Blue Day sharing

 It was a Blue day around here. The Skies looked so amazing, perfect Blue, lots of sun and fluffy clouds. But... looks can be deceiving, it's still pretty chilly in these parts. Brrrr, I'm a big suck and our furnace is broken So it's been blankets and slippers and all of the warm wear I can dig up. Anyways, after a quick yogurt parfait for breakfast ( yogurt, protein powder, almond butter and blueberries. YUM) I head out to tackle a day of appointments and running around armed with the fluffiest warmest hoodie I have...yep happens to be blue too.
obsessed much?!

 Driving around all day gave me lots of time to think and pray and think some more, Lots on my mind and never seems to be enough alone time to process it all. A couple of  lovely people in our life are going through stuff and are on my heart. We are walking a very interesting journey with one of our girls that I am not ready to share yet, but it involves some digging and diagnosing and then some life changes, will be a good thing. But it's big and definitely weighing on me right now.

 BUT...Despite the blue start I got to meet up with my lovely mama for an impromptu sunny lunch picnic in the car. We broke all of the rules just like we used to do when I was little and it was just the two of us hitting the town. Feet on the dash, ate right off the cheese block, laughed at things we maybe shouldn',t and let me tell you, IT RAWKED. yayy for happy amazing moms, yayy for picnics, and yayy for breaking a few rules!

Lastly I'm still working fiercely on new designs tonight, and what's coming from my hands right now honors a really cool artist friend of mine. More to come on that this weekend.

- Loving my iphone, it is the first one I have owned and it is fairly amazing
-Loving instagram, sharing made so so simple
-Seriously Loving how easy both of them make it to capture life as it happens.

What makes you blue? How is your weather? and whatcha Loving right now?

Random.org says It's YOU, Congrats on winning the New book Meagan! I Loved your comment about how you try and think of the pictures you wish you had from your own childhood and capture those moments for your daughter. perfect. So so many other great ideas in the comments too, I read each one, BUT it's been a super busy-out of the house-eat wrong-and give yourself a migraine kind of a day today, Soooo I'm still working on putting all of your great tips and comments into one big post. As for all of you who didn't win today, pop back tomorrow afternoon for more celebrating and another chance to win some goodies before tomorrow night's big Launch Party!

Click below for more info and a VIP invite

 

Tonight I am going to drink tons of water and stay up as long as I can to try and get lots of designs finished for the big national scrapbooking day bash at the Lilypad this weekend...so much partying So little time!

 

 It's TIME!!! Are you ready for some fun? Today is our Everyday Storyteller blog hop, each of the   contributors are sharing some bonus tips, and more...

  Here is a little bit of a bigger Peek at some of the project bits from my article in the book. There is Lots of Color, and TONS of tips for how I tell each of my life stories loaded with Heart. I can promise you at least 13 ideas from my article alone, I can't wait to see how many more the other ladies will be sharing too!

   I think for such an occasion a little bit of extra fun is in order, sooooo here is what we're gonna do...  Leave me a comment telling me YOUR favorite way to capture the heart in your life's stories, by   11:59 pm Central and I will be GIVING AWAY a copy of the book to one lucky storyteller before it is available to the public!

  Have you ever thought of your kitchen as a Great place for sourcing out your next storytelling tidbits? You'd be surprised how many treasures the heart of the home holds just waiting for you to discover! To make a great little page like this one, simply grab some extra non-slip mat from lining your cupboards, and some leftover sticky drawer liner. All you have to do is trace out a shape you love, like this bird, get creative stitching it in place, and add a photo or some journaling strips of your own! Voila, no cost cuteness!!!

OK friends, one last happy detail for today- are you signed up for the Big party yet? Head over HERE to sign up for a VIP invitation to join in our Book launch party at 8:30pm CDT on Friday, May 4. There will be almost $800 in prizes given away from our sponsors during the party, it's sure to be a BLAST!

Come back and visit me throughout this week, I will be sharing more tips, more peeks, and maybe even a giveaway or two of my own to keep things exciting! If you want to keep on blog hopping today and gather up all kinds of Bonus tips, here is the list of inspirational peeps who have lots of goodness for you, HAVE FUN!!!
  
