Absolute ridiculousness, oh and a giveaway!

This posting infrequently thing is actually driving me a little bananas. I am storing way too much up in my head and then the pictures, I can barely get through them let alone pick a few from each day to share. 

Despite the fact that I have been enjoying the break by painting my butt off I am finding that I now need  a painting break, so here I am. 

Vicious circle here let me tell ya!

Like I am chasing my own tail, sheesh!

Anyway, feel like a give away?

I have a few up my sleeve, so here are the first two.

This is a little birdie pendant I made and painted and below is a set of magnets. I shall call them flight or fancy. Flight for the bird and fancy for the fridge bling. 

Now here is your challenge. Make it through this mammoth post and when you get to the end I will guide you on what to do to get your chance to win....see you at the bottom.

And for a better shot,  fridge shot with funny shadow. Hmmm.

This is a major catch up so I will do my best with patchy memories, here goes!

This goes way back to over a week ago. We hit up this little ceramics studio to create a mother's day gift. I had intentions of making gifts there for Dave's moms too but after choking out the money for what we started we have decided they will have to wait for another trip.

Sorry mom's, your gifts will have to wait till we see you, we love you though, it is just a breakable issue. Both to the items and to the bank.

However we had fun. Well, I had fun. The kids were a little intimidated by the jolly French shop owner who joined us at our table with stories from the globe, but after a few minutes settled in to work on their master pieces.

 OK, maybe that was a bit of a stretch.  Ethan got distracted by the napkin, he is into disposable art I guess.

I worked on a mug as fast as our 30 min time constraint allowed. It was a gift to me, sweet me, ha, ha bawwhaha.

I was going to gift it but then decided it was so me I just had to keep it...well that and the fact it came with a to-go lid. That sealed the deal....ha, ha no pun intended.

 Sheesh, I am cracking myself up tonight, you would think I was drinking or something but nope, just a little squirmy in the brain.

Sorry folks for the corniness, I am sure when I re-read this in the morning I will just shake my head and groan.

 Now mom's---as in Grandma A and Grandma Grumpy if you would fancy something like this please send some vibes so we know what to get started on for your way belated mothers day gifts, thanks!

Oh, yes and here are the flowers from auntie 'TT'. Thanks my sweet sister, you really put up with so much living here! I am sure you can hardly wait to get into your new condo...the peace, I can hardly imagine it!

Kaitlyn delivered the cup and saucer to Grammy. Tea pals.

The gift from 'TT' was this fun Chinese tea set with tea flowers. I cannot remember the real name for the whole thing but I love it. I have been eye balling one of these for me but my collection is near the bursting anyway. This will have to be a special treat time at my moms.

On with the week.....

Ever noticed how much I love my kids crazy hair?

Or crazy antics?

They just give me more reasons to love.

Pic-nic. It lasted a whole three minutes. Then the kids took turns running around in between bites, it sure was a treat!

Geese feeding play date.

Kaitlyn was quite infatuated with the "mama geeses baby chichens."

Oh, right, I almost forgot, here is the completed mug. After the glazing and firing the colors turn out quite vibrant.

Green makes me soooo happy!

The size is a happy size too, well for me and coffee, mmmmm.

Did I mention the hair?

Yup, I love it. If she wasn't mine I might think that her mommy was  a little nuts and should get out a brush and pony, but hey I love the whimsy of the wildness.

Bubbles.

Can't get enough.

Or chalk, it is an every day thing.

And painting, can't forget that! We have been working away, the show will go on! Tuesday actually is the date set for delivery. I still have a few to finish so this weekend I have to buckle down big time!

Speaking of buckling down I did so with my roller blades.

 I am loooooving the evening heat!

Playdate with the neighbors. We have been doors away for a year and a half now and we finally managed to get together. I hope it is a habit we get into. Being close is so nice and having new little friends to share swings and orange slices with, even better!

Jaunts in the park round out the day. No wonder I barely get on here!

I think we are trying to  pack the whole summer into a few days. 

I guess we are just a little excited to finally be getting out and enjoying the sun.

Once again some flyaway hair. I do love me some wispies, guess it could be because mine are so out of control. I choose to embrace!

Now back to the giveaway part.

This is going to be tough. I want you to go back through all the photos and name the one that you loved the most.....JUST KIDDING!!

Actually all you have to do is tell me if you prefer flight or fancy in your comment and then I will do a random draw for both choices and declare two winners in my next post. 

Getting this far deserves a prize without any more work!

Once the winners are announced I will ask you to e-mail me your mailing info and take it from there.

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Cheers!

Peek, it's me!

I am just going to sound like a broken record..I have missed blogging, again.  However it has been a very needed break. 

