In The Works

I've been wanting to make a new batch of my bird necklaces/ornaments for a long while now!

It might be a small batch of only 20 or 30 but I am finally getting to them and it feels good.

They are unique and quirky little pieces for the whimsy-filled colour loving souls out there.

My first batch was mostly given away to family and friends as gifts.

My second batch sold out quickly in local stores and sales.

This new batch will be for sale in my shop & I'll do a blog giveaway as well.
I'll give you a heads up as to when they'll be hitting the shop.

Felt Rabbits & Stars Now In My Store

I've started listing my lovely felt rabbits and felt stars in my Etsy shop.

They are great little whimsical ornaments to hang in any room, from a bag or even in your car.

 

 

Do hop on over & grab one or two before they are all gone.

They are all one of a kind, handmade by yours truly & filled with good rabbity mojo.

 

Visit www.BijousWhimsy.Etsy.com

Zooooommmmmmm Zoom Zoom

What else can I say...

 

 

 

...A picture is worth a thousand words...(even if a smidge blurry!) Ha ha.



Fiarella

Everyone meet

 

"Fiarella"

 

 

She is extremely wealthy (family money if you must know).

She has a huge palatial burrow on the banks of the Tuscan sea.

Marble floors, fountains galore, an army of servants (all of whom love working for her I must add).

She is super proud of her several huge conservatories which play host and safe have to

endangered tropical plants, iguanas and butterflies.

She considers herself an amateur botanist & a great lover and supporter of nature.

Her family line goes way back in history, to Florence Italy, to be exact.

Her ancestors came up with and ran the very first ever gondola service.

The business was passed along to all the youngest buns in the very large family,

each generation proudly holding to their Italian roots and making the business better &

more profitable than the next.

Which is wonderful because the more money Fiarella has, the more she works to expand her

conservatories and the more butterflies and iguanas she can help save.

 

Isn't' she a stoic old dear after your own heart.

 

If you were to imagine the kind of artwork Fiarella has hanging on her burrow walls,

what kind of paintings do you imagine???

The Sweet Things are the BIG Things

It's so often the small sweet things in life

that end up feeling like the really big important stuff.

 

 

Like coming in from the kitchen to find your honey fast asleep with your bunny.

(They were both fast asleep like this for 30 minutes, ha ha)

 

 Happy Heart Sigh.

Shop Update

The bunnies are upstairs all quietly napping & staying cool with their army of fans.

So I've been able to sneak away and spend the afternoon in my cool basement studio,

happily updating, fine tuning & beautifying

My super colourful Etsy shop

 

 

I hope you can come check things out.

And if you have time, let me know what your favorite item/s is?

I'd love to hear from you.

#&*$&#(@!&%

Sometimes it's hard to feel like the world isn't trying to tangle you up on purpose!

Sometimes it's difficult to stay calm when you feel like your in such a mess &

the way out to a clear path is completely eluding you!

 

I feel like I am in that tangled mess right now even though in the grand scheme its a minuet problem.

 

My beautiful website has been hacked and my site provider took my site down completely.

All files are considered corrupted and have to be uploaded again, etc

and even more annoyingly, my email has been frozen until whatever the problem is can be fixed!!!

(so if you email me, I am not ignoring you)

Yet I can't fix anything right now, I have to wait & in the meantime I sit here and

wonder what long awaited opportunities I could be missing out on with my website not being up!!!

I don't think my website has been down for more than 24 hours in the last 15 years or more!

 

 

I so often just don't get people out there in the world...

Including hackers running amuck creating problems for good people & for what reason?

I feel like screaming.

 

Running a creative business is hard enough.

We creative entrepreneurs juggle 20 different facets of a business all on our own.

On top of single handedly making the goods, from our hearts & soul.

We almost 24/7 think & deal with the insurmountable task of getting those goods out to a world

with a million different wants, tastes, needs & quirks.

We keep going even when our rejection piles are way way bigger than our acceptance piles.

We are tenacious enough to keep toiling away even when migraines attack mercilessly &

continually drag us back 2 steps for every 1 we take forward.

We run against millions of other talented folks out there running business's too at the same time...

THEN we have to throw hackers into it!

 

&$^$*#&@!%#'!!!

 

(my Etsy Shop is just fine though, so do order a print or two to cheer yourself up & me too, ha ha!!!)

 

P.S. As of Wednesday evening EVERYTHING IS NOW FIXED....PHEW!

Thanks oodles to my site host who acted quickly and to my honey who came to my rescue as always.

New Print

SomeBunny's Watching

We have a secret little ramp behind our living room couch

so that the rabbits can watch the world pass by through their very own window.

 

It sure does do the heart good to come home and to pull into the driveway

to see one of our babes precious faces there in the window waiting for us.





Where The Days Go

Some days it seems like we don't get much done at all,

except to bring 6 little bunnies outside to play.

 

But in the grand scheme of things,

what could be much more important!

