The Piebirds 2nd Annual Picnic Marathon & Concert

So now that I am feeling better I have TONS of photos I just HAVE to show you in this post.  I only picked my very favourites but there are plenty of them so grab your cup of coffee and join me...

...This is one of my favourite days from this summer. At the end of July, Jon and I zoomed back from a  quick visit to Toronto in time to attend the 2nd annual Picnic & Garden Concert hosted by the fabulous Piebird, & its proprietors Yan & Sherry, a fab young couple that I really respect...

It was a day where you could bring your own lunch & a picnic blanket & sought out a perfect spot to get comfy under the blazing sun & delicious blue skies for an afternoon of awesome music, happiness, and people with great mojo...

It was a lovely family event, full of beautiful kids running amuk...this is my gorgues pal Jana with her little human lovely...

...Adam Puddington was one of the musicians up first...

Than the completely fantastic Prescott's, a family group...

The bands stars however are Kaylen & Kelly Prescott who are brother & sister (pictured here is Kaylen Prescott on guitar) ...

...and Kelly (shown here) is actually married to Adam Puddington.  Click here to see the video for what I think was my favourite song they preformed this day...

...I love taking candid shots...like this one of the Piebird Peeps, Yan & Sherry, I think they are some of my favourite people to snap shots of...

...and I adore this shot, to me it perfectly captures the sparkling innocence & simplicity which was part of this day...

...as The Prescott's played, Curtis from "The Brothers Chaffey" sat and listened...another cool candid shot...

There was lots of hoolahooping going on...

...Lots of smiling in the sunlight...

During a short break, we strolled about the Piebird property.  The Piebird is just a happy place where you feel very at home & comfortable, I just love it so much & the earth friendly/animal kind lifestyle that Yan and Sherry have going on (who are both vegetarians, yayyy:D)...

...Here are some more of my most favourite shots...

And than the music started up again with an excellent rock & blues band called the Brothers Chaffey & man did they ever rock...

They had people up and dancing...

...and of course, I just had to get an cd and meet the lead singer...

It was just such a relaxing and easy going day...

Where you could play with friends...

...Play some soccer in between sets...

...Sit on a old Ford tractor...

Listen to some great music & converse with goats....

A day I am not soon to forget...

Thanks for hopping in, I know it was a long one, but hope hope hope you enjoyed seeing the photos??? 

Jonathan edited some video and put together some youtube items, there are 5 from the music from this day...if your interested check em out here:

Video One : Prescott wih Adam Puddington

Video Two : Prescott

Video Three : Brothers Chaffey

Video Four : Brothers Chaffey

Video Five : Brothers Chaffey

XO M & The Buns...

P.S. Back to Art & Bunnies next week.

Sick....

Hi there, I am popping in quickly to say I am sick....super sick, I haven't been sick like this in atleast 2 years...ugh...it's been over a week now and on top of a bad cold is a bad migraine constantly plaguing me and refusing to let up...ANYHOW that is why I disappeared on you for a bit there...sorry....I think I'll need a couple more days atleast before I am back in the swing of things....

In the meantime I leave you with a photo of one of my sweet stuffies on our upstairs rocker...in the evening when the sun goes down, it hits the dollie just like so and I love it...makes my toes tingly with happiness...even despite the sickies, ha ha....

I really wanted to say THANK SO MUCH to everyone whose been entering my September print giveaway.  This is only the 2nd giveaway I've ever done on this blog and the first time I think only 2 or 3 people entered! so this time the response is much better thanks...soooo many lovely comments as well, your all really making my day. 

For those of you who haven't entered and are interested, you can still enter...the info is right here....on my sidebar or just on the post below this one.

I hope none of you are suffering a cold like this & are having a lovely September...I am honestly very annoyed that I am so sick because September is one of my favourite months & I am not able to fully enjoy myself in it...but ya know I find it funny & sweet that even at 32 and even though I have a partner who takes incredible incredible care of me, even though he's sick at the same time, that there are still cravings to have my mom near, ha ha....I don't think that speaks of me being a suck but just reinforces what a good mom I have and the great care she gave me as a child....ahhh feeling much mom love today, ha ha...she & my dad sent over some delicious dinner last night...and even though we couldn't taste it much, it oozed that mommy-goodness which we both enjoyed, ha ha...Thanks Mom...

Be well all....see you soon.  XO M & the buns (Ella wants me to mention that she was a very brave & good girl at the doctors yesterday....more on that later).

September Print GIVEAWAY

Hi everyone,  I hope all your human little ones are off to school happily & successfully, that your home feels extra cozy, that your studios are seeing more of you & that your all enjoying what  is so far a very

Fall-Esq September...

...In our cozy & freshly fall cleaned warren all is well, except for my head, which is adjusting to the cooler rainy weather & poor Jon who is pretty sick with a cold, the bunnies however are seeming extra cozy & sleepy these recent days and are at this very moment napping by the open back door, watching the leaves fly about and wondering when the rain will stop so they can go outside for a good romp...I am going to make some brownies later in the day & well all is just feeling lovely & extra good this fall day.

So anyhow, enough catch up!  I promised a giveaway today and here it is...

A beautiful print of my illustration 'Welcome New Time"...I thought it would be perfect for this fresh fall season, it is on an 8.5 x 11 paper, the image itself measures 71/4 x 101/2 inches. 

(A print of this illustration is indeed available in my Etsy Shop)

So here is how you can enter your name for the giveaway:

1 - Leave a comment on this post to have your name entered once.

