seeing green

Spotted yesterday... a wee green tomato (well, two actually) finally making their appearance on our tomato plant. At the rate we are going, we'll have some ripe tomatoes by the end of summer... sigh. Fingers crossed there will be more than two.

crafty canadian picker

I love watching the TV show American Pickers... perhaps it is the treasure hunting aspect of it all. Anyways... my own recent picker moment was finding this stack of 60s era vintage children's books. Granted it was technically at a garage sale, but the sale did have an old barn full of stuff on the property, and I did dig them out from under a stack of stuff... so it did add to the picker-feel. Best of all, they were free!!! Score!

island time

This past weekend we ventured to Salt Spring Island for some summer rest and relaxation... well as much relaxation one can have with a 2 year old, anyways. We rented a little cabin in the woods and explored the tidal pools and shores... yes, that is a little purple starfish you see there in the second photo. Oh, I am wishing I was still on island time now... so hard to get back into the work week!

summer press

A little bit of press news for show-and-tell today. My little bird cork board is in the new issue of Luri & Wilma (Washington DC's eco-chic e-magazine). This month is the home issue, and it is chock full of super cute green things for you abode. Check out the cute issue here... a good read for the weekend! ;)

off the cuff... a little sneak peek

A little sneak peek today! Freshly cut designs for some new cufflinks I am working on. Mmmm... nothing like the smell of fresh laser cut wood... it is like a campfire in my house, but without the worry. I will be assembling these the next few days and launching them in the etsy shop next week.... will post more photos soon!

some fun in the sun

What to do when you have days of hot sunny weather and a 2 year old with, what seems like an unlimited amount of energy. Introduce him to some sand and new trusty friends — the bucket and pail. And yes, that is Jasper's trusty sidekick you see on the left there... his new best bud Spider-Man!

love makes the world go round

I am on a real illustration kick lately... not that I am complaining, of course. This makes up for those writer's block, well, in this case, artist's block moments that sometimes creep in and stay a little too long. Anyways, here it is... some colourful little hearts and love to brighten the day. Enjoy! (Check it out here).

food on sticks = goodness

The arrival of hot summer weather means that it is a perfect time to visit the Richmond Night Market - basically a replication of the popular street night markets popular in Asia. There are actually 3 big night markets that take place here (yes, 3.. I'm not kidding)... so this is the first one we have visited this summer so far. And what does one do at a night market, you ask? Um... well gorge on all the yummy diverse street food of course. Dim sum on sticks, grilled meat on sticks, deep fried tofu on sticks... yummy. I even spotted deep fried potato spirals on a stick as well as cheesecake on a stick, but by that point I was too full - I was feeling quite the opposite of a stick actually. Can't wait to check out the other night markets in the coming weeks!

hello hello

A bit of a lazy week for blogging this week, since we had a long weekend here for Canada Day this past weekend... and for some reason the mood has lingered. I don't even have the 4th as an excuse (Happy July 4th to those of you down is the US, btw). So, yes, it has been just pure laziness... well, just blogging laziness. I did work on a new art print... check it out here.