An Italian Rabbit, An Unsure Hummingbird, A Moody Muppet & Oh Yeah A Sore Head!

I am working on exactly 5 pictures right now.

I thought I'd give you a peek at the 2 pieces that I am spending time with today.

 

Though the time may be shorter then I want because my head is getting progressively

worse as the day goes on.  It's been sore all week though so it's not a big surprise!

 

I am hoping to show you this lady rabbit I've already named 'Fiarella' very soon.

 

 

But then Frenwyck is acting alittle outta sorts and rather moody these past few days,

which usually means he needs some extra attention, snuggles & floor time.

So I'll be putting work aside abit more today to spend time with my fluffy muppet.

 

 

Then I'll also be working on this hummingbird, which has been a long time in the making.

I am still unsure of the background colour but I do know that I am quite anxious to finish it off.

 

 

So this is gonna be my day...

Art & Rabbits, the usual...

no complaints outta me even with the sore head!

 

I hope your having a lovely week?

Do leave us a comment and let us know what your up to, in your studios or elsewhere in your lives.

 

XO Mandy and a grumpy Frenwyck and an indecisive hummingbird!



Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to my Dad

AND

To my most awesome Bunny Honey...

 

 

I Love ya Dad....XXXOOO

&

I Love ya so much too Jonathan (aka Deyfenn Slayd). Your amazing to our long-eared babes.

The Buns say your thee best bunny daddy ever.



New Print Available

My coloured pencil illustration "Play Lightly"

is now listed as an 8 x 10" print in my Etsy shop.

 

 

Visit www.BijousWhimsy.Etsy.com if this image calls to you.

 

It would speak clearly to most nature lovers or eco-warriors &

acts as a message to respect and Play Lightly on our precious planet.

Jaks's Story

Last week we celebrated our sweet apple Jaks.

 

It was 4 years ago that we brought him into our home to join our family.

(he is now around 6 years old)

Isn't he a cutie pie.

 

Want to hear the story of how he came to us and us to him???

We rescued him from being a lonely, scared, angry, biting & snarling 'store mascot'.

He almost died from the stress of big dogs constantly charging his cage &

little kids always screaming around him and poking at him...

not to mention the long nights & weekends he was all alone in the back store room

or all the birdseed he would ingest when he was allowed to stretch his legs in the store!

  

We would visit Jaks, every single week for over a year, like clockwork.

I felt so attached this this angry little bunny...I just felt like he was meant to be mine.

We would bring him treats and veggies that I knew he wasn't getting & the store staff

got to know us so well that we were given permission to go into his pen whenever we wanted

to pick him up for cuddles (we so appreciated that).  It was always so hard to leave him.

He would run away and try to bite us like mad, but once he was in our arms he would melt

& lick my neck like crazy, ha ha.  Jonathan fell in love with him too of course.

 

 

We knew the store wasn't the right place for Jaks but we were so thankful to the ladies there too

because they helped save him.  He was actually brought to a nearby vets to be put to sleep!

His previous owners apparently decided that rats were more interesting then a rabbit and after

keeping him locked away in a little room where he got no attention at all,

they wanted him gone & asked the vet to put him to sleep...

but thankfully she refused because he was beautiful and perfectly healthy, so she took him instead.

Later that night, when out buying food for her own animals at home,

she was telling the pet store employees about Jaks because she needed to find him a home

and they said they had been thinking of getting a rabbit for the store, as a mascot of sorts,

(at the time they didn't sell animals).  So they took him in...and he was there for just over a year,

they took good care of him, but he still kept getting sick...a store just wasn't a good place for him.

 

 

The store knew we loved & took care of bunnies so when he got super sick to the point of dying,

they called us, we zoomed over right away & took him home over the weekend for

vigilant care & vet visits

(Jinny straight away started licking him all over, poor thing was so sick & she sensed it).

 

We knew he would just keep getting sick so I gathered up the courage

to implore the store employees to let us keep him...

they all thankfully agreed because they all cared for him too.

 

 

Now he Jinny's best friend, they are quite inseparable.

He makes us laugh because he's so silly & klutzy & well yes, still so grumpy, ha ha.

 

 

We love him oh so very very much...

and we're SO glad he's ours & that we're his and that he's here.

He's part of what makes our hearts tick & our home happy.

 

So happy 4th year Home Coming Apple Jaks....we love you baby.

 



Hamish

Hi Hi Hi Everyone,

I am back.  Things got away from me these last few days,

doctors appointments (apparently I have 'aggravated' my chest wall!), etc etc...

and well honestly it was just mostly me opting for time outside with

my honey and bunnies instead of in the studio or online.

But I am hopping in today to introduce you all to a new little character of mine.

 

His name is 'Hamish'

 

Is he just not one of the cutest buns?

And guess what, like Sevanne, he too has quite a story...I'll tell you just alittle bit of it...

Where should I start?

