Support Handmade! : Black Kite

While I was in Boulder, attending the Makerie, there was a Firefly handmade market with wonderful things to look at, admire, and (ahem) purchase! One of my favorites was Black Kite – a shop with wonderfully bright and bold shirts for boys, made by Lindsay Black Mangat. The tag line for the shop is “bold shirts. confident boys”. That drew me in, and I was very tempted by the amazing fabrics. What finally sold me on buying a shirt, aside from being handmade and well-made, is that each shirt has an inspirational message sewn to the inside of the front pocket. How cute is that? The message I bought for my son: “Walk tall. Think BIG.” Doesn’t he look kind of Elvis-y here? We should have put the collar up!

Meeting the Creative Coconuts

Last year, I joined the “Creative Coconuts”, an online creative community started by Marisa from Creative Thursday. [This community has recently ended, just so you don’t go looking for it!] I met so many great people there, and got to know them through the community and on Twitter. When we found out that Marisa was going to be teaching at the Makerie, four of us jumped at the chance to meet (and create) in real life!

I flew in a day early and stayed with Anne and her family in Boulder. I adored them all and had to laugh when Anne was worried about whether or not I would be comfortable with the high energy of her kids. Luckily, I am quite used to that, with three of my own!

The following day we met with Sarah for lunch, before heading up to the retreat for registration. Amazing brunch was eaten at tangerine. If you are ever there, please try the “Green Eggs and Ham” – sooo yummy!

Sarah and I in front of “Art is Power, Create a Spark” posters.

Sarah’s instagram photo of Anne and I with Marisa’s fabric at Fabricate.

Monica and I at our Bloom True class!

The Creative Coconuts meet in person!

The Coconuts go crazy!

I am so grateful to have met these four amazing women, and I am looking forward to another reunion.

Painting: a progression (part 1).

Painted during Flora Bowley‘s Bloom True class at the Makerie. A magical experience.

Happy Birthday to a new friend!

Meghan is one of my new friends from the Makerie retreat. She is funny, beautiful, friendly, and a blast to hang out with. She’s also an amazing photographer and blogger! She came to the retreat as a birthday present to herself, and I’m so glad she did!

In an offhanded way, I told her I would eat a cupcake in her honour. I decided to stay true to my word, and you know what? Putting that effort into what I initially thought of as a slightly selfish act (getting to eat a cupcake!), made me feel closer to her. I was thinking about her when we drove to Crave (which was closed.. wah!). I was thinking about her while we went to Safeway (no single cupcakes), and then I thought about her some more when we were at Sunterra Market. Once again, no cupcakes, but we found some cheesecake, and thought that would do!

Happy Birthday to you, Meghan!

 

 

 

There are no words. Then again…

Last night I returned home from the Makerie retreat in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. There is so much to say, so many pictures to show, I just can’t do it all at once. I am aiming to share it all with your over the next week or so. It might take awhile. For now, there is this:

This weekend changed my life.

Uptight Chains

The next spread in my Sketchbook Project, Limited Edition. I really like the chains, and I totally meant to do more in this book, but it just didn’t happen. As for the doodling comment, I was definitely fighting my gremlin that day. I would really like to develop some new doodling patterns, designs, techniques, etc. I guess the only way for that to happen is to keep drawing and hope that some pop out.

Two more sleeps until I leave for the Makerie! I can’t wait. I will be posting about it when I return!

Life is Good.

My monthly visit with my life coach was today, and for the second time, there was very little to discuss. We decided to put our coaching relationship to an end (for now) because basically, my life is good. My life has a flow to it and there are no stumbling blocks that I need to talk about. Well, let me rephrase: There are no stumbling blocks that I haven’t stumbled over before or that I need to pay money to talk about. This is a pretty big deal for me, so I would like to remind myself periodically that life is good. I know some bloggers only tell you the good stuff in their lives, leading you to think that they are perfect in every which way, and that nothing bad ever happens to them. I don’t think I can be accused of this – just go back into my history and you’ll find plenty of honest-to-goodness “bad” stuff in there. Complaints, whining, that sort of thing. But I think it needs a bit of balance with some good stuff, so here goes.

Life is good!

I’ve got enough painting work to keep me busy for the next month and a bit.

I am stoked to visit and meet with people at the Makerie and super excited to take a class with Flora Bowley!

My kids, hubby and I are all enjoying relatively stress-free relationships (with each other, I mean) right now.

I am going to be dancing for a full week in April for Core Connexion training – I can’t wait!

My best friend Angela will be coming out to dance with me! Double YAY YAY!

My mom will be here for a week! Super duper YAY!

Looking forward to telling you all about a really exciting project coming up this fall! Triple YAY!

I hope you can find some goodness in your life, too.