Celebrating new life in the garden on Mother's Day 2016

Happy Mother's Day! 

It's a great time to celebrate new life- so I'd like to share the new life growing in our garden... with these pictures, enjoy :)

Tiger swallowtail butterflies are my fave! This photo isn't new... but is still
from my garden :)

A beautiful magnolia bloom, smells just as lovely.

Our magnolia in bloom.

These magnolia flowers are huge & smell so delightful.

As the magnolia fades, this snail is catching a nap in its shade.

Fancy daffodils- so pretty.

Lots of spring colours

Our white dogwood in full bloom

Wooly caterpillar :)

Rhododendrum flower buds...
 with a daddy long legs checking them out.

Peonies flower buds... with an ant to help it open.

Pretty heather blooms

Is this the birth of a walnut tree?

Our pink dogwood has lots of blooms forming!

Close up of the pink dogwood bloom.

Purple irises. I need more of these :)

Birth of a fern plume.

 Wisteria starting to bloom.

Our wisteria starting to bloom, more spectacular every year.

Columbine abounds in our gardens with their pretty pink blooms.

Columbine almost blooming.
If you look hard, you'll see a face in this fairyland photo.

Our azalea, preparing to bloom soon.

Tiger swallowtail butterfly- saw the 1st one this year- yesterday :)

I wish I could add the delightful scent of these lily of the valleys.

Pine tar - a sticky situation

                                                    Winter is here in full swing.

Winter in the mountains- looks pretty and I love the various shades of grey & clouds.

 We've got snow on the ground but it's melting in the rain, while our wood stove is burning away the dampness & making our home warm and cozy. 

Winter in the Kootenays -  hoping to see the sun some time... soon?

Our walnut tree covered in fresh snow.

I love our wood stove and wood heat... but I hate getting sticky hands from the sap.

I loaded the stove this morning ... with my bare hands! How silly.

Stacked firewood- the culprit- it doesn't look sticky, does it?

 I know better, but in my defence, the gloves weren't there, so I took a chance and wouldn't you know it... a big gooey blob of pine tar was oozing from the chunk of firewood and of course I got it all over my hand.

 If you're not familiar with pine tar, sap, pitch or whatever you want to call it- it's the stickiest stuff you can get. Just like in National Lampoons' Christmas Vacation... where Chevy Chase is trying to read a magazine in bed and the pages stick to his hands :) 

Anyhow, that was me this morning. 

Luckily I know how to get rid of it, easily & quickly and thought I'd share my tip with you, in case you didn't know.

All you need is margarine, hot water & liquid dish soap!

 I wiped the blob off on a piece of newspaper. Then I got a tablespoon sized chunk of margarine and used it like a bar of soap on my hands, rubbing them together and getting them good and greasy.

  Then used some hot water to wash off what I could... now they're greasy- but not sticky, so... then I used a bit of Sunlight (any kind should work) liquid dish soap and rubbed & coated my hands with it. Finally used hot water to wash it all off. Bingo! Works like a charm! 

 So, there you go, if you ever get into a sticky situation with pine tar on your skin, you'll know how to get it off!  (I haven't tried this on clothing and hopefully won't have to.)

 

Love the splash of red of these mountain ash berries.

Taz... our grand dog- he loves the snow :)

 "Beauty is all around us. Sometimes we just have to look harder to find it".
Have an awesome day! Please leave a comment, so I know you were here :)

Angie

 

  

 

Looking for a logo for my shop!

Happy 2016!
I'm hoping it's a wonderful year for you.

To kick off the New Year,  I'm going to try to do some of the things that I've "been meaning to do".
 Something I've put aside for a long time is to have a logo for my small business- Smiling Blue Dog gifts. As my business grows, it seems that I should be doing some kind of branding so that my customers can recognize me - anywhere, on-line and off. So this is a start.


What I'd like is something: simple, blue & white, easily recognizable & memorable. I want it to appear professional and friendly... am I asking a lot? Probably, but I'm also hoping it will be fun.
  I want to be able to print it (on stickers,) and intend to get a rubber stamp made using this logo, so I can stamp my envelopes and any correspondence (electronic or hand written).
 I'll be needing new business cards soon, so now's a good time to get on it!

I would love it if some designers would post their logo ideas, and if I find THE one I want to use- I will pay up to $25.00 for it. I know that's not a lot of $ but it's better than nothing AND it would get a lot of exposure! Of course I'll be telling everyone where I got it!

