These are a few of my favourite things...

1. my red lined moleskine
2. typing random quotes on my typewriter
3. photobooth pics - thinking of making a scrapbook of these
4. my leather hobo bag (it holds everything)
5. what's in your bag flickr stream
6. caramel apple spice hot cider from Starbucks
7. Nanny McPhee Returns - such a good movie
8. Autumn
9. paper garland diy's
10. halloween costumes for the pug (I promise I'll post a pic)

What are some of your favourite things?

Things I am looking forward to this week:

• Getting my new Rickshaw Moleskine Folio (it shipped today - yay!)
• sending a letter to my friend in Everett, WA (typed on Lucille)
• writing in my new red moleskine journal
• working in my newly clean and updated craft room
• Watching this movie (via zip.ca) - Love the Ziplist
• Taking my niece back-to-school shopping for her birthday (she's turning 9 - I'm feeling old)
• postcrossing postcards in the mail
• sending out new postcrossing cards

What are you looking forward to?

Nelson I heart you

My "little" brother lives in a town in Southern BC called Nelson.  It's a place like no other.  I love it there.  The people are laid back and the town moves at it's own pace.  My brother calls it Kootenay Time.  Sometimes you show up at a store and there's a sign saying be back in five.  Sometimes a store is supposed to open at 10:00am and it opens at 10:30 because someone went to get coffee.  It's all so surprising to me because my town is such the opposite.  The oil patch drives our economy and everyone wants everything done yesterday.  People here work all hours of the day and night and 70 hour work weeks are practically the norm, even in a recession. 

I've been thinking of my brother lately and wishing I could go and visit him and have a coffee at the Oso Negro Cafe and order a peanut butter ball with chocolate on top.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

Seany, I miss you.

Long time, no talk

Just wanted to pop in and say hi!  I have been having a very enjoyable summer and have gotten away from blogging and the computer in general.  Instead I have been spending a lot of time outside playing with Ruby or reading a book.

I have some exciting news though.  I have recently acquired a cool new typewriter:

I call her Lucille. She'll be helping me write letters to all of my penpals.  Here's a close up of her keys:

I am hoping to be a more regular blogger now that the weather here is starting to cool down. I fear that it is almost time to swap my flip flops for my socks and shoes again.  I love the Fall but I have been enjoying the warm summer and I'll be kind of sad to see it go.

Happy Monday!!

Weekend Wishlist

This weekend, I wish for:

popsicles (orange is my fav.)
long hours on my deck, reading my books
time to write in my journal
good finds at the Farmer's Market
kisses from my puppy
postcards to write to friends

What are your wishes for this weekend?

Pug Love

How could you not love a face like that?  Ruby gets away with murder because of those eyes.  I just can't say no.  I love my baby girl. 

In other news, I received a postcard from my other happy mail partner Tyler.  Thanks Tyler!  I love this happy mail thing.  I like meeting new people with shared intrests and as I've mentioned about a thousand times, I LOVE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you're having a great Tuesday!

Jane

Home Sweet Home

I love going on holidays but getting back home and sleeping in my own bed is the best!!  This past weekend, mom and I went to Edmonton to watch my cousins year end dance recital. While we were there, I of course made sure to go shopping at the West Edmonton Mall.  I'm such a tourist.  I've been there a million times but I can never get enough.  I love this mall!  We even got to see Two Toed Sloths:

Who knew they could be so cute?  They were totally performing for the crowd.  Hanging upside down and chasing one another.

And of course we had to hit Whyte Ave.  my other favourite place.  Among other things, I managed to go to a cool candy store:

and get my fortune told by Zoltar:

I also went to a cool cupcake shop called Fuss Cupcakes and had an outrageously good vanilla bean cupcake.  Yummy!  Funny how my favourite stores usually involve food!  I'm making it my mission to visit every cool cupcake shop in any city I visit from now on.  When I was in Vancouver in March I went to the Original Cupcakes shop and it blew my mind.  I'm thinking of dedicating a journal strickly to cupcake shop reviews and consumption logs.  Whaddya think?

Since I've been away for a few days my postcrossing cards have made it to their destinations so now I get to send out more!  I love mail.  Speaking of which, right before I left, one of my happy mail partners sent me a card.  Thanks Cristina!

Hope you are having a great Monday.

Miss Doe

P.S.  Tonight I am going to see this movie.  So excited!

