announcing....

Some pretty fun news! It has been over 2 years of lovely sweet requests for me to sell my designs.

I make my own things for my paper layouts ( anyone who has had classes with me or hung out and scrapped with me knows how very true this is) and I have made a lot of my own goodies for digi/hybrid pages too, but the thought of making it "good enough" to sell and finding the time to package it all up etc. just made me shake in my polka-dot socks LOL!

In the last 6 months or so I have finally been feeling ready to just go for it, to stop saying "nah" and start sharing my creations...it's been stirring my friends. Seriously.

Soooooo, when my friend Michelle asked me to be a guest designer at the Little Dreamer Shoppe I decided that the time had come at last to finally say "YES!"

So here it is folks, the official launch of Chickie-D Art :)

Time for a virtual Kick off party! please make yourself at home, and help yourself to a few little party snacks I have put out for you here ;)

The decorations are lovingly hung below...

and I have lots more in the works....

check out my little corner of the shoppe Now for a little more kick off party fun!!!I wanna give some more goodies away :)

3 ways to win
1.Leave me a comment here on this post and let me know what you think, or for that matter just say hello and tell me something good about your day! I will randomly draw 5 names from the comments who will receive a free kit of their choice

2. We will randomly pull 5 names from everyone who purchases any of my new products in the next week to win 2 free packs of their choice!

Or

3. Scrap with some of my new goodies and post it in whichever galleries you post your scraps. Then leave me links on this post to be entered in a random draw for everything that you see above!!! ($30 value)

Whoo Hooo!!!!

for happy fun

Come out and play with me
Thanks for coming to the party and have a FAB Tuesday my friends!

back to school

Back to school after an amazing summer.

**sigh**

It is always bittersweet for me, sending the girls to school in September. I Love having them home with me and I just want to keep them here, but I am so proud of them and it is great to see them growing into such wonderful people.

Emy has this thing for school uniforms, she is so adorable, and thinks it would be just dreamy to have to go to boarding school. LOL. So I totally indulged her and let her dress as very much "school girl" as she possibly could come up with. She pulled it off fabulously and was such a doll in her little outfit :)

Tiara, starting grade one, being gone all day, EVERYDAY.

I have so many feelings about this. Not the usual mom letting go kind of feelings, well maybe a few tiny ones, but more of the worry over a child with severe sensory issues and so many anxieties being able to handle the intensity of a full week at school kind of worries. A full week of noise and busyness and GETTING DRESSED properly in clothes that are not half of a pair of P.jammies. She needs/thrives on routine so I think that once she settles in it will be a great thing to have every day the same, but I worry about the the rocky road that I know we will have to get past first.

And of course we have the wee one...I can't even believe that my littlest baby is starting preschool this year. WOW times change so fast. The thing I love about having a blog is the record that it keeps, and how I can look back at what was going on a year or two ago. Check out these little people just two years ago!
That was Tiara's first morning of preschool and little Bella was such a baby still. She really is thrilled to feel like one of the "big girls" and is going to have such a great time making her own little friends and her own little crafts etc.

The girls were super excited about these lunch "purses" they got this year. Aren't they great?! I want one;)

And Tiara is proudly holding up her one little finger to stand for Grade One.

GO my girls, and grow even more amazing!!!

Happy September,CD

Camping

Awesome camping....hard core true north style, nestled in forest in a big ol' tent with no electricity and all of our cooking on the fire kind of camping. so so RAWKIN!!!

It was the perfect time together, truly priceless, and such a great way to finish up our busy summer! We had great weather and didn't miss modern technology for one second...well maybe one teeny tiny second when I wanted boiled water faster than the fire could do it, but that's it. And patience is good for us all, even when it only concerns boiling water :)

Cam and I were big time campers when we were younger and even when Emy was a wee one, but then once Tia came along with all of her sensitivities it just wasn't such a great plan...we sure have missed it though, and as much as I want to bottle up these little people and keep them small forever, it was pretty awesome to do "bigger" non-baby things with them all.

There is way too much to tell so,
In a nutshell ....

-Emy had a friend out for a few nights which was probably one of the highlights of her summer.

-The kids went on a bug hunting expedition armed ith a big pink net, and caught all kinds of different grasshoppers , crickets, and other bug friends in the ladybug care homes that they made last year.

