...And The Dreams Perched

A new illustration...

"...And The Dreams Perched"

and they refused to leave her, so she nourished them until they helped her take flight...

This image of mine is all about those dreams that stick around and refuse to be pushed aside...

The exact dreams we must nourish for in doing so they nourish us, even if they never fully come true.

This is a 12 x 16" acrylic and coloured pencil on stonehenge paper

(soon to be mounted and sealed onto a cradled panel & is indeed for sale).

Nourish your lofty perched dreams today.

XO A coloured pencil loving Mandy

18 Years

Happy Thanksgiving All...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend surrounded by warmth, kind food & loved ones...we sure did.

Today is a special day for us as well because today marks our anniversary.

18 years ago we found one another and decided to never ever let go.

So HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my fabulous & amazing sweetheart
whom I feel so incredibly blessed and lucky to share this life with.

and Happy day to everyone else.

See you all tommorow with a new illustration.

XO A Much Loved Bijou

New Felt Bunny Brooch

Happy Friday all.

I am hopping in today to show you my newest felt and stitched brooch.

Doesn't this white rabbit have on the cutest sweater, ahhhh I love it, ha ha...

I don't know if this one will be for sale.  I might just have to keep it for myself, ha ha.

If your interested in any of the felt brooches you've seen here on my blog but don't want to wait

until their listed in my online shop, just email me at mandysaile@bijouswhimsy.com

XO Mandy, Ella Luna, Roo, Jinny and Apple-Jaks

A Bunny Diversion..Yes, It Was A Very Good Day

So, most of you know that Jaks got really sick at the very beginning of September.

It was a long and tiring road to get him well again, but he's healed up beautifully.
 Finally this past weekend, after a long month inside the house,
we were able to let Jaks and Jinny play outside.
They LOVE it outside...
We took the camcorder out with us as and...

my honey just finished this video of them being silly out in the yard.
(I just couldn't wait to share it with you all).

Now everyone can see Jaks and Jin playing outside...YAY...
We've been wanting to post bun videos to my YouTube Channel for some time now.
Jonathan had the great idea of calling each bun episode 'A Bunny Diversion'...
which is perfect because I am quite often diverted from my artwork because of the buns.
Now when you visit me on YouTube you can watch my artsy stuff & our bunnies, YAYYY again, ha ha.

We hope you enjoy it & hope it lightens your heart and makes you smile.

See you Friday.

XO Mandy, Jonathan, Ella with very sore feet, a sleepy Roo, and the romping silly Jin and Jak-a-boo

Outside With My Co-Workers

While I've been outside working on a new illustration...

 

...My co-workers have their own important agendas.

It includes the munching of yarrow...

...and of course Ella Luna needs to constantly check on what Roo is doing,

apparently he's abit of a slacker and needs much supervision and direction,

which Ella Luna is happy to provide since she's appointed herself boss long ago...

...Of course there are birds to listen to, breezes to bask in, soil to turn over, leaves to collect 

and squirrels to watch as they skitter by, annoyingly so according to Ella Luna...

...Breaks ARE allowed, especially when deemed fit by the boss...

...But breaks don't last long for there is lots more work to get done such as the pruning of trees...

...Of course whiles the boss is busy pruning, Roo always manages an extra nap,

He says that it'll make him much more productive in the long run...

...we're all busy bees as you can plainly see, ha ha.

Have a wonderful day.

XO Mandy & her co-workers

September's Newsletter

Hi everyone...

just hopping in for an extra post today to let you know that the

September newsletter has just gone out.

You can view it by clicking right here.

or

Sign up right here to receive them in your email inbox.

Have a wonderfully warm and cozy weekend and see you all on Monday.

XO Mandy & 4 bunnies by a toasty roaring fire

New Prints Now Available

Just hopping to let you all know that these older inspirational coloured pencil designs

of mine are now listed as prints in my Etsy shop...

Kindly spread the word if you think they are beautiful and would perhaps cheer somebody's day.