  I have made a hand-drawn design I like (see photo below). It would be nice to see some other ideas, so I'm posting this offer to see what happens...

Now after writing this, it seems a bit presumptuous on my part... sorry about that, but I'm still going to post this & cross my fingers...

This is a rough draft of the logo I've designed for my Smiling Blue Dog gifts shop.
Have you got a better idea?

Season's Greetings from SmilingBlueDog

Happy Holidays to all my amazing friends, on-line and off!

It's the night before Christmas, and my day job is done for 4 days! YAY!
I'm taking a bit of time right now to enjoy a shot of Baileys in my coffee and write a note to you all.
Tomorrow is the 25th and I will be doing what so many others are... preparing a Christmas meal to celebrate the Holidays. Yes, I can make a lovely turkey dinner with an awesome stuffing (it's my mom's unwritten recipe, ) and the purple cabbage side dish is almost as good as my dad made, but am mostly happy that it will last for a few days so I won't have to cook again for a while :)

To my family and friends: though we are spread wide and far, you are always close to my heart, especially this time of year, and I hope you know that already. I wish you love and joy for the holidays and always.
 I'm so glad that one of my boys is living with us now, and the other we'll be able to Skype with. I wish more of you were on-line so we could Skype too not just over the Holidays.

To my on-line supporters and friends:
 on Twitter, Etsy, FB and more. It's hard to express my gratitude to each one of you! I have so many long time friends that share my shop & wedding bouquet charms. You have each helped me in more ways than we know. I hope to be as much help to you, as you have to me :)
Well, I'm Skyping with my boy now, so wishing you well for the holiday,
Sending love to you all,
Angie
XOXOXOXO

Wedding bouquet charm photos from customers

As the frantic summer wedding season winds down,  I'm taking a look back at the year so far, what worked well, restocking my supplies, ordering new colours and developing new design ideas for next year.
 With my husband's assistance, I am now stocking 2-sided frames and also photo lapel pins in my Etsy shop. I've been working on my photos & added new options to many of my charms, like adding my photo service as an option as they make their purchase. This has saved a lot of time and conversations, making it a smoother purchasing experience for my customers. I still ship most of my charms the next business day, in order to get them to my customers as soon as possible and have managed to keep my shipping prices low.  I also started offering  Expresspost shipping, which still takes a week, but has tracking.  Although it's pricey, I don't make a dime on Expresspost, and it means a 1/2 hour drive to town to our main post office, but my customers appreciate that service & knowing their charms will arrive in time.
Unfortunately the cost of my supplies has gone up, and I will be reviewing my prices as the year winds down. It's not something I like to do, however it's necessary, so now's a good time to get them as I will be increasing the price of my charms in the future.

 Some of the stories behind the photos have been so touching.
I just love the feedback and notes I get from my customers and as a bonus getting wedding bouquet photos too once in a while!
Here's a few photos I can  post - Thank you ladies for letting me share your pictures.

Pearl Heart wedding bouquet charm.

So pretty

Set of 3 wedding charms in crystal or pearl

True blue crystal wedding bouquet photo charm

Early spring in the Kootenays

Spring's popping up :)

I love spring!
The promise of warmer, longer days, new growth popping up from bare branches and peeking up from the ground.




Our snow was gone earlier than usual.
It's surprising how little snow we got here in the Kootenays this winter, unlike our fellow Canadians on the East Coast.
I don't mind at all. I used to love it but the older I get, the less I like snow.

I think this is a pine siskin, he's happy to sit & feed at the feeder.

Many birds have returned from wherever they spent their winter and our quiet mornings now sing with an orchestra of sound.

We've had an early spring here in the Kootenays and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you - in pictures.

   

Our walnut tree.

Our cherry tree in bud.

I think this is a mock raspberry. 

Finally some crocuses!

I love the fluffy seedheads of this clematis.

Our star magnolia buds.

Larch starting to bud.

A whisky jack or grey jay! I think they like the higher elevations
as we rarely see them.

The Osprey Ferry on Kootenay Lake

The Osprey Ferry heading up the West Arm of Kootenay Lake

The sun sets early behind the mountains. I love this beach!

An entertaining little dipper on a rock in Kootenay Lake.

I love going for walks here, but they've cut down many trees lately.

Catkins? 

One of our little furry friends.
This little squirrel is my profile photo on Twitter :)

Thank you for visiting, 

I hope you enjoyed sharing a few peaceful moments with me, 

in my neck of the woods.

Peace & love to you,

Angie