Make a Wish

Today I wish for:

• sunshine
• a good book
• lemonade
• inviting blank pages in my journal
• pretty pens
• my art supplies
• my camera
• a nice patch of grass
• a comfy quilt
• a day off

What are you wishing for today?

jane

I finally got one!

So I've been thinking about buying one of these for like, 2 years, seriously.  I looked for them everywhere but they took a long time to get to Canada.  I had all but given up on it, until I walked into Canadian Tire last week and spotted this beauty.  Who knew that Canadian Tire carried Polaroid Pogo Printers?  I was still debating about whether or not to buy one, even though the price was half of what it was two years ago, and then my dear mother bought me one.  Score!  It prints cute 2x3 photos that can be used as stickers too.  I was (and still am) super pumped about my new baby.  I have only printed a few pictures so far but I love it.  The pictures have a grainy retro look to them.  I think they'll look great in my journals.  Plus this thing is just a bit bigger than a deck of cards so it fits easily into my bag.

Here's a peek at some of the pics I've taken:

my absolute favourite summer treat!  It's not just a creamsicle, it's an Extreme Creamsicle.  I think the people who own the corner store by my house have started to wonder about me.  I go in there with the correct change for my creamsicles.  They know my dirty little secret.

Besides playing with my new toy, I've been making envelopes out of recycled paper bags:

and I found this (still to be named) cutie at a craft fair this weekend:

and check this out:

Too cute right?

Now I'm off to watch the season premier of "Lie to Me", yay!

Miss Doe

P.S.  I am super excited about Janel's 30 Day Journal Challenge.  You should definately check it out.  I am hoping it will help fill the void left by the end of the Tell Your Story class.

It's the weekend!!

It's been a crazy week.  So glad it's the weekend.  I'll check in again soon.

Jane

Hmm...

Well it's Monday night, usually it's Sunday night when I realize that I have to go to work the next day and begin to stress over it.  Why is that?  I like my job, I like the people I work with.  There really shouldn't be any reason to worry, yet I do.  Weird.  Why also, when I'm at work, do I feel totally inspired to create things and write letters and work in my art journal, yet when I get home, all that inspiration has disappeared?  I had big plans for this weekend.  Lots of creativity but as usual, life "got in the way" and I say that lightly because I was happy doing other things, and I didn't get around to doing anything crafty.  I'm starting to think that maybe I'm one of those people who will only become inspired if I have a limited amount of time to create.  Kind of like when I had exams in high school and college and I was cramming the night before instead of reviewing a week or two in advance.  Will I ever learn???

Lately I have become more obsessed with post office boxes.  I took this picture in Ireland.  I think I might make it a series.  Taking pictures of post boxes everywhere I go.

This is a pretty random post.  It's been that kind of a weekend.

Good Mail Day!

I am so excited.  Today I received my first postcard since I started postcrossing again a few weeks ago.  It was a sweet little kitty card with lyrics on the back.  Too cool!  I also received a zine I ordered from Hanna  called Metta, all about art journaling.  I am so excited to read it.  Her blog is one of my daily reads and I'm always inspired to go make stuff.  Last but not least, I ordered a magazine called Underground Art School, after reading about it on Anna's blog.  It's the Spring 2009 issue called The Sketchbook issue.  I love Anna's style and she's featured in this issue.  If you want more inspiration to sketch daily, you should definately check out her blog.  I am trying to sketch more often, I don't feel that I am very good at it, so I tend not to do it.  However, like anything else, you have to practice in order to grow and get better so I am making it a goal to sketch a couple of times a week at least.  I have to blank Moleskines just waiting to be filled with bad drawings!  On that note, I am also excited by this announcement.  Something new to lust after!

I have also decided now that I am an official letter writer and sender that I should get a proper letter opener.  I will be on the lookout for anything cool.  Let me know if you see something you think I might like!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Photo mania et al

So this past couple of weeks, besides completing all of the prompts for the "Tell Your Story" class, I have been taking tons of pictures.  Instax, film, digital and on my iphone.  I have been particularly enjoying the Lo-mob app (thanks Elsie!).  Here's a few:

I am totally loving my iphone!  For those of you looking for a creative boost and some ideas for a travelling art kit, read Elaine's post here.  While you're there check out her other posts for instant inspiration.  

Getting ready for our Canadian May long weekend.  Monday is Victoria Day.  Most of my crazy buddies are going camping even though it never fails to snow on May long.  Good luck kids!  Stay warm! I am going to Grande Prairie, AB to hit the malls and Michaels.  Yay me!  Now hopefully I can talk mom into eating at the Wok Box, super yum!

