Labour of Love

Friday, January 9, 2009

merci beaucoup le vendredi #3...Josephine-RedThread

due to this harsh winter we've been having, i haven't been able to post on my weekly friday posts. i apologize for that.
finally, i have a chance to thank my newest kindred spirit + sweet gal, Josephine at Red Thread

for her most thoughtful gift to me this past holiday.

Josephine has a wonderful online journal that is full of inspirational pictures of life, fashion, movies, neat things, places + people. here's a lil' bit about her and her blog (taken from her profile bio page) :

"a personal view of art/design, food/drink, books, fashion, and film connected through a different red thread (theme). this blog is named after the chinese legend that says that everyone is linked to people who have a significant impact on their lives via a red string. "

how inspirational is that! simply yet truthfully stated. i love reading her blog. it's so thought provoking!

Josephine made a set of gorgeous letterpressed "Merci" cards. i absolutely love the simplicity of the phrase, the Frenchness, the colour and the texture of the card. less is more and i truly believe that!

she also gave me 2 sweet journals, pink + green to write my thoughts, dreams or adventures...i can't wait...

also in my pack was this adorable "cuddle with love cider" by ChewingtheCud (you see how you can learn from a kindred spirit? thank you, sweet Josephine for introducing this shoppe to me...i love etsy and finding new + exciting places to shoppe for unique items...) in a muslim lil' bag...i love 'hearts' and it simply smells divine!

finally, she wrote a note to me on this wonderful letterpressed postcard 'Holiday Telegram' from ChewingtheCud printed exclusively by Flybird Press + here. I adore these types of stationaries. simple pleasures to last a whole lifetime...

thank you so much Sweet Josephine for creating sweet memories, remembering me during such a special time of the year and warming my heart through our new friendship...Je l'adore tout!

when the weather lets up and i have a few moments to myself...i'll post a lil' thank you to a special someone who sent delicious yummy treats and a gorgeous set of jewelry that is quite unique and a knockout to wear with anything! how blessed am i to have sweet + thoughtful hearts sending such love my way...totally feeling grateful...

bonne nuit...

xoxo jo ;)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Pour vous mon amour...

je t'aime

jo xoxo

Monday, January 5, 2009

Nouveaux commencements...

(front side-digital image created with Polyvore by Labour of Love

for Follow Your Bliss Design + my sis, Mary Ann's Itty Bitty Winter Wonderland Swap 2009 )

(back side-digital image created with Polyvore by Labour of Love

for Follow Your Bliss Design + my sis, Mary Ann's Itty Bitty Winter Wonderland Swap 2009 )

Bienvenu 2009!

this is my 1st page (and backcover) that i contributed to my sis, Mary Ann of Follow Your Bliss Design's Itty Bitty Winter Wonderland Swap 2009. we had to create 2 sets of 15 winter themed pages. they're about 2.5x3.5 lil' pages that my sis binds into these lovely books that are filled with gorgeous winter themed creations from contributing artists from all over the world. i humbly started this itty bitty journey last year with my sis' flickr group and now have truly been addicted ever since. i remember when i was so intimidated by a new art technique and to try to think outside of the box. i truly enjoy creating these tiny pages to bring a smile or even to send a bit of sunshine to someone's day.

this collage speaks to me to start a 'FRESH', 'A New Day'...that's how i see january, mondays and this new 2009.

new hope + new adventures = a new day...

to find your passion, loves + dreams!

Le bonheur à vous

{the above image was created over at Polyvore by me. i found loads of winter themed images...but there were no names of the originator of the images... there's been a bit of controversy over at Polyvore. i was surfing through flickr and stumbled onto this awesome artist Art+Ghost. Louise of Art+Ghost wrote a very thought-provoking post about Polyvore here (regarding copyright violations). i truly understand where she's coming from as i know how i would feel if someone 'stole' any of my photos of my work without my consent...so where is this side post going? well, i'd like to send my apologies to the original artist(s) of the images i used in my digital collage (see above image). i have no intentions of selling this collage. i do not claim to be the one that created those images. but i'd like to say that i put those images together to make a pretty collage...an inspirational piece-a motivational piece. if there was a way to contact the original artists to obtain their permission for usage, i would be right there in the front lines. i also apologize if i have offended anyone, this is not my intention. i just want to give full credit to the original artists and that my collages are not created to destroy the original artists' creations.

i agree with Louise of Art+Ghost, companies/individuals should not rifle through someone's blog, website or flickr accounts and take images/photos without proper consent.
but when they are already in sites like Polyvore and not properly identified with originator's name/info, should the Polyvore user be at fault for creating a collage as an expression of their art?

this is where it surely gets tricky...

i am on the fence on this one...i like Polyvore so i could create simple+pretty collages but i don't like the fact that the images were 'stolen' without consent for public usage.

just be careful out there. if you use Polyvore, be aware that the images may have copyright issues.

merci beaucoup, louise, for sharing such powerful information! Much success to Art+Ghost and hoping for an equitable resolution...)

bonne nuit...

xoxo jo ;)

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Bonne Annee!

Wishing you and your loved ones an abundance of peace, love and joy this upcoming NEW YEAR! WELCOME 2009!!!

Bonne Nuit

xoxo jo ;)

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Toothfairy clearly knows our addy...

clearly...the toothfairy knows the way to our house...this is Ian's 3rd tooth...

went to the good ol' dollar store and found 2 cute pillows shaped as a tooth...so the lil' ones can put their lost tooth in there for the toothfairy...one is blue and the other is...you guessed it PINK!

don't worry, Shioban...God will let you know when your tooth will be ready...

your time will be coming soon...don't cry...(just breaks my heart...)

Bonne Nuit

xoxo jo ;)

Monday, December 29, 2008

Down Memory Lane...Hallow's eve, Tart Heart, coco chanel...

Do you remember this dear lil' ones...i sure do...you light up my life and i'm so happy that you're in love with life...

here you are Shioban with your sweet girlfriends at school...

Ahoy, me harties!

Ian, here's you, Shioban and your bud...3 lil' pirates...in my eyes,
you won 1st place!!!

Shioban, you just couldn't make up your mind, huh? Princess, Pirate, Cheetah gal...whomever you are...you're the most adorable lil' sweetheart!

Here are some pics from the munchkins' lil' modeling job this past Fall for the ever so Sweet Jasmine Kummer and her Tart Heart Shoppe...We just love Jasmine and her beautiful hats, softies and her other adorable creations! We also loved her place...it's in my old neighborhood, where dear Hubby had his 1st apt. and across the street from a wonderful park-great place for a photo shoot...however, it was one of the most coldest, wettest and windiest day ever last Fall...so we settled in her cool apt. and well the rest is history...the lil' munchkins just adore Sweet Jasmine and her very creative boyfriend, Joel. Can't wait to get her newest catalouge...I also was in the shoot but I didn't get some shots with my camera...but here are the ones I took with my camera...(because we modeled for Jasmine, she made me this lovely French Beret with the most Sweetet Eiffel Tower Pin...will be taking pics of that one soon...) WE LOVE YOU SWEET Jasmine of TART HEART!