It is almost the end of February and many are still committed to their new year resolutions and some are starting new healthy journey's. I am in both categories. My goal for 2016 is to move, in all aspects of my life including my health and well being.

On February 15th I started a round of Whole30 (not my first), you can google it for the details but in short it is a 30 day commitment to eat good clean natural food. I have met some really great people in their forums who are doing this at the same time as me. All these people have dedicated themselves to something that will improve their health. All these people are determined to break bad food habits and do the work to eat cleanly. All these people inspired this print.For some of us, health and fitness is a real challenge, food is a real challenge but we are getting there, one meal at a time.

Print is available in the shop now and we can also customize the colour just for you. 
If you have or are doing a round of Whole30, I would love to hear about your experience to keep my inspiration going!

Most of my inspiration for my prints come from everyday life, experiences or observations, however, this weeks inspiration was based on just plain old fantasy. I am currently working on a series of artist trading cards and the goal of this set was that each card would have its own image but together the whole set would make a larger image. I shared my progress pictures on my instragram feed and have decided to compile them here. I started with the grid and the desire to create an image that is part wonderland and part dream sequence. 

Fathers are awesome!
As a wife and mother my heart fills up with joy when I see my children snuggled up with their daddy, having quiet conversations or listening to their squeals of delight as they wrestle and get tickled by him. He is truly an amazing father and I hope the shower of handmade gifts and little store bought items the kids picked themselves, (plus all the extra hugs and kisses) will make him feel super special.

As an adult and a daughter, my heart fills with such appreciation for my own father. Even though I am a grown woman, with a family of my own, he is always there to support me, to help me when I need an extra hand during the day when the hubs isn't around and even to bring my ideas for craft show display stands to life. Always a father, always my dad, always there.

As I said, Fathers are awesome. The two in my life certainly are and they inspire me and inspired this Father's Day print.
To all the fathers out there, enjoy the day, relax, sleep, golf, drink beer or do nothing...you deserve it!
Happy Fathers Day!!!

I have a young daughter and I love to see her play, sing, learn and be the little girl she is. Like all parents, my wish for her is to grow up happy, healthy, successful and confident. She has so many wonderful characteristics about her now and I can only imagine how they will develop. Our goal is to guide her, to encourage her and to instil a strong sense of self-respect and strength of character, to ensure that she will be able to navigate the sea of media and peer influence successfully. To understand cause and effect. To be strong yet compassionate. To respect inwardly and outwardly. To be brave, to be herself and to do good. 

That is what inspired me to create this print as a visual reminder of the most valuable things we can possess; our character, our values, our strengths and our complexities. A reminder of what we are, what we can be or aspire to be. A back to basics. A wish list. A bucket list. A list of the reasons you are loved. All of these is what this print can mean.
What do you feel this print could mean for you? I would love to know. 

I call this print my 'Everyday Life Reminders'. Originally the idea for this print came from sitting at my cubicle day in and day out. I would battle traffic for an hour, plant myself at my cubicle and dive into work. Once absorbed into the daily grind I would often forget about many things. When I say "forget" what I really mean is I would purposely prioritize work items over taking care of myself. Eating would get pushed back or bypassed all together. I would grab a snack on the way home or live on the stash of granola bars in my desk. I would drink my morning tea/coffee because it would wake me up for the drive but then I would forget to drink water, any water, at all, not good. My office setup wasn't the best and I would slouch or slump at my desk for hours on end. I would see myself and my co-workers get focused on deadlines, meetings, projects and forget to truly interact, empathize and recharge. 

One day, feeling particularly like a lifeless blob, I put up a sticky note on my monitor to remind me to sit up properly. A few days later another one went up to remind my to hydrate, another one to eat and so on and so on. Needless to say...I had quite a few sticky notes in the end but they were right there in my face and I did force myself to do as they said. 

That is where the inspiration and content for this print came from. No more sticky notes required though, as I have turned it into a more visually pleasant reminder to do all these things. It is small enough to sit on a desk but big enough that it is still in your face reminding you to take care of yourself too. 