For all of you who are taking the TYS class, I'll see you at tomorrow's chat! 

NB:  I just realized how much I have been using the exclamation mark in this post.  I'd apologize but I'm just super cheery and happy to be blogging again.  Yay!

Messin' Around

Hey guys!  I have been busy this past week.  Schlepping my nephew to soccer games, helping my niece plant flowers and this weekend I have agreed to watch them (all 4) for four days while my SIL goes to Abbotsford.  Call me crazy but I think I can do it.  It's their myriad of pets I am unsure about (3 rats, a hamster, two gerbils, a bearded dragon, various fish and a puppy)  the puppy is fine, as are the fish, it's the rodents that scare me.

The picture above is a result of me messing around on http://www.picnik.com/.  It's a pretty cool website and you can create all kinds of great pics that you would need a special camera for.  Any of you who are taking Elsie and Rachel's class, you should check this site out for sure.  You can even make polaroid type photos.

I am currently working on more prompts from class but I promise I will upload pics soon!

Happy Monday!

P.S.  Check out this sweet bag Kara re-modeled.  Love it!

Monday

So I activated my Postcrossing account again today.  I didn't ever really deactivate it, just stopped sending postcards when I got too busy and after I got a really creepy letter from an inmate (a story for another post!)  I am so excited.  If you hadn't already noticed, I LOVE MAIL (thats not bills).  So I am spending my evening writing out postcards and dreaming of stamps, envelopes and other mail supplies. If you guys love mail as much as I do, you should totally check this girl out:

Her name is Bianca Jagoe and she can be found at Good Night Little Spoon.  I just recently discovered her site and am still going through her archives.  She's totally cool and her mail art is unbelieveable.  She also has great links to other mail artists and mail related items.  Her etsy shop is ahhmazing.  I think I'll write her a letter.

Finally!!

I finished my introductory art journal pages for Rachel and Elsie's class, Tell Your Story.  I am so excited because the class actually starts tomorrow.  Yipeeee!!!  So here are my pages:

page 1- bookplate downloaded from Emily Martin of The Black Apple

page 2

If anyone has any tips on taking better pics of these, please leave me a comment.  I have a dslr and should be able to get a good shot but these feel a little out of focus even though I used a pre-set on my camera.  I had a bit of a hard time doing these pages.  Totally overthought them and it took me weeks to finally finish them.  I need to relax before the class starts or I`ll never get anything done!!!

Glitch and Beautiful Blogger Award!

So I just realized a major glitch in my blog and fixed it.  I haven't been getting notified when people have left comments and therefore have not commented back.  Ooops!  I changed this in my settings but just wanted to let you know and apologize for my lack of commenting back.  I love to hear what you have to say and try to comment back or post about things that have been mentioned.
I just found out that the lovely Stephanie of Mrs. Caruso has nominated me for a Beatiful Blogger Award.  Thank you so much Stephanie!  Go check out her sweet blog.

As part of accepting the award, I have to share seven little known facts about myself.  Here goes:

1.  I love to play chess.  I am not that great at it but my dad taught me how when I was in grade 3 and we used to play a lot.  I miss playing.  Must find new partner:)

2.  I go through stages where I am completely obsessed with hobbies and then I'll let them drop off and pick them up again when I am interested.  I go through crafty phases.  Right now I am really into letter writing and art journaling.  Last year at this time I was a hard core scrapbooker!

3.  I go through phases with foods.  If I am really liking something I will eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner and snack on it a lot without getting sick of it. Until I do. Most recently this was a brand of cereal from the Wholesale club with vanilla flavoured bran flakes and dried strawberries.  I was eating it for breakfast and snacking on it throughout the day and evening for like 3 weeks!!! 

4.  I hate long fingernails.  I like to keep mine super short and clean.  I don't mind long fingernails on other people, if they're clean!

5.  I was obsessed with the New Kids on the Block when I was twelve/thirteen.  I had shirts, buttons, video tapes of their concerts and posters all over my room.  My friends and I even learned all of their choreography and practiced, like, all the time.  Total geek!

6.  I love old school country music.  'nuff said.

7.  l am a total sugar addict.  Even if I am super full, I cannot pass up something deliciously sweet!

Now pass the award on to ten wonderful bloggers.  Will you accept?

