Little moments. Little memories.


Hello friends,

I love weekends! Especially this weekend. "Conference Weekend" we call it. Twice a year, the Prophet of our church and other church leaders gather together and speak to a world wide congregation of Jesus and his teachings. Families and congregations from Africa to Sweden gather together to listen and watch all day Saturday and Sunday to the teachings from the scriptures as applied to our lives today...like how to find more joy in motherhood, etc. It is like a Mecca really, and I find it really cool that millions of people are listening and watching all at the same time. And, on top of that, our little family has the tradition of cooking lots of yummy food (swiss chard soup, homemade bread, slow cooked ribs, biscuits grilled asparagus, cream asparugus pasta, homemade granola and crepes with strawberries for breakfast) as cooked by my husband and kids a like. Ya. Whew! Well, I did end up making a cardboard stove for the kids when Kenneth started to saute. They didn't mind using "pretend" food, and I sure could have used it instead! But really, I am 'filled' in more ways than one!


And one more little happy note: I have new little pretties to add to the shop! I am really excited about this, and it has been in the works for a while. I was able to have them made here, and they turned out great!


Little mini cards with buttons on them for added cuteness. But these aren't any kind of card. They are meant to make those little moments: a note for a friend left in her purse. Or a note on your daughter's bed for her to see when she comes home from school. Or a note in a lunch for a little hand to open on a hard day at school. My mother was always leaving little notes for me as a child, and let me tell you...it made my day. These notes are for ANYONE. But, I would hope that these would encourage more note-giving between mother and child. Just an idea.

I will be posting these in my shop soon. Don't know if I will post them individually, or as a set yet. I sure love them! Hope you do too!

Happy Site Friday.

Happy Friday everyone. I am fighting a really bad sore throat, so I can't talk long. So we will make this brief (but not short!)

Mahar Dry Goods has been inspiring me for a long time. Something about their philosophy of beautiful play things for children really makes me wish they weren't an online store and that I could go and play in their showroom. Vintage with a flair for bringing back the old with a splash of new. I can't get enough of them! (Well, haven't bought anything yet, but not because I lack interest!)

Hop on over and get inspired.

Squirrel pull toy? Genious.
Recognize this? Inspiration for my Summer Tea Party.

Love these colors! Is it possible for a Robot to be pretty?
All the sudden "circus clown" isn't scary any more.And these boxes. I can't get enough of orange and blue!
Shadow puppets? Thank you!!!

So, reasons to visit:
1) Mahar Dry Goods regularly hires artisans to make exclusive products and toys for his shop, so you aren't going to find a lot of duplicates in his store.
2) Robert, the owner, is really nice (and evidently has a really cool wardrobe).
3) You will find lots of pretty things and wish your tax return has come already.
4) Robert also has another site...Junior Society...revealing the cool and unique world of children's culture and design.
5) His site is designed by the one and only Jen Corace.
6) You will wish you were a kid again.

Enjoy your weekend!

I really love nap time.

Addie just woke up, and I am letting her draw all over my white board so I can finish up these invites. I am telling you...I love it when my kids have good naps! I get most of my "art" stuff done between 1pm and 3 pm. I really should be doing the dishes or folding laundry, but when inspiration hits, my house comes second.

These will be available soon. I want to get another color variation down, as well as explore a few other paper options.

Here's a sneak peak.

OOOH! I hear Ian now...gotta go tickle babies! I'll be back soon!

Brought to you by the letter B

How do you get:

French+subtle+classic+vintage colors+modern+timeless+innocent ? Feminine?

So many of you have said...I want more BOY prints! Where are they? Oh, I agree! Where are they? I have been struggling to get some good "boy" prints out, and I have asked myself WHY??!! I have the most darling boy who inspires me every day! For some reason, it is just a lot harder for me to come up with something that I actually like. The characters in my art are very "gentle" which isn't often portrayed these days. But I have to be careful that "gentle" doesn't turn into "feminine." You know what I mean?

For instance: as a child, I could never tell if Christopher Robin was a girl or a boy. Thus my challenge.

But I think I may have hit a breakthrough on this one. I might actually be able to really get some "boy" prints out there! I like the orange and blue, the European vintage feel....but it definitely isn't "girly."

Gentle, yes. Girly, no. Horray!!

I won't post this until I have the other two to go with it: Avion (french for Airplane) and Chien (dog) or something like that. Haven't finished those yet...which means they are always subject to change.

In the mean time, little French boy is waiting to hang on someone's wall very soon.

Want more free stuff?

Thanks all of you who participated in the Special this last week. Hope you had fun. And for those of you who want to play more, there is a giveaway this week over at Bloggy Giveaways. A gift certificate to my ETSY shop will be given out on April 4th to two lucky winners. Go play! Maybe you will be luckier than I am...I never win any of those kinds of things. Oh Well!

**And to answer your questions in the post below, yes, Kenneth made all that in a 3 day period. Let's just say that he had a particularly stressful week finishing up a huge project, and well...needed extra therapy. I hate to see my husband stressed, but I sure support his method of recovery:)

My Weekend Gourmet.


We call him the 'Weekend Gourmet'.

His stats: tall, dark and handsome.
His title: teacher, father, and chef extraordinare.
His therapy: cooking.

We are going to Hawaii in a couple months, and I have been desperately trying to get rid of those unwanted pounds I put on over the winter. But I have no hope. None. I have an amazing excuse to eat food. The reason? My husband. He loves too cook like I love to draw. It is in his blood. His therapy after a really stressful day is cooking up some new inventive recipe. My therapy after a really hard and stressful day is eating his really amazing new and inventive recipe. We make an incredibly good pair.

No, I have no reason to blame him. It is really my laziness about getting to the gym. But really...can you blame me when this was our weekend?

This is every weekend. And this is just "easy food." The kind of food he can make quick without thinking. You should see him on holidays. Or during the summer. You should see his library of books he POURS over...every culinary institute's manual, every ethnic cookbook, you name it he has read it. And I love it.

My kids love it too. Our weekends are spent making sure the kids aren't falling off the counters while they are covered in flour. They LOVE to cook with dad. I think they always will. And I think that I will always be his best food critic...um...taste tester that is!

Happy Site Friday.



Hello. Happy Friday. Today I bring you color and light from the Netherlands. Yvonne from Yvestown has created a beautiful blog/shop/site that is happy candy for the eyes. Many of you are familiar with her site. I crave these clean bright rooms of hers, her taste for color and non-color, and her love of spring and fresh.



Be ready to be inspired by her fresh take on crafts, home decor and gift making.


She had an ETSY shop where she sells these darling Alphabet pillows. She has just moved the shop to her own website for better custom making. Aren't they to die for?

Thanks Yvonne for inspiring us all!