I am actually getting things done. I don't go near the computer most of the day and it has made a huge difference on the state of the house.

I was watching Trading Spouses- meet your new mom and there was this one mom who spent every spare minute and then the whole evening on the computer playing Star Wars games. 

When the moms swapped she tried to do the same at the new home but their internet connection was too slow to download the game. She seemed to go through a withdrawal and was cranky and distant. 

Back at her home the new mom was settling in and spent the evening talking with the new husband. He was not used to that and brought out videos of him and his wife back in the 'good old days.'

Days when they did everything together and spent quality time hanging out.

He was so sad and stated that he wished he could have his old wife back, the one who wasn't consumed with the computer.

I realize I am not that bad but close. 

It made me think of all the times I would get annoyed when I was trying to be on the computer. I realized that net life will go on, I may loose stats and readers since I don't get around to all the blogs I like to read as often as I would like. 

But, truth be told it is a break in  stress. Somehow I was feeling stress over keeping up. 

What matters is the here and now in my family life. 

I will blog when I get the chance and not stress out over it.

I have a ton of photos to share when I get the chance, soon I hope. I will sit and  plop them on, along with my give away.

For now here are a few pic's from the day and I am off to bed.


I really am excited to get back on here and share all of what we have been up to, there are ceramic crafts, four new paintings and a wickedly clean house!

Yes!

I have caught up on all the laundry, vacuuming, floor washing, sheet changing, clothes sorting and toilet scrubbing. No wonder I am so beat, but it is a good kind of beat, the kind of beat that leaves you satisfied that you can sit back and chill without anything hanging over your head to be done.

I feel light, now to plunk out some semblance of a schedule and hopefully keep up. Maybe this is the time to get back on the FlyLady wagon.

All I know is that I hope that I can keep this up, for Dave and the kids. They need the clean space, they thrive in it. I need to do my art and create and I think I can somehow strike a balance, time will tell. 

Now to bed with my sorry tired butt, I will have to do a proper update next time.

Hope you all had a great Mother's day!

My favourite part was when Kaitlyn and Ethan ran up to me with cards and Kailtyn squealed, "Happy mother's day, I love you!"

Anyway, more on that later.

What was your favourite part?

Connecting longish listy dots

First of all I want to say thank you! I am so flattered I just have to share. Despite my choppy irregular blog posting of late I have been honored to be blogged about elsewhere.

 My sweet and hilarious friend Brenda from Secret Agent Josephine received the painting. It was so fun  to see the two Baby bugs come face to face!

Then Kami did a pot about her bag, gosh, she made me blush!

And if that wasn't enough Elaine gave me an award! She is so kind and gracious!

I am so tickled it makes me want to do a give away! 

No not the painting, nice try!

Something else, it is in the works still, soon though!

Now remember this painting? Well it was only one post ago that I wrote about it but it feels like forever!

Some how I have really fallen off the bloggy wagon. I miss blogging and last night sat down to write. I was tired and kinda cranky, too much on my mind and I didn't feel like doing the actual work. If only I could think the post into being!

Anyway, the painting.

Some of you said you were interested in it and wondered if it would be for sale. It is for sale--with a catch.

The dimensions are 30x 36 inches (2 1/2 feet by 3 feet) and it is a gallery canvas, about 2 inches deep.

The price will be $199.00

Some of you might gawk, but this is a really good deal for an original. The costs are high for this size,  nearly half that price is soaked up in costs alone. The second half is to cover my labour. 

Sometimes I feel that I am expensive but then I look at other original prices, some sell this size for over $1000! Well someday I might have to charge that, but this is not a living for me, I do it as a stress release and as a passion. If you see a $1000 price tag anytime soon either I am super famous (not likely) or we are broke!

So thank goodness I don't have to charge that!

Now about the catch. This painting is reserved for the downtown salon show. If you purchase it it won't be delivered right away. It will still go into the salon show but with a sold tag.

 After a few weeks I will rotate it out and ship it then. If you choose to wait on it it might just get snapped up at the show so you will need to let me know right away before it gets hauled down there.

You can e-mail me or let me know in a comment.

Now if you do want it  I will pop it up on my etsy shop reserved in your name and get the details worked out.

Kaitlyn has been busy by my side working on her own artistic creations. However when I ask her what it is she is not quite sure, I am sure excited to see what it turns out to be though. A few more colors and dry times and coats will tell. 
I think I will reserve this one in my name, I am one of  her biggest fans!
Now in other daily news. We have been keeping busy with playdates...
one with little mommy and her kiddos,
Afternoons in the yard with just us,
and then a birthday afternoon at Kami's. (her birthday of course)

The kids celebrated  by having a blast on their trampoline, way better than gymnastics!
It seems that since the weather has turned we are outside so much and the fresh air really does  us in. Bedtime seems to happen earlier for me and posts sit in my head. 