Katherine from Paper Pocket

Stephanie from My life is so ...

Sarah from Sweetest Nest

Chelseabird from Tea Talk

Sabrina from The Little Owl

Mathilde from Mon Carnet Rouge

Amy from Tea and Toast

Holly Sarah from Create Loves

Janel from Run With Scissors

Elisha from Inspirations Scrap

If you choose to accept the award you must:

- Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.

- Copy the award and paste it to your blog.

- Tell us seven interesting facts about yourself.

- Pass this award on to 10 fantastic bloggers you have discovered.

- Contact your nominations and let them know they’ve won.

Weekend Fun

So firstly, I have to tell you the reason behind my lack of posting.  I got one of these:

I am soooooo excited!  I have been busy taking pics and buying apps and researching the best apps and finding the best cases. And since I now have a phone that does virtually everything, I have been surfing the net and messaging like a crazy woman.

Anyhow, we used my iphone to help us geocache this weekend.  It was my first time and my mom and my neice came along on Friday night to see what we could find.  It was tons of fun and we found the two caches that we chose.  Today we went out again and found two but could not find two others.  Later in the afternoon, we decided that we had so much fun that we had to show my other neice and nephew how to do it.  It took us awhile but we found two more caches.  I think we're all addicted! 

taken with my iphone (hipstamatic app)

Happy Saturday!!!

Hiatus

Hello friends.  My haitus lasted a little longer than I thought it would (or should) but I don't want to post just for the sake of posting.  I want to post when something inpires me and I want to share that inspiration too.  Lately I have been testing out new ways to take cool pics.  I ordered these last week:

redscale film (ebay)

Diana SLR Lens Adaptor

I am beyond excited to get started taking more pics with these.  Plus I have been reading tutorials on how to re-load a one time use camera with new film and take more than one shot on each frame.  I haven't tried it yet but when I do, I will post the results here.
In other news, I signed up to take this class and I am really super ecstatic about it.  Cannot wait to begin.  I have started the first two page prompts and will post when they are complete.

Look here for more info:  .http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/03/tell-your-story-online-art-journal-class-full-details.html

More to come soon~Ms. Doe

Movie review

Hey everyone,

I have taken a break from blogging this past week.  I didn't mean for it to happen but life got busy and I just never got around to it.  Anyhoo, on Friday night, mom and I took my niece to see this show.  It was great.  I totally loved it and so did my niece.  It was funny and meaningful.  I totally recommend it for families of all ages.  The funniest thing about the movie was not actually the movie itself, but the four year old boy sitting behind me, giving a running commentary throughout the show.  "Oh mommy, I really want a dragon of my own".  He was super cute.

My cousins arrived yesterday so I might not post much this week either.  Sorry 'bout that.  I will get back to you all with more stuff later.  Have a great week!

I'm back!

I got home from Vancouver yesterday.  I had such a great time.  I took tons of pics (mostly of food!), shopped (a lot!) and had lots of fresh fruit bubble tea (sans bubbles).  I miss my buddies but was happy to get back home to my puppy.  I will upload some pics soon.  I have to get unpacked and catch up on my Art Journal pages.  Happy Thursday!

The countdown is on!!!

Only 1 more sleep left until Vancouver!  I cannot wait.

I am really excited to go here too:

Oh the fun we'll have!

Internet, books and other things!

I am so excited to finally have my internet working again.  A super nice technician came over this morning and spent like 4 hours working on my telephone line etc.  Crazy!  Now I can log on whenever I want.  For the past week I have been randomly looking at my modem and if the Internet light suddenly goes on, I rush to the computer and log on and stay on until it quits again.  Pathetic, no?  Having a forced vacation from the internet did have it's benefits.  I got a lot of pages in my art journal completed.  Suzanne, in answer to your last comment, I am loving the class too.  And I will try the red velvet cupcakes for sure (only 3 sleeps left!).  I also read an entire book on Sunday.  For some reason I'm on a Nicholas Sparks kick.  After seeing Dear John, I decided to read "One Last Song".  I want to see the movie but the book is usually better.  I have to admit it was good.  I feel weird admitting that I read books by Nicholas Sparks and enjoy them.   Sometimes, I just need a break from the heavy stuff.  Surprisingly, I cried for the last few chapters of this book.  It was sad and hit a little too close to home.  Now I am reading ``Travelling with Pomegranates`` by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann.  So far it`s really good.  I liked her other books too.  Especially this one.
And in totally unrelated news, I saw these today and think I have to get one (the toy, not the dog) for Ruby:

Go here to get one (it`s a ball with a mustache on the end)

Have a great Tuesday!

