Ah, even Blue Ninja Bunny is eager to hop into your Easter basket this spring.  He comes with a little grappling hook to assist him in breaking into the cookie jar and getting away with more jelly beans. He's built tough for plenty of ninja adventure play.

 Chocolate Bunny is sweet and perfectly safe for babies and grown ups alike, with no plastic eyes or removable parts.  Pop her in the Easter basket.

Purple love bunny is eager for Spring!  These plush bunnies, and all their multi colored friends are available in my BlissForest shop on etsy.  Handmade with love.

 Our favorite cabin to rent, with friends, on the lake in winter.  Usually there's several feet of snow already but it was a drier year.  Luckily plenty of snow for the kids sledding and beautiful winter hikes (rather than cross country skiing). 

I have so many exciting new plans for this year, it's almost good to pack up and get away for a long weekend in the woods.  Stop "working at it" and have some play time, share good food with fun friends.  

 Exploring with Mr Q.

 It's lovely to get out of town, and especially great to get some sunshine.  Down in the valley it had been gray for two weeks straight! 

 Absorbing lots of vit D here. 

 Mr F sledding into view. 

Good Morning! 

Santa brought me this cute package early on in the holiday season and I've been happy as a jay ever since.  Lovely sales in the shops kept me hopping Nov and most of December.  Lovely to visit with returning customers and everyone has been extra sweet this year. 

I actually shopped and made gifts early this year.  I don't know how that happened exactly since I've always taken to such a rush, as far back as I can remember.  We actually had some free days with the kids, and SUNNY ones at that, leading up to the holidays!  We took the dog and scooters to zoom around the paths of the gorgeous University of Oregon campus, climbed trees and sculptures with equal abandon.  Drank cocoa in the sun.  Still cold but sunny is quite nice for us Oregonians.  We had a games afternoon and time for the kids to draw book mark gifts.  (Whatever I did right, I'll try to do it again next year. )

Lovely to spend Winter Solstice with friends.  Xmas eve-eve playing games at Grandma's house with auntie and uncle.  And host everyone here on Christmas day.  I'm always grateful to have family in town (or close to town) rather than jump planes for the holidays.  But if Mom were to, say, retire in Kauai, THEN we'll be pretty stoked to jump a few planes!  (Maybe I best get her to visit the island before I get any more big ideas.)

Happy holidays, everyone!

The Gift of Glove

 My etsy shop is full of pretty wrist warmer gifts....new stenciled lace wrist warmers.....

 Symmetrical dreaming tree series....

 My favorite color version of the Foxy Gloves...

Hot hot colored Dreaming Trees!  Yummy.    Lots of wrist warmers heading out to new homes each day and I keep adding new ones.  If you don't see the exact pair for you, keep checking back.  Im able to take custom orders again in late January. 

Gnome Friends

  
I've added some new gnome friends to my BlissForest shop for the holidays.

Kai, the ocean loving, dolphin friend, gnome. 

Astrid will bake your cookies and tell you all her best stories.

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We got the beet, and you can dance to the beet!

 A tribute to my little sister and OG Farmers Market folks everywhere.  My new garden series of wrist warmers!  I had a blast making these and have been wearing the practice set of Carrots around town.  They make me smile. All currently available in my AlyTheRed etsy shop.

 "Powered by Carrots"

 "You Make My Heart Beet"

The Mommy Book- the ultimate gift you'll want too

I'm making myself a present.  Yep, in the midst of holiday sales, lovely wholesale orders, shipping madness, I'm making myself an important gift. Some ideas just can't wait.

I think you can relate to this project. You, reading this, are likely to be a mom, or an artist/creative person, who has a collection of special cards from those you love.  In my case, it's a BIG stack of hand drawn cards from my two boys, and some favorite drawings I've finally peeled down from my walls in various rooms.  I wanted a special place to keep them together, and best of all be able to LOOK at them.  Why not put them in a book?

Find a nice hard cover drawing book with strong blank pages.  I've removed about every fourth or fifth page so when I tape new pages in, it won't get too huge.  Of course I've SAVED the sliced out paper for the kids to draw on.  :-) 

I've gotten all the special little drawings done just for me, and cards together, and taped them in with acid-free, double sided tape. 

Two pages of special stories the kids wrote and illustrated awhile back.

I don't have a view of it here, but some of the cards are taped in so they can be folded up and shut.  Some have the front removed and taped in next to the inside of the card so both are viewed at once.  Some drawings are trimmed or cut out.  Really old ones that have been on the wall for too long, were restored, so to speak, by color copying them.

For holidays, the kids tend to make new art for my display frames (my favorite gift), and when I take the old ones out, I can now add them to the book.  My hope is that sometimes, they will pick up my Mommy Book, and write me some notes and drawings right onto the new blank pages.  :-)

They saw me working on my book and took turns looking through it themselves, smiling and remembering.

If you don't have children, you can still make yourself a Dear One book, adding cards, letters, drawings from friends to you.  Then continue to add things you like:  your favorite poems, your own drawings, photos you love, letters of awesomeness to yourself, and all new cards you get.