It’s about time i had another contest don’t you think? So for the May Contest Giveaway I am offering up 4 “thank you Top hat girl” greeting cards as well as the pendant Cupcake Girl

Isn’t she sweet? – she can be a little talisman that you were daily to remind yourself to follow your bliss!

On the back of the pendant it says “Follow your bliss” – just in case you forget!

To enter to win these goodies simply leave me a message in the comment section letting me know what you’d like to see in my next youtube video!  Thank you and good luck!  Contest ends at midnight on Wednesday May 23rd (PST).

“Got Teens?” Workshop

My friend and co-facilitator for the Teens Art Journaling Workshops – Susi Vasseur will be hosting a workshop series called “Got Teens” – it’s all about Navigating the Teen Years.

Join other like-minded proactive parents to discover:
• New ways to connect with your teen
• How to feel empowered as you elevate your parenting skills
• How to enjoy those important formative years
• The benefits of sharing ideas and solutions with others

It starts May 28th – if you live in the Lower Mainland you might like to attend Susi’s workshop! Click on the above link to find out more and sign up.

Where’s Violette?

On May 26th at 2 pm I’ll be demonstrating Art Journaling at Opus Art Supplies in Langley It’s free – you’ll see me lettering, creating colourful backgrounds, collaging as well as incorporating photos onto the journaling pages.

On June 1 and 2nd I will have a booth at the B.C. Home School Convention at the TRADEX in Abbotsford, B.C. I’ll be selling my Teens Dream Journal DVD as well as some pendants, cards and bookmarks.  I’ll be chatting about art journaling as well!  Come out and see me if you can. There will be lots of booths there as well as some awesome speakers.  I’d love to meet you.

This photograph makes me happy .  Can you see my running lady in the background? Dandelions don’t make my neighbours happy but they do me!  I thought I’d start off this blogpost with a happy picture because quite frankly the following studio photos do not make me happy!

This is my messy studio……..

and this……….

and this………

and this………..blech! 

I get to spend several hours today cleaning out my incredibly messy studio.  You see this Saturday I’m having a few art friends over to spend the day playing show and tell and creating art together.  Nicci, Nolwenn and Jenny from Seattle will be here to play and have fun (did you know that Nolwenn is one of the wonderful teachers over at 21 Secrets?) .  My friend Kym was supposed to come as well but she is busy making her escape to Bolivia.  She will definitely be missed. We’ll be having tea, coffee, a potluck lunch and arting away while listening to some tunes. Hopefully a few art journaling pages will emerge from our gathering!  Should be a blast!

If you have always wanted to attend an art retreat but could not afford it why not gather a few arty friends and plan a day (like we did) or a weekend and create your very own retreat or ART PARTY?  Make it happen!

I remember reading about Kelly Rae Roberts doing this and enjoying the amazing connection with her girlfriends whom she had previously only met online.

Well I’m off to blast the tunes and begin the clean up!

I thought i would share a few of the photos my Stepdad Reinhard (Ron) took of the Mother’s Day/birthday Celebration yesterday.  We were blessed with a gorgeous day, lots of relatives and a sparkling Magic cottage garden. Here’s the Fishpond i fixed up for Sam’s first fishpond experience.

My glittergirl van still lives on in the garden – well the door at least .

Here’s a picture of my Mom with her two daughters (the other daughter Linda is in N.Carolina). My big sister doesn’t like being on my blog so i often put a smiley face over her to obscure her face .

My daughter-in-law Kathryn is ready to have baby number 2 any day now!  Doesn’t she look awesome?  Little Sam has found a very comfy perch to sit on – hopefully baby brother won’t mind too much?

This was Sam’s first encounter with a fishpond!  His daddy, my son Ryan, taught him to say “Here fishy fishy” before he cast his line over the fishpond.

Lucky Sam – he was the happy recipient of several lovely prizes (mostly from his Auntie Jessy) . What a fun game this “fishpond” is!

Baby Cillian checking out the festivities from his blanket. He’s thinking “Next year it will be my turn to catch a fish!” He’s such an alert little guy!

My daughter Jessica, Cillian and son-in-law Nis.

Some of the party goers enjoying yummy food.

Bernie, Jessica and Ryan’s Dad with baby Cillian

Bernie and lovely partner Nathalie feeding Cillian. Bernie is a yoga instructor – can you tell by the way he’s sitting?

My Mom chatting with Mr. G as he has a rest on the newly painted swing.

Here we are having a fun swing together!  And of course the paparazzi was in full swing for this fun photo opportunity.

All in all we had a pretty magical day! I hope you Mothers out there were able to celebrate in your own special way too!

Thank you for letting me share a bit of our family celebration with you!

