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



New Prints Available

Hopping in for an extra post this week to let you know that...

Join me tomorrow for a blog post about a starry night concert in the country.

XO Mandy of Bijou's Whimsy XO

Heavenly Skies

The fall sunsets have been breathtaking and amazing and I just had to share the beauty...

Around 8pm, I can be found suddenly springing for my camera

and sprinting out the door, ha ha...

I seriously could feel my heart burst open and smile with the beauty.

(These shots were taken from the end of our driveway)

May you be taking the time to let a sunrise or sunset burst your soul open.

XO Mandy

Abundance In Beauty

I think life is just alot easier when you get in the habit of cultivating beauty

and surrounding yourself with as much loveliness and comfort as your possibly can...

(people may try to make you feel like it's wrong to do so, but just ignore them!)

This new illustration of mine is about that...

"Abundance In Beauty"

It is a coloured pencil image with abit of paint added...and prints will be available, yes indeed.

Wishing you all days abundant in beauty.

XO Mandy & Ella Luna XO

Update On Jaks

I am so so pleased to be able to write that our sweet Jaks is doing so much better.

He started eating with a voracious appetite a few days ago, yayyyy.
He's back to his usual playful and energetic self, yayyy.
and he saw the doctors again today who is very happy with his progress, yayyy.
Well, the doc says we're not out of the woods yet...that there is still risk of infection underneath all of the large scabs but so far all looks good and many areas are healing up nicely.
He'll go back in 2 weeks for another check up. 
Uunfortunately he has to be on the antibiotics for another 2-3 weeks...
but Jaks takes his medicine like a little trooper (mixing it with apple juice helps too!).

So now we have a nightly routine.  Whiles I hold him in various positions, Jonathan uses a soft paint brush to put manuka honey on all his sore parts and than I wrap him in a thick soft towel, we put a movie on and he and I have nice snuggles and snoozes together on the couch for 1.5-2 hours.
We can tell the honey feels soothing because he settles right in for a nice long snuggle...
His little body completely relaxes, he offers lots of kisses and falls asleep quite a few times, ha ha.
  Than
We put him in a nice warm shallow bath to wash the honey off...
Than we have to apply peroxide (as per docs orders) just to really make sure we're fighting any infection under all those scabs...and than he comes back on to the couch for a blow drying to make sure he's nice and dry...I think we're looking at another couple of weeks of this routine.
But it's all helping and it truly does feel like a precious honor to be able to care for him and help him heal.

 (Here's Apple Jaks last night after our nightly bath/honey/blow dry session..
he said 'Okay guys, you can take a few pictures but don't show anyone my boo boos'...)

I have to say...

I know lots of people don't get my relationship with animals and rabbits.

Most somehow just can't fully and totally understand how a precious rabbit soul can so touch my life.

But, they do...

and it struck me as funny when the last time we were at the vets office,

I was holding Jaks in a big soft blanket (he prefers that instead of the carrying cage)

and I was sitting in a quiet corner, rocking him and talking to him

and a woman with her 2 young kids came up to me and looked at me strangely and than said

"Oh sorry, we came to see your baby...we thought you had a real baby in there"

and I just smiled and said

"Well it is a real baby...it's MY baby".

And I realized that my response and smile to this stranger was genuine...
That I didn't mind her funny little glance and chuckle as she walked away with her two human children.

I realized that I am so completely over people 'not getting me'

because it just doesn't matter if people understand...
I understand it and that's all I need
because I simply can not think of my life without the magic of rabbits being in it...

and well who can explain magic...

XO Mandy and A Happy Healing Apple Jaks XO

Bird On Flower Brooch

I woke up and looked out the window to see grey skies and bright yellow leaves doing a lovely spiral dance around each other as thy floated to the ground...ahhhh, it's feeling like a very cozy day.

The perfect day to show you another felt brooch I just finished up.

Isn't it sweet sweet sweet...
I conjured up several designs in the summer & it feels great to see them come to life.
I am having so much fun with them and they let me indulge in my felt obsession.
They don't have to be worn, one could put them in a frame as lovely little originals.

On the agenda today:  
Tend to a very sore head
Get a coloured pencil finished up (Which I can't wait to show you)
Finish up a smaller 2nd image which just needs a smidge of paint added
Make a big pot of cabbage soup
tidy my forever messy house
but mostly...
the plan is to sit on the floor working on another felt brooch besides 4 sweet sweet sweet bunnies.

Hope your having a great day...thanks for hopping by.

XO A Stitching Bijou XO