I think it has been a good thing because I would have just been venting otherwise.

More on that later.

On with our daily doses.

Next up....the front yard as seen by Kaitlyn.

She sure has an interesting perspective. There were also a lot of tummy and knee shots. 

It is funny, reminds me of when I was her age and the world to me was just full of knees.
Now remember last post when I mentioned finding treasures in other peoples trash?

It is not like I am a garbage picker or anything and it is not that I need free stuff. I don't meant to leave an impression that I am on the prowl cause I am cheap, nothing like that!

I just like to find treasures in junk! (I get it from my mom)

Like this wheel barrow! 

It was next to a trash bin calling my name and is now the biggest hit in the yard for the kids. It is in perfect condition, a little faded but great! Thanks whoever you were that pitched it, we love it!

OK, now what I was going to say before about venting. I have been getting restless again, feeling listless and out of sorts. I finally made the connection, hello PMS!

This is why I am always fine a few days later. I know I am an emotional roller coaster at the best of times but now, ha, I am connecting the dots! 

For future reference, I must not make life decisions during those days, they would be totally out of wack, like choosing wall paper while pregnant, that was a disaster! 

Art was strange when I was pregnant too, enough about that though, this is probably why I didn't paint last night, I would have done pink swirls on an orange flower painting or something. Yikes!

Now I am off, the kids are napping and I need to get some cleaning done and some paintings wrapped to prep for the salon show. 

Have a great weekend!

 

This and that and art and umbrellas

Remember this painting?

 Ya I know, it's been ages since my last post and apparently the blogging world doesn't wait around while I go on a painting hiatus, boy do I have a lot of catching up to do! 

Anyway, for those of you who were wondering about it and if it would be for sale or if it was a special order, here is the answer.

It is for sale!

This painting was done spur of the moment and was not planned at all. I had this crazy burst of inspiration after surfing the net and it happened in the middle of the day, not normal at all for me!

So if you are a local or a friend or family and don't mind having to wait for it to be driven to you, do I have a deal for you!

If you like it and want it let me know, I will cut out the shipping  cost completely and drop it on your doorstep, or you can pick it up, that would suit my fancy too!

If no one wants it then it will get shipped off to my  Salon show in the next few weeks. 

This bird is ready to fly the coupe....oh and I put it up on my etsy shop here.

Now back to life. I really haven't meant to be so absents. It's not like I haven't been inspired or anything. I have and maybe this is why I haven't been around here much. 

I sure miss you all though. My poor inbox didn't ping at me once yesterday, it was so lonely!

We'll maybe it doesn't have feeling but if it did....ya!

Now I don't even know where to start. I have stories and stuff, but now here I sit at 12:30 with my brain starting to go blank, booo. 

Boring brain!

We have been busy, trips to the park with daddy. 

Shipments from the shop. (this tiny package fits in the palm of your hand)
And more trips to the park.

With songs from under the bridge about grumpy old trolls.


This guy, he thinks he's so cool, I do too, smooch!
With the warm weather and my lack of housekeeping we have made a few good trips out. 

Somehow I have not been able to find a balance between art and cleaning. Whenever I create the house goes to pot.

 In a really bad way.

I make excuses like, the cleaning can wait, it wont go away. A client might so I choose the latter.

This does not make for happy husband though.

He doesn't like to wait.

Being waited on, another story!
Oh, ya here is the latest completed project. Not named yet, maybe after a good nights sleep.
Bangs.

A new nick name thanks to auntie 'TT'. A week ago 'TT' pulled up next to my mom and Em while driving. When she looked over all she saw was....bangs. Emily has to strain a little to look out the window, hence the new name.

I think it fits. She likes it too...."and that's Bangs to you."  OK, Em---er, Bangs.
Another story now. Some of you know me and how I am always on the look for cheap treasures. Or free. The kids airplane swing in the backyard was found next to a dumpster in an alley. 

As a kids I often dumpster dived to retrieve a toy pitched by my dad.

Last week I dumpster dove to get a wicked awesome retro green on green damask comforter thrown out by my dad.

 Glad I was over that night!!

Then yesterday I came across this umbrella on the road. I nearly ran it over, turned around and went back, waited for other cars to not hit it then dashed to get it.

So worth it!

It is beautiful and the craftsmanship and quality, remarkable!

Treasure!
I am running out of photos so I will stop babbling. Oh, I could go on and on but I will give your poor eyes a break till next time.
Have a great night, or day or week as my blogging has been going!

I have more art in the works and once I am happy with it all I will get them up too, such a process around here. I should take a break though and get the laundry put way, I know, still not done!

It waits!! What can I say:)