ETA: if you have time to read through some of the comments, there are Great ideas coming in so far from everyone! I will put them all together in a Big post later this week

1. Cheryl Ashcraft
2. Anna Aspnes
3. Katie Clemons
4. Elise Blaha
5. Paula Gilarde
6. Sara Gleason
7. Michelle Hernandez
8. Debbie Hodge
9. Katrina Kennedy
10. Amy Kingsford
11. Cindy Liebel
12. Crystal Livesay
13. Robyn Meierotto
14. CD Muckosky << YOU ARE HERE
15. Nancy Nally
16. Christine Newman
17. Ashli Oliver
18. Amanda Padgett
19. Renee Pearson
20. Lynnette Penacho
21. Elle Price
22. Heather Prins
23. Traci Re
24. Lauren Reid
25. Amber Ries
26. Kristin Rutten
27. Betsy Sammarco
28. Jenn Smith-Sloane
29. Jessica Sprague
30. Melissa Stinson
31. Amy Tan
32. Tiffany Tillman
33. Jennifer Wilson

Happy Thursday highlights

I Have been Loving the way "Week in The Life" has captured all of the bits that make up "us" right now. Capturing everything from, what we are eating, to school activities, cuddles with little people who won't always be so little, the weather, and what my day looks like working from home. I can't wait to put this all together so we can look back on it and remember what life in the Muckosky house in 2012 was all about! Today was toast for breakfast, healthy snacks, love notes from my little one, a never ending game of fetch, after school giggly cuddles, Bible study catch up by the fire place, supper on the go, and a clear night with a sparkly sliver of a moon out my window. There was much much more but that's just the highlight reel. Are you doing "week in the life" too? share a link in the comments so we can see what you are up to!

A Week In The Life begins

I am really looking forward to this week, Ali Edwards has inspired a whole community to capture a "week in the life"-documenting all kinds of everyday bits of life going on in your home! I Love my life, I Love the motivation of a good challenge, and so will do my best. My good camera is in the shop with a broken shutter so it will be mostly iphone pics this year, but it is so handy I think I may even capture more that way! Here is a little look at our Monday; Leaving with friends, sharing Art time, beautiful blue skies, A special lunch date, an evening at the pool, waiting for giggly girls to finish changing, Tim's with a sweet friend, and at last little Angel's off to dreamland.

 

 Join the fun and share your links here! I'd love to see what you're up to

Guess what I'm working on?

I'm super excited to be a contributor in this Great e-book coming out in May! I have had many hours sitting on the floor in my studio, creating happy colorful new projects that showcase some of my favorite tips for telling the stories of life. 

 Keep an eye on things here over the next month as I get ready to share some more sneek peeks and give you the chance to win some great prizes.

In the meantime check out this Teaser video for a bit more info!

 In other news, the weather here has suddenly been extra warm For Early April in Manitoba, the kiddos have a little extra spring in their step. The windows are open and the bird song filling our house makes my heart so very happy.

 Little Jellybean Toes are muddy from hunting for ladybugs, Daddy is taking walks to the park and of course out for ice cream

 

 Skies are Blue, Bikes are out, and on the whole everyone seems a little more merry now that the snow is gone from sight.

 

Enjoy the fresh start that comes with Spring my friends!

Lovely anyone?

 You see I know this lovely lady who has an incredibly lovely store nestled in the country just south of Winnipeg off of highway 59. It is a wonderful little old outbuilding, turned country gift store.

 This time of year you walk in to find it brimming with Lovely Christmas gift items, a crackling fire, and the smells of Holidays in the air ( mmmm it's like a mix of gingerbread cookies and cider and warm vanilla).

 Tonight is the second night of Christmas open house festivities including live music, a yummy chocolate fountain and other munchies, great sales on gift items in the store and more!

 I am happy to share that I have matted art prints, kindness cards and Christmas postcards in the store for the event, they will be on sale at 20% off today ONLY, and I will be there from 5-9 this evening to sign prints and serve hot apple cider and Yummy hot chocolate! So if you are local and feel like a warm and cozy festive night out to kick off your Christmas mood, grab a friend and please come and join us! Here is a map and here is a quick peek at a couple of this years Christmas cards available starting tonight!

 To keep it fun for all of you who aren't local, all of my prints will be on sale for 20% off online as well, but Only for today! Just enter the coupon code CHRISTMASKICKOFF when you check out.