Photo by Matt Law

Here’s the Mother’s Day article i was telling you about in the Now Newspaper .  I think the reporter Matt Law did a great job!  The above photo is by Matt as well as the article. Thank you Matt for a great interview and for capturing the essence of what Mom and I were doing that day! 

Boho bag becomes a Fabric Journal Cover!

Do you remember a while ago – probably at LEAST a year ago i made this hip bag after i was inspired by Teesha Moore’s fun videos on making a fabric journal . It took FOREVER to make the tiny pillows and embroider them but there was something very therapeutic and relaxing about the exercise.  So i ended up making a BOHO hip bag (or fanny pack) to wear.  Needless to say it was very awkward to wear and made my already ample hips more ample . The poor boho bag languished in the cupboard for over a year.  So I’ve decided to turn it into a Fabric Journal cover – at least it will have a useful life.

Is there some art project that you have forgotten about that is languishing in some dark corner of your studio/craft room that you could resurrect?  Could you cut up that old painting you no longer like and sew it into your journal?  Or could you take a piece of it and either glue it or sew it to the front of a tote bag? What about the old friendly plastic jewellery you created and wouldn’t dare to wear anymore? You can use them as an embellishment on your purse, in a shrine or on your art journal cover.  The possibilities are truly endless if you just look at the poor abandoned project with fresh eyes!

What will you be doing for Mother’s Day?  Anything fun?

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the beautiful Mom’s out there. You deserve a day off to celebrate wonderful you!

Yes – there’s glitter on it!

Here is a “fishpond” that I’m going to fix up for the family gathering this Sunday.  Three years ago i repainted it for Leium – Mr. G’s grandson and i was about to paint “Sammy’s fish pond” on it however there is now little baby Cillian and any day now another sweet little boy will be joining the growing family!  So I think I will simply paint “The Magic Cottage Fish Pond” on it. Sammy is the only customer we’ll be having this year so the lucky duck will be catching several prizes! 

Being Creative is a Blessing

It truly is such a blessing to be creative and to LOVE all things creative.  It makes living so much more fun for everyone I believe anyway!  For me it manifests in creative ways of decorating my home and garden, greeting card designs, certain gifts, fanciful invitations and more!  When i don’t have enough money to make donations i can choose to donate a piece of my art or an artful product! In the old days whenever a friend or family member would be celebrating a birthday i would create a large caricature of them and have everyone sign it – like a great big greeting card.  

Oh by the way – the woman at the Hospice Society who was accepting my donation – “Be True to you” illustration for the Surrey Hospice Fundraiser loved my piece and said she’d be bidding on it so she could give it to her granddaughter who is a teenager.  I noticed many of the donations were in black and white felt pen so my colourful collage piece really stood out in comparison.

Well I’m off soon to babysit my little grandbaby Cillian. Yesterday i saw Sammy and spent some quality time chatting with him about many things including glitter and magic.  Sam is 2 1/2 and has quite a vocabulary.  We stuck our finger on one of his past projects and glitter stuck to it.  I showed Sam and said “Look Sam!  Meme is magic!”  Then he said the same about himself.  Later as i was about to leave Sam started to point to different parts of my face that was sprinkled with glitter and said “Meme – you’re magical!”.  You gotta love grandkids – they are such blessings!

See you tomorrow with bells on!

This is my Mom Claudine painting backgrounds for her Great grandbabies Dream Journal she began creating yesterday.  Mom had a blast painting up a storm and stencilling with Artistcellar stencils. She especially loved the dragonfly stencil (I had to check her purse before she left to make sure the dragonfly stencil wasn’t stashed in there ). She was so excited because she could see all of the amazing possibilities for her scrapbooking hobby.  I taught Mom how to do drippage (dripping paint) and splattering paint with a toothbrush.  We splattered on one background and then on subsequent backgrounds i kept asking her if she wanted to “splatter” and she kept saying “NO!”  After surveying her papers i noticed they were not nearly as busy as mine are .  That’s the way she likes it!

Scrapping paint on the papers was a bit challenging for Mom as she had broken her shoulder a couple of years ago but i think doing it was like physiotherapy as well as therapy in general. Creating art makes you happy!

The reporter dropped by to do a Mother’s Day story on us. He was such a wonderful young fellow – so interested in our stories and what we were doing.  It was such a delight talking and sharing with him.  Mom told the reporter not to take a photo of her chin – we both suggested he get on top of a ladder to photograph us .  At one point he did get on a stool.  He was well aware that after a woman reaches a certain age she’s sensitive about how she’s photographed….ha ha!

After the interview and the Journal creation I took Mom out for a nice lunch at the Roadhouse.  All in all we had a fabulous time together. 

Is there something creative you can do with your Mom instead of buying a gift?  The gift of time is always the best gift of all!