See you on Monday

XO Mandy of Bijou's Whimsy

Biking Adventures On Center Island

Back in August, after a blues festival in Drayton, my honey & I made our way back
to Toronto and hopped on a ferry with our bikes

(after spending a crazy $25 for parking!!!)

and spent a whole day playing about and biking on Toronto's Center Island.

We fell in love with the place and were kicking ourselves that we never bothered to

explore it when we actually lived in the city!!!

(mind you, back then we were quite broke and a cup of coffee a week was sometimes a stretch, ha ha!)

The day was very hot, humid and quite gloomy but we had a complete ball anyways...

Here is abit of our day...

As you can probably tell, I was hogging the camera, hence my handsome guy being in most shots.

I have to say, Jonathan was super patient with me constantly hopping off my bike to take shots.

He was even more patient with my constant and sudden screeching out 'OHHHH LOOK' followed by my zooming off on him because I saw something in the distance that I just had to photograph.

I think he's used to me & my camera by now, bless him, ha ha...

We can not wait to go back.  What a brilliant and refreshing place to bike and picnic.

By the end of our day we were pooped

and I was slightly bruised and sore from a spill on my bike, ha ha! 

We had to call our day to and end by a certain time so as not to spend too many

hours driving the Northern highways in pitch dark! 

But our timing to leave was serendipitous because the skies grew quite threatening and

stormy and we were more than ready to head back to the bunnies.

Have any of you been to the Toronto islands?

Thanks for hopping by.

XO A Bijou whose missing the city

White Bunny Brooch

I just have to say,

Thanks so so much...

Thanks, to all of you lovelies who have been joining me here on my blog in the last few weeks. 

It still amazes me, all of the lovely friendships and connections with people from all over the world

that I've made because of this blog of mine....what a joy, a surprise and an honor.

I do put lots of work into this blogspot of mine, and I do take alot of pride in it. 

I can't tell you how much your visits and continual kind comments and support mean.

It all means the world, and I thank you all oodles.

Okay, I am done gushing...and wanted to hop in to show you another felt brooch I recently made.

What do you think?

Is it sweet?

Do you think it's worthwhile to list them in my Etsy shop??

I was planning to, I just wanted all of your opinions...

Yesterday I picked all of the tomatoes in the garden and chopped the plants down for the
compost heap...it was a pretty good harvest and I can't wait to grow more next summer.
Today the agenda includes:
Coloured pencils outside with a big pot of peppermint tea
as Ella Luna and Roo romp about the leaf covered yard...
and likely I'll have a hot water bottle or two with me since I am nursing a
tender head from 3 previously awful headache plagued days, ugh!
The last couple of weeks Jon and I have been nursing nasty persistant colds as well
so I feel like I am still recoup-ing from that as well,
some time in the autumn sun will be just what the doctor orders I think...
Perhaps a bowl of lentil soup and some cucumbers grown in our garden will accompany me as well...

XO A Fall Loving Mandy & Her Fall Loving Bunnies

p.s. Join me here on Wednesday for some favourite shots from a summer biking adventure.

Crooked Brothers

A few weeks ago we went to the Piebird for another awesome concert.

It was an enchanted evening with 'The Crooked Brothers'.

Let me share some of my favourite shots from the evening...

 

The Manitoba brothers Jessie, Darwin and Matt were so so great...

The music was a cool mixture of tender country, funky blues with some soft light folk thrown in.

The night was one of a kind. 

It was an endearingly quiet concert played alongside crickets and a slowly sinking golden sun

whiles the crowd was surrounded by fresh green fields full of organic veggies, wild flowers

and towering sunflower stalks as goats played amongst the trees...

It was a concert played under twinkling star shine and enjoyed by flickering lantern & candle light...

a very special evening I'll never forget.

Jonathan put some video together.  There's a few songs per video, one video is in the light and

one video is in the pitch dark....see them here and here.

Matt is the one with the deep grumbly voice that makes my toes & tummy all warm and fuzzy, ha ha.

Wishing you all an amazing weekend...

hopefully under some star and moon shine with excellent music added in for good measure.

XO Mandy & The Bunnies