-We went for super FAB ice cream

-sat around the fire often playing games and roasting marshies. Or like these guys just getting in lots of cuddles and together happy bonding time.-Cooked up some good crunchy fresh Manitoba corn YUM! and our signature perogies and bacon fire cooked pack of goodness. -Went for a "sounds of the night" hike and learned about the differentnt annimals who live and hunt in the forest at night>>>so COOOOL!
-We went on a history hike to an old homestead built by pioneers and learned about them

-rode bikes, read books, and enjoyed the slower pace

-had a day at the beach. Well, technically at the beach... I think we spent more time, as you saw in the previous post, ankle deep in the slimy swamp around the corner catching frogs and finding shells.The kids ended up with their beloved "Rose, Toad-a, Jackson, and Green" and spent hours playing with them in the water and building a little habitat for their new froggy friends from water, sand, and leaves.
Even Bear was thrilled to finally be able to come along on a family vacation and had a wonderful time spending his days outside with us all and keeping us warm in the tent at night.

a sticky situation

Well, normally I am the girl who is unafraid to get in there and get her hands dirty...normally. Today was a little different, today I had to also be unafraid to get my feet dirty! To sink right into a slimy muddy swamp up to my ankles while it smooshed and sunk underneath me, and I tried to shove out of my mind the possibility of LEECHES living in it ( one of my life long fears) , all in the spirit of good outdoor summer fun. OK and to be the super hero mom, who is really awesomely cool, and catches frogs to make the kids super duper happy. The kids who will always remember my incredibly cool awesomeness and consider me a big super hero for the rest of their lives.......right?

Sooooo. I shut my eyes for a minute as the first foot sunk in and I shrugged off the cringe that was growing inside me in exchange for channelling my inner tomboy from the days of old when messy gross activities like his would have been totally up my ally. How is it that as I get older I get boring and lame, and grow out of a love for sinking into slimy sticky warm gooey mud????

It was all well worth it and ended up being great fun. Here we are with our triumphant bucket of shells, after trying to wipe most of the slop off.

We are having a great time with the kids.

Gone camping and spending some QT together before the school year starts up again.I got a signal here at the campground store today and so I was able to check a few emails and send a few while my people were napping. I will write more when we get home but I just
HAD to pop in for a little hello and an update on our summer fun

Happy day to you!!!

summer posts

hey there, just wanted to pop in and let you know that as promised, I have been slowly getting  some of those old draft posts up that have been building over the jamm-packed-away -from-home summer months. If you pop by here for a visit please scroll down and check out how our summer has been rolling :) 

I will keep adding them as I find bits of time to throw on the photos and spell check ;)

Been working hard on a few VERY exciting new projects, well... I think they are exciting anyways, hope to share more details very very soon. 

We are away in the US right now getting in just a bit more quality time with the girls before the new school year gets under way. 

Sending them off to school after the holidays is always so bittersweet for me. *sigh* I really do have the three very best girls in the whole world. Sorry if you have girls but I'm afraid I was blessed to get the best!

Hope your weekend is Fab, Fresh and always FUN!

peace and blessings and happy day wishes,

xo, me

random notes from the road

Sitting on the floor in the airport this morning,having a cinnabon for breakfast and watching people walk by. Man, there are a lot of people in a rush!

I always enjoy airports for this reason; watching all of the rushing people going by all around me makes me enjoy all the more my own inner peace. In busy hustle bustle places I seem to find myself extra peaceful; with a book, my thoughts, a drawing...it is Like my own little island of quiet amidst the stormy sea.

RAD

It has been a busy summer with A LOT of time away from home.

I am feeling like my feet have barely touched Winnipeg soil. Some of the time away has been on my own, for work, but there has also been plenty of time away with my family. I always LOVE the time with all 3 girls home for the summer, we fill our time together with all sorts of adventures and new memories.

I have at least 10 blog posts in draft that I have written as I have a thought to share, and tons of photos etc.

WOW,I am really hoping that some more time at home as we head into the fall will mean some time for me to catch up on things like that. The fall makes me sad to send the girls away all day to school, but getting back into the routine of the school year is always a good good thing.

