Green

Look at the glorious GREEN!!!!!
I left crazy cold snowy Winnipeg this morning and here I am in California surrounded with the freshness of green palm trees and grass and warmer air. mmmmmm!

Sure does a heart a little bit o' good.
Every year I wait for and totally Love the spring because after the world is asleep thorough our long winters, it comes alive with the freshest air and the sounds of nature and all of the plants begin to wake up and come alive again. It is rejuvenating.
Coming here is like a wee little bit of spring in the middle of my winter.
So awesome!
Looking forward to finding a few of my pals tonight and catching up.

Christmas bits

Going through some of our photos as I travel through airports today, and I realised that other than little Bella's songs I never got around to sharing any of our little moments from Christmas this year.
We were so blessed to have time shared with so much precious family, and also had a few moments of missing those who are far away this year or no longer with us. A big hug and hello to Dad and the crew in Ontario, Memere and Pepere, and Cam's family all over Canada; hoping these pics make you guys feel a wee little bit closer to us!
If the coloring is weird I apologize I am pulling these together on my laptop and I am never quite sure if it is right on or not.
The girls had such a great time getting all dressed up in their favorite Christmas dresses and hair-dos for all of our Christmas time visits. We enjoyed having Uncle Kyle in town for the festivities and thourally enjoyed our times around the table for ,Gigi's famous Turkey and many of our favorite traditional Ukrainian Christmas Yummies.
Each of the girls shopped for, and made their own little gifts this year and were So so proud to give them. It was adorable to see what they picked out for each person.
The letters to Santa were left with plates of cookies, and carrots for the reindeer ( they decided this year that they would make a plate EACH and fill it right full, LOL. Santa was pretty stuffed)
It was a full year for us 5, full of all kinds of goods and bads and many adventures. We are all really looking forward to everything that 2009 will hold for our family. Time to quit chatting and let the photos tell the story...

Heading out

I am heading off for California this week. Gonna hit CHA and see what's new in creative products. I have some meetings scheduled and Hopefully there will be bits of down time to spend with good friends that I only end up seeing at events like this!
It's been quite awhile since I went last and other than some business that I am going to take care of, I figured if I am gonna be able to order/plan for fresh new products in my classes in the next year then I better go and see what's cookin' in scrappy/art world!
If you are there please stop and give me a hug and a hello.

Totally off topic, check out the pic above, look how our babies have grown!!!
I told you Here that we were getting a new baby, she was only 6 weeks old in that pic. Thing is, kittens need another little kitten to play with so we ended up falling in love with her brother and bringing them both home. The kids affectionately refer to them as "the twins" and we named them Sam and Daisy. They are the sweetest most affectionate little ones and almost always found in the arms of a little girl purring away or if I am here at my desk working they come and crawl up in my lap. So sweet.

Weekend wonderful

I Love weekends...Love Love Love. It is OUR time together; time to forget about work and focus on being a family. Weekends are our time to eat chocolate chip pancakes together and get out in the sun and snow, go for walks , build forts, toboggan. It is our time to work together to clean the house and do other projects we have decided to work on as a family. It's just good and rejuvenating for all 5 of us. Today we were outside getting rosy cheeks as we headed down hills on our toboggans, our ever-faithful Bear was thrilled to run alongside with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Emy went for the jumps and the fastest runs she could find and the little two were pretty content to roll down or run and slide on their tummies like penguins. Good good fun!

Happy weekending!

new goodie time

Time to share what I've been making for this month. the first two here are in my little Dreamer store Above is a new stamp set of magical bubbly swirls that can be overlapped to build your own look or simply used on their own to add a touch of whimsy to your layouts. And below is is a happy alphabet painted on canvas and bent and cracked for some added yummy texture! These print out really nicely on plain or textured cardstock and can be cut out to add to paper projects over and over again.

And here are a couple of the guest goodies that I added to the jan BYOC kit over at the Lilypad.
Both of these are just some of my usual little touches to add a bit of carefree art to your projects!
the first is made with waxy art crayons and the second with faber castell markers of different thicknesses.
Happy creating!

Happy Birthday little Tia!!!

My sweet little angel is seven years old today.

Right exactly now she...
-Loves animals and wants to be a vet when she grows up
-draws, paints and colors all of the time and also wants to be an artist
-does her own braids without looking
-is learning to read
-Loves her new baby doll "Joy"and takes her everywhere
-Is a little mama hen to both her big and little sisters
-Helps mommy and daddy willingly and happily whenever we ask
-Just learned how to ice skate and is very proud of herself
-Has come so far in a year and we are so so proud of her.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!!

3 Am creative babble

Creativity is a funny thing the way it comes and goes, sleeps and wakens at it's own pace and in it's own time...as if it has a mind of it's own while at the same time being so very much a part of a person. Something that you can't predict and cannot control but always welcome back when it decides to show up after a time away, no matter how brief.

For me it may stir as the need to get back out of bed at 4 in the morning and get my hands in paint and all kind of bits. Whatever little this and that I see around me inspiring ideas and becoming bits of what I am creating and the story that is unfolding...I sometimes watch as if my hands are moving on their own as it takes shape in front of me...I let it happen and watch...curious and interested to see where it will go, where this storm of art is headed.

It is these times, when I don't try to control what I am making, when I forget about the end result and just bask in the life of the art, in the beauty of creating, that I do my favorite pieces.

It is when I just let go and allow it to unfold.

When I create I am alive to the very most inner parts of myself, and in a way that is different than any other part of my life and who I am. It is something that I need to do, something I need as much as cold water and fresh air...it is how I am made, who I am.
So I guess I have finally found the words for what I want this coming year.
I want to find a new outlet for this art that is so much a part of me, something that requires no thought and I can just go with when the urge strikes me.

Working on that.

catching the Big one

Sometimes I can write forever and I do get quite windy, it just comes spilling out. And other times, like now, I sit and think and I simply cannot really capture the spirit of amazing unconditional friendships and the times that we share in any sort of words.
So here you go, summed up in a few photos; is our evidence of one of many seriously AWESOME days with some of the greatest friends in the world...

We took the girls and jumped in the van for a little road trip to finish up winter vacation just right. We had an amazing time away with our good friends Krista and Braden and their little guys Ice fishing in the beautiful Q'uappelle valley this past week. I used to go to camp there every summer and this is seriously one of the most beautiful places to just be and breathe it in.

It's a totally different scene out on the frozen lake drilling holes in the frigid cold, but still super super beautiful. The kids had such a blast doing this all for the first time. Making the holes, clearing them out and keeping them clear (it was soo cold that the holes were freezing back up really quickly), making a fire to roast lunch and keep warm, hugging new slimy friends ( see Emy above LOL) and being a general buncha monkey heads (of course referring to me)
Uncle Braden is now even more of a hero than he already was to them!... thanks man!It is so so good to have friends that have been around since days of young, and you know will be around till you're wrinkly, no matter what may come.
So so good.

Happy New Year!!!

We always find something super fun to do together to start the year out right, it is kind of a tradition. This year it was skating on the lake. There is nothing quite like it, SO cold, but so much fun! Looking forward to many things for 2009.
I don't really have words for them all yet but they are stirring.
What are you hoping for/looking forward to this year?
May you have a fabulous start to what I hope will be to be a fabulous year for you all.

I leave you with Dad and Daughter skating off into the glow of the setting sun.
xo