pumpkin encore

A couple of months ago, we planted a pumpkin seed in a pot, which did fine until I had tried to transplant it to a proper garden plot - my thumb went from green to brown - Mr. Pumpkin plant totally shriveled up and died. So here is our second attempt - Mr. Pumpkin II. A little paranoid at the thought of killing another one, I am letting this one grow a bit larger before I transplant it... but not sure if I let it get too big already (oops)... our quest for an orange homegrown pumpkin continues!

collage: girl and balloons

A little cute balloon collage for this sunny Monday morning. Even though it is the start of the week, I am excited that it will be a shorter work week, since Canada Day falls on the Wednesday.... yay! It probably would have been nicer if it actually fell on the Monday or Friday to make it a long weekend, but a day off is a day off, so I am not going to complain!

Also want to thank kate8085 for featuring the cabin + cub tote bag on her lovely blog over the weekend! 

summer buzz

A lovely summery photo today (taken by my hubby Roger) to kick off the weekend. I think fuzzy bumble bees are so cute, but I try to keep a slight distance... I once stepped on one as a kid, while walking through grass (what are the odds), and my foot swelled up to three times its size. I basically had an elephant-man foot for a week... it was awful. But since then, I have overcome my fear of bees, especially for those darn cute fuzzy ones.

burning birds

I spent yesterday afternoon finishing up two orders of woodburned panels. While burning, I sometimes like to watch TV (more like listen to TV, so as to avoid any burn injuries). Anyhoo, flipping through the channels, I was shocked to hear that both Farrah Fawcett and Michael  Jackson had died? Wha?.....Crazy!

señor sonburro

I couldn't resist posting these pics, since they are so darned cute... and I wanted everyone to have an "awwwwwwwww" moment today; and I mean "awwwwwwwww" in the cute sense, and not in the "disappointment" sense... well unless you hate cute fuzzy donkeys, in which case you wll be highly disappointed. We saw these two on our way home from strawberry picking, and my hubby stopped the car to go feed them some grass through the fence. I had to nickname one of them Señor Sonburro... I don't know why, it just seemed fitting. And yes, I know it's a bad pun that attempts to allude to "sombrero", but whatever, the donkey didn't complain.

On a quick side note - thanks to the following blogs for passing on the lovely blog award this past week (Intrigued, Indie Style Blog, Latherati Soap Foundry, Pretty {much} Art, Scarlett Design and My Name Is Michael I Got A Nickel) - I have already done a past posting about the Lovely Blog Award, so check out my list of fifteen here, if you already haven't.

collage: oh dear, there goes the deer

So on the local news the other day, there was an announcement made to discourage people from having baby deer as pets. Apparently, many baby deer are mistaken to be abandoned (the mothers leave them for up to 24 hours and then return), but in fact they are actually fine. The thing that struck me as odd is that there must be enough people keeping these deer for themselves to run a news cast about it... weird. The thought of a deer in my 2 bedroom condo, or any house for that matter, seems like a bad idea - ummm... leaping and kicking wild animal mixed in with walls and furniture... yikes.

strawberry fields forever

Wooohoo... strawberries are finally here! This past weekend, we ventured out to the farms on Westham Island, a short ride outside of Vancouver, to pick some fresh strawberries. We managed to fill two extra large ice cream buckets... and I got a bit of nice tan in addition to my berry stained fingers. I was tempted to pick more... but being a horrible guesser of weights and measures, I was a bit paranoid of picking more than the cash we had in hand (yes, I am a bit of a worry wort). After our agricultural adventure, we enjoyed tall cold glasses of strawberry milkshake made at the local farm stand... just writing about this is making me want another one... so please excuse me, while I go and fire up the blender.

and the winner is...

Hooray... over 90 entries for the June giveaway... the friendly competition is getting fierce! Meow! So to keep with tradition (well, ok, this is the only second giveaway I have had.. but we had to keep it ceremonious), all the names have been printed and dropped into the glorious trophy cup... it's the old school randomizer. Thanks to my hubby Roger, for being the official draw person (he really had no choice in the mater)... heehee.

And the winner of the two lovely notebooks is... Tracy of Hey Harriet (blog: Hey Harriet)! Congrats! And what is her fave book?: "Difficult to narrow down my fave book but one that I love is 'Sophie's World' - so much so that I named my little dog Sophie."

