[i] LoveLife

holidayMAGIC is a sweet little book!

holidayMAGIC by kal barteski | Make Your Own Book

A couple of years ago I saw Elise post about her Christmas book AND I FELL IN LOVE with the concept.

Last year I ordered a couple 7x7 Blurb INSTAGRAM books AND I FELL IN LOVE with the size.

Last weekend I watched three SUPER EXCITED little girls freak out when the Christmas box came out of storage and their favourite holiday books were in their hands once again.

SO YESTERDAY I decided that this was the year that I needed to marry those ideas and make my own family heirloom (totally inspired by our new holiday photos).

I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but I am fully in support of recording stories. And keeping things simple. And designing cool books. And leaving a small trace of myself in the things I can make for my family. AND MAKING SURE THEY KNOW HOW MUCH THEY ARE MY LIFE.

This book is much like the HELLO BABY book with fill-in-the-blanks and spaces. Every spread is meant to capture another year of holiday memories. There's room for TWENTY-NINE years of memorykeeping*. TWENTY NINE YEARS!! I wanted to do 100 years of memory keeping but then the book was going to be $3500 so I tried to keep it to something reasonable. PLUS, I figure in twenty-nine years - by then Poet will be 30 for the holidays and once I started thinking about that I started crying and totally forgot about the 100 years. I kid. Sort of.

{Shot from the back cover...}

The book is a nice small size. It fits in your hands. It's 7 by 7 inches. It fits in a breadbox. It fits in a PURSE! It holds just what I need it to fit: just the important stuff - no need to stress out or draft manuscripts. The huge collections of photos can go in the big albums. I just figured that this would be something small enough for us to keep in the Christmas box and pull out every year so we could consistently record our own magic in one easy-to-use place. Even if we were not at home.

Anyways. I made the book holidayMAGIC available to the public so if you wanted one - go ahead. AND - use the discount code GIFTIDEA for 25% off (books you make yourself) or the discount code GOODYEAR for 25% off if you BUY IT TODAY or the discount code GIFT10 for $10 off (so many codes to choose from!). It's $44.95 for the hardcover. I know it looks expensive, but it's TWENTY-NINE YEARS worth of book. That's only $1.55 per year for magical memory-keeping. ;) (LESS if you buy it with the 25% off code!)

*OH HEY! I decided to anticipate the cost comments and so I stayed up really late and I created a soft cover version, too. It's the holidays! I certainly prefer the hardcover - especially for the longevity of the book, but recording memories is better than NOT recording memories. That's my mantra. Sort of. The softcover is called holidayMAGIC light. The softcover only has 19 years of recording space... but the sentiment is right and the price is only $24.95

These books would be GREAT gifts for newly married people. Or for people with newly born babies. Or for folks who like Christmas. Or for wedding gifts. Or for ANYONE, really. I will be starting my 29 years of recording this season with no rhyme or reason. My memory keeping books are in my Blurb bookstore. The holidayMAGIC hardcover version or the holidayMAGIC light softcover version are available now.

(Edited: hopefully the links are working better now.)

Today: HOLIDAY CARDS. I'm just doing file prep to get them ready for the ARTshop. FINALLY. Watch for them to appear over the course of this day.

GO!

Santa, it's JUST WHAT I WANTED!

That's my Christmas RIGHT THERE. Signed, sealed, delivered! Tell me a mama that doesn't ache for a photo like that one. I HAVE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN. My heart has cracked wide open with gratitude and love. When my favourite photographer (and best neighbour in the world) sent me a glimpse of our family photosession MY CHRISTMAS WAS SEALED. I don't care what happens this Christmas season! Blow up the frickin' turkey! Fill my stockings with gluten - I don't care! (Dan YOU ARE TOTALLY OFF THE HOOK!)

This is all I wanted. BIG sigh....