2 - Become a follower of my blog to have your name entered twice (if you are already are a follower just mention that)

3 - Mention this giveaway on YOUR blog to have your name entered 3 times (ohhh now your chances are gettin' good)

4 - Add my blog to your blog list for a 4th entry (But only if you do enjoy visiting me here).

5 - Put my blog button on your blog sidebar (a 2 week minimum would be nice) to be entered a womping 5 times (the button is available on my blog sidebar). 

6 - Join my monthly email Newsletter to be entered 6 times, just click on the Newsletter Button on my sidebar to join up, it's super easy (this option is for new sign-ee's only, sorry).

The draw will be on the Autumnal Equinox (which is September the 23 of 2010)  Good Luck!

Fun In Parry Sound

I have some more 'adventure' photos to show you.  As I mentioned before, Jon and I can not travel too far from home because of our brood of buns BUT we do find entertainment for ourselves locally...this time, a few weekends ago, it was a full & busy day in Parry Sound, which is a small town about 2 hours south of us.

Our first stop was the "Station Gallery", I know a number of people who have exhibited here but I had never been to the gallery so it was nice to pop in and see the wonderful space (and it of course had a train roaring past as we went in, which seemed all too fitting, ha ha...)

I wish our gallery Art On Main had hardwood floors like this!...

Next we found the downtown core & did abit of shopping & lunching & found this fantastic walkway...

...and this great mural...I always find murals in little towns so endearing & cozy...

Than by chance we found an old fire watch tower but first before the climb, I had to fuel up with a bit of a snack by a pond...

...and than to being the climb up this...

To some very nice views...

Than we explored the Parry Sound Museum abit...

we're quite surprised to learn how big water buoys really are...

Had a debate on what we thought this machine was used for...Jon thought for farm ploughing & I thought for some kind of rail line work...

But whatever it's purpose, it had some lovely rust on it!!!

Than we hopped across this fantastic mural...Do you really think this is how they piled logs on the sleds in the olden days???

Here is the underneath of the bridge we saw cutting through the town from the top of the fire tower...

And after exploring this area, we found a wonderful bike path which was so fun to play along and bike down...I thought this structure over looking the lake was pretty neat...the perfect spot to watch the approaching thunder/lightening storm...

Than it started to rain but we didn't pack it in quite yet, we wanted to hang out on the dock for a spell...

Than the torrential flood began so we booted back to the car, got soaked as we got the bikes back in the car, ha ha and than happily decided we missed the bunnies terribly and suddenly really wanted to get back home...so back home we went...

But not before stopping for a picture on this enormous chair, ha ha...

...It was a good good day:D...

Hope your having fun & having some adventures even if you can't hop on a plane to one.  XO.

This Years Artists Garden

A Few weekends ago we went out to see some friends selling their lovely wares at an event called "The Artists Garden" hosted by Potter/Sculptor of Ash Creek Pottery, Pat Stamp...

(....I took part in this wonderful sale last year, click here to view shots of my display/experience, it was a wonderful day and my favourite sale to participate in so far, even though I opted out of this years...)

...This is the entrance to Pat's Pottery Studio, isn't it fab...

Here she is at work in front of her adorable and inviting studio...

...my friend Rachael, a great jewelry designer was there as well and it's always a hoot to spend time with her...

Rachael pointed out Pats little frog pond which Jon had a hard time dragging me away from because it was a great photo spot...

We than decided to grab a tea, piece of pie and sandwich set up in the makeshift/temporary 'teahouse' which Pat set up in the upper part of her house...

...where we also waited out a huge rain/thunderstorm...it was cozy and exciting for us but we felt bad for the rained out artists trying to protect their wares below us...(everyone kept on the smiles and positive attitude though and just pulled everything back out once the storm passed)...

...Than, Jon and I decided to take the long roundabout way back home, which was about 4 hours, ha ha...like I mentioned before sometimes there is nothing better than just hopping in the car and driving to no where in particular and just seeing whatever you see...

...and we saw beautiful scenery which filled our hearts with happy mojo and gratitude for the beautiful, safe and clean country we live in...VIVA CANADA:D  ha ha....

....so, that was one day of a recent past weekend...just had to share:D...Have a good one everyone, see you Monday....and than Wednesday for a giveaway...XO M & The Bunnies.

Art On Main Rearranged...

I am popping in today to show you my latest rearrange of my Art On Main space...

I have to figure out a better way to display my necklaces, but this is how they are at the time being...

I brought in abunch of new framed prints, I am really happy with the quality and how they look and also to toot my own horn, I don't think you can beat the price ($45.00).

I took most of my beloved 'Nubbins' back to my studio but I left 4 or 5 at the store even though North Bay doesn't quite seem to 'get them'!  The few I've sold thus far have been to tourists living in bigger cities like Ottawa...

I separated my "Beautiful Birds" series abit,  I was hearing that people thought they needed the whole series to 'make an impact', so I thought if I separated them into 2's and 4's people would see they are lovely as singular purchases or as small groupings...

I also brought in my 2 little owl originals, they have been mounted on pine blocks and I am sure someone out there is just going to have to have them...

So that is my most recent AOM display, rearranged and best yet I think.

I am so pleased also to show you this...

...which is my AOM display featured on The Swirl Marketing site, It is a site all about creative merchandise displays from around the world and I am so happy for the inclusion and I also like what Becky wrote about my section as well...Thanks Becky.  Click here to visit the feature.

That's about it for today...join me here again this Friday for some shots from a recent adventure and some sweet greenies.  Have a great day everyone...Happy Creating and Many Furry Snuggles Wished to Yous.  XO. Mandy and The Buns (who are so sick of these hot hot days)