Bunnies and Kitties!

One of my favourite things about visiting my friends from Kelowna is their backyard... It's filled with all sorts of strange mushrooms and fungi hidden in the overgrown grass, there's raspberry bushes galore, and little furry creatures hopping about...  

Meet Angel and Sunshine, the rabbits, Barney and Windsor, the old cats, and Jack-Torch, the youngest cat of the bunch (we had adopted him initially, but it didn't work out (he has aggressive tendencies, and liked to hump/clobber our other cat, and they re-adopted him, and he's very happy now!). 

The last picture is of Lauren, while we were taking some reference photos for Christina Lank (a brilliant painter), and Jack jumped into the photo. We had a difficult time herding him out of the shots, and eventually had to bring him inside.

Our Kelowna friends have recently moved to the Vancouver area, so I happily get to see them AND these little creatures quite often now! 

Great Canadian Craft Fair - Day 1

Hello everyone!

I'm happy to report that our first day at the Great Canadian Craft Fair went wonderfully! It was pretty busy compared to some of the other shows we've done. It was so hard to navigate the room, the crowd was insane!! I'll be very busy tomorrow at the fair making new jewelry to restock the items we sold. 

Our neighbours at the show are so friendly! We couldn't have better table mates. And the shoppers, even those that didn't buy, always had lovely things to say about our jewelry. After this first show for Sparrow's Trove, we felt really positive about our business and the future possibilities. 

On day two, I'll try to take more photos of the market in general, as well as the outside surroundings (as long is it's not snowing like crazy again haha!). 

Hope you enjoyed the photos! Check back for more tomorrow!

Dinner by the Boardwalk

This Winter has been extremely busy and productive for me!

I finally finished my Snow White painting, photographed a whole slew of new ear cuffs and ear drops for the shop, and have been getting regular sales now that the Christmas season is in full swing (along with an awesome custom order a customer is having me make for his girlfriend). On top of all of this, I've been working on a huge site update for my illustration/portfolio website. It's high time for a change!

Speaking of change, I have to change my sleeping hours. I'm not going to tell you how bad they are, just that they're somewhere between night owl and vampire. It's pretty bad. *cries*

Now for some photos from summertime, when I was visiting friends in Kelowna!
We went to a restaurant right by Okanagan Lake, and climbed the stairs up to their roof top lounge. Lauren and I split the yummiest salad ever, along with some delicious quesadillas. I also tried some Japanese imported beer that was quite tasty, and that's saying something, because I hate beer.

A dorky picture of me and Lauren at a restaurant, on her ipad.
I love her, Tracy and Marcus so much! :)

A view of the patio/lounge from where I was sitting.

Before the sun had gone down, the little lights were lit

Food! Yummy Quesadillas.

Yummy Salad

After we stuffed ourselves silly, and were feeling a bit giddy from the beer, we decided to go for a walk along the boardwalk, down by the lake, which was brightly lit and quite lively. I really do love night time photography in the city. The photos are always so vibrant, blurry (in a good way), and unexpected.

Boats under some beautiful night time lighting

I hope you enjoyed the photos! :)

A Trip to the Jewelry Store

Rainbow Seed Beads - Jewelry Supplies

My regular jewelry store closed down, so I ended up adventuring to a new one, in another part of town. The owners were kind enough to let me photograph the shop, and even suggested getting some close up shots of the seed beads.

The atmosphere of the store is verrrrry chill, which is good for my anxiety. It's hard to feel stressed in a place that gives off some serious hippie vibes.

Jewelry Store Beads Display

Semi-Precious Stone Beads

Outside the shop, looking in at the bead display. 

My haul: 

Jewelry, Wire, Beads, Chain, and Filigrees

I've already made some lovely pieces with the new jewelry supplies and I can't wait to add them to my shop. I just have to get my lovely model Lauren to sit down and let me photograph them on her! :P

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Autumn Leaves

Richly coloured Autumn leaves; visual proof of the season's change. 

The prettiest leaves seemed to stand out like little dew covered gems, on the green grass. There were so many impossibly beautiful shades of red, brown, green, olive, yellow, and ochre, that I wondered if I could ever make such a beautiful colour pallet myself (though I don't think anyone is as talented as Mother Nature). 

Aside from the rain, I love this time of year. It's not too hot, not too cold, and the tree branches are decorated with a myriad of colours. It's a time when I want to be curled up in my blanket, reading, and sipping tea, or hot chocolate, while the rain thistles down gently.

Click below for more photos!