Spring seeds

We've been collecting toilet and paper towel rolls for a few months now...
Tomorrow we have an afternoon project to do with our friends from the neighbourhood... We'll be choosing veggies and flowers to plant ...

Do you think 70 seedlings will be sufficient ?

What are you up to this week?

Have a lovely Tuesday
Char.x

Happy Easter

Easter has been filled already with food and egg hunts...and spending time with family.
I thought we were seeing friends and family last night too but I was surprised by Mr. R when he took me to a restaurant i had never been to for a surprise birthday dinner!
The company was wonderful! And the food was amazing! I'd definitely go back there!
Today we are sharing our Easter Sunday with friends, lamb and salmon are on the menu... And probably a few instagram photos will be snapped.
I hope you have a lovely Easter if you celebrate... If not, enjoy your Sunday!
Hugs
Char.x

Almost Christmas

It's almost Christmas here... These are a few pictures showing what we've been up to in the past 24 hours...
The girls can't wait until tomorrow morning...
I don't think we'll be getting a white Christmas this year... Oh well... It will still be special.

I have been instagramming recently... You probably recognise the filters I used on a few of the above pics... Do you instagram?
I think I'll track our days activities tomorrow through instagram...

Must dash... The goose is in the oven and lentils are simmering.
Hugs and Merriments to you ALL!

Char.x

Off to print

Happy Friday everyone!
What do you think of my family Xmas card?
Hugs
Char

wordless Wednesday

hugs
Char.x

We're back...with Birthday wishes!

Hello everyone...We're back from our trip to Ohio...having had an amazing week. I will upload some pictures for you all to see later as we get settled in...but this one is for you Tam...(if you have been reading here for a while...you'll know Tam is my other half of this blog in the UK)

HAPPY Birthday...have a wonderful day, I miss you lots!
HUGS
Char.x

Wordless Wednesday

hugs

Char.x

our first Birthday girl...

 Cupcakes for Miss A's class!

Happy Birthday Miss A...you mean the WORLD to us...you brighten up each day...and help me stop and think...you are beautiful, kind and thoughtful...and you are 7 today!
We love you to the Moon and back.
HUGS and kisses,
Mum(Char) and Dad(Mr.R.)

This week is FULL of Birthday celebrations...Tea and Cake is at 6 tonight...you know you're welcome!
hugs
Char.x

Wordless Wednesday

x
Char

Mondays Mentions...my studio and LOST teeth!

It's a FREEZING cold Monday morning...my girls were under-dressed going to school today so I'm about to rush up there with an extra sweater for each of them...we're in March and it's still 20 below Zero...I know...I know...what can I expect living here in Canada?

At least the Sun is shining... right?!

SO...LOTS of work has been going on in our house...my husband has become VERY handy and is slowly finishing our basement...STAGE 3 and we're finally on MY studio...YAY...with my decision to start teaching kids this Summer...he is pushing to get it finished in time.

I spent hours cleaning my area and Mr R got the whole room framed(as you can see from these pics above).

This morning I took measurements of walls and windows...Mr R needs me to clarify where electrical outlets and lights etc should go.

So...over the next month and a half, I will be keeping you up to date with the progress of "my studio"...I am SO EXCITED...really, I have a buzzing energy inside...I'll finally be able to start a project and leave it out over night...usually I have to pack everything away so that we can eat dinner...

It's not a huge space...but with lots of Ikea storage...I will be able to organise and maneuver well in my studio.

He's even run an "air" line in from the compressor in the garage...so if I want to use an air brush or any tools which require air pressure...I'll be able to!

At the same time as my studio is being built, Mr. r is also finishing the "Dark Room"...this will be a fantastic hobby to teach our girls...to be able to develop their own photos...and to appreciate where photography came from and how we arrive at the finished print.

Both Mr. R and I have studied Photography...and we have the enlarger already.

Should be fun!

Here's Miss A with her TOOTHLESS smile...she was shy about me taking her photo...

Her tooth finally came out on Friday in her Assembly at school...they gave her that little tooth box on a string to keep her tooth safe...cute!

MONDAYs Mentions ::

So...today we're going SCANDINAVIAN with our links...