I am throwing in a few pictures of the girls out for ice cream just because a post needs pictures ;)

Happy day to you

wherever you are; I hope you can enjoy your own inner peace in the middle of your day :)

what do you want to embrace today?

here's mine, care to share?

tag, I'm it

My good friend Amy decided that it was time for a blog update and tagged me. Looks fun so I am playing along :)

Happy day to you my friends

1. Where is your cell phone? don't have one, don't need one, don't want one

2. Your significant other? at work, saving the world one computer at a time

3. Your hair? in my usual non-fancy 2 braid "do"

4. Your mother? free spirit

5. Your father? heart of Gold
6. Your favorite thing? true quality time with my peeps
7. Your dream last night? none, didn't sleep

8. Your favorite drink? pure cold ice water
9. Your dream/goal? to play the guitar like my daddy does

10. The room you’re in? a happy lived in mess
11. Your hobby? creativity
12. Your fear? losing the ones that I love
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? with my family
14. What you’re not? phony
15. Muffins? banana chocolate chip

16. One of your wish list items? a great new pair of jeans
17. Where you grew up? Winnipeg

18. The last thing you did? draw on Bella's back untill she fell asleep
19. What are you wearing? PJ pants, rainbow socks and a tank top
20. Favorite gadget? my camera

21. Your pets? my boys; smokey the cat and bear the dog
22. Your computer? too slow, too full, WAY too overworked
23. Your mood? tired but happy

24. Missing someone? yes...too many someones

25. Your car? full of kid stuff
26. Something you’re not wearing? make up
27. Favorite store? Superstore

28. Like someone? always

29. Your favorite color? rainbow

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? 2 days ago

Happy CANADA day!!! ( AKA:happy anniversary)

...and what a day it was!

It was Beaches, bonfires and bar-B-Qs for us!!!!

Yeppers, I typed an 'es' at the end of beach LOL.

We went to more than one beach... enjoyed some Frisbee out in the water, Tia collected tiny shells, we all had some good drippy watermelon and strawberries and just as things were getting fun some crazy fast moving dark storm clouds rolled in on us and brought with them one of the famous Canada day storms I remember almost every year since I was a little girl celebrating out in Lac Du Bonnet. So with sand whipping at our faces we packed up in a hurry and made the drive down the highway towards home, but By the time we were getting close to the city it was sunshiny and beautiful out once again so we pulled in to beach #2 for some more happy fun. We built the Muckosky family castle of dreams splashed around some more and had an all around great time!!! Then to finish the day up just right Cam and I took the girls over to Nanny and Gigi's for a few hours of bonfire fun while we went out for a FAB anniversary dinner. Sun , fun, food and family...couldn't be a better way to celebrate the years together.

Love you Cam thanks with all of my heart for so many years of perfect friendship and amazing stand-by-me Love. I am so thankful for all that you do for us girls every day. Happy Anniversary ;)

summer evening dreamer

She is growing so much, thinking so much, and as always full of dreams. Sometimes I just have to stand back and watch her in amazement, my beautiful angel. This year she will begin grade four, turn ten and go through all of the changes and growth that go along with another year older. Friends will make her laugh and break her sensitive little heart and it is all a part of her journey. Sometimes the hardest part as a mama is letting go, standing back and letting that journey unfold.

love is beautiful...

and these two are totally in love and so wonderful to hang out with.
The day was freezing...seriously frigid Winnipeg cold. I was rolling around on the ground in my ski pants to get the right angles for their engagement pics, and Maureen and Shayne were incredible; smiling, laughing and striking a pose as if they were as warm as could be. In between locations we would all run for the car and crank the heat to try to get warm before doing it all over again.What a blast!
Thanks for such a fun day guys :)

Just popping in to share some of these engagement photos I have been editing in my down time out here. Getting super excited for their wedding coming up this summer! Same great fun I hope with MUCH warmer conditions LOL

peace and hugs from a far

onward!!!

We headed out in the wee hours this morning with our kind friend Cees. Destination: Rotterdam airport to catch our flight over to Italy. This is a new adventure for both Cam and I; it's somewhere neither of us has been before and always have wanted to visit. I feel like we are living one big dream come true.

The kids are still happy and having a wonderful time with both sets of grandparents. We got to talk to them on skype last night and those little faces were so perfectly perfect... *sigh*

Knowing they are all happy as can be makes me happy and able to completely enjoy being out here. That is the thing about being mama; no matter where I am or what I am doing my three little angels are always on my mind.

