Bowen Bear - The Stuffed Version.

It turns out my good friend, Karen, is also doing an illustration of the Bowen Bear and seeing as our tables are right beside each other, I decided to forfeit my design for a card. Instead, I'm going to shrink them down and use them as labels for these cute little stuffed critters:

Still working out the details, but thought this little bear would make the CUTEST Bowen mascot. Now, I just need to actually make them...

Bowen Bear

Every year, I design a christmas card for my family and send out to all our friends, family and colleagues. I have had a few requests from friends, to sell some of my card illustrations this year at the local craft fair. I wanted to come up with a 'Bowen 2010 Theme' and that's when I decided on the following:

This year was very exciting for Bowen Islanders as we had not one but TWO bears show up on our island. They were able to trap and re-locate one of our bears but the other one still remains roaming our isle. I thought it would be fun to do a series of the 'Bowen Bear'. Here's one idea - I may take the text off the front and put inside...or I may keep as a postcard...or both. Who knows...

Monkey Business

I'm probably totally crazy for deciding to take this on, but, who knows when I'll have the chance to participate again in a craft fair. The christmas craft fair on Bowen is HUGE! It's a one day event with about a 100 vendors (just a guess). Last year, my table was not in the best location so this year, I made sure to have prime real estate. Last year, a lot of people recognized me from previous summer markets, when I would make and sell sock monkeys (I'm officially known as the sock monkey lady over here - could be worse), and were disappointed that I had dropped off the monkey making wagon. So, seeing as my time is tight with other deadlines, I have decided to focus on monkey making once again, and have a pretty good start on the assembly line. If time permits, I may try to add some pinafore dresses, journals and christmas cards.

Progress:

Our Island

Sometimes living on an island can be great and sometimes a burden. On Friday, I had a dentist appointment in town, and as usual, tried to accomplish a million and one things in a short time frame. My husband called at 5:00 to let me know that the ferries were crazy - ahhhhh welcome summer! And of course, the question that seems to run through my head every now and again..."Why do I live on a big rock surrounded by water?!?" ARGH!!

Feeling this angst linger all day Saturday and again Sunday morning, we decided to get out of the house and go for a drive to Mt Gardener Dock and look what we stumbled upon.

Every year, a local diver named Adam, dives off the shores of our island, and brings to the surface many beautiful creatures for us to learn about, touch, hold and study. Watching Logan carefully pick up each starfish, feel the slimy texture of the sea cucumber and being adamant that we stay until the very end, to make sure all the creatures got back to their families safely, was a gentle reminder as to why we have chosen to raise our son in this environment.

Garden + Gnome pt.2

Well, it looks as though the Gnome , which Logan has named 'Rock' has finished moving in. Over the last couple weeks, little tools, a table and plants have been appearing in his garden. We were waiting for his door to go in, and this morning there it was. He has finished moving. Welcome Rock!

We have also continued bringing up wheelbarrows of dirt and slowly building our garden. So far so good. AND we finally have grass - YAY! Everything is starting to take shape and fill in. Maybe that's why I'm popping Robaxacet like it's going out of style...

Mid-June!

When did mid-June get here?!? I wish I could say we've been too busy outside enjoying the sunshine, but unfortunately, the summer has gotten off to a cool start. It seems we have sun one day and freezing cold rain the next. Well, hopefully things will stabilize in both the weather and my posting! So here's a little overview in photos of what we've been up to...

Logan visited the dentist for the first time. He was so excited and took the entire experience very seriously. He was a little nervous to be by himself on 'the Chair' so he lied on top of me. When the dentist came in, however, he decided to be a really brave boy and sat by himself. Even daddy dinosaur got his teeth checked!

Next up was a little day trip to Squamish. We looked for eagles in Brackendale but were unsuccessful. The highlight of the trip for Logan was the bear proof garbage cans. He was so impressed that they had special handles and was scared that at any minute a bear was going to come by with something to throw away. Cutie! We ended our visit at Shannon Falls and then found ourselves in a three hour ferry wait to get home. Why do we live on an island again?!?

Hooray the Coho Salmon Release! This is our second time attending this annual event. What a wonderful experience for Logan. This year they had a little 'fishing pool' for the kids to catch salmon. On the backside of the fish it let you know the lifespan of your catch.

This month has also been filled with a lot of gardening, allergies (me), a stiff neck (me) and a cold (me)!! Also, a lot of sewing, designing and a brand new HUGE project on my plate which I will talk about soon. Stay tuned...