Hope to see you there!!!

thought for the day

I was helping My little Kaiella get ready for school earlier this week, lucky for me she is the one who still lets me pick her clothes which makes mornings go much smoother, and as I am guiding her little legs into the cutest pair of distressed skinny jeans she gives a big BIG sigh and says "Awww MAMA, you KNOW I hate skinny pants...they squeeze my legs!" Well, truth is she hadn't really told me that before so, surprised, I said "oh?" and she goes on to tell me "I don't care if my friends like them and my sisters like them, these are NOT their legs (pointing down to her little leggies),these are MY legs!!!" I burst out laughing and of course had to agree with her that these sweet little pudgy legs are indeed are all hers. We went off to find a pretty skirt and I got to thinking "wow, I wish we could all be a little bit more like Kaiella.

To just choose the path and make the choices that are best for our life no matter what the world is telling us we SHOULD be doing. I truly wish there were more of us who could pray about it,think about it, and make the BEST choice simply on what is right for our own life and our family...regardless of all of the expectations and "should dos" that come down on us.
Just my thought for today.
Thanks little Bella!

side note: photos are from a fun field trip I got to tag along on last spring. The rare photos like this one of her and I together are a total treasure to me.

The time has come...

There is far too much that comes along and threatens to steal away with all of my inspiration and mind/heart space. You feel me? Wether it be laundry or "stuff", or just time that gets eaten away all too quickly by this and that... I often find myself chasing the day and left with no space for the call of my heart, no space to hear it and no space to answer.

What I need is to simply clear it all away sometimes, set aside days or even just hours where I either remove myself all together or put on blinders to it all simply so that I can answer the beautiful callings of my heart, of my spirit. This time will not simply come knocking at your door and invite itself in, the space is yours for the taking but you MUST MUST claim it and then dive! This is what I am learning slowly but surely, And so that is thre story behind this little piece from this post

Prints are in and available in my shop, if you too need a reminder to simply sweep it all aside for a time and clear yourself some beautiful space for inspiration!

Workin' On it Wednesday

I am totally inspired by the responses I got from last weeks' "WOW", thank-you. Time for round 2 and this week and I am happy to say one of the things I am cooking up is a monthly newsletter since the vote was a resounding "YES". Thanks for that too! I'm excited to see how that unfolds as I gather content and learn how to put it all together. Me and my peeps are all miserably sick around here this week, and so what I am really working on right this moment is sleeping like crazy and getting us all better. Luckily though, I am also still in the midst of making these two new little art pieces that I started in my hotel room on the way home from San Francisco last week. It is amazing how much can spill from a heart overflowing after some time away with amazing ladies.

 WOW#2

This first piece is about how very much we have to offer everyone else when we first remember to take the time to nurture ourselves and our own spirit. It's a whole hubbub of stuff all dancing together; watercolor, pencil crayon, pastels, japanese patterned tape and acrylics, hand stitching... and all in a little plain page notebook that lives in my purse for these moments of burning inspiration that can't be denied

I had a blast playing with these Japanese acrylic paints that I got from the dollar store in San Fran's Japan Town...sigh, that store (Daiso) was a whole lotta fantastic! These ones are pearly and shimmery and not quite as thick and creamy as the ones I would buy at home. Just different and different keeps my attention and makes things extra fun!

This next piece below is taking shape on the same little purse notebook, for now, I will build it a nice home to stitch it onto soon. That one is just wonderful watercolors and a ton of pencil crayon, cuz I have missed both of them over the summer and am still warming up my hands and my heart to get back in the swing of things now that the girls are in school all day. This one is inspired by my own need to clear away the distractions when my heart is calling and be sure that I have space to let it pour out.

Possibly the simplest, yet most exciting to me; I am spending my next couple of evenings "arting" up my next round of shipping envelopes so I can march on down to the post office, with my  wee little puppy in tow, and send out a bunch of happy art prints. Mail is exciting to get and I figure if it has a little bit of extra love all over it then it is even MORE happy! I have been feeling like I am sending Christmas presents every time I send them off, and that makes me really happy! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to all of you who have supported me in this little Art sales adventure. It has been a long time coming and I am thourally, though a bit shyly, enjoying sharing all that I have been working on this year as it is ready and up in my store.

My last thought for today is this; Share joy.
Just go out and spread happines, cuz you can. Don't wait for the right time because the time will never be just right. Life keeps rollin' on. Simply make time. Even a few minutes to go above and beyond. I guarantee your heart will be filled even more than the one you are sharing with. Send mail (real actual mail), pay for the guys coffee behind you in line, Say something really nice to the next 5 people who pass by... you get the idea. It will not be expected but it will change the tone of someone's day, and YOURS!