Thanks to everyone who entered... everyone had such great books as their choices (so some good suggestions in the comments, for anyone looking for summer reads)! And no fret, if you didn't win... I am going to have another giveaway in July... hooray... so stay tuned!

you say tomato

While I was watering the tomato plant on our balcony/patio garden the other day, I took a closer look underneath some of the leaves and was excited to see little green tomatoes growing... at least 8 of them... woohoo! What you see on screen is pretty close to their actual size too... so they are still pretty teeny. Mmm... now all I can think of is fresh salads, roasted tomatoes, and salsa... I will have to choose the recipe wisely though, since I don't know if there are enough of the little guys to make all three!

collage: tooting my own horn

Entering grade 8 (the first year of junior high here), I remember that all students had to pick two arts/music type of electives as part of their curriculum. Drama was a definite no for me (13, shy and introverted mixed with drama = fear, paranoia and nightmares); Guitar was full of boys who wanted to learn how to play every heavy metal song known to man, so that was out; Choir (um, yah... again, 13 and introverted with a microphone is an obvious no-go). So what two did I have left? Concert Band and Art. I learned to play the clarinet, as well as the trombone (I have just upped my geek factor by a million points here)... both instruments of which I have not touched since the age of 16... but art has stuck with me... so who says you don't learn anything useful in school? 

ps. thanks to Christy for including one of my collages on her lovely blog, Dandy Bread and Candy!

deer, chipmunks, and... marmots?

This is part 2 of some of the pics we took while on our camping trip at Lightning Lake at Manning Provincial Park this past weekend. There were a lot of deer up there... I even bumped into a pair up close and personal while on my way to the bathroom - of course, I didn't have the camera with me... grrr. The chipmunk, which we named Mr. Chippy Chappy scavenged around our tent and picnic table waiting for us to drop crumbs and sorts while we ate... cute isn't he? The third pic is of Mr. and Mrs. Marmot (which is like a small groundhog)... there were close to two dozen of them scattered around near the main lodge chirping to each other. I think they were plotting on how to overtake all the campsites... sneaky little guys.

new wooden mini cards

I have been busy with my little print gocco these past couple of weeks (and, yes I am hoarding the last supplies I have left, if anyone is curious)... and have made some new wooden mini cards! The three little birdy designs are printed with metallic inks on to maple wood veneer. They are mini in size (2 x 3.5") so perfect as a gift card or little note... or maybe even as a little piece of art for a tiny little frame. Check them out in the shop!

ps. don't forget to enter the June giveaway here!

mountain wildflowers

This past weekend, we went on our camping trip to Lightning Lake at Manning Provincial Park (near Hope). The weather was a bit dodgy at times, and it was slightly colder than we anticipated, but it was still a great trip. I am a bit of a wimpy camper; 2 to 3 nights is my max, anymore than that, then shower facilities are a must. One of the highlights (besides the campsite having real flush washrooms and not those yucky pit toilets... haha), was driving up to one of the mountain peeks and being rewarded with an awesome view of the surrounding area... we also saw lots of beautiful mountain wildflowers along the way. We took... well actually, my husband Roger took lots of pics... so I will have to split them into a couple of upcoming postings!

ps. don't forget to enter the June giveaway here!

june giveaway - win two notebooks!

Last month's giveaway got such a great reaction (over 80 entries!), so I thought I would have another one for this month... yay! Who wouldn't love these cute whale and birdy books to jot down their thoughts, sketches, and lists.

Win this cute set of gocco printed blank notebooks by posting a comment and telling me the title of one of your favorite books. I'll make a random draw from the glorious trophy cup on Monday, June 22nd. Please remember to include contact info (etsy shop, blog, website or e.mail address) and please only one entry per person.

Good luck everyone!

waiting for pesto

So one of the garden-ey things I am trying to grow from seed is basil. I have had little success in the past and I think it's due to my impatience - we tend to eat it faster than it can grow. This little guy on our window sill seems to be doing ok so far... but I think he gets a wee bit nervous every time he knows I'm cooking.

collage: kitty lunch

I love to eat. I am one of those types of people who gets hangry (hungry + angry) when I don't get yummy food in me at timely points in the day. Sometimes I'll even start to daydream about an upcoming meal up until I am actually eating... heehee. I wonder if cats get hangry too?

les mis

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went and saw Les Misérables playing in Vancouver... I wasn't sure what to expect, since I'm not really a fan of musicals, and have never really had urges to go in the past. The whole thing was very new to me, so I thought I might as well give it a shot. It took me awhile to accept that every piece of dialogue was sung (naive me thought it would just be interludes of music... lesson learned). Anyhoo, I was pleasantly surprised - it was quite good and several of the singers had very powerful and moving moments. I'm glad we went and that I got to experience my first Broadway-type musical... although, I don't think I am quite ready for Cats. 

too much information

How fun!... I was tagged by kate8085 of Where Eagles Dare (thanks!) a few days ago in the theme of eight , and thought what a great way to share some random facts. So to accompany the random lists is a flashback image of one of my old random collages (circa sometime in the 90s... eek!) so here goes...

8 things I am looking forward to:

· seeing my hubby when he gets home from work everyday

· going camping this weekend... yay!

