Tag: childrens book illustration (page 2 of 3)

Pioneer Woman

I am a pioneer woman. All the women in my family are. We travel where our lives take us and we keep the home fires burning. My mother and her mother before that and her mother before that and so on have given me that gift, I am fortunate and I mean this with every ounce of humbleness, I am a good homemaker. I know how to keep a home and how to make a home, they have bestowed that blessing on me.

However, I am lucky in that, I am a modern pioneer woman, I am a pioneer woman with Skype. On this day before Thanksgiving when I can’t be with my family, I am blessed that I can see their beautiful faces.

It is not always easy being apart from them, but I am married now and wherever Mr. Michie is, is HOME. I am so fortunate, that when I packed up my wagon and headed in my case east  vs. the west of wagons ho, I knew that it was not forever, to never ever see my family again. Those were brave women, to leave behind everything they knew, for a new world.

As you pack up your wagons to travel to family and friends this holiday season, I pray that you are well and your journeys safe.

{Image from Ox Cart Man}

I Think I Can….

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

I know I can, I know I can, I know I can!

I made it over the mountain, it is Friday tomorrow and then the wonderful weekend is here! Can I get an Amen? I hear ya!

(Image from: The Little Engine that Could by: Watty Piper)

What Big Teeth You Have!

“What big teeth you have!”,exclaimed Red Riding Hood, to what she believed to be her ill Grandmother, lying in the bed, only to discover that it was in fact, a wolf! This seems to be the week of grandmothers turning into wolves, where all is not what it seems.

A week where everyone seems to be baring their teeth. I do not know if the “new” moon has made people crazy, or if the stars and planets are simply not aligned this week? Is there something in the water? Have people begun to drink the Kool-Aid? Has the long Winter finally made people just snap? Or does everyone have Spring Fever? This past week has been a week where almost everyone I have crossed paths with seems to be completely off kilter.

People have been snappy, or in an unusually odd mood that is out of character for them. I am so happy that it is the weekend. Hopefully, next week will bring with it a sense of calmness to everyone, because the franticness of this week was almost more than I could take.

This has been a week of being with “wild things”! As Maurice Sendak, wrote in one of my favorite books (Where the Wild Things Are):

“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.”

There has been a lot of roaring and gnashing this week. There is something in the air, others I have spoken with have noticed it as well. I am just hoping that all this windy weather we are getting at the moment, will blow it right back out of here, because I would like an easier, calmer and more peaceful week next week, then this one has been!

Cramped for Space

Our little cottage is getting very cramped at the moment, we seem to be running out of space! We worked so hard cleaning and organizing while we were on 1/2 term, last week and the house looked so clean and cozy. You have to stay on top of things in this little house, or it will attack you!

But, this first week back at school has left it in a sorry state. There are piles of papers to grade, more things I have fished out to bring to the Art Cupboard, just waiting to be taken, projects I am working on…

It looks like my weekend is planned. Saturday morning, I am tying my hair up and getting to work, this little cottage needs to be put back in order!

(Image: Vintage Alice in Wonderland Illustration by A.A. Nash, found on Flickr)

Santa Claus is on His Way…

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

I am going to bed extra early tonight and I will do my best to sleep if the excitement of tomorrow doesn’t get to me first! I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas Eve.

(Image from Christmas in the Country, by: Barbara Collyer & John R. Foley, 1950)

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to ME! Today is moi Birthday and my little feast of surprises have not stopped, since my venture out to the Quilt Exhibition on Saturday (more to come on that)! I am being very spoiled!

This morning I was awoken to chocolates, which I munched away on as I opened this beautiful wise ol’ owl card:

The postman delivered this to my door, and we all know how much I love gnomes!:

I must be a very deserving Birthday Girl, because I have been saving for something big for a little while now and cheerily wrapped in pink paper with polka dots was this:

So get ready, I am going to be going picture crazy! I already have plans to sew a fabric cover for the neck strap and I have the perfect scraps left to sew it with. I could just die from happiness! But, I won’t because I have more surprises to come today!

I was torn between making strawberry shortcake cake or banana pudding, but, after a Twitter conversation with the lovely Susan Branch the other evening, I have decided to make a banana cream pie, so I am off to start whipping up cream and slicing bananas and hopefully I will get to soak up a little sunshine before I have to go into work.

My windows are open and the most delicious breeze is making my curtains dance around, Mr. Blue Sky is out and it is a gorgeous day! Hope you are having a beautiful day wherever you are!

**Update: Thank you everyone for all your well wishes, I am off to eat some Birthday Banana Cream Pie…

(Birthday Children Party Image by: Dagmar Wilson, 1957)