THE DIRTY: for some reason I thought it was a good idea to book a photosession for 9am on a Saturday morning. The morning after a CRAZY art show that turned into dancing till the wee hours of the night (with said photographer I might add). I went to bed with makeup plastered on and insane hair and false eyelashes hanging on my face like not-so-itsy-bitsy spiders. OH and we had houseguests! And (if we are telling the truth) A MOUSE! Okay and a wee bit of a hangover. And a little one just settling in to the flu.

Sounds like a GREAT DAY to dress up and smile for the camera.

And it totally was! Rachael (whom I usually refer to as Luckygirl wedding photography BUT the other half of her crazy-talented business is the rad family photography side called HeyKiddo) is one of those people who amaze me time after time. I WANT HER EYES - because life looks really darn good through them. Man, I love these people. Every. Exasperating. Minute. Of. Them.

These are HeyKiddo PHOTOBOOTH sessions. It takes 20 minutes. Her family photography company is called HeyKiddo and her partner Mairen is truly AMAZING, too. I'm not trying to shamelessly advertise for Rachael because quite frankly it would be more fun if she had no clients so we could hang out and have coffee all day long. SERIOUSLY. I'm trying to MAKE SURE YOU BOOK A SESSION BECAUSE IT'S SO INCREDIBLY WORTH IT to see yourself in the fabric of your own family. Check out their website. Or just go ahead and email them info (at) heykiddo (dot) ca. Book it. She said they have a couple of slots open for this Saturday (December1). And maybe the 8th. BUT DON'T WAIT. The price is right. Book it so you can DIE AND GO TO HEAVEN, too. ;)

LOVE NOTE: Poet was NOT happy that day. AT ALL. But that's kind of how life has been with her for the past couple of months. Tough. She has been cutting the last couple of really hard teeth and fighting coughs and colds and flus and bug. It's been rough for her. And for us. But I love these shots EVEN MORE because I see our right now in her. This photo makes me want to run and hug her - to stop time. This photo is awesome. It's perfect. And it's perfectly who we were on the day that wasn't the perfect day.

Thanks Rachael. You are such a gift. You are part of our family's story and that's something I am so grateful for.

Today: I'm finishing up two exciting holiday projects that these photos will be the cherry on top. I'm SO excited to share them because I think they are incredibly awesome. TOMORROW is my release goal. Yes!

GO!

Hands up for HANDMADE!

I love being a person who makes things by hand. A HAND MAKER. I LOVE IT. And I can tell you that I am happiest when I am elbow deep in paint. It makes me feel incredibly blessed to be a maker of handmade things. There's a new print in my shop that has some sequins attached to the print AND IT'S JUST ADORABLE. Simpe with a little bling. (I never say BLING, that was weird.) Every print is different and no two prints are the same. That makes me happy.

AND the holidays make me happy. This print is on sale in my ARTshop for only $19 until January 1st when it will go up to it's regular price of $35. GOOD. DEAL.

Today: I am (hopefully) putting the finishing touches on the holiday cards. (I KNOW!! What is taking me so long? Watch for them to appear December 1 ALONG WITH A SUPER COOL NEW IDEA.) No matter how many Christmas carols I listen to - I am having trouble getting into the holiday spirit. I'm going to remedy that by taking the girl tribe to visit Santa Claus this afternoon. Nothing gets me into the holiday spirit like Christmas chaos. In our five years visiting the Claus it's always a different little P that loses their mind and it's kind of interesting to see who it will be this year. Logic tells me to put my money on Poet, but she's a delightful wild card so you just never know. Hopefully it won't be ME! 

GO!

Holiday Gifts for Polar Bear Lovers: the 2012 guide!

OH MAN! It is no secret that I LOVE POLAR BEARS. They are extraordinarily awesome (to borrow a phrase from Charlie and Lola). I love almost all things polar bears. I say ALMOST because in my quest for the best polar bear things - I came across a lot of tacky polar bear JUNK. Straight up silliness. BUT this, my friends, is the good stuff. It ranges in price from $0.99 to $349 and it's well designed, adorable stuff. Not too shabby

Introducing the TOP 25 GIFTS for POLAR BEAR LOVERS!