Design on the Fly!!

I just found out there's a little techie tradeshow this weekend on Bowen to let people know what is available on the rock. I thought it might be worth my while to participate and rent a table - one small problem...I don't have anything to display. About six months ago, I decided to update my logo, which of course means, I have no business cards, postcards, portfolio is out of date...etc... So I spent the majority of yesterday and this morning while Logan was at school to design some collateral, presentation boards and ship off to the printers. It was such a whirlwind but I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

18" x 24" presentation board which will be printed and mounted on black foam core.

4" x 6" postcards double sided. Thumbnails of projects on front and information on the back.

New business cards. For now I'm just having them digitally printed, but in the near future, I think I'll have them screenprinted onto brown kraft cardstock.

Garden + Gnome

We have been working non-stop this spring on our outdoor space. We've been building rock gardens, fencing, bringing up wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt, and clearing away the HUGE amount of fallen trees from when we cleared the property. Geoff just finished hauling out the last of the logs last weekend and, as a result, we have uncovered a lovely, somewhat flat, sunny space. How exciting!!

I noticed the other day, that at the base of one of our old cedars, there was the perfect little hidden spot for a gnome garden. Logan's imagination is amazing, and his fascination with little tiny 'things' (the baby from a stacking doll, tiny travel size toothpaste, little bottles of hand cream...) gave me the idea to create a little tiny gnome garden. I showed him the spot and told him if we cleaned it up a bit, maybe a garden gnome would find it, and start to set up house. We spent the rest of the afternoon on Wednesday, pulling weeds and clearing an area for the gnome. First thing yesterday morning he checked to see if the gnome had moved in...nothing yet. So well he was napping, I started to build the gnome garden. Take a look:

There's a little pond (a Becel container with gravel in the bottom) that has a lovely deck (tree bark) a little stone pathway to the front door, rock gardens and plants from around our property (mostly, we did buy a couple special ones as a housewarming gift). When Logan woke up, we went outside to play, and the first thing he wanted to check on was the gnome. All I can say is I wish I had my video camera...he FREAKED OUT! It was so cute!! I hadn't quite finished everything yet, so he helped me put together the finishing touches like adding larger rocks (because the gnome couldn't lift them) and we also gave him a little fence (popsicle sticks) to help keep out the Bowen Bear (yes, a bear has made it's way over here this week). I have ordered a lovely door for the gnome and little miniature table and chairs, wheelbarrow, gardening equipment and watering can. I'm going to put that all together when Logan is not around and can't wait for his reaction!! Here's what's happening on the rest of the property.

This is the area that was filled with fallen trees (I think there was about eight or nine that Geoff bucked up and hauled out). It's quite large and gets tons of sun.

This is one side of it (gnome garden on right) that we're going to make a nice little seating area. I'm thinking old bricks, with moss inbetween and maybe a brick fire pit.

And this is the other side where it starts to get a bit steep again. We're going to leave in the two large logs on the left, as they have created a nice retaining wall. We're thinking of putting in a little stream that cascades down into a pond as it's fairly level and an interesting shape. Pretty exciting!!

We're growing herbs. Apparently I'm really good at growing oregano.

Rock gardens, rock gardens and more rock gardens. Plus there's four more on the other side of the pathway. Then there's the entire backyard to do.

And a little memorial garden for Lucy (where I'm constantly finding sticks, feathers, seashells and rocks that Logan collects for her).

Well, there you have it. We still want to start some decking this summer, build a play structure for Logan, make some pathways....but it's a start!

Bowen Island Market

Exciting news alert - the Bowen Island Market is back this year and is going to be the best it has ever been! A group of fellow crafters, farmers and foodies got together last week, to brainstorm how to bring back the market and bring in the crowds that it so deserves. The market had started to get a little stale this past year or so with many long time crafty islanders moving off, or being fortunate enough for their 'hobby' to turn into a full time job, or (like my selfish self) going off and having babies. There's a lot of new talents over here, and we're making it our business to set forth and seek them out...so don't be shy!!

This year, we have three little rules: MAKE IT . BAKE IT . GROW IT

The last year that I was part of the market was in 2006. Here's some pictures of our table (me and my crafty friend, Karen of Bluebelle).

There is going to be a blog, promotional mailouts and some other fun tidbits to get this market started. So stay tuned...