What's new!

Here are some new lovelies part of the Duet Collection over in the little shop!

A "Playful" little pendant with an Alice in Wonderland flavour



"Roll the Dice" super fun and chic sterling silver, ribbon and resin earrings



Super Sweet and original just for you: Monogram Necklace in sterling silver



And my current favourite this lace and hearts resin necklace

2011 Reading List

I am curious to see how many books I will read this year and decided to keep an on going list.

1. "The MacKade Brothers: Rafe and Jared" - Nora Roberts

2. "Holly Would Dream" - Karen Quinn
(the above and a whole bunch more on my shelves to be read were given to me by my sis who believes I should read more love stories)

3. "What French Woman know about Love, Sex and other matters of the Heart and Mind" - Debra Ollivier -This is a great exploration of the difference between North American women French women. A lot to be learned, but mainly not to take things too seriously.

4. "Eat, Prey, Love" - Elizabeth Gilbert
Just like the author I ate every single carb in sight while in Italy. I am currently in the search of peace and inner contempt. Fell in love with her description of Bali!
Also I know 'smile with my liver' when I center myself.

5. "He is Just not That into You" - Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
Laughed all the way though the book. Lots of the mistakes I have made, lots of the mistakes I will never make again. The lesson is simple: if he is not making you fully happy he is not 'the one' and he is just not that into you! Move on!

Currently Reading:
"Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"



Any suggestions of what should be on my To Read shelf???

Some simple truths

For your Sat night entertainment.

Source: Found on an online friend's Blog

Another batch of Swaps!

Of course the theme for the last two months has been Valentine's day.
As much as I used to love V-day, this year I felt extremely overwhelmed by the outrageous amount of pink that had covered the world like a tidal wave.
Once I got started on the pink - heart trail, there was no stopping! Here is a little taste of the pink-ness!





I tried my hand at drawing a character for the first time. The theme was Alice from Alice in Wonderland.




Swan theme



I actually added an ACEO to the shop of this painting.

Toronto Winterlicious - Sassafraz

One of my guilty pleasures every winter and summer is having a fantabulous lunch during _licious at a restaurant that may be a bit out of my price range on regular basis.
This winter the ladies and I chose the beautiful Sassafraz restaurant.

We had beautiful food and I annoyed my friends by practicing my newly learned photography skills.

When the food is this good, I believe it is time for less talk and more pictures!

For this carb free (almost carb free) girl the bread was divine


and bread does not go without butter



Appetizer of Smoked Salmon Carpaccio with Pommery Mustard Mousse,
Preserved Lemon and Caramelized Onion



Followed by Cod Cakes with Andouille Sausage, Watercress Salad and Bell Pepper Remoulade



and I finished with Chocolate Pave with Passionfruit Sherbet and Rosewater Gelee



To summarize it was YUMMOOO.

For more pictures head over to my FLICKR

A special mention goes to the Porcini Mushroom Tortellini with Sorrel Pesto Cream Sauce and Braised Red Onions, of which I only had a few tiny bites but my heart was lost to it.

Shop Update!

I have been a busy little bee and the shop is updated with a brand new collection of inspirational word pendants!



"Love"



"Breathe"




"Happy"

I believe that a positive outlook on life can truly make your dreams come true. These pendants will serve as little reminders through the day that it will all be 'ok' in the end. I think of them as little visualization boards.

And of course just in time for Valentines day



"Valentine" stud earrings

Happy Shopping!!!

Swap Swap Swappy Swap Swap

I don't have the patience lately to work on larger projects and as a result I have been diving head first in swaps for ATCs and supplies.

Here is a little peak at some recent work!

I tried my hand at Inchies



Incheies a 1x1inch little pieces of art. These are red themed. To be honest they are way too small for me to work on.


Peacock themed ATC collage



Blue Themed ATCs





Red Themed ATCs

Re-use those lovely note cards - Tutorial

I never have the heart to throw away the wonderful cards I received from friends, family, customers and swap partners. I also always run out of cards to send to those people as well.
This is why I decided to start re-vamping cards I have received into treasures that I can send out again.
Re-use, re-cycle, re-love!



What you will need:

Old Cards
Card stock
Glue
Stamps, letter stickers etc

Start with measuring out one of your cards and cutting a few new cards out of your card stock. I was lucky enough to pass by a garage sale and find an old gentleman getting rid of a nice variety of card stock.



Fold and score the new cards



Select a card that you would like to use to create your new cards, I picked this funky colourful polka dot card.



And then I cut out the funky dots



I decided to stamp the word "Thanks" on my cards, but you can do anything you like



Here I cut a note card into strips for a funky block style new card



The best part about this is that really anything goes!!!

For envelopes, I unglued one the envelope the original card came in and used it as a template.



I picked some large enough pages of old magazines I had received in a supply swap to make my new envelopes out of and traced the template on them.



Cut and glue!



and TA DA!!!
New note cards to send out to the world!!!

You can recycle all of your Christmas cards this way and be ready to send them out next Holiday season!!!



Enjoy!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
No matter what religion you are and where in the world you reside, I wish you health, happiness and love!

Creative Process...

I found that my crazy schedule leaves very little time for me to be creative. I lack the focus when it comes to actually work on my art, even though I am always craving to do so.
I found a mini temporary solution to this: Join Swap-bot swaps for either note cards or ATCs. This gives me a serious time line I need to meet and having a deadline helps me focus. Also, it allows me to stretch my brain a little to come up with an idea to satisfy a theme. I have been joining swaps with random themes in order to be able to come up with ideas that I wouldn't of otherwise.

I love looking at other artists work and process of coming up with a final finished piece, and I decided to share with you my creative process.

The theme for the ATC is Love. The word Love has to be somewhere on the ATC.

First I start out with sketching out ideas, not necessarily related to what I will end up putting together. In this case, I was just browsing and using different images to sketch out ideas of things...




After I have my sketch and idea, I decided that I want to create a cut paper illustration of the bunny idea.
Therefore, I had to choose the papers I will use in the piece. I am the least organized person when it comes to my supplies, and thus I usually have no idea what I have and work from the latest I have purchased. One day I will be organized, one day...




And now time for lots of cutting and gluing takes place. Of course I am super messy and sticky when I use glue.



And here we have an almost finished ATC... I let it sit for a bit until I figured out how to finish it



Can you spot where the word Love is?

And finally the back receives a label and my contact information, next stop the post office!



Creating these ATCs to trade also allows me to come up with an idea for an ACEO to add to my shop

The food of Italy

I think that this post may as well be wordless...the pictures are enough to leave you starving...

Just looking at it makes my waist band feel tight.


















and this was just a taste of the picture click over to my Flickr for more!