· getting a new high end printer, so that I can start making art prints

· going on our next big foreign vacation (went to Vietnam this year, next one is still tbd)

· the release of Where the Wild Things Are movie

· sleeping in on weekends

· starting a little family

· buying a house with a porch one day, with a separate studio and small yard for a garden

8 things I did yesterday:

· worked on more collages

· worked on an illustration and cd design for a client

· tended to the garden (it's a patio garden, so that didn't take very long)

· one load of laundry (whites) in our new machine that I am obsessed with.. yay front-loaders!

· online banking

· listened to Lykke Li

· dug out some camping equipment for the weekend

· went for tea at the local coffee shop with my hubby

8 things I wish I could do:

· travel all the time

· live past 100

· speak french fluently

· play the drums like a superstar

· be a better swimmer

· eat whatever i wanted and not gain any weight

· cook like a chef

· do big air tricks on my snowboard

8 shows I watch:

· Arrested Development (on DVD, since its now over... sadness)

· It's Only Sunny In Philadelphia

· The Hour (with George Strombopolous - love him!)

· Flight of the Conchords

· 30 Rock

· Lost

· Gossip Girl (yes, it's a bad guilty pleasure) 

· Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations

Hmmm... perhaps that was all too much information. Do you have a random fact you'd like to share? ;)

collage: one day you will grow up to be big and strong

The whole baby beluga news from Sunday (see yesterday's post) is really making the rounds on local tv here. So to keep the baby animals theme going, I thought this collage would be perfect for today. I think this little fella will one day grow up to be big and strong... clip clop clip clop.

baby beluga

Yesterday at Vancouver Aquarium, a new baby beluga was born! How cute! About 1.3 metres long, the new beluga is a girl. Now I have a definite excuse to head on down to the aquarium in the coming weeks... how can I resist a baby whale! Watch the video of the birth here.

salad time

It has been a couple of weeks since I have had a garden update on our small patio garden. The lettuce greens are now almost ready to pick for salads... well, perhaps just one salad for now until the rest of it gets bigger. I was so excited about how easily it grew I planted another big box of it... so in a few more weeks we should have enough for "salads" plural. Also planted some dill seeds, and it seems to be doing well... (it looks a bit flat in the pic, since I just watered it). Oh.. and sadly, the pumpkin plant we grew from seed and then transplanted to mom's real garden has died... I didn't take a picture, since it looked like a sad shriveled vine. Not sure what went wrong, but I have planted new pumpkin seeds... so hopefully it will work this time!

lovely blog award

Thank you to Jennifer Magnesi Designs, Art Plus, Life As I Know It: Southwest Edition and Sunshine City Lassie for passing on the Lovely Blog Award! 

I love checking out other blogs and discovering new ones, so to keep the momentum going, here are 15 random blogs I have stumbled upon in the past couple of months that are worth checking out. Happy reading!

1. Sexy People

2. cute things falling asleep

3. coco cake cupcakes

4. where the lovely things are

5. love love letterpress

6. the mustache press

7.  lobster and swan

8. knock.knocking

9. natsumi

10. notebook doodles

11. smitten kitchen

12. the dieline

13. Schwebebucht

14. freshly blended

15. perfectbound

hardcover notebooks on sale!

I am discontinuing my series of hard cover notebooks and switching to focusing on just doing soft cover books... so I am putting the remaining ones I have left on sale for 50% off! There is a lovely happy red elephant design as well as an orange and blue singing bird design. Both are printed on grid paper with my little gocco, and each book contains 60 blank pages and a lovely matching ribbon bookmark. Check them out in the etsy shop here.

collage: woman and foxes

Living in Canada, there are plenty of times where we encounter wildlife... and no, not roaming the urban centres... only in the wooded and foresty areas. Animals I have spotted (at different times, of course) are bears, deer, moose, marmots, squirrels & chipmunks, coyotes and plenty of birds... but I have yet to spot a fox in the wild. I am adding that to my list under "beaver", another animal, I have yet to see.

orchid finale

This is my final week of doing orchid watch for my parents while they are away on holiday... hooray... they are coming back this week! I think I need a holiday from all these flowers... the tedium of watering their over 100 plants is starting to wear on me... it's been a whole month. The other good news?... the flowers are all still alive and well.... phew!

first pool day of the summer

The weather here has been fantastic this past week... perfect sunshine all day and every day... it finally feels like summer! On Saturday, we hit Kitsilano Pool for the first time this year... and it was great (well except for my husband's mild sunburn... need to get a higher SPF)! It's Canada's longest pool (137 metres/150 yards) and is a salt water pool (so no nasty chlorine). Situated on the water, it has a fantastic backdrop of the downtown skyline and surrounding mountains... obviously I didn't take this photo, but it is a great one to show what I'm talking about. Hopefully we can try and go once a week... I need to practice my sad swimming skills.