We will be staying with friends here in Rome. Going to see as much as we can and sure to have some RAD adventures!

here is a big "whoo hoo!" for Pizza, pasta, gelati, being tourist-ie, friends, fountains and ruins, and I don't even know what else yet; look out Italy here we cooooooome!!!

getting messy

It is out last day in Holland and I am having some seriously Happy-messy-playtime this morning, getting ready to teach a private class tonight for a great group of ladies. Should be a good time, we are going to be doing some really fun stuff with fabric, crumpled chipboard, and watercolor paper!

I just have to say that it feels fabulous to get my hands dirty and be creating a bit today. I am always so inspired when I teach at events I just want to pull up a chair and join the creative good times.

get messy and a little creative today, even just a little, I promise it will make you smile :)

Happy day!!!

happy as a clam at the sea

After a very happy weekend of teaching with the world's very absolute best and cutest assistant (pictured below) *wink*

we took a nice long walk down to Noordwijkerhout, still here in the Netherlands.

Neither of us has been at the Sea before so we gathered shells for the girls as the sun set and went to the "Pannekoeken Haus" for some super yummy Crepes. When in the world do we have time just to stroll along and enjoy the beauty of the world together?! WEll, we do go for a walk as a family almost every day but being out with three little girls is very different from this kind of time just Cam and I. Such a treat.

So many beautiful gardens and flowers in bloom for us to admire. WE are going to try and get some bulbs for this awesome purple one to take back home to Nana ( who happens to be an amazing gardener!)

I have this thing about cool signs and I take way too many pictures of them. It is a funny little obsession but it's just my thing, they catch my eye no matter where I am :)
Love this dutch signpost s'cool!

and the sign for the round-abouts...we don't have these and I would be super confused driving on them but RAD anyways!

I will have to download the photos from my classes and add some later; as usual I met some truly amazing people who really touched my heart, it is not a surprise to me anymore the way I am touched by my students and how amazing their lives and stories are, but it is just as special. Thank-you all for being willing to trust me and try new things, for listening and believing in the importance of telling our best stories and for being willing to open up and share them with me throughout our days together. Bless you all and I hope to see you again in the future!

Time to try and call my little ones and then get some shut-eye for now, but no holiday would be complete without a good self portrait.

goodnight friends

super cool

been seeing this everytime we get on the elevator

Here!

Cam and I are officially official Netherland-visiting-super-duper-Jet-lagged-people and happy as can be. We came out here with one day to relax and switch time zones before the teaching begins. So, today I took Cam on the train to Delft where my friend Yvonne had shown Kristie and I the finer points of this great little dutch town on my last visit out. What a fantastic day! It rained...a lot...and there was a good amount of time where we were soaked and freezing but as sweet as we both happen to be, lucky for us we are not made of sugar so we held up just wonderfully.

no melting Canadians in sight.

We had a blast eating melt in your mouth Poffertjes and drinking Chocomel mmmmmm!, tasting fresh warm stroop waffles and checking out all kinds of cute little shops. Everytime we sat down too long anywhere that was comfy and warm though we were both nodding off LOL. I'm sure we were quite the sight!

Today Lovin':

-the sidewalk bricks with moss growing up in between;

-bikes EVERYWHERE...it's just so happy;

-water-so much of it;

-cool old buildings;

-taking the train cuz it's something we rarely get to do;

-my new big rainbow umbrella what a cool find;

-skype- makes me feel not so far from those cute little faces I love so much.

T.T.F.N.

(ta-ta for now!)

notes from the air

1. we are high and dry.... thanks to both of our mom's and our own really RAWKIN' washing machine we have managed to wash through all of the clothes that were in boxes waiting for someone to grow into them and everything else that was attacked by the nasty bad angry hot water tank before we left. oh goodness it was honestly something like 20 loads in the end I think. Whew!!!

Good news is that our house smells like wonderful fresh hanging laundry.
As for the angry hot water tank; it has been fired and in it's place stands a shiny new well behaved model.

done. end of story.

2. It is official: we are off and flying on our June Europe adventure.
and as you can above see I am a total die hard airplane-window-cloud-photo-taker ( along with my friend B, lol you know who you are!) No matter how many times I fly I am always taken by the beauty and bigness of creation. the super blue of the blue sky and those amazing fluffy cotton ball clouds; I just turn into a little girl in awe every single time. The best part is #3.......

3. Someone needs to pinch me because I seriously can't believe that I actually have this adorable boy of mine on the way to Europe with me!!!

4. RAWK ON WORLD here we come! :)