1. STRIPED POLAR BEAR SWEATER BY Forever21.com
2. ZUNY POLAR BEAR PAPER WEIGHT
3. POLAR BEAR WINE STOPPER
4. POLAR BEAR REPURPOSED LEATHER iPAD CASE by K.Y.M. handbags
5. POLAR BEAR SNOOD
6. MARIMEKKO POLAR BEAR MUG (My favourite!!)
7. BÉBÉ OURS POLAR BEAR PRINT
8. POLAR BEAR PILLOW BY NORD (I love, love, love!)
9. KISSING POLAR BEARS WASHBAG BY ANORAK
10. POLAR BEAR PIGGY BANK ($12.25!)
11. NETTO POLAR BEAR ROCKER ($349)
12. POLAR BEAR T-SHIRT
    
13. POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR WHAT DO YOU HEAR? BY CARLE
14. VINTAGE POLAR BEAR JUMPER BY TOPSHOP
    
15. KISSING POLAR BEARS WASH BAG (medium) BY ANORAK
16. POLAR BEAR CORD WINDER ($0.99!)
17. POLAR BEAR BENTO BOXES by GEL COOMA
18. POLAR BEAR TAIL MUG ($9.50!)
19. MARIMEKKO POLAR BEAR TIN from Crate & Barrel ($8.12!)
20. POLAR BEAR COOKIE CUTTER ($1.59!)
21. POLAR BEAR MORNING BY LAUREN THOMPSON
22. POLAR BEAR NIGHT BY LAUREN THOMPSON
23. BEAR PORTRAITS BY JILL GREENBURG ($10.80!!)
24. POLAR BEAR LINE DRAWINGS
25. KISSING POLAR BEAR TOWELS BY ANORAK

And there you go. Beautiful stuff that's perfect for a polar bear lover without being TOO CRAZY. I have the books and the sweaters... but I'm keeping my eye on the rest of those lovelies. OH! And I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve for some even BETTER polar bear pieces. Stay tuned.... 

Today: I am (finally) back to painting! Yay! (And there should be a new print released today as well - totally NOT polar bear related.)

GO!

New homes + new chapters.

This is a photo of one of my bear paintings in the quarantine/holding area for polar bears at the zoo. That's probably not crazy-super-cool to anyone but me because we snapped this shot when I was delivering the sleeping bear to the International Polar Bear Conservation Centre. And if it was a real bear it would actually have to spend time in this area. Which is really surreal to me. AND ALSO this is the area where Debbie the polar bear lived for many, many years and I truly feel like HER AWESOMENESS is to blame for my transformation into a crazy polar bear lady.

To stand in her house, on her side of the bars - was pretty cool.

OH! THERE WERE NO BEARS IN THE FACILITY AT THE TIME. Good thing or I would have been ripped into lunch. I should probably make that clear. No bears were disturbed in the making of this story. The zoo is undergoing a radical facelift/transformation and is currently bear-less. Soon this zoo will be the home for orphaned or injured bears.

And regardless of all that jazz - the painting is now hanging in the research centre (on loan) where polar bear researchers/lovers get to enjoy him every day. Yay for Sleepy! I felt like that was a good spot for him until finds forever owner. It just seems right.

Today: I'm finally into the spot in my schedule where I have breathing room. i get to sort through my trip to Churchill. I get to sketch and clean up. i get to tie up loose ends and finish this year elbow deep in paint. WATCH FOR LOOSE ENDS TO BE TIED THIS WEEK.

GO!

 

With great thanks + a sale...