Dear John

source

Wow.  I thought this movie was going to be really sweet and sappy but again I was wrong.  I think I actually read this book awhile back because a lot of the story seemed familiar to me.  Anyhoo, I went because why miss a chance to see Channing Tatum, even if the movie sucks? 

source

Well I was pleasantly surprised.  Not only was it a great love story, the whole underlying plot (war, autism) was really interesting.  Also I am a huge fan of snail mail and most of the movie was based upon the main characters writing back and forth to one another; that really sold the movie to me!  So if you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch.

In other news, I wanted to upload pics of my art journal this weekend but it probably won't be happening due to my sketchy internet service.  A tech is coming to check on it Monday, so hopefully I will be able to get some pics up.

Have a great weekend!

Mail call

So the other day, I got my package from the sweet Elaine.  This picture is for you girl:

I love Elaine's nerd stickers and she was kind enough to send some with the bracelet I won, along with a cute card and a crocheted (?) bow.  I love it all!  Thanks again Elaine.

And then when I got home today, I got my other giveaway prize from the lovely Justine.

Thank you so much, I loved everything and I can't wait to read the book!

Thanks again girls for the nice notes and cool prizes.  Made my week!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a MOOSE!

So today is one of those days in which I am even more grateful than usual to live in the north.  It's not even like I live in a little village.  Fort St. John is a city of 18,000 people and probably up to 25,000 in the winter months when the oil patch is booming.  We have a Starbucks, Tim Horton's, we are by no means rural.  However, every year without fail, some poor Moose gets lost and wanders into town.  Today it was a young cow.  Or so I'm told.  Apparently the males have not lost their antlers yet and this one did not have antlers.  So there I am at work this morning and all of a sudden someone says to look out the window. The building across the street has a yard that is fenced in, with a gate.  Apparently, Stella, as we decided to call her, had jumped the fence the night before.  There was a large amount of snow built up around the outside of the fence but on the inside, there was not as much snow and she couldn't get out.  Now I have to say that the deep South has nothing on the redneck here.  The guys who owned the yard tried to "help" Stella out by scaring her with a bulldozer and when that didn't do anything, they started throwing snowballs at her to get her to move.  Epic fail.  They didn't even get near her (thankfully) and she went to sleep in the corner of the yard.  After a few hours of moving the snow around with the Cat, they decided to build it up around the fence in hopes that she would jump it again to get out.  Go boys!  However, the snow was too soft and she didn't seem to know what they were getting at so that didn't work either.  Finally, they opened the gate and after chasing her with the truck she ran out of the yard and into the nearby bush.  During all of this, you'd think they would have called the Conservation Officer but you know guys and their machines.  They figured they would be able to handle it.  Oh, the drama.  After all is said and done, I feel as though I should have called the Conservation Office but I didn't know exactly what was going on when it was happening as I was working (or trying to).  If I had witnessed the snowballs and the rest of it, I would have called.  Poor thing.  Moose are my favourite wild animals.  They lope along kind of gracefully but they look so akward that they are endearing.  I'm happy that when people think of Canadians, they think of Moose. If you live where I do, chances are you have seen at least one herd of moose before you can talk.So as an ode to Stella, I have found some pics of other lovely moose for you. 

A full grown moose is huge.  An adult male can stand 7 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh up to 1800 pounds.  They can become agressive when they are provoked or scared by a dog or other animal.  Usually they try to stomp these things to death.  Moose have been know to charge at people too but for the most part, if you keep your distance, they won't do anything.  Since they are herbivores, they don't want us for food!  So there you have it.  My day and a lesson on moose.  I hope to post some pics of my art journal soon so keep an eye out!

Looking forward to...

Today I was thinking about all the things I am looking forward to right now.  I decided to make a list.

• New Nylon magazine out
• My trip to Vancouver, going to this place
• Alice in Wonderland in theatres Friday!
• Every day of the Quiet Nights class with Vivianna
• Spring!!!  (Which for me won't be until May but right now it's melting - I'll take that!)
• Cool classes at my local college for International Women's Day - one of them is Art Journaling (yay!)
• My new book arriving in the mail

and much, much more!  Here are some other things I'm wishing for:

All of the above can be found here

Happy Wednesday!!!!