hope & grace...

It's nice going through old files, seeing where you once were with your art. What state of mind you were in, what you did. Here are two handmade postcard fronts from 2007. Little birds of Hope & Grace....

meet agnes and beatrice, friends from the marsh...

I have finally and properly illustrated my little marsh friends Agnes and Beatrice. I first introduced them in drawing form last August. Here, a bit more about my little friends...

Meet Agnes, a sweet friend from the marshes. She loves flowers, pretty frocks and her best friend Beatrice the swan. Her favorite time of year is the summer, when she can play by the willows and waters and drink ginger lemonade ice tea.

This is Beatrice, best friend to Agnes. She loves chandeliers and floral patterns. She loves both spring and autumn, for the birth of flowers and the rich colors that come with fall. She also likes to bake and lemon butter cookies are her specialty.

rainy day letters

Yesterday was a beautiful rainy day, just right for writing and sending letters again...

my favorite valentines...

This family valentine's day we:

• drove in little buggys and felt the wind in our hair
• covered our eyes when we passed the yetis on the matterhorn
• visited our favorite haunted mansion & picked up a hitchhiking ghost
• sailed on the pirate ship Columbia and saw how seamen lived
• feasted on good food and mint juleps
• bought Tiana's Cookbook so we can learn how to make beignets, jambalaya & peach cobbler
• drew animations and characters like Grumpy and Mickey Mouse
• Ate our favorite big fat peanut butter cookies with plump peanut butter chips
• watched Nat soar across the night sky in a silly swing
• played games on the boardwalk
• had an absolutely perfect valentines with my favorite sweethearts. 

Best Valentine's day ever....

little treasures of different sorts...

This past few days have brought little treasures, all special and wonderful in their own right...

* A very generous and thoughtful package from April of White Apple. She knew that I was collecting secondhand books from the 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' for Natalie and found a handful of them for us. Not only that but she sent a few extra niceties like a pair of wooden bird ornaments and a pretty patterned seahorse brooch. I'm always astounded and filled with warmth when I come across sweet souls from around the world. Thanks so much April (and now all we need is 3, 5, 7, 8 & 11; getting closer)!

*Making paper valentine's for Natalie's classmates. If we have the time and the resources, I always much rather make our own valentine's than purchase them from a store. I love that Natalie is always on board with this idea, even to the point of reminding me everyday that we need to make time to make them. Yesterday she stay home from school (she had a very difficult night of sleep and congestion) and we found our opportunity for crafting time. With pretty paper, scissors, hole puncher and glue, we got busy and made twenty three sweet little folded hearts for her friends.

*Mail is always a delight, especially little postcard surprises. I recently joined the project Postcrossing and already received my first postcard from a kind stranger afar. It was from a girl in Germany and now it was my turn again, to send some out. I could send up to five postcards but opted for two (for now). The little owl and hedgehog will be on its way to the Netherlands and the old map to Russia. Also, a little package will be going out to Canada for a certain giving gal named April ;)

*I recently found out that Good Reads hosts constant giveaways of prerelease books from authors and publishers. Any member can enter to win and if you do, you have the option to write a review (which is encouraged since it's really the main reason for the giveaways). I had entered myself in a handful but the very first one I entered in, I found out that next day that I was one of the winners! I received my copy of Journal of a UFO and am so thrilled! I am in the middle of several other stories but they might just have to wait a bit longer to finish...

*Our parakeet PJ is a delight. I never thought we would be pet bird people (which I suppose sounds weird considering how much we enjoy birds) but we are. PJ is truly a part of our family (she even made it in my holiday family portrait) and we love her cheerful twitters and playful interaction with us. Since she is such a beautifully colored bird she leaves us with the prettiest (and sometimes tiniest!) feathers. I do collect feathers but now I love that I have my very own parakeet collection that will continue to grow from my own personal supply!

*I do take pleasure in the small things. Like yesterday evening when Rick and Nat came home after softball practice bearing gifts of blueberries! We love blueberries so much but I kid you not, these were the mother load of blueberries! One package had the biggest blueberries I had ever seen, like the size of medium grapes. I washed them and mixed them together with the regular sized ones for our evening snack. So, after Nat's shower, we settled in together to watch a movie and devoured these bite sized goodies!

*Earlier this week, I put on Facebook how it's the little things that make me happy (like my soup pot!) and someone left me this awesome quote:

‎"One for whom a pebble has value must be surrounded by treasure wherever he goes."

Par Lagerkvist

It instantly became a favorite and I will hold that thought in my heart as long as I can. To find joys in the small things, in nice things, in shared things....

The Parakeet and the Owl

It's funny to see Pj fly over and peck on my owl tattoo. Maybe she saw the camera & decided to pose instead of being caught in the act. :)