2014 - My Year of Birds

2014 was my year of birds

In January I drew birds

 . . . . . . . . lots of them.

I transferred my drawings to tea bags

and made some books.

In February myself and a friend had a small exhibition entitled

'Winged Tales'

and I thought I would be tired of these birds

but I am not, 

and these birds have traveled through many art projects throughout the whole year. 

I recently created this collection of bird stones, 

which have now flown to new homes. 

What fun I have had with them all through the year.

I wouldn't be surprised if these birds continued to show up in 2015. 

Winter World

My winter world has been beautiful lately.

Today my daughter and I headed out for our walk at the brightest part of the day, 

so that we could take some pictures along the way.

Although there is some direct light on the mountain at this time of the year, 

we never see the sun, as it doesn't come above our mountain filled horizon.

I am not complaining, as I love winter,

but it does make picture taking somewhat difficult. 

Our walk took us over this little bridge and through the woods,

among the trees covered in snow. 

And my daughter could not resist

standing under the tree

and giving it a shake.

We had a beautiful walk,

and now I share with you some images

of my Winter World.....

And wish you all 

A Joy Filled Christmas Season. 

Pocket Book

A new little book I made

That is full of pockets

That can be filled with whatever

ones heart desires

Further Collisions

Here are some cards I made for the Christmas Fairs I have just finished selling at.

The images above and below are pieces I made some time ago

when my photographs, collided with tea bags, collage bits and ink

I took the scanned images of some of my creations on tea bags, 

 played with them on the computer

and then made them into cards.

I really like how they turned out

and others must have too,

as they sold very quickly.

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!

Day Planners

I am a planner

I (like most people) have a busy life, and I love to stay organized.

And so I created some day planners. 

These planners are soft covered books 

that I made with layers of fabric, paper, glue, etc, 

and 2 were decorated with tea bags and my hand carved stamps 

There final coat is a layer of wax that makes them feel so lovely to hold. 

When closed they can be secured with an elastic,

 that also holds a pen in place along the edge of the pages.

When opened there is a pocket page, that I have placed a 2015 calendar inside

but really it can hold whatever is needed.

The pages have the months and dates written on but not the days of the week.

In this way the books can be used for this upcoming year or a future one. 

The user can always write the days of the week in, if they desire. 

At the back of the book there is another pocket for tucking bits and pieces .

This one was made with fabric on the outside (versus tea bags as the other two were)

and decorated with a leaf stamp and some of my sketches. 

But inside, the pocket and the pages are the same.

I am hoping to add a couple of these to my Etsy shop in the next day or two.

(as well as offer 15% off everything in the store, and raise some funds for some bikes)

A Few More

A few more circle necklace pictures .... just because I took so many!