MakerMail is a collaborative project entirely created by the OMHG community of makers. It was an idea mentioned during an #OMHG twitter chat and now has become a beautifully-crafted movement that directly connects makers to buyers. 

There are two options for the 2014 Gifting Edition of MakerMail;
1) Letter Mail: Sign up for Letter Mail and 3 makers will send you 3 flat mailers of pretty little paper goods, like prints and notecards, directly to you or your selected recipient.
2) Packages: Sign up for Packages and 3 makers will send beautiful handmade objects, wrapped for giving, right to your or your recipients mailbox.

No matter which option you select, each item is handmade with love and shipped from the Maker, a series of sweet little goodies arriving to brighten your day and connect you with our community! Plus, purchasing handmade is always a more personal experience, so don't be surprised to find that each package comes with a personal handwritten note. 

• Kimberly Kling, Joyful Roots
  
• Kristen Olson, Rustic Romance Crafts
• Jennifer Moffat-Hallam, Pikelet Workshop
• Karen Jansen, Ink and Dirt Designs
• Ashey Shelton, Pinecone Grove
• Veronica Guzzardi
• Alison Butler, The Petit Cadeau
• Magda Marsh, Twisted Thread and Hook
• Melanie Gipson, Violets Buds
• Cody Bauchman, Lu & Ed

Signups are now open and close November 10th 2014. There are limited spots available so sign up soon! All the goodies will go out on November 19th 2014,  just in time for the holiday giving season. Support the handmade community and receive some sweet surprises at your door. Sounds good right?

-- Karen

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." 

I truly love to work on prints about love and for me 1 Corinthians 13 is full of truths and inspiration. I remember hearing these words when I was single and thinking that they were beautiful. Now after ten years of marriage the words are still beautiful but I now better understand the depth of the words....the truth of those words...and find them comforting and inspiring. 

That was my inspiration, a print that touches the heart of newly weds as well as those celebrating  years (and years) of marriage. Corinthians, I think, was the right choice. 
What do you think?  

It is the almost the middle of May and that means that the end of the school year is just around the corner. How did that fly by so quickly? 

Parents are booking summer school, summer activities, summer camps and soon enough the last day of school will be here and the kids will be saying good bye to their teachers for the last time until September rolls around again.

I enjoy seeing children buying soaps, suds, mugs and chocolates for their teachers. I think the effort and the gesture speaks volumes....my teacher is appreciated and is worth a little extra. 

I also know from personal experience, in a general sense as I am not a teacher, that there is no better feeling than having someone tell you why you are appreciated and why you are worth that little extra effort.

It is these two observations that served as my inspiration for this customizable Teacher Appreciation print. The print contains the reasons why teachers are special to us, the impact they have made on us and lets them know we are appreciative and thankful for everything they do. I gifted these prints, customized with their names, to the educators in our old preschool and to my daughters JK teacher last year and the reaction was exactly what I had hoped for...they were impactful and certainly well received. 

A simple print, a simple frame and a simple message; We appreciate our teachers and we thank our teachers...
for everything they are and for everything they do. 

All right, perhaps sexy isn't the right word but as a mother of two young children, I fold a lot of laundry.  Sometimes I see families with three, four or more children and I shudder to think of the laundry that is produced with those numbers! Regardless, there just isn't anything sexy about folding bed sheets, little itty bitty socks and little feety pyjamas... warm and fuzzy, yes....sexy, no. 

Now coincidently there really isn't anything appealing about out laundry room either, which is something we will be tackling as soon as spring actually shows up here. We will be moving things around, painting, organizing and of course leaving room for this print. 
It is all truth with just a touch of naughtiness to make people take a second look and well, that just makes me giggle. 

As I said, perhaps sexy isn't the right word, naughty might have been better but either way, this print will add some humour to the room and put a smile on my face despite the piles (and piles) of laundry that await me there. 

What do you do to make your laundry room more pleasant? Art, music, colour? 
I'd love to know while I am still in the planning stage :)