Until 11:59pm on Friday NOVEMBER 23, 2012 - there are a lot of good deals happening in me ARTshop. The LOVE+INSPIRATION print set (pictured) is 50%off (discount code: INSPIRED). These are the 4 prints included in the set and you can choose between a set of 5x7s or 8x10s. They make super nice gifts for the Christmas season (and seriously - that's only $8.60 each for 8x10's or $2.63 for 5x7s!).

***
OH! For just 24 HOURS (starting at midnight NOV22 and ending 11:59pm NOV23) use the discount code THANKS2012 for 15% off ANYTHING in my shop. If you were interested in this piece - that's a savings of over $400. PLUS, it's an even greater deal on the SALE items.
***

I am SO GRATEFUL to you and to everyone that makes it possible for me to do what I love. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

(Discount code: THANKS2012 for 15% off till 11:59pm NOV23/12)

Today/Friday: I'm polishing off my presentation for the #NMMblog conference featuring Catherine Conners of HerBadMother.com - you should totally come! Oh, and I will also be taking a short trip to relocate a polar bear. More on that later. Because it's AWESOME. ;)

GO!

Ready, set...

I am almost back on track! SUPER excited because next week I will start painting in earnest for an upcoming show that is pulling me by the heartstrings. And imagination. All of the the new work left from the Masquerade show is loaded into my ARTshop. I'm just working out my kinks, but then they will be available. There might even be a discount code. And there will definitely be some too-good-to-miss specials. And maybe a surprise or two. Good times. Watch for those to appear Thursday afternoon just before the U.S of A sits down to give thanks.

Coming soon: my polar bear gift guide!! Just in case you were wondering what to get me! ;) I've put together my Top 10 list of gifts for the polar bear lover. SO AWESOME.

Also coming soon: my holiday photo cards. They're nice.

Watch for an ARTshop announcement. GO!

Larmes de Plumes...

Here is a peek at one of the Larmes de Plumes paintings that will be showing up in my ARTshop this week. Maybe even today. 'Larmes de Plumes' translates to Tears of Feathers... and if you get a person with a real French accent to say it - you will see just how beautiful the name sounds (although it looks quite awkward).

This series, for me, is a quiet and cathartic collection. There is no fanfare. This type of painting is a combination of watercolour techniques with acrylic paint on nearly raw canvas. It gets done in one shot and when then 'tears' are dry - the painting is finished. It involves a lot of faith and trust... something that I have learned is the key to everything there is in life.

As 2012 sets - I'm completely bewildered by the turn around. The first half of the year was the worst of any I have experienced in my entire life. I don't have better words to describe the pain or the lowness. It was pretty much just a soup of sadness. That metamorphasized into something beautiful. One hundred and eighty degrees of different.

These plumes are the collection of tears... sadness, joy and otherwise.

Today: I'm working hard in my ARTshop to create some Black Friday magic. I will have a final post on the Masquerade art show... it's one of thos things that I need to simmer on. So much came together to make the show a success... I want to do it right.

GO!

Photo Day!

I'm working hard to get the Masquerade show stuff (and some other goodies) into my ARTshop. Watch for new stuff to appear by the end of the week.

GO!

And then it was gone.

Well, the Masquerade show turned out like a dream come to life. Like a magical circus. Exactly the way I was dreaming it would. Which is trippy and crazy-awesome. Big, sloppy thanks to GMB Chomichuk for collaborating on another grand event. And to the amazing performers, to all the people that helped, to the DJs, and the caterer, and the building owner, and every last person that had anything to do with the #secretmasquerade. Thank you - I am speechless and just sort of floating on a happy cloud. It was so much fun.

Take a peek at the slide show - it's a collection of the instagram photos tagged #secretmasquerade! If YOU were there - then you know that it was a feast for the senses and a collective of arts and passions. Thank you for trusting us when we said it would be awesome!

For now, I'll take a few days to clean my studio, photograph what I'm releasing for sale and get myself sorted. I'm working on a new show. ALREADY. My heart is a flutter about what's to come.

GO!