As many of you know I have a HUGE connection with Scandinavia...even though I have never actually lived there...my parents are both Scandi...

I used to go to Danmark every Summer to visit our Farmor and Farfar(Grandparents)...they lived in Hellerup just outside Copenhagen.

I LOVE the little Danish stores...THIS one I have never been to...but would love to.Brinja also has a BLOG which is full of colour and family life.

I visit this Scandi lass quite frequently ... I adore the interiors she posts about and the Scandinavian design in general...MAMAMEKKO...

Reminds me of Marimekko...lol...which is ANOTHER brilliant Scandinavian(Finnish) designer...GO HERE to check out their designs.

A Swedish Artist...ALEXANDRA HEDBERG creates some amazingly interesting paintings...and is about to start a commission for the exterior of a building. I like seeing her work's progression.

And finally...Vilde from Norway has a blog (although there really are SO many Scandinavian links I could post...perhaps I should create a section JUST for this...) MY SCANDINAVIAN RETREAT...is where I go to dream, of that perfect place...by the water or in the City...gorgeous designed houses with such simplistic interiors.

Thanks for passing by today...I hope you enjoy all these links.

This afternoon I am working on a colour sketch for an Alice in Wonderland back-drop and I received a commission for a "Family Load" portrait...I LOVE COMMISSIONS!!! :-)

Until tomorrow...have a lovely Monday...it's going to be a GREAT week!

HUGS

Char.x

WORDLESS Wednesday

Snowball hugs,
Char.x

Tuesday's LESSONS

 Hello lovelies...I hope you had a wonderful weekend...ours overflowed into Monday...that's why there was no post yesterday.

Our weekend was full of family times...I took the girls to the Justin Beiber movie...they enjoyed it, but couldn't understand why all those girls were crying?(fans)...their Ballet studio had an open house, which meant we could sit in and watch them throughout their classes...perhaps I'll post some picks tomorrow.Such a proud Mama!

We also learnt some lessons this weekend...one was not to break Mummy's heart with words which could have been thought about before being said...it made for a rough day for me yesterday...that's Life though...and hope the lesson was learnt.
I received a note from Miss A...hugs...hugs and more hugs were given and received.

The Sun can't even warm us up today as the wind chill of -25 is just fighting any rays which may be trying to remind us of it's warmth.Thanks for trying Sun...

hugs (coz I need lots)
Char.x

handmade FORTS

We visited our Fort today in the woods..Miss A helped me fix it up a little as in the Summer when we were back here we couldn't restore it as the nettles were SO bad...

It's JUST AMAZING how it has withstood 2 winters already and we can see the deer are using it as a shelter...I LOVE being out with our girls...the woods here are like a HUGE playground for them!

I am visiting your blogs today...can't wait to say hello!

HUGS

Char.x

Wordless Wednesday - nature repeating itself!

happy September...
HUGS
Char.x

Being Framed

as promised...here are the pastel portraits framed.These were the 2 frames which I was given to place them in...quite GRAND and they fit wonderfully in their enviroment in which they will be going this Friday.

I always get a little nervous when handing over a commissioned piece as I'm not entirely sure about the expectations of the commissioner...if you know what I mean.

I would really love to start pushing my portrait side of my business as I really enjoy working with faces and people. Idealy I would paint my studies from Life, but children are a little harder to get to sit for a couple of hours...so working from photos as I did with these 2.

We'll see...I would love to sit down and chat with a "Portrait Artist" and ask them a WHOLE bunch of questions...

on a change of note...here's the wee plane Mr.R takes off in to jump. There was a competition going on at the Jump Zone this past weekend(I can't believe it's Thursday already!!!) so it was really busy in the air and on the ground.

we spent both Saturday and Sunday up there...the girls love watching all the skydivers and picking flowers for their flower press.

I just want to thank ALL of you who left such heartfelt comments in my last post.

To say thanks I am going to have an AUGUST GIVEAWAY...I'll post it after the weekend...it'll be a biggie.

Until then...I'm sure you'll see more posts from me over the weekend. We're off to the Beer Fest in Toronto this weekend, we've been going yearly since I arrived in Canada (I don't particularily love Beer-but the day out is fun)

Have a GRAND Thursday!

HUGS

Char.x