Hmmm...maybe one of the most interesting things about Hamish is what his favorite smell is...

Yes, let's start there...

 

 

His favorite smell in the whole world is paper...old paper...

The older the paper the better, anything from the 18th century is his all time favorite.

This is so because would you believe that his bloodline is inextricably linked to Guess Who?

The Grimm's Brothers...

yep it's true, Jacob and Wilhelm often broke bread with Hamish's ancestors back in the 1700's.

 

Hamish's great great great great great great greatest grandfather was the scribe for the brothers.

'Hamish the Great Scribe' was the one who inked the words on paper whilst the brothers

spun their tales out loud.  Pretty cool huh.

(one wouldn't think that as humans, they would fit down into the rabbits warrens

but Hamish's family dug out a special network of tunnels & a story-telling room just for the brothers.

It is said that the brothers brought the secret of those tunnels to their graves).

 

Well Hamish, named after his grandfather of course, has paper, ink & grand stories

running in his blood, so he kept up the family business of sorts

and he now owns and runs one of the

largest underground libraries in the whole entire world.

Of course you have to be in his inner circles to even know where the secret door is to

this immense labyrinth of books...there's a secret knock and everything.

 

Yep, my sweet little Hamish sure does love his books & the smell of them....

We have that in common...I am hoping someday I'll be shown the secret library too!

 

p.s. Prints are on their way.

Interested in having the precious little 5 x 7" original for yourself?

Just email me at MandySaile@BijousWhimsy.com

Happy Birthday to my MOM

My mom is awesome.

 

She's sweet and giving, she's funny and caring, she is super duper tough.

She taught me that 'patience is a virtue' and to find joy in the simple things in your life.

 

She is an amazing cook and baker...she always smells really good...she wears really cool clothes.

She loves reading and movies and music

and I think in her next life she just may be a private eye detective, ha ha.

 

 

...She is so many things to me and I simply can't imagine having any other mom.

 

Today is her 62nd birthday,

isn't she looking great (she says it's really good face cream) ha ha.

 

Happy Birthday mom

we love love love you so very much.

Thoughts of Hay

When your a rabbit slave, you have to keep on top of having quality hay for your monsters.

When the 4 new adoptees came home we had to rearrange our downstairs pantry
because we used to buy our hay products like this,

in nicely sized manageable bags that fit in one small closet....

 

 

But because the newest additions are such hay monsters (which is truly great)...

 

  

We now also have to invest in hay like this...

 

 

In 50 pound boxes!

50 pounds of Timothy hay, 50 pounds of Grass Hay

and 50 pounds of hay blocks which help keep little wall-munchers busy (some of the time!).

(We are trying to source out a local supplier but so far have had no luck...due to a hay shortage!)

 

But ya know, at the end of the day,  I'd rather have nothing else taking up space in my basement...

Okay, well except for maybe more bunnies!

Sevanne

A new little feathered friend wants to say Good Evening.

Everyone meet...

 

"Sevanne"

 

She can not stay for a long chat however because she's late for her afternoon beauty nap,

Then there is still linens to be brought in from the clothes line and well it is about to thunder and pour

and she must not forget her apple peach pie just about cooled to perfection on the windowsill...

she plans to serve it with rhubarb tea when her dear knitting club comes over later on this evening.

 

 

She is done in coloured pencil and acrylic paint on a wood canvas measuring only 5 x 7"

(the original is for sale just email me at mandysaile@bijouswhimsy.com if your interested)

Prints will be available in my Etsy shop shortly.

 

I finished her up today whiles my sweet girl Teela napped away in the grass

& a black bird kept swooping at my head.  I was not impressed!

The darn thing built her nest in one of the busiest section of our yard!

Despite that, it was a lovely afternoon

(minus apple peach pie & rhubarb tea unfortunately!)

until the nasty mosquitoes drove us back into the house.

 

Hope you all had a lovely day.  See you soon again.

A TINY break...Back REALLY Soon

Hi ya.

 

We've taken an unexpected & impromptu little break around here.

This cold & super wet week seemed to be the perfect time to do nothing but be cozy all together,

and well we just needed abit of recharging...

 

 

So we're watching loads of movies, taking lots of delicious naps, eating lots of scrumptious food...

Spending oodles of time snuggling six bunnies.  It's been good...ahhhhhhh.

 

I'll be back in my studio & to blogging next week.

See you then. XO.

Baby Yuuji & Weekend Plans

Just hopping in with some favorite baby shots of our sweetheart Yuuji...

(He hadn't started growing his mane and beard yet in these photos)

For what's a better way to wish you all a happy weekend than with sweet rabbit goodness, ha ha!

 

 

We are going to be busy in the yard with rabbits romping & gardening this weekend...

I am ready to get my fingers all muddy & green and

to stay outside until hardwork, beautiful garden beds and the fresh spring air exhausts me, ha ha.

 

What are your weekend plans???