Bikes & Biking

My daughter was in a bike race last weekend - and I drove her support vehicle. 

It was a beautiful sunny day,

but the pictures do not tell the tale of the ever present head winds.

Besides the strong head winds, the hills were big and the miles were many.

She rode for 11 hours - and in my books she is a winner

I enjoyed riding with her as she prepared for this day, 

and with so much biking on the brain, 

bikes showed up in my creations. 

Then there was an old bike tube laying around the house

that also grabbed my attention.

So I used it to make covers for some small notebooks. 

This bike stamp I carved a few years ago has become one of my favourites, and tends to show up in lots of places!

But for now - it is a beautiful evening

 - so I am heading out for a bike ride!

Grit and Grace

I am taking an online course 

called Grit and Grace with Katie Kendrik. 

I love Katie's paintings.

I created this journal page by sticking down collage paper

and did my best to let it direct me to this final stage.  

Journal page #2 was the same process

although all of my collage bits seemed to get covered with paint. 

Looseness is not in my comfort zone, 

I need to work on it. 

Decided to do a page a bit more inside my comfort zone,

although I did use some techniques shown in the course. 

I will continue to push myself outside my comfort zone

.....  maybe tomorrow.

Almost There

In less then a month my oldest daughter Savannah

heads out on her grand adventure.

She is going to Africa to ride her bicycle from Cairo, Egypt to Capetown, South Africa.

12,000 kilometres of riding in four months!

As part of this adventure she has been raising money that will purchase bicycles 

for health care and community service workers in Africa. 

Her goal was to raise enough funds 

to purchase 10 bicycles -  one for each country she travels through. 

I am really pleased to say she is so very close to this goal,

and I am positive she will make it 

before she leaves!

Savannah has worked hard fundraising, and I am happy that I was also able to help.

I want to thank everyone who has bought items from me that went to this cause

and to those that donated directly through her blog. 

It  is really appreciated. 

Way back in the spring when she told me about this planned adventure.

I carved a bicycle stamp and started making cards 

which were sold to fund raise for the bicycles that will be donated.

I am so very pleased to say we sold about 100 cards!

To assist her in her final fundraising,

I will be donating all proceeds

 from the sale of the last few bike stamped items in my Etsy shop

AND  50% of all proceeds from  any other sales until December 20

AND I am having a sale (until Dec. 20)....

Everything in my Etsy shop is 15% OFF the listed price if you entire the following code. 

BIKE10 

If you want to learn more about her adventure as she travels you can follow her blog here

Thanks Again!

Fundraising For Bicycles

My oldest daughter is heading to Africa 

and will be pedaling her bike from Egypt down to South Africa!

She is trying to fund raise to donate bicycles

 to community support workers in each country she goes through. (10 countries!)

(see her blog for details and her stories along the way!)

In order to help her in this venture,

I carved a bike stamp, and made some cards

that I am selling locally as well as in my Etsy Shop.

All money will go towards buying bikes.

I also made a little accordion book using my hand carved stamps

and if it sells, the money will assist in buying bikes. 

To purchase bike cards or my bike book go to my Etsy shop

To learn more about the biking fundraiser visit Savannah's (oldest daughter) blog.

Close to Home

Lately I seem to struggle with words,

and giving this creation a title was difficult.

And I almost didn't title it.

But it is heading to an exhibition, 

and therefore it was said a title was needed. 

So I sat quietly with my creation. 

It's story buried within.

I knew it was about being rooted

I knew it was about the depth and strength of self 

But then I learned that self was also home - 

my body being home for the me within.

The story continued and told the tale of taking opportunities that are all around us.

Of  reaching to places that are not so comfortable -  be they near or far,

while still staying true to self,

or as the title says -  'Close to Home'.

Art Exhibition

Our art show - Winged Tales -  has opened and will be up for the next 3 weeks.

How wonderful to have a curator take care of the advertising, setting up and many other details. 

Along with my work, my friend had her beautiful linocuts on the wall.  

I have some photos of her work, but have not asked her permission to show them,

 and therefore will just show you images of my creations. 

Together the whole room looked beautiful, 

my pictures do not show it well. 

We had put out gloves beside the books, 

and all evening I joyfully watched  people slip the gloves on 

and gently look through the books.  

I received so many kind words about my creations. 

And here are the details of one more of the books

This book only had a few pages,  

But I love the way it sits open 

to show itself off.

Handmade for Christmas

 

 

Very close to Christmas I decided to make

my daughter

a pair of moccasins.

 

I have only made a pair or two before

so I needed to be brave.

 

I finished these off in the last minutes of Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

Leather decorated with bits of felt

were hand stitched together,

and finished off with a wrap of

beaver fur.

 

 

They made her smile.

Which made me smile.



Running

 

 

Nineteen long months ago, I received a concussion while playing in a hockey game.

I have since spent my time working towards healing.

I have spent many many hours laying quietly in a darkened room. 

I was not able or allowed to do any exercise,

 and struggled to read, work on the computer, watch TV, listen to music or the radio.

 

 During the summer of  2012  I ached to be able to go out and run

 I wrote the following words.

 

******

I want to run,

and feel my heart

pounding.

Feel my body

ache and move.

I want to feel each muscle

do its work.

The sun shining down,

as I move my feet

in rhythm

down the road.

I want to run.

 

******

 

 

I took this picture of myself two nights ago - as I was running.

And the following pictures are of my view along the way.