Wordless Wednesday

Maidmoiselle Chic

Sara Lagace

Mumur Fremo

Pink Candy Studio

Opening night at Bird on a Wire

September is almost here! Just a week or so left of summer and it's back to school and back to working on the Etsy shop. In an easy and relaxed way of course. ; )

To help bring in the fall season, I would like to invite you to my show opening at Bird on a Wire Creations at 2535 Main St. Vancouver on September 1st. From 7:00pm-9:30pm  Rachael Ashe and myself will be proudly presenting our artwork at this local handmade indie store filled with amazing talent from all over the lower mainland.

  Rachael Ashe

Jodi Doidge

If you're in the area please come join us for a glass of wine, some tasty snacks and live music courtesy of Jodi Doidge. See you there?

Wordless Wednesday

Wavy Shell

Soap for your Soul

Kijo Studio

Kiki Mood

The summer break is almost over. Am I ready to re-open my shop?

Summer is just about over and I will soon be opening my shop again. I'm looking forward to it yet I'm a little bit hesitant as well because I don't want to get wrapped up in the "selling as a measure of success" mentality. I have found that I've been a lot kinder to myself these past couple of months and as a result, I've been happier. I've been spending my time learning new things and not being very concerned with the outcome. This is a big change from last June where I felt like I had to keep a rigorous pace of work it I was going to acquire any sort of "success".

Learning to "paint" and layer with Corel.

I remember one night when I was telling my husband that I couldn't veg out in front of the t.v. because I had too much work to do. His response to me was, "Man, that boss of yours is a real slave driver." I try to remember this when I start feeling like I'm not doing "enough". I'm making all these choices and no one is forcing me to work on my Etsy shop every waking hour. I think I have this deep-seeded idea that success will never come to me without sacrifice, pain, lack of sleep and exhaustion. "You gotta pay your dues", I hear.
I'm trying to let go of other people's definition of what success means and recognize the things that make me happy as my own measure.

I can say for sure that I will need longer than two months acquire this mind-shift but I'm optimistic about my progress so far. Do you have a sure fire way to lift yourself out of periods of self-doubt? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Wordless Wednesday

Whitshoots

Robin and Mould

Yevgenia

Blue Toad

Wordless Wednesday

The Wishing Elephant

Atelier Rococo

Evan B. Harris

Cakes by Christi

Our Westfalia The Blue Raja

  For today's post I thought I'd show you the latest addition to our family. Meet The Blue Raja. After several years of searching on Craigslist for a Westfalia, my husband found one for a great price the day after he posted an image of one on his vision board. My husband has wanted one of these vans for ages and I agreed that it would make a good replacement to our Taurus wagon. The wagon has been useful but I haven't really enjoyed driving it or paying for its costly repairs. Out with the old and in with the older!

The Blue Raja is an '83 and comes with a fully appointed interior. Two beds, two tables, a fridge, stove, and sink. It's only had two other owners and the last one owned it for about twenty years before he was not longer able to drive. Yup, it's a grandpa van.

Even though the van is in fantastic shape there are a few rust spots on it. My husband thought he would just "touch it up a bit" to make sure the rust wouldn't spread. Wouldn't you know that the van has become his current canvas and he has been spending all his free time making the Blue Raja look like new. We don't have a garage but we joke that he's finally created a man-cave for himself. Every guy needs a man-cave, especially a guy with two daughters. I hear the Blue Raja will be ready for driving this week. I can already picture us taking it down the California coast.

Wordless Wednesday

Samantha French

Donna Geissler

Caught Red Handed

Edgar Hdez