?

creators block...from time to time (OK...a lot) i suffer from lack of motivation more than block really...life gets in the way of studio time...kids, laundry, time with my hubby etc. nothing fires me up like seeing other peoples craft and art in person...perusing the web is great but looking at object up close is really awesome

Which Children's book character would you be and why?

the childrens book character that came first to me was Ramona Quimby...if i remember correctly she was trying to maneuver in the strange world of adults in her own super clever way and things just didn't work out...like nobody got where she was coming from..i feel like that every day! or i would like just a couple of days as sleeping beauty

this is how it's done

One block up from me and a few blocks down I found this fantastic front garden, by the looks of it the backyard is just as good. If I were to indulge in a little PCGS action in my yard, this is how I'd do it.

I had a few more photographs of this postage sized lawn but for some reason they didn't quite turn out. I'll post a few more once I've gone back. You can't see it here but there are three more life sized human figures lounging around this yard. They are truly works of art and I make a point of walking by every time we go to the library

Happy Canada Day

So I have this friend, his name is Sonny Assu and he's one of those art stars you sometimes hear about. I went to Emily Carr with Sonny, we graduated in the same year and over the years, though our paths have gone in different directions, I've followed Sonny's career closely. I'm proud to know him. In some ways knowing Sonny has been an education in questioning questionable behavior and thinking about things on a social level as well as the personal.

Over the years I've accepted equality as the norm and I'm shocked when I'm reminded that my views aren't shared by others. In each cultural community there are people to look up to, people who living their lives on a day to day basis, people who are navigating through challenging circumstances and people who are stirring shit up either in a good way or in the bad. These are character traits that are found everywhere, regardless of skin colour, religious views or cultural background. I've come to question these identifiers when they pop up in the media and in personal interactions because I want to raise my daughter to question these things as well. I want her to love our country, I want her to live our reputation of cultural tolerance and not just parrot back the platitudes and buzz words that sound good but don't mean anything.

Yesterday Sonny's status on his facebook page was a passionate reminder of how great our country is, and how much greater we could be. As Sonny so eloquently stated, education and understanding are the building blocks towards that goal. Once again I'm grateful for the reminder. I asked Sonny if I could quote his status here and he was generous enough to give me his permission:

Canada Day is about remembering we are a nation built
on the soil of tolerance and welcoming of diversity.
Yet we ignore the fact that Canada Day is also the
remembrance of the decimation of Aboriginal culture,
my culture. We have lived through 142(+) years of
intolerance, oppression, stereotypes and hate to
rise above all expectations. We have come out stronger
and more able to adapt, yet able to retain our ways
that were once outlawed. However, some of my people
live in 3rd world conditions and we are part of the 4th
world. I have a faith in my country: That Canada will one
day live up to its reputation and rectify the wrongs of the
past, that still continue till this day. Education and
understanding is the key to my message in my life
and in my art. With that, I bid you a happy and safe
Canada day.

-Sonny Assu