Pre-Happy New Year!

As 2010 draws to a close, there are 31 hours left for us to close the door on this year and open the door on the New Year. I thought it a good time to celebrate what we want to do more of... for me it's more blogging, concentrating more on my painting and spending more time in my studio.

We got a new camera for Christmas and I took some photos of my studio to share with you. I have been there since June and am happy to finally be able to show some photos. Along with the camera was an iMac and the last few days have been just a little "frustrating" as I'm not doing very well with change...lol!

As I sign off I also wanted to share a December quote, I think it is pretty self-explanatory.

How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?

Theodor Geisel

Merry Christmas Everyone!

As the day draws nearer and we rush to put last minute gifts together, I wanted to take a moment to stop and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I look forward to posting throughout 2011 and showing you some of the paper and painted artwork I create.

With this post I wanted to show a Christmas mini-album I created for this year. I am very happy with the result as it provides a beautiful keepsake album for pictures from this year’s festivities. I held a class on it at this year’s, 3rd annual BC Crops for Kids. Hopefully it will provide you with a few ideas you can incorporate into your own artwork!

Health, wealth and happiness to everyone! ~ Sharka

Have You Ever Had Reindeer Tea?

Here I am with another post...a few weeks ago we met up with friends for dinner and as we were leaving one said she had frappuccino bottles for me. I then remembered last year I had asked her to save them for me and now she had them, a year later! She had a case of 12 bottles and I left them in the back of my truck for a few weeks until I saw a post on Everyday Cricut about something called "Reindeer Tea"? I searched the internet and found out Reindeer Tea is aka Holiday Spiced Tea. It is a very nice warmer'upper type of beverage. I think it's now a holiday favorite.

I had to clean the bottles and take the labels off. The labels came off no problem, but the sticky glue left behind sure didn't, argh! My DH was kind enough to use all kinds of products to remove it and he finally put them in the dishwasher to make sure they were sterilized. I made tags for the tea, adhered instructions to the backs of them, and decorated the tops. Each bottle given out included one of my handmade Christmas cards. I'm happy that one of the projects on my list is completed, pwef!

For those that want to know, Reindeer Tea is a mix of Orange Tang, Country Time Lemonade, Iced Tea and spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg & ginger) added to boiling water. It sounds odd, but it's delicious!

Today's Mail

After coming home from the studio (195 Pemberton) today, I went for a brisk walk and ended up running a few blocks; which was a good thing! In the kitchen there was an envelope with a friend's Christmas photo card and a few extra photos from this past summer's Harmony Arts Festival Studio Tour that I participated in...here's one of the photos...all of them were Kodak Moments!

These two paintings were my first attempts with oil paint - Smuggler's Cove and Don't Have a Cow. Very happy with the end results.

Bright Lights

Hi Everyone :) This is my first ever blog post. I am excited to let you all know that 195 Studios held our first Open